Peredur (Percival)
One of the difficulties in any attempt to make sense of traditional Dark Age History is that many writers have interpreted single events and/or personalities in isolation. The story of Peredur is no exception!
Ignoring the distortions of fragmented interpretations this study has to fit Peredur and his brother Cwrgi into the happenings of the period such that any attributed dates in other records will be converted to the Anno Domini system of today.
To that end we have to pick up the story from the period of their father Eliffer, leader of Ebrauc the territory that in today's terms would be Wroxeter and its environs. Eliffer Gosgorddfawr, or 'Efrog of the large retinue' had that territory in the middle of lands that were being encroached on all sides by the Angles who were expanding their territory of Bernicia.
That territory, at that date c AD 520, then stretched from today's Fflintshire across to today's Shrewsbury. Above that Bernicia was Deira, another Angle held territory that extended from the Wirral to parts of today's Cheshire. The Angles, in allegiance with their Goedel and Pict friends, controlled virtually all the rural areas plus some of the smaller communities, but up until then most of the major ex-Roman towns were still in the hands of the Romano-Britons linked to the Romano-Britons in that which is the Wales of today.
Ebrauc was one such Briton-Romanic strongholds all of which up until AD 497 had been under the firm control of Ambrosius, Arthur's predecessor. In AD 497 Ludlow fell to the Angles, two years earlier Cerdic, an Angle X Goedel, and his son Cynric, entered history and their activities centred on this same ex-Roman province. Tradition has placed the father and son as Saxons in the West Country. For the purposes of this study the Saxon tag attached to Cerdic and Cynric can be ignored, it is only brought to light here in order to make that the starting date of our investigation into Peredur and Cwrgi.
AD 495 Ossa, the former Angle leader over both Bernicia and Deira left North Cambria to take control, under his aged uncle Oesc, leader of all the Angles in 'Angeln' that was the Angle name for all territories in the Welsh Borderlands held by the Angles. Oesc had overall control but was no longer fit enough to undertake his duties. Ossa came south to Keynt (west Gloucestershire) to take on the mantle but he brought with him Cerdic and Cynric who undertook unofficial actions, whilst Ossa fulfilled his official duties as second in charge to Oesc.
AD 497 Ambrosius is killed and Ludlow lost to Angles. Ambrosius bequeathes his realm of Cambria to the young Arthur with Uthyr his brother acting as regent to Arthur in North Cambria, and Gereint his nephew acting as regent in South Cambria.
AD 508 Gereint is killed by Cerdic at Chepstow so Arthur has to take command of the south.
AD 509 Cerdic attacks Arthur but is repelled.
AD 512 Oesc dies Ossa is now in full control of all the Angles. Uthyr is killed by Bernician Angles at Uffington near Wroxeter. Arthur now has to take full control of the whole of Cambria, but is not accepted as over-leader of Northwest Cambria that was under the local control of Maelgwn. Maelgwn considered that he was higher up the pecking order than was Arthur and should have been overall leader after the death of Uthyr. Arthur acquiesced to Maelgwn's challenge of the Northwest not coming under Arthur's over-rule as there were bigger issues at stake.
Circa AD 520 Eliffer, as leader of Ebrauc (Wroxeter), was attacked and killed by Bernician Angles.
AD 520 plus Eliffer's widow, his son Peredur and his young child Cwrgi, leave the Wroxeter area in search of a quiet haven of peace away from the problems in and around Bernicia.
The chosen site was at Carreg Cennen, near today's Ammanford, that Chretien des Troyes in his Romantic stories, named Camelot. Peredur and Cwrgi grew up in that region. Circa AD 530 Peredur undertook his 'Grail Quest' according to the Romantic stories.
AD 545 Rhydderch of Strathclwyd (Vale of Clwyd), along with all other leaders, had to contend with incursions by Angles across North Cambria. Rhydderch; additionally had the problem of his wife's (Gwendydd) family territory in the Tywi Valley of Demetea (Carms). Gwenddoleu, a descendant of Vortigern of Powys, had usurped the Tywi Valley after the death of Daldaf ,uncle to Gwendydd and her older brother Merlin. Merlin was Daldaf's next of kin but in his dotage had declined to rule Demetea. Gwenddoleu had usurped the territory, apparently with Merlin's acquiescence, but not with Gwenddoleu's approval.
There could of course have been another reason why Rhydderch needed to retain that territory as a safe place to go to if the turmoil in North Cambria became too great to handle, as proved to be the case in the following year. To secure that Demetea territory Rhydderch enlisted the help of Peredur and Cwrgi and the men they had at their command in Gwrhir; part of today's West Wales.
The ensuing battle has been called the Battle of Arfderydd meaning the battle of the Defence of the 'Oaks' or the Battle of the Defence of the Druids. After the battle Peredur and Cwrgi remain in control of Demetea until the return of Rhydderch.
AD 546 Rhydderch, in his North Cambrian Strathclwyd, joined with other local neighbours, his brother Morcant, as leader of the coastal territory, Urien who ruled Rhos, and Gualauc who ruled the territory adjoining the wall (west of Severus Wall as far south as to where the River Dee turns westward).
Those leaders combined to repel the advances of the Bernician Angles intent on taking over their lands. Bernicia was ruled by King Ida but the battle was commanded by his acclaimed second eldest son, Theodric. There was apparently no decisive outcome to that battle. Urien returned to his southern territory of Gwrhir but was murdered there by an assassin in the pay of Morcant , who, according to tradition, was jealous of Urien's prowess in the recent battle.
There is though possibly another reason why Morcant envied Urien, that option was that Morcant could have desired to annex Urien's 'Rhos' to his own territory along the coast as far as his Elmet on the west bank of the mouth of the River Clwyd.
Post AD 546 Rhydderch takes over his Demetea territory and adjoins Urien's Gwrhir to it until one of Urien's sons would return to inherit the territory. Whilst Rhydderch settled into Demetea there is the likelihood that Peredur and Cwrgi ruled over Gwrhir in Rhydderch's name in order to await the return of one of Urien's sons.
AD 550 Owein, son of Urien, kills Theodric son of King Ida.
AD 552 Peredur and Cwrgi attempt to regain their inheritance to the territory of Ebrauc but are killed in the attempt.
AD 565 Pasgen, Urien's son, returns to rule Gwrhir. His brother Rhun becomes a priest.
AD 567 The territory of Dunaud of Northwest Cambria was attacked by the Bernician Angles and he was killed.
AD 570 Battle of Cattraeth.
It was that sequence of events that placed Peredur and Cwrgi in the correct pages of history, and more to the point to their correct geographic location.
Ignoring the distortions of fragmented interpretations this study has to fit Peredur and his brother Cwrgi into the happenings of the period such that any attributed dates in other records will be converted to the Anno Domini system of today.
To that end we have to pick up the story from the period of their father Eliffer, leader of Ebrauc the territory that in today's terms would be Wroxeter and its environs. Eliffer Gosgorddfawr, or 'Efrog of the large retinue' had that territory in the middle of lands that were being encroached on all sides by the Angles who were expanding their territory of Bernicia.
That territory, at that date c AD 520, then stretched from today's Fflintshire across to today's Shrewsbury. Above that Bernicia was Deira, another Angle held territory that extended from the Wirral to parts of today's Cheshire. The Angles, in allegiance with their Goedel and Pict friends, controlled virtually all the rural areas plus some of the smaller communities, but up until then most of the major ex-Roman towns were still in the hands of the Romano-Britons linked to the Romano-Britons in that which is the Wales of today.
Ebrauc was one such Briton-Romanic strongholds all of which up until AD 497 had been under the firm control of Ambrosius, Arthur's predecessor. In AD 497 Ludlow fell to the Angles, two years earlier Cerdic, an Angle X Goedel, and his son Cynric, entered history and their activities centred on this same ex-Roman province. Tradition has placed the father and son as Saxons in the West Country. For the purposes of this study the Saxon tag attached to Cerdic and Cynric can be ignored, it is only brought to light here in order to make that the starting date of our investigation into Peredur and Cwrgi.
AD 495 Ossa, the former Angle leader over both Bernicia and Deira left North Cambria to take control, under his aged uncle Oesc, leader of all the Angles in 'Angeln' that was the Angle name for all territories in the Welsh Borderlands held by the Angles. Oesc had overall control but was no longer fit enough to undertake his duties. Ossa came south to Keynt (west Gloucestershire) to take on the mantle but he brought with him Cerdic and Cynric who undertook unofficial actions, whilst Ossa fulfilled his official duties as second in charge to Oesc.
AD 497 Ambrosius is killed and Ludlow lost to Angles. Ambrosius bequeathes his realm of Cambria to the young Arthur with Uthyr his brother acting as regent to Arthur in North Cambria, and Gereint his nephew acting as regent in South Cambria.
AD 508 Gereint is killed by Cerdic at Chepstow so Arthur has to take command of the south.
AD 509 Cerdic attacks Arthur but is repelled.
AD 512 Oesc dies Ossa is now in full control of all the Angles. Uthyr is killed by Bernician Angles at Uffington near Wroxeter. Arthur now has to take full control of the whole of Cambria, but is not accepted as over-leader of Northwest Cambria that was under the local control of Maelgwn. Maelgwn considered that he was higher up the pecking order than was Arthur and should have been overall leader after the death of Uthyr. Arthur acquiesced to Maelgwn's challenge of the Northwest not coming under Arthur's over-rule as there were bigger issues at stake.
Circa AD 520 Eliffer, as leader of Ebrauc (Wroxeter), was attacked and killed by Bernician Angles.
AD 520 plus Eliffer's widow, his son Peredur and his young child Cwrgi, leave the Wroxeter area in search of a quiet haven of peace away from the problems in and around Bernicia.
The chosen site was at Carreg Cennen, near today's Ammanford, that Chretien des Troyes in his Romantic stories, named Camelot. Peredur and Cwrgi grew up in that region. Circa AD 530 Peredur undertook his 'Grail Quest' according to the Romantic stories.
AD 545 Rhydderch of Strathclwyd (Vale of Clwyd), along with all other leaders, had to contend with incursions by Angles across North Cambria. Rhydderch; additionally had the problem of his wife's (Gwendydd) family territory in the Tywi Valley of Demetea (Carms). Gwenddoleu, a descendant of Vortigern of Powys, had usurped the Tywi Valley after the death of Daldaf ,uncle to Gwendydd and her older brother Merlin. Merlin was Daldaf's next of kin but in his dotage had declined to rule Demetea. Gwenddoleu had usurped the territory, apparently with Merlin's acquiescence, but not with Gwenddoleu's approval.
There could of course have been another reason why Rhydderch needed to retain that territory as a safe place to go to if the turmoil in North Cambria became too great to handle, as proved to be the case in the following year. To secure that Demetea territory Rhydderch enlisted the help of Peredur and Cwrgi and the men they had at their command in Gwrhir; part of today's West Wales.
The ensuing battle has been called the Battle of Arfderydd meaning the battle of the Defence of the 'Oaks' or the Battle of the Defence of the Druids. After the battle Peredur and Cwrgi remain in control of Demetea until the return of Rhydderch.
AD 546 Rhydderch, in his North Cambrian Strathclwyd, joined with other local neighbours, his brother Morcant, as leader of the coastal territory, Urien who ruled Rhos, and Gualauc who ruled the territory adjoining the wall (west of Severus Wall as far south as to where the River Dee turns westward).
Those leaders combined to repel the advances of the Bernician Angles intent on taking over their lands. Bernicia was ruled by King Ida but the battle was commanded by his acclaimed second eldest son, Theodric. There was apparently no decisive outcome to that battle. Urien returned to his southern territory of Gwrhir but was murdered there by an assassin in the pay of Morcant , who, according to tradition, was jealous of Urien's prowess in the recent battle.
There is though possibly another reason why Morcant envied Urien, that option was that Morcant could have desired to annex Urien's 'Rhos' to his own territory along the coast as far as his Elmet on the west bank of the mouth of the River Clwyd.
Post AD 546 Rhydderch takes over his Demetea territory and adjoins Urien's Gwrhir to it until one of Urien's sons would return to inherit the territory. Whilst Rhydderch settled into Demetea there is the likelihood that Peredur and Cwrgi ruled over Gwrhir in Rhydderch's name in order to await the return of one of Urien's sons.
AD 550 Owein, son of Urien, kills Theodric son of King Ida.
AD 552 Peredur and Cwrgi attempt to regain their inheritance to the territory of Ebrauc but are killed in the attempt.
AD 565 Pasgen, Urien's son, returns to rule Gwrhir. His brother Rhun becomes a priest.
AD 567 The territory of Dunaud of Northwest Cambria was attacked by the Bernician Angles and he was killed.
AD 570 Battle of Cattraeth.
It was that sequence of events that placed Peredur and Cwrgi in the correct pages of history, and more to the point to their correct geographic location.
