Aeddan Fradog

DSB 12(12) tells us Lluan ferch Brychan was the mother of Aeddan Fradog:

Gen.	DSB 12(12)	PB 3i		CB 15(12)		BGG G11
2						Gafran
1	Aeddan Fradog		Aeddan Fradog		Aidan Fradog	Aeddan Fradog
0	Lluan	Lluan	Gafran Fradog	Lluan	Gafran Fradog	Dyfnwal
-1	Brychan II	Brychan II				Cynfelyn
-2						Garmonion
-3						Dyfnwal Hen
-4						Ednyfed
-5						Macsen Wledig

The PB 3i gives the same information with the added detail that Lluan’s husband was Gafran. CB 15(12) reads:

“lluan mat Aidan Grutauc mat gafran vradavc”[1]

The second “mat” (mater) should probably have been “filius”. This indicates Gafran had the same epithet as his son.

Triad 29 mentions the War-Band of Gafran ab Aeddan as being one of the Three Faithful War-Bands. and BGG G11 provides his ancestry back to Macsen Wledig. Note, this Gafran is not Gafran Fradog, the husband of Lluan.

Some versions of triad 54 speak of a costly ravaging by Aeddan Fradog at the court of Rhydderch Hael of gen. 0. The reference to this incident occurring at Alcud suggests a confusion with Rhydderch Hen. The poem Peiryan Vaban (Commanding Youth) refers to antagonism between these two kings:

“o gyfrang ryderch ac aedan clotleu”
“From the encounter of Rhydderch and renowned Aeddan”

[1] Cy 19, 30
[2] Ancient Wales Studies > Lluan ferch Brychan

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Rhydderch Hael and Rhydderch Hen

There were two Rhydderchs that have been conflated. The first was Rhydderch Hael, i.e. Rhydderch the Generous of Gwynedd, who appears in BGG 8 while the second was Rhydderch Hen, i.e. Rhydderch the Old of Strathclyde, in HG 6.  ByS 18 indicates that Dyfnwal Hen, a great-grandfather, of Rhydderch Hael according to BGG 8, was a grandson of Macsen Wledig:

Gen.	ByS 18 seg.		BGG 8	Pen. 268
2	St. Lleuddad
1	Dingad	Tenoi
0	Nudd Hael	Lleuddun Luyddog	Rhydderch Hael
-1	Senyllt		Tudwal Tudclyd	Elufed
-2	Cedig		Cedig	Peredur
-3	Dyfnwal Hen		Dyfnwal Hen	Morhen?
-4	Ednyfed			Ednyfed
-5	Macsen Wledig			Macsen Wledig

Rhydderch Hael’s sword, Dyrnwyn meaning ‘White-hilt’, is the first listed of The Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain.[1] The reason he was called generous was because he would give his sword to anyone who asked for it. However, it was always returned when it was realised that if it was drawn by any well-born man it would burst into flame. The Chirk Codex of the Welsh Laws states that he was one of the kings involved in the failed attempt to avenge the death of Elidir Mwynfawr.

Note, ByS 18 mentions other sons of Dingad of gen. 1 apart from St. Lleuddad. They have not been shown in the above chart. Although his father-in-law, Lleuddun of gen. 1, ruled in Edinburgh, this is a southern pedigree as indicated by the fact that the Buchedd Llewddoc Sant says Dingad was king of Bryn Buga, i.e Usk. St. Lleuddad  succeeded Cadfan as abbot of Bardsey.

Dreon Lew was the son of Nudd Hael and is mentioned in triad 31 W :

“and the Retinue of Dreon the Brave at the Dyke of Ar(f)dery(dd)”

This allows us to give a floruit for him of 573, the date of the battle of Arderydd according to the AC. His father appears in triad 2:

“Nudd the Generous, son of Senyllt”

ByA 18 mentions brothers of Rhydderch Hael, including Morgan Mwynfawr, i.e. Morgan the Wealthy. Triad 20 calls him, together with Arthur, one of the Three Red Ravagers of Britain since wherever he went neither grass nor plants grew for a period. He is said to have owned the fourth of The Thirteen Treasures of Britain. It was a chariot which would rapidly take whoever was in it wherever they wanted.

Rhydderch Hael’s father was Tudwal Tudclyd. Tudwal means ‘leader of the people’ and Tudclyd ‘defender of the people’.[2] His wife, according to Pen. 268, was Elufed and it can be seen from the above chart that they were second cousins. The Whetstone of Tudwal is the eighth of The Thirteen Treasures of Britain. While it would sharpen a brave man’s weapon, it would blunt that of a coward.

The Stanzas of the Graves tell us that Rhydderch’s grave is at Abererch, which is in Llŷn. The Cyfoesi Myrddin a Gwenddydd states that he was followed by the king Morgan Mawr ap Sadyrnin who, in turn, was followed by Urien.

The reason why the two Rhydderchs were conflated is because their fathers shared the same name and they were both descendants of Dyfnwal Hen. However, by comparing the table above with that below it can be seen their genealogies differ.

Gen.	HG 6	HG 8	HG 9	HG 10 seg.
3				Morgan
2				Coleddog
1	Rhydderch Hen	Urien Rheged	Gwallog	Morgan Fwlch
0	Tudwal	Cynfarch Oer	Lleenog	Cyngar	Brân Hen
-1	Clinoch	Meirchion Gul	Maeswig Gloff		Dyfnwal Moelmud
-2	[Cynfelyn]	Gwrwst Ledlwm	[Mar]		Garbanion
-3	Dyfnwal Hen	[Ceneu]	Ceneu		[Ceneu]
-4		Coel Hen	Coel Hen		Coel Hen

Rhydderch was one of the kings who, according to HB 63, fought against king Hussa of Bernicia. The V. Merlini implies he fought in the battle of Arderydd. V. Kentigerni 45 indicates he died soon after the saint, probably in the year 614 and as predicted in the V. Columbae he did not die in battle.

[1] Bromwich, R., 2006, 259

[2] Bromwich, R., 2006, 508

 

The two Macsen Wledigs

The name Macsen Wledig has been applied to two distinct persons. The first individual appears in gen. -8 of HG 2b as Maxim gulecic, see Why Bartrum’s dating … . I believe this individual can be identified with the Roman emperor Constantius Chlorus as explained in the above link.

The opening lines of The Dream of Macsen Wledig from Pen. 4. (The National Library of Wales)

The Pen. 16 version of The Dream of Maxen Wledig only describes the story up to his stay in Britain. The version in Pen. 4 of the White Book of Rhydderch speaks about his return to Rome, but this continuation is actually referring to the second Macsen.

This is the Western Roman emperor Magnus Maximus born c. 335. He appears in gen. -5 as in the following fragment from JC 13.

Gen.	JC 13b
2	Cyndwr Fendigaid
1	Owain
0	Cyngar
-1	Protec
-2	Owain
-3	Miser
-4	Custennin
-5	Macsen Wledig
-6	Maximianus
-7	Constantinus Mawr
-8	Constantius	Elen

Cyndwr Fendigaid is St. Kentigern who was the son of Owain ap Cyngar and not Owain ab Urien Rheged. The table is in accord with the birth of Constantius Chlorus’s wife, Helena, between 248 and 250.[1]

[1] Harbus, A., 2002, 13.

Why Bartrum’s dating of the Demetian Arthur is wrong

To understand why there is a problem with the birthdate of Arthur ap Pedr given by Bartrum, i.e. 560, we need to look at a manuscript that mentions this individual. The names in the tables below are in the same order as they occur in HG 2a, namely progressing from the most recent to later individuals. My allocation of the generation numbers are in the first column and they are based on the principle that the generation number of an offspring should be one greater than that of the parent. The generation number in the fourth column are those given by Bartrum. The first table shows the first part of the Demetian pedigree. The obits shown in the 3rd column are those stated by Bartrum and originate from the Annales Cambriae.

Gen.	HG 2a	Obit acc. Bartrum	Gen. acc. Bartrum	Birthdate acc. Bartrum
13	Owain		18	900
12	Elen	929	18
11	Llywarch	904	17
10	Hyfaidd	893	16
9	Tangwystl		15?	790
8	Owain	811	14?
7	Maredudd	796	13
6	Tewdws		12	700
5	Rhain		11	675
4	Cadwgon		11	650
3	Cathen		10	625
2	Gwlyddien		9	600
1	Nowy		9	580
0	Arthur		8	560
-1	Pedr		7	535
-2	Cyngar		6	510

Using my generation numbers, regression analysis of the five obits in the above table give a generation step-size of 28 years. On the basis of this statistical technique and on the assumption that the average life expectancy was 65 years, it follows that an estimate of Arthur’s birthdate is 531, not 560.

Using a much larger database of obits the step-size is 32 years. Indeed, Bartrum states a male generation (the period between the birth of a father and that of his child) is about 33 years whereas a female generation (the period between the birth of a mother and that of her child) is about 20 years. The vast majority of generations in my database are male ones.

The larger database gives Arthur’s birth as occuring c. 487, this being the mid-value in the range for gen. 0. The Demetian Arthur’s birthdate is in the period that one would expect for the individual around whom the Arthurian cycle was built.

Using my generation numbering, Bartum’s estimates for the birthdates from Owain to Cyngar in the above table has an average step-size of 26 years, which is far too small. To achieve a more realistic step-size, he has given a number of parents and offsprings the same generation number, viz. Elen/Owain, Cadwgon/Rhain and Nowy/Gwlyddien. This results in a more satisfactory step-size of 33 years, but at the cost of artificially giving parents and offsprings the same generation number.

The reason why Bartrum’s analysis went astray may have been because he believed that HG 2 was a single pedigree list, whereas in reality it consists of three seperate segments. That the manuscript compilers did not always know when one list ended and the next one began can be seen in, for example, JC 20 10 to 11 where the ending of the first list is repeated in the start of the following one. In the second segment, shown below, he made use of two dateable events, namely the birth of Gwerthefyr and that of Macsen Wledig. In the Harleian document itself there names take the form Guortepir and Maxim gulecic respectively.

Gen.	HG 2b	Obit acc. Bartrum	Gen. acc. Bartrum	Birthdate acc. Bartrum
-1	Gwerthefyr		6	480
-2	Aergol Lawhir		5	460
-3	Tryffin		4	430
-4	Clodri		4?	440?
-5	Clydwyn		3	410
-6	Nyfed		2	380
-7	Annun Dyfed		2	355
-8	Macsen Wledig	388	1	330
-9	Prwtech
-10	Protector

Gildas writing in the 540s in the DE describes Gwerthefyr, whose name takes the form Vortipor, with the words

“… though thy head is now becoming grey … though the end of life is gradually drawing near …”.

So, Bartrum’s birthdate for him of 480 cannot be too wrong. He errs when he identifies the Macsen Wledig with the Roman emperor Magnus Maximus who died in 388. This forces him to use an average generational step-size for the second segment of 21 years, which is not credible. Again, he circumvents this problem by giving Clodri/Tryffin and Annun Dyfed/Nyfed the same generation number, resulting in a step-size of 30 years.

In this instance the name Macsen Wledig was a reference to the emperor Constantius Chlorus who died in 306, which is in line with him being in gen -8. His wife was Helena. This tallies with the first part of the Mabinogion tale entitled the Dream of Macsen Wledig  in which  Macsen came to Britain and married Elen Luyddog, the daughter of Eudaf.

It will be noted that there is an anomaly in that Bartrum’s tentative birthdate given to Clodri is 10 years after that of Tryffin who Bartrum believed was his nephew.

The third and last segment, HG 2c, is shown below. Note, the missing names that have been inserted, i.e. Custennin and Macsen Wledig, can be seen in JC 20 13b.

Gen.	HG 2c		JC 13b
2			Cyndeyrn Fendigaid
1			Owain
0	Eifudd		Cyngar
-1	Eiludd		Prwtech
-2	Stater		Owain
-3	Pincr misser		Miser
-4	[Custennin]		Custennin
-5	[Macsen Wledig]		Macsen Wledig
-6	Constans		Maximianus
-7	Constantinus magnus		Constantinus magnus
-8	Constantius	Elen Luyddog	Constantius	Elen

This segment confirms the identification of the Macsen who appears in gen -8 of HG 2b with Constantius Chlorus, as his wife St. Helena has been given the cognomen of Eudaf’s daughter, namely Luyddog. Note, the Macsen of gen. -5 in HG 2c is Magnus Maximus.