THE TRUE IDENTITY OF UTHER PENDRAGON

Uther Pendragon

A rough draft of the revised chapter on Uther in my book THE BEAR KING...

"The guide-title mar. vthyr. . . dragon together with the abbreviated red title marwnat vythyr pen show that the poem was thought to be an elegy for Uthr Bendragon at some stage in its transmission. However it stands somewhat apart from the group of elegies, sandwiched between two prophetic poems, Dygogan awen and Kein gyfedwch.1 The first poem prophesies the coming of a series of promised deliverers, a llyminawc who will overcome Anglesey and devastate Gwynedd (lines 14-22), a ‘man from hiding’ (gwr o gud) who will wage war on the foreigners (lines 24-6), and another ‘with far-ranging forces’ (pellennawc y luyd) who will bring joy to the Britons (lines 27-9). The second prophecy, patently late, mentions the oppression by foreigners, including Norman rulers. Neither of these prophecies mentions Uthr Bendragon, or his son, Arthur, although he could conceivably be one of the unnamed saviours of the poem Dygogan awen."

from Marged Haycock's edition of “Marwnat Vthyr Pen”

I was thinking about Haycock's comments here.  The post-Roman "savior" of Gwynedd (from the Irish, according to the Welsh tradition) was Cunedda.  Could it be, I wondered, that there was a prophesy that Cunedda would return someday to take Gwynedd again, this time from the English or Normans?  And could Cunedda himself be the Terrible Chief-dragon?

The only way to find out is to once again delve into the nature and significance of the Gwynedd dragon. Was it originally just a Roman draco?  Or was it something else entirely?

My critical reexamination of all sources pertaining to Uther - and most especially that of Geoffrey of Monmouth - has convinced me that we can longer allow ourselves to fall victim to the delusion that Pendragon should be interpreted as '[the] dragon's head.'  This is a Galfridian fantasy.  Instead, the epithet (based on early Welsh poetic usage of the word dragon) clearly means either 'Chief of Warriors'/'Chief Warrior' (Bromwich) or 'Chief of Chieftains' (Koch).  

What this means, of course, is that we have to quit chasing after the Roman draco standard and its associations with ethnic groups such as the Dacians and Sarmatians.  The draco standard and its comet prototype are fictions.  Instead, we must go back to the dragons or worms of the Dinas Emrys story for any revelations regarding Uther Pendragon.

In past publications I have detailed my reasons for doubting the veracity of most aspects of the Dinas Emrys story.  I have not changed my mind on this matter.  But there is one thing that is very important to bear in mind when reading about Vortigern's "giving" of Dinas Emrys to another king: this is a reflection of an actual historical event, i.e. the transfer of that stronghold, either by conquest and de facto recognition and/or through a federate arrangement, from British authority to that of a chieftain of an Irish fian. The fian in question (see eDIL under the entry for fian, and that for Gwynedd in John Koch's CELTIC CULTURE: A HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA) is probably the one that gave its name to Gwynedd.

In my book THE BEAR KING, I provided the instances in which dragons/serpents/snakes were associated with Gwynedd in the early sources.

  

These may be summarized as follows:

1) Dragons of Dinas Emrys – with Emrys and Vortigern

2) Crossed serpent standard of Segontium military unit in Notitia Dignitatum.  Segontium has strong associations with a Constantine. 

3) Maglocunus/Maelgwn as the ‘dragon of the isle’ (draco insularis)

4) The Pharoah’s (i.e. Vortigern’s) Red Dragon (standard? Metaphor for the Britons?) in the Gwarchan Maeldderw

5) In the Gorchan of Tudfwlch, the hero – from Eifionydd in Gwynedd, an area in north-west Wales covering the south-eastern part of the Llŷn Peninsula from Porthmadog to just east of Pwllheli  – is called the serpent with a terrible sting, and his place of origin is alluded to as the snakes’ lair.  Eifionydd, named for Ebiaun son of Dunod son of Cunedda, is the northern half of the kingdom of Dunoding and is hard by Dinas Emrys in Arfon.  

6) Owen Gwynedd is referred to by the poet Gwalchmai as the 'dragon of Mona'

So all of these ‘dragons’ cluster in Gwynedd.  And that means that Gwynedd is of potential interest in our search for a valid candidate for Uther Pendragon.  Uther is, of course, associated with Dinas Emrys. even though the place was confused/conflated with Amesbury and Stonehenge in Wiltshire.

As dragons/serpents/snakes are constantly linked to the kingdom of Gwynedd, I thought it would behoove me to look there and see if any other figures were described in the early poems as being "fearful" or the like.  My search yielded two such references.  In the MARWNAD CYNDDYLAN, a descendent of Dogfael son of Cunedda is said to be the 'terror' (ffraw) of the Cadellings, the dynasty of North Powys.  The second example is far more interesting.  In the MARWNAD CUNEDDA, that great chieftain is said to be the cause of dread/fear/horror (ergrynawr).  

We thus have Cunedda, the founder of the kingdom of the dragons, being the fear of those he opposes or attacks.  Cunedda took on the Welsh title of Wledig, 'prince, ruler', and as Ceawlin in the ASC was a 'Bretwalda', or 'ruler of the Britons.'  Such would be sufficient, then, to propose that Uther Pendragon was actually a poetic title for Cunedda himself.

Uther was said to have come from Brittany or Llydaw in Welsh.  There are only a couple places called Llydaw in Wales.  One is under 6 kilometers north of Dinas Emrys: Llyn Llydaw.

Even better, the Afon Glaslyn starts at Glaslyn and flows via Llyn Llydaw to Llyn Dinas, the 'Lake of the Fort [of Emrys].'

Uther is also said by Geoffrey of Monmouth (and no one disputed this) to be the son of a Constantine - one who seems vaguely modeled on the usurper Constantine III.  This brings to mind the fact that Segontium was referred to as Caer Custoeint or the 'Fort of Constantine' in Welsh tradition.  Here is Bartram's information on this subject:

"In the Historia Brittonum §25 we are told that the fifth Roman emperor to visit Britain was ‘Constantine son of Constantine the Great, and there he dies and his tomb is shown near the city which is called Cair Segeint [Caernarfon], as letters tell which are on the stone of his tumulus. And he sowed three seeds, that is of gold, silver and bronze, in the pavement of the aforesaid city, that no poor person might ever dwell in it, and it is called by another name, Minmanton.’ From this we cannot doubt that there existed an inscribed tombstone to an imperial person of the name Constantine. Some learned person early “corrected” the Contantinus, Constantini magni filius of the above text into Constantius, Constantini magni filius (Vatican MS.) and at least one learned copyist changed this to Constantius, Constantini magni pater, and there was added to Cair Segeint the words vel Cair Costain (The Cambridge MSS, and Durham MS.). In Hanes Gruffudd ap Cynan we read that Earl Hugh built a castle ‘in Arfon in the old fortress of Constantine, emperor, son of Constans the Great’. (Ed.Arthur Jones p.7). Again in Flores Historiarum (ed. Rolls iii.59) we are told that in the year 1283 ‘at Carnarvon the body of a great prince (var.emperor) father of the noble Constantine was found, and it was honourably interred in the church by the joyful king [Edward I]’. From the above evidence Wade-Evans concluded (1) that on a tombstone near Segontium there appeared the name Constantinus and also forms of the words princeps or imperator, and magnus or maximus (or both); (2) that the format of the epitaph was unfamiliar to the author of the passage in the Historia Brittonum, much more so to the men of the thirteenth century; and (3) that since Maximus (Macsen Wledig), his wife Elen, and his son Peblig are associated with that locality, there is a strong presumption that the Constantinus of the tombstone was the son of the emperor Maximus, that is, Custennin ap Macsen Wledig of the pedigrees. See Arch.Camb., 85 (1930), pp.334-5. It should be noted, however, that Constantine was the name of the eldest son of Constantine the Great. He was emperor 337-340 and received Gaul, Britain and part of Africa at his father's death. He made war on his brother, Constans, who governed Italy, but was defeated and slain near Aquileia (Smith's Classical Dictionary). Of over 1000 Roman coins discovered in the neighbourhood of Segontium there are 12 of Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, 74 of Constantine the Great, and 43 of his son Constantine II. See Cy. 33 p.123, Arch.Camb., 77 pp.314f. R.S.Loomis suggested that the large number of coins inscribed with the name of Constantine was perhaps the reason for the legend concerning the seeds of gold, silver and brass mentioned in the Historia Brittonum (Wales and the Arthurian Legend, pp.2-4)."

In this context, we should recall that Geoffrey of Monmouth not only has Ambrosius and Uther interred at Stonehenge near Amesbury, but a Constantine as well.  

In the MARWNAT VTHYR PEN ('Elegy of Uther Pen'), one of the men linked in battle to the dead hero is one Gwythyr or 'Victor.'  I once thought this to be the Gwythyr son of  Greidiol of CULHWCH AND OLWEN, who is placed in the North [1].  But as Magnus Maximus was also placed at Segontium by the Welsh, we might speculate that the Victor in question is meant to be Flavius Victor, son of Magnus Maximus and another usurping emperor.  [I should add that a unit of Seguntienses thought to be from the Gwynedd Segontium served near Aquileia in Italy, where Maximus was executed.  Maximus, of course, had dealings with St. Ambrose.]

Owain Finddu (= Eugenius), claimed as another son of Magnus Maximus, fought and was slain by a giant at Dinas Emrys.  His grave is called Bedd Owen (see Beudy Bedd-Owen on the map below).  The 'Finddu' or "black-lip" epithet may seem strange until we remember that the usurper Eugenius had been a magister scriniorum.  Thus his lips were black from licking his quill pen.  This particular Eugenius was not in any sense British, so his placement at Dinas Emrys is merely another folktale.

A couple other names in the Uther elegy are worth investigating more closely, as they seem to point to locations in Gwynedd. 

Henpen is someone who probably belongs in Gwynedd.  Here is the note on the name from Marged Haycock's edition of the poem:

"Henpen is a personal name, or possibly a nickname, as in LlDC 18.219Bed Hennin Henben yn aelwyt Dinorben (Abergele, Denbighshire), presumably the same character as Hennin father of Garwen (em.) LlDC 18.217, and Henin Hen, father of Garwen in Triad 57 (see TYP3 397), and possibly to be equated with Heinin Vardd, chief poet at the Degannwy court of Maelgwn Gwynedd in YT line 374, 380; and 200 Henin. See further on §8.24."

If this is the right Henben, then the speaker of the relevant line may be Taliesin himself, and not Uther.  But it still an important reference to NW Wales.

The location of pen mynyd may also be important.  Here is the note from Haycock:

"Pen mynydd simply ‘on the mountain top’; although a reference to Penmynydd, Anglesey, a house of the Tudur family in the 14c (see GGM I, 14-15) cannot be ruled out. Cynddelw refers to Penmynydd in his praise-poem to St Tysilio who had connections with Anglesey as well as with Meifod in Powys (CBT III 3.196)."

Henry Tudor is known to have used the red dragon in battle.  When we look on a modern map of Penmynydd, we note a curious adjacent place-name: DRAGON.  Earlier maps show a cluster of dragon names at the site, including a Dragon-wen and Dragon-goch - the red and white dragons of Dinas Emrys. 

A folktale on a dragon exists for this place, one that clearly sounds a lot like the one that much earlier became attached to Dinas Emrys.

https://www.anglesey-today.com/the-giant-snake-of-penhesgyn-an-old-anglesey-legend.html

There are Norse and Russian parallels to this folktale. But the elegy's pen mynyd must certainly be this place on Anglesey. 

For Casnur and Cawrnur of the Uther elegy, see http://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-four-chieftains-of-uther-pendragon.html.

Mabon is made the 'gwas' of Uther Pendragon, and this god, though as a 'predatory bird' is said to be of Elei, is also found in death at Nantlle in Arfon.  It is at Nantlle that we find Lleu in the form of a death-eagle.  This should be considered evidence that Welsh tradition tended to identity the two sun gods. 

In the past I showed how the Emrys or Ambrosius at Dinas Emrys was, originally, at least, an import of a strange sort of folklore fusion of St. Ambrose and his namesake father, a 4th century Governor of Gaul.  Because the name means 'the Divine or Immortal One', the Emrys of Dinas Emrys in Gwynedd came to be identified with the god Lleu, Lord of Gwynedd in Welsh tradition.  Geoffrey of Monmouth identified Emrys with Merlin (Myrddin) because this character was either Lleu himself or a Lleu-avatar.  

At the same time, I went over the complicated evolution of the story of the 'dragons' of Dinas Emrys.  While these creatures came to be so much more, they seem to owe their existence ultimately to two chieftains (metaphorically dragons) whose remains were found in urns at the fort.  However, the double-snake insignium of the Segontium Roman fort may also have influenced the tale.

I pointed out the coincidence (?) that had St. Ambrose discover the buried remains of two saints, one of whom was named Celsus.  Uther Pendragon was supposedly buried at Stonehenge hard by Amesbury, the latter town being fancifully derived from "Ambrosius' burg."  Uther is believed to be from a British cognate of Irish uachtar, meaning 'high, lofty' - a meaning identical to that of Latin celsus.

Given that Llydaw lake is near Dinas Emrys, and Uther is said to have come from Llydaw (a Welsh name for Brittany), we could postulate that he was one of the dragons who had been buried at the Gwynedd hillfort in a cremation urn.  We could go further (since there is attested Roman period use of the hillfort) and say that the Segontium insignium was present at the fort in Uther's time or that he himself bore the insignium.  And, lastly, the Uther may have been the original "owner" of the hillfort, rather than Ambrosius/Emrys.

As for the ddraig goch of Red Dragon of Wales, we should bear in mind that Cunedda's great-grandfather Padarn (Paternus) was given the epithet Peisrudd, 'Red Tunic', and that Ambrosius (also said to have been buried at Stonehenge/Amesbury) had parents who wore the purple and were slain in it. If the cloth wrapping the cremated remains of Cunedda happened to be red in color, then he was, literally, the Red Dragon, i.e. the Red Chieftain/Warrior.

Vortigern is said to have given Dinas Emrys and all of Gwynedd to Ambrosius.  However, this is certainly not what happened.  Instead, we know that Cunedda and his sons took over in Northwest Wales.  From what we know of Segontium of the twin snakes, this would have been the logical headquarters for Cunedda. The tradition which has his court on Anglesey is flawed, as that island was not secured until the time of Cunedda's grandson, Cadwallon Lawhir (see below). 

While we have no evidence that Cunedda or his immediate descendants had a court at Segontium, it would be reasonable to assume that Irish settlers seeking to dominate the region would select as their primary base of operations the most significant coastal Roman fort/town at their disposal.  

The COFLEIN site says this about Roman Segontium:

"Archaeological excavations have shown that it accommodated a regiment of auxiliary infantry of up to 1,000 soldiers. Coins recovered from excavations show that it was garrisoned until about AD 394. Such a long occupation was unique in Wales, and was possibly due to the strategic position of the fort, controlling access to the fertile and mineral rich lands of Anglesey and by its later role in the defence of the Welsh coast against Irish raiders and pirates. Throughout the Roman period, Segontium was the military and administrative centre of north-west Wales."

Professor John Koch says this of Cunedda and Segontium in his CELTIC CULTURE: A HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA:

"To sum up, it seems likely that Cunedda was an early post-Roman North British leader (NOTE: he was actually Irish] and a focus of early literary activity.  It is also likely that men with Latin and Brythonic names listed as his sons did found small kingdoms in north and west Wales in the early post-Roman period and that these displaced Irish lordships [the irony here is keen!].  An appropriate historical context for both corcumstances can be seen as a struggle for control of the Irish Sea zone in the vacuum created by the withdrawal of Roman forces from Segontium..."

I was reading through Nerys Ann Jones' notes on the Arthurian 'Pa Gur' poem (ARTHUR IN EARLY WELSH POETRY, 2019) when I came across the following on the dragon of Gwynedd/Arfon:

"In court poetry addressed to four generations of the royal dynasty of Gwynedd, the name Emrais is mostly used as a way of referring to the land and the people of Gwynedd, or sometimes Arfon... O dragon tud Emreis, from among the dragons (heroes) of the land/people of Emrais... dreic Emreis, dragon (ruler) of Emrais..."

While this may seem a minor reference, taken with all the other examples I've cited before concerning serpents/snakes/dragons in Gwynedd, we really can't in good conscience continue to support the Galfridian tradition, which ignores the dragons of Dinas Emrys in favor of a cometary dragon and a Roman draco standard.  Even in Geoffrey of Monmouth's tale, it is Uther Pendragon who is sent to Ireland to obtain the stones that will go into the building of Stonehenge at Amesbury.  This is the very same Stonehenge where he and Ambrosius (and Constantine) are said to have been buried.  Which moves full-circle back to the discovery of the cremated remains of dragons, i.e chieftains, at Dinas Emrys.  There is thus no justifiable reason for following Geoffrey's account, which effectively divorces Uther from any association with the Dinas Emrys/Amesbury dragons.  The draco and comet are a literary creation, and serve only to remove Uther from the orbit of Arfon/Gwynedd and its dragons.

Certainly, it is still possible that (as I've suggested several times in the past) Uther Pendragon, the Terrible Chief-warrior or Chief of Warriors, or 'Chief-Chieftain'/Chief of Chieftains', may be a mere doublet for Ambrosius himself.  However, as Ambrosius is an imported folk hero from Gaul (a fusion of St. Ambrose and his father, a Praetorian Prefect of Gaul and Britain), if Uther is Ambrosius, then he could not have been Arthur's father.  But if Uther is, in fact, as I suspect, the founder of Gwynedd, the great Cunedda, then my argument for Ceredig son of Cunedda (= Cerdic of the Gewissei) as Arthur turns out to be quite valid and perhaps even elegant.

A rather puzzling reference to the Red Dragon appears in the poem 'Gwarchan Maeldderw'.  I've mentioned this before, as the line in question seems to assign the creature to Vortigern under his title "Fiery Pharaoh" (a Welsh misrendering of a Latin passage in Gildas).  

When G.R. Isaac translates the G.M., he takes Line 21 -

ar rud dhreic fud pharaon

and re-orders it thusly:

ar fudd draig rudd Ffaraon

He then translates it as "in the presence of the spoils of the Pharaoh's red dragon."  He does this because he is  "interpreting the syntax  as a poetic transformation of what would normally be expressed in the word order (see note to his Gwarchan Maeldderw: A "Lost" Medieval Welsh Classic?, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 44, Winter 2002).  

But if we retain the original word order, another interpretation of the line is possible (something I have confirmed with Dr. Simon Rodway of The University of Wales):

"the spoils/booty of Pharaoh before/in front of/in the presence of the Red Dragon"

Williams in CANU ANEIRIN (.p. 379) says that mention of  'the red dragon of Pharaoh' is suggestive of a reference to the story of the dragons of Dinas Emrys in Nant Gwynant, Snowdonia, as told in HISTORIA BRITTONUM and CYFRANC LLUDD AND LLEFELYS.

By assigning the ddraig goch to Vortigern, the poet seems to be alluding to the fact that before Dinas Emrys belonged to Ambrosius, it had been the possession of the former.  Although Vortigern had failed in his efforts to build a castle atop the hill - a failure due to the presence of the pool of the dragons below the foundations - we are told in Nennius that he gave the place and all of western Britain (i.e. western Wales) to Ambrosius after the discovery of the dragons.  So, in this limited sense, I suppose, he can be said to be the owner of the dragons prior to Ambrosius.  

But the important thing to take from this poetic reference to the red dragon in G.M. is that the monster was seen as emblematic of Gwynedd.  It's transference from one ruler to another was symbolic of the transference of the land itself from Vortigern to Ambrosius.  

I've mentioned before that while the urns with their cremated remains of dragons or chieftains may have provided some of the impetus for the Dinas Emrys story that the Segontium shield device with its two crossed serpents may also be extremely relevant in this context.  We now know that Segontium (see https://cadw.gov.wales/visit/places-to-visit/segontium-roman-fort) was held by the Romans longer than any other fort in Wales. Until, in fact, the very end of the 4th century.  What this tells me is that the fort would have been seen as the control center of Gwynedd.  It's two "dragons" would have been recognized throughout the region as a symbol of military might and administrative authority.

Archaeology has proven Roman occupation of Dinas Emrys 

(see https://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/95284/details/dinas-emrys). The Roman road system would have allowed access to the hillfort from Segontium.  The two sites are under 20 kilometers apart as the crow flies.  We need only except the possibility - a not unreasonable one, in my opinion - that it was a detachment of the Segontium garrison who had manned Dinas Emrys.  It goes without saying that they would have brought their two crossed serpents with them.

While Aberffraw is often put forward as the first court of the sub-Roman Gwynedd dynasty, Welsh tradition insists that Anglesey was taken by Cadwallon Lawhir, grandson of Cunedda. Supposedly, other Irish still held the island up to that point.  If this tradition reflects historical fact, then the "capital" of Gwynedd, where Cunedda had first established himself, had to lie elsewhere.  There is no more probable candidate than Segontium, the most powerful fort in Gwynedd at the time.

Here is what P.C. Bartrum has on Cadwallon Lawhir:

"To Cadwallon, who was probably not the eldest son, it fell to extend the dominions of the family in Arfon and to conquer the greater part of Môn from the Irish inhabitants [Gwyddyl]. This can be gathered from relatively late traditions. A great battle was fought at a place called Cerrig-y-Gwyddyl in Môn, and Cadwallon's war-band tied the fetter-locks of their horses to their own feet [lest they should waver] in the fight against Serigi Wyddel, so that they are called one of the ‘Three Fettered War-Bands’ of Ynys Prydain (TYP no.62). Cadwallon was aided in the battle by his three cousins, Cynyr, Meilir and Yneigr, sons of Gwron ap Cunedda. Cadwallon slew Serigi at a place called Llam-y-Gwyddyl, ‘the Irishmen's Leap’, in Môn (ByA §29(15) in EWGT p.92). Some later versions mistakenly write Caswallon and Llan-y-Gwyddyl. See further s.n. Serigi Wyddel. The cognomen Llawhir, ‘Long-hand’, is explained in an anecdote by Iolo Goch, who mentions ‘Kyswallon Lawhir, the man who could reach a stone from the ground to kill a raven, without bending his back, because his arm was as long as his side to the ground.’ (‘Araith Iolo Goch’ ed. T. Parry Williams, Rhyddiaeth Gymraeg, I (1954) p.107). See also TYP pp.296-7. Llys Caswallon, ¾ mile south-east of Llaneilian, Môn, is probably named after him. This may be why St.Elian is said to have received land from 'Caswallon'. He is mentioned in a poem 'Dosbarth yr Ymrysson' ascribed to Taliesin which begins: Pan aeth Kyswallon hir i Dir mab Don (Cwrtmawr MS.5 p.397, etc.)."

A second name for Segontium found in the Welsh sources is Mirmantun or 'Merfyn's town.' The Merfyn in question is Merfyn Frych, king of Gwynedd in the 9th century.  Obviously at this time the main court of the country was at Caernarfon.

Archaeology has recently found evidence for early medieval occupation of Caernarfon:

http://www.heneb.co.uk/llanbeblig/llanbebligmain.html

Anglesey is not said to have been cleared of the Irish until the time of Cadwallon, so the idea that Cunedda ruled from Aberffraw on the island is not very convincing.  It is likely Aberffraw was established as a llys or court only after Cadwallon had cleared competing Irish war-bands from Mon.  Cunedda must have ruled from someplace else - and Segontium is the most logical location. 

The transfer of the serpents from Segontium, where they belonged with the garrison unit, to Dinas Emrys may have taken place for no other reason than two "dragons"/chieftains were dug up in the cremation urns at Dinas Emrys (where, as I mentioned above, there may also have been members of the Segontium garrison during the Roman period).  The actual chieftain who was given western Wales by Vortigern did not, in fact, reside at Dinas Emrys, but rather at Segontium.  

And his name was Cunedda.

[1] Gwythyr/Victor competes with Gwyn son of Nudd for the goddess Creiddylad daughter of Lludd Llaw Ereint in CULHWCH AND OLWEN.  It has long been recognized that Creiddylad is Geoffrey of Monmouth's Cordelia.  While Cordelia is made the daughter of the sea god Lir, Creiddylad's father is the Welsh version of the Irish god Nuadu Silver-hand.  In Geoffrey's pseudo-history, Cunedda is inserted into the Cordelia story.  From Bartram:

"CUNEDDA ap HENWYN. (Fictitious). (805-772 B.C.) A fictitious king of Britain, called by Geoffrey of Monmouth Cunedagius son of Henuinus, Duke of Cornwall, by Regau, daughter of Leir. He and his cousin Margan made insurrection against Cordeilla, daughter of Leir, when she was queen of Britain, and put her in prison where she made away with herself. The two cousins then divided the island between them, Margan having the part north of the Humber and Cunedda the rest. Margan invaded the lands of Cunedda, but was defeated and slain. Cunedda then reigned over the whole island gloriously for thirty-three years, and on his death was succeeded by his son, Rivallo [Rhiwallon] (HRB II.15-16). Brut y Brenhinedd tells the same story of Cunedda ap Henwyn."

In the MARWNAD CUNEDDA, the chieftain is put in Bryneigh/Bernicia against the English, as well as at Carlisle and Caer Weir (probably Durham). Once again, this is because he was mistakenly said to come from Manau Gododdin, when in reality he came from Drumanagh in Ireland.