WHY ARTHUR'S CAMLANN IS PROBABLY 'THE CAMS' ON PORTSMOUTH HARBOUR

The Southampton Water Owers, Shown With

Stubbington, Bedenham and The Cams

The Cams in Relation to Cymenesora/Wittering

So, two candidates for Arthur's Camlan battle: the ASC's Cymenesora (Wittering) or The Cams on Portsmouth Harbour.  Which one is the right site?

I believe the answer lies in the ASC,  There, we learn that Cerdic makes it no further north into Hampshire than Charford on the Avon.  After that, his actions are confined to the Isle of Wight.  It seems unlikely that he had consolidated some kind of conquest in the Avon Valley.  Instead, the withdrawal to Wight, whether strategic or not, might have been the result of his being driven out of Hampshire.  A clue that this may have been the case is the battle of his nefan Stuf and Wihtgar at Cerdicesora in 514. Cerdicesora, named for Cerdic, was the first battle site of Cerdic and his son, Cynric, in 495.

Notice that The Cams are quite close to not only Stubbington, but also to Bedenham.  The latter is named for the Bieda (= Beda, Baeda) who takes part in the ASC battle of 501 (possibly the original 'Badon' of Arthur, before it became confused with Bath of ASC A.D. 577). 

Clearly, renewed efforts were having to be made to once again penetrate into the interior of the mainland.  The second Cerdicesora battle seems not to have been successful.  We can surmise, then, that once Wight was secured beyond any doubt, Cerdic tried once again to move north into what had once been the Belgic kingdom of the Atrebates.  It does not make sense for him to have sought success in West Sussex, i.e. at Wittering/Cymenesora.

Instead, he chose to go to the next harbour immediately to the east of Southampton Water. This was still in what is now Hampshire.  Cymenesora/Wittering was the scene of a significant battle precisely because it represented the furthermost western extent of the Kingdom of Sussex.  The boundaries of primitive Sussex were traditionally drawn by the battles listed in the ASC.  These occur at Wittering in the extreme west, at Lancing in the south-central, at the River Rother (British Limes, mistakenly associated with Latin limes and thus called Mearcredsburna by the Saxons) in the north and at Pevensey in the east.  There is simply no justification for placing Cerdic in this region.

Unfortunately, things did not go well for Cerdic in his attempt to establish a beachhead at The Cams.  He met his death there at the hands of Modred of Amesbury (see prior blog posts and my upcoming book THE KING OF STONEHENGE). The great Arthur was not, therefore, successful in his attempt to reach Modred's power base in Wiltshire.

Of course, there is another way to look at the Gewissei battles that involve the formation of the nucleus of Wessex.  They may all be completely conjured battles whose sole purpose is to delineate the traditional boundaries of the kingdom.  But if this is so, then we must jettison the entire early narrative of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and admit to ourselves that we know absolutely nothing of the creation of Wessex.

For a full discussion of Cymenesora and another lost battle site name nearby, see

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2018/07/a-new-identification-for-location-of.html

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2018/07/mearcredsburna-is-river-rother.html