Cunedda

Cunedda’s northern origins, the territory labeled the Manau Gododdin, offers another lesson in interpretation and translation; one of the fundamental directives of research stresses that only primary sources should be used, and only as a last resort should secondary sources be considered as acceptable. Even so, the snare is ever-present. Although Manau Gododdin plays an important role in the history of the period, its borders are normally accepted as embracing the the entire Gododdin territory, known in Roman terms as the Venicones province. Leslie Alcock describes the location as “a small district around the head of the Firth of Forth, on the northern limits of the tribal region or kingdom of Guotodin, Gododdin, or Votadini.” Wade-Evan’s depiction is “a little district to the west of Edinburgh on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth.” Cunedda, then, came across the Antonine Wall, not just Hadrian’s Wall.

Cunedda’s lineage, as mentioned earlier, is of Roman origin: Æternus, Patern Pesrut, and Tacitus. More than likely--though there is not a shred of evidence--circumstance would place those forefathers in Gododdin territory in the far north, just beyond the wall of Antonine. The grandfather, who bore the epithet “of the Red Robe” is a parallel of the Purple Robes worn by Roman royalty. When the Romans began withdrawing parts of the legions from Britain in 410, there was no indication that the Western Empire was forfeiting Britain as a province. Up to the year of 446, the time of the Aetius letter, the Britons were soliciting military aid from the Empire. And according to continental history of Gaul, Riothamus was a Briton king who was still closely allied with Rome and Ravenna in the 460s and 470s.

Leslie Alcock, in writing about archaeological finds of hoards which he claims were common occurrences among the tribes on the fringes of the Empire, indirectly points to the motive behind Cunedda’s migration. There was a rich hoard found at the hillfort of Traprain Law, in the province of the Votadini, which Alcock felt would have been allied to the Romans. He further conjectures that this hoard was not loot, but Roman payment in bullion “for the services of Votadinian mercenaries.”

The importance of this discovery hinges upon Traprain Law in the province of Votadini and its proximity to Cunedda’s migration. If in truth finds such as these can be interpreted as mercenary payments, then it is judicious to accept what I.A. Richmond suggests in his text. When the Romans initially withdrew from the island to protect their boundaries on the continent, the action was view as a temporary one; for several decades after their abandonment, no one believed that the Romans would not return. Having been entrenched in Britain for over four centuries, no empire as powerful and pervasive as that of the Romans could ever be in serious jeopardy of defeat or annihilation. In addition to Vortigern’s fear of Ambrosius and his fear of Pictish and Irish invasions, his other real fear was the return of the Romans to the island.

Some historians might deduce that Cunedda’s forefathers--Æternus and Paternus--remained in Manau Gododdin after Cunedda migrated to Wales, but more likely, Æternus and Paternus preceded Cunedda’s migration. That likelihood is based upon several pieces of historical data. As stated earlier, in 410 the Roman Empire did not plan on permanently abandoning Britain as an province. Gaul remained in turmoil for literally decades, during which time there was still a belief and determination that the barbarians in Gaul would be subdued and Britain could be reclaimed. After Roman troops were recalled, the military strategy would have been to relocate the loyal allies (foederates) from the north, including the supporters from Manaw Gododdin to fill key positions in the military zones vacated by the withdrawal of legionnaires. It would be militarily feasible to reassign chieftain-kings such as Æternus, Paternus, and Clutor to bases in Wales and the Midland which would have been abandoned.

Probably because Leslie Alcock was focused upon classifying inscribed stones according to centuries, he used one monument as an example, bearing the name of Paterninus, a cognate of Paternus or Padarn Pesrut of the Red Robes, without associating the name with one of Cunedda’s forefathers. He writes

The formulae used on the earliest inscriptions are not far removed from those of pagan Roman memorials,
and this gives a clue to the ancestry of the memorial form itself. A good example is the stone from
Llanerfyl in Montgomeryshire. This is one of the very few stones that were [sic] erected in an inland region,
and it seems likely that it owes more to a remnant of Roman Christianity surviving around Viroconium
(Wroxeter) than to any new influences coming by sea to the western coasts. The Llanerfyl stone is a
roughly rectangular slab, with a Latin inscription written in good Roman capitals, set out in evenly
disposed horizontal lines. It reads:

HIC [IN] TVMVLO IA CIT. ROSTE HERE IN THE TOMB LIES RUSTICA
ECE. FILIA. PA TERNINI. DAUGHTER OF PATERNINUS
ANI XIII. IN PA [CE] AGED THIRTEEN. IN PEACE

Now this is a very romanized inscription. The two people named, Paterninus and Rustica, both have good
Roman names, even if the spelling of Rustica is shaky. The statement of the age of the deceased is a
regular pagan practice which gradually died with the spread of Christianity, though it does occur on good
Christian epitaphs in Gaul and Spain. . . . In terms of its style and epigraphy, there is no reason why this
monument should not have been erected in the fourth century, but a cautious date would be the early fifth.

On a Roman map, the Paterninus Stone is three miles west of a Roman road leading directly to the legionary fortress of Deva forty miles to the north. As the crow flies, the stone is thirty-five miles due west of Viroconium, the site of the legionary fortress which was moved to Deva. And interestingly, it is sixty miles southwest of Vortigern’s fortress at Llanfihangel-ar-arth. If the logistics claimed in The Historic King Arthur is accepted--that Vortigern is an epithet for Æternus--then Cunedda (aka Vortimer), Æternus, and Paternus are located in territories granted to them by the Western Empire.

It is more than just a curiosity that Cunedda, who should be a major Welsh figure in the fifth century, occupies such a tiny niche in his country’s history. If the Epithets section is accepted as viable rather than a flight of fancy, then both Æternus’s and Cunedda’s roles are much more significant.

No individual with the name of Cunedda makes an appearance in either Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain, or in The Chronicle of the Kings of Britain. But the individual with the epithet of Vortimer--presumably Cunedda--is an important and influential character. As the eldest son of Vortigern (Æternus), Cunedda usurps his father from the kingship for being too bonded with Hengist and his clan. Both the Historia Brittonum and Monmouth’s book describe four battles which Vortimer fights against the Anglians. Following his success, Vortimer restores the possessions taken from the Britons. In spite of the support from his countrymen, however, he is poisoned by his stepmother Renwein (Hengist’s daughter) and once again his father is restored to the kingship, but when Voirtigern invites the Anglians back, he and his supporters are terrified by their number. The council tries to oppose the onslaught, but Rowena notifies her father of the council’s decision, and Hengist plans then carries out the slaughter of the Council of Provinces.

Disregarding the enigmatic and insoluble discrepancy between the Cunedda migration and the reign of Maelgwn ap Catgolaun Lauhir (distinguished from Maelgwn father of Clutor) of one hundred and forty-six years, Cunedda’s chronology can be developed. The Irish invaders mentioned in the Historia Brittonum gradually gained territory in west-central Wales, and according to John Morris, drastic military reorganization was needed by 430, which sparked Cunedda’s migration. This is likewise Leslie Alcock’s point for writing that the migration was organized in the middle decades of the fifth century by some sub-Roman authority, and the expulsion of the Irish from the territories of Wales was followed immediately by wars to drive the traitorous Anglians from Briton soil.

By borrowing Alcock’s piece of information and setting dates into a milieu of events, Maelgwn ap Lauhir’s floruit can be realistically calculated to be 105 years after Cunedda’s migration. Cunedda’s floruit would be 427 to 457, with a thumnail lifespan of 412 to 472. Based upon Cerdic’s floruit/lifespan in The Historic King Arthur, Cunedda’s floruit was calculated to be 435 to 465 and lifespan to be 420 to 480, an acceptable variant, especially when considering the complexity of developing reckonings between three methods of chronological calibrations and the antiquity of dates. Cunedda’s actual death date would be some time in the latter half of the 450s, when he was in his mid- to late- thirties.

Cunedda has been shunned in British history because he has not been linked to his epithet of Vortimer, who--according to The Historia Brittonum-- fights the Saxons in four major battles against the will of his treacherous father Vortigern.

VORTIMER: CUNEDDA’S EPITHET
AMBROSIUS AURELIANUS’S ALLY
PIVOTAL FIGURE OF BRITISH HISTORY
The historical data attached to Cunedda’s crucial role in insular history is not based upon unfounded assumptions or exaggerated episodes stemming from legendary or mythical offshoots. His clan is unadorned, untainted figures of the fifth century; his role is not simply to resist Scotti encroachment but to expel them permanently from Welsh soil, and as a reward, he is to receive the vast territory between the Rivers Dee and Teifi. His invitation to migrate to the south occurs either shortly before the Roman withdrawal or shortly after the beginning of Vortigern’s reign, and almost simultaneously he finds himself at war not only with the Scotti, but with the rebellious Anglians (Saxones) who were ostensibly allies with the Welsh tribes.