Manaw Gododdin
Encyclopedia
Manaw Gododdin was the narrow coastal region on the south side of the Firth of Forth
, part of the Brythonic-speaking
Kingdom of Gododdin
in the post-Roman Era
. Its notability is as the homeland of Cunedda
prior to his conquest of North Wales
, and as the homeland of the heroic warriors in the literary epic Y Gododdin
. Pressed by the Picts
expanding southward and the Northumbrians expanding northward, it was permanently destroyed in the 7th century and its territory absorbed into the then-ascendant Kingdom of Northumbria.
The lands both south and north of the Firth of Forth were known as 'Manaw', but from the post-Roman Era forward, only the southern side is referred to as Manaw Gododdin, the Manaw associated with the people of Gododdin. Manaw Gododdin was adjacent to – and possibly included in – Eidyn, the region surrounding modern Edinburgh
.
Though Manaw Gododdin was located within the territory of modern Scotland, as a part of Yr Hen Ogledd
(The Old North) it is also an intrinsic part of Welsh
history, as both the Welsh
and the Men of the North were self-perceived as a single people, collectively referred to as Cymry. The arrival in Wales of Cunedda of Manaw Gododdin in c. 450 is traditionally considered to be the beginning of the history of modern Wales
.
The name appears in literature as both Manaw Gododdin and Manau Gododdin. The modern Welsh
form is spelled with a 'w'.
The Isle of Man
is known in Welsh
as Ynys Manaw, and this has introduced ambiguity in literary and historical references when Manaw (or Manau) was used without further elaboration, as to whether the reference was to Manaw Gododdin or to the Isle of Man.
A similar problem exists in Irish
, where both the northern Pictish Manaw and the southern Manaw Gododdin are referred to as Manann (or Manonn). Certain forms of the Irish name for the Isle of Man produce the genetive name Manann (or Manonn). Either place can be inferred if the context is uncertain.
Historia Brittonum
In the Historia Brittonum, Nennius
says that "the great king Mailcun reigned among the Britons, i.e., in Gwynedd". He adds that Maelgwn's ancestor Cunedda
arrived in Gwynedd 146 years before Maelgwn's reign, coming from Manaw Gododdin, and expelled the Scots [i.e., the Gaels] with great slaughter.
In the chapters of the Historia Brittonum discussing the circumstances leading up to the death of Penda of Mercia
in 655, Oswiu of Northumbria
is besieged at "Iudeu" by Penda and his allies and offers up the wealth (i.e., the royal dignities) of that place which had been recently captured by the Northumbrians (the "Restoration of Iudeu", so-called), as well as that which he held "as far as Manaw". In Latin
the phrase is usque in manau pendae. The recensions are not all consistent on this point. There is also esque in manu pendae and esque in manum pendae, which if reliable, would allow for a different interpretation, as manu is Latin
for hand (as in into the hand [of Penda]).
Welsh genealogies
The royal genealogies provide no information per se about Manaw Gododdin. However, as it was the homeland of Cunedda
and he was the progenitor of many Welsh
royal lines, he is prominent in the Harleian genealogies
. Some of these genealogies reappear in Jesus College MS. 20
, though it focuses mainly on the ancient royalty of South Wales
. All of Cunedda's descendants claim a heritage from Manaw Gododdin.
Annals of Ulster
According to the Annals of Ulster
, Áedán mac Gabráin
, king of Dál Riata
, was victor in a "bellum Manonn" (Battle or War at Manonn) in 582 (his opponent is not given).
There is some scholarly disagreement as to the place meant, whether to Manaw Gododdin or to the Isle of Man. Both are plausible and have some supporting evidence, but lacking hard information, the issue probably will not be settled definitively. Both those favouring the Isle and those favouring Manaw Gododdin say so and include a footnote to the effect that the balance seems to be on one side or the other, with accompanying arguments.
Annals of Ulster, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Annals of Ulster say that in 711, the Northumbrians defeated the Picts at the campus Manann, the field of Manaw. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
gives the year as 710, saying that "Beorhtfrith the ealdorman fought against the Picts between Haefe and Caere".
This is assumed to be between the Rivers Avon (Haefe) and Carron
(Caere). William Forbes Skene
first argues for it in The Four Ancient Books of Wales (1868), noting that the Avon rises in the place still known as Slamannan Moor (i.e., Sliabhmannan, the Moor of Manann). He repeats the conjecture in his Celtic Scotland (1886), and later historians have accepted his suggestion, citing him as the source.
, Brythonic was replaced by Gaelic in the region of Manaw. It was common to retain original place-names, but to alter the pronunciation to be in accord with the language that was then current.
Manaw Gododdin
South of the Firth of Forth
and River Forth
the name survives in the name of Slamannan Moor and the village of Slamannan
, in Stirlingshire
. This is derived from Sliabh Manann, the 'Moor of Manann'. It also appears in the name of Dalmeny
, some 5 miles northwest of Edinburgh
. It was formerly known as Dumanyn, assumed to be derived from Dun Manann.
Pictish Manaw
North of the Forth it survives in the name of the burgh
of Clackmannan
and the eponymous county of Clackmannanshire
. This is derived from Clach Manann, the 'stone of Manann', referring to a monument stone located there.
's homeland, discussion is scant. William Forbes Skene
(The Four Ancient Books of Wales, 1868) has a chapter on "Manau Gododdin and the Picts", and later historians either repeat him or cite him, but do not add more. Kenneth Jackson
(The Gododdin, 1969) provides the same information as Skene, enhanced by his notice and commentary on some of the speculations and conjectures made by historians in the century since Skene published his work. He adds that the early Irish
form of the name Gododdin is Fortudán.
John Koch (Celtic Culture, 2005) incorporates some of Skene's material on Manaw (and credits Skene for it), including an independent view of the historical record (reaching the same general conclusions as Skene), but also asserting conjectures as though they were facts (e.g., asserting that the "Iudeu" mentioned in the Historia Brittonum was at Stirling
).
John Rhys
(Celtic Britain, 1904) both repeats and cites Skene, but adds nothing new. John Edward Lloyd
(History of Wales, 1911) makes only a few comments about Manaw in passing, and John Davies (History of Wales, 1990) omits even that. Christopher Snyder
(An Age of Tyrants, 1998) mentions Manaw twice in passing, saying nothing about it there or in his references to the literary Y Gododdin
. D. P. Kirby (The Earliest English Kings, 1991) mentions Manaw several times, but only in passing and with no information about it. Alistair Moffat (Before Scotland, 2005) makes several passing references to Manaw Gododdin and Gododdin.
In general, there is as much information about Manaw to be found in literary discussions as in historical ones and often more, though it is not more than Skene provided. For example, John Morris-Jones
, in his comprehensive discussion of works attributed to Taliesin
(Y Cymmrodor XXVIII, 1918), repeats and cites the information provided by Skene that is typically omitted in historical works.
during the time when Manaw Gododdin existed is from archaeology that researches Roman Britain. The homeland of the Votadini
, like those of the Damnonii
and Novantae
, was not planted with forts, suggesting (but not confirming) that the peoples of these regions had reached an amicable understanding with the Romans (such as an unequal alliance), and consequently these tribes or kingdoms continued to exist throughout the Roman Era
. There is no indication that the Romans ever waged war against any of these peoples.
However, the Romans were frequently at war with the more northerly peoples now known as Picts
, and their military lines of communication (i.e., their roads
) were well-fortified. This includes the road through Manaw Gododdin, the northern end of Dere Street
.
The earliest reliable historical reference to the peoples of Northern Britain is from the Geography
of Ptolemy
in c. 150. He says that this was the territory of the Otadini (i.e., the Votadini
), a people later known as the Kingdom of Gododdin
(i.e., the Kingdom of the Votadini). Their lands were along the coast of southeastern Scotland and northeastern England
, and included the lands along the Firth of Forth
, both north and south of it.
Ptolemy says that in 150 both the Damnonii and the Otadini possessed the land north of the Firth of Forth
and south of the Firth of Tay
. The Picts were constantly pressing southward, and by the early 3rd century the Roman Emperor Severus ineffectively campaigned against them. Known then as the Maeatae
, the local Picts would ultimately push south to the Firth of Forth and beyond, and by the 7th century the Votadini were being squeezed between them and the Anglian
Bernicia
ns, who were expanding northward.
Neither Gododdin nor Manaw Gododdin could have existed as a kingdom beyond the 7th century. The Kingdom of Northumbria was ascendant, and it would conquer all of Scotland south of the Firths of Clyde
and Forth
. The definitive years were the middle of the 7th century, when Penda of Mercia
led an alliance of Mercia
ns, Cymry (from both the north and from Gwynedd
), East Anglians, and Deira
ns against Bernicia
. Penda would be defeated and killed at the Battle of Winwaed in 655, ending the alliance and cementing Bernician control over all of Britain
between the English Midlands
and the Scottish firths. Bernicia would again be united with Deira to form Northumbria as the premier military power of the era. Alt Clut would soon re-establish its independence, but all other Brythonic
kingdoms north of the Solway
-Tyne
were gone forever.
Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...
, part of the Brythonic-speaking
Brythonic languages
The Brythonic or Brittonic languages form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family, the other being Goidelic. The name Brythonic was derived by Welsh Celticist John Rhys from the Welsh word Brython, meaning an indigenous Briton as opposed to an Anglo-Saxon or Gael...
Kingdom of Gododdin
Gododdin
The Gododdin were a Brittonic people of north-eastern Britain in the sub-Roman period, the area known as the Hen Ogledd or Old North...
in the post-Roman Era
Sub-Roman Britain
Sub-Roman Britain is a term derived from an archaeological label for the material culture of Britain in Late Antiquity: the term "Sub-Roman" was invented to describe the potsherds in sites of the 5th century and the 6th century, initially with an implication of decay of locally-made wares from a...
. Its notability is as the homeland of Cunedda
Cunedda
Cunedda ap Edern , was an important early Welsh leader, and the progenitor of the royal dynasty of Gwynedd.-Background and life:The name Cunedda derives from the Brythonic word , meaning good hound. His genealogy is traced back to Padarn Beisrudd, which literally translates as Paternus of the...
prior to his conquest of North Wales
North Wales
North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...
, and as the homeland of the heroic warriors in the literary epic Y Gododdin
Y Gododdin
Y Gododdin is a medieval Welsh poem consisting of a series of elegies to the men of the Britonnic kingdom of Gododdin and its allies who, according to the conventional interpretation, died fighting the Angles of Deira and Bernicia at a place named Catraeth...
. Pressed by the Picts
Picts
The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...
expanding southward and the Northumbrians expanding northward, it was permanently destroyed in the 7th century and its territory absorbed into the then-ascendant Kingdom of Northumbria.
The lands both south and north of the Firth of Forth were known as 'Manaw', but from the post-Roman Era forward, only the southern side is referred to as Manaw Gododdin, the Manaw associated with the people of Gododdin. Manaw Gododdin was adjacent to – and possibly included in – Eidyn, the region surrounding modern Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
.
Though Manaw Gododdin was located within the territory of modern Scotland, as a part of Yr Hen Ogledd
Hen Ogledd
Yr Hen Ogledd is a Welsh term used by scholars to refer to those parts of what is now northern England and southern Scotland in the years between 500 and the Viking invasions of c. 800, with particular interest in the Brythonic-speaking peoples who lived there.The term is derived from heroic...
(The Old North) it is also an intrinsic part of Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
history, as both the Welsh
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
and the Men of the North were self-perceived as a single people, collectively referred to as Cymry. The arrival in Wales of Cunedda of Manaw Gododdin in c. 450 is traditionally considered to be the beginning of the history of modern Wales
History of Wales
The history of Wales begins with the arrival of human beings in the region thousands of years ago. Neanderthals lived in what is now Wales, or Cymru in Welsh, at least 230,000 years ago, while Homo sapiens arrived by about 29,000 years ago...
.
The name appears in literature as both Manaw Gododdin and Manau Gododdin. The modern Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
form is spelled with a 'w'.
Sources of information
Background: confusion with the Isle of ManThe Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
is known in Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
as Ynys Manaw, and this has introduced ambiguity in literary and historical references when Manaw (or Manau) was used without further elaboration, as to whether the reference was to Manaw Gododdin or to the Isle of Man.
A similar problem exists in Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
, where both the northern Pictish Manaw and the southern Manaw Gododdin are referred to as Manann (or Manonn). Certain forms of the Irish name for the Isle of Man produce the genetive name Manann (or Manonn). Either place can be inferred if the context is uncertain.
Historia Brittonum
In the Historia Brittonum, Nennius
Nennius
Nennius was a Welsh monk of the 9th century.He has traditionally been attributed with the authorship of the Historia Brittonum, based on the prologue affixed to that work, This attribution is widely considered a secondary tradition....
says that "the great king Mailcun reigned among the Britons, i.e., in Gwynedd". He adds that Maelgwn's ancestor Cunedda
Cunedda
Cunedda ap Edern , was an important early Welsh leader, and the progenitor of the royal dynasty of Gwynedd.-Background and life:The name Cunedda derives from the Brythonic word , meaning good hound. His genealogy is traced back to Padarn Beisrudd, which literally translates as Paternus of the...
arrived in Gwynedd 146 years before Maelgwn's reign, coming from Manaw Gododdin, and expelled the Scots [i.e., the Gaels] with great slaughter.
In the chapters of the Historia Brittonum discussing the circumstances leading up to the death of Penda of Mercia
Penda of Mercia
Penda was a 7th-century King of Mercia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom in what is today the English Midlands. A pagan at a time when Christianity was taking hold in many of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Penda took over the Severn Valley in 628 following the Battle of Cirencester before participating in the...
in 655, Oswiu of Northumbria
Oswiu of Northumbria
Oswiu , also known as Oswy or Oswig , was a King of Bernicia. His father, Æthelfrith of Bernicia, was killed in battle, fighting against Rædwald, King of the East Angles and Edwin of Deira at the River Idle in 616...
is besieged at "Iudeu" by Penda and his allies and offers up the wealth (i.e., the royal dignities) of that place which had been recently captured by the Northumbrians (the "Restoration of Iudeu", so-called), as well as that which he held "as far as Manaw". In Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
the phrase is usque in manau pendae. The recensions are not all consistent on this point. There is also esque in manu pendae and esque in manum pendae, which if reliable, would allow for a different interpretation, as manu is Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
for hand (as in into the hand [of Penda]).
Welsh genealogies
The royal genealogies provide no information per se about Manaw Gododdin. However, as it was the homeland of Cunedda
Cunedda
Cunedda ap Edern , was an important early Welsh leader, and the progenitor of the royal dynasty of Gwynedd.-Background and life:The name Cunedda derives from the Brythonic word , meaning good hound. His genealogy is traced back to Padarn Beisrudd, which literally translates as Paternus of the...
and he was the progenitor of many Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
royal lines, he is prominent in the Harleian genealogies
Harleian genealogies
The Harleian genealogies are a collection of Old Welsh genealogies preserved in British Library, Harleian MS 3859. Part of the Harleian Collection, the manuscript, which also contains the Annales Cambriae and a version of the Historia Brittonum, has been dated to c. 1100, although a date of c.1200...
. Some of these genealogies reappear in Jesus College MS. 20
Genealogies from Jesus College MS 20
The genealogies from Jesus College MS 20 are a medieval Welsh collection of genealogies preserved in a single manuscript, Oxford, Bodleian Library, Jesus College, MS 20, folios 33r–41r...
, though it focuses mainly on the ancient royalty of South Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
. All of Cunedda's descendants claim a heritage from Manaw Gododdin.
Annals of Ulster
According to the Annals of Ulster
Annals of Ulster
The Annals of Ulster are annals of medieval Ireland. The entries span the years between AD 431 to AD 1540. The entries up to AD 1489 were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luinín, under his patron Cathal Óg Mac Maghnusa on the island of Belle Isle on Lough Erne in the...
, Áedán mac Gabráin
Áedán mac Gabráin
Áedán mac Gabráin was a king of Dál Riata from circa 574 until his death, perhaps on 17 April 609. The kingdom of Dál Riata was situated in modern Argyll and Bute, Scotland, and parts of County Antrim, Ireland...
, king of Dál Riata
Dál Riata
Dál Riata was a Gaelic overkingdom on the western coast of Scotland with some territory on the northeast coast of Ireland...
, was victor in a "bellum Manonn" (Battle or War at Manonn) in 582 (his opponent is not given).
There is some scholarly disagreement as to the place meant, whether to Manaw Gododdin or to the Isle of Man. Both are plausible and have some supporting evidence, but lacking hard information, the issue probably will not be settled definitively. Both those favouring the Isle and those favouring Manaw Gododdin say so and include a footnote to the effect that the balance seems to be on one side or the other, with accompanying arguments.
Annals of Ulster, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Annals of Ulster say that in 711, the Northumbrians defeated the Picts at the campus Manann, the field of Manaw. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...
gives the year as 710, saying that "Beorhtfrith the ealdorman fought against the Picts between Haefe and Caere".
This is assumed to be between the Rivers Avon (Haefe) and Carron
River Carron (Forth)
The River Carron is a river in central Scotland. This river has given its name to towns in Falkirk, a variety of regional features, a type of cannon, a line of bathtubs, two warships and an island in the Southern Hemisphere.-River Carron:The river rises in the Campsie Fells before flowing into...
(Caere). William Forbes Skene
William Forbes Skene
William Forbes Skene , Scottish historian and antiquary, was the second son of Sir Walter Scott's friend, James Skene , of Rubislaw, near Aberdeen....
first argues for it in The Four Ancient Books of Wales (1868), noting that the Avon rises in the place still known as Slamannan Moor (i.e., Sliabhmannan, the Moor of Manann). He repeats the conjecture in his Celtic Scotland (1886), and later historians have accepted his suggestion, citing him as the source.
Name survivals
The Gaelic form of the name is Manann. Like Manaw, its etymology is uncertain, with neither form necessarily owing a heritage to the other. In the Early Middle AgesScotland in the Early Middle Ages
Scotland in the early Middle Ages, between the end of Roman authority in southern and central Britain from around 400 and the rise of the kingdom of Alba in 900, was divided into a series of petty kingdoms. Of these the four most important to emerge were the Picts, the Scots of Dál Riata, the...
, Brythonic was replaced by Gaelic in the region of Manaw. It was common to retain original place-names, but to alter the pronunciation to be in accord with the language that was then current.
Manaw Gododdin
South of the Firth of Forth
Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...
and River Forth
River Forth
The River Forth , long, is the major river draining the eastern part of the central belt of Scotland.The Forth rises in Loch Ard in the Trossachs, a mountainous area some west of Stirling...
the name survives in the name of Slamannan Moor and the village of Slamannan
Slamannan
Slamannan is a village in the south of the Falkirk council area in Central Scotland. It is south-west of Falkirk, east of Cumbernauld and north-east of Airdrie....
, in Stirlingshire
Stirlingshire
Stirlingshire or the County of Stirling is a registration county of Scotland, based around Stirling, the former county town. It borders Perthshire to the north, Clackmannanshire and West Lothian to the east, Lanarkshire to the south, and Dunbartonshire to the south-west.Until 1975 it was a county...
. This is derived from Sliabh Manann, the 'Moor of Manann'. It also appears in the name of Dalmeny
Dalmeny
Dalmeny is a suburban village and civil parish in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located on the south side of the Firth of Forth, east-southeast of South Queensferry and west-northwest of central Edinburgh; it falls under the local governance of the City of Edinburgh Council.The name Dalmeny is...
, some 5 miles northwest of Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. It was formerly known as Dumanyn, assumed to be derived from Dun Manann.
Pictish Manaw
North of the Forth it survives in the name of the burgh
Burgh
A burgh was an autonomous corporate entity in Scotland and Northern England, usually a town. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Burgh status was broadly analogous to borough status, found in the rest of the United...
of Clackmannan
Clackmannan
Clackmannan District 1975-96From 1975, Clackmannan was the name of a small town and local government district in the Central region of Scotland, corresponding to the traditional county of Clackmannanshire, which was Scotland's smallest...
and the eponymous county of Clackmannanshire
Clackmannanshire
Clackmannanshire, often abbreviated to Clacks is a local government council area in Scotland, and a lieutenancy area, bordering Perth and Kinross, Stirling and Fife.As Scotland's smallest historic county, it is often nicknamed 'The Wee County'....
. This is derived from Clach Manann, the 'stone of Manann', referring to a monument stone located there.
Treatment by historians
With little known about Manaw Gododdin, there is little that can be said of it with any authority. Aside from parenthetical references to it as CuneddaCunedda
Cunedda ap Edern , was an important early Welsh leader, and the progenitor of the royal dynasty of Gwynedd.-Background and life:The name Cunedda derives from the Brythonic word , meaning good hound. His genealogy is traced back to Padarn Beisrudd, which literally translates as Paternus of the...
's homeland, discussion is scant. William Forbes Skene
William Forbes Skene
William Forbes Skene , Scottish historian and antiquary, was the second son of Sir Walter Scott's friend, James Skene , of Rubislaw, near Aberdeen....
(The Four Ancient Books of Wales, 1868) has a chapter on "Manau Gododdin and the Picts", and later historians either repeat him or cite him, but do not add more. Kenneth Jackson
Kenneth H. Jackson
Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson was an English linguist and a translator who specialised in the Celtic languages. He demonstrated how the text of the Ulster Cycle of tales, written circa AD 1100, preserves an oral tradition originating some six centuries earlier and reflects Celtic Irish society of the...
(The Gododdin, 1969) provides the same information as Skene, enhanced by his notice and commentary on some of the speculations and conjectures made by historians in the century since Skene published his work. He adds that the early Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
form of the name Gododdin is Fortudán.
John Koch (Celtic Culture, 2005) incorporates some of Skene's material on Manaw (and credits Skene for it), including an independent view of the historical record (reaching the same general conclusions as Skene), but also asserting conjectures as though they were facts (e.g., asserting that the "Iudeu" mentioned in the Historia Brittonum was at Stirling
Stirling
Stirling is a city and former ancient burgh in Scotland, and is at the heart of the wider Stirling council area. The city is clustered around a large fortress and medieval old-town beside the River Forth...
).
John Rhys
John Rhys
Sir John Rhys was a Welsh scholar, fellow of the British Academy, celticist and the first Professor of Celtic at Oxford University.-Early years and education:...
(Celtic Britain, 1904) both repeats and cites Skene, but adds nothing new. John Edward Lloyd
John Edward Lloyd
Sir John Edward Lloyd , was a Welsh historian, the author of the first serious history of the country's formative years, A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest, 2 vols...
(History of Wales, 1911) makes only a few comments about Manaw in passing, and John Davies (History of Wales, 1990) omits even that. Christopher Snyder
Christopher Snyder
Christopher Allen Snyder is Professor of European History and Director of the Honors Program at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia. He is an expert in Roman, Sub-Roman, and Medieval Britain, and specifically King Arthur.- Biography :...
(An Age of Tyrants, 1998) mentions Manaw twice in passing, saying nothing about it there or in his references to the literary Y Gododdin
Y Gododdin
Y Gododdin is a medieval Welsh poem consisting of a series of elegies to the men of the Britonnic kingdom of Gododdin and its allies who, according to the conventional interpretation, died fighting the Angles of Deira and Bernicia at a place named Catraeth...
. D. P. Kirby (The Earliest English Kings, 1991) mentions Manaw several times, but only in passing and with no information about it. Alistair Moffat (Before Scotland, 2005) makes several passing references to Manaw Gododdin and Gododdin.
In general, there is as much information about Manaw to be found in literary discussions as in historical ones and often more, though it is not more than Skene provided. For example, John Morris-Jones
John Morris-Jones
Sir John Morris-Jones was a Welsh grammarian, academic and poet.He was born at Llandrygarn, Anglesey and educated at Friars School, Bangor. Whilst at Jesus College, Oxford, Morris-Jones co-founded the Cymdeithas Dafydd ap Gwilym...
, in his comprehensive discussion of works attributed to Taliesin
Taliesin
Taliesin was an early British poet of the post-Roman period whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the Book of Taliesin...
(Y Cymmrodor XXVIII, 1918), repeats and cites the information provided by Skene that is typically omitted in historical works.
Regional history
The earliest reliable information on the region of the Firth of ForthFirth of Forth
The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...
during the time when Manaw Gododdin existed is from archaeology that researches Roman Britain. The homeland of the Votadini
Votadini
The Votadini were a people of the Iron Age in Great Britain, and their territory was briefly part of the Roman province Britannia...
, like those of the Damnonii
Damnonii
The Damnonii were a people of the late 2nd century who lived in what is now southern Scotland. They are mentioned briefly in Ptolemy's Geography, where he uses both of the terms "Damnonii" and "Damnii" to describe them, and there is no other historical record of them. Their cultural and...
and Novantae
Novantae
The Novantae were a people of the late 2nd century who lived in what is now Galloway and Carrick, in southwestern-most Scotland. They are mentioned briefly in Ptolemy's Geography The Novantae were a people of the late 2nd century who lived in what is now Galloway and Carrick, in southwestern-most...
, was not planted with forts, suggesting (but not confirming) that the peoples of these regions had reached an amicable understanding with the Romans (such as an unequal alliance), and consequently these tribes or kingdoms continued to exist throughout the Roman Era
Sub-Roman Britain
Sub-Roman Britain is a term derived from an archaeological label for the material culture of Britain in Late Antiquity: the term "Sub-Roman" was invented to describe the potsherds in sites of the 5th century and the 6th century, initially with an implication of decay of locally-made wares from a...
. There is no indication that the Romans ever waged war against any of these peoples.
However, the Romans were frequently at war with the more northerly peoples now known as Picts
Picts
The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...
, and their military lines of communication (i.e., their roads
Roman roads in Britain
Roman roads, together with Roman aqueducts and the vast standing Roman army , constituted the three most impressive features of the Roman Empire. In Britain, as in other provinces, the Romans constructed a comprehensive network of paved trunk roads Roman roads, together with Roman aqueducts and the...
) were well-fortified. This includes the road through Manaw Gododdin, the northern end of Dere Street
Dere Street
Dere Street or Deere Street, was a Roman road between Eboracum and Veluniate, in what is now Scotland. It still exists in the form of the route of many major roads, including the A1 and A68 just north of Corbridge.Its name corresponds with the post Roman Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Deira, through...
.
The earliest reliable historical reference to the peoples of Northern Britain is from the Geography
Geographia (Ptolemy)
The Geography is Ptolemy's main work besides the Almagest...
of Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
in c. 150. He says that this was the territory of the Otadini (i.e., the Votadini
Votadini
The Votadini were a people of the Iron Age in Great Britain, and their territory was briefly part of the Roman province Britannia...
), a people later known as the Kingdom of Gododdin
Gododdin
The Gododdin were a Brittonic people of north-eastern Britain in the sub-Roman period, the area known as the Hen Ogledd or Old North...
(i.e., the Kingdom of the Votadini). Their lands were along the coast of southeastern Scotland and northeastern England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and included the lands along the Firth of Forth
Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...
, both north and south of it.
Ptolemy says that in 150 both the Damnonii and the Otadini possessed the land north of the Firth of Forth
Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...
and south of the Firth of Tay
Firth of Tay
The Firth of Tay is a firth in Scotland between the council areas of Fife, Perth and Kinross, the City of Dundee and Angus, into which Scotland's largest river in terms of flow, the River Tay, empties....
. The Picts were constantly pressing southward, and by the early 3rd century the Roman Emperor Severus ineffectively campaigned against them. Known then as the Maeatae
Maeatae
The Maeatae were a confederation of tribes who lived probably beyond the Antonine Wall in Roman Britain. The historical sources are vague as to the exact region they inhabited....
, the local Picts would ultimately push south to the Firth of Forth and beyond, and by the 7th century the Votadini were being squeezed between them and the Anglian
Angles
The Angles is a modern English term for a Germanic people who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany...
Bernicia
Bernicia
Bernicia was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England....
ns, who were expanding northward.
Firth of Clyde
The Firth of Clyde forms a large area of coastal water, sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the Kintyre peninsula which encloses the outer firth in Argyll and Ayrshire, Scotland. The Kilbrannan Sound is a large arm of the Firth of Clyde, separating the Kintyre Peninsula from the Isle of Arran.At...
and Forth
Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...
. The definitive years were the middle of the 7th century, when Penda of Mercia
Penda of Mercia
Penda was a 7th-century King of Mercia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom in what is today the English Midlands. A pagan at a time when Christianity was taking hold in many of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Penda took over the Severn Valley in 628 following the Battle of Cirencester before participating in the...
led an alliance of Mercia
Mercia
Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
ns, Cymry (from both the north and from Gwynedd
Kingdom of Gwynedd
Gwynedd was one petty kingdom of several Welsh successor states which emerged in 5th-century post-Roman Britain in the Early Middle Ages, and later evolved into a principality during the High Middle Ages. It was based on the former Brythonic tribal lands of the Ordovices, Gangani, and the...
), East Anglians, and Deira
Deira
Deira was a kingdom in Northern England during the 6th century AD. Itextended from the Humber to the Tees, and from the sea to the western edge of the Vale of York...
ns against Bernicia
Bernicia
Bernicia was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England....
. Penda would be defeated and killed at the Battle of Winwaed in 655, ending the alliance and cementing Bernician control over all of Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
between the English Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
and the Scottish firths. Bernicia would again be united with Deira to form Northumbria as the premier military power of the era. Alt Clut would soon re-establish its independence, but all other Brythonic
Brythonic languages
The Brythonic or Brittonic languages form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family, the other being Goidelic. The name Brythonic was derived by Welsh Celticist John Rhys from the Welsh word Brython, meaning an indigenous Briton as opposed to an Anglo-Saxon or Gael...
kingdoms north of the Solway
Solway Firth
The Solway Firth is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven in Cumbria, to the Mull of Galloway, on the western end of Dumfries and Galloway. The Isle of Man is also very...
-Tyne
River Tyne
The River Tyne is a river in North East England in Great Britain. It is formed by the confluence of two rivers: the North Tyne and the South Tyne. These two rivers converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Waters'.The North Tyne rises on the...
were gone forever.