Urien Rheged

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Material found in Harley MS 3859

The earliest material giving evidence of Urien is to be found in Harley MS 3859, a manuscript copied c. 1100 in Saint Augustine's, Canterbury, or in an associated centre, possibly even across the Channel. Together with various Classical texts, it contains the Harleian genealogies as well as a copy of the Historia Brittonum (written in 829-30 in Gwynedd) and the Annales Cambriae. This manuscript is celebrated among Welsh manuscripts because of its early date and the material concerning the early Middle Ages found within it. The Welsh material in Harley 3859 probably was compiled together in the exemplar of this manuscript, which was most likely written around 954 at St Davids in the reign of Owain ap Hywel Dda. The genealogies were probably first composed before 872 in Gwynedd at the court of Owain's ancestor Rhodri Mawr to support the legitimacy of this dynasty to rule over Gwynedd and the Isle of Man.

Urien's genealogy in Harley MS 3859 gives his patrilineal descent as "Urien son of Cynfarch son of Meirchion son of Gwrwst son of Coel Hen." His earliest recorded ancestor, Coel Hen, functioned as an origin point for many of the northern Brittonic-speaking dynasties of the early Middle Ages in northern Britain. In modern scholarship, it is not generally held that Coel was an important historic figure or truly the ancestor of all these families, especially those extraneous dynasties given descent from him in the much later fifteenth century genealogical tracts titled Bonedd Gwŷr y Gogledd. Since the "Coeling" first appear in genealogies together in Harley MS 3859 with the Historia Brittonum, which narrates the end of Urien's career, it is thought the compiler of the genealogies joined together the lineages of all the Brittonic-speaking leaders mentioned in the Historia Brittonum to add context to the narrative. Nothing is known of Urien's father Cynfarch, though he may have ruled over Rheged since later material makes reference to the family of the Cynferchyn (i.e., descendants of Cynfarch), which suggests he was important enough to be treated as an ancestor-figure.

Contra ill[os] quattuor reges, Urbgen, et Riderchhen, et Guallauc, et Morcant, dimicaverunt. Deodric contra illum Urbgen cum filiis dimicabat fortiter. In illo autem tempore aliquando hostes, nunc cives vincebantur, et ipse conclusit eos tribus diebus et tribus noctibus in insula Metcaud et, dum erat in expeditione, jugulatus est, Morcanto destinante pro invidia, quia in ipso prae omnibus regibus virtus maxima erat instauratione belli.

Against them [i.e. Hussa and his predecessors] four kings fought: Urien, and Rhydderch Hen, and Gwallog, and Morgan. Theodric used to fight bravely against that Urien with his sons, yet at that time sometimes the enemies, sometimes the citizens used to be vanquished. And he [Urien] shut them [the enemies] up for three days and three nights in the island of Lindisfarne and, while he was on [this?] campaign, he was slain at the instigation of Morgan out of jealousy, because beyond all other kings he [Urien] had the greatest skill in renewing war.

The Historia Brittonum is our only "historical" record of Urien, though its usefulness for reconstructing history is often doubted, as it was compiled and adapted hundreds of years after Urien's death from various sources. Interestingly, in a later prologue attached to the text, the author of the Historia Brittonum claims to have assembled his text based on the work of Rhun, Urien's son, who is also credited with baptising Edwin of Northumbria in 637, together with (or identical to) Paulinus of York, though the existence of Rhun's text is debated. Based on Bede and a Northumbrian source David Dumville called "the Anglian collection of royal genealogies and regnal lists", the text synchronises Urien's life to the reign of Theodric (r. 572-579) and Hussa of Bernicia (r. 585-92).

In this narrative, Urien took hostile action against Theodric, together with Rhydderch Hen, Gwallog ap Llênog, and Morgan, who are (excluding Rhydderch) all recorded as descendants of Coel in the genealogies contained in the same manuscript. The meaning of "with his sons" in the second line is also problematic, as it is uncertain whether this line refers to Urien's sons, or those of Hussa, though it is generally understood that those of Hussa are intended. Echoing Gildas, it is said that the conflict between the Britons and the Saxons went back and forth, but Urien and his allies eventually gained the upper hand and besieged Theodric on Lindisfarne (Old Welsh: Medcaut). Urien was killed at the instigation of Morgan, who, according to the author of the Historia Brittonum, was jealous of Urien's martial ability. As Morgan is supposed to have come from Bernicia, a nearby territory to Lindisfarne, it has been suggested that Morgan at that moment felt more as threatened by Urien's powerful presence near his home than by the weakened Theodric.

Hussa (not just Theodric) is directly described as Urien's foe in the first sentence, which leads to difficulties of interpretation. Kenneth Jackson suggested this meant either that Urien fought against Theodric and Hussa before the latter's reign or that the chronology here is wrong and that the narrative refers to the reigns of Ida's sons in general. Ian Lovecy understood the reference to Theodric as a long parenthesis indicating that formerly the struggle went both ways, but not in Urien's last campaign against Hussa. David Dumville understood the text to refer to the warfare of all four British kings against the five English kings previously named in the Historia Brittonum besides Hussa, that is, from the reigns of Adda to Hussa. The next king is Æthelfrith, who took the throne c. 593, and so Urien could even have died as late as this. However, the section of the Historia Brittonum preceding this narrative records the Christianisation of Kent (occurring in 596-7) as occurring in the reign of Frithuwald (reigned 579-85), implying Urien's campaigns could even have been after 597. This is one of many places in the Historia Brittonum with a confused chronology. For this reason, Patrick Sims-Williams cast doubt on the reliability of the chronology concerning Urien and his campaigns against the Anglo-Saxons, leaving the date of Urien's death an open question.

Poetry to Urien in the Book of Taliesin

Much like many cultures in north-western Europe during Late Antiquity, medieval Welsh culture valued praise-poetry, or poems praising the virtues of a leading political figure. Urien has the almost unique distinction of having a sizeable body of possibly contemporaneous poems dedicated to him in the Book of Taliesin (Peniarth MS 2), a Middle Welsh manuscript of the early fourteenth century. Twelve poems in this manuscript are taken to be "historical", that is, possibly reflecting genuine sixth-century material and devoid of supernatural or gnomic content. The eight poems in this manuscript which address Urien are:

'Arwyre gwyr katraeth gan dyd'

'Uryen yr echwyd'

'Eg gorffowys can rychedwys'

'Ar vn blyned'

'Gweith argoet llwyfein'

'Ardwyre reget ryssed rieu'

'Yspeil Taliessin'

'Dadolwch Vryen'

The other 'historic' poems are a poem to Cynan Garwyn, one to Owain ab Urien, and two to Gwallog ap Llênog. The dating of these poems is still hotly debated between those who see the poems as reflecting early material, and those who favour a later date. Only one poem of these twelve, 'Yspeil Taliessin', is explicitly attributed to Urien's court poet Taliesin in the manuscript, but since Taliesin was strongly associated with Urien in later medieval Welsh literature, and the bulk of the content of the manuscript is to do with Taliesin, the name of the book has stuck.

Seven of the "historical" poems to Urien (including 'Yspeil Taliessin') end with the same 'refrain', so it would appear that they were seen as works of Taliesin in the Middle Ages as well. Taliesin is mentioned in the Historia Brittonum, though his life is synchronised to the reign of Ida of Bernicia (547 x 559), slightly before Urien's reign. It is not likely that Taliesin would have been only active for twelve years, but this may be when he began to be famed for poetry, though this is another example of the difficult chronology throughout the text. Taliesin was very well known for his poetic skill in later medieval Wales, and all sorts of legends sprang up about him attributing to him magic powers, including many poems "in character" attributed to him, and these poems form the bulk of the manuscript. Taliesin's "transformation" from a poet to an omniscient wizard is paralleled by the development of the legend of Virgil in the Continent, who also was attributed magic powers in folklore and literature because of his poetic skill.

These poems are in sometimes obscure language and do not offer very much in the way of clear biographical information about Urien. Much of the place-name evidence of these poems is understood to refer to places in modern-day Cumbria, though Urien is also said to have led battle in the area of the River Ayr, in the Brittonic-speaking kingdom of Strathclyde, and perhaps against the Picts. He is also recorded as fighting against the English, much like he is said to have done in the Historia Brittonum. One poem mentions Urien and Owain as having fought a certain Fflamddwyn (meaning 'flame-bearing'), which has been traditionally identified as a kenning referring to one of Ida's sons, perhaps even Theodric. Owain ab Urien is praised for killing Fflanddwyn alongside a "broad host of English" in another poem, and the practice of giving Welsh nicknames to early Northern Anglo-Saxon kings is common in the Historia Brittonum. One dadolwch, or reconciliation-poem, also survives, implying that Taliesin ran afoul of Urien at some point and was obliged to get back into his good graces.

The poems attributed to Taliesin are of particular interest because they could represent the earliest vernacular literature in Europe in the Middle Ages, even as they survive in a late manuscript. John Koch has suggested that Urien's son Rhun (fl. c. 627), who is credited as a source in the Historia Brittonum, may have also been involved with the recording and writing down of some of the poetry to his father. John Morris-Jones argued that all the poetry to Urien, Owain, and Gwallog were genuinely sixth-century in his criticism of J. G. Evans' edition of the Book of Taliesin in 1918, which was followed by Ifor Williams in his edition of the poems. This early date has been criticised by various scholars since Morris-Jones' time, with many suggesting they instead were created in the ninth century or later. Despite this, there has been no definitive linguistic argument that they are later than Urien's time, though this does not mean that they are definitely from the sixth-century, either.

John Koch's reconstruction of the Battle of Catraeth

Just as there are references to Catraeth outside of the Gododdin, so there appears to be a reference to Urien and Gwallog in it. One stanza begins:

The 'descendants of Godebog' here could refer to Urien and Gwallog, as another epithet of Coel Hen, their shared ancestor, is Godebog, meaning 'protector'. Rachel Bromwich supported an emendation of this line, deleting the preposition a 'with'. This would make the line mean "not as undying men did the descendants of Godebog fight for the land" and suggests the descendants of Godebog were allies of the heroes of the Gododdin. However, John Koch rejected this emendation on the grounds that it would leave the line a syllable short of the ten syllable metre of in the stanza. Therefore, according to Koch, 'Arwyre gwyr katraeth gan dyd', the Gododdin, and 'Moliant Cadwallon' all refer to the same Battle of Catraeth, with Urien and Gwallog opposing a force made up of the Gododdin forces and a contingent from Strathclyde under Cynon ap Clydno.

The impetus for the battle in Koch's understanding of events is linked to the presence of one Madog Elfed among the commemorated heroes of the Gododdin. His epithet implies he was a royal of Elfed (like Urien Rheged), and so he may have been a claimant to rule the region supported by the Gododdin and in opposition to Gwallog and Urien. As the quickest route from Gododdin to Elfed would pass through Catraeth, the battle therefore was a result of the forces of Urien cutting off the Gododdin force at the important crossroads there. The presence of the Anglo-Saxons, Koch argues, can be understood as representing Urien's overlordship over the Anglo-Saxons of Deira, with the Bernicians having been allied with the Gododdin force. Since the Bernicians are conspicuously absent from the enemies of the Gododdin in the poem, and likewise are the Deirans from the poetry surrounding Urien and in the narrative in the Historia Brittonum, Koch argued that the element of racial warfare in the poem is secondary to the composition of the text, after the loss of Britain to the English was cemented in the Welsh mind.

Saga poetry and Canu Urien

Because of his appearance in early poetry and central place in the narrative of the Historia Brittonum, Urien became a figure in the body of later Welsh literature concerning the "Old North", which functioned as the setting for much medieval Welsh literature. One such piece of literature concerning Urien, or more accurately Urien's sons, is fittingly called the "Urien Rheged" cycle (Welsh: Canu Urien) by modern scholars, as the poems are concerned with the events in Rheged after the killing of Urien. The poems survive mainly from two Middle Welsh manuscripts, the Black Book of Carmarthen (c. 1250) and the Red Book of Hergest (after 1382). Nevertheless, Canu Urien is generally understood to be a copy of Old Welsh-period material, dated to around the same period as the Historia Brittonum. This material is called 'saga poetry' by comparison with Icelandic sagas, because like the Icelandic material, the Welsh poems are thought to have been taken from longer, partly prose (or oral) works, and because they both might reflect earlier history through a literary lens.

Though one of Urien's allies in the narrative of the Historia Brittonum was Gwallog ap Llênog, he is recorded as having fought against Urien's son Elffin in another one of the poems in this cycle, "Dwy Blaid". Likewise, one Dunod fought with Owain, while Brân ab Ymellyrn and Morgan – the orderer of Urien's killing – fought the narrator. The identification of the narrator of these poems has been the subject of some debate. Ifor Williams understood him to be Llywarch Hen, Urien's cousin and the subject of his own cycle of poems lamenting his old age. Jenny Rowland thought he must be some other figure, perhaps one of Urien's nephews by his sister Efrddyl, since their grief may be emphasised because of their conflicting ties of kindred, and in view of the fact that Llywarch was not in her eyes a heroic figure. In response to this, Patrick Sims-Williams put forth powerful arguments based on the text and its history to identify the narrator with Llywarch Hen after all. Chief among these are the fact that the narrator addresses Urien as keuynderw 'first cousin', and that the weight of evidence about Llywarch in the eyes of later medieval Welshmen suggests they viewed him as a great warrior, even if he suffered in old age.

The most impactful and moving poems from this cycle are given the titles 'Pen Urien' (Urien's Head) and 'Celain Urien' (Urien's corpse) by modern scholarship. They relate the immediate aftermath of Urien's killing, with the name of the assassin given in another poem as Llofan Llaw Ddifro. In 'Pen Urien' and 'Celain Urien', the narrator was forced to finish Urien off and strike off his head, with the implication that it was unsafe to carry Urien's entire body home for burial. The narrator laments his fortune that he must leave the body of his caring lord behind and curses his hand for carrying out this grim task.

Urien in other medieval Welsh literature

Urien is mentioned in passing in the Llywarch Hen cycle, poems about the sufferings of his cousin Llywarch and written with the poet speaking from Llywarch's point of view. They are, like Canu Urien, certainly later than Llywarch and Urien's time. Urien is recorded as supplying Llywarch's last surviving son Gwên with a horn which Llywarch advises Gwên to blow if he needs aid while on guard at night.

In the mnemonic devices known as the Welsh Triads, intended for poets to recall traditional stories, Urien is mentioned repeatedly. These mostly agree with the testimony of the Historia Brittonum and the other early sources, though there are some references to the later traditions. Urien is one of the "Three Armoured Warriors", "Three battle-rulers", and "Three Holy Womb-burdens". The latter gives his mother as Nefyn ferch Brychan Brycheiniog, and his wife as Modron ferch Afallach. Likewise, his killing at the hands of Llofan Llaw Ddifo is one of the "Three Unfortunate Slaughters". There are chronological impossibilities with associating his wife with a daughter of Brychan, and Modron is a purely legendary figure, whose first association with Urien is in this triad. Nevertheless, these show the enduring interest in Urien in the later Middle Ages, and the invention of tradition to satisfy continued regard for his life and deeds.

As well as Taliesin, Urien was supposed to have employed a poet named Tristfardd (literally 'sad poet'), as recorded in another triad, which calls Tristfardd one of the "Three Red-Speared Bards". Three englynion preserved in a very late manuscript record a story recounting how this Tristfardd secretly courted Urien's wife, and, not recognising the king, sent a disguised Urien to send a message to her. Urien slew Tristfardd for this offence at 'Rhyd Tristfardd', supposed to be in Radnorshire. This is a late tradition, and runs contrary to the association of Urien with Taliesin and the very strong association of Urien with the North, though it seems probable that this story was affixed to the name of Trisfardd even later than his appearance in the Triads.

Literature about Urien, whether reflecting early material or not, seems to have circulated in more channels than survive to the present. This can be evidenced by the twelfth-century poet Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr's attribution of the 'wrath of Urien' to his patron Owain Cyfeiliog, using the form Urfoën (Middle Welsh: Uruoen). This reflects an older form of the name (reconstructed as a Common Brittonic form *Urbogen) which retained the composition vowel. This vowel is reflected in a weakened form /ə/ in one rendition of Urien's name in the Historia Brittonum, Urbagen (Old Welsh pronunciation: [ɨ̞rβəˈɣɛn]). Kenneth Jackson dated the loss of this vowel to the sixth century in Welsh, and Ifor Williams went so far as to say the trisyllabic form must be reinserted in one of the Taliesin poems to rectify a defect in the metre in a line in one poem. Assuming Cynddelw did not independently create this form so that he might fill the metre of this line in his own poem, this gives the tantalising suggestion that he was reading sources about Urien which do not survive to us, or that this name survived in a fossilised spoken form as a part of bardic lore.

Romances

In the 13th-century Arthurian chivalric romances, the location of his kingdom is transferred to either Garloth (Garlot) or the otherworldly and magical Kingdom of Gorre (Gore). During the reign of Uther Pendragon, Arthur's father, Urien (or Uriens) marries a sister or half-sister of the young Arthur. She is either Morgan or one of the others, such as Hermesan in the Livre d'Artus and Blasine in Of Arthour and of Merlin. Urien, like the kings of several other lands, initially opposes Arthur's accession to the throne after Uther's death. He and the others rebel against the young monarch (with Urien even briefly kidnapping Arthur's wife Guinevere in the Livre d'Artus). Upon their defeat, he is among the rebel leaders who become Arthur's allies and vassals. His marriage to Morgan is not portrayed as a happy one, as in a popular version from the Post-Vulgate Cycle (later included in Thomas Malory's influential Le Morte d'Arthur) Morgan plots to use Excalibur to kill both Urien and Arthur and place herself and her lover Accolon on the throne. Morgan fails in both parts of that plan, foiled by their own son and by the Lady of the Lake, respectively.

Urien is usually said to be the father of Ywain (Owain) by Morgan, but many texts also give him a second son, Ywain the Bastard, fathered on his seneschal's wife. Welsh tradition further attributes to him a daughter named Morfudd by Modron.

According to Roger Sherman Loomis, the name and character of another Arthurian king, Nentres of Garlot (in Malory, the husband of Arthur's sister Elaine), could have been derived from that of Urien. Malory spells Urien's name as Urience of Gorre, which has led some later authors (e.g. Alfred Tennyson) to identify him with Arthur's relentless rival King Rience.

In the Didot-Perceval manuscript of the Perceval en prose (c. 1200), Perceval fights Urbain, son of the Queen of the Black Thorn (Reine de la Noire Espine) and defender of a ford and an invisible castle. Following Urbain's defeat, a flock of monstrous ravens attacks Perceval, who manages to wound one of them which immediately transforms into a beautiful young girl, soon carried off by the other birds to Avalon. Urbain explains that she is the sister of his fairy mistress and her attendants. According to Loomis, the story's Urbain corresponds to Urien, father of Owain (Yvain) and husband of Morgen (Morgan), the latter being the equivalent of the Welsh Modron and the Irish Morrígan ('Great Queen'). Modern scholarship in the field of Celtic studies strongly disapproves of this and other mythologising and equation of Welsh and Irish material haphazardly.

Urien Rheged

Urien Rheged

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Live room · 1 here

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Problems of interpretation

Early Welsh material

Material found in Harley MS 3859

Poetry to Urien in the Book of Taliesin

Urien and the Battle of Catraeth

References to Catraeth outside the Gododdin

John Koch's reconstruction of the Battle of Catraeth

Receptions of Koch's hypothesis

Later Welsh material

Saga poetry and Canu Urien

Urien in other medieval Welsh literature

The rebellion of Rhys FitzUryen ap Gruffudd

Arthurian legend

Romances

Related journals

About Urien Rheged

About Urien Rheged

Article

Related journals

Live room · 1 here

Article

Problems of interpretation

Early Welsh material

Material found in Harley MS 3859

Poetry to Urien in the Book of Taliesin

Urien and the Battle of Catraeth

References to Catraeth outside the Gododdin

John Koch's reconstruction of the Battle of Catraeth

Receptions of Koch's hypothesis

Later Welsh material

Saga poetry and Canu Urien

Urien in other medieval Welsh literature

The rebellion of Rhys FitzUryen ap Gruffudd

Arthurian legend

Romances

Related journals