SOLWAY FIRTH
A great battle, the Battle of Arderydd, was fought at Longtown on the shore of the Solway Firth in 573. This was remembered in the Triads as one of the Three Futile Battles of the Island of Britain: “the action of Arderydd, which was brought about by the cause of the lark’s nest.” This strange, cryptic remark may be fairly easily explained. The Lowland Scots word for “lark” is laverock, and there is an ancient castle site on the northern shore of the Solway Firth that is called Caerlaverock, literally “The Fortress of the Lark” or more poetically “The Lark’s Nest.” It is close to the mouth of the Nith River. The battle was remembered as being fought for possession of the Scottish shore of the Solway Firth.
The Longtown river-crossing further to the east, at the head of the Solway Firth, was an important strategic point; it was the crossing-place of the Roman road from the kingdom of Rheged into the kingdom of Clyde. The site was controlled by the stronghold of King Gwenddolau, son of Ceidio; this may have stood at Carwinley, nearby. The king was one of the leading combatants who died in the battle in and around his own fortress.
Gwenddolau had a bard, like all other Dark Age Celtic kings, but his bard was called Myrddin, which draws us to look more closely at him. Myrddin took no part in the battle, but watched it. When he saw his lord killed, he went mad and became a hermit in the Wood of Celidon, perhaps between Carlisle and Dumbarton. By the eleventh century, this had become:
The Battle of Arderydd between the sons of Elifer and Gwenddolau the son of Ceidio; in which battle Gwenddolau fell; Merlin became mad.
Elifer is Eleutherius of York, so the battle was of the kingdoms of Rheged and York —a classic conflict among Britons. It may have been Myrddin himself who wrote the verse in The Black Book of Carmarthen :.
I saw Gwenddolau in the track of kings,
Collecting booty from every border,
Now indeed he lies under the red earth,
The chief of the kings of the North of greatest generosity.
World History
