Showing posts with label 'Anglo-Saxon'. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 'Anglo-Saxon'. Show all posts

30 October, 2015

Better Than Gold, by Theresa Tomlinson. Book review



A & C Black 2014. ISBN 978-1-4729-0782-0. 124 pages.

Better Than Gold is set around 655 AD in Northumbria (in what is now north-east England) and Mercia (in what is now the Midlands). The main character, Egfrid, is a historical figure, and his time as a hostage at the royal court of Mercia is a historical event, although the details are not known. Other historical figures who feature as important characters in the novel include King Penda and Queen Cynewise of Mercia and their children, Egfrid’s father King Oswy of Bernicia and his queen Eanflaeda, Egfrid’s cousin Ethelwold and the Christian monk Chad (later St Chad, if I have identified him correctly).

Egfrid, son of the King of Bernicia, is aged ten when he is taken hostage by Penda, King of Mercia, in a raid. Mercia and Bernicia are bitter enemies; Penda has previously slaughtered Egfrid’s paternal uncle and his maternal grandfather and uncle. Egfrid’s father Oswy has so far escaped a similar fate by avoiding battle, which leads Penda to despise him as a coward. Unlike the Christian kings of Bernicia, Penda is a pagan and his religion practices human sacrifice, so when Egfrid is captured he fears the worst. But his courage and loyalty to his nursemaid and tutor, both captured with him, earns him Penda’s respect. He finds himself treated with honour and even kindness, particularly by Penda’s queen Cynewise, who is working to weave a peace treaty between the kingdoms. But when the old feud breaks out into war once more, Egfrid is faced with a dilemma – whose side should he be on?

I enjoyed Theresa Tomlinson’s mystery novels, Wolf Girl for young adult readers (review here) and A Swarming of Bees for adults (review here), both set in the Northumbrian royal abbey at Whitby in the seventh century, and her novel about Acha of Deira set in the late sixth century, The Tribute Bride (review here). Better Than Gold is a children’s book set a few years earlier than Wolf Girl or A Swarming of Bees.

Part of the inspiration for Better Than Gold was the discovery of the Staffordshire Hoard near Hammerwich in the territory of the old kingdom of Mercia in 2009. This is the largest collection of early English (Anglo-Saxon) precious metalwork ever found, and consists almost entirely of gold and silver objects associated with military equipment, for example the decorative fittings from sword hilts and fragments of at least one helmet. For details of the Staffordshire Hoard, see the official website. This overwhelming focus on martial items is extremely unusual, as most Anglo-Saxon precious metalwork consists of dress fittings such as strap-ends, buckles and brooches, or luxury tableware such as plates or cups, and immediately suggests that there ought to be a dramatic story behind the Staffordshire Hoard. How might it have been assembled, who owned it, what did it signify, why are the items almost all military, who might have buried it, and why might it have been buried and never recovered?  (For a discussion, see my blog post at the time and the associated comments thread). We will probably never know the answers for sure. In Better Than Gold, Theresa Tomlinson has drawn on an episode recorded in Bede’s History and the rather enigmatic Restoration of Iudeu mentioned in Historia Brittonum to imagine a scenario that might lie behind the hoard.

Better Than Gold also imagines how life might have been for a ten-year-old noble boy in the society that produced the Staffordshire Hoard. What would a boy at a royal court eat and wear, what would he be expected to learn, how would he spend his time? This focus on the details of daily life was one of the features I liked about The Tribute Bride and A Swarming of Bees, and it was pleasant to see it again here.

Better Than Gold has the same gentle tone as The Tribute Bride and A Swarming of Bees. Most of the people, most of the time, treat each other decently. There is violence – human sacrifice and battles with many casualties – but because of Egfrid’s age he is rarely directly involved and most of the violence happens in the background. Like the author’s other books, the women are very much to the fore. Queen Cynewise has much authority at the Mercian court, ruling the kingdom while Penda is away on campaign and exercising considerable influence when he is back. Their rule of Mercia seems to be very much a joint enterprise. Like Acha in The Tribute Bride, the royal women in Better Than Gold play a crucial role as peaceweavers, both by formal marriage alliance and in the day-to-day management of court life, ever alert to the need to head off situations where drink and ego threaten to spark conflict and even war.

Better Than Gold is a much simpler and shorter story than the young adult mystery Wolf Girl. I’d estimate its length at around 20,000–25,000 words, roughly a quarter of the length of a ‘standard’ adult novel. I would guess it is aimed at a younger audience, perhaps about the same age as the ten-year-old protagonist. The complex political rivalries and feuds between the various kingdoms are seen mainly in family terms – appropriately, since the conventions of blood-feud and vengeance for a kinsman meant that early English warfare could have a personal as well as a political dimension. It’s clearly written in straightforward modern English, with some archaic terms to add a period flavour, such as the Old English names for the months (Blood-month, Offerings-month, etc. More information on the Old English calendar and the month-names can be found in my article here). I was pleased to see that the original Old English personal names have been kept, e.g. Egfrid, Cynewise. Some names have been replaced by nicknames to avoid potential confusion between similar names within a family, e.g. Egfrid’s dead uncle Oswald is referred to by his (historically documented) nickname of Whiteblade to avoid confusion with his brother Oswy.

A short Author’s Note at the end briefly outlines some of the underlying history and provides a link to learn more about the Staffordshire Hoard. Unfortunately there’s no map on which a reader could follow Egfrid’s travels, although as most of the place names are given in their modern forms (Bamburgh rather than Bebbanburgh, Tamworth rather than Tameworthig) they could be identified on a modern map.

Charming tale about life at the royal courts of seventh-century England and the sort of events that might lie behind the burial of the magnificent Staffordshire Hoard.

31 January, 2015

Llangors Crannog

Viewing platform

Llangors Lake (also called Llyn Syfaddan and Brycheiniog Mere) is the largest natural lake in South Wales. It is located in south-east Wales, not far from Brecon.

Map link: Llangors Lake 

Llangors Lake was formed by glacial meltwater after the last Ice Age. It is a shallow lake (only about 7 m deep), notable for an abundance of fish and water birds (and a legendary aquatic monster or afanc).  It is also the site of the only known crannog in England and Wales.

Llangors Crannog

A crannog is an artificial island, typically constructed a little way offshore in an inland lake, river or estuary.  Crannogs were dwelling places, with access either by boat or via a causeway to the shore. Most of the known crannogs in the British Isles are in Ireland and Scotland, where they range in date from the Neolithic to the early medieval period.

Llangors Lake is the only known example of a crannog in Wales, and perhaps reflects Irish connections.

Llangors crannog from the shore
The Llangors crannog was excavated by archaeologists in 1989-1993. It was constructed from bundles of brushwood laid on the lake bed and held in place by hardwood beams and a ring of massive split oak piles, with a layer of sandstone boulders placed on top of the brushwood to create a platform about 25 m across (Wait et al 2005).

According to the information board at the site, dendrochronology dating on the timbers indicated that the crannog was constructed from trees felled in 889–893 AD. It would have been a very considerable construction project, requiring substantial resources in material and labour.

The excavation found a fragment of a very high-quality embroidered textile and a bronze hinge from a reliquary of a style associated with Ireland in the 8th to 9th centuries AD. This is consistent with the Llangors crannog having had high-status occupants, and the reliquary hinge suggests an ecclesiastical connection. One of the Llandaff charters records that a King Awst of Brycheiniog granted ‘Llan Cors’ and its surrounding estate to a Bishop Euddgwy in the 8th century AD (Wait et al 2005). The charter may just be a post hoc ecclesiastical attempt at a land grab, but it is consistent with the presence of the reliquary hinge and may reflect a genuine church connection. Perhaps the crannog was the site of a royal and/or episcopal hall.

Destruction of the crannog

A destruction layer of charcoal and charred timber indicated that Llangors crannog had been destroyed by fire (Wait et al 2005).

The destruction layer may relate to an event recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:

A.D. 916.  This year was the innocent Abbot Egbert slain, before midsummer, on the sixteenth day before the calends of July.  The same day was the feast of St. Ciricius the martyr, with his companions. And within three nights sent Ethelfleda an army into Wales, and stormed Brecknock; and there took the king's wife, with some four and thirty others.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, available online 

Ethelfleda is Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians and daughter of Alfred the Great. ‘Brecknock’ is an alternative spelling of ‘Brycheiniog’.

The kingdom of Brycheiniog

Brycheiniog (anglicised version, Brecon) was an early medieval Brittonic kingdom in what is now south-east Wales. Its eponymous (legendary?) founder, Brychan, is traditionally said to be the son of a Brittonic mother and an Irish king. Whether literally true or not, the legend is consistent with connections between Brycheiniog and Ireland, which might account for the Irish-style reliquary hinge and the construction of a crannog, a type of dwelling more often associated with Ireland.

According to Asser’s Life of Alfred, Brycheiniog had been an ally (or vassal state, depending how voluntary the arrangement was) of Wessex during the reign of Alfred the Great, seeking protection against attacks from Gwynedd.

Helised, also, son of Tendyr, king of Brecon, compelled by the force of the same sons of Rotri, of his own accord sought the government of the aforesaid king [King Alfred]
Asser, Life of Alfred, available online

The ‘sons of Rotri’ were the kings of Gwynedd, sons of Rhodri Mawr. Attacks by Norse raiders may also have added to the pressure, as Annales Cambriae says that Norsemen laid waste Brycheiniog in 895.

894  Anarawd came with the Angles and laid waste Ceredigion and Ystrad Tywi.
895  The Northmen came and laid waste Lloegr and Brycheiniog and Gwent and Gwynllywiog.
--Annales Cambriae, available online

The date of the alliance between Brycheiniog and Alfred is not precisely stated.  Since it was against the sons of Rhodri, it was presumably after the death of Rhodri Mawr in 878. Anarawd ap Rhodri of Gwynedd co-operated with ‘the Angles’, presumably Alfred, in 894 according to the Annales Cambriae, so the relationship between Brycheiniog and Alfred was most likely established before then. This suggests a date some time in the 880s.

As the crannog was built with timber felled in 889-893, its construction may have been a response to all this political and military upheaval, perhaps a desire for a secure place of refuge in the face of many threats and/or an attempt to proclaim an identity as an independent kingdom and resist being swallowed up as a vassal state.  I wonder if it was in existence when the Norse ‘came and laid waste Brycheiniog’ in 895, and if so, whether it was attacked and how it withstood the attack. Or indeed whether it was built as a reaction to this Norse attack, using timber that had already been felled a few years earlier.

Whatever the nature of the relationship between Alfred and the king of Brycheiniog, Aethelflaed clearly did not regard Brycheiniog as an ally at the time of her attack in 916. Possibly she felt that it was a Wessex arrangement that did not apply to her in her capacity as Lady of the Mercians, or that it had been negated by the death of Abbot Egbert, or that circumstances had changed and an alliance from the previous generation was no longer relevant.

It can’t be often that one queen captures another queen in battle. I wonder about the story or stories behind these fragments of archaeology and the laconic references in the chronicles. Who was the now-unknown Abbot Egbert, how was he murdered and why was he so important that his death started a war? Why did Aethelflaed blame Brycheiniog for the murder?  Was the attack on Brycheiniog really revenge for the abbot’s death? Aethelflaed seems to have acted very fast if she despatched an army within three nights of the abbot’s death, especially as news would take at least some time to travel. Was Abbot Egbert’s death merely a convenient cover for some other motive? (or an unrelated event that was attributed an unwarranted significance by an ecclesiastical chronicler who assumed that everything revolved around church affairs?)  What did Aethelflaed think of Alfred’s alliances with the various Brittonic kingdoms?  Aethelflaed and the queen of Brycheiniog may have known each other personally, or at least have met at royal court events. I wonder what they thought of each other.

Nowadays, Llangors Lake is a tranquil place between the Black Mountains on one side and the Brecon Beacons on the other. You can’t get to the crannog itself (except maybe by boat; I have no idea whether you might need a permit to land there). A walkway leads out from the shore to a modern viewing platform, with a central shelter under a roof like an Iron Age house and a gallery all round to give uninterrupted views of the crannog, the lake and the surrounding mountains. Information boards explain a little about the geography and history of the lake and the archaeological investigation on the crannog. If our visit is anything to go by, it’s home to a lot of dragonflies, ducks and swans (alas, I didn’t spot the afanc).
 
Llangors crannog from the viewing platform

References
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, translation available online 
Annales Cambriae, available online
Asser, Life of Alfred, available online 
Wait G, Benfield S, McKewan C. Rescuing Llangors Crannog. British Archaeology 2005;84, available online

10 September, 2014

The Tribute Bride, by Theresa Tomlinson. Book review



Acorn Digital Press, 2014. ISBN 978-1-909122-63-5. 261 pages.

The Tribute Bride is set at the beginning of the seventh century AD in Deira and Bernicia, the two kingdoms that later became Northumbria in what is now north-east England. The central character, Acha, is a historical figure, as are her husband Athelfrid, her father Aelle and brother Edwin, the Deiran chief priest Coifi and Athelfrid’s queen Bebba. Other main characters are fictional.

Disclosure: Seventh-century Britain is an area of particular interest to me, and my own novel Paths of Exile has the same setting and includes some of the same characters as The Tribute Bride. Theresa and I had several email discussions about the possible life and career of the historical Acha, who is recorded in just one line in Bede’s History. 

Acha is the daughter of Aelle, the ageing king of Deira, and has just reached marriageable age when severe flooding destroys most of the harvest. Aelle cannot pay the tribute of grain to his overlord, the fearsome Athelfrid of Bernicia, so he sends Acha instead. Athelfrid already has a queen, the magnificent Bebba of the Picts, but they have no living child and Athelfrid wants an heir for his ever-expanding empire. He accepts Acha as a secondary wife – officially married to Athelfrid, but not his queen – and soon she is pregnant with his child. But how will Bebba react to a younger, fertile rival? And does the ruthless and cunning Athelfrid plan to obtain more from Acha than a child?

I very much enjoyed Theresa Tomlinson’s mystery novels, Wolf Girl (for young adult readers) and A Swarming of Bees (for adults), both set in the Northumbrian royal abbey at Whitby. The Tribute Bride is set half a century earlier, when the later kingdom of Northumbria was still two separate kingdoms, each with its own dynasty. Acha’s life bridged both dynasties. What role she played in combining the two kingdoms (if any), is not known – which is what historical fiction is for. I summarised what is known about the historical Acha (not very much), in an earlier article Acha of Deira and Bernicia: daughter, sister, wife and mother of kings. So I was very pleased to see a novel devoted to her.

Considering that The Tribute Bride features murder, betrayal, war and massacre, it is a surprisingly gentle read. Most of it is told through the eyes of Acha, who is still only a girl at the beginning of the novel – mid-teens, I would guess – and has a sunny-natured tendency to think the best of people and to make the best of any situation. Her generous and open-hearted character helps her to find unexpected friendships in Bernicia, friendships that stand her in good stead in the long term. However, it also means that she is largely oblivious to the darker undercurrents of court life. Indeed, the older and wiser Bebba tries to warn Acha that Athelfrid is not nicknamed ‘The Trickster’ for nothing and that Acha should be wary of his intentions, but Acha does not understand the warning until it is too late. Even when the worst has happened, Acha’s determination to make the best of things probably contributes a lot to making the consequences of Athelfrid’s actions much less adverse than they might otherwise have been.

Peaceweaver brides like Acha, married to their families’ rivals and enemies, must have had to do a lot of smoothing down of conflicts if they were to be successful. This perhaps explains why The Tribute Bride was so much more placid than I had expected for a novel set at the heart of early medieval court life; the whole focus of the book is about defusing and preventing conflict.

Athelfrid’s historical nickname Flesaurs, usually translated as ‘The Twister’ or ‘The Artful’ is here rendered as ‘The Trickster’ and cleverly linked with the deceitful thief-god Loki. Whether the early English had an equivalent of the Norse god Loki is unknown, but equivalents of some of the Norse gods are recorded in Old English place names, so it seems not implausible that other characters from the Norse pantheon may also have had early English counterparts.

The main characters are all women – Acha herself, Bebba, the elderly midwife, Acha’s maids. I particularly liked the relationship between Acha and Bebba, which develops in an unexpected direction. The male characters tend to be secondary, even Athelfrid (perhaps because Acha at first does not know him very well and then later does not wish to). The preponderance of strong female characters was similar in Wolf Girl and A Swarming of Bees. It makes for a domestic focus, with plenty of detail of buildings, travel, food and textile crafts. The variety of languages, cultures and religions among the plethora of small kingdoms is well captured.

A map and glossary of place names at the front are useful to follow the geography, and a character list at the front may be helpful to readers unfamiliar with the period. An Author’s Note and reference list at the back outlines the underlying history and source material (I am flattered to see that I get a mention).

Gentle tale of kindness and friendships found in unexpected places, set against the background of early seventh-century Northumbria.

02 May, 2013

Urien Rheged



Urien (also spelled Urbgen, Uryen) was a warrior-king of the royal house of Rheged some time in the late sixth century.  He appears in Historia Brittonum, various genealogies and some of the poetry attributed to Taliesin and Llywarch Hen.  Later, as King Uriens of Gore, he became a secondary character in medieval Arthurian romances.  What can we say about him?

Evidence

Genealogies

Both the Harleian genealogies and the Bonedd Gwyr y Gogledd (Descent of the Men of the North) genealogies contain a very similar genealogy for Urien tracing his descent from Coel Hen:


[U]rbgen map Cinmarc map Merchianum map Gurgust map Coilhen

--Harleian Genealogies, available online 


Vryen uab Kynuarch m Meirchavn m Gorust Letlvm m Keneu m Coel

--Bonedd Gwyr y Gogledd, available online 


Historia Brittonum


Adda, son of Ida, reigned eight years; Ethelric, son of Adda, reigned four years. Theodoric, son of Ida, reigned seven years. Freothwulf reigned six years. In whose time the kingdom of Kent, by the mission of Gregory, received baptism. Hussa reigned seven years. Against him fought four kings, Urien, and Ryderthen, and Gualllauc, and Morcant. Theodoric fought bravely, together with his sons, against that Urien. But at that time sometimes the enemy and sometimes our countrymen were defeated, and he shut them up three days and three nights in the island of Metcaut; and whilst he was on an expedition he was murdered, at the instance of Morcant, out of envy, because he possessed so much superiority over all the kings in military science.

 --Historia Brittonum, chapter 63, available online

Metcaut is the island of Lindisfarne (Holy Island), off the coast of what is now north-east England.

Taliesin poetry

The Book of Taliesin is a medieval Welsh manuscript containing 56 poems, of which eight are poems in praise of Urien:

The Battle of Gwenystrad

A Song for Urien Rheged (1)

A Song for Urien Rheged (2)

A Song for Urien Rheged (3)

The Battle of Argoed Llwyfain

A Song for Urien Rheged (4)

The Spoils of Taliesin, a song for Urien

The Satisfaction of Urien
--Book of Taliesin, available online

You can read translations of the poems, as well as the original text, on the linked site.  The poems describe Urien’s exploits as a cattle raider and successful warrior in a number of battles (more about the battles and their locations in a later post).

Triads


Three Savage Men of the Island of Britain, who performed the Three Unfortunate Assassinations:
Llofan Llaw Ddifro who slew Urien son of Cynfarch

Three Battle-Leaders of the Island of Britain:
Selyf son of Cynan Garrwyn, and Urien son of Cynfarch, and Afaon son of Taliesin


--Red Book of Hergest Triads, available online


Interpretation

Date
Historia Brittonum says that Urien fought against Theodric of Bernicia, one of the sons of Ida of Bernicia.  Theodric’s reign is not precisely dated, but it falls somewhere between the end of Ida’s twelve-year reign (which, according to Bede, began in 547) in 559 and the twenty-four-year reign of Aethelferth of Bernicia that began in 593 (for a discussion on the dating, see my article ‘Origins of Northumbria: Two Aethelrics?’).  So Theodric ruled at some time between 559 and 593. 

As Urien fought against Theodric, it can be inferred that Urien was militarily active at some time in the same period, i.e. in the second half of the sixth century.  Urien and Theodric need not have been exact contemporaries, of course; all that is needed for consistency with Historia Brittonum is that their reigns overlapped long enough for at least one battle. 

Status and career
Historia Brittonum, the Triads and the Taliesin poetry are all consistent in portraying Urien as a powerful king and an effective military leader.  (I should add the usual caveat that they may not necessarily be independent sources, and the apparent consistency may be because they all copied from each other).

The Taliesin poetry shows Urien Rheged in the traditional roles of heroic poetry, as a successful warrior and cattle raider.  According to Taliesin, Urien was a great king, warrior and hero.  I would be cautious about reading too much into that; extravagant praise of one’s patron was expected of a bard.  However, it is consistent with the Triads and Historia Brittonum.

Urien is said by Historia Brittonum to have besieged Theodric of Bernicia on the island of Metcaut or Metcaud (now known as Lindisfarne, or Holy Island).  This siege was presumably an important and/or famous event since Historia Brittonum describes it specifically.  If it means that the Bernician king and his warband(s) were really driven out of all their territory except Lindisfarne, even temporarily, it indicates that Urien was an effective and powerful military leader.  Historia Brittonum’s comment about the motive for Urien’s assassination ‘out of envy, because he possessed so much superiority over all the kings in military science’ is also consistent with Urien having been an exceptionally able commander. 

Historia Brittonum’s list of ‘four kings’ who fought against Theodric can be interpreted as indicating that Urien was the leader of a united coalition of Brittonic rulers fighting against Anglian Bernicia, and/or that Urien was some sort of over-king or High King.  However, this is not the only possible interpretation.  The line in Historia Brittonum does not specify that all four kings fought against Theodric at the same time, or that they formed an alliance; it is also possible that the four kings fought against Theodric of Bernicia independently at different times.  If the four kings did fight together, it may have been no more than a temporary alliance to campaign against a common enemy. Such an alliance need not necessarily have long-term political implications, any more than the joint attack by Penda of Mercia and Catwallaun of Gwynedd on Northumbria in 633, or Penda’s alliance with 30 Brittonic leaders at the Battle of Winwaed in 655, necessarily imply long-term political unity between Mercia and Gwynedd. 

Historia Brittonum says that Urien was a king.  It does not name his territory, but presumably he was king of the ‘Rheged’ mentioned in the Taliesin poetry.  The location and extent of Rheged is uncertain, although it was probably somewhere in what is now north-west England and/or south-west Scotland (more about Rheged in a later post).  If Urien was indeed the leader of an alliance of four kings, this suggests that he was able to command a position of seniority. This in turn may indicate that he was exceptionally effective as a military leader, or that he ruled a kingdom with great military power, or that he held a dominant position, perhaps as an over-king, and was able to compel other kings to fight under his leadership.  Or any combination thereof; these would tend to go together in an age where kings were constantly seeking to extend their power at the expense of their neighbours and rivals.  Conversely, if Urien was able to besiege Theodric of Bernicia with just his own military resources, this also implies that he ruled a very powerful kingdom and/or had considerable military skill.

Urien’s death appears in the Triads as one of the ‘Three Unfortunate Assassinations’, and Historia Brittonum describes it as ‘murder’ and attributes a base motive (envy) to the instigator, identified as Morcant (presumably the same Morcant who is mentioned earlier in the same section as one of the four kings who fought against Theodric).  This suggests that whoever compiled these sources regarded Urien’s death as a bad thing.  As far as I know, no surviving source gives Morcant’s side of the story; if Urien held a position of dominance over less powerful kings, it is possible that this was resented and his assassination was seen in some quarters as the overthrow of a tyrant.

Age
The Battle of Argoed Llwyfain clearly shows Urien and his son Owain together as leaders of a war host, indicating that Urien’s career was long enough for at least one of his sons to have grown up and reached fighting age.  This in turn suggests that Urien’s military career extended at least into middle age.

Ancestry
The genealogies trace Urien’s ancestry back to Coel Hen, a founder figure in several royal pedigrees (see earlier post on Coel Hen for more information).

Urien’s father is named in both genealogies as Cynfarch (Cinmarc, Kynuarch). Cynfarch is not mentioned in his own right in the sources.  The Cynferchyn (‘people of Cynfarch’) appear in a triad in the Bonedd Gwyr y Gogledd:


The 300 swords of the Cynferchyn, and the 300 shields of the Cynwydion, and the 300 spears of the Coeling; on whatever expedition they might go together, they would never fail

-- Bonedd Gwyr y Gogledd, translation available online

as one of three groups of warriors who were seen as natural allies, but apart from that Cynfarch appears only in the genealogies.  There is no body of surviving poetry praising his exploits, as for his famous son and grandson.

This may be pure chance.  The allusions in the Triads hint at a vast shadowy hinterland of stories that have not come down to us.  Perhaps Cynfarch’s bard was not as famous or as popular as Taliesin and any verses he composed in honour of his patron were lost before they were written down.  This prosaic explanation is the simplest and perhaps the most likely.  However, the lack of surviving stories about Cynfarch is also consistent with the possibility that he may have been a less significant figure than his famous son.

Marriage
The story of ‘King Urien and Modron’ is a supernatural tale, telling how the daughter of the King of Annwfn (=The Otherworld) bore a twin son (Owain) and daughter (Morfudd) to Urien.  For details, see the earlier post on Owain ap Urien). As discussed there, it may indicate that Urien was thought to have married a non-Christian queen.  As it includes only Owain and Morfudd, and does not mention Urien’s other children (see below), it may indicate that Urien’s other children had a different mother. 

Or, more prosaically, the story may be a late legend invented to provide a suitably supernatural origin for Owain after he had become established as a legendary hero of medieval Arthurian romance.  This could also explain the omission of Urien’s other children. Morfudd daughter of Urien appears as the lover of Cynon ap Clydno in the Triad of the ‘Three Ardent Lovers’ (text available online). This may indicate that Morfudd was the heroine of a romance that has since been lost, and as such she may have been given a suitably exotic origin by storytellers.  If Urien’s other children (see below) had not become established figures in romance, there may have been no need to give them a supernatural origin.

Children
None of Urien’s children appear in the genealogies, which stop with Urien as the last generation.  This may indicate that they were derived from a source compiled in Urien’s lifetime and were not extended by later scribes, or that Urien was considered to be the last member of the family to have wielded notable political power.

Other sources identify Urien as the father of Owain, famous as a warrior-hero in later medieval romances (see post on Owain son of Urien for more details on Owain’s career).  Historia Brittonum mentions another son of Urien, Rhun map Urbgen, who would therefore have been Owain’s brother or half-brother (more about Rhun in a later post). 

The Triads mention another son of Urien, Rhiwallawn, and a daughter, Morfudd.  The poem The Death of Urien attributed to Llywarch Hen mentions two more sons, Pasgen and Elphin.

Conclusion

It seems clear that Urien was a powerful king and warlord in the late sixth century who fought numerous battles, including at least one celebrated campaign against the Anglian king of Bernicia in what is now north-east England.

The absence of references to Urien’s father Cynfarch may indicate that Cynfarch was a less famous or important figure than his son.  If this is so, Urien may have established or considerably extended Rheged’s power.  This is a plausible scenario if he was a highly effective warrior.  Success in war could bring a king status and access to additional resources in the form of the spoils of battle and tribute payments rendered by less powerful and/or defeated rivals, which in turn could allow him to support a larger warband, bringing more success in battle, and so on.

Urien fathered at least two sons (Owain and Rhun).  His dynasty may have lasted at least a few more generations, as a lady named Rhianmellt daughter of Royth son of Rhun married Oswy of Bernicia some time in the 630s. If Rhianmellt’s grandfather Rhun was the Rhun son of Urien named in Historia Brittonum, Rhianmellt was Urien’s great-grand-daughter (more about Rhianmellt in a later post).

It may be significant that the genealogies stop at Urien, even though the medieval Welsh scribes who wrote them down had access to information about Owain, Rhun and Rhianmellt in the Taliesin poetry and Historia Brittonum.  This may be because the genealogies derived from a sixth-century source, perhaps a king-list complied in Urien’s lifetime, which stopped at Urien when it was composed and was not extended or updated later. It could also indicate that Urien was regarded as the last really powerful ruler of Rheged, and that his descendants wielded less political power than Urien himself.  If he was also the first really powerful ruler of Rheged, this would be consistent with Rheged itself being quite short-lived as an important power.  Combined with the comment in Historia Brittonum about Urien’s exceptional military skill, one can imagine a scenario in which Urien’s personal military prowess briefly made Rheged a significant regional power, only for its dominance to collapse or fade away after his death.  If Rheged was indeed a short-lived military empire built up by one man and lasting only the length of his active career, this could explain why the kingdom is poorly documented in the surviving sources.  Historia Brittonum does not mention Rheged by name, although it does name other contemporary kingdoms such as Elmet and Gwynedd, and Rheged’s location is uncertain.  (More about Rheged and its possible location in a later post).  If Urien gained his power through military success at the expense of rival neighbouring kings, it would also provide an obvious context for his assassination by a disgruntled rival, as stated in Historia Brittonum.  I need hardly add that this is speculative, and other interpretations are possible.


References
Bonedd Gwyr y Gogledd, available online 
Harleian genealogies, available online 
Historia Brittonum, available online
Llywarch Hen, The Death of Urien, available online 
The Book of Taliesin, available online http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/llyfrtaliesin.html



Map links