Shadows in the Mist: The Quest for a Historical King Arthur: A RIBCHESTER ARTHUR AND THE BATTLES OF BADON AND CAMLAN

Badon and Camlan in Relation to Bremetennacum Veteranorum

Having decided to situate Arthur at Ribchester (birthplace and, perhaps, military base), I thought it might be prudent to take a new look at the two important battles of Badon and Camlan.

In my book THE ARTHUR OF HISTORY, I identified Badon with Buxton. Without repeating the linguistic argument for Buxton, we can show that a Roman road ran from the Bremetennacum Roman fort to the former site. In addition, it is undeniable that a thrust in the direction of Buxton by invading Saxons would have been seen as a serious threat to those Britons who controlled the old Setantii territory. Saxons who successfully penetrated the Pennines at this point could have marched straight to Ribchester.

On the other hand, a decisive victory over the Saxons in the High Peak may well have guaranteed the relative safety of the Britons living west of the Penninues for a considerable period of time.

But what of Camlan, where Arthur and Medraut/Modred/Moderatus perished? What exactly was going on here? Traditionally, it was a battle of Briton vs. Briton and not an engagement fought against the Saxons. And, in truth, given the location of Camboglanna towards the western end of Hadrian's Wall, and with all of Arthur's other battles strung out along the Roman Dere Street, it's difficult to interpret Camlan as anything other than an instance of internecine strife.

In this context I have mentioned the fatal battle of Eliffer of York's sons Gwrci and Peredur at Carrawburgh on the Wall. The same chieftains supposedly fought at the legendary battle of Arderydd at Arthuret, Cumbria. If we discount Arderydd, who might the forces of York been fighting at Carrawburgh? The date of Gwrci and Peredur's deaths is given as 580 A.D. Arthur died at Camlan in 537, so 43 years later men from the south were still fighting on the Wall. This is even more interesting than we might suppose, as a special relationship seems to have existed between York and Ribchester (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2018/10/bremetennacum-and-eboracum-special.html). Ribchester itself, rather oddly, is grouped with the Wall forts in the NOTITIA DIGNITATUM (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/03/ribchester-along-line-of-wall-and.html).

Who were these men fighting on the Wall? Were they fighting against chieftains whose bases were the old Wall forts or were they fighting in support of defenders of the Wall? Did the enemy lie to the North of the Wall?

We have very little to go on, unfortunately. What we do have are two interesting facts: 1) Rheged as a expanding presence and champion against the Saxons does not appear on the scene until after Arthur's passing and 2) when the Welsh encountered Geoffrey of Monmouth's Loth of Lothian (Lleu of Lleudiniawn/Place of the Fort of Lleu), they did not place him in Lothian, but instead made him a son of Cynfarch. Loth/Lleu was the father of Moderatus.

Cynfarch was also the father of Urien and probably belonged to the Mote of Mark in Dumfries. I have shown elsewhere that the nucleus of Rheged probably lay in Annandale (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-nucleus-of-uriens-kingdom-of-rheged.html). The presence of Rheged in Annandale may explain the curious absence of Urien at the Battle of Arderydd (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/07/rhydderch-and-missing-urien-new-look-at.html). The name Lleu is preserved in Luguvalium/Carlisle, the fort that is 'Lleu-strong' (a better rendering than a proposed personal name *Luguvalos).

Although the chronology here is wrong (Urien belonged to the generation after Arthur and, so, presumably, must his brother Lleu), the implication is that the battle at Camlan may have involved a nascent Rheged pushing southeast-wards through the Wall and a force led by Arthur which was defending the fort.

We don't know whether Arthur had come from Ribchester to Camlan for the battle or if he were actually serving at the time as military commander on the Wall. In THE ARTHUR OF HISTORY I discussed at length the possibility that the River Irthing of both the Camboglanna and Banna/Birdoswald forts may be a 'Bear' stream. The residents of the Irthing were likely represented in the Welsh genealogies by the eponym Arthwys, meaning *Artenses or the 'People of the Bear.' I sought in that book to identify Arthur with Ceidio son of Arthwys, a man who bore a hypocoristic name that originally would have had a British form corresponding to the dux bellorum title given to Arthur. Uther Pendragon I linked to the draco-bearing Dacians who occupied Banna for centuries - the same Banna where archaeologists have discovered a sub-Roman and early medieval hall and associated buildings, all belonging to someone of high status.

My own feeling is that while Arthur was born to Sawyl, king of the old Setantii realm and inheritor of mixed Sarmato-British customs, he eventually became the supreme military commander on the Wall. He may have worked his way up through the ranks as a common soldier. His base may have been Banna. If he did come from Ribchester and his origin did not lie in the Irthing Valley, it is not impossible that the association of the name Arthur with the Cumbric word for bear, 'arth', led to the people of the region being called after him, and that the river-name is a back-formation.

In other words, rather than Arthur being born at Banna and given a Roman name that had been locally associated with that of a sacred bear stream, both the region and the river came to called after 'The Bear' who was Arthur.