Gildas and the chronology of the Adventus Saxonum.

Gildas and the chronology of the Adventus Saxonum.

Gildas is our earliest witness to the Adventus Saxonum, or hiring of Saxon mercenaries by the Superbus Tyrannus in the second half of the fifth century yet his chronology is ignored by writers of our histories. Instead a date of 449 is favoured which depends on Bede, a man who knew absolutely nothing about the period and was writing some two hundred years after the event. This incredible lapse of judgement by scholars has been challenged by Myers, Thompson and most recently Christopher Gidlow who suggests 455 for the Adventus. When freed from the prejudice of Bede and the Historia Britonnum the reading of Gildas makes it clear that the Adventus Saxonum (AS) took place many years after the appeal to Aetius, which was sometime after 446 when Aetius was made a consul of Rome for the third time. Gildas states that the Britons made an appeal to Aetius “ thrice consul” , begging for help, as we will read below. Myers suggests that the AS was as much as 20-30 years after the appeal which seems unlikely; Thompson suggesting 12-15 years which would agree better with a reading of Gildas. In this blog I will suggest a date of 464/5 for the Adventus Saxonum as a reading of Gildas allows.

Lets examine Gildas' words then from the DEB, starting with the events just before the appeal to Aetius :

19. No sooner were they gone, than the Picts and Scots, like worms which in the heat of mid-day come forth from their holes, hastily land again from their canoes, in which they had been carried beyond the Cichican valley, differing one from another in manners, but inspired with the same avidity for blood, and all more eager to shroud their villainous faces in bushy hair than to cover with decent clothing those parts of their body which required it. Moreover, having heard of the departure of our friends, and their resolution never to return, they seized with greater boldness than before on all the country towards the extreme north as far as the wall. To oppose them there was placed on the heights a garrison equally slow to fight and ill adapted to run away, a useless and panic-struck company, who clambered away days and nights on their unprofitable watch. Meanwhile the hooked weapons of their enemies were not idle, and our wretched countrymen were dragged from the wall and dashed against the ground. Such premature death, however, painful as it was, saved them from seeing the miserable sufferings of their brothers and children. But why should I say more? they left their cities, abandoned the protection of the wall and dispersed themselves in flight more desperately than before. The enemy, on the other hand, pursued them with more unrelenting cruelty than before, and butchered our countrymen like sheep, so that their habitations were like those of savage beasts; for they turned their arms upon each other, and for the sake of a little sustenance, imbrued their hands in the blood of their fellow countrymen. Thus foreign calamities were augmented by domestic feuds; so that the whole country was entirely destitute of provisions, save such as could be procured in the chase.

Here Gildas describes the extreme northern territory that fell to the Picts and Irish in the mid to late 440's up to the wall and possibly beyond. This northern territory was lowland Scotland to the wall, possibly called Valentia at this time after it was recovered in the late fourth century from similar barbarian raids. Thompson suggests it was northern Briton to the wall that fell at this time but this makes no sense of 'extreme north' or the fact that the wall was defended. The defence was always to the north. It appears that the Picts and Irish overran Valentia and breached the wall to attack cities just south of it as well. So Gildas continues :

20. Again, therefore, the wretched remnant, sending to Aetius, a powerful Roman citizen, address him as follows:-"To Aetius, now consul for the third time: the groans of the Britons." And again a little further thus:-"The barbarians drive us to the sea; the sea throws us back on the barbarians: thus two modes of death await us, we are either slain or drowned." The Romans, however, could not assist them, and in the meantime the discomfited people, wandering in the woods, began to feel the effects of a severe famine, which compelled many of them without delay to yield themselves up to their cruel persecutors, to obtain subsistence: others of them, however, lying hid in mountains, caves, and woods, continually sallied out from thence to renew the war. And then it was, for the first time, that they overthrew their enemies, who had for so many years been living in their country; for their trust was not in man, but in God; according to the maxim of Philo, "We must have divine assistance, when that of man fails." The boldness of the enemy was for a while checked, but not the wickedness of our countrymen: the enemy left our people, but the people did not leave their sins.
    

We can see that the appeal to Aetius was made sometime after this major incursion in the far north. Aetius was not thrice Consul until 446, so the appeal was made sometime after this until Aetius died in 454. Aetius is known to have been in northern Gaul in 451 when Attila invaded Gaul and Aetius fought and defeated him in 451 with help from the Visigoths, Saxons, Franks, Burgundians and Armoricans. So we could place the appeal to around these years and suggest it was for this reason that he could not help Britain. So lets place the appeal in 451. Note that this is the time our historians state that the Saxons Mercenaries had already arrived by! They hadn't even been invited yet!! Gildas continues :

21. For it has always been a custom with our nation, it is at present, to be impotent in repelling foreign foes, but bold and invincible in raising civil war, and bearing the burdens of their offences they are impotent, I say, in following the standard of peace and truth, but bold in wickedness and falsehood. The audacious invaders therefore return to their winter quarters, determined before long again to return and plunder. And then, too, the Picts for the first time seated themselves at the extremity of the island where they afterwards continued, occasionally plundering an wasting the country.....
    
    We can see here that the Picts and Irish retreated back to their homes, lets say in 452 but some of the Picts stayed on in lowland Scotland. Many scholars have pondered this statement of Gildas; thinking that he meant that the Picts only just arrived in the Island and settled in the extreme north, but the reading doesn’t support this. They merely crossed the Clyde or sailed round the forth and some settled in the lowlands. Or indeed these Picts may have been Irish Picts – Cruithne, who may have settled in Argyll and western districts of upland Scotland. Gildas continues, minus the rhetoric:
    
    

During these truces, the wounds of the distressed people are healed, but another sore, still more venomous, broke out. No sooner were the ravages of the enemy checked, than the island was deluged with a most extraordinary plenty of all things, greater than was before known, and with it grew up every kind of luxury and licentiousness. But besides this vice, there arose also every other, to which human nature is liable, and in particular that hatred of truth, together with her supporters, which still at present destroys every thing good in the island etc.. Kings were anointed, not according to God's ordinance, but such as showed themselves more cruel than the rest; and soon after, they were put to death by those who had elected them, without any inquiry into their merits, but because others still more cruel were chosen to succeed them...

Here there is a time of plenty and kings fighting over kingdoms. The above problems then, with the Picts and Irish, and then the time of plenty, if we assign say ten years takes us up to the early 460's.

22. Meanwhile, God being willing to purify his family who were infected by so deep a stain of woe, and at the hearing only of their calamities to amend them; a vague rumour suddenly as if on wings reaches the ears of all, that their inveterate foes were rapidly approaching to destroy the whole country, and to take possession of it, as of old, from one end to the other. But yet they derived no advantage from this intelligence; for, like frantic beasts, taking the bit of reason between their teeth, they abandoned the safe and narrow road, and rushed forward upon the broad downward path of vice, which leads to death. Whilst, therefore, as Solomon says, the stubborn servant is not cured by words, the fool is scourged and feels it not: a pestilential disease mortally affected the foolish people, which, without the I sword, cut off so large a number of persons, that the living were not able to bury them. ….. For a council was called to settle what was best and most expedient to be done, in order to repel such frequent and fatal irruptions and plunderings of the above-named nations.
    
    We are now on safer ground in dating as Gildas here mentions a plague that affected the people. This plague was also evident in Gaul as it was mentioned in records there for the years 463/4 by Gregory of Tours who was using a lost Chronicle source probably from Nantes. We can now see that after this Gildas tells us that the Saxons are invited after a council was called to decide what to do.
    

23. Then all the Councillors, together with that Proud Tyrant, were so blinded, that, as a protection to their country, they sealed its doom by inviting in among them (like wolves into the sheep-fold), the fierce and impious Saxons, a race hateful both to God and men, to repel the invasions of the northern nations. Nothing was ever so pernicious to our country, nothing was ever so unlucky. What palpable darkness must have enveloped their minds-darkness desperate and cruel! Those very people whom, when absent, they dreaded more than death itself, were invited to reside, as one may say, under the selfsame roof. Foolish are the princes, as it is said, of Thafneos, giving counsel to unwise Pharaoh. A multitude of whelps came forth from the lair of this barbaric lioness, in three cyuls, as they call them, that is, in three ships of war, with their sails wafted by the wind and with omens and prophecies favourable, for it was foretold by a certain soothsayer among them, that they should occupy the country to which they were sailing three hundred years, and half of that time, a hundred and fifty years, should plunder and despoil the same. They first landed on the eastern side of the island, by the invitation of the unlucky king, and there fixed their sharp talons, apparently to fight in favour of the island, but alas! more truly against it. Their mother-land, finding her first brood thus successful, sends forth a larger company of her wolfish offspring, which sailing over, join themselves to their bastard-born comrades. From that time the germ of iniquity and the root of contention planted their poison amongst us, as we deserved, and shot forth into leaves and branches. The barbarians being thus introduced as soldiers into the island, to encounter, as they falsely said, any dangers in defence of their hospitable entertainers, obtain an allowance of provisions, which, for some time being plentifully bestowed, stopped their doggish mouths. Yet they complain that their monthly supplies are not furnished in sufficient abundance, and they industriously aggravate each occasion of quarrel, saying that unless more liberality is shown them, they will break the treaty and plunder the whole island. In a short time, they follow up their threats with deeds.

So there we have it. The Adventus Saxonum did not occur until sometime after 463/4. Interestingly someone in Ireland must have worked out this exact date as well as it was retrospectively added to the Irish annals probably in the ninth century. The Saxons first arrived in three ships, which must have been about 180 men, sent to negotiate the terms of the Feodus. These would have ascertained how many more men were needed to undertake the defences required and then more Saxons were sent for. These garrisons were then placed in the eastern parts of the Island in the traditional defensive places, the eastern seaboard, the wall and other late ex Roman defensive positions along the Foss way down to the upper Thames valley. The Saxons were happy enough for some time with their payments and provisions provided by the Romano Britons but then, probably having seen the richness of the land, soon started to squabble and cause trouble, eventually breaking out in revolt. We may as well continue the chronology as Gildas describes:

24. For the fire of vengeance, justly kindled by former crimes, spread from sea to sea, fed by the hands of our foes in the east, and did not cease, until, destroying the neighbouring towns and lands, it reached the other side of the island, and dipped its red and savage tongue in the western ocean...So that all the columns were levelled with the ground by the frequent strokes of the battering-ram, all the husbandmen routed, together with their bishops, priests, and people, whilst the sword gleamed, and the flames crackled around them on every side. Lamentable to behold, in the midst of the streets lay the tops of lofty towers, tumbled to the ground, stones of high walls, holy altars, fragments of human bodies, covered with livid clots of coagulated blood, looking as if they had been squeezed together in a press; and with no chance of being buried, save in the ruins of the houses, or in the ravening bellies of wild beasts and birds; with reverence be it spoken for their blessed souls, if, indeed, there were many found who were carried, at that time, into the high heaven by the holy angels. So entirely had the vintage, once so fine, degenerated and become bitter, that, in the words of the prophet, there was hardly a grape or ear of corn to be seen where the husbandman had turned his back.

So The Saxons had revolted. Those in the upper Thames valley wouldn't have had to go far to reach the western Sea in their pillaging, explaining Gildas' comments, whilst the others probably pillaged the rich towns eastwards. There was nothing much further westwards of the Foss way worth pillaging.

25. Some, therefore, of the miserable remnant, being taken in the mountains, were murdered in great numbers; others, constrained by famine, came and yielded themselves to be slaves for ever to their foes, running the risk of being instantly slain, which truly was the greatest favour that could be offered them: some others passed beyond the seas with loud lamentations instead of the voice of exhortation. "Thou hast given us as sheep to be slaughtered, and among the Gentiles hast thou dispersed us." Others, committing the safeguard of their lives, which were in continual jeopardy, to the mountains, precipices, thickly wooded forests, and to the rocks of the seas (albeit with trembling hearts), remained still in their country.
    
    We can see here that mountains and caves are mentioned which are more a northern topographical feature than southern, although Wales would also be applicable. At this point some Britons started heading abroad for safety, probably to Ireland if in the west and north west; Armorica and Belgic Gaul amongst the Franks a bit later in the south. We are looking at the late 460's to ealry 470's if we are to date the revolt and in support of this the first evidence of Britons who fled the troubles are evident in Gaul soon after this time, one being mentioned by Sidonius Appolinaris.
    
    Riothamus had left in 469 from the south with 12,000 men to help the Roman emperor Anthemius with his fight against Euric the Goth. It's doubtful that the Saxons would revolt with Riothamus still in the country so we can take it that the revolt happened after this time - 471-474, with the 'unlucky' Superbus possibly being Riothamus himself (Gidlow suggests a date of 474 for the start of the rebellion which I would support). With the Superbus/Riothamus defeated perhaps the Saxons thought that their treaty was now breakable as the person who brokered it was now powerless. Surely if the Superbus had been killed by the Saxons Gildas would have been quick to mention this fateful death, but he doesn’t, to him the Superbus is merely 'unlucky', he just disappears from the narrative, much like Riothamus disappeared from Britain and was unlucky in his battle against Euric.. We return to Gildas who no longer mentions the Superbus after this point :
    
    
26. But in the meanwhile, an opportunity happening, when these most cruel robbers were returned home, the poor remnants of our nation (to whom flocked from divers places round about our miserable countrymen as fast as bees to their hives, for fear of an ensuing storm), being strengthened by God, calling upon him with all their hearts, as the poet says,"With their unnumbered vows they burden heaven," that they might not be brought to utter destruction, took arms under the conduct of Ambrosius Aurelianus, a modest man, who of all the Roman nation was then alone in the confusion of this troubled period by chance left alive. His parents, who for their merit were evidently adorned with the purple, had been slain in these same broils, and now his progeny in these our days, although shamefully degenerated from the worthiness of their ancestors, provoke to battle their cruel conquerors, and by the goodness of our Lord obtain the victory.

So sometime in the late 470's the Saxons returned to their original garrisons in the east. Lets say 476-477. The Britons then gathered their forces under a Romanised Christian Briton called Ambrosius Aurelianus. Gildas knew of a legend that Ambrosius' parents had 'evidently' worn the purple so he was of the nobility. He challenged the Saxons, possibly from the south, as this is where most Ambrosi name associations lie, moving south eastwards, then northwards through London and onwards.

26. After this, sometimes our countrymen, sometimes the enemy, won the field; to the end that our Lord might this land try after his accustomed manner these his Israelites, whether they loved him or not, until the year of the siege of the mountain of Badon when took place almost the last, though not the least slaughter of our cruel foes, which was, I am sure, forty-four years and one month having passed and also the time of my own nativity.
    

There then followed a period of strife with the Saxons from around 477 onwards until the time of Badon. Some evidence for this chronology comes from the Archaeology of the northern Gallic coast, which shows an hiatus of Saxon material between circa 450 and 475. Avitus had cleared the area in around 450 of the Irish and Saxons. Before 450 the Gallic archaeology was distinctly Northern Germanic, after 475 it was prodominantly Anglo Saxon (Soulat, 2009: 7). This may give some weight to Gidlow's chronology as well. What's clear is that the Anglo Saxons had not rebelled until the mid 470's.

Some scholars such as Guy Hallsall and Howard Wiseman read the 44 years as having been the period of strife from the time of Ambrosius to the time of the battle of Badon. If we accepted this we would add 44 years to 472/74 and arrive at 516-518, the date given in the Welsh annals for the Battle of Badon!! Can it be accepted though?

Bede also read it as a period before the time of Badon but instead dated it to his invention of the Saxon adventus in 449. The Welsh also appear to have read it as from the time of Ambrosius when compiling the ASC. Wiseman suggests they used Bede's Chronica Maiora which places Ambrosius in the period of the reign of the emperor Zeno (474-491). The welsh annals entry dating is between 516 and 518. This would place Ambrosius in 474 and hence Badon in 518. However in the Chronica Maiora Bede dates Ambrosius more precisely to around 485-490 (after death of vandal king Huneric in 484 and before Anastasia in 491). Did the Welsh therefore not fully understand the chronology of the Chronica Maiora or do we still need to seek the source of their date of 516-518?

Gildas continues...

26. And yet neither to this day are the cities of our country inhabited as before, but being forsaken and overthrown, still lie desolate; our foreign wars having ceased, but our civil troubles still remaining. For as well the remembrance of such a terrible desolation of the island, as also of the unexpected recovery of the same, remained in the minds of those who were eyewitnesses of the wonderful events of both, and in regard thereof, kings, public magistrates, and private persons, with priests and clergymen, did all and every one of them live orderly according to their several vocations. But when these had departed out of this world, and a new race succeeded, who were ignorant of this troublesome time, and had only experience of the present prosperity, all the laws of truth and justice were so shaken and subverted, that not so much as a vestige or remembrance of these virtues remained among the above-named orders of men, except among a very few who, compared with the great multitude which were daily rushing headlong down to hell, are accounted so small a number, that our reverend mother, the church, scarcely beholds them, her only true children, reposing in her bosom; whose worthy lives, being a pattern to all men, and beloved of God, inasmuch as by their holy prayers, as by certain pillars and most profitable supporters, our infirmity is sustained up, that it may not utterly be broken down, I would have no one suppose I intended to reprove, if forced by the increasing multitude of offences, I have freely, aye, with anguish, not so much declared as bewailed the wickedness of those who are become servants, not only to their bellies, but also to the devil rather than to Christ, who is our blessed God, world without end.
    

Fifth Century Chronology

405 Saxons attacks on Britain

409 Constantine goes to Gaul with remains of Roman armies.

411 Constantine defeated, son Constans and general Gerontius slain.

414 Birth of Patrick?

415 Troubles in Armorica who take things into their own hands. (GC)

418 Armoricans return to Roman authority. Possibly same in Britain (Gildas)

419 Growth of Pelagianism in Rome, spreads westwards to Britain.

429 Germanus visits to defeat Pelagianism. (Prosper) Defeats Saxons? (Cassiodorus)

430 Patrick taken into slavery?

431 Palladius sent to Irish Christians to continue work against Pelagianism.

437 Patrick escapes and return to Britain?

441 Picts, Irish (possibly Saxons (GC) take lowland Scotland to the wall and beyond. (Gildas 19)

450 Appeal to Aetius (Gildas 20)

451 Northern territories retaken (Gildas 20). Picts settle in some of lowland Scotland. (Gildas 21)

451-463 Avitus clears the channel. Time of plenty, richness and warring kings jostling for power. (Gildas 22) Northern Germanic Saxon archaeology hiatus in northern Gaul until 475.

456 Patrick return to Ireland?

464 Plague and rumours of impending invasion from old enemies.(Gildas 22)

465 Superbus leads council in hiring Saxon Federates. (Gildas 23)

465/66 British garrison in Bourges defeated by Goths.

469/470 Riothamus leaves with 12,000 men to attack Euric.

470/471 Riothamus defeated.

474 Saxons revolt. Great slaughter, Britons leave for Ireland and Gaul. (Gildas 24, 25)

471-475 First evidence of British exiles in Gaul ( Sidonius)

475+ First Evidence of  'Anglo Saxon' archaeology in northern Gaul.
476 Saxons return to their homes in the east. (Gildas 26)

477 Britons get organised under Ambrosius Aurelianus and challenge the Saxons.

477 Ambrosius successful against Saxons (Gildas 25)

478 onwards – Continuous battles to and fro between Britons and Saxons for the next 15 years (Gildas 26)

480 Coroticus in Ireland leading Britons, Picts and Scots. (Patrick)

493 Death of Patrick
493 Decisive Battle of Badon Hill.

493 Birth of Gildas. (Gildas 26)


 

Soulat, J. 2009. Le matériel archéologique de type Saxon et Anglo-Saxon en Gaule Mérovingienne. Paris: Tome XX des Mémoires publiés par l’Association française d’Archéologie mérovingienne.

The Core Battles of Arthur Dux Bellorum in Flavia Caesariensis

 

The Core Battles of Arthur Dux Bellorum in Flavia Caesariensis
by Dane Pestano

In this essay I will continue the work of Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews and explore the battles of Arthur against the Saxons as detailed in the Historia Brittonum, written in around 829AD and suggest that the author of the original battle list was placing most of the battles in the late Roman province of Flavia Caesariensis. This encompassed an area north of the river Thames to south of the river Humber. The placement of late Roman provinces is debated so differing opinions exist as to the validity of the maps shown, but this does not effect the placement of the battles predominantly in the midlands. The main references for this work will be Jackson's seminal piece Once Again Arthur's Battles (1945) and more fully Keith J Fitzpatrick-Matthews' more up to date summary of the scholarly input over the last 100 years or so – The Arthurian Battle Listof the Historia Brittonum (unpublished) in which he suggests a similar grouping of seven of Arthur's battles.

I will use maps to show the placement of Saxon settlements, rebellions and movement of the battles along the Roman road systems, something that has been lacking in most studies of the battles but was attempted by Matthews who created a basic map of Arthur's battles in the context of Flavia Caesariensi and the north. 

An attempt to place Arthur's battles into a context of fifth and sixth century Britain should be attempted although we must understand that whoever compiled the list in the eighth to ninth centuries would have described the battles in the orthography of the time.

The Saxons had arrived in Britain as federates in around 465 according to Gildas and had broken out of their settlements in the east to pillage the towns along the Roman road systems in the early 470's. We know from Gildas that St Albans (Verulamium) was one of these towns in Flavia Caesariensis and the other Chester at opposite ends of the of the territory (It was thought this may have been Caerleon, Newport, South Wales, in Secunda, but see later below) . Gildas in effect was telling us where the extent of the troubles was. Ambrosius had begun the fightback in the mid 470's and must have managed to pacify south eastern Flavia Caesariensis in his campaigns as none of Arthur's battles are in this part, ie north east of the Thames to the Ouse in East Anglia. Britannia Prima, the whole region south of the Thames may have escaped any major troubles, perhaps only Kent being problematical although this area may in fact have been more Frankish, rather than Saxon in our period as the archaeology indicates. The following map shows the early perceived Saxon cemeteries in Britain reflecting where they lived and you can see from this that they were mainly billeted in Flavia Caesariensis and I have added the probable rebellion routes.

The campaigns of Ambrosius may have taken a few years from the 470's onwards. During this time Britons and Saxons fought many battles, sometimes the Britons winning, sometimes the Saxons, until the decisive British victory at Badon. Arthur's battles then must have taken place between the 490's to around 516-518, when the battle of Badon is said to have taken place in the Weslh annals, although this late a date is contested.

To summarise then, Gildas tells us where the major troubles took place, defining the extent between St Albans and Chester. The majority of Arthur’s battles, as we shall shortly see, also took place between these places and further to this the battles look tactically sound when compared to the Anglo Saxon settlements of the time and their expansion during the rebellion as they followed the Roman roads.

Here is Mathews' reconstruction of the text of the HB which I will follow. His change of Agned to Breguoin and addition of traith being of no consequence to the battle campaigns:

in illo tempore saxones inualescebant in multitudine et crescebant in britannia. mortuo autem hengisto, octha filius eius transiuit de sinistrali parte britanniae ad regnum cantuariorum et de ipso orti sunt reges cantuariorum. tunc arthur pugnabat contra illos in illis diebus cum regibus brittonum, sed ipse erat dux bellorum. primum bellum fuit in ostium fluminis quod dicitur glein. secundum et tertium et quartum et quintum super aliud flumen quod dicitur dubglas et est in regione linnuis. sextum bellum super flumen quod uocatur bassas. septimum fuit bellum in silua celidonis, id est cat coit celidon. octauum fuit bellum in castello guinnion, in quo arthur portauit imaginem sanctae mariae semper uirginis super humeros suos et pagani uersi sunt in fugam in illo die et caedes magna fuit super illos per uirtutem domini nostri iesu christi et per uirtutem sanctae mariae genetricis eius. nonum bellum gestum est in urbe legionis. decimum gessit bellum in litore fluminis quod uocatur *traith tribruit. undecimum bellum in monte qui dicitur breguoin, *id est cat bregion. duodecimum fuit bellum in monte badonis, in quo corruerunt in uno die dccccxl uiri de uno impetu arthur; et nemo prostrauit eos nisi ipse solus, et in omnibus bellis uictor extitit.

At that time the Saxons grew strong from their increased numbers in Britain. On the death of Hengist, his son Octa travelled from the north of Britain to Kent and from him are the kings of Kent descended. Then Arthur, with the kings of the Britons, fought against them in those days and he was the leader of battles.

* His first battle was at the mouth of the river called Glein.

* The second, third, fourth and fifth battles were on/beside another river called Dubglas and is in the region Linnuis.

* The sixth battle was on/beside the river which is called Bassas.

The seventh battle was in the wood called Celidon, that is Cat Coit Celidon.

The eighth battle was at the fort called Guinnion and in it Arthur carried the image of the holy Mary, the everlasting Virgin, on his shield, and the heathen were put to flight on that day, and there was great slaughter upon them, through the power of Jesus Christ and the power of the holy Virgin Mary, his mother.

* The ninth battle was fought in the city of the Legion

The tenth battle was fought on the shore of the river called traith Tribruit

The eleventh battle was at the mount/ain called Breguoin, that is cat Bregion.

* The twelfth battle was on Mount Badon in which there fell in one charge by Arthur 940 men and no one laid them low save he alone and he was victorious in all his battles.

* From the above we can see that the first six of the battles could certainly be placed in Flavia Caesariensis according to current consensus. Lets examine them briefly.

His first battle was at the mouth of the river called Glein.

Glein is derivative of Brittonic *glano-, 'pure, clear‘, with a suffix -io- or -iā (Jackson 1945, 46). Names deriving from Old Welsh *glinn, 'valley‘, or its Old Irish cognate *glenn, 'valley‘ cannot be derivatives and so places such as the Great Glen near Leicester can be dismissed. The consensus is that the Northumberland or Lincolnshire river Glen's are indicated. Obviously a choice of the Lincolnshire Glen would appear correct when the placement of the other battles are considered.

The second, third, fourth and fifth battles were on/beside another river called Dubglas and in the region Linnuis.

Dubglas is derived from Brittonic *duboglasso-, 'blue-black‘ (Jackson 1945, 46) and the region Linnuis has been safely identified as Lindsey by Thomas Green and others. Lindsey would have mainly incorporated the area east of Lincoln city and some territory around Lincoln a few miles to the west and southwest. The river Dubglas has not been identified but a possibility may be the river Devon, a southern tributary of the Trent or the river Witham. The idea of Arthur attacking them first at the Glen, pushing remnants of the Saxons northwards and then in Lindsey once the remnants had joined with these would seem to explain the number of battles that took place here.

The sixth battle was on/beside the river which is called Bassas.

The river Bassas has not been identified securely enough but Matthews suggests Baschurch in Shropshire as a good possibility :

“Most writers have found this site to be unlocatable. However, Crawford suggested Baschurch, Shropshire, as the site intended; the place is probably named in Canu Heledd as Eglwysseu Bassa, the site of Cynddylan‘s stafell or hall. It is unclear whether an Old English place name Baschurch was translated into Old Welsh by the poet of Canu Heledd or whether the Old English form is a translation from an Old Welsh original: either way, it is possible to accept either Jackson‘s or Isaac‘s different etymologies......Whilst the name has proved problematical for other writers, the identification with the Eglwysau Bassa of Canu Heledd is attractive; the cultural milieu of the author of the Historia Brittonum was the same as that in which the Canu Heledd were composed or (if a seventh-century origin for the cycle be preferred) modernised and the name would probably have been familiar to the author.”

There is a Bassingham eight miles south of Lincoln but as four of the battles are already said to be in Lindsey Bassingham may not be relevant. Baschurch though is not ideal if Bassas was part of the same campaign as the previous five battles as Arthur would have to traverse most of Flavia Caesariensis to get there and would certainly encounter Saxon foes along the way. Perhaps the order of battle list has been changed for poetic license. We could though envisage a separate western Campaign. This would explain some of the anomalies such as the following battle

The seventh battle was in the wood called Celidon, that is Cat Coit Celidon.

This has always been taken to mean the Caledon wood in the southern Scotland uplands and it's difficult to move away from this consensus. Ptolemy had placed it even further north among the highland Picts. The great wood in the midlands appears to have been called just that 'woods' which could indicate it's British name was of the same degree. So we must either envisage a separate northern campaign or accept that it must have been the wood of the midlands. In a ninth century view we would have to side with the northern Caledonian Forest. We should not forget though that Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester) in the south means inhabitants of the woods, so dismissing the rest of Britain in favour of the northern Caledonia may well be fallacious. In support of a great Midlands forest possibly extending all the way to Shropshire, Frank Reno suggests the `men of Argoed' are the men of the Celidon wood, a forest now called Clun but it could just as well be the forest of Galtres north of York which might make some sense if the Caledonian battle was original to the list, and possibly the same as Geoffrey of Monmouth's forest Calaterium (Ashley 2010).

This battle is also compared to mythical Welsh tales and a battle of the woods and so in effect may have been accrued by Arthur. As we shall see, all the problematical battles outside of Flavia Caesariensis have been culled from Welsh myth. Matthews comments :

“Given the fact that Coed Celyddon is so well known and well located around the headwaters of the Rivers Clyde and Tweed in Welsh literature, it is difficult to see why some commentators have struggled to find locations outside the southern uplands of Scotland; certainly most agree on this identification. Coed Celyddon is particularly associated with Myrddin, the Merlin of legend, and appears in poems such as Yr Afallennau, Ymddiddan, Geoffrey of Monmouth‘s Vita Merlini and Ystorya Trystan. As such, there can be little doubt of its location..”

The eighth battle was at the fort called Guinnion

The location of Guinnion has eluded all researchers to this point with no satisfactory candidate being found to satisfy etymological arguments. In this regard Venonae / Vennonae/Vennonis has been overlooked. Standing at an important strategic Roman crossroads twelve miles south of Ratae (Leicester) it would make sense for the Saxons to hold this fort or small town at the crossroads of Watling street and the Fosse Way. In the context of Arthur's battles so far (other than Caledonian) it would also make sense as Arthur would be heading along the Fosse Way south, passing through Ratae and the forest and then onto Vennonis. Vennonis itself appears to mean the settlement in the woods, having the same root as Venedotia, a name which became Guinet and then Gwynedd. In a similar way Vennonis could become Guinnion negating any need for the name to derive from Brittonic *uindion-, 'white'. Christopher Gwinn on the Facebook king Arthur group has suggsted the etymology might work in this way: 

"Assuming that the name is rendered correctly in the sources, Uenonis would give Old Welsh *Guenon, while Uēnonis (with a long -e-) would give OW *Guoinon or *Guuinon. Whether or not this could be corrupted into Guinnion is a matter of conjecture, but I would lean towards no; however, *Guuinon, with all its minims, would be the most susceptible to corruption into Guinnion (so, it's not impossible).."

Occupation of Vennonae is known all the way up to the beginning of the fifth century due to archaeological coin evidence of the emperor Honorius, suggesting there was continued fifth century occupation. This would add a seventh battle to the region of Flavia Caesariensis. 

 ..and in it Arthur carried the image of the holy Mary, the everlasting Virgin, on his shield, and the heathen were put to flight on that day, and there was great slaughter upon them, through the power of Jesus Christ and the power of the holy Virgin Mary, his mother..

The addition of the religious aspects of Arthur carrying an image of the virgin Mary in this battle dates these additional words to a period after the beginning of the seventh century as the cult of Mary was not evident in Britain or Ireland before this time. The addition of the word 'Pagani' here also suggests a later date as this word was used of the Vikings, so a late eighth to early ninth century date for this addition may be more applicable. In fact it may have been added therefore when the HB was written. 

The ninth battle was fought in the city of the Legion.

Matthews sums up the evidence :

“The name is pure Latin and means 'city of the legion‘, from which it has been identified with the legionum urbis/ciuitatem legionum and carlegion of Gildas and Bede (de Excidio Britanniae 10; Historia Ecclesiastica II.2), the cair legion of Historia Brittonum §66a and the urbis legion/cair legion of the Annales Cambrię. The possibility that the text originally contained an Old Welsh version, *cair legion, should not be dismissed automatically, although it is found only in the Vatican recension....Once again, a relatively high level of confidence can be expressed in an identification with Chester.”

This place can be no other than Chester and in the context of the eighth to ninth century even more so. This ads then an eighth battle to the region of Flavia Caesariensis and we can now map them as described. From this map you can see the extent of Arthur's core battles. Matthews' asserts that the carlegion of Gildas is indeed Chester and not Caerleon.

Arthurs core battles in Caesariensis. Red areas are the Saxon cemeteries /Settlements

The tenth battle was fought on the shore of the river called traith Tribruit.

The name comes from Middle Welsh, tryfrwyd, meaning 'pierced through', and consists of *tri- 'through, very, excessive‘, compounded with Old Welsh *bruit, 'pierced, broken' (Jackson 1945,51). Unfortunately the location of this battle has eluded everyone but a northern location was favoured until Koch's input. Matthews comments:

“John Koch (1997, 178) has identified the vanawyt of Y Gododdin line 35 with the manawid of Pa Gur, yv y Porthaur? who brought back the broken spear from Traith Tribruit, and suggests that his kingdom lay in the east, in what is now England. If this be accepted, there is no longer any reason to insist that traith tribruit lay in Y Gogledd. This leaves the identification of the battle site completely open, although it is clear that the name was well known in early Welsh saga..”

So interestingly Tribruit may lie in Eastern England and again this battle is associated with Welsh myth. Placing it in Flavia Caesariensis though has proven to be difficult. Perhaps the Trent is indicated but there is not enough evidence to locate this battle. It may be another battle that Arthur acquired when the poem or battle list was being formed.

The eleventh battle was at the mount/ain called Breguoin, that is cat Bregion.

The usual place of this battle is said to be Agned and Agned would be a good suggestion for the rhyming scheme. Agned is usally placed in the north but Matthews suggests a corruption from 'breguoin, id' to Agned which has some merit. Whether this holds up is not as yet known but either way the battle is said to be in the north at Bremenium. Matthews comments :

“the name is clearly the same as that of the Roman auxiliary fort of Bremenium at High Rochester, Northumberland (Jackson 1959, 4). This was also the scene of a battle, known as kat gellawr brewyn, 'the battle of the cells of *Bremenio-‘, attributed to Urien of Rheged by the poet of Ardwyre Reget, ryssed rieu”

This battle then by consensus must be outside of Flavia Caesariensis and in the north and again may have been accrued by Arthur. It's clear then that the three battles that cannot be placed within Flavia Caesariensis all have associations with battles not originally attributed to Arthur in Welsh myth – Caledonia with Merlin, Tribruit with Manawid and Agned/Bregion with Urien. Bassas might also be added to this list with its previous association with Cynddylan  This leaves the final Battle which can also be placed within Flavia Caesariensis.

The twelfth battle was on Mount Badon in which there fell in one charge by Arthur 940 men and no one laid them low save he alone and he was victorious in all his battles.

Where Badon took place has eluded all comers but placing it into the context of Flavia Caesariensis would appear sensible and Green, favouring a Lincolnshire basis for the battles, places Badon at Baumber but I think this is untenable as four of the battles are already placed around Lincolnshire if not five. The Saxons of the upper Thames valley (later known as the Gewisse) rebelling and taking Cirencester would tactically be a sound acquisition, giving access as it does to Wales and the south west. There were many hill forts in this region. It was originally part of the territory of the Dobunni otherwise known as the Bodunni. One hillfort was in the area of Baunton near Cirencester, deriving from 'Baudintune' mentioned in the Doomsday book. 'tune' is the Anglo Saxon termination, later 'ton' for town. 'Baun' then derives from 'Baudin'. Some suggest this may derive from an Anglo Saxon person called Badd or even Bald for some obscure reasoning that eludes me but an original possibility from Britonnic 'Baud-din' , 'victorius hill' may be acceptable. This location may agree with the general medieval beliefs that the battle took place towards Bath, which is only a fairly short distance southwards. This then would be the ninth battle placed in the region of Flavia Caesariensis.

Conclusions.

Matthews is correct in placing the context of Arthur's battles in Flavia Caesariensis. When looked at with the placement of Anglo Saxon settlements and the Roman road system it all becomes evident that whosoever wrote the battle list was certainly locating the battles in the region that Gildas defined. Only half that region though, the rest appears to have already been secured by Ambrosius if we naturally follow the data the battle list is telling us. Gildas though wasn't thinking in terms of Roman Provinces, probably long forgotten by his time. 

When the Superbus Tyrannus was appointed in the 460's there was still a council in place to decide his appointment and Britain was Roman enough to send an army under Riothamus to help the Romans against Euric in around 469. Does this suggest that Britain still had some provincial system in place at that time? It is not essential to this thesis that they did as the rebellion region appears defined by Gildas and they just happen to fall into the old province of Flavia Caesariensis as defined in these maps.

So where was Arthur based? If the first battle at the Glen in southern Lincolnshire is correct then Arthur's base may have been in Camulodunum, Colchester. Some have suggested Wroxeter at the opposite end of Flavia Caesariensis , a possibility as well if the battles are not in the correct order. Wroxeter and Chester were in the tribal territory of the Cornovi. If the association of Arthur with Cornwall is a dim remembering of this association with the Cornovi of Shropshire we may have his area of origin. All of the battles then that can be located are in Flavia Caesariensis apart from the three or four that appear to be battles acquired by Arthur from Welsh myth and were added to the core of the battle list to give it a rhyming scheme. 

If we follow the order of the battle list with the core battles we can see that Arthur first attacked the Saxons on the Glein as he moved north up Ermine Street towards Lincoln. Saxons fleeing this advance would have approached Lindsey and joined with their compatriots there, necessitating another four battles around Lindsey to finally defeat the combined Saxon forces and push them back beyond Lincoln. As indicated above there may have been separate campaigns over a number of years. One easterly around Lincolnshire. Then the following one towards the midlands and westerly.

Arthur then headed down the Foss way passing through Ratae and the great midlands forest, a possible location for the battle of the Caledonian wood, and then onto the battle at Guinnion Fort at Vennonis. From here he took the north west Watling Street towards Wroxeter and probably picking up reinforcements then attacked the Saxons who guarded the approaches to Chester at Bassas and then onto Chester itself to dislodge the Saxons there. Wintering in the west and in third campaign Arthur heads South.  

With Chester defeated most of what was Flavia Caesariensis was now in British hands and so finally Arthur headed back down the Watling street and onto the Fosse way south to approach the final battle at the Badonic mount near Cirencester. According to Gildas this brought a lasting peace to southern and central Britain until the second half of the sixth century when the plague reduced the Britons to such a state that the Saxons were once more able to expand their influence. These campaigns must have taken place over a few years with other minor battles not mentioned.

In the context of late fifth and early sixth century Britain Arthur's eight or nine core battles look surprisingly authentic, tactically well placed and logically viable. Are we then looking at a genuine core battle list remembered from the sixth to seventh centuries and ultimately derived from battles in the fifth to early sixth century?  My work on Mac Erca has shown that battles were easily accrued and their number even doubled when legend and pseudo-history takes over. That Arthur may have therefore acquired battles from Welsh legend should not be surprising. If four of the battles were obtained from Welsh legend to help the rhyming and increase the list of battles then Bassas was brought in to rhyme with Dubglas/Linnuis, Celidon with Guinnion, Agned with Tribruit?. The rhyming scheme then should like this this...

1.......Glein
2-4....Dubglas
6.......Bassas
7.......Celidon
8.......Guinnion
10.....Tribruit
11.....Agned
9.......Legionis
12.....Badonis

Only Agned and Tribruit appear to be a difficult rhyme showing perhaps that they were both added to the battle list with the others to bring the number to twelve. If Agned were originally Bregion it would spoil the rhyming even more (although Bregion would rhyme well with Guinnion). It's not unusual for the first line of a Welsh poem not to rhyme. This may also indicate that Linnuis may have been an additional gloss as such on the battles of the river Dubglas. Legionis is now in its correct place before Badonis, suggesting again that both Agned and Tribruit were not original to the scheme. 

The original Latin rhyming Scheme

Having at least 4-7 of the battle names ending in 'is' could though lead us onto the original Latin rhyming scheme. These are Linnuis, Celedonis, Legionis and Badonis. We could suggest an earlier Glenis for Glein. Bassas stands out then as a sore thumb and certain addition. Guinnion could originally be Guinonis from Venonis. For 'Tribruit' we might be able to suggest Tribrutis and for 'Bregion' Bremenis but these are problematical so again were probably 'Nennian' additions. The battle of Silva Celidonis though does fit the rhyming scheme and so may have been an original early accrued battle or it was in the midlands. We are again then left with a core of nine original battles. In an earlier Latinised orthography the names and rhyming scheme could be thus : 

1..... fluminis quod dicitur glenis

2-5..... et est in regione linnuis. 
6...... fuit bellum in silua celidonis, 
7......fuit bellum in castello guinnonis,

8......est in urbe legionis. 

9......fuit bellum in monte badonis,

Brief references and reading

Dark K. R. A Sub-Roman Re-Defence of Hadrian's Wall? Britannia, Vol. 23 (1992), pp. 111-120

Dumville, David. Histories and Pseudo Histories of the Insular Middle Ages (Variorum Collected Studies), 1990

Fitzpatrick-Matthews, Keith . The ‘Arthurian battle list’ of the Historia Brittonum, 2014?

Green, T. Concepts of Arthur. Stroud: Tempus, 2013.

                Britons and the Anglo-Saxons Lincolnshire AD 400-600, The History of Lincolnshire  Committee 2012.

Halsall, Guy. Worlds of Arthur: Facts and Fictions of the Dark Ages, OUP Oxford, 2013.

Jackson, K H. Once again Arthur‘s battles. Modern Philology 93, 44-57, 1945

Lane, Alan. Wroxeter and the end of Roman Britain, Antiquity Publications, 2103.

Ashley, Mike, A Brief History of King Arthur. Constable and Robinson 2010.

Mommsen, T Historia Brittonum cum additamentis Nennii. In: Mommsen, T ed.
Monumenta Germaniae Historia Auctorum Antiquissimum XIII Chronicorum Minorum III. Berlin:
Weidmann, 111-222 1898

Wiseman, H M The derivation of the date of the Badon entry in the Annales Cambriae
from Bede and Gildas. Parergon 17, 1-10, 2000

  

Copyright Dane Pestano 2014.

King Arthur in Irish Pseudo-Historical Tradition -Full book

.and the power and strength of Britain was destroyed after him

I have made my book available to all now as a downloadable PDF. Enjoy the story of the Irish Arthur in all his glory, at the correct time in history and in all the right places!

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Here is the Preface, without the References.

The story of Arthur

The great King Arthur, defeater of Saxons, Picts and Scots, conqueror of Britain, Ireland, Scotland, Denmark, Gaul and the Orkneys needs no introduction being probably the most famous ancient Briton of all time, but as we will be comparing his life with that of certain Irish legends a brief summary of what is known of his life and their sources would be useful.

     Arthur first appears through the mists of time in the early ninth century work the Historia Brittonum (HB) – the History of the Britons - composed around 829AD. This work was an accumulation of various sources bundled together and rewritten to form a whole narrative history. The work incorporates material concerning a chronology of ancient British events; material on Vortigern, Ambrosius Aurelianus, St.Germanus and St.Patrick, Arthur’s battles, Northern British events, the mirablilia and Saxon genealogies.

      In this work then, Arthur’s twelve battles are mentioned for the first time, where he is said to have defeated the Anglo Saxons and won every battle including the famous battle of Badon hill. We also get a glimpse of the mythology that has begun to surround him as he became associated with the landscape due to the similarity of his name to various rock formations. Therefore, he is associated with a Neolithic tomb in Ercing in Wales and to another stone associated with a giant mythical dog of his called Cabal.

     In the HB Arthur is merely called in Latin a dux bellorum or miles, the former meaning a ‘general or leader of battle’ and the latter a ‘soldier’ or ‘mounted warrior’. From this, it has been deduced that he may have been of lower rank than the kings of the Britons he fought for, but this may not be the case. Medieval scribes in copying ancient manuscripts often changed the title of Rex (king) to that of Dux (General) or Comes (Count) as they didn’t recognise the status of the petty king. This was due to the time in which they wrote, not understanding that in the fifth and sixth centuries the whole country would have been full of petty kings and their kingdoms, with several kings occupying small areas that were later amalgamated under one sovereignty. The poetic epithet of dux bellorum (leader of battles) itself was a common enough one in Welsh poetry, suggesting, as many scholars have done, that the Arthur battle list derived from a Welsh poem of the seventh or eighth centuries. The HB was appended to over many years, with some more information on Arthur included, such as glosses to the main work. These made more of his Christian links and offered some puzzling comments concerning his wayward youth. The Irish then wrote their own vernacular version of the HB in the mid eleventh century.

      The next we hear of Arthur is in the tenth century poem The Gododdin[. This poem concerning events of Britons living in what is now southern Scotland around Edinburgh compared one of their heroes Gwawrddur to Arthur, implying that he was not as great as Arthur even though he could kill 300 men. This comparison is based on the battle list in the HB as Arthur was said to be able to kill 960 men in one assault. The poem also shows many more borrowings from the HB so can be dated in its Arthurian form sometime after the HB became widely read. Therefore, for this part a tenth century date seems appropriate even though the manuscript we have now only dates from the thirteenth century. The poem refers to a battle that took place in Scotland in the late sixth century called Catraeth, which is mentioned in the Irish annals as having taken place in 596AD against Saxons incursions into far northern Britain.  Also in the tenth century, we find Arthur mentioned in the Welsh Annals as having fought at Badon in the year 516 and having died in 537 in battle, at the same time as one Medraut (Mordred) but it is possible these are later interpolations to the annals.

       Arthur then reappears next in possibly an early eleventh century text called Vita Goeznovius (circa 1016 but could be later) which has taken material from a continental version of the HB, which detailed his twelve battles against the Saxons and then mentions for the first time his conquest of Gaul and his kingship.

     In around 1120 a Flemish cleric called Lambert of St Omer, in a work entitled Liber Floridus mentions a palace of Arthur situated in Pictland, “built with marvelous art and variety, in which the history of all his exploits and wars are to be seen in sculpture”. These sculptures are most likely those at the Pictish capital Forteviot as opposed to the medieval belief that Arthurs Oven near the river Carron is meant. Soon after this in 1125, William of Malmesbury in the Gesta Regum Anglorum mentions Arthur where he says that Arthur was the subject of “fantastic tales told by the Bretons”. This is then followed by the most famous or infamous work to mention Arthur, the History of the Kings of Britain written by Geoffrey of Monmouth in about 1139. This expands on the legends of Arthur and Geoffrey uses him as a figurehead to appease the British and English who had recently been conquered by the Normans with Breton help. He does this by linking Arthur to Breton descent and envisages the Bretons playing a major role in the conquest of the Saxons as they did in helping the Normans of William the Conqueror defeat Harold.

     Also in this century are other works from the Welsh such as Culhwch and Olwen and other fairy tales that mention Arthur from a group of works now called the Mabinogian.  It was Geoffrey’s work though which was to inspire the later romance tales of Arthur, including as it does mention of Merlin and Mordred and others that became linked with Arthurian legend. It is in this work that Arthur was given a father ‘Uther’, whose deeds are merely a mirror of Arthur’s. It is here we find his wife for the first time, Guinevere, his famous sword Caliburnus, later Excalibur, his extended battles against the Saxons ( in various places Geoffrey assumes they took place) an expanded version of Arthur’s conquest of Gaul, southern Scotland and Ireland, his non death as he sails away to Avalon to heal his wounds and much more.

     From here on in Geoffrey’s work found its way to the continent and the French Romance writers picked up the story and incorporated their own localised legends of Arthur mixed with Greek mythology to create a chivalric Arthur and his knights, born to uphold late medieval moral values and take part in the search for the Holy Grail. Other later writers then incorporated the Round Table to accommodate Arthurs many knights in equal sitting and the legend of Arthur was complete.

     Arthur then, after the death of Uther , as a lad of fifteen, was chosen to lead the Britons after pulling a sword from a stone, signifying his right to rule. He moved against the Saxons, Irish and Picts fighting twelve battles with the help of his Breton allies culminating in the great battle of Badon where the Saxons were finally defeated and peace brought to Britain. He is given Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake to help in his wars. He was then threatened by the king of Gaul who called for the Britons to give tribute to the Romans as they had done in the past. This Arthur refused and set out to conquer Gaul instead, as many Romano British emperors had done in the past. He was successful in this and then married Guinevere and thought all was well but in a second campaign to Gaul he left his foster son Mordred in control of Britain. Mordred wanted the crown for himself so traitorously enrolled the help of the Saxons to usurp power. At this Arthur returned from his campaigns and fought against Mordred, which culminated in the great battle of Camlann in 537 where Arthur killed Mordred; but Arthur, mortally wounded, was carried off to the isle of Avalon. Arthur was now said to sleep in a cave waiting to return to save the Britons once more in their hour of need. Unfortunately, to stop this idea that the Britons had for salvation from the Norman conquest, the Norman King of England decided to orchestrate the finding of ‘Arthurs’ bones buried under Glastonbury Tor, complete with fake inscription. Arthur was now never to return but this did not stop his legends growing to even greater heights over the centuries.

     The biggest question for those seeking Arthur now is did he actually exist? From a scholarly viewpoint the evidence is scant to say the least, his name a puzzle to etymologists and contemporary evidence for his very existence is missing. Many have sought to find the original Arthur on whom these legends have grown but no one has been able to place their person in the right time frame. Instead we have the Roman - Lucius Artorius Castus from the second century AD who actually fought against the Britons as a suggestion; or Riothamus a fifth century British leader who fought in 470AD against the Goths in Gaul and lost ; or Artuir Mac Aedan an insignificant Arthur of Irish descent who died in the late sixth or early seventh century, as well as others such as Arthur Ap Pedr, again of the seventh century.

     What no one has been able to do is find legends concerning an Arthur like person that fits him into his correct time frame of the late fifth to the mid sixth century; that has him fight the Saxons, Irish and Picts and assume power over them all including the Danes and the Orkneys. That has him conquer the Gauls twice, has a wife Guinevere, has him raised by a druid, has special weapons and is not initially a king of the Britons. Not only this, but no one has been able to link such a person to an historical king living in the sixth century whose name could represent the name Arthur. What this current work sets out to do is present exactly those requirements in the form of annals and legends hidden for hundreds of years, some still awaiting translation. This material is brand new to the subject of Arthuriana and has never been presented before. This work therefore is an introduction to Arthuriana of this fascinating and rather brutal character of Irish history, pseudo-history and mythology. I will start first with an introduction to the character and to the sources in which he appears. I will then discuss his name, family and background and then move onto his battles. After this the main story of his life and deeds will then be presented as a narrative work.

 

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