The tale tells of how Rhydderch accompanies rulers from the north on a military expedition to the Kingdom of Gwynedd in North Wales. Elidir Mwynfawr, another prince of the north had been killed at Arfon in Gwynedd. Rhun then attacked Alt Clut and pushed as far north as the River Forth.
- Old and New Paris: Its History, its People and its Places (Complete).
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- Kingdom of Strathclyde.
Some people say that the events at Arfon may not have taken place and that Welsh propagandists made up the tale to try and glorify their own Kings. They would of used Rhun as the ancestor and a great warlord who would wage war far beyond his own territories and against figures famed and already rich with Welsh tradition. Welsh tradition also places Rhydderch as one of the northern British kings who fought against the Anglo-Saxon realm of Berncia. It is said he joined with Urien of Rheged and Morcant Bulc in their ill-fated alliance.
Theodoric fought vigorously against Urien and his sons. During that time, sometimes the enemy sometimes the Cymry were victorious and Urien blockaded them for three days and three nights in the island of Ynys Metcaut. But during this campaign, Urien was assassinated on the instigation of Morcant from jealousy, because him military skill and generalship surpassed that of all the other kings.
The war with Bernicia is only two military campaigns in which Rhydderch is said to have been involved. When Aeden the Wily came to the court of Rhydderch the Generous of Alt Clut; he left neither food nor drink nor beast alive. Apart from this work there are no other supporting texts to prove their accuracy. Although with Dal Riata and Alt Clut being neighbours and the mindset during the post Roman period and Dark Ages in northern Britain it is easy to believe that they would have warred at different points. Dal Riata at the time was new to British politics but the Gaels or Scots of Dal Riata were commonly known to raid along the coast since the time of Vortigern.
Furthermore Aeden mac Gabrain is also known to be a belligerent warlord raiding as far as Northumbria and Pictavia. Clochoderick Rocking stone in Renfrewshire, Scotland. This stone is said to mark the burial place of Rhydderch. Aside from the Welsh sources the other main source of information regarding Rhydderch is the Latin hagiography surrounding Kentigern the patron Saint of Glasgow whose Life was written in the 12 th Century AD by Joceline of Furness, in Cumbria on behalf of the Bishop of Glasagow.
The supposed final withdrawal of Roman forces around is unlikely to have been of military impact on the Damnonii, although the withdrawal of pay from the residual Wall garrison will have had a very considerable economic effect.
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No historical source gives any firm information on the boundaries of the Kingdom of Strathclyde, but suggestions have been offered on the basis of place-names and topography. Near the north end of Loch Lomond , which can be reached by boat from the Clyde, lies Clach nam Breatann, the Rock of the Britains, which is thought to have gained its name as a marker at the northern limit of Alt Clut.
The Campsie Fells and the marshes between Loch Lomond and Stirling may have represented another boundary. To the south, the kingdom extended some distance up the strath of the Clyde, and along the coast probably extended south towards Ayr. Although often referred to as the Dark Ages , the period after the end of Roman rule in southern Scotland, while poorly understood, is considerably less dark than the Roman period.
Archaeologists and historians have offered varying accounts of the period over the last century and a half.
notes on early medieval Scotland
The written sources available for the period are largely Irish and Welsh, and very few indeed are contemporary with the period between and Irish sources report events in the kingdom of Dumbarton only when they have an Irish link. Excepting the 6th-century jeremiad by Gildas and the poetry attributed to Taliesin and Aneirin —in particular y Gododdin , thought to have been composed in Scotland in the 6th century—Welsh sources generally date from a much later period.
Some are informed by the political attitudes prevalent in Wales in the 9th century and after. Bede , whose prejudice is apparent, rarely mentions Britons, and then usually in uncomplimentary terms. Two kings are known from near contemporary sources in this early period.
Alt Clut « Senchus
The first is Coroticus or Ceretic Guletic Welsh: Ceredig , known as the recipient of a letter from Saint Patrick , and stated by a 7th-century biographer to have been king of the Height of the Clyde, Dumbarton Rock, placing him in the second half of the 5th century. From Patrick's letter it is clear that Ceretic was a Christian , and it is likely that the ruling class of the area were also Christians, at least in name. The Christianisation of southern Scotland, if Patrick's letter to Coroticus was indeed to a king in Strathclyde, had therefore made considerable progress when the first historical sources appear.
Further south, at Whithorn , a Christian inscription is known from the second half of the 5th century, perhaps commemorating a new church. How this came about is unknown. Unlike Columba, Kentigern Welsh: Cyndeyrn Garthwys , the supposed apostle to the Britons of the Clyde, is a shadowy figure and Jocelyn of Furness 's 12th century Life is late and of doubtful authenticity though Jackson [6] believed that Jocelyn's version might have been based on an earlier Cumbric-language original.
After , information on the Britons of Alt Clut becomes slightly more common in the sources. However, historians have disagreed as to how these should be interpreted. Broadly speaking, they have tended to produce theories which place their subject at the centre of the history of north Britain in the Early Historic period. The result is a series of narratives which cannot be reconciled. Such evidence as there is, such as the conquest of Elmet , the wars in north Wales and with Mercia , would argue for a more southerly focus of Northumbrian activity in the first half of the 7th century.
However, the lands to the south and east of this waste, were controlled by smaller, nameless British kingdoms. There are few definite reports of Alt Clut in the remainder of the 7th century, although it is possible that the Irish annals contain entries which may be related to Alt Clut. In the last quarter of the 7th century, a number of battles in Ireland, largely in areas along the Irish Sea coast, are reported where Britons take part. It is usually assumed that these Britons are mercenaries, or exiles dispossessed by some Anglo-Saxon conquest in northern Britain.
However, it may be that these represent campaigns by kings of Alt Clut, whose kingdom was certainly part of the region linked by the Irish Sea. Whether their appearance in the record has any significance or whether it is just happenstance is unclear. Eadberht is said to have taken the plain of Kyle in , around modern Ayr , presumably from Alt Clut. It is doubtful whether the agreement, whatever it may have been, was kept, for Eadberht's army was all but wiped out—whether by their supposed allies or by recent enemies is unclear—on its way back to Northumbria.
Rovsea , Dec 2, Mar 7, Messages: Just read your first chapter and decided to join the ride. Feb 3, Messages: That was certainly an excellent start to your AAR. Michaelangelo , Dec 2, Jun 22, Messages: Great Start so far, strange to see Ivar fail usally and his brothers conquer the majority of England bar Wessex and Wales, then their realm fractures years later due to them all becoming Catholic. Saxon , Dec 2, Nov 6, Messages: Let us see where this goes. Jun 17, Messages: This will be interesting. Since I am currently learning how to play CKII myself this should not only entertain me but also give me a better idea of what to do myself.
LanMisa , Dec 4, Oct 3, Messages: The soon to be ass whooping transcends forums! This will be read eagerly. RepublicanIV , Dec 5, What food are they eating or what water are they drinking? Oucydd has lived a long and prosperous life accomplishing much which included becoming king. His successor seems promising though I hope the low intrigue won't hurt him.
There are, after all, many that don't take kindly of his rule at least I assume so. All of Scotland and most of Ireland in two Generations: I guess you will go for Great Britain and return the Celtic rule over the Islands?