LKM: Cumbria-Galloway (Solway Firth)

Post-Roman Cumbria and Galloway The region of Cumbria and Galloway was the active zone for the 'Men of the North', famous in British poetry.  Many of the 'Men of the North' appear to have been located in old Roman ruins along Hadrian's Wall. All of the 'Men of the North', including the dynasty of Rheged,...

PW: Rhun ap Urien of Rheged

Rhun (Rum) ap Urien figures prominently in the Historia Brittonum, where he is mentioned three times. This suggests that he or his court may have supplied a source text for the Historia Brittonum. If Rheged was successfully integrated into Northumbria with its British aristocrasy or at least clerics largely intact, it is possible that Rheged...

Urien, Lord of Catraeth

I've been thinking today about the claim that Urien is Lord of Catraeth. Wherever Catraeth is doesn't matter for the moment. What has struck me as strange is that the British attacked Catraeth. The point of the battle of Catraeth was to take it away from its Lord, and the Britons lost. Other references to...

Folklore Fridays: The Meeting at the Ford

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...