THE CERDIC/ARTHUR BATTLE MAP

Here is my final arrangement of the battles of Cerdic/Ceredig/Arthur.  For a more detailed discussion of them, please see some of my more recent blog posts.  

A few notes on the map:

1) Ceredicesora or "Cerdic's shore" has been thought to be the Ower near Calshot.  This is a very good possibility for a landing place.  However, the Ower further north by Southampton must be considered a leading contender, as it is quite close to some of the other battles.

2) Cerdicesleag or "Cerdic's wood" I would tentatively identify with Lee (leag)-on-the-Solent.  I pick this location because of the mention of Stuf (= Stub/b) both before and after the Cerdicesleag battle. Lee-on-the-Solent is just a little bit west of Stubbington, the settlement of the descendents of Stuf/Stubb.  It is also just across the Solent from the Isle of Wight, which was given to both Wihtgar and Stuf.  

3) Bitton on the Somerset Avon is thought to be the Roman period Trajectus (= Tribruit).  While the place may have been called this, it was named for the actual crossing of the Severn from here to Caerwent in Wales.  

4) Wallop, here in green letters, was supposedly the location of a battle of Ambrosius.  The great Danebury Hill camp is at Nether Wallop and I would make the case for this being the actual battle site.

Here are the correspondences of the Historia Brittonum battles and the modern place-names:

Glein = Ower 1 or Ower 2

Dubglas in Linnuis = River Blackwater

Bassas = Charford

Castle Guinnion = Wihtgarasburh

City of the Legion = Caerleon

Tribruit = Bitton (Severn Crossing from Caerwent)

Breguoin/Agned (Bremenium/Egnatius) = Liddington Castle/Badbury

Badon = Badbury/Liddington Castle

A NOTE ON CHEARSLEY AND NOTLEY

Some discussion has been made of Chearsley and Notley in Buckinghamshire as indicators that Cerdic of Wessex's battles originally belonged there, rather than in Hampshire.  This is quite simply wrong.

Charford, for example, has known early forms such as Cerdeford.  Notley is not remotely possible for Natanleod/leag.  Here are the two Buckinghamshire place-names as discussed briefly by Dr. Richard Coates of The English Place-Name Society:

"The bulk of early spellings are of the type Cherdes-, and nothing definitely points to Ceolred (no <l>) or Cerdic (no <c>).  Notley (Bucks) is just a straight up and down hnutu + leah, as all the medieval spellings show. And Natan- won’t give Nut- spellings."