Maegla of the 'Portsmouth' Battle in 501 A.D.

Ordnance Survey Map of Hampshire & Isle of Wight LXXV.SW (includes: Alverstoke; Fareham.) Revised: 1895

Published: 1898

[Note Bedenham Farm, Upper and Lower Bedenham and Bedenham Lake]

Readers of my previous blog posts will recall that I identified Arthur's 'Badon' with the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle battle of 501 A.D.  I did this because that battle, featuring a Bieda (= Beda, Baeda), was fought between two Cerdic battles.  Cerdic (= Ceredig son of Cunedda) is my candidate for Arthur.

I theorized that the name later became confused in tradition with that of Bath, a battle in which Ceawlin (= Macui-coline/Cunedda) participated.  Despite many arguments in favor of a Baddan- site, linguistically Badon can only represent a British spelling of Old English Bathum.

Here I wish to briefly examine Bieda's supposed brother, Maegla.  It has long been suspected that the latter represents a Welsh mael, 'lord, prince, chieftain.'  For the etymology of mael, here is the entry from Matasovic's AN ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF PROTO-CELTIC:

*maglo- 'noble, chief [Noun]
GOlD: Olr. mal [0 m], Ogam CUNA-MAGLI
W: MW mael [m] 'chieftain, lord'; MW -mael, -fael (in PN) (e.g. Brochfael
< *Brocco-maglos);
BRET: MBret. -mael (in PN, e.g. Tiernmael)
GAUL: Magalos, -maglus [PN]
PIE: *megh2- 'great' (IEW: 709)
COGN: Gr. megas, Go. mikils
ETYM: If the etymology is correc~ the a-vocalism in Celtic should be
explained by Schrijver's rule (*mCvolce-d > *maCvOIce-)d, but this rule is not
beyond doubt. Gaul. Maga/os, if related, might represent PIE *mgh2-lo- with
the expected vocalization of the laryngeal (which was, for some reason, lost
in Insular Celtic and in Gaul. -mag/us).
REF: LEIA M-13, GPC III: 2305, Delamarre 213, Ziegler 1994: 112.

What I had missed in the past was confirmation of this possibility, built into the very text of the ASC itself.

The Maegla Who Fell at Badon

Here I wish to briefly examine Bieda's supposed brother, Maegla.  It has long been suspected that the latter represents a Welsh mael, 'lord, prince, chieftain.'  For the etymology of mael, here is the entry from Matasovic's AN ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF PROTO-CELTIC:

*maglo- 'noble, chief [Noun]
GOlD: Olr. mal [0 m], Ogam CUNA-MAGLI
W: MW mael [m] 'chieftain, lord'; MW -mael, -fael (in PN) (e.g. Brochfael
< *Brocco-maglos);
BRET: MBret. -mael (in PN, e.g. Tiernmael)
GAUL: Magalos, -maglus [PN]
PIE: *megh2- 'great' (IEW: 709)

What I had missed in the past was confirmation of this possibility, built into the very text of the ASC itself.

Year entry 501 tells us "ofslogon anne giongne brettiscmonnan, swiþe ęþelne monnan." That is, Port (an eponym for Portsmouth), Bieda and Maegla "slew a young British man, [who was] a very noble man."

It is now fairly obvious to me that the 'very noble man' in question is none other than Maegla/Mael himself. In other words, at some point the tradition became confused.  Maegla, the young and very noble British man, was wrongly converted into one of the parties who slew that very man!

Having said this, I hasten to add that “swiþe ęþelne” is probably a reference to Elson near Bedenham.  According to Ekwall, Elson’s earliest form shows a place-name based on the usual TUN, prefaced by the woman’s personal name Aethelswiþ.  Note that this name contains the same two components as “swiþe ęþelne.”  We appear to have some aetiological play going on here.

Elson Near Bedenham

Mael was infrequently used as a personal name in the early Welsh sources.  One Mael, claimed to be fictitious by P.C. Bartram in his  A CLASSICAL WELSH DICTIONARY, was a son of Cunedda of the Gewissei.  Dinmael, the ‘Fort of Mael’ in Gwynedd, was supposedly named after him.

I have found the following history of Bedenham, named for Bieda, at http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/hants/vol3/pp202-208#h3-0004.

BEDENHAM (Bedeham, xiii cent.; Badeham, xiv cent.; Bednam, xvi cent.) gives its name to three farms which lie on a broad peninsula to the north of Gosport, at the head of Portsmouth Harbour, where it is joined by the estuary of the Wallington River. Here as elsewhere in the parish the land is level and the chief feature is the wide expanse of the harbour, with Portchester Castle as its most conspicuous landmark. Beyond Bedenham Farm are the Foxbury Brick and Tile Works.

¶Bedenham was evidently originally parcel of the manor of Alverstoke, but was held in 1303 by John de Drokensford, Keeper of the Wardrobe, who was consecrated bishop of Bath and Wells in 1308. The manor of Bedenham was held of the bishop of Winchester, (fn. 21) and is possibly identical with the half hide at Alverstoke held before the Conquest by Sawin and in 1086 by a certain knight. (fn. 22) In 1303 John de Drokensford granted the manor together with the advowson of Bedenham church to Roger Lanceleue for life with reversion to John and his heirs. (fn. 23) By 1316 it had reverted to John, who died 9 May, 1329, (fn. 24) leaving a brother and heir, Philip de Drokensford, then aged forty. (fn. 25) He twice obtained licence for the celebration of divine service in the oratory of his house at Bedenham in Alverstoke, (fn. 26) a fact which favours the possibility that the 'church' granted with the manor to Roger Lanceleue was no more than a private chapel attached to the manor-house. Philip de Drokensford died in 1356 and is said to have been succeeded by a son and heir John. (fn. 27) In 1370 Margaret, then wife of Maurice le Brun, was holding the manor of Bedenham in dower, perhaps as widow of Philip of Drokensford, of the inheritance of Margaret, then wife of Walter Mildecombe. Walter and Margaret then granted it for life to Maurice le Brun. (fn. 28) Later a moiety of the manor was in the possession of Margaret, granddaughter of Philip de Drokensford. (fn. 29) Her husband, Peter Courtenay, held a moiety of the manor in her right at his death in 1404, (fn. 30) but she survived him and her lands descended to her daughter Elizabeth by a former husband, Sir John de St. Lo. (fn. 31) Elizabeth married Sir William Botreux, on whom the moiety of Bedenham was settled in 1417. (fn. 32) Their son and heir Sir William Botreux, knight, held the whole manor jointly with his wife Margaret at the time of his death in 1462. (fn. 33) The latter, with her second husband Thomas Burgh, conveyed it in 1464 to certain feoffees, (fn. 34) probably in trust, for a moiety was purchased from Margaret Hungerford, daughter and heir of Sir William Botreux, by Robert White of Farnham. (fn. 35) After the death of his son John the possession of this moiety was disputed by Robert and Richard White, sons of John, since Richard, the younger son, claimed that it should descend to him according to the terms of the will of his grandfather Robert. (fn. 36) The termination of this quarrel is unknown, but in 1535 Henry White died seised of a moiety of the manor, leaving a son and heir Robert, (fn. 37) who settled it in 1546 on Agnes wife of Richard Bennett. (fn. 38) She conveyed it to her daughter Margaret Tichborne, at whose death it reverted to John Marriner, son and heir of Agnes. (fn. 39) John died in 1593, (fn. 40) and his son and heir Peter Marriner together with his wife Dorothy purchased the other moiety from Robert White. (fn. 41) The whole manor thus reunited was bequeathed by Peter Marriner to his only daughter and heir, Mabel wife of Edmund Plowden, who was aged seventeen at her father's death in March, 1613–14. (fn. 42) Within a few years she had parted with it, for in 1624 Robert Bold of Portsea was in possession of it. (fn. 43) In 1628 his son William Bold conveyed the manor to his kinsman John Mason, (fn. 44) in whose family it remained until 1654, when Robert Tufton otherwise Mason and Anne Gibbon widow were dealing with it, (fn. 45) probably for purposes of sale. Before 1683 it was devided into the two farms of Upper and Lower Bedenham. The 'manor' was settled by Thomas Beverley on his son Thomas and the latter's wife Anne in 1713. (fn. 46) This Anne survived her husband and was in possession in 1729, (fn. 47) after which it appears to have been inherited by coheiresses, Anne wife of John Bonham Smith and Susannah wife of John Carter. (fn. 48) Fanny wife of Daniel Carter Hobbs quitclaimed a third of the manor to Anne Bonham in 1782. (fn. 49) Upper Bedenham was bequeathed by Owen Bird to James White of Portsmouth in 1766. In 1774 he bequeathed it to Sir John Carter, who in 1808 held one-sixth, while his son John Bonham Carter had the remaining five-sixths. Lower Bedenham had been mortgaged by Andrew Wall in 1683 and in 1779 was conveyed by James Stares to Sir John Carter. His heirs sold both farms to Mr. Henry Stares in 1868. He conveyed them to Mr. Woodman Hill, from whom they were purchased in 1904 by Mr. Montague Foster of Stubbington House. (fn. 50)