Post-Roman Celtic Kingdoms

Ebrauc (Eburacum)

Based on the Roman capital of the North, Ebrauc did not survive as a kingdom for long. Coel Hen was its first Post-Roman governor, and apparently came to be styled King of Northern Britain. At first, Ebrauc was most likely ruled in much the same way as it was ruled under direct Roman control; as a magistratum, a kind of governorship of the region, with (as has been quite reasonably suggested by the author Parke Godwin) the likely title of prince-magistrate, combining the old Roman world with the new, re-emerging Celtic one.

Archaeologically, how late the Roman way of life was pursued in York is unknown. The town and its community may well have survived after the final withdrawal of Roman troops and well into the fifth century. There were certainly Germanic settlements in East Yorkshire in about the middle of the fifth century and early Anglian cremation burials have been found on The Mount and at Heworth (on the outskirts of York) where the urns were among the earliest of their kind to be found in the country. The date is about a century too early to be the work of the Angles who were in charge of York, so it seems plausible to assume they were barbarian laeti, mercenaries employed by the British to fight against their northern enemies.

After 547, former Bernaccian Catraeth was claimed by the kingdom (later immortalised in the Mabinogion), and this name is occasionally applied to the kingdom itself.

Angles had settled in the nearby region of Deywr, part of Ebrauc's territory, probably being employed as laeti, and in the mid-sixth century they took over. Under their leadership, Deywr (Anglian Deira) rapidly absorbed Ebrauc, and the Angles claimed all of the territory east of the Pennines up to Bernicia's border. Nothing historically is known of the city of Eburacum in the fifth and sixth centuries. By the first decade of the seventh century, and perhaps earlier, it lay within but not at the heart of the kingdom of Deira.

(Coel Hen's ancestry supplied by Mick Baker.)

[

Aballac

Son of High King Beli Mawr.]

[

Eudelen

Son.]

[

Eudos

Son.]

[

Ebiud

Son.]

[

Outigirn

Son.]

[

Oudecant

Son.]

[

Ritigrn

Son.]

[

Iumetel

Son.]

[

Grat

Son.]

[

Vrban

Son.]

[

Telpuil

Son.]

[

Teuhant

Son.]

[

Tegfan Gloff

Son.]

?383 - c.420

Coel Hen, Dux Brittanorum

Son. Effectively High King after Magnus Maximus.

c.420

Bernaccia is passed to Coel's younger son.

c.420 - c.450

Ceneu (St) ap Coel

Second King of Northern Britain.

c.450

Ceneu's territory is divided between Rheged west of the Pennines and Ebrauc to the east, which continues the name of the Kingdom of Northern Britain.

c.450

Mor ap Ceneu

Third & last King of Northern Britain.

c.470

Upon Mor's death, the Kingdom of Northern Britain is divided between his sons, becoming The Kingdom of the Pennines, based on Dunoting and The Peak, and the Kingdom of Ebrauc. Around this time, the Goutodin also seem to become fully independent.

c.470

Einion ap Mor

First King of Ebrauc.

c.505

When Einion dies, son Eliffer gains the best territory around Ebrauc, but Caer-Guendoleu, in the north, passes to Ceidio ap Einion.

c.505 - 560

Eliffer Gosgorddfawr (of the Great Army)

Son.

547

Bernaccia falls to the Angles under Ida, and, whilst laying claim to Catraeth, Ebrauc suddenly finds itself with a Teutonic kingdom on its northern border.

559

The Angles in Deywr pronounce their kingdom of Deira, perhaps with help from their kinsmen in Bernicia, and Ebrauc faces a threat on two sides. Within a short space of time the Deirans probably secure the coastal  region.

560 - 580

Peredyr Arueu Dur (Steel Arms)

573

Peredyr fights against Caer-Guendoleu at Arfderydd in 573 ( Annles Cambriae).

- 580

Gwrgi ap Eliffer

Brother of Peredyr & joint ruler.

580

Gwrgant Gwron (the Hero)

Son of Peredyr. Last British claimant to the kingdom. Fled.

c.570 - 580

The Deirans continue to gain ground in the region. Although by now they seem to have already captured the coast, York is known to have fallen later, c.570-580, so it seems likely, given their dates of death (Annales Cambriae), that the sons of Eliffer had been fighting on from their capital until overrun. Peredyr's son, Gwrgant, is forced to flee the kingdom. North Rheged gains the territory of Catraeth.