Arderydd (Arthuret)
The scene of a sectarian battle fought about the year 573CE
in which the forces of Gwenddolau were overwhelmed by either the army of
the Clyde or Coeling forces from York (Eboracum). The location is
generally thought to be just north of Carlisle at the remains of a small
hillfort near Carwinley and Netherby along the river Esk. The Scottish
Merlin, Myrddin, is said to have taken part in the battle and to have lost
his sanity when Gwenddolau perished. The opponent of Gwenddolau has been
proposed as the army of Rhydderch Hael who ruled from Areclut (Dumbarton)
or that of Peredur Steel Arm, the Parsifal of the grail legends, who ruled from
Eboracum. The Clyde proponents point out that the Clyde kingdom eventually
controlled the area expanding their domain to become Strathclyde and that
one of the poems attributed to Myrddin indicates that Myrddin was trying
to evade the warriors and priests of Rhydderch. The Coeling side points
out that the Clyde kingdom did not dominate the area until several years
later and that Peredur and Gwrgi were expanding their control, attempting
to dominate the Pennines. Peredur and Gwrgi perished around 580, leaving a
power vacuum that the Clyde took advantage of. Some of the assumptions
about the cause of the battle concern religion, in that Gwenddolau's was
one of the last major pagan courts and that the opposing force had the
support of the Celtic church.
In my own series, I have chosen to make the opposing force the armies of
Peredur.
