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Votadini
The modern regional name of Lothian has its base in Goutodin (or later,
Gododdin), which itself is a late British version of Votadini, the tribe
which settled that area (Gododdin =Goutodin =Votadini). To the north,
across the Firth of Forth, were the
Venicones, who perhaps
acted as an occasional buffer against the wilder
Caledonians
who lay beyond them.
The Firth of Forth was called Bodotria by the
Romans.
This was rather obviously linked to the name of the tribe that occupied its
southern shore. The 'b' could indicate that at the time at which the Romans
first entered the area, the Votodini name was pronounced with an initial 'v'
sound instead of a 'w' sound. Also in the north, Roman Vinnovium became
Binchester, another 'v' to 'b' mutation. It's rather harder to go from a 'w'
to a 'b', but quite easy to slide from a 'v' to a 'b'.
This region, between Hadrian's and the Antonine Walls, was under direct
Roman
military rule between AD 138-162, and after that was organised as a buffer
state, reaping many of the rewards of alliance with Rome, but not under its
rule - undoubtedly one of the 'four kingdoms' which formed between the two
Roman Walls.
(Additional information by Edward Dawson, and from The Oxford History of
England: Roman Britain, Peter Salway.)
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c.250 BC |
The
burial of an important local person takes place near Edinburgh, complete
with chariot. It is the first discovery of its kind, being found close to
Huly Hill, a Bronze Age burial cairn surrounded by three standing stones. |
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AD 80 - 82 |
The
Roman
Governor of
Britain leads two invading
columns into Lowland Scotland, with (probably) the Twentieth and Ninth Legions meeting
up at Inveresk (near Edinburgh). The force sets up permanent garrisons in its
wake. The following year the campaign continues into the territory of the
Selgovae and
Novantae tribes, and in AD
82 the
Damnonii are contained
along the western coast. |
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c.305 |
The Romanised Paternus Pasrut is, according to
tradition, a fairly high ranking Romano-British official or a frontier
chieftain of the Venicones
who is placed in command of Votadini troops in the Clackmannanshire region
of Caledonia,
north of the Firth of Forth. Perhaps this placement of Votadini troops forms
the grounds for the later establishment of Votadini overlordship of the
Manau Gododdin following the removal of
Roman
authority.
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5th century |
With
the fading of
Roman
central administration in Britain,
it seems that regional
Governors, or dux, are set up to manage the
protection of the island. The province of Britannia Secunda in the north is
placed under the authority of dux Brittanorum, Coel Hen at
Ebrauc. It is possibly this
arrangement which finally cuts the links between the southern Votadini and
those to the north of Hadrian's Wall. The southern region re-emerges as part
of the kingdom of Bernaccia
in the early fifth century. |
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Goutodin (Gododdin / Lothian)
Centered on its capital of Din Eidyn (later called Edinburgh by the
Angles), the kingdom could also call
upon Traprain Law (Haddington in Lothian) to act as a substitute capital (this perhaps
pre-dating Din Eidyn).
The border of Goutodin extended less far south than the former
Votadini lands, probably terminating
at Berwick, a scene of later conflict with the
Bernician Angles.
As a fully independent kingdom, the Goutodin were probably created out of Coel Hen's
'Kingdom of Northern Britain',
as there are no rulers listed until after his powerful governance. It was
his death which began the gradual division of the north, and the southern
Votadini territory of Bernaccia
became independent at this time. The northern Votadini territory had emerged
as Goutodin by this time, and it also quickly fragmented under pressure
from the later Bernician
Angles. Din Eidyn itself may have survived only as a shrunken kingdom for
a short time in the early seventh century. Alternatively, it seems possible
that the territory was initially part of
Alt Clut,
as some sources show its powerful first king, Coroticus, ruling the
territory.
Also of note was the area of Manau (Manaw). The Manau Gododdin were a subsidiary
of the main Gododdin people who lay just beyond the Antonine Wall, around the
Forth's headwaters and a natural citadel at Stirling. They probably formed part
of the Venicones tribe in
the first and second centuries. It is from here that Cunedda Wledig, founder of
Gwynedd, migrated. Bede mentions
Stirling as urbs Guidi, and this was adapted to provide the Firth of Forth with
its early Welsh name of merin
Iodeo, 'the sea of Iudeu'.
(Additional information from The Landscape of King Arthur,
Geoffrey Ashe.)
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c.390 |
Cunedda Wledig (the latter
word is later Welsh
for 'prince') and his branch of Romanised
Venicones are transferred from the Manau dependency of the Goutodin
kingdom, traditionally by Magnus Maximus. They are moved to the former
territory of the Deceangli
in western Wales to secure the region from
Irish
raiders, and it is here that they found the kingdom of
Gwynedd. |
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c.470 |
The Goutodin
seem to become fully independent around this time, possibly from the rule of
Coroticus of Alt
Clut (and that of his grandson). An alternative possibility is that
from the time of Coel Hen up until this point they have been governed from
Ebrauc.
The old ways are probably returning faster in the north
than in the south, in regions more often governed by generals than magistrates,
but the emerging kingdoms are probably still under the authority of men who are more
Roman
general than Celtic king. They are most likely regimented and
authoritarian, and the ruler of Ebrauc, capital of the north, is probably
recognised as being the first among equals. The Wall is still guarded,
although it is rarely needed as a boundary marker, given that the people of
Alt Clut and
Goutodin on the other side are now reliable allies. |
c.470 - c.490 |
Lot / Lludd / Lewdwn
/ Luddoc / Leudonus |
King of Gododdin.
First independent king? |
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King Lot
of the Host should not be confused with Llew ap Cynfarch, king of
Caer-Guendoleu.
He is able to trace his (fairly obscure) lineage back to
High King Caradog, king of the
Catuvellauni.
He rules the Goutodin from Traprain Law, its traditional capital. |
c.490 - c.510 |
Gawain
/ Gwalchmai / Gwalltafwyn |
Son (the Gawain of
the Green Knight story). |
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c.490 |
Gawain appears to rule Goutodin from a
distance, being found first in Rheged and
then in Wales (although his
appearance in the latter region may only be attributed to him by the bards who
bring the stories of the Men of the North with them to Mervyn Frach's new court at
Gwynedd in 825). He is also the
hero of the medieval tale Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. His apparent
absence either allows Bran Hen of
Bernaccia to take control,
or the care of the kingdom is passed to him by Gawain. |
c.510
- c.560 |
Bran
Hen (the Old) |
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c.500 - 540? |
Morgan Bulc accedes to the kingship of
Bernaccia, apparently
at young age, when his childless uncle, Bran Hen, dies (or perhaps hands the kingdom to
him from his own apparent base in Goutodin).
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547 |
To the south, the
British kingdom of
Bernaccia is seized by the
Angles
who have been serving as laeti and the ruling king, Morgan Bulc is
forced out. He takes refuge with the Goutodin, shifting his power base to
the immediate north of his own former kingdom,
and becomes its ruler after Gawain absents the kingdom. |
c.560 - al.590 |
Morcant / Morgan Bulc
(Thunderbolt) |
Last
British king of
Bernaccia. Mentioned in 579 & 586. |
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Coledauc / Clydog |
Son. Possibly confused with Cynan. |
590 |
Elmet and
Rheged
form a confederation of
British kings, primarily based and operating in the North. Morcant Bulc and Riderch Hael of
Alt Clut both join the
confederation in operations against the
Angles,
and are present at the siege of Ynys Metcaut (Lindisfarne) in this year. The
Bernicians are almost driven
out of Britain but the confederation falls apart when Morcant has Urien
Rheged assassinated, fearing his great power should the Britons win the war
against the invaders. His act fatally weakens the British cause in the North.
Following the defeat and the disappearance of Morcant (he is not mentioned
again, even as a ruler of Goutodin, so it is possible that he is killed
either by Rheged or by the Bernicians. The final two British kings of the
Goutodin appear to rule simultaneously, one claiming Lothian and the other
Din Eidyn. As the latter may have been the capital of Lothian, is Mynyddog,
with all his wealth, the overlord of the entire region, or has it been
divided equally between the two men, perhaps east and west Lothian? |
fl c.597 |
Cynan |
King of Lothian. Fought
Bernician
Angles at Catreath. |
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Morcant |
Son of Coledauc. |
fl c.597 |
Mynyddog Mwynfawr (the Wealthy) |
King of Din Eidyn. Fought
Bernician
Angles at Catreath. |
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Gwawrddur |
Welsh form of
Arthur, one of many 6th century princes named so. |
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c.597 |
The Gododdin is a long series of elegies composed
from the early seventh century onwards, principally by Aneirin, son of Dunaut
of Dunoting. It commemorates
a force of Britons
who assemble near Edinburgh at this time in preparation for facing their
powerful foe. It includes not only the still-wealthy and aggressively
powerful Goutodin themselves, but warriors
from all over the country, including 'three chiefs of Novant', clearly the
nearby Novantae
in post-Roman form. This force marches south to fight the
Angles
at Catreath (generally accepted as being modern Catterick, approximately
eighty kilometres north of
Ebrauc). It seems
strange that they should march past Bamburgh on their way, the capital of
the early Bernician kingdom,
but perhaps not if they are making an attempt to reclaim the lost capital of
the North, Ebrauc.
The battle seems to take place during an attack against the
Roman
fort near the strategic road junction now called Scotch Corner, by the south
bank of the Swale at Catterick Bridge. Gwawrddur is praised for 'glutting
black ravens on the wall of the fort, though he was not Arthur' (a term used
to denote great slaughter of the enemy, but even so this warrior is still
not a match for Britain's heroic battle leader of the previous century).
Ultimately, the battle is a disaster for the Britons. The flower of the Northern
British warrior class is decimated by the superior numbers of the
Bernicians. Goutodin, as well
as the other kingdoms of the north, probably including
Elmet, are all fatally weakened
by the defeat. |
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638 |
The events of around 597,
as chronicled in the Gododdin, sound the death knell for the kingdom.
Fatally weakened by this, and following the battle of
Glenn Muiresan and the besieging of Din Eidyn, it apparently falls, overrun by
Bernicia. The
Northumbrians
rule it directly until 671, when a sub-kingdom, Dunbar,
is formed. |
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Dunbar
This was a short-lived
Northumbrian
sub-kingdom formed in the territories of the former
Lothian
kingdom after the reign of Oswiu. In Votadini-British, the name Dunbar
translates roughly as fort on the height. It was probably part of the
Northumbrian effort to conquer and colonise southern
Pictland, much of which
they held for thirty years from about 655. It eventually came to nothing,
probably weakened by the deaths of its successive rulers at the hands of
the Picts. |
671 - 685 |
Beornheth |
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685 |
Attempting to consolidate thirty years of occupation in southern Pictland,
Ecgfrith of
Northumbria leads a huge army against the
Picts at the Battle
of Nechtansmere, probably including forces from Dunbar amongst his army.
The Picts defeat them and massacre the entire army including Ecgfrith,
and proceed to clear Pictland of the remaining Northumbrians who have
settled there, killing or enslaving them. |
685 - 698 |
Beorhtred |
Killed
by Brude of Pictland? |
698 - 711 |
Beorhtfrith |
Killed
at Manaw by the Picts? |
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711 |
Nechtan of the
Picts tries
to befriend the Northumbrians. They send a war party under the leadership of Beorhtfrith, King Osred's chief ealdorman
and a battle is fought on the Moor of Mannand (Manaw, near the Firth of Forth). The battle
results in heavy losses on both sides, and no recorded victory. |
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711 - 875 |
Dunbar may survive past
this date, but eventually it loses its semi-independence and is subsumed within Northumbria. |
|
875 - 954 |
Northumbria is
overrun by the Scandinavian kingdom of
York. |
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954 - c.975 |
England
is united under one Anglo-Saxon king, and the region is governed by an English lord. |
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c.975 - 1296 |
The Goutodin territories become part
of the Scottish crown. |
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