by Mike Ashley
The ASC makes no reference to a second Badon any more than it did to the first, so it was probably an all-Welsh affair. The site in The Dream of Rhonabwy cannot be ruled out. Bards writing a century or two later could easily have linked the site of one battle with another, for although it is described as “the second battle of Badon”, we should not automatically assume the two battles are in the same place. The possibility that Morgan ap Athrwys was killed at this second Badon makes it yet another tantalising link with the Arthur of legend. Moreover, the possibility that the two Badons were at the same site and in Powys is another, equally tantalising, link to Cadell.
The bizarre dream-like quality of the story is most evident when the battle is described by characters who appear while Arthur and Owain play chess. Eventually a truce is granted for a period of a month and a fortnight. The description of the battle, such as it is, does not match that recalled by Nennius, in which Arthur’s men seemed to wipe out the enemy over a period of three days. That suggests these are not the same battles, and that the author of the tale chose it because it was associated with past victories.
When considering the truce, Arthur summons his counsellors, and there follows a list of over forty names. Also present, though not listed as one of the counsellors, is Rhun, son of Maelgwyn. Rhun was the powerful king of Gwynedd who ruled from around 549 until the 580s, and therefore a contemporary of Arthur of Dyfed (rather than Arthur of Gwent). The counsellors include Bishop Bedwini and Caradog Vreichfras, both linked with Arthur of Gelliwig in the Welsh Triads, Cador of Cornwall, Gwalchmei, Gwenwynwyn and Peredur Longspear. Cei is mentioned elsewhere, but not amongst the counsellors, and Bedwyr makes no appearance. Also mentioned are Dyrstan ap Tallwch, one of the earliest appearances of Tristan, although he otherwise plays no part in this story, and Llacheu, son of Arthur, remembered as Loholt in the romances.
4. Caradog Vreichfras
This is an appropriate moment to give further thought to Arthur’s advisor Caradog Vreichfras, who has a significant role in this story, and appears in other Arthurian tales.
Caradog is described as Arthur’s most senior counsellor, a position which allows him to speak his mind bluntly. He is portrayed as an acerbic character, not unlike that ascribed to Cei in the romances. His epithet, Vreichfras, means “strong-arm”. Apparently Cardog’s arm was broken in battle but mended more powerful than before. In the later French romances this became Briefbras, derived from Brise-bras, for “broken arm”, but thereafter translated as “short arm” or “withered arm”.
Cardog is associated with both Brycheiniog and Ergyng, plus the region known as Llydaw. He is infuriatingly difficult to date, because his name is so common and his ancestry confusing. He is usually made the son of Llyr Marini, who has no historical basis. The name seems to be a later fabrication to link Caradog with the god Llyr. The same legend makes his mother a fairy.
There are at least four Caradogs who appear in the pedigrees, and to whom the epithet vreichfras has become attached.
1.
Caradog, father of Eudaf Hen, fl. 320s. Eudaf was Duke of the Gewisse in Ergyng and we may deduce that this Caradog was also a “ruler” (that is Roman magistrate) of Ergyng.
2.
Caradog, father of Ynyr, fl. 420s, a possible king of Gwent. The pedigree of Ynyr is confusing and Caradog may have been his father or his son. Hence:
3.
Caradog ap Ynyr, fl. 470s, a king of Gwent.
4.
Caradog ap Gwrgan, fl. 590s, ruler of Ergyng.
The latter three seem to belong to the royal family of Gwent, so may all be descended from Eudaf and the first Caradog. We cannot dismiss the possibility that because one Caradog was known to be a ruler of Ergyng, tradition has linked all the others to that territory. But Caradog was such a popular name that it may well have passed down through a family, particularly one as noted as Eudaf’s, which claimed descent from the original Ceretic, or Caratacus, ruler of the Catuvellauni at the time of the Roman invasion. Caratacus fled to the Silures in Gwent to mount a defensive campaign against the Romans, before being exiled to Rome with his brother Arvir-agus, who returned to Britain and settled among the Silures. There is thus a case to be made that Caradog became a family name of the rulers of the Gwentian Silures throughout the period of Roman occupation.
Of particular interest are (3) and (4), as one is contemporary with Arthur of Badon, and the other was probably alive, as a senior official, during the life of Arthur of Gwent. Most legends about Vreichfras have become too wrapped up in myth to be of value as history, but there is enough in Culhwch and Olwen and The Dream of Rhonabwy to suggest that a once great warrior was now a highly respected counsellor at Arthur’s court.
The idea that Caradog and Arthur became enemies has no basis in these stories, and may have arisen from two factors. Firstly, the idea that Caradog may be the same person as Cerdic of the West Saxons. This is a very tempting idea and, if we accept the ASC’s original dates of Cerdic arriving in 495 and succeeding to the West Saxon kingdom in 501, it would make him a contemporary of Caradog ap Ynyr. However, we have determined that Cerdic lived at least a generation later. Perhaps Cerdic was related to Caradog, possibly as a nephew. That alone may make it sufficient for Caradog to be regarded as a traitor to Arthur, but any such arrangement may have been part of various peace or land treaties. We might even go so far as to propose that Caradog is just old enough to have been Hengist’s interpreter, but that is pure conjecture.
The other reason is because Caradog has also been called a ruler of Armorica, and may have deserted Arthur to establish a new kingdom over the sea (possibly explaining the Llyr Marini patronym, as both names mean “of the sea”). However, as we established earlier, Caradog conquered the territory of Llydaw between Ergyng and Brycheiniog, which is also the Welsh name for Armorica, and the two have become confused.
This may provide another connection with Cerdic. Cerdic is always called the leader of the Gewisse, whilst Eudaf Hen, son of the first Caradog listed above, was also called a duke, or dux, of the Gewisse. Could Caradog Vreichfras have inherited the title of duke of the Gewisse and, if so, what connection does this have to Cerdic?
There may be none. The simple answer may be confusion between the words Gewisse and Guuennessi. The first means “confederates” or “allies”, and is usually taken to mean an army of mixed Romano-British and Germanic warriors, who were the band of mercenaries with which Cerdic carved out his kingdom. Cerdic’s grandfather (or great-grandfather) was called Gewis, and his descendants became the Gewisse, or, more accurately, the Gewissingas. Guuennessi means “people of Gwent”, of whom Eudaf was the dux, or more probably governor.
The confusion arises because Geoffrey of Monmouth called Vortigern a leader of the Gewisse. We know that Vortigern was descended from the men of Gloucester and established a dynasty in Powys, but was not himself from Gwent. He could, of course, have usurped the title, which would not have been out of character, or Geoffrey could simply have been mistaken.
However, we have seen that the first Saxon “adventus”, perhaps at Vortigern’s request, was around the year 428. Their leader was more likely to have been someone like Gewis than Hengist who, as we explore in the next chapter, comes later. If the Saxons became Vortigern’s personal army they may have been known as the Gewisse, and Vortigern as their dux. The question arises as to whether there is a link between the Gewisse and the Men of Llydaw, the “host” once commanded by Eudaf Hen. If there was confusion over Eudaf as both leader of the Gewisse and the Men of Llydaw might there not have been later confusion between Caradog and Cerdic in the same roles? Perhaps the Men of Llydaw and the Gewisse combined.
Either way at some stage Cerdic took command of the Gewisse, possibly the result of a conflict between Cerdic and his “uncle” Caradog, a conflict which would have been at about the time of the battle of Camlann. Could it be that Camlann, which was an internal squabble, was really a battle for the control of an elite army (an early concept of t
he Round Table) which Cerdic was able to wrest away from Arthur and Caradog, and out of which he created the kingdom of Wessex?
It is a shame to let facts get in the way of a good story, and all of this is entirely speculation based on nothing more than loose connections between names. However, let me throw in one further thought to allow speculation to ferment further.
If the ASC story of Cerdic is correct, then his early conquests in the 530s were in Hampshire and Wiltshire, north of Southampton. However, such archaeological evidence as there is for the early settlements of the West Saxon Gewisse places them in the upper Thames valley, between Dorchester and Swindon (close to two of the suggested sites for Badon). As the Gewisse became established, their name evolved into the Hwicce, the name of the province mentioned by Nennius as the location for Badon. This territory was later lost to the Mercians, who continued to hold Hwicce in high regard. Penda made Hwicce into a sub-kingdom, a bishopric was later established here, and Offa chose it as a site for one of his palaces. There was something special to the Saxons about the Hwicce, something now forgotten, but which may have had its roots in the Gewisse, Caradog and Cerdic.
Arthur’s opponent at Badon in The Dream of Rhonabwy is given as Osla Gyllellvawr (“Big Knife”), usually interpreted as being Hengist’s son Oisc, or Oisc’s son Octha. In fact, Osla is remarkably similar to Esla, the son of Gewis, and therefore Cerdic’s father or grandfather. If Esla and Osla were the same man, then Arthur’s battle at Badon was against Cerdic’s father. It has puzzled many authorities why, if Osla was Arthur’s enemy at Badon, his name occurs in the long list of Arthur’s warriors in the story of Culhwch and Olwen. But this might be so if Osla was really Esla, commander of the Gewisse for Llydaw, turned rebel. It would explain why Cerdic was believed to come from Llydaw (Armorica), when in fact he came from Llydaw (Ergyng), and how Eudaf, Vortigern and Cerdic could all be leaders of the Gewisse. And it might also explain the obvious reverence the Mercians had for the Hwicce, the “spiritual” descendants of the original Gewisse.
Tenuous though all these connections may be, they provide food for thought both as to the location of Badon and about its participants. The Arthur portrayed in The Dream of Rhonabwy does not seem to be either Arthur of Dyfed or Arthur of Gwent, despite the recurrence of several familiar names. The story has taken us into new territory, Powys, and thus made connections with its rulers and history.
Let us now turn to other Welsh texts to see what they say about Arthur.
5. Llongborth
In the Black Book of Carmarthen is a long elegy to another hero, Geraint, titled (possibly years later) Geraint fil Erbin. It includes the following verses.
In Llongborth, I saw the clash of swords,
Men in terror, bloody heads,
Before Geraint the Great, his father’s son.
In Llongborth I saw spurs,
And men who did not flinch from the dread of the spears,
Who drank their wine from the bright glass.
In Llongborth I saw the weapons,
Of men, and blood fast dropping,
After the war cry, a fearful return.
In Llongborth I saw Arthur’s
Heroes who cut with steel.
The Emperor, ruler of our labour.
In Llongborth Geraint was slain,
Brave men from the region of Dyvnaint,
And before they were slain, they slew.
Because the poem mentions Arthur, many have assumed that he was present at the battle, and that therefore the poem must belong to the sixth century. However, other translations interpret the key verse as follows:
In Llongborth I saw Arthur,
brave men hewed with steel.
Emperor, ruler of battle.
Although the poem has been attributed variously to Taliesin and Llywarch Hen, there is no evidence as to its author and consequently we do not know when it was composed. Therefore, we do not know which Geraint the poem refers to. The genealogies of Dumnonia list two Geraints, both sons of Erbin, although in the second case the Erbin connection may be an error on the part of a copyist (see Table 3.10). The second Geraint lived at the end of the seventh century, and the ASC records that in 710 the king of Wessex, Ine, fought against Geraint, “king of the Welsh”. The Saxons referred to the British of Dumnonia as the “West Welsh”, and this Geraint was probably the last independent king of Dumnonia.
The reference to Arthur has caused many authorities to presume it is contemporary with the Arthurian period, and must therefore relate to Geraint ab Erbin who not only appears in Culhwch and Olwen and The Dream of Rhonabwy, but also has his own Mabinogion story, Geraint and Enid (see Chapter 18).
The first Geraint is known as one of the “Three Seafarers of Ynys Prydein” in the Welsh Triads. He was the uncle of St Cybi who was born around the year 485 (according to Bartrum), so Geraint may have been born in the 460s, and therefore have been a contemporary of Arthur of Badon.
The word Llongborth means “port of the warships”, rather pertinent if Geraint was one of the three seafarers. Some have suggested Portsmouth as a likely candidate for Llongborth, with the battle taking place at Portchester, just at the head of the natural harbour. This in turn has caused some to leap at the ASC entry for 501, which states:
Here Port and his two sons, Bieda and Mægla, came with two ships to Britain at the place which is called Portsmouth and killed a certain young British man – very noble.
Could Geraint be this young nobleman? Unlikely, since as a major seafarer Geraint was not likely to be young, and he could well have been in his forties by 501. We cannot be sure that the ASC entry is genuine. The name Port is probably a back formation from Portsmouth (called Portus by the Romans). This does not preclude a Saxon and two sons landing there in 501 and doing battle or, indeed, a later scribe mistaking Llongborth for Portsmouth, so the date may be correct. However, there is no philological connection between Portsmouth and Llongborth. Also, if Geraint is more closely associated with Devon or Somerset, then Portsmouth, in Hampshire, is some way out of his territory.
Another suggestion has been Langport, in Somerset. In Saxon times it was called Longport, meaning “long market”; the word portus meaning both a naval port and a market place. Although now many miles inland, the river valleys of the Parrett and Cary were more navigable in Saxon times. Though it remains a credible site for a battle, as it is on the western limit of Saxon expansion in the sixth century, there is no evidence of any settlement at Langport before the year 880, nor is there evidence of any port or market there in the early sixth century.
Of more interest is Llamporth, in Wales. It is on the south side of Cardigan Bay near the village of Penbryn, where, even more strikingly, are sites called Beddgeraint (“the grave of Geraint”), and Maesglas, formerly Maes Galanas (“the field of the killing”). These sites have been identified both by Baram Blackett and Alan Wilson in Artorius Rex Discovered, and by Steven Blake and Scott Lloyd in Pendragon. The site, promising because of the Geraint connection, is also a wonderful natural harbour at what is now Tresaith, and it is in Dyfed, which ties in with the many previous Dyfed seafaring connections already explored in this chapter.
The major problem is that in referring to the death of Geraint, the poem says “Brave men from the region of Dyvnaint.” Dyvnaint, meaning “dwellers in deep valleys”, was the Celtic name for Dumnonia, which also means “deep ones”, possibly linked to tin mining. Geraint seems inextricably linked to the West Country, even to the point that his son, Cado, is recorded in the Life of St Carannog as ruling in Devon.
The answer is almost certainly that although Geraint was a man of Dumnonia, he served at Arthur’s court in Wales, probably in Dyfed. As a naval commander, he would have had no problem sailing between Dyfed and Devon, and Geraint probably retained close links with his home. But his main service to Arthur was in Wales, and it was there that he met his death.
It still begs the question as to whether the poem relates to Geraint the seafarer or th
e Dumnonian Geraint of 710. There are two factors. Firstly, the ASC does not record Ine as killing Geraint at that battle, and the ASC has never shied away from declaring such outcomes. Secondly, the battle of 710 was between Geraint and the Saxons, and if the site was Llamporth in Dyfed, as the evidence suggests, then the Saxons would not have been involved. A battle at Llamporth would have to have involved Geraint the Seafarer.
Dating the battle is more problematic. For Arthur and his men to have earned a sufficient reputation, it would need to have followed on from Arthur’s campaign of the 480s and 490s, and is therefore probably post-Badon. If the battle was not against the Saxons, then the ASC entry is no longer relevant. Rather tellingly, towards the start of the poem, Geraint is referred to as the “enemy of tyranny”, suggesting that the battle may have been against a local “tyrant” – the same word used by Gildas to describe his usurper kings. One of these, Vortipor, was the ruler of Dyfed and reigned from about 515 to 540. Geraint may have fought against Vortipor early in his reign, and lost. He would have been about 50 when Vortipor became king, and about 55 at the time of the battle of Camlann. Llongborth could have happened during those five years, with Geraint supporting Arthur against the rising tyrant kings.
On this basis, conjectural though it is, the Llongborth poem does seem to support an historical Arthur of Badon.
6. What Man?
There is a poem, which survives in an incomplete form, which is usually called Pa Gur, after the first two words of the first line. They translate as “What man is the gatekeeper?” The question seems to be asked by Arthur himself, because the gatekeeper, Glewlwyd Mighty Grasp, responds by saying “What man asks it?” and the response is “Arthur and worthy Cei.”
We might at first seem to be back in Culhwch and Olwen, in which Culhwch also has an altercation with Arthur’s gatekeeper Glewlwyd, but in fact we are in more chilling realms. Although it is not overtly stated, Arthur seems to be knocking on the door of the Other World, seeking admittance. Along with Arthur and Cei are “the best men in the world.” Glewlwyd will not admit them unless Arthur states who they are, giving Arthur the opportunity to catalogue the names of his warriors and some of their heroic deeds.