This is the Tenth-part of our discussion of Britain in the so-called Age of Arthur: the 5th though the mid-6th Century A.D. It is a fascinating period, with the Classical civilization of Greece and Rome giving way to the Germanic “Dark Ages”. It was the sunset of Celtic-Roman culture in Britain; it was the Age of Arthur!
But who was Arthur?
Before we answer that question, it is necessary we understand the world in which he lived.
(Read Part Nine here. Or start from the beginning, with Part One!)
CERDIC THE SAXON
In the last decade of the 5th century, Romano-British civilization in Britain was locked in a death-struggle with the Germanic Saxon and Angle invaders. From Humber-mouth to the Channel, all of Eastern Britain was lost to the newcomers; these lands to be known in later Welsh chronicles and poems as the “Lost Lands of Lloegyr”. All along an imaginary line that divided the island roughly east from west, Anglo-Saxon warbands probed and raided; new settlements pushing ever westward. The “debatable lands” between Anglo-Saxon and Briton were in constant flux, but the archeology supports that before 500 AD the Britons were losing ground.
In 495, a momentous event occurred in the history of Britain: According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for that year, “Cerdic landed in Hampshire with his son, Cynic, in three ships.” He arrives along the swampy coastal region near modern Portsmouth, establishing an enclave.
This was a time when the Saxon’s Angle cousins were establishing enclaves in the northeast, from the mouth of the Humber to the Highlands. These incursions would, over the next century, solidify into the early Angle kingdoms of Deira and Bernicia. In 495, their presence was far more threatening to the Britons than a few hundred Saxons establishing an outpost in the swamps at the mouth of the Avon.
However, Cerdic is a significant player in the history of England. His outpost would grow into a bleeding sore in the side of the British kingdom of Damnonia: the Saxon kingdom of Wessex! In the next century, Wessex would steadily grow in size and power, ultimately devouring Damnonia; as well as the earlier Saxon kingdoms of Sussex and Kent.
But that was in the distant future, beyond the vision of any in Arthur’s (or Cerdic’s) own time. Few at the time would have ventured a bet that this “swamp pirate” represented a mortal threat to Briton’s strongest kingdom. In the first 20 years of his time in Hampshire, Cerdic was but a nuisance; expanding in the forests and swamps along the southern coast, and battling occasionally with the local British authorities.
As with most of the key personalities that moved events in this period, little is known of the origins of Cerdic “the Saxon”. He is described initially as an Ealdorman (literally, “Elder Man”); the title held by Anglo-Saxon officials in charge of shires. Ealdormen were not independent rulers. They were officers serving the various monarchs of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
So who was Cerdic’s master?
The likely possibility is Ælle, King of the nearby South Saxe.
Just four years after the fall of the British coastal fortress of Anderitum gave Ælle control of the Sussex coast and a port on the Channel coast, Cerdic is perhaps sent as his lieutenant; an advance party to establish a westward base in British territory.
Scholars are puzzled by Cerdic’s name, which is in fact Celtic, not Germanic. Some have suggested he was a British turncoat. Others, that he was a “half-breed”; the offspring of a Saxon nobleman and a British mother. If so, he might have been born in the earliest days of the Saxon Advent, in the late 440’s or early 450’s; thus old enough by 495 to have earned a high place among the Saxons, and to have a grown (or nearly grown) son.
In 508, Cerdic fought and killed a local British petty king, called Natanleod, at Netley Marsh. In 519 he declared his independence from whatever overlord held his fealty, and declared himself independent king of Saxon Wessex (the “West Saxons”). The date of this declaration may be significant, as will be shown soon. During all of this, he doesn’t seem to have drawn the full attention of Arthur or triggered a major effort to eradicate the presence of this Saxon outpost so close to the heart of Damnonia. This might well have been a deliberate policy of Cerdic’s: to “lay low”, biding his time, waiting till bigger players vacated the stage.
In time, Cerdic’s patience would bear fruit.
THE PENDRAGON
At about the same time (give-or-take a few years) as the Battle of Netley Marsh, Ambrosius Aurelianus at last died. With his death, authority as supreme leader of the British passed to his successor, Arthur. If we accept that along with being High King (or Riothamus, “Supreme King”) Ambrosius may have been sub-king of an area centered on Avebury as well, then Arthur is may have assumed this dignity upon his uncle’s death. In later years, it was common that the Celtic “High King” was also a lesser king of one of the Briton (and later Welsh) petty kingdoms. However, we know from surviving genealogies that neither Ambrosius nor Arthur were kings of the greater kingdoms; nor founded lasting dynasties of their own.
Both were warlords, military leaders who led the coalition forces of British kings. Tradition has both men ruling Britain as High King (though Geoffrey of Monmouth and Thomas Mallory, perhaps drawing on an earlier list of British kings, both seem to place an intermediate figure, Uther Pendragon, between them; see below). There is reason to believe that the transition of power from one to the other was not uncontested.
In both Geoffrey of Monmouth and Mallory, Arthur is forced to fight his rivals in order to claim and hold his newly acquired crown. This tradition of British reluctance to accept his authority may echo historical reality, the chronicles of which are now lost. It is not unlikely that some of the British petty kings were hesitant to give Arthur the same authority and obedience they accorded Ambrosius. As previously discussed, the petty kings of Celtic Britain were jealous of each other and reluctant to cede any authority to another. Arthur had to prove he was worthy to rule them.
As Dux Bellorum (“Leader of Battles”, or “War Leader”), leading a hard-riding band of armored horsemen, Arthur now undertook an ambitious plan: to stop the seemingly inexorable westward drive of the Germanic invaders; and to recover the lost lands of Logress. Such a project may have been one he and his young comrades had entertained in long discussions while deep in their cups, around the midnight camp fires or beside the hearth fires in winter garrisons. It was the one project sure to unite in spirit all the rival Celtic petty rulers; and more importantly, fire the imaginations of the young generation of warriors coming of age throughout Britain, hungry for a cause to fight for and for a hero to lead them!
It is at this time that Arthur comes to be known as the “Pendragon”. The term means “Head Dragon”, and though we can in no way be sure how this name came to be associated with the leader of Britain in the 6th century, it is one applied to powerful British/Welsh leaders who obtain a position of primacy over the other regional kings of Celtic Britain. Could Arthur have been the first, and his fame and success lent the title a dignity other leaders in later generations wished to attach to themselves?
In an early medieval list of the kings (Overkings) of Britain, starting in the pre-Roman days; and continuing to the age of Arthur. For the 5th and 6th century, it lists the kings (in chronologic order):
GORTHEYRN (Vortigern). GWETHUYR VENDIGEIT (Vortimer/Vortigern the Younger). EMYRS WLEDIC (Ambrosius the Overking). UTHERPENDRIC (Uther Pendragon). ARTHUR. CONSTANTINUS (Constantine of Dumnonia). AURELIUS (Aurelius Caninus/Cynan). IUOR (?). MAELGON GOYNED (Maelgwn of Gwynedd).
None of these before Uther are called Great Dragon (“Pendragon”). After Arthur, Maelgwn of Gwynedd is called by Gildas “Great Dragon of the Island”; perhaps in imitation of the hero.
Uther Pendragon is a mystery. He is mentioned in the early Welsh chronicles/poems; and is fleshed-out by Geoffrey of Monmouth as Arthur’s father. But Rodney Castleden argues persuasively in “King Arthur: the Truth Behind the Legend”, against the existence of Uther Pendragon; that the confusion stems from a misreading of the original source.
Uter means wonderful or terrible. If one takes the early list of Overkings (above); and spells “Uther” as Uter (an easy transcription error), then the list changes meaning. Instead, it may have originally read, UTHERPENDRIC ARTHUR: “The Wonderful/Terrible Great Dragon Arthur”! During his life, Arthur became known as “The Great Dragon”, or Pendragon. He was remembered by later Welsh chroniclers as “uter-pendragon”, the wonderful great dragon.
A question arises: why was Arthur called “Pendragon”; where previous British leaders
(such as Vortigern, Vortimer, or Ambrosius Aurelianus were not?
Arthur’s cavalry troopers, and perhaps Arthur himself, had Sarmatian or Alan ethnic roots. Both these peoples used the “Draco” windsock standard; as, for that matter, did many late Roman military units. In his campaigns, it is likely that Arthur used such a standard. Somehow, this became very closely associated with him in a personal way. He became the living embodiment of the dragon standard that followed him; bringing terror and death to the enemies of Britain!
RESTORING LOGRESS
Writing centuries later (but perhaps drawing on now-lost contemporary sources), Nennius states that Arthur fought no less than twelve battles; culminating in the final confrontation at Mount Badon.
“At that time the English increased their numbers and grew in Britain … Then it was that the magnanimous Arthur, with all the kings and military force of Britain, fought against the Saxons…
Then Arthur fought against them in those days, together with the kings of the British; but he was their warleader (or ‘dux bellorum’).
The first battle was at the mouth of the river called Glein.
The second, the third, the fourth and the fifth were on another river, called the Douglas, which is in the country of Lindsey.
The sixth battle was on the river called Bassas.
The seventh battle was in Celyddon Forest, that is, the Battle of Celyddon Coed.
The eighth battle was in Guinnion fort, and in it Arthur carried the image of the holy Mary, the everlasting Virgin, on his [shield,] and the heathen were put to flight on that day, and there was a great slaughter upon them, through the power of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The ninth battle was in the City of the Legion.
The tenth battle was on the bank of the river called Tribruit.
The eleventh battle was on the hill called Agned.
The final battle was on Badon Hill, in which 960 men fell in one day from a single charge of Arthur’s, and no one laid them low save he alone; and he was victorious in all his campaigns”
The likely location of these twelve battles gives some indication of the priority of threats as seen by Arthur and his advisors; and perhaps reflects a concerted effort to establish his popularity and authority over all of the Celtic kingdoms, from the Pictish Highlands to Armorica in Gaul.
Arthur’s twelve battles begin in the east midlands, in the district of the old Roman city of Lindum (Lincoln). Here Angle settlers, perhaps newly reinforced from abroad or from the incipient kingdom of East Anglia, threatened the British kingdom of Elmet. Geoffrey of Monmouth even gives the enemy leader a name: an Angle chieftain named Colgren.
Lindum (Lincoln) was a key fortress along the main north-south road. An Anglo-Saxon kingdom here would cut this road, partially separating the northern British kingdoms from the south. Nennius’ list supports that Arthur was aware of the grave threat posed by the Angles in this area; and took immediate steps to eradicate it.
Nennius states that the first battle took place “in the mouth of the river which is called Glein”.
The word Glein stems from the Celtic for “pure”, and likely in Nennius’ time many rivers carried this name. But a likely candidate for this battle’s location is the River Glen in Lincolnshire, near modern Spalding. This river empties into the Wash, and the area here borders Britain’s Fenlands. Historically a place of refuge for outlaws and rebels, the Fens were a natural place for Angle and Saxon pirates to hide in.
The River Glen near in Lincolnshire
Perhaps this first battle was against a force of Anglo-Saxon pirates newly landed at the river’s mouth. We can imagine a camp of Anglo-Saxon warriors, longships pulled up on the river’s muddy bank. Out of the morning mist, Arthur and his mounted “Cymbrogi” suddenly appear! Horns blowing, the armored lancers charge in amongst the startled and unsuspecting German warriors, swords rising and falling, lances stabbing! Carnage and slaughter follows, and few of the pirates survive to flee into the fens!
Riding rapidly north, Arthur’s men outstrip news of their coming, and the slaughter at the Glein. A day later, they appear at Lindum, where an Angle army is investing the British stronghold.
Roman Lindum (Lincoln), viewed from the southside of the Witham River (Dubglas?)
Nennius tells us that “The second, the third, the fourth and the fifth were on another river, called the Dubglas, which is in the region of Linnuis”. There is a River Douglas in modern Scotland, and some Arthur scholars place these battles there, in the far north. But in Brythonic/Gaelic, dubglas means “black water”, a name that could describe any number of rivers.
Linnuis, however, is easier to identify: it is very likely the area around Lindum (Lincoln), still called Lindsay today. If we accept that “Linnuis” is Lindsay, then where is the “Black Water” River?
Lincolnshire has many small muddy rivers, flowing off the peet moors of the Midlands into the Wash or directly into the North Sea. Some scholars have identified the Trent as the possible candidate; but the Trent is too far to the west of Lincoln: it is unlikely for the Angles to have advanced that far westward with untaken Lindum in their rear. The most likely candidate is another of the great rivers of Britain: the Witham. This flows in a great curve through Lindsay, past Lindum and then bending southeast, flowing eventually into the Wash. Its dark flow could easily be described as the “black water”.
Witham River (the “Black Water”?)
It is no coincidence that many of Arthur’s battles take place at rivers. Rivers are naturally defensible obstacles, often forming the borders between peoples. The recent Angle settlements in Lindsay were likely near the coast; separated from British at Lindum by the Witham/Dubglas. Many of the battles between the Britons and the Anglo-Saxons over the next century were fought at the fords of such boundary-rivers.
Another question arises. Arthur fights his next four battles along the “Dubglas”: Why so many?
It must be remembered that Nennius gives no time-frame for these next 4 battles. Were they fought in rapid succession; or over a period of years?
While we can never know for certain that the puzzle pieces, however well fitted, are correct; a working hypothesis presents itself:
Once the thriving capital of the Roman province of Flavia Caesariensis, by the first decade of the 6th century Lindum had long been on the frontier-zone, and was nearly
Ruin of old Roman gate at Lincoln/Lindum
deserted by its civilian populace. But its location was strategic, as two major Roman roads met here: Ermine Street, the main north-south artery in the east, connecting Londinium to Eburacum and beyond, to the foot of the Highlands; and the Fosse Way, the main cross-island highway connects Lindum and the kingdom of Elmet with Arthur’s own Dumnonia! It is very likely that the king of Elmet (who Castleden identifies as Gurgust Lethum, descendent of Cole Hen, born 490AD) maintained a beleaguered garrison here.
It was perhaps this garrison that was under siege, precipitating Arthur’s hasty move against the Angles in this region. The previous fight at the Glein was but an unplanned meeting engagement; as moving north up the Fosse Way, Arthur learns from local peasants about an Angle warband landing at the River’s mouth; reinforcements for the main Angle army at Lindum. These destroyed, Arthur now rides swiftly northward.
Surprise is the greatest of all assets in war. As the German Panzers showed during the blitzkrieg, and the Mongols demonstrated 700 years before them, rapidly moving forces can maneuver faster than a defenders ability to react; achieving strategic or tactical
Late Roman reenactors: Arthur’s Cymbrogi might have looked very much like this!
surprise. In the ages before modern communications, fast moving cavalry could strike where least expected, moving faster than word of their coming. In this fashion, Arthur and a small force of hard-hitting cavalry could seem to appear out of nowhere; strike a heavy blow, and then fade away, leaving terror and death in their wake.
It is only 40 some miles to Lindum from the Glein/Glen near Spalding; the following day Arthur arrives suddenly and unexpectedly in the rear of the Angle host besieging the fortress! Perhaps his arrival has been coordinated in advance with the local forces of King Gurgust. Or, alternatively, the young King of Elmet and his household troops are themselves beleaguered within Lindum’s Roman walls; and it is he that Arthur has come to rescue.
Close beneath the southern walls of Lindum, the Dubglas/Witham flows west to east, before turning southeast toward the Wash. It was in the meadows on the south bank of the river that Colgren’s army was camped. It is here that the second of Arthur’s twelve battles took place! Arriving late in the day, Arthur and his Cymbrogi break the Angle siege with a fierce cavalry charge, the far more numerous barbarians panicking at his sudden appearance and fleeing!
After feasting Arthur and his heroes within the fortress, the combined forces set off in pursuit of the fleeing enemy.
Ford of the Witham
The Angles have crossed the Dubglas/Witham, camping now on the east bank, opposite a ford. Here is fought the third of Nennius’ battles. The British attempt to force the crossing; the Angles, holding the opposite bank, resist with their customary ferocity.
A ford of the Witham River
This is an infantry fight: the ford restricts the frontage, and even the best cavalry cannot force its way frontally through a determined shieldwall. Arthur and his armored Cymbrogi sit their horses behind the British line, watching as Gurgust’s household troops and local militia battle in the ford. Though Nennius indicates that, as in all of these, Arthur was victorious, what is more likely is that the battle resulted in a stalemate; with both sides withdrawing to lick their wounds.
It is late in the season. The belligerents return to their homes for the winter.
THE LEGEND GROWS
Britain did not exist in a vacuum, and events in Britain reverberated across the Channel. Arthur’s “word fame” had spread beyond Britain’s shores.
Warriors seek three things in life: A cause to fight for; comrades to fight beside; and a leader to follow! We can only imagine that individual warriors, “free lances” in search of employment, flocked to Arthur’s standard; swelling the ranks of the Cymbrogi of his Comitatus. In 507, the fame of the “Dragon Lord” attracted a more substantial reinforcement.
That year, a decisive battle was fought in Gaul. Clovis, first King of the Merovingian dynasty of the Franks, defeated the Visigoths at Battle of Vouillé/Campus Vogladensis. The result was the end of Visigoth rule in Gaul, as the descendents of Alaric and Euric retreated for good back into their territories in Spain.
Gaul was on the way to becoming France.
John Morris suggests that as a result, a Visigoth noble named Theodoric, commanding the Visigoth naval squadron in the Bay of Biscay, arrived in Cornwall seeking sanctuary for himself and his forces.
The evidence supporting this theory is scanty. But it is an interesting one to contemplate.
We know a Theodoric ruled in Western Cornwall from about this time, into the middle of the century. During which time he repelled Irish incursions and settlements in Cornwall and south Wales. The theory that Theodoric was a Visigoth expatriate is mostly based upon his name; which is indeed Visigoth.
With the Franks driving the Visigoths from Gaul, could Theodoric have brought a Visigoth fleet and band of warriors to join the Pendragon of Britain?
Cornwall (Kernow) was ruled by several petty king; all subjects of the King of Dumnonia. It is highly unlikely that such a Visigoth settlement in Cornwall would have been tolerated had not the newcomers been accepted by Arthur; who while not yet accepted as High King of Britain, was acknowledged in his role as Dux Bellorum, the de facto warlord of Britain.
If we accept that Theodoric may have been a Visigoth émigré, and that he was welcomed by Arthur and the Dumnonii, then we are left with the picture of a powerful naval lieutenant based near “Lands End”, at the tip of Cornwall. He is charged by Arthur with patrolling the southwestern coast; both warding against and eradicating Irish settlements. This is the role Theodoric played faithfully for the next several decades. His loyalty and competency secured Britain and Arthur’s southwestern flank; allowing Arthur to concentrate on defeating his Germanic enemies, and recovering the Lost Lands of Logress.
The following spring, Arthur returns to Lindum, to continue the war against the Angles under their chieftain, Colgren. This time he brings a force of infantry to augment the Elmet levy; perhaps even some of Theodoric’s Visigoth warriors. Young King Gurgust of Elmet is waiting at Lindum with the levy of his kingdom, stiffened by his own household “Teulu” (household troops). The combined forces were likely not more than 3,000; and very likely closer to 1,000. Of these, the professional warriors of Arthur’s Cymbrogi numbered no more than 300; Gurgust’s Teulu likely another 120 men. If Theodosius’ came with some of his Visigoths, perhaps these numbered as many as 300 more (anymore would have been a threat to the British themselves). All or most of these professionals would have been cavalry. The rest, the levy militia of Elmet (perhaps including some of the town militia of Eburacum/York and Lindum/Lincoln) would have been infantry levies, armed with spear; and a small number of archers.
Once again, the armies engage at the River Dubglas (the “Black Water”, which we have tentatively identified as the Witham), in the fourth of Nennius’ Twelve Battles. We don’t know the outcome (Nennius states that Arthur was triumphant in them all; but if so they were indecisive victories); but a plausible scenario is this:
Colgren’s host (perhaps augmented by additional bands of Angles and Saxons as winter gave way to spring) would have mustered behind the Dubglas/Witham; prepared to oppose the Britons at the fords. With is cavalry advantage, Arthur would have had little trouble locating the enemy; the Anglo-Saxons, an infantry host, less so. On the day of
battle, Arthur drew up the British infantry (likely led by Gurgust) at a ford opposite the Angles. Pushing across, the Britons engage the Anglish shieldwall in close combat!
Meanwhile, Arthur leads a flying column of cavalry and his lightest infantry across the river at a higher crossing place. Lindum is on the left-bank; perhaps Arthur set out before the rest of the host, taking the circuitous route along the left-bank. At the height of the fighting, he appears behind and on the right flank of the fully-engaged Anglish! The Anglish are brave warriors, and fight stubbornly; but their flank crumbles under the sudden assault.
It is unlikely that the surprise was complete, and Colgren is able to withdraw the bulk of his forces to fight another day; perhaps his doomed right flank buys the rest time to get away.
But the Britons are across the river, and now advance down the river. We don’t know where the main stronghold of this early Angle settlement was. But if it was near the mouth of the Witham (a logical place for a pirate stronghold: near the sea) than it makes sense that still another battle was fought beside this river (the 5th of Nennius’ battles, and the final along the “Dubglas”). Pursuing the retreating Anglish toward their chief stronghold, the more mobile Britons catch Colgren’s host before it can reach safety; forcing them to battle again.
We know nothing of Colgren (there is no evidence that he even existed; he is a placeholder, invented perhaps by Geoffrey of Monmouth for lack of a historical identification for the Angle leader); but one didn’t become leader of a band of hardened Germanic warriors by any means except ability. The Germans followed proven leaders, men whose “word fame” was praised by bards and poets. We can assume that Colgren was no incompetent.
But having the cavalry advantage allowed Arthur to harry the Angle rearguard as they attempt to withdraw south to their stronghold. This forces the Angle carls at the end of the column to stop and form shieldburg. Colgren can abandon his rearguard to certain destruction, or stop and fight. A courageous warrior, he chooses battle!
The Anglish form their shieldburg in a loop of the river; both flanks securely resting on the bending river. Arthur hems them in with infantry, his cavalry waiting on either flank. The Britons harass the Anglish with arrows and javelins, then attack!
The Anglish shieldwall repels the British assault, the levies no match for these hardened Germanic warriors! Then, as the Britons disengage, Colgren’s warriors go over to the offensive! They pursue the British infantry, and tactical withdrawal threatens to become rout!
Hypothetical reconstruction of the Fourth Battle of Dubglas River (Nennius’ 5th Battle)
But as they rush past the safety of the river’s loops, the Anglish flanks are exposed. Horns blare, as Arthur orders both wings of heavy horse to charge! This is also the signal for the infantry to halt, turn about and reengage their pursuers!
Feigned flight, common tactic for both Alani and Sarmatian warriors, has drawn the Anglish into a trap! Both of their flanks are crushed back onto their center by Arthur’s armored lancers! The flanks crumble, the center soon follows, and the Angles break and flee for their lives!
In the ensuing pursuit, Arthur’s riders hunt-and-harry the fleeing Anglish, riding down the fugitives without mercy! Their blood lust is loosed, and British swords rise and fall like threshers at harvest! Few Angles survive to reach their stronghold; and those that do are too panicked to bar the gates against the close-pursuing Britons!
Colgren’s body is found the next day, drowned in the river attempting to escape. The Angles are broken utterly, the survivors surrendering at the discretion of the conquering Britons!
Arthur takes the best of the prisoners into his service; the Germanic warriors bending their knee, swearing an oath to Wotan as well as the Christian God to serve Arthur faithfully. (The practice of taking prisoners of war into military service within a successful general’s bodyguard was common in the 5th and 6th century. The concept of nations or national loyalties did not exist in this age of ever-changing alliances, shifting tribal confederations, and ad hoc armies of military adventurers. The warrior class from Persia to Scotland was often quite willing to accept service with whatever successful leader would employ them!)
The remaining Angle survivors are allowed to retain their farms as military settlers (Feoderatii), in fealty to Arthur’s ally, the King of Elmet. They will protect this section of coast from their pirate cousins!
Next: Nennius’ Twelve Battles Continued








Camelot, Arthur’s legendary stronghold, at South Cadbury Castle, in Somerset. Excavation (primarily by Leslie Alcock) has revealed that in the Arthurian period, South Cadbury was reoccupied and fortified. It may indeed have been a stronghold of a powerful south British warlord.










himself been placed on the throne by his father, Orestes, one of these Romanized German commanders. Odoacer killed Orestes, and siezed the Emperor in Ravenna.













the English Channel from Britain and made war against the (ficticious) Emperor Lucius Tiberius. This part of the Arthur mythos may have its roots in events that developed in Gaul, involving Ambrosius Aurelianus in his role as Riothamus of the Britons; in 470 AD.





