THE BATTLE OF ARGOET LLWYFAIN

Bonchester Hill Fort

NOTE: The Battle of Argoet Llwyfain

In the Taliesin poetry, we learn of a battle fought by Owein, son of Urien, supposedly against the English (although see below).  A good English translation of the relevant passages on this battle can be found in http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10352/1/10352_7146.PDF:

"In the morning of the day of Saturday there was a great battle,

From the time when the sun rises until it sets:

Flamdwyn hastened in four hosts:

Godeu and Rheged were mustering

to Dyfwy, from Argoed [Llwyfain] to Arvynyd."

Flamdwyn demanded hostages which Owain refused to give, calling

Flamdwyn the scourge of the east - which confirms the view that

Flamdwyn was an Angle, and Urien exhorted the Britons to attack ;

"And in front of Argoed Llfyfein

There were many corpses.

The ravens were crimson because of the warfare of men."

The location of Argoed Llwyfain, as well as those of Arvynyd and Dyfwy, are unknown.  For Argoed Llwyfain, see James, Alan G., (2010) 'A Slippery Customer: IE *slei and its derivatives in some British place-names' Nomina 33,  pp. 65–86.  While there are a few candidates, the best for 'the forest in front of Llwyfain' is the Cumbrian Lyne.

But what of the others?

Dyfwy is also found spelled in the Taliesin poetry Deuwy.  Looking in the area in question (broadly the Scottish Lowlands and Northumberland), I noticed the Teviot.  Alan James has the Teviot etymologized as  *ti- -m- -ja with the -ed suffix being added later.  But I asked him if, instead, the name minus the suffix could originally have appeared in Welsh as Deuwy/Dyfwy. 

His response?

"I don't see any obvious difficulty with that. It was called Tivy, Tividale by locals even in recent times."

If the Deuwy/Dyfwy is the Teviot, then Arvynydd may not be so difficult to situate.  The name is from *Ar-monid/minid, 'in front of the mountain.'  It describes, therefore, a region around Mynydd.  As it happens, just a few miles north of the Teviot is Minto.  The name may be from an original British Mynydd, with an English hoh appended later.  As the Minto Hills are two conjoined hills, I suggested that this might be from Mynyddau.  Alan James commented thusly:

"I agree Minto could be *mönïδ-öü. Not much of a name, though! I recorded the OE -hoh proposal as that's the only one that's been published, by Jessie Macdonald who was always reluctant to favour Brittonic or Gaelic etymologies. It's not well-documented, though, and the earliest record seems to be ecclesia de Myneton 1296, so it could be an OE -tun rather than -hoh."

I would guess that the land around the Minto is Arvynyd.  

Flamdwyn or 'Flame-bringer' has not been identified.  The entry on him from P.C. Bartrum's A WELSH CLASSICAL DICTIONARY runs as follows:

FFLAMDDWYN.

"The name means ‘flame-bringer’ (CB p.145). He is mentioned in two poems in the Book of

Taliesin (CT nos.VI and X) as a chieftain fighting against Urien and his son Owain. In the former, ‘The

Battle of Argoed Llwyfain’, he is said to have ‘advanced in four hosts’ and to have ‘shouted with great

bluster’. Urien and Owain appear to have won the victory. The other poem, ‘The Elegy of Owain’,

mentions that Owain killed Fflamddwyn.

According to the Historia Brittonum (§63) Urien fought against Hussa and Theodric, kings of

Northumbria. This suggests that Fflamddwyn, which is clearly not a real name, may be one of these

kings. W.F.Skene thought that it was Theodric son of Ida (The Four Ancient Books of Wales, I.232);

similarly John Rhys (CB p.145). For earlier guesses see John Morris-Jones in Cy. 28 (1918) p.154. On

the other hand Fflamddwyn might have been a chieftain of only local importance (PCB).

According to a triad (TYP no.80) the wife of Fflamddwyn was Bun, daughter of Culfanawyd

Prydain. She was one of the ‘Three Faithless Wives’ of Ynys Prydain, sister of Penarwan, the wife of

Owain ab Urien, and sister of Esyllt Fynwen.

From a poem by Cynddelw (Elegy on Owain Gwynedd, LlH p.92) it may be inferred that the

poet believed that it was at Argoed Llwyfain that Owain slew Fflamddwyn. There may have been a

tradition to this effect (John Morris-Jones, loc.cit. pp.169-170). So Lewis Morris (Celtic Remains, p.180 s.n. Fflamddwyn.

For references to Fflamddwyn by later poets, see TYP p.352."

The name of Flamdwyn's wife is especially important here.  I believe she is an eponym for the great hillfort at Bonchester.  

For this place-name, see https://spns.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/MayWilliamsonComplete.pdf:

"BONCHESTER (Hbk): (86, 2 B):

Bunchester, 1588 L Ch; Bonnechesterr, Blaeu. /58/ The first element may be the same as

appears in Bonjedward (No VI). OE bune, “dogweed”, may also be considered: cf Bumpstead

(PN ESS, 508) and Bonwick (PN YER, 80). Bonchester Hill bears a large pre-English

earthwork."

For the fort of Bonchester, see https://canmore.org.uk/site/55300/bonchester-hill.

Bonchester hillfort stands over the Rule Water, a tributary of the Teviot.

A map, then, of the sites as I have laid them out:

Now, whether this means Flamdwyn was English or British is hard to say.  Welsh has a word bun meaning 'maiden, woman, sweetheart.'  But the location of Bonchester is about right for an incursion by the Bernicians against Rheged and Godeu.