Heavenfield

Thinking of yesterday’s post on Hengest and Horsa and the Armes Prydain Fawr (The Great Prophecy of Britain), it reminded me that up through the writing of the prophecy/poem the once and future king, the savior of the Britons was not Arthur but a little known pair of hero kings, Cadwaladr and Cynan. How many of you have ever heard of Cadwaladr and Cynan?

We can be reasonably sure that Cadwaladr was King of Gwynedd and reputed to be the son of Cadwallon (d. 634) who was slain by Oswald at Denisesburna (the morning after the Heavenfield events). You can see the fullest surviving development of his legend in the last chapter of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain. Indeed, Geoffrey ends with Cadwaladr being the once and future king who must return to return Britain to the Britons!

The medieval Welsh may have known exactly who Cynan was but he is a bit of a mystery to us because Cynan is just such a popular Welsh name. There are probably a dozen kings named Cynan before the time of Aethelstan. It is generally believed that he is Cynan Garwen of Powys. He is the father of Selyf Battle Serpent who was the person of the week a while back.

It would also fit that these two great kings would each represent a major Welsh kingdom; some of the rare medieval unity that the Armes Prydain Fawr is trying to generate against the English.

So what does the Prophecy actually say about them?

The armies of Cadwaladr, gloriously they will come, the Welsh will arise, they will do battle. They have sought out inevitable death. At the end of their taxes they will know death. Others, who were wise enough to bide their time, have struck. For ever and ever, they will not raise their taxes. (lines 81-86)

In the forest, in the field, in the vale, on the hill, a candle in the darkness walks with us. Cynan is at the head of the troop in every attack, the English sing a song of woe before the Britons. Cadwaladr is a spear at the side of his men, having picked them with wisdom. … (lines 87-92)

As for Cynan and Cadwaladr, glorious in their armies, the fate of which is destined for their part to be celebrated forever. Two steadfast rulers, whose counsel is wise. Two tramplers on the English in God’s name. Two generous men, two gift-giving cattle-raiders. Two brave, ready men, of one fate, of one faith. Two guardians of Britain, splendid armies. Two bears, daily battle does not put them to shame. (lines 163-170)

The men of Wessex in every fleet, there will be conflict, and an alliance of Cynan with his comrades. The heathens will not be called warriors, but rather slaves of Cadwaladr and his traders. (lines 181-184)

And you thought you hated the taxman! It occurs to me that we know so little of seventh century Wales history, it is possible that Cynan was a contemporary ruler of Powys. He seems subordinate to Cadwaladr, doing Cadwaladr’s bidding in alliance. According to the Historia Brittonum (admittedly a product of Gwynedd), Cadwaladr was an overking of Wales, as his father had been. There may have been a remembrance that under Cynan Garwen and his son Selyf, and then in the next generation under Cadwallon and his son Cadwaladr, the kingdoms of Powys and Gwynedd were in alliance against the English and did great things. No matter what you think of Cadwallon, killing three Northumbrian kings and driving as far north as Hadrian’s wall was quite an accomplishment. It is also possible that Powys under Cynan and Selyf had been major power brokers in the sixth century until that power was broken by Aethelfrith at Chester. It may also explain why Aethelfrith struck at out-of-the-way Chester.

I am focusing more on Cadwaladr because in time Cynan drops away as one who will return. This narrowing to one great king occurs elsewhere also, most notably in Arthur himself. It is interesting to note that as with other hero stories, indeed with Hengest and Horsa, that the once and future kings were also a duo — Cynan and Cadwaladr. In this case, brother kings, bound in alliance and not blood.

As late as Geoffrey of Monmouth, Cadwaladr’s legend was quite strong. It makes up the last half of the last book of the History of the Kings of Britain. One of the innovations that survives best in Geoffrey’s work (though I’m not convinced that he originated it) is the conflation of Cadwaladr’s exile with the pilgrimage of Caedwalla of Wessex to Rome. They both were exact contemporaries and their obits sometimes get mixed up. Geoffrey has an angel tell Cadwaladr that he is destined to die in Rome and be numbered among the blessed (hence his name Cadwaladr the Blessed) and that the Britons will not rule in Britain again until his relics and those of the other saints (of Brittany?) are discovered and brought back to their homeland.

The influence of the poem the Armes Prydain Fawr was greater than you might imagine. Even at the end of Geoffrey’s History of the Kings of Britain, reference again is made to Aethelstan. It may have also supported the notion of St David as the patron saint of Wales, but that is a topic for another day.

References:

G.R. Issac. “Armes Prydain Fawr and St David” p. 161-181 (including translation) in St David of Wales: Cult, Church, and Nation. Edited by JW Evans and JM Wooding. Boydell, 2007.

Goeffrey of Monmouth. History of the Kings of Britain.

Every good medieval saint must have some kind of interesting vision or birth miracle associated with his or her birth, and St David of Wales is no exception. Today, we return to folklore Friday with a curious tale that begins the Life of St. David:

“One time, his father Sanctus (by merits and by name), who enjoyed sovereignty over the people of Ceredig … heard the voice of angelic prophecy in a dream: “When you wake up tomorrow, you will go hunting; having killed a stag near the river, you will find there beside the river Teifi three gifts: namely, the stag that you will pursue, a fish, and a swarm of bees situated in a tree, in a place called Llyn Henllan. You should set aside, out of these tree, the honeycomb, and a portion of the fish and the stag; and you should deliver them to the monastery of Meugan, keeping them for the son who is going to be born to you.” (To this day called the Monastery of the Deposit.) These gifts foretell his life. The honeycomb proclaims his wisdom, for just as honey is in the wax, so he he has understood the spiritual meaning of a literal statement. The fish signifies his watery life, for as the fish lives by water, so does he; rejecting wine and liquor and everything that can inebriate, he has led a blessed life for God on just bread and water; because of this he is surnamed David ‘of the watery life’. The stag signifies dominion over the ancient serpent, for just as the stag desires a spring of water when it has grazed on despoiled snakes, and having gained strength is renewed as if with youth, so he is established on the heights with stags’ feet, despoiling the human race’s ancient serpent of his power to harm him. Choosing the font of life by the constant flow of tears, renewed from day to day, he made progress, so that in the name of the Holy Trinity, he would have the knowledge of salvation <and> by the purer food the power of holding dominion against demons.” (Sharpe and Davies, p. 109, 111 “Rhygyfarch’s Life of St David” in St David of Wales: Cult, Church, and Nation, Ed. JW Evans and JM Wooding, Boydell, 2007)

Here we see the beginnings of St David’s association with water. His symbol the leek only grows in every watery areas. Contrary to what the life says, David is usually said to have lived on leeks, bread and water only. The leek is a member of the onion family. I grew up calling them ‘green onions’, and they grew wild in my area of the Mississippi River floodplain. The leek has long been a symbol of Welsh nationality and the wearing of a leek associated with St David. So if you wondered why Prince Charles was wearing an onion on his lapel in interviews last week about Prince Harry’s early return from Afghanistan, now you know; it was St David’s day and of course, as the Prince of Wales, Charles was wearing his leek.

There is also the interesting use of psalm 41/42 and 17/18 on stags. I don’t quite understand Sharpe and Davies note 9 that “the English, Psalm 42.1 ‘As a hart longs for flowing streams’, is not present in the Latin, sicut areola praeparata ad inrigationes aquarum“. No Rhydyfarch doesn’t use these words because they are from Jerome’s Hebraicum, not the more popular Gallican psalter. Rhygyfarch uses “sicut enim ceruus, exploiatis serpentibus pastus, fontem aque desiderans…”, which I still think is a reference but not quote of psalm 42.1. I’ve discussed snake eating deer before here and the early medieval psalter version of Ps. 41/42 here. This is the first place I have seen though where the snakes (or the water?) are supposed to renew the life of the deer.

The folklore element in the story is given away by the claim that the monastery that received Sant’s items is still called the “Monastery of the Deposit” to this day. It is really kind of a strange piece of folklore, but note that it is again preserved in triad form. Sant leaves not one thing but three items for his son that prophecy his life.

Ironically, David’s father “Sanctus” goes on to beget David by raping a nun named Nonnita (St Non). Of course, this is the only way that anyone as saintly as Nonnita/Non would ever have sex.

“And the king came across a nun named Nonnita, who was a virgin, and exceedingly beautiful girl and modest. Lusting after her, he raped her, and she conceived his son, the holy David. Neither before nor after did she know a man, but continuing steadfastly in chastity of mind and body, she led her life most devoutly; for, from the very time she conceived, she lived only on bread and water. In the place where she had been raped and conceived, there lies a small meadow, pleasant to behold, and filled with the gift of heavenly dew. In that field, at the moment she conceived, there appeared two large stones that had not been there before, one at her head and the other at her feet; for the land, rejoicing at his conception, opened its bosom, that it might both preserve the modesty of the girl and declare the significance of her offspring.” (Sharpe and Davies, p. 113)

Apart from the oddity of Welsh saints often being conceived by rape (also St Cadoc and if I recall correctly St Kentigern), there is a folklore element here in the stones that are known to people in the writers time (about the 11th century). Rhygyfarch is probably doing his best to put a positive spin on some ancient stones that the people associated with David but may have been pre-Christian.

These two stories are all of not the miracles and prophecies that surround David’s birth, but the others will have to wait for another post.

Ok, so folklore Friday is so late this week, its folklore Sunday…. but I was on a roll Friday with my psalter project….

No, no… good St. Aldhelm didn’t have any meetings with a lady at the ford, as much as he did like to sing from bridges apparently…not sure if this is folklore but close enough.

This loathly lady appears in Aldhelm’s On Virginity:

“At one time King Constantine searches certain presages and dreams for future events. For when he stretched out his royal limbs on a cushion of feathers, he saw by chance and discerned in his vision the figure of a wrinkled woman misshapen, with an aged appearance, who stooped and walked troubled with trembling limbs; what is more the cruel fate of death had already touched her. The illustrious priest Silvester ordered the king to revive the decrepit limbs of the little old woman so that she would once again enjoy life. Then, through prayers of the king, a beautiful young girl arose, the same whom the stern countenance of old age had previously disfigured and, although she formerly lay still as a corpse in the death of decay, nevertheless, she immediately becomes a girl lovely in appearance. When he beholds her, the rejoicing king crowns her with a wreath, binding her temples with a garland of glittering gold, and he adorns her with with a covering of a robe as well as with gowns. Like a queen she wears a ruby-colored necklace around her neck — such was the beautiful appearance of the virgin. Then Helen, in conversation, teaching the king what was to happen, explaining the future omens of the dream, said thus to the Augustan king: ‘She will always be yours and will escape the finally of death, except for the time when the last ages shall burn in dire flames’.

The emperor lay awake in his high bed, frightened, pale, and gripped by fear of the dream. he gathered together in a group sophists eloquent in their skill, who cast about philosophical speculations with windy words. …they produced nothing by their vapid haranguing, but rather fashioned many trivialities with their false words. Then the emperor, fasting, chastised his temperate body and for seven days declined rich foods, begging that the prophecy be revealed by the Lord Christ.

…when sleep took hold of his royal limbs in the bed, Silvester spoke to the emperor, revealing the mystery of these things: ‘The woman, whom you though was old in grim appearance, who disgusted you so much by her decrepit senility, is the city which men commonly call by the name Byzantium: henceforth let it be called Constantinople for all time. Indeed, in your name it will preform triumphs throughout all ages. In this city the once lofty heights of walls have grown old and now, fallen from their eminence, they lie strewn on the ground. The walls decay and battlements totter — decay shatters these things and old age destroys them. But I will order you to keep my commands: transported on the back of a hoofed animal through forlorn countryside, remember to carve a furrow with the tip of a standard. Thus riding through the land you shall push the flag-staff in your right hand, digging four furrows in a continuous line [ie the four sides of a rectangular plot], on which, having erected lofty towers of a fortress you shall renew the walls of the building with red brick. In it your offspring will reign and that of your grandchildren — as numerous offspring of your fathers have reigned — their offspring and the fathers of their fathers will be gathered in it.’ ” (Carmen de Virginitate, p. 116-117)

 

Strange little story to send to some nuns. Notice that Aldhelm says that Constantine ‘revived’ her with his prayers and she takes on the ‘beautiful appearance of a virgin’. Linking in with our previous folklore stories, we can imagine a story (or stories) something like this on Ida and Bearnoch of Bernicia, or perhaps his grandson Æthelfrith and his wife Bebba of Bebbanburgh.

Historically this the oldest surviving version of the loathly lady motif in the British Isles, both by its setting in the time of Constantine the Great and in the oldest surviving work. In her 1998 article on this episode, Jane Stevenson argued that Aldhelm was introducing an Irish sovereignty story into the legend of Constantine; indeed, inserting itself into the Greek Life of Sylvester which only survives from much later than Aldhelm’s work. Her argument is too complex to summarize here, so I recommend her work to you if you are interested in Constantine, Aldhelm, Greek texts, or Irish influence on the Anglo-Saxons.

~~~

Michael Lapidge and James Rosier, trans. (1985) Aldhelm: The Poetic Works. DS Brewer.

Jane Stevenson, (199 “Constantine, St Aldhelm and the Loathly Lady” p. 189-206 in Constantine: History, historiography and legend. Samuel Lieu and Dominic Montserrat, eds. London and New York: Routledge.

Continuing to flesh out the folklore ancestry of St Oswald from the Bonedd y Sant discussed last Friday takes us to his great grandfather Ida Great Knee. The Welsh author got him in the right generation, but made him the son of his brother and omits his father. Regardless, Ida was St. Oswald’s great grandfather and considered by Bede to be the founder of the Bernician royal dynasty, sometimes called the Idlings. Ida’s epithet does strangely refer to his role as a dynastic founder. The knee is considered to be symbolic of fertility and so great knee refers to great fertility, presumably refers to many children sitting on his knee. It might refer to a ceremony when kings in particular acknowledged paternity of their children. The Historia Brittonum (c 825) credits Ida with twelve sons, six by his queen Bearnoch and six by others.

Bearnoch is an interesting figure. She is only mentioned in the Historia Brittonum, where she is specifically called Ida’s queen and listed as the mother of six (out of twelve) of his sons. David Dumville and others seem confident that the figure Beornec, higher up in the pedigree, represents the land of Bernicia. If so, I see no reason why Bearnoch can’t be the feminine form of the same name. A woman representing the land, Bernicia, who is the mother of children of the dynastic founder might be the tiniest trace of the loathly lady motif. Ida’s relationship with a woman representing sovereignty over the land gives him the right to rule that land. Significantly, it also gives the descendants of her sons symbolic rights that the others would lack. There is reason to believe that the pedigree in the Historia Brittonum was constructed to support a man of otherwise unknown history at the end of the Bernician-Deiran pedigree section. He claimed descent from Ecgfrith son of Oswiu, which brings up all kinds of questions that will have to wait for another day.

The Bernician pedigree in the Historia Brittonum stands out as just plain odd primarily because it lists three sets of brothers and four queens. The four queens are Bearnoch (Ida’s queen), Bebba (Æthelfrith’s queen), and both of Oswiu’s queens, Rhienmellt and Eanflaed. This is the last generation and explains how the Bernician and Deiran genealogies fused to form a single Northumbrian genealogy. Oswiu’s queens are there for dynastic purposes. Bebba is listed because Bamburgh is named after her. (Bebba was the person of the week a while ago.) If I am correct, then Bearnoch gives them sovereignty over the land.

The three sets of brothers are also significant. Oswiu’s sons are the last of the pedigree. Up to c. 716, it was the Æthelfrithings were the royal family. The seven sons of Æthelfrith are were the essential kinship ties that defined the noble class. When Æthelfrith’s dynasty fails, by either lack of heirs or is edged out by their rivals, then a new dynastic founder is needed and it must be further back in history. Ida becomes that founder to whom all the various noble families claim linkage to justify their claims to the throne or even just to maintain their holdings. The fiction is needed because the tradition of a royal bloodline was so very strong. I think they probably also recognized that the royal bloodline (even if fictional) was necessary to limit the number of contenders for the throne. Otherwise English society would be a risk to devolving into a large number of feuding warlords where the kingdom was once again based on the military power of a single person as it was in the fifth to seventh century. The Æthelfrithings became the royal family because they were the first who were able to pass their areas of direct rule and hegemony between brothers and sons.

Ida’s twelve sons are symbolically greater than Æthelfriht’s seven sons. Seven usually represents completeness, the basis for the seven day week of creation. The twelve sons of Ida represent the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve disciples. This scheme probably didn’t come into being until the eighth century, not long after Bede cast the Northumbria as an English Israel. If Bede cast Æthelfrith as Saul, then Ida becomes Jacob. [Incidently, Oswiu is given three sons : Alchfrith, Ecgfrith and Æfwine, slighting the long reigning but possible bastard Aldfrith. Three is of course also a symbolic number.]

Ida is remembered as more than just the dynastic founder. He is credited as the first Bernican king. Bede dates the beginning of his twelve year reign to the year 547. Unfortunately, Bede doesn’t tell us any more about Ida, mentioning him only in the summary chronicle in the Ecclesiastical History. The Historia Brittonum adds that Ida added Bamburgh (called by its British name) to Bernicia and may list a British warlord named Outigern as the opponent of the English in Ida’s time. Outigern is otherwise unknown and really can’t be intended as Vortigern. (In Old Welsh the names are more distinctive.) The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle repeats the same pedigree as the Historia Brittonum and claims that Ida’s first built Bamburgh with a hedge and later a wall. This last part is complete fiction as Bamburgh was a British fortress before it was captured by the English. In fact as far as I know, the Bernicians were the only Anglo-Saxons to inhabit an hill fort in the sixth to seventh century. The English usually left British hillforts in captured territory abandoned. According to the Historia Brittonum, Ida was succeeded by three of his sons in succession: Adda, Æthelric (father of Æthelfrith) and Theodoric. One of these sons is probably the figure known in British poetry only as “the flamebearer”.

Interestingly, Ida Great Knee is also mentioned in the Welsh Triads. In triad 30, it is Ida who kills Gwrgi and Peredur sons of Eliffer of the Great Retinue when their retinue abandons them on the eve of battle at Caer Greu. The Annals Cambriae date their deaths to 580. As Bartrum notes, this does not fit with the reigns of Ida (d. 559) or his son Adda (d. 568). Peredur and Gwrgi were also reputed to have fought in the battle of Arderydd in the 573. Although these two dates seem reasonable, the pair may not be correctly placed in the annals.

The Historia Brittonum also gives the epithet Great Knee to Eata father of King Eadbert and Archbishop Egbert. This is probably a mistake due to the similarity between the names Ida and Eata, but it could also be because Eata was the father of both a long reigning king and the first Archbishop of York. Therefore his sons had a monopoly on secular and ecclesiastical power for about 20 years.

~~~

PC Bartrum, ed and trans. 1966. Early Welsh Genealogical Tracts. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.

PC Bartrum, 1993. A Welsh Classical Dictionary: People in History and Legend up to about AD 1000. National Library of Wales.

The Bonedd y Sant (Lineages of the Saints) survives from the early 13th century in multiple copies and is believed to have been compiled in 12th century Wales. An extensive and fanciful lineage of Oswald is one of the only Anglo-Saxon entries.

“[70] Osswallt ap Oswydd aelwyn ap Ydolorec vrenin [71] Eda Glynuawr ap Gwynbei drahawc ap Mwc Mawr Drevydd ap Offa kyllellvaw, vrenin Lloeg, y gwr a ymladdodd yn erbyn Arthvr gNgwaith Vadon.” (Bartrum,1966, p. 64)

My (loose) translation:

[St.] Oswald son of Oswiu Fair (Eye-)Brow son of Æthelric the King. [son of] Ida Great Knee son of Gwynbei the Arrogant son of Mwng of Great Towns son of Ossa Great Knife, King of England, the warlike man who contended with Arthur at the battle of Badon.

(ymladd = fight/fighter; erbyn= meet)

There is a general agreement that lineages 70 and 71 are supposed to be one lineage. There is some really warped similarity to the Historia Brittonum and Anglo-Saxon Genealogies that should read like this:

Oswald and Oswiu [sons of Æthelfrith Flexor] son of Æthelric [the King] son of Ida [Great Knee] son of [rec. Eoppa] son of Ossa [Great Knife]

These epithets are strongly attached to each of these figures in Old Welsh and Cambro-Latin literature.

Considering how strong Æthelfrith Flexor was in Welsh folklore, its surprising that he is omitted from the lineages, but I believe that that he and his father Æthelric were occasionally confused. Both are mentioned several times in the Welsh triads, but its odd that Æthelric who only ruled for 4 years when Bernicia was restricted to the territory immediately near Bamburgh would be so well known.

The error in making Oswald the son of his brother Oswiu is a fairly easy scribal error from a genealogy something like the Historia Brittonum which lists brothers in the terminal generation. In Old Welsh ’son of’ is sometimes abbreviated as “ap” from “map”, which is easy to confuse with “a” short for “and”. Bartrum notes that a late medieval poem by Cynddelw on St Tysilo that mentions the battle of Cogwy/Maserfelth and used “Osswallt vab Oswi Aelwyn”.

It appears that the author knew that some of these famous figures were part of St Oswald’s ancestry, but he also knew that with only these famous ones it was too short. With the addition of Gwynbei ap Mwc (inserted as a unit) the pedigree does get long enough to reach back to the Annals Cambriae’s date for the battle of Badon in 516.

Over the next several weeks, I’ll be discussing the folklore of these Bernician ancestors of St Oswald from Old Welsh literature in the folklore Friday posts. Incidentally, the Bernician kings are virtually the only English figures to have specific epithets in Welsh lore, even though Edwin and Penda are also well known.

PC Bartrum, ed and trans. 1966. Early Welsh Genealogical Tracts. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.

PC Bartrum, 1993. A Welsh Classical Dictionary: People in History and Legend up to about AD 1000. National Library of Wales.

Introducing a new feature… folklore Fridays, hopefully a lighthearted or whimsical way to spend your Friday. I’ll be blogging up to and through the holidays but if you’ll be off line through the holidays, have a Merry Christmas!

Since we are getting ready to celebrate a special birth next week, I’m going to start off with another otherworldly birth that comes up in Welsh Arthurian and ‘Men of the North’ lore (and in a mix-n-match sort of way in Marie de France).

Triad 70: The Three Blessed Womb-fuls of the Isle of Britain.

1. Urien and Eurddel, twins of Cynfarch the Old and Nevyn daughter of Brychan
2. Owain son of Urien and his sister Morwyd, twins of Modron daughter of Avallach
3. Gwrgi and Peredur and Ceindrech Wing-head, children of Eliffer of the Great Retinue and Eurddel daughter of Cynfarch. (Koch, p. 349)

So here we have a paraphrase of triad 70 that outlines the family of Urien Rheged — his sister and parents, his children, and his nephews and niece. Eliffer of the Great Retinue is associated with the city of York under British rule. The pregnancies are signaled as unusual by the three sets of twins, each of a boy and a girl. The last triplets are really more like twins because “Peredur and Gwrgi” are always together in Welsh lore. The Arthurian figure Perceval is linked to this Peredur.

Urien Rheged’s children are the product of a Loathy Lady motif, though she isn’t said to be ugly and its been relocated to Wales.

“In Denbighshire [North Wales] there is a parish called Llanverrys, and it is there that one will fine Ryd-y-gyfarthfa [Ford of the Barking]. And in former times, the dogs from the whole country used to come to that ford to bark, and no what dared to go to see what was the matter until Urien Reged came. And when he came to the bank of the ford, he saw nothing but a young woman washing. And then the dogs ceased their barking. And Urien grabbed hold of the girl, and he had sexual intercourse with her [this may be meant as rape, but the verb is somewhat ambiguous].

And then she said, ‘God’s blessing on the feet that brought you here.’

‘Why?’ said he.

‘Because I was fated to wash here until I get a son by a Christian. And I am the daughter of the king of Annwvyn [the Un-world] . Come here at the end of the year and you will get the boy.’

And so he came and he got the son and a daughter, none other than Owein son of Urien and Morfyd daughter of Urien.” (Koch, p. 348-349)

Koch notes that Urien’s mother Nevyn is the Old Welsh form of the Irish war-goddess Nemhain. Modron is the Celtic mother goddess who has a similar meeting with the future king ‘Parisi of Gaul’ 2400 years ago (Koch, p. 348). Modron is familiar Celtic goddess in northern Britain; Roman era altars to her have been found along Hadrian’s Wall. What is really important here is that Modron is usually said to be the mother of the Celtic divine son, Mabon, who is directly associated with Owain ap Urien in Welsh poetry. (See Mary Jones excellent encyclopedia on Mabon).

From the Book of Taliesin, ‘Tidings Have Come to Me from Kalchvynd*”:

“When [the army of] Erechwyd returned from the country of Cludwys [Strathclyde], no cow lowed for its calf. The [?] manifestation of Mabon from the other realm, [in] the battle where Owein fought for the cattle of his country. …

Whoever saw Mabon on his white-flanked ardent [steed], as men mingled, contending for Reget’s cattle, unless it were by means of wings that they flew, only as corpses, would they go from Mabon.

Of encounter, descent, and onset of battle in the realm of Mabon, the inexorable cleaver; when Owein fought to defend his father’s cattle, which washed shields of waxen hawthorn burst forth….

When the king, leader of chieftains [lit. 'dragons'], ordered battle…cattle for Mabon. In the encounter of [?]heroes, there were stiff red corpses, it was a joy which came to carrion crows. Men tell of it, after the [?] uproar of battle, no one escaped the shield of Owein. The broken shield of a fighter in the adversity of combat; he would not drive cattle without reddening faces….

…battle before great Owein, whose giving is great. Early in the morning, men fell fighting for land. Where Owein attacked for the sake of Erechwyd [part of Rheged] blessed land, he [?] secured his father’s battle-gains.” (Koch trans, p. 350-351).

The whole flowering of folklore may well come from the association of Owain ap Urien with the Celtic god Mabon. Owain’s father Urien died during the reign of Theodoric of Bernicia, who king lists place in the mid-570s. Owain’s brother Rhun is mentioned several times in the Historia Brittonum and may be related in some way to the baptism of Edwin of Deira in the 620s. Rhun’s granddaughter is believed to have been the first wife of King Oswiu of Bernicia/Northumbria. In general, Owain’s family was involved in fighting the establishment of the English kingdom of Bernicia and eventually marry into it.

*Kalchvynyd is a lost British kingdom mentioned several times in Old Welsh literature. It’s name means chalk or limestone mountain and is generally localized around the area of the Cotswolds or Chilterns in southern England. Here the poet is contrasting the ill tidings from battles in the south with their successes in the north.

Quotes from:

John T Koch (in collaboration with John Carey) The Celtic Heroic Age: Literary Sources for Ancient Celtic Europe and Early Ireland and Wales. Celtic Studies Publications, 1995.

Penda’s last campaign against Northumbria is one of the few scenes in Bede’s History where we can see Northumbrian propaganda exposed. At Penda’s siege of Oswiu in 655, Bede reports that Oswiu tried to offer a couple bribes to get out of the situation, first to Penda and then to God. Lets look at what Bede actually says:

“At length dire need compelled him to offer Penda an incalculable quantity of regalia and presents as a price of peace, on condition that he returned home and ceased his ruinous devastation of the provinces of his kingdom. But the treacherous king refused to consider his offer, and declared his intention of wiping out the entire nation from the highest to the humblest in the land. Accordingly Oswy turned for help to the mercy of God, who alone could save the land from its barbarous and godless enemy; and he bound himself with an oath, saying:’If the heathen refuses to accept our gifts, let us offer them to God.’ So he vowed that, if victorious, he would offer his daughter to God as a consecrated virgin and give twelve estates to build monasteries.” (Bede, Historia III:24, Farmer ed, p. 183)

It goes on to narrate Oswiu’s victory over Penda in the battle of Winwaed. Now the Historia Brittonum gives a different, garbled version.

“He slew Penda in the field of Gai, and now took place the slaughter of Gai Campi, and the kings of the Britons, who went out with Penda on the expedition as far as the city of Judeu*, were slain.

65. Then Oswy restored all the wealth, which was with him in the city, to Penda; who distributed it among the kings of the Britons, that is, Atbert Judeu. [Redistribution of Iudeu/Stirling] But Catgabail alone, king of Guenedot, rising up in the night, escaped together with his army, wherefore he was called Catgabail Catguommed. [Cadafael Battle Shierker)” (Historia Brittonum)

Ok, so the Historia Brittonum version is very garbled. I think this is mostly because the separate paragraphs have been copied/written to each make a separate point and there was little regard for putting them in the correct order. Paragraph 64 is a summary of Oswiu’s reign and it concludes with his victory over Penda and the slaughter of the British kings with Penda. That is fitting as it was Oswiu’s greatest achievement and responsible for all that followed after it.

I think the Cadafael paragraph is included so that King Merfyn (c. 825) could trash a rival as a battle shierker (Catguommed); it a pun on his name which means Battle-Prince (Cadafael) Battle Shirker (Catguommed) — sort of like Aethelred the Unred. I actually doubt that Cadafael abandoned Penda before a pending battle. Winwaed is usually placed somewhere in Elmet, and the Roman road toward Wales would have branched off before then, so it would have been natural for an army from Gwynedd to take the road over the mountains toward Chester rather than going down through the lowlands. Some of the lessor British warlords/’kings’ from say Powys may on the other hand have wished to stay with Penda as long as possible because they needed his support.

Normally, Bede’s version would trump all other versions, particularly from a text like the Historia Brittonum, but I just don’t buy it — the idea that Oswiu offered wealth turned down by Penda to God. It comes down to a couple of fundamental things:

1. You don’t crow about loot you don’t get! The Britons are bragging about the spoils they brought home. Note that Cadafael of Gwynedd and his army escaped from the battle and presumably brought their share of the loot home.
2. We are talking about completely different types of loot. Penda is being offered portable loot — gold, silver, jewels, and perhaps other portables as well, like livestock and slaves. Oswiu offers to God what Penda can’t carry away — land and his daughter (only if he defeats Penda). Livestock and slaves might have been just what slowed Penda’s army down enough that Oswiu could raise his army and catch up with them before they were inside Mercia.
3. The Annals Cambriae lists the death of Penda in 657 and in 658 “Oswy came and took plunder”. It could be that Oswy is just punishing the Britons for being allied with Penda (although he isn’t recorded as punishing other kings who came with Penda), or he could be trying to reclaim some or all of the loot that the Britons got home with. Reclaiming loot is particularly attractive if some of it had symbolic meaning.

Lets stop and consider what kind of immense loot Oswiu would have had to offer. Bamburgh and its kings had the accumulated wealth of kings Æthelfrith, Edwin, Cadwallon and Oswald. Æthelfrith, Edwin and Oswald had fallen on campaign away from home, so there was some hope that their wealth was passively taken by their successor. Cadwallon who had killed Edwin and taken Deira was killed by Oswald far from home and so Oswald likely reclaimed most of the Deiran wealth Cadwallon had taken from his camp. However, Aethelfrith, Edwin, and Cadwallon’s wealth had been immediately redistributed, Oswald had the ability by succession or conquest to collect it all at Bamburgh. Bede (HE III:16,17) also tells us that Penda had tried to capture Bamburgh rock before 651. Anglo-Saxons normally didn’t besiege fortresses, preferring open field battles. Consequently, Penda was unsuccessful in both the siege of Bamburgh in c. 650 and of Stirling in 655. Could Penda have been so persistent at trying to take the fortresses of Bernicia because they contained fabled wealth?

Getting back to Oswiu’s bribes, I don’t see any reason why Oswiu could not have tried both bribes. Paying off Penda to get him to leave and then not being able to stand the shame of it, mounting a rash attempt to catch up to Penda on his way home and ambush him. His offer to God stiffened his nerve to make such a rash assault. I’m sure afterwards Oswiu was convinced that had been God on his side; on paper it was a foolish attempt to take on Penda’s mighty army. Oethelwald’s refusal to take part in the battle, the early break up of Penda’s army, the flood swollen river, all turned in Oswiu’s favor and so he survived and died in his bed, an old man, undefeated.

As a side note, one of those 12 estates offered to God would have almost certainly been Whitby….so this story would have been preserved as part of Whitby’s foundation legend.

*Judeu/Iudeu has been identified with the site of Stirling castle. The city of Urbs Guidi may also be the same site. The evolution of the castle of Stirling has obliterated any early medieval archaeology that presumably lies under the current castle.