Then Arthur FoughtTHE MATTER OF BRITAIN

378 – 634 A.D.

Howard M. Wiseman

Then Arthur Fought is a possible history centred on a possi-bly historical figure: Arthur, battle-leader of the dark-age (5th-6th century) Britons against the invading Anglo-Saxons. Writ-ten in the style of a medieval chronicle, its events span morethan 250 years, and most of Western Europe, all the while re-specting known history. Drawing upon hundreds of ancient andmedieval texts, Howard Wiseman mixes in his own inventionsto forge a unique conception of Arthur and his times. Care-fully annotated, Then Arthur Fought will appeal to anyone in-terested in dark-age history and legends, or in new frameworksfor Arthurian fiction. 422 pages, including Dramatis Personae,genealogies, notes, bibliography, and 20 maps.

——Then Arthur Fought is an extraordinary achievement. ...An absorbing introduction to the history and legendsof the period [and] ... a fascinating synthesis.

— from the Forewordby Patrick McCormack,author of the Albion trilogy.

——A long and lavishly detailed fictional fantasia on thekind of primary source we will never have for the Ageof Arthur. ... soaringly intelligent and, most unlikely ofall, hugely entertaining. It is a stunning achievement,enthusiastically recommended.

— Editor’s Choice reviewby Steve Donoghue,Indie Reviews Editor,Historical Novel Society.

.

Published by the authorvia Lulu Press, www.lulu.com(Raleigh, N. Carolina, U.S.A.)

.c� 2015, 2016 Howard M. Wiseman.

All rights reserved..

ISBN 978-1-326-41192-3 (colour; paperback & pdf)ISBN 978-1-326-41193-0 (b & w; paperback & pdf)

.www.lulu.com/spotlight/Vortimer

.

.1st edition: September 2015.2nd edition: October 2015 (minor rectifications and improvements).3rd edition: March 2016 (minor rectifications and significant improvements).

Contents

List of Figures x

Foreword, by Patrick McCormack xi

Preface, by the author xv

Introduction: history, literature, and this book xix

Dramatis Personae xxxi

Genealogies xxxix

I Gemitus Britannorum 1

Prologue: The Decline of Roman Britain 3

1 The Fall of Roman Britain (378–418) 11

2 Saint Germanus and Catellus (418–447) 31

3 Hengest and Vortigern (447–456) 49

4 Vortimer the High-King (456–472) 67

5 Ambrosius the Guletic (472–481) 85

6 Uther the Pendreic (481–501) 101

vii

viii CONTENTS

II Arthur, Dux Bellorum 115

7 The Rise of Arthur (501–517) 117

8 The Triumph of Arthur (517–523) 133

9 Arthur’s Gallic Expedition (523–531) 149

10 Arthur’s Gallic War (531–535) 167

11 The Clash of Empires (535–539) 193

12 The Fall of Arthur (539–542) 207

III Excidio et Conquestu 223

13 Arthur’s Successors (542–550) 225

14 Saxons and Franks Advance (550–577) 243

15 British Resistance Stiffens (577–593) 261

16 Æthelfrith, Scourge of God (593–617) 277

17 Cadwallon, the last Great King (617–634) 299

Epilogue: Lament for the Lost Lands 317

Notes II

List of Sources XIII

Valediction: the rest is history XXV

Bibliography of modern works XXXVII

Brief Descriptions L

Foreword, by Patrick McCormack

Then Arthur Fought is an extraordinary achievement.

Back in 1997, in the Note to my first Arthurian novel The Last Com-panion, I said that I didn’t believe one could ‘construct the kind ofnarrative history for the fifth and sixth centuries that one can expectfor the fifteenth or sixteenth.’ I still think that, but I also believe thatHoward Wiseman has come as close as anyone could, creating whathe calls a ‘quasihistory (a work with the appearance of a history, andnot actually falsifiable)’, a work that is certainly a narrative and quitepossibly a history.

To the best of my knowledge nothing quite like this has been at-tempted before. Then Arthur Fought is a chronicle history of sub-Roman Britain, from the time of Magnus Maximus, when Britain wasstill part of the Roman Empire, down to the death of Cadwallon ofGwynedd 250 years later.

It is to just 40 years in the middle, however, that the title refers. It istaken from the famous passage in the early ninth century History of theBritons attributed to Nennius: ‘Then Arthur fought against them [theSaxons] in those days with the Kings of the Britons, but he himself wasleader of battles.’ And indeed the legendary Arthur lies at the heart aswell as the middle of the book.

It begins in the traditional style with a description of the Island,then progresses quickly in Part I to the fall of Roman Britain and thearrival of the Saxons. This forms the background to the story of Arthurin Part II, while Part III deals with Arthur’s successors and the ruinand conquest of Britain as the balance of power passes irrevocablyinto the hands of the Anglo-Saxons.

xi

xii FOREWORD, BY PATRICK MCCORMACK

Thus, if you prefer something closer to an historical novel, youmay choose to go directly to Part II, which is entitled Arthur, Battle-Leader. But don’t be surprised if you find yourself drawn back intoreading Part I, and also forward into Part III.

[. . . snip . . . ]Wiseman treats his sources with the utmost respect.He has meticulously researched his subject, drawing upon a vastrange of material — more than 200 ancient and medieval texts,besides numerous modern works — and woven from them a coherentnarrative. As he says in his Introduction, there may well be ‘tensionremaining with the primary sources, or other relevant information.. . . But in my view the historical uncertainties for the relevant timesand places give enough elasticity for my work to be a possible history.’

[. . . snip . . . ]Our knowledge here is so uncertain that any interpretation and any

dates are tentative at best. But that is not the point. Wiseman does notclaim that in Then Arthur Fought he is giving us the one true version ofevents, or even the most likely. The only claim he makes is that he isgiving us the most felicitous version while respecting the sources.

For the general reader Howard Wiseman has produced an ab-sorbing introduction to the history and legends of the period; forthe historian a fascinating synthesis and ‘a possible history’; for thenovelist a quarry of ideas. But whatever our interests we can commitourselves to enjoying Then Arthur Fought knowing we are in safehistorical hands.

— Patrick McCormack,Devon, UK, 2015.

138 CHAPTER 8. THE TRIUMPH OF ARTHUR (517–523)

dered his army south into the lands of the East Saxons.[Arc]

AFTER Badon, none of the English, neither Angle nor Saxonnor Jute, dared to attack the Britons. The Saxons and West Juteshad fared worst, for they had contributed most to the campaign,and their lands were the most vulnerable to reconquest by theBritons.[Arc] But many hundreds of Britons had fallen at Badon,[Lay] and the Britons lacked the will to drive the English fromtheir settlements. So an agreement was reached between theBritons and the English, to partition Britain between them,[Gil]

under which all of the rulers of the English payed homage toArthur.[WoL]

The largest of the English Kingdoms was that of the Angles,under Cnebba. They were content with their status in Britain forthey were strong enough to be treated almost as equals by theBritons. And Arthur rewarded them for holding to their treaty,rather than joining with the Saxons and Jutes, by letting themkeep those parts of the East Saxon lands that they had occu-pied, around CambridgehC| and Ipswich.hI|[Arc] [ASC]6 The men ofKent were also content for they were too distant and too nu-merous to be subdued by the Britons. They were ruled by Oc-tha, whom Arthur released from prison when he promised torecognize Arthur as his Overlord.[GoM] But the other Kingdomslost their independence. Thus it was that, not long afterwards,Procopius, the famous historian of the Romans, observed thatBritain was inhabited by three very populous nations, each hav-ing one King over it: the Angles, the Frisians, and the Britons.[Pro] (For the Frisians and the Jutes were often equated, for rea-sons that have been related already.)

The Saxons and the West Jutes were obliged to support Britishgarrisons in forts on their lands, to make sure they could notrebel. Some of these forts had been built by Ambrosius Aure-

6Thus I explain the anomaly that [Arc] (cemeteries) unites these areas withthe Saxon cultural zone to the south, but when their political status is firstrecorded ([ASC] entries for the late 6th C), they belong to Anglian Kingdoms.

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lianus during his war with the English, and Arthur decreed thatall of them, old and new, should be known as the forts of Am-bros, since it had been his dream to recover all of Britain fromthe English. And the name of Ambros is still attached to manyof these places today, including Amesbury in the lands of theWest Jutes, Ambrosden in the lands of the Gewissae, Amberdenin the remaining lands of the East Saxons, and Amberstone, Am-berly and Ambersham in the lands of the South Saxons.[Top] Thehighest ranking Englishmen in these reconquered lands werenot permitted to use the title King, only that of Ealdorman. Therule of the South Saxons was divided amongst a few Ealdormen,[ASC] but the rule of Cerdic’s folk was given to his younger son,Creoda, in the year 519.[Hig][ASC]

7

ONE Saxon leader, however, was allowed to call himselfKing: Osfa of the East Saxons. Such was his charm that hehad become a great friend to Arthur while being held captive.The Britons could not pronounce his name easily, so they calledhim Osla and gave him the epithet ‘Gyllellfawr’ (‘Big-knife’).[Map][DoR][CaO] He earned this because, like all Saxon warriors, hecarried a seax, the long war-knife after which their tribe wasnamed,[CK] and because, alone amongst the Saxon Ealdormen, heclaimed descent from Seaxnet, the Saxon’s tribal god.[SG] And,alone amongst the English Counties, Essex still uses the seax,three-fold, on its coat of arms.[CK] Arthur allowed Osfa to callhimself King because Osfa had taken to addressing Arthur asCæser of the Welsh; that is, Emperor of the Romans.[Map]

From his time in Arthur’s court, Osfa even gained a promiseof marriage to a daughter of Arthur,[Map] Archfedl by name.[ByS]

[WT] [CaO]8 The wedding was to be held in Camulodunum (now7[Hig] says that Arthur gave Wessex to Cerdic in 519. Back-dating Creoda’s

accession to Cerdic’s death (518) would give the 16-year reign in the [ASC].8The Welsh recorded only one daughter of Arthur, in a late entry in [ByS]:

Archfedl, married to a certain ILawfrodedl Farchog. This name is completelyunlike that of Osfa, but in earlier [WT], ILawfrodedl Farfog (presumably thesame individual, appearing also in Arthur’s court in [CaO]), owns one of the

140 CHAPTER 8. THE TRIUMPH OF ARTHUR (517–523)

Colchester), called CamulodhC| for short,[AR] the principal city ofOsfa’s much reduced Kingdom.[Map] Arthur travelled east to Ca-mulod with a hundred of his finest soldiers,[Lay] and his closestfriends and relatives. The latter included: his sons ILacheu andAmyr;[CaO] [MB] his half-nephew Gualwain[WoM] (the son of Leudand Arthur’s half-sister Gwyar);[ByB] and of course his daughterArchfedl.[CaO] [Map]

The bridal party stopped in London,hL| to see the dilapidatedbut still impressive Roman capital, and to reassure the citizens.But the men of London were horrified that Arthur planned togive his daughter to a pagan Saxon, for it would legitimate theEast Saxons’ Kingdom, which, they felt, threatened their exis-tence.[TIB] And they said that he owed his victory over the Sax-ons at Badon to the defence that London gave to the realm, asthe home of the ashes of Vortimer, Blessed by Saint Germanus.For Vortimer’s devoted followers had made a likeness in clay ofhis head, with his ashes contained therein,[ByB][TIB] and placed it,facing towards the barbarian lands, in a shrine on the White Hillin London, where the Tower of London now stands.[TIB]

So Arthur addressed the citizens, saying that the Saxons heldland only at his pleasure, and that his strength was all the pro-tection they needed. But the people cast shame upon him forhis hubris, crying out that the head of Vortimer the Blessed wasthe true protector of the realm. At this Arthur was mightily an-noyed, and ordered his soldiers to drive away the people. Thenhe himself went to the shrine of Vortimer the Blessed, removedthe head, and smashed it on the ground. And this act, done forthe sake of a marriage between a Briton and a Saxon, would,by some Britons, be blamed for what befell their lands afterArthur’s death.[TIB]

9

Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain: a knife which was big enough toserve the meat of twenty-four feasting men. Compare this with the knife ofOsla in [CaO], which was so big that an army could cross a river on it!

9Here I am conflating two of the three “unfortunate disclosures” in [TIB]:that of the head of Bran the Blessed by Arthur, out of envy (much as described

141

Arthur and his retinue left London,[Lay] and arrived in Camu-lod not long after, where the wedding took place as planned, tothe pleasure of the Emperor and the King.[Map] Afterwards at thewedding feast,[WoM] tall tales were told by the guests, Britons andSaxons both.[Lay] Then Arthur’s nephew Gualwain, who had agolden tongue,[TIB] but who was too young to have many deedsof his own, began to boast of the adventures of his father Leudas if they were his own: How he had, at age fifteen, been sent bythe Emperor in Rome to fight the Persians in the East. And how,on the way there, he alone had slain thirteen Vandal pirates incombat on an island, before fighting and beheading the mightypirate King himself.[OW]

Now another of the wedding guests was a young noblemanof the Vandals, who went by the name of Witga. From loveof adventure, he was travelling the whale roads of the world,one of which had taken him to the court of King Osfa. ThisWitga, who had even been in the Holy Land,[Map]

10 was fumingat the untruths in Gualwain’s tale. Now, as Gualwain began totell how he had defeated the Persian Emperor’s champion in aduel for Jerusalem lasting three days,[OW] Witga rose to his feetand declared him to be a liar and a coward. Immediately Gual-wain sought to defend his honour in deeds,[GoM] but Osfa’s menrushed to protect Witga, while the Britons were not slow to sup-port Gualwain. If it had not been that the guests were requiredto leave their weapons outside the hall in the market place ofCamulod, there would have been a blood-bath. Even so, severalguests were sorely hurt,[Map][Lay] including Gualwain, who wasaccidentally struck on the head by one of his fellow citizens.[WoM]

Hearing this commotion, the hundred British soldiers whohad accompanied Arthur[Lay] were alarmed, thinking that therewas a plot to kill him. They tried to enter the hall to rescue him

here); and that of the bones of Vortimer the Blessed, for the sake of a marriagebetween a Briton and a Saxon (Vortigern and Ronwen in [TIB]).

10This Witga, known in Middle English as Wade, Latinized by [Map] asGado, is a pan-Germanic folk-hero, but [Map] makes him a Vandal Prince.

142 CHAPTER 8. THE TRIUMPH OF ARTHUR (517–523)

and his party. But Osfa’s nephew Swanna barred the entrance,while Osfa’s soldiers outside, who far outnumbered the Britons,surrounded them in the market place. There a battle broke out,and many were slaughtered on both sides[Map] before Osfa andArthur could restore order inside the hall and in Camulod.[Lay]

[AR] Then the Britons, disgusted with the bad manners of the Sax-ons, returned home with their dead.[Map] Arthur allowed Osfa toremain as ruler of the East Saxons, but henceforth only as Eal-dorman, although his son Æscwine, Arthur’s grandson, wouldeventually restore the Kingship.[SG][RoW][Map]

EVERY British King, as far as the Wall, also recognized Arthuras his Overlord at this time. And, as befitted this status, Arthuracted as arbiter in the disputes between them. In Siluria, thesuccession had been in dispute since the last King, Cauruit, haddied at Badon, leaving only a young daughter.[GoM][TIB] Arthurchose his own cousin Caradoc to be King, as he had grown upin Siluria. He was the son of Iaen, who had, like Merchiaun,served with his elder brother Uther. Caradoc was amongst thebravest of Arthur’s horsemen. He was known as Caradoc ‘Vre-ichvras’ (‘Strong-arm’), and his steed at Badon had been namedLuagor, which meant host-splitter. A tall and well-spoken man,he was one of Arthur’s wizards.[VTa][DoR][VP][TIB][CaO] He was also aclose friend to Cado, King of Dumnonia, and had married hissister Tegau.[AR][TIB]

In Dobunnia, which bordered upon Siluria, the King had alsodied, so Arthur installed Caradoc to be regent there until Ur-bgen, the heir, came of age. Now Cado, also Arthur’s cousin,had been hoping for the regency of this rich Kingdom, as a re-ward for his role as the leader of the infantry in Arthur’s greatestvictories against the English, at the river Bassas and at Badon.But Tegau showed her loyalty to her husband by convincing herbrother Cado not to dispute this prize with Caradoc.[AR][TIB][WT]

[GoM][HM]11 Cado did not go unrewarded, however: Arthur con-11In the [AR] of c.1160, the Lai du Cor, Caradoc wins Cirencester in a contest,

143

nected him to the House of Ambrosius, and to himself, by giv-ing him Budicca, daughter of Nathan and Anna, as a wife. Thiswas Cado’s second marriage, for his first wife, the mother of hisson Meuric, had died.[GoM]

In York,hY| Gurgust map Ceneu had died, and had namedEleuther, his youngest son, as his heir. But Eleuther’s half-brothers, Merchiaun and Masguic, disputed the inheritance. SoArthur was able to impose his will upon these descendants ofCoel, dividing his realm amongst the three royal brothers. Westof the Pennines, the Carvetii below the Wall, and the Brigantesbelow them, had long sought independence from York. Arthurruled that they should have their own Kingdom, and the newland was called Rheged. Its first King was Merchiaun ‘Gul’(‘the Lean’). The Elmetici in the south, between the Wharfe andthe Trent, also wished for independence. Arthur ruled they tooshould have their own Kingdom, and Masguic became the firstKing of Elmet. But the greatest part of Gurgust’s Kingdom re-mained with his favourite son, Eleuther. Arthur allowed him tokeep the title Duke of Britain, and also bestowed upon him thetitle King of York.[GoM][WG][WT][PsE][Top]

9th

Now word spread through the rest of the island of Albionthat no country was able to withstand Arthur. So the two Kingsin the old province of Valentia came voluntarily, and made theirsubmission to Arthur, and promised to pay tribute.[GoM] The firstwas Cau, the Pictish King of Galloway.[Car][VG][Lif][AR] The secondwas Dumnagual map Cinuit map Coroticus of Alclud.[WG]

12 As

due to the (sexual) fidelity of his wife, for which she is famous in [TIB]. Inlate [WT] he is made Earl of Hereford, Lord of Radnor, and Earl of the landsbetween the Wye and the Severn. In [HM] a certain Caradoc is succeededin his Kingdom by the unrelated King Urien. Urbgennius — this is an earlyform of the name Urien — is Consul of Bath at a later point in [GoM]’s story.All of these places are in Dobunnia (as I have interpreted it).

12The two Kings [GoM] has spontaneously submitting to Arthur are Dol-davius, King of Gothland, and Gunfasius, King of Orkney. In Chap. 9 Ihave Leud replacing Cau as King of Galloway, but in [AR] he (Lot) is Kingof Orkney. This suggests replacing Gunfasius by Cau, a Pictish ruler south

144 CHAPTER 8. THE TRIUMPH OF ARTHUR (517–523)

the young King of Alclud, nearly forty years before, Dumnagualmap Cinuit had conquered the Kingdom of the Votadini fromCyngar and Bran, the warring sons of Dumnagual ‘Moilmut’map Garbaniaun. Dumnagual map Cinuit was now an old man,so he was known as Dumnagual ‘Hen’. During his long reignhe became famous for the peace and justice he brought to hisrealm, and for enforcing the Church’s right of offering sanctu-ary.[WG][GoM] He had appointed his younger brother Cunomor tolead the army against foreign invaders,[TIB] while he as Law-giverprotected his people against the violent thieves and murderersamongst them.[GoM] He died not long after this, and his two sonspartitioned his Kingdom, with Cinbelin becoming King of theVotadini, and Clinoch becoming King of Alclud.[WG]

13

AROUND this time, men of Scandinavia were moved to pillageand plunder overseas in a way that that would not be seen againuntil Viking times, almost three hundred years later.

Hygelac, King of the Geats, who lived in what is now south-ern Sweden, invaded the very north of Gaul, laying waste theland and capturing some of the inhabitants, who were calledHetwares. This territory, called Hettergouw,hH| belonged toTheuderic, King of the Franks. When Theuderic heard what washappening he sent his son Theudebert with a large and well-equipped force. Hygelac was killed and his fleet was beaten atsea by the Frisians, who were subject to Theuderic, so that theFranks recovered what had been stolen from them. Accompa-nying Hygelac on this expedition was Beowulf, his sister’s son,of the highlands, from [Lif], who first appeared (as Caunus) in [VG]. Dum-nagual from [WG] is the obvious replacement for Doldavius.

13The two Dumnaguals here, and all their relations, are from [WG]. [GoM]stole the name of D. Moilmut for his pre-Roman King of the Britons, Dun-vallo Molmutius. This fictional Dunvallo had two warring sons, Brenniusand Belinus; one has a name similar to Bran map D. Moilmut, but the othersimilar to Cinbelin map D. Hen. Thus it seems likely that [GoM] conflated thetwo Dumnaguals. In any case, I have used the length and nature of the reignof [GoM]’s fictional King for D. Hen, but his warring sons for D. Moilmut.

145

who had already won fame as a warrior in the service of Hroth-gar, Great King of the Danes. Now he bested Daghraven, theFrankish champion who had killed Hygelac, and then escapedby swimming back to one of the Geatish boats. And Beowulfwould later gain even greater renown as a warrior-King in Geat-land, as will be related.[GoT] [Beo] [LHF]

Now this expedition from Geatland had sailed, both ways,around the north of Jutland, where there ruled a Danish King,Riculf. Inspired by Hygelac’s raid, Riculf launched his own, noton Francia, but on the realm of the Angles in Albion. UnlikeHygelac, he made it back to his Kingdom with much booty andmany slaves. But one of his men, named Hrodulf, was left be-hind and was captured by the Angles. He asked to be takenbefore the King of the Angles, saying that, despite appearances,he too was a King.[Gai] [GoM] [Gai]14

Cnebba sat on a high seat in his great hall with arched gables,while Hrodulf was brought before him. He hailed Cnebba as aKing of great courage, a generous ring-giver, famed amongst allnations,[Beo] and then explained how he came to be stood there.He had let himself be captured because he was an enemy ofRiculf. He was the nephew and rightful heir of Sighelm, the pre-vious King. But Riculf had seized the throne on the old King’sdeath. And Hrodulf promised Cnebba that he would guide afleet over the German sea to Riculf’s Kingdom, and would thereraise a warband in support of it, so that the Angles could makegood all their losses to Riculf and more besides. In return, Hro-dulf asked only that Cnebba place him on Riculf’s throne, so thathis Danish Kingdom would be forever loyal to Cnebba.[GoM] [Gai]

14[GoM] has Riculf, King of Norway, as the victim of British aggression,being replaced by Lot, but [ByB] says ILew became King of Denmark also.[Gai] has a very similar tale about Gunter, King of Denmark, being replacedby Hodulf. Gunter’s son Havelok eventually finds revenge by conqueringEast Anglia and Lindsey from their British ruler (after Arthur’s death). Ihave conflated these stories, and linked the events more closely together bymaking Riculf a raider of these areas in Britain.

146 CHAPTER 8. THE TRIUMPH OF ARTHUR (517–523)

So Cnebba went to Arthur, his Overlord, to seek approvalfor an expedition to the Danish Kingdom. Arthur not only ap-proved it; he added to Cnebba’s force a small army of Britonsunder his nephew Gualwain, to test his mettle.[ByB][Nen] [OW]15 Thusit was not long before a fleet of fifteen keels,[Lay] containing fivehundred English men-at-arms and fifty British cavalrymen,[HtD]

landed in Denmark with Hrodulf. True to his word, Hrodulfraised a rebellion, and the allies defeated and slew Riculf in bat-tle. The Angles took back all the booty and slaves that had beentaken from them, and Hrodulf became King, swearing fealty toArthur. He promised never to raid Albion again, and Gualwaintook twelve hostages to keep him honest, including Hrodulf’sbrother Askil.[Gai][GoM][CaO]

16 [. . . snip . . . ]

15[ByB] seems to imply that Gwalchmai was in Scandinavia prior toArthur’s arrival. The battle list of [Nen] suggests no victories for Arthurthere. [OW] has Arthur test Walwan’s mettle in battle against northern bar-barians (albeit Picts rather than Danes). For these reasons I have made Gual-wain, rather than Arthur, the leader of the British expedition to Denmark.

16[Gai] names the brother of Hodulf as Aschis, which comes from [GoM],where Aschillius is called the King of Denmark. [CaO] says Arthur took12 hostages from Norway. [HtD] gives a retinue of 5000 men-at-arms and50 knights to a Dane, come from England to reclaim the throne, albeit onenamed Havelok (see Chap. 13), rather than Hrodulf.

Map 10: Western Europe on Arthur’s return to Britain, in 526

hPrevious Map| |Next Mapi

From north to south: ?Caledonian Wood; ?Arthur’s Stone; ?Hettergouw; ?Soissons;?Bayeux; ?Rheims; ?Paris; ?Troyes; ?Rennes; ?Orleans; ?Tours; ?Nantes; ?Bourges;?Poitiers; ?Clermont; ?Vezeronce; ?Ernaginum; River Durance; ?Rimini; ?Arles; partof Clothar’s realm; ?Beziers; ?Narbonne; ?Barcelona; ?Syracuse.

148

Chapter 9

Arthur’s Gallic Expedition

WORD of the achievements of Arthur and his generals in Al-bion and Denmark had meanwhile reached the attentive ears ofTheoderic the Ostrogoth, who still dominated the former West-ern Empire from his court in Ravenna.[GoM] For Theoderic wasworried on many fronts, because of the failure of the alliances hehad forged by giving away his female relatives. First, the VandalKing Thrasamund died in 523 and was succeeded by his cousinHilderic who rejected the Arian heresy in favour of the Ortho-dox faith, and Gothic influence in favour of Imperial patronage.Thrasamund’s widow, Theoderic’s sister Amalafrida, tried torestore both, but she was imprisoned, and her Gothic soldiersmassacred. Second, Theoderic’s son-in-law and nominated heir,Eutharic, had died in 522, so that the Visigoths once again pro-claimed Amalaric as their King. But, even though Amalarichad long since come of age, Theoderic again insisted on rulingas regent for his grandson, still hoping that he could pass theGothic Kingdoms to a single heir.[CK] And finally, around thistime, another grandson, Sigeric, was murdered by his own fa-ther, Sigismund, King of the Burgundians. This was becauseSigismund, another convert to Orthodoxy, suspected Sigeric ofcolluding with Theoderic to overthrow him and join Burgundiato the Gothic Empire.[GoT]

149

150 CHAPTER 9. ARTHUR’S GALLIC EXPEDITION (523–531)

Thus, being keen to attract new allies, Theoderic instructedLiberius to begin negotiations with Arthur.[GoM] [LM]1 This Liberiuswas a Roman, appointed by Theoderic as Prefect of the Gaulsin 511. He governed from Arles,hA| once capital of all Gaul,though Liberius’s authority extended only to Provence.[CK] Andso Liberius sent an embassy to Arthur, inviting him to Arles,with flattery such as this: that the sophistication of his courtwas renowned even in the remotest countries; that noblemen inGaul imitated the fashion in which Arthur’s warriors wore theirclothes and arms; and that the fame of his valour had becomea terror to Kings all around, who grievously feared the loss oftheir dominions, if he should make any attempt upon them.[GoM]

All of Britain had been peaceful and stable now for twelvemonths,[GoM] and Arthur had finally had time to think of mar-riage.[RoW] He had taken to wife a young maiden named Guen-huvar,[CaO] the daughter of Cauruit, the late King of Siluria.[TIB]

On her father’s death, she had been fostered by Arthur’s cousinCado in the Dumnonian court. It was said that none was fairerthan she in all the land of Britain,[GoM] and that flowers sprangback unbruised where she trod.[CaO] But shortly after, when hewas delivered of Liberius’s message, Arthur so desired to meetthis noble man, and to make his mark in Europe, that he sailedimmediately for Armorica. And he left Guenhuvar behind,[GoM]

for he half-hoped that Theoderic would offer him some grand-daughter of his as a bride more fitting of his repute.[TS]2

Arthur took with him some of his most trusted compan-ions:[CaO] his eldest son ILacheu,[DGG][PG] the image of his fatheras a young man,[TIB] his half-nephew Gualwain,[CaO] who had

1[GoM] has Arthur summoned to Rome in c.540 by Lucius Tiberius,who is variously described as general, procurator, and Emperor. In somemanuscripts of [GoM], and in [LM], he is called Lucius (H)iberius, which,abbreviated to L. Iberius, suggests Liberius. In this chapter, the material I usefrom [GoM] is mostly the conquest of Gaul by Arthur in the 530s, but therequest from, and encounter with, Liberius comes from later (540–1).

2[TS] has Thidrek (Theoderic) send to Arthur for a daughter to marry.

151

proved himself a fearless warrior in Denmark,[ByB] [TIB] his inter-preter Gwrhyr, his map-reader Cyndlelig,[CaO] and, last but notleast, his wizard Menio, now an old man.[CaO][DoR]

3 But his trustedcousin, Caradoc ‘Strong-arm’, he left behind as chief minister tothe young King Modraut.[DoR] [TIB]

AT THIS time, Armorica was still divided, between Bu-dic’s realm in the western peninsula and the greater part un-der his half-brother Maxent.[CLQ] These Britons were secure intheir power because of their friendship with the Frankish KingChildebert, who was Budic’s cousin and who ruled the King-dom to their east.[GoT][Pro] Around this time, these Franks firstrecorded their history, and in this they claimed to be the brothersto three other peoples: the Alamanni (who had been conqueredby Clovis), the Romans (who had made Clovis Patrician), andthe Britons (who had become Clovis’s closest allies). Such wasthe status of the Britons amongst the Franks at this time.[CA] [Nen]

But Childebert ruled only one part of the Frankish realm, foron Clovis’s death, in the year 511, his Kingdom had been di-vided between his four sons, as was described in an earlier chap-ter. Theuderic, his son by a Frankish concubine, took the largestportion with his capital at Rheims.hR| The three younger sons,by his Burgundian wife Clotild, who had induced him to em-brace the Christian church, took the remainder. Clothar took thenorth with his capital at Soissons,hS| Childebert the west withhis capital at Paris,hP| and Chlodomer the south with his capitalat Orleans.hO| The last of Clovis’s conquests — the land southof the Loire which he had taken from the Visigoths — was di-vided amongst all four, with Theuderic again having the largest

3With the addition of Cai and Bedwyr (who join the party later in my tale),these are Arthur’s champions for the mission against the giant Ysbadladen in[CaO], except that I have substituted Arthur for his cousin Culhwch and in-cluded Arthur’s son ILacheu (for reasons which will become apparent). [TIB]calls ILacheu well-endowed, which I have interpreted as describing his re-semblance to his father. (I have done likewise for Rhiwallon map Urien andGualwain map Gwyar, with the latter taking after his mother Gwyar.)

152 CHAPTER 9. ARTHUR’S GALLIC EXPEDITION (523–531)

portion, including Arvernia, and Clothar the smallest.hC|[CK]

East of these lands in the south was Burgundia, whichthe Franks invaded in 523, defeating King Sigismund and hisbrother Gundomar. They were encouraged in this by Theoderic,to punish Sigismund for having murdered his son Sigeric,Theoderic’s grandson. Theoderic had agreed to partition thecountry with the Franks, and had sent one of his generals tooccupy the southern part of Burgundia, north of the river Du-rancehD| as far as the river Isere.[GoT] [Pro] [CL] Sigismund was cap-tured by the Franks, and later killed, but Gundomar fled to thesouth.[GoT] There he offered to submit to Theoderic in return formilitary aid. Unlike his brother, Gundomar was a fellow Arianto Theoderic, who therefore accepted his submission.[CK] Then,with the support of the Ostrogoths, he recovered the northernpart of his Kingdom from the Franks.[GoT]

In 524 Chlodomer and Theuderic therefore invaded Burgun-dia again, and Gundomar and his army again withdrew south-wards. In June of that year, in a battle at VezeroncehV| near Lyon,Gundomar’s men drew Chlodomer into a trap and killed him.Gundomar’s forces were still outnumbered, so he continued toretreat southward, pursued by the Franks. But the Franks failedto force another battle, and eventually they withdrew. ThusGundomar returned to power again.[GoT] [CK] Several years later,when Amalasuntha, daughter of Theoderic, was Queen regentin Italy, she returned the area Theoderic had annexed to Gundo-mar, in return for his pledges of continued loyalty.[ODR][Jor][CL]

MEANWHILE, when word arrived in Paris that Chlodomerhad been killed, his mother Clotild announced that she wouldbe regent for Chlodomer’s sons, who were mere boys, until theycame of age.[GoT] At these news, Maxent’s thoughts turned im-mediately to recovering the territory along the Loire that his fa-ther Daniel had held before the war with Clovis. And Childe-bert encouraged him in this ambition, because he too had de-signs on Chlodomer’s Kingdom. He could not be seen to attack

153

his mother, but he figured that if Chlodomer’s troops failed intheir resistance to Maxent then he could step in to take control.So Maxent advanced in force along the Loire, accompanied byArthur and his companions, drawn to the excitement of a newcampaign. Childebert had agreed he would not intervene untilafter the Britons had taken Tours,hT| so they promptly besiegedthis city.[GoM] [GoT]10th

Tours lay in a flat and narrow space between two rivers: theLoire; and the lesser Cher to the south, which flows into theLoire not far downstream. It was on these sandy shores that afierce battle was fought between the Britons and an army sent byClotild to raise the siege. This army, two thousand strong, wasdrawn from the other cities in Chlodomer’s domains, for mostof his army was still with Theuderic, pursuing Gundomar inBurgundia. Though the Britons outnumbered the Franks, theirKing Maxent was mortally wounded early in the battle. But hismen did not falter in the struggle, as they were spurred on byhis famous captains, Bedvyr and Caius.[Wac][Nen] [PG] [GoM]4

Bedvyr map Petroc only had the use of one hand, but wasnevertheless renowned for his ability to kill, with spear, sword,and shield.[TIB][CaO][PG] He was considered almost as handsomeas Arthur, and never shrank from any enterprise with Caius.[CaO] Caius map Itellius was a huge man,[CaO][GoM][ByB]

5 who would

4[Wac], unlike [GoM], narrates a battle between Arthur and the French, inwhich 2000 of the latter were slain due to Arthur’s superior numbers. [Nen]gives the strand named Tribruit as the place of Arthur’s 10th victory. Itslocation is unknown, so I have used it for this battle in Gaul because thepoem [PG] records the presence at this battle of Bedwyr and Cai, who onlyever appear in Gaul in [GoM]. This poem also suggests a location for Tribruitacross the sea, as it has the Celtic God of the sea, Manawydan map ILyr, bringback a shattered shield from Tribruit. I have put Maxent’s death here to pavethe way for Bedvyr and Caius to gain the territories they do in [GoM].

5Although [CaO] has Cai map Cynyr, [Bro78] suggested this is, more orless, a pun, meaning Path son of Way. I have therefore preferred the Kei sonof Ithel from [ByB], even though this patronymic appears only once. I havechosen the Latinate Caius from [GoM] because of his cousin (below).

154 CHAPTER 9. ARTHUR’S GALLIC EXPEDITION (523–531)

drink like four men, and fight like ten. Since his childhood hehad been known as being stubborn in nature, and seeming coldat heart, but his comrades knew that when they needed it, hiswarmth could light a fire. Together with Arthur, these heroesrepelled the Franks with much slaughter.[TIB][CaO][PG][Wac] ILacheu,excelling all others in bravery, sought battle with a giant Frank,who roared out a challenge in his own name, which was Adal-gar. The fearless attack by Arthur’s son succeeded in wound-ing the Frank, but he repaid ILacheu by a sword blow whichall but removed his head from his shoulders. Then Caius, whohad been fighting next to ILacheu, killed the injured giant.[DGG][TIB]

[CaO][Per][PG] And, though he died on that foreign battlefield, withravens screeching over gore, ILacheu’s deeds that day wouldlive on in song in his homeland.[DGG][PG]

After a month, with food becoming scarce, the Frankish com-mander of Tours, named Frodulf, feared that the citizens wouldbetray the city to the Britons. Therefore he made a proposal thathe, and the leader of the Britons, should fight in single combat,and that the County of Touraine would go to the victor, but thatthe army of the vanquished would leave in peace. Now Arthurinsisted that he should be the one to fight Frodulf, to avenge thedeath of his son. And so he and Frodulf fought, fully armed andmounted, on an island in the Loire near Tours, so that their twoarmies could look on but not intervene.[GoM]

As they charged towards each other, Arthur cast his spearat Frodulf, who caught it on his shield. But there it stuck fastso that Frodulf had to abandon this protection. Frodulf aimedat Arthur with his lance, but Arthur knocked it aside with hisown shield, and at the same time swung at Frodulf with hissword Caliburn. Frodulf dodged the blow, which caused himto come off his horse. But Frodulf got bravely to his feet andwhen Arthur charged at him he stuck Arthur’s horse with hislance. Arthur and his horse tumbled to the ground. The watch-ing Britons feared that he had been killed, but Arthur hastilygot to his feet. Filled with anger, he closed with Frodulf with

155

his shield held high, and they exchanged mighty sword strokesbetween them. And with his sword Frodulf struck Arthur uponthe forehead, which would have proved mortal, had he not beenwearing his helmet. It sent Arthur staggering, and drew muchblood, which flowed down his face and onto his chain mail andshield.[GoM] Observing from afar, Menio was aghast, and whis-pered a charm of fortitude for Arthur.[WoR] Thinking his opponentnear finished, Frodulf let down his guard. But Arthur broughtCaliburn down with utmost strength upon the crown of Fro-dulf’s head, cleaving his helmet and making a terrible gash inhis head. And there did Frodulf fall, scoring the turf with hisheels till death took him.[GoM]

After this contest, the Frankish garrison left Touraine to theBritons, as they had agreed. There the Britons were welcomedby the townspeople,[GoM] who were mainly Romans, and by theBishop Ommatius. From then on, the Franks ceased to haveany say in the election of the Bishops of Tours, who were theMetropolitan Bishops for the whole region, including Armor-ica, for many years.[GoT] Meanwhile, the remains of Chlodomer’sarmy, twenty-five hundred strong, had returned from Burgun-dia. They strengthened the garrisons that had remained be-hind, so the Britons did not try to advance beyond Touraine,and Childebert had no excuse to try to wrest his dead brother’sKingdom from the Queen Clotild.[GoT] [Lay]6

Clothar threatened to join his army with those who nowserved Clotild, and to march against the Britons to retake Tours.But Budic, accompanied by his young son Howel, arrived withan army fifteen hundred strong, so that Clothar was forced toback down.7 And, since Maxent had died without leaving a son,

6[Lay] says that Frolle (my Frodulf) was expecting 25,000 reinforcements.7[GoM] has Hoel, son of Budic, march against Guitard, commander of the

Poitavians (that is the men from Poitou), and force him to surrender. Poitouhad been in the realm of Chlodomer, and later (when it was divided amongsthis brothers) it came into the possession of Clothar. This, and the vague sim-ilarity between the names Guitard and Clothar, inspired me to identify the

156 CHAPTER 9. ARTHUR’S GALLIC EXPEDITION (523–531)

Budic claimed his brother’s Kingdom.[GoM]

ARTHUR spent seven weeks in Tours,[AR] recuperating fromhis head wound. During this time, he overheard Caius com-ment that his slaying of Adalgar in battle had been cleaner thanArthur’s killing of Frodulf. At this, Arthur became furious,railing that Caius had only managed to slay the giant becauseILacheu had mortally wounded him, that Caius had deliberatelyheld back and allowed ILacheu to be beheaded in order to claimthe glory of killing Adalgar himself, and that Caius should leavehis presence and never return. But when he recovered his sanityhe understood that Caius had meant no offence, and retractedwhat he had said against him.[CaO] [Per]8

Then he and his companions continued their journey to meetwith Liberius, joined by Caius and Bedvyr. For one of Budic’sfirst acts upon taking over his brother’s Kingdom had been todismiss these captains from his service, and replace them withhis own men, lest they raise a rebellion against his rule in easternArmorica. And Arthur was more than happy to take their oathsof allegiance instead. Budic sent his young son Howel alongwith Arthur as well, to give him some experience of the world.Because they could not travel in peace through Chlodomer’s for-mer lands, they travelled west to Nantes,hN| and then south viathe sea, to southern Aquitaine. Here was the borderland be-tween the realms of the Franks and those of the Basques, an an-cient nation who had won their independence from the Visig-oths after the latter lost Aquitaine to the Franks. From there,two here, and at later points also. When Hoel first appears in [GoM] he bringsan army of 15,000 from Brittany to aid Arthur.

8This, together with later incidents, is meant to suggest that, as a resultof his battles, in particular that with Frodulf, Arthur suffered from brain in-juries, affecting his judgement. [CaO] has Cai kill a giant Dillus, only to haveArthur belittle the deed. In the unusual Romance of [Per], Cai is banished af-ter murdering Arthur’s son Lohot (a name the Welsh equated with ILacheu),in order to claim credit for Lohot’s deed of slaying the giant Logrin. I havechosen a Frankish name (Adalgar) with sounds from both giants’ names.

157

Arthur and is companions travelled east to Septimania, the partof Gaul where the Visigoths still ruled.[GoM] [CaO] [WoL]9

When they were in this province, the party of Britons climbedto the top of a high hill, to see the lie of the land and to let theirhorses rest for a while. There, as they were playing dice, theyspied a tired horse approaching, bearing a young gentleman anda young maiden clad in silk raiment. As they dismounted, at thesteepest part of the hill, the maiden smiled sweetly at them, and,as she smoothed her dress, revealed a beautifully formed body.Arthur was immediately inflamed with lust for her, whereofhe told his companions, and suggested that they capture thegirl. But Caius and Bedvyr dissuaded him from any such crime,telling him that they should rather aid the couple, since theywere obviously of good breeding and seemed distressed. Re-luctantly, Arthur agreed, so Bedvyr and Caius went with palmsraised to the man and asked him his name and the cause of theirdistress. And the man told them the following story, the truthwhereof they both swore by the name of the holy martyr Agnes,the Patron Saint of engaged couples:[Lif][Nen]10

His name was Gundilevus, and he was a Visigoth by birth.The maiden was his betrothed, Deuteria, who was the daugh-ter of a Senator named Ferreolus, from the city of NarbonnehN|

in Septimania. But the Senator did not approve of her marry-ing a barbarian, however Roman he was in aspect and manner.So they had eloped, and were bound for his family’s lands. ButFerreolus had uncovered the plot in no long time, and had sentthirty of his household guards to recapture her. Gundilevuspointed out these guards, approaching rapidly on horseback,and begged for protection against them.[Lif][GoT] [CK]11

9[GoM] has Howel, after defeating Guitard, conquer Gascony (southernAquitaine). [WoL] has Arthur “achieving numerous glorious victories inparts of both Britain and Gaul”. This chapter contains two victories forArthur in different parts of Gaul: Tours (above) and Septimania (below).

10The reference to Saint Agnes (who is also, ironically, the Patron Saint ofrape victims) is inspired by Arthur’s 11th battle in [Nen], on mount Agned.

11[Lif] tells of the elopement of Gundleus and Gladys, daughter of Prince

158 CHAPTER 9. ARTHUR’S GALLIC EXPEDITION (523–531)

Bedvyr, moved by this speech, and by the tears that welledfrom Deuteria’s dark eyes and rolled down her rounded cheeks,endeavoured with kind words to assuage her grief and to com-fort her with the promise of speedy help.[GoM]12 He and Caiusthen returned to Arthur, and related what they had been told.Being likewise moved by the lovers’ tale, and their appeal toSaint Agnes, Arthur decided they should help Gundilevus andDeuteria on their way. Albeit greatly outnumbered by Ferreo-lus’s men, the Britons were formidably armed and mighty war-riors. So they rushed against the enemies of Gundilevus, whoturned their backs and fled in great confusion to their native soil.[Lif] And Arthur, regretting his previous behaviour, commandeda stone shrine to Saint Agnes be erected on top of the hill, fromwhich it became known.[GoM] [Nen] Thus Gundilevus safely reachedhis own residence near Beziers,hB| where he and Deuteria weremarried. And more will be said of them in a later chapter.[Lif][GoT]

[. . . snip . . . ]

Brychan, in south Wales (Wallia). I have relocated it in south Gaul (Gallia),and changed the names respectively to Gundilevus, Deuteria (who comesfrom the history of [GoT]), and Ferreolus (who was indeed a Senator of Nar-bonne and might have been her father). The thirty guards chasing the coupleare based on the 300-strong army in [Lif], and constitute a plausible size fora personal guard of a rich Senatorial family of that time and place.

12This tender moment was inspired by Bedver’s tragic encounter with He-lena’s nurse in [GoM], and below I have also adapted Arthur’s building of amountain-top chapel to the martyred Helena.

List of Sources

[Nb] In the text, a two-, or three-letter code (e.g. Nb) is used for all sources,indicated as a small [Nb]. A crude indication of how the source isused is given by the vertical placement of the reference, thus:Text.[Nb] = quote from or paraphrase of [Nb];

Text.[Nb] = more loosely based upon [Nb];Text.[Nb] = fiction inspired by [Nb].

On each of the following pages, the sources are organized, alphabeti-cally by code, within one the following categories:

• Administrative Documents, Laws, Letters etc.• Anonymous Annals, Chronicles, Genealogies etc.• Contemporary Poems• Histories and Pseudohistories (pre-Norman)• Histories and Pseudohistories (Norman to Tudor)• Medieval Folk-Tales and Legends• Romances, Other Sources, and Vague Attributions• Saints’ Lives (Brittonic)• Saints’ Lives (Other)

XIII

XIV LIST OF SOURCES

ADMINISTRATIVE DOCUMENTS, LAWS, LETTERS ETC.

[Æs] c.930, King Æthelstan: Laws[Æb] c.603, King Æthelbert: Laws[Amb] 388, Ambrosius of Milan: Letter (XL) to Theodosius[Avi] 499–518, Alcimus Ecdicius Avitus: Letters[CCW] ?13th C, Cantrefs and Commotes of Wales[CL] 503–37, Cassiodorus: Letters[Fas] c.410, Fastidius(?): Letter to a widow[Hyw] c.950, King Hywel IDa: Laws[Ine] 694, King Ine of Wessex: Laws[LC] c.600–1125, ILandaff Charters[LoG] c.560, Gildas: Letters[LRB] c.500, King Gundobad: Lex Romana Burgundionum[LS] c.510, King Clovis: Lex Salica[LJ1] c.537, King Theudebert: 1st Letter to Justinian[LJ2] c.540, King Theudebert: 2nd Letter to Justinian[LtA] 598, Pope Gregory: Letter to the Patriarch of Alexandria[LtC] c.455, Saint Patric: Letter to Coroticus[LtD] c.470, Apollinaris Sidonius: Letter to Domnicius[LtE] c.474, Apollinaris Sidonius: Letter to Ecdicius[LtL] c.476, Apollinaris Sidonius: Letter to Lampridius[LtN] c.480, Apollinaris Sidonius: Letter to Namatius[LtR] c.470, Apollinaris Sidonius: Letter to Riotimus[LTT] 596, Pope Gregory: Letter to Theuderic and Theudebert[LtV] c.469, Apollinaris Sidonius: Letter to Vincentius[ND] c.420, Notitia Dignitatum[Par] c.580, Suebian Kingdom: Parochiale[Pat] c.450, Saint Patric: Confessio[PSV] c.571, Gildas: Penetentials of the Synod of Victory[SB] c.410, The Sicilian Briton: On Riches[SFA] c.660, Senchus Fer n Alban[Sid] 456–484, Apollinaris Sidonius: Letters (other than those specified)[TH] ?680, Tribal Hidage

LIST OF SOURCES XV

ANONYMOUS ANNALS, CHRONICLES, GENEALOGIES ETC.

[AF] c.860, Annals of Fulda[AH] c.625, Additamenta ad Chronicon Prosperi Hauniensis[AI] ?6th C–, Annals of Ireland[AG] c.770, Anglian Genealogies[ASC] 891, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle[AW] ?796–954, ‘A-text’ of the Annals of Wales[BW] ?13th C, ‘B-text’ of the Annals of Wales[BC] c.850, Bern Codex[BG] ?11th C, Breton Genealogies[BGG] ⇠1200, Bonedly y Gwyr Gogledl[BoB] c.1605, Book of Baglan[BTe] 1125, Braint Teilo (in the Book of ILandaff)[ByS] 13th–17th C, Bonedl y Sant[CA] c.830, Codex Augiensis[CCA] c.1145, Liber de Compositione Castri Ambaziae[CLQ] ⇠1200, Cartularies of Landevennec and Quimper[CSB] ⇠1400, Chronicle of Saint Brieuc[CSM] ⇠1110, Chronicle of Saint Michael’s Mount[CVJ] c.1212, Chronology from Vortigern to King John[CZ] c.570, Chronicle of Zaragoza (Caesar-Augusta)[ED] 8th C, The Expulsion of the Deisi[GC1] c.455 Gallic Chronicle of 455[GC2] c.511 Gallic Chronicle of 511[GSW] ?11th C, Genealogy of St. Winnoc[GVP] c.840, Gloss on the Vespasian Psalter[LHF] 727, Liber Historiae Francorum[LV] 8th C, Liber Vitae, Lindisfarne[PC] c.980, Pictish Chronicle[SC] 1165, Scottish Chronicle[SG] 9th C, Saxon Genealogies[WG] 11th–15th C, Welsh Genealogies

XVI LIST OF SOURCES

CONTEMPORARY POEMS

[Aus] c.390, Ausonius: De quodam Silvio Bono qui erat Brito[AP] c.930, Armes Prydein[BAL] c.580–, Taliesin:7 The Battle of Argoed ILwyfain[BGY] c.580–, Taliesin: The Battle of Gwen Ystrad[CG] c.570–, Taliesin: Cadau Gwallawc[CS] 400, Claudian: The Consulship of Stilicho[Luc] 65, Lucan: De Bello Civili.[DSC] ?660–, The Death Song of Cadwallon, King of Britain.[DSU] c.600–, ILywarch ‘Hen’: The Death Song of Urein.[FCH] 398, Claudian: The Fourth Consulship of Honorius[Fer] c.633–, Afan Ferdlig: Praise Song to Cadwallon[GW] 405, Claudian: The Gothic Wars[MC] c.655–, Marwnad Cyndlylan[MEI] ?660, The Martial Eulogy for Saint Iudicael[MO] c.590–, Taliesin: Marwnad Owein[Nam] 419, Rutilius Namatianus: On His Return[Nei] c.598–, Neirin: Y Gododlin[PSC] c.546–, Taliesin: Praise Song to Cynan[PtM] 458, Apollinaris Sidonius: Panegyric to Majorianus[Que] c.420, Querolus[THC] c.580–, Taliesin: Tidings Have Come . . .[SfU] c.580–, Taliesin: Song for Urien[TR] ⇠725, The Ruin[UoY] c.580–, Taliesin: Urien of Yrechwydl

7For this, and many of the other Brittonic poems here, I am adopting the so-called“authenticist” position [Koc13a], assuming a contemporary original, but with openended time frames (e.g. 580–) to indicate that the poems continued to evolve in trans-mission for centuries after the death of the original poet.

LIST OF SOURCES XVII

HISTORIES AND PSEUDOHISTORIES (PRE-NORMAN)

[Alc] c.800, Alcuin: The Bishops, Kings, and Saints of York[Æw] 975, Æthelwerd: Chronicle[Aga] c.580, Agathias: The Histories[AM] c.391, Ammianus Marcellinus: The Deeds of the Divine Emperors[Bed] 730, Bede: The Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation[Can] c.491, Candidus: [History epitomized by Photius][Cas] 519, Cassiodorus: Chronicle[CM] c.720, Bede: Chronica Majora[CN] c.828, Computus added to [Nen][Coe] c.1060, Gilla Coemghin: Lebor Bretnach (Irish version of [Nen])[Erm] 851, Ermold the Black: Chronicle[Fre] 641, Fredegar: Chronicle[CgG] c.700, Canterbury gloss on Gildas (see [Woo02])[Gil] c.547, Gildas: On the Ruin of Britain[GoT] c.592, Gregory of Tours: History of the Franks[Hyd] 468, Hydatius: Chronicle[IoS] 625, Isodore of Seville: History of the Kings of the Goths[Jor] c.555, Jordanes: The Origins and Deeds of the Goths[Mar] 534, Marcellinus Comes: Chronicle[MoA] 581, Marius of Avenches: Chronicle[Nen] c.796, Nennius(?): The History of Britain[ODR] c.552, Jordanes: The Origins and Deeds of the Romans[Oly] c.425, Olympiodorus: Fragments[Oro] 418, Paulus Orosius: History Against the Pagans[Pli] 77, Pliny the Elder: Natural History[PoA] 433, Prosper of Aquitaine: Chronicle[Pro] c.550, Procopius: History of the Wars[Reg] 889, Regino of Prum: Chronicle[SH] c.550, Procopius: The Secret History[Soz] c.442, Sozomen: Ecclesiastical History[Tac] c.98, Tacitus: Germania[Zos] c.510, Zosimus: New History

XVIII LIST OF SOURCES

HISTORIES AND PSEUDOHISTORIES (NORMAN TO TUDOR)

[AGE] c.1130, William of Malmesbury: De Antiquitate Glastonie Ecclesie[AIA] 1544, John Leland: Assertio Inclytissimi Arturii[AKS] 1140, Richard of Hexham: The Acts of King Stephen, 1135 to 1139[Boe] 1527, Hector Boece: History of the Scottish People[ByB] 13th–14th C, Brut y Brenhinedl†

[CB] 1572, Humphrey ILwyd: Commentarioli Britannicae[JoF] c.1360, John of Fordun: Chronicle of the Scottish People[Gai] c.1140, Geffrei Gaimar: History of the English[GN] 11th–13th C, Glosses on [Nen][GoM] c.1137, Geoffrey of Monmouth: History of the Kings of Britain[GoW] 1193, Gerald of Wales: A Book on the Instruction of Princes[Gru] 1552, Elis Gruffydd: Chronicle of the Six Ages[Hig] c.1343, Ranulf Higden: Polychronicon[HoH] 1129, Henry of Huntingdon: History of England[JoG] 1342, John of Glastonbury: Chronicle of Glastonbury Abbey[JoW] c.1140, John of Worcester: Chronicon ex chronicis[JdP] Jean des Preis: Ly Myreur des Histors (1399)[Lay] c.1200, Layamon: Brut[Lel] 1540, John Leland: Itinerary[ILwy] 1559, Humphrey ILwyd: Cronica Walliae[LM] 1150, Geoffrey of Monmouth: Life of Merlin[LtW] 1139, Henry of Huntingdon: Letter to Warinus (epitomizing [GoM])[RM] 1338, Robert Mannyng: Chronicle[RoC] c.1220, Ralph of Coggeshall: English Chronicle[RoH] 1202, Roger of Hoveden: Annals[RoW] 1235, Roger of Wendover: Flowers of History[SE] 1216, Gerald of Wales: Speculum Ecclesiae[TCN] 13th C, Table of Contents added to [Nen][Wac] 1155, Wace: Geste des Bretons[WoM] 1125, William of Malmesbury: Deeds of the English Kings[WoR] c.1240, William of Rennes: Deeds of the Kings of Britain

†The range of dates here refer to the various recensions; the one I used most was thelast composed, though it was long known erroneously as the “Chronicle of Tysilio”.

LIST OF SOURCES XIX

MEDIEVAL FOLK-TALES AND LEGENDS

[Beo] 8th C, Beowulf[CaO] ⇠1100, The Mabinogion: Culhwch and Olwen[CH] ⇠800, Canu Heledl[DAE] c.1140, Dialogue of Arthur and the Eagle[DGG] ⇠1000, Dialogue of Gwydlno Garanhir and Gwyn ap Nudl[DMG] ⇠1200, The Dialogue of Melwas and Gwenhyfar[DMT] ⇠1100, Dialogue of Myrdlin and Taliesin[DoM] ⇠1200, The Mabinogion: The Dream of Maxen Guletic[DoR] ⇠1300, The Mabinogion: The Dream of Rhonanbwy[EC] ⇠900 Elegy for Cunedda[EG] ⇠900 Elegy for Gereint[FBF] ⇠800, The Finn’s Burgh Fragment[GSE] ⇠1225, The Mabinogion: Gereint, son of Erbin[HtD] c.1300, Havelok the Dane[KT] ⇠1000, Book of Taliesin: Kadeir Teyrnon[LdH] c.1170, Lai d’Havelok[LK] c.1480, Lailoken and Kentigern[ILH] ⇠800, Laments of ILywarch ‘Hen’[ILIL] ⇠1200, The Mabinogion: ILud and ILevelys[LoF] ⇠1200, The Mabinogion: The Lady of the Fountain[MB] ⇠950, Mirabilia Britanniae (attached to Nennius’s History)[MR] ⇠1000, Marwnad Rhun[MU] ⇠1000, Marwnad Uther Pendreic[PG] ⇠1000, Pa Gur yv y Porthaur?[PsE] ⇠1250, The Mabinogion: Peredur son of Evrauc[PV] ⇠1450, Peiryan Vaban[SoG] ⇠900, Stanzas of the Grave[TIB] 11th–15th C, The Triads of the Island of Britain[TS] ⇠1250, Thidreks-Saga[YA] ⇠1200, Yr Afallennau

XX LIST OF SOURCES

ROMANCES, OTHER SOURCES, AND VAGUE ATTRIBUTIONS

[AR] Arthurian Romances other than specified (chiefly 13th C)[Arc] Archaeology[BT] Breton Traditions[Cam] William Camden: Britannia (1607)[CK] Common Knowledge[Cor] Cormac mac Cullinan: Glossary (⇠900)[CT] Cornish Traditions[DO] Consular Diptych of Orestes (530)[Epi] Epigraphy (inscriptions on monuments, coins etc.)[ET] English Traditions[FaB] The Romance of Floris and Blancheflor (c.1160).[FT] Frisian Traditions[Gen] Genetic Studies[HM] Historia Meriadoci (c.1170)[IM] Iolo Morganwg (1747–1826): The Iolo Manuscripts[IT] Irish Traditions[IVR] The Illustrated Vergilius Romanus (perhaps of 5th C British origin)[Map] Sir Walter Map: De Nugis Curialium (c.1200)[Ger] Gervase of Tilbury: Otia imperialia (c.1211)[OW] De Ortu Walwanii, Nepotis Arturi (c.1175)[Per] Perlesvaus (c.1200)[Phi] Philology (language evolution)[PoE] King Cyngen map Cadell: Pillar of Eliset (c.850)[Spe] Henry Spelman: Concilia etc. in re ecclesiarum orbis britannici (1636)[STI] Saga af Tristram ok Isodd (⇠1400)[Top] Toponymy (place names)[UT] Ur-Tristan (reconstructed, c.1150)[WT] Welsh Traditions[YT] Ystoria Taliesin (c.1550)

LIST OF SOURCES XXI

SAINTS’ LIVES (BRITTONIC)

[Car] c.1140, Caradoc of ILancarfan: Life of St. Gildas[HDM] c.1500, Historia Divae Monacellae (Life of St. Melangell)[Joc] c.1180, Jocelyn of Furness: Life of St. Kentigern[Lif] c.1080 Lifricus of Llancarfan: Life of St. Cadoc[Mau] c.1600 Maurice of Cleder: Life of St. Kenan[Mui] ?675, Muirchu: Life of St. Patrick[Ric] c.1090, Ricemarchus, Life of St. David[TCM] c.800, Table of Contents added to Muirchu’s Life of St. Patrick[VBe] 12th C, Life of St. Beuno[VBr] 12th C, Life of St. Brynach[VC] c.1125, Life of St. Carantoc[VD] c.1125, Life of St. Dubricius[VG] ?9th C, Monastery of Rhuys: Life of St. Gildas[VI] c.1125, Life of St. Illtud[VK] c.1150, (Fragmentary) Life of St. Kentigern[VLe] ?12th C, Life of St. Leonorius[VMa] ?12th C, Life of St. Maedoc[VMn] 7th C, Life of St. Melanius[VMr] 11th C, Life of St. Melar[VO] 12th C, Life of St. Oudoceus[VP] 12th C, Life of St. Padarn[VPe] 14th C, Life of St. Petroc[VS] ?8th C, Life of St. Samson[VTa] 12th C, Life of St. Tatheus[VTe] 12th C, Life of St. Teilo[WoL] ?1019 (or c.1200), William of Leon: Legenda Sancti Goeznovii[Wrm] 884 Wrmonoc: Life of St. Paul Aurelian of Leon[Wur] 9th C, Wurdisten: Life of St. Winwaloe

XXII LIST OF SOURCES

SAINTS’ LIVES (OTHER)

[Ado] c.690, Adomnan of Iona: Life of St. Columba[AT] ?9th C, Additamenta to Tırechan’s Memoir of St. Patrick[Con] c.485, Constantius of Lyon: Life of St. Germanus of Auxerre[Fel] c.730, Felix: Life of St. Guthlac[GBM] c.592, Gregory of Tours: The Glory of Blessed Martyrs[GPA] c.875, Gesta Pontificum of Auxerre[Hin] c.876, Hincmar: Life of St. Remigius[Leo] c.645, Leontius: Life of St. John the Almsgiver[RoD] c.1165, Reginald of Durham: Life of St. Oswald[VCA] c.545, Life of St. Caesarius of Arles[VCu] 721, Bede: Life of St. Cuthbert[VDR] c.800, Life of St. Dalmas of Rodez[VE] c.800, Life of St. Eptadius of Autun[VF] ?9th C, Codex Salmanticensis: Life of St. Finnian of Clonard[VLu] ?6th C, Life of St. Lupus of Troyes[VW] c.712, Life of St. Wilfrid