During my recent YouTube talk with Richard Johnson of O'r Golwg (https://youtu.be/ICS0cyB8bqg?si=lxWaM02MwhQlPXJW), we briefly discussed Arthur's Camlan battle. Time would not permit us to delve into the subject very deeply, and we may dedicated an entire show to that next time around. But for now I would like to summarize here my current thinking on Camlan - especially in the context of my belief that the original and most famous Arthur was the Roman dux Lucius Artorius Castus.
I'd like to start off with my treatment of Medrawd, whom I recently (at least to my satisfaction) have proven to be an intrusion into the Camlan entry of the Welsh Annals. I will then progress to consideration of the localization of the Welsh Camlan in NW Wales, and will finish off by taking a look at Camboglanna on Hadrian's Wall and how - if at all - it may factor into the equation.
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It was during my comparison of the Annals Cambriae entry for the year 537 with entries in the Irish Annals that I noticed something peculiar. Where the AC has Arthur and Medraut perish in Camlan during a year that saw plague in Britain and Ireland, the corresponding year entry in the Ulster Annals had the death of Comgall son of Domangart, King of Dalriada. Yes, the same Dalriada that later saw an Arthur in its royal family. A later Domangart, billed as this Arthur's brother, dies with him.
That got me sidetracked for awhile. But only the other day I more thoroughly investigated the strange fact that there is no plague mentioned in the Irish Annal for 537. Instead, that source duplicates the death of Comgall son of Domangart in 545, and it is there that we are told about the plague.
T537.2 [538 in Ulster]
Comgall son of Domongort, king of Scotland died in the 35th year of his reign.
U545.1
The first mortality called bléfed, in which Mo-Bí Clárainech died.
U545.2
Death of Comgall son of Domangart, as some say.
I asked myself this question: what if we run with 545 instead of 537 and see what happens?
What happened is something so strange I find it difficult to assign merely to coincidence.
In 545, in Gaul, the famous St. Medard died. He belonged to Noviomagus and, as it happens, there were two places of this exact same name in Britain. One was at Crayford and one was at Chichester. Allowing for a simple and perfectly allowable metathesis, Medard becomes Medrad and hence Medrawd/Medraut in Welsh. His folk relocation to one of the British Noviomagus sites would have been an easy matter.
The mixing in of Medard as Medrad may well have been accidental - indeed, I think it unnecessary to propose intentional creativity in this instance. Once Medard's Noviomagus was wronly associated with Chichesteror Crayford, it would have been an easy matter to combine annal entries. We might imagine original multiple entries for the same year, something like -
Year X Arthur perishes at Camlan. Blessed Medard rests. And there was plague in Britain and Ireland.
A copyist at some point merely assumed Medard died with Arthur at Camlan and shortened the entry.
Or sucessive entries -
Year Xa Arthur perishes at Camlan.
Year Xb Blessed Medard rests.
Year Xc Plague in Britain and Ireland.
Again, combined to read like the AC entry we now possess.
The Domangart bit is interesting, as it hints at a connection of the Dalriadan Arthur's death with the perishing of the Welsh Annals' Arthur at Camlan. Of course, the Dalriadan Arthur died much later than the Welsh Annal date for Camlan. But we can't rule out that the Domangart name in the Irish Annals has something to do with the Welsh Camlan entry.
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Camlann and the Grave of Osfran’s Son
The purpose of this essay is to prove, once and for all, where Arthur’s Camlann battle site was located. Or, more accurately, where Welsh tradition happen to place it!
It is fairly well known that the Welsh record seven survivors of Camlann. Yet, to my knowledge, no one has sought to plot these personages out on a map. To do so may help us pinpoint a geographical region in which Camlann was believed to be situated.
One of the seven – Geneid Hir – it a difficult and otherwise unknown name. P.C. Bartram (in “A Welsh Classical Dictionary: People in History and Legend up to about A.D. 1000) suggests the name may be corrupt and offers an unlikely identification with a personage named Eueyd or Euehyd Hir (often rendered Hefeydd). However, I would see in Geneid ‘Cannaid’, “white, bright, shining, pure, clean, radiant,” an epithet substituted for the original title Ceimiad, ‘Pilgrim’, of St. Elian. Elian had churches on Mon/Anglesey and in Rhos, Gwynedd.
Sandde Bryd Angel looks to be a pun for the Afon Angell, Aberangell, etc., places immediately to the south of the Camlan on the Afon Dyfi in Merionethshire.
Morfran son of Tegid is from Llyn Tegid, now Bala Lake in Gwynedd.
St. Cynfelyn is of Llancynfelyn in Ceredigion just below the Afon Dyfi.
St. Cedwyn of Llangedwyn in Powys, while somewhat further removed than the rest, is still in NW Wales.
St. Pedrog of Llanbedrog is on the Lleyn Peninsula in Gwynedd, just opposite the three Camlans in Merionethshire.
St. Derfel Gadarn is at Llandderfel near Bala Lake in Gwynedd.
Needless to say, if we “triangulate” with all these names/places, we find at the center the three
Merionethshire Camlans.
So which one is the right one?
Only one way to know for sure: we must find the Camlann that is claimed as the gravesite of Osfran’s son. This reference comes from the ‘Stanzas of the Graves:’
Bet mab Ossvran yg Camlan,
Gvydi llauer kywlavan…
The grave of Osfran’s son is at Camlan,
After many a slaughter…
[“The Black Books of Carmarthen ‘Stanzas of the
Graves’, Thomas Jones, Sir John Rhys Memorial
Lecture, 1967, Critical Text and Translation.]
While –fran of Osfran looks like Bran or ‘Raven’, the Os- does not look at all right for a Welsh name. I suspected Ys- and after a first search failed, I defaulted to bryn or ‘hill’ as the original of –bran. Thus I was looking for an Ysbryn.
And I actually found him – or, rather, it! [See “An
Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire: VI – County of Merioneth”, p. 98, RCAHMW, 1921.]
On the Mawddach River in Merionethshire there is a Foel Ispri. It used to be Moel Ysbryn and was the legendary residence of Ysbryn Gawr or Ysbryn the Giant. If we go north on the Mawddach we run into its tributary the Afon Gamlan, i.e. the Water of the Crooked Bank.
Conclusion
If an Arthur fought and died at the Afon Camlan, the only candidate worth considering is Arthur son of Pedr of Dyfed. Yes, once again, the dates are wrong. Arthur son of Pedr lived well after the floruit of the more famous Arthur of the 6th century. But geopolitically speaking, we know that Dyfed was often in conflict with its northern neighbor. A traditional MABINOGION tale, "Pwyll Prince of Dyfed", has Dyfed fighting Gwynedd, and we know historically that Dyfed took Ceredigion (later called Seisllwg) and surrounding kingdoms, combining them all into the Kingdom of Deheubarth. It would thus be logical to see in the death of an Arthur in what had been Meirionydd (the nucleus of Merionethshire) the result of a war between Dyfed and the Merionydd sub-kingdom of Gwynedd.
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But if Camlan belongs properly to Arthur son of Pedr, albeit in an anachronistic fashion (remembering that the goal of the bracketing of Arthur in the Welsh Annals was to provide a counter for Cerdic of Wessex, whose floruit in the ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE perfectly that given in the Welsh Annals for Arthur), what are we to make - if anything - out of the Roman fort of Camboglanna, modern Castlesteads, on Hadrian's Wall? This latter site of the only ancient Camlan we know of in Britain, and while we can't prove it, there is adequate justification for suggesting that L. Artorius Castus may well have been at Camboglanna. Let's take a look at the evidence for Castus at the Castlesteads Roman fort, assuming, for the sake of argument, that I'm right about this officer serving under the Emperor Septimius Severus during the great Roman invasion of northern Britain.
Camboglanna
Castlesteads Stone to the Emperors Severus, Caracalla and Geta
Alas, the Castlesteads House estate early on, in order to construct their manor and garden, systematically destroyed the Camboglanna fort. We have precious little remaining from it. One of the stones we do have is pasted above. Its inscription is described as follows at the RIB page cited:
Apparatus
3, 4. avg …|vsti, Carlisle, &c.; avg⟦gg⟧|vsti, Lys., F.H.
Translation
Primary
To the Discipline of the (three) August (Emperors).
Secondary
To the Discipline of the August (Emperor).
Commentary and notes
Primary: a.d. 209-11 Severus, Caracalla, Geta; secondary: a.d. 212-17 Caracalla.
For Septimius Severus as vindex et conditor Romanae disciplinae see EE vii 353, CIL viii 17870 (ILS 446) Thamugadi.
Fortunately, we do know that substantial work was done by Severus and Caracalla at the neighboring Hadrian's Wall fort of Birdoswald/Banna. Here are some pages from Tony Wilmott's archaeaological report on the Birdsowald excavations of 1987-72:
Simon Elliott in SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS IN SCOTLAND also discusses the major rebuilding on both walls - Hadrian's and the Antonine - under Severus:
It does not seem reasonable to object to the notion that similar rebuilding was undertaken at Camboglanna by both Severus and Caracalla.
So might Castus have been at Camboglanna?
Absolutely. Furthermore, he could even have fought there! From Anthony R. Birley's SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS: THE AFRICAN EMPEROR on the possible rebellion of the Brigantes under Severus:
First, urgent measures were taken in the north-west. Marius Maximus was
made governor of Belgica and Valerius Pudens of Lower Germany, replacing
Virius Lupus, who became governor of Britain. The defeated British legions
were sent back, no doubt heavily reinforced with new manpower, necessary
to restore losses—and their loyalty. Lupus faced an appalling situation. In the
absence of the Roman garrison, the northern part of the province had been
plundered by the Maeatae, probably joined by other tribes closer to Hadrian’s
Wall and some of the Brigantes within the province.
Dio reports how Lupus had to buy off the Maeatae with ‘large sums of money’, receiving ‘a few prisoners back’ in return. Clearly, in the absence of most of the British garrison in 196–7,
Rome’s northern enemies had invaded the province, and the Brigantes of
the Pennines had perhaps risen in rebellion. The Maeatae, whose home
was north of the Antonine Wall, were on the point of being joined by the
Caledonians, from the Highlands beyond, when Lupus arrived.
Thus, there is every possibility that if Castus were serving under Severus he may well have been fighting at Camboglanna or was perhaps involved in the rebuilding process. Needless to say, the same may have been true at Burgh-By-Sands not far to the west on the Wall, which was where stood the Aballava (variant Avalana, i.e. 'Avalon') Roman fort. I elsewhere discussed the goddess Dea Latis or 'Lake Goddess' (= the Arthurian 'Lady of the Lake'?) found at Birdoswald near Castlesteads and at Burgh-By-Sands. As with Camboglanna as Camlan, the Aballava name is the earliest "apple place" name we encounter in the history of Britain. Its proximity to Camboglanna is difficult to account for merely as a coincidence.
I'd even made a somewhat more fanciful case for a prototypical Grail Castle at Drumburgh just a little west of Burgh-By-Sands (https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2024/12/a-new-theory-on-concavata-name-for.html). While I wouldn't push this idea too far, its presence in the region is interesting.
While sheer speculation, might we wonder if L. Artorius Castus had been wounded in a battle at Camboglanna, then carried clear of the sphere of action to Aballava to be healed?
Yes, that is quite a stretch. And not helpful in trying to determine where the original Camlan episode belongs, in terms of time, place and the personage involved. The most that we can say, I think, is that a heroic tale featuring Castus fighting rebelling Brigantes at Camboglanna could later have been repurposed to provide a death for the Arthur of the Historia Brittonum via the Welsh Annals' entry. During the usual legend building process, Camboglanna was relocated to NW Wales, where the same place-name existed and where another known historical Arthur, viz. Arthur son of Pedr of Dyfed, could conceivably have fallen.