Urien
(also spelled Urbgen or Uryen) was king of the territory of Rheged, somewhere
in what is now north-west England and/or south-west Scotland, in the late sixth
century. For more information, see my earlier post ‘Urien Rheged’.
The surviving sources all portray him as a successful warrior and military
leader. What can we say about his
military career?
Evidence
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.
Metcaut is
the island of Lindisfarne (Holy Island), off the coast of what is now
north-east England.
Taliesin poetry
The
poems ‘The Battle of Gwen Ystrad’ and ‘The Battle of Argoed Llwyfain’ each
describe a single battle. These may have been especially important battles in
Urien’s career, since a whole poem is devoted to each (although, more
prosaically, they could just be chance survivors of a larger number of poems
describing Urien’s battles).
‘Argoed
Llwyfain’ translates approximately as ‘By the Elm Wood’, and ‘Gwen Ystrad’ as
‘White Valley’, which are unfortunately rather too general to locate either
battle precisely. There were probably
many places that could have been described as a ‘white valley’ (the limestone
dales of northern England spring to mind), and many places that were ‘by an elm
wood’.
One
of the poems attributed to Taliesin gives a list of battles:
A
battle in the ford of Alclud, a battle at the Inver.
The battle of Cellawr Brewyn. The battle of Hireurur.
A battle in the underwood of Cadleu, a battle in Aberioed.
He interposes with the steel loud (and) great.
The battle of Cludvein, the affair of the head of the wood.
It
also says:
Until Urien came in the day to Aeron.
He was not an aggressor, there appeared not
The uplifted front of Urien before Powys.
Another
describes what seems to be a sizeable cattle raid:
Purposing
the affair of Mynaw.
And more harmony,
Advantage flowing about his hand.
Eight score of one colour
Of calves and cows.
Much cows and oxen.
Interpretation
Lindisfarne (Holy Island) is off the coast of what is now north-east England.
Some
of the names in the Taliesin poetry are identifiable. Alclud is ‘The Rock of Clyde’ and refers to
Dumbarton Rock on the Clyde estuary. Presumably the ‘ford of Alclud’ was a
crossing-place nearby.
‘Cellawr
Brewyn’ means ‘the huts of Brewyn’. Brewyn could refer to the Roman fort of
Bremenium at modern Rochester in Northumberland, on the major Roman road of
Dere Street.
‘Inver’
is the Gaelic equivalent of Welsh ‘Aber’, meaning ‘mouth’ or ‘confluence’. The name is too general for the location to
be identified. It presumably refers to a
location at or near a river-mouth or river confluence in a Gaelic-speaking area,
which could be almost anywhere – perhaps in Ireland, or the kingdom of Dal
Riada in the south-west Highlands (roughly modern Argyll), or possibly a
Gaelic-speaking area on the Irish Sea coast of modern Cumbria or Galloway. (Edit: My thanks to Beth (see comment thread) for pointing out that 'Inver' is a doubtful translation and may not be a place name at all).
Mynaw
(Manau) could refer to either the Isle of Man or the area around Stirling.
Stirling is perhaps a more likely location for a cattle-raid, as retrieving a
large number of cattle from an island might be a troublesome business. Conversely, the Isle of Man is not that far
from the coast of north-west England/south-west Scotland, and not necessarily
inaccessible if Rheged was a maritime power with access to shipping.
Powys
was a kingdom in what is now north-east and mid-Wales, and may also have
extended into the lowland areas that are now Shropshire and Cheshire (see
earlier article on ‘Early medieval Powys’
for more detail). Aeron may refer to the area around Ayr in south-west
Scotland. The poem seems to indicate
that Urien’s presence in these areas was not hostile, since it says ‘he was not
an aggressor’ (caveat that I do not know whether alternative translations are
possible; some of the Taliesin poems are problematic and translations vary). This could perhaps indicate that Urien was considered
the rightful ruler, defending his territory. However, Powys had its own royal dynasty,
recorded in genealogies and with some of the kings mentioned in sources such as
Annales Cambriae, so it is difficult to see how Urien could have been
considered the rightful ruler of Powys (unless perhaps as some sort of
over-king). If he was not an aggressor, perhaps the suggestion is that he was
present as an ally of the local king. If
so, this would fit with the interpretation of the ‘four kings’ who fought
Theodric in Historia Brittonum as an alliance, and may suggest that Urien was
also capable of operating in alliances elsewhere.
Conclusion
Of
the names that are identifiable, all except Powys are in what is now northern
England or southern Scotland, suggesting that this area was the focus of Urien’s
activity (caveat that the unidentified names could be in different areas).
The
names cover a wide area, from Dumbarton Rock on the west coast to Lindisfarne
on the east coast and from Stirling (if Manau is Stirling) in the north to
Powys in the south. If they represent
the locations of battles or campaigns in which Urien fought, they suggest that
Urien was capable of campaigning over considerable distances. If Manau is the Isle of Man, it may indicate
that he had campaigned by sea as well as by land. This is consistent with Urien
having had a long and successful military career.
Interestingly,
all the places except Powys are north of Hadrian’s Wall. This may indicate that
the core of Urien’s territory was also north of Hadrian’s Wall. Alternatively, if the battles were mainly fought
against rivals and neighbouring kingdoms outside his home territory, their
locations may indicate that Urien’s core territory was elsewhere, perhaps south
of Hadrian’s Wall.
References
Map links
