Post-Roman Celtic Kingdoms

Goutodin (Votadini / 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 later 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).

The border of Goutodin extended less far south than the Votadini lands, probably terminating at Berwick, a scene of later conflict with the Bernician Angles. 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.

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 rule. It was his death which began the gradual division of the north, and the Southern Goutodin territory of Bernaccia became independent at this time. Goutodin 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.

Also of note was the area of Manaw (Manau). The Manaw 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. It is from here that Cunedda Wledig, founder of Gwynedd, migrated (Cunedda's pedigree is shown in the Gwynedd list). 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'.

c.250 BC

The burial of an important local person takes place near Edinburgh, complete with chariot.

AD 80 - 81

The Roman governor of Britannia 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 Damnonii and Selgovae Britons and the Novantae Picts.

c.390 - c.425

Cunedda Wledig

Manau Goutodin. Moved into Wales to found Gwynedd.

c.420

Typaun ap Cunedda

Manau Goutodin. Eldest son.

c.470

The Goutodin seem to become fully independent around this time. From the time of Coel Hen up to this point they were probably governed from Ebrauc.

c.470 - c.490

Lot (Lludd/Lewdwn) Luddoc (of the Host)

King of Gododdin.

Lot should not be confused with Llew ap Cynfarch, king of Caer Guendoleu. He could trace his (fairly obscure) lineage back to Caradog, king of the Catuvellauni, and High King. He ruled from Traprain Law. His son appears to have ruled Goutodin from a distance, being found first in Rheged and then in Wales (although the latter may have only been attributed to Wales by the bards who brought the stories with them to Mervyn Frach's new court at Gwynedd in 825).

c.510 - c.560

Gawain (Gwalchmai) Gwalltafwyn

Son (the Gawain of the Green Knight story).

c.560 - al.590

Morcant (Morgan Bulc)

Last British king of Bernaccia. Mentioned in 579 & 586.

Coledauc

Son of Morcant.

Morcant

Son of Coledauc.

c.597

Cynan

King of Lothian. Fought Bernician Angles at Catreath.

c.597

Mynyddog Mwynfawr (the Wealthy)

King of Din Eidyn. Fought Bernician Angles at Catreath.

c.597

The Battle of Catreath is a disaster for the Britons. The flower of the Northern British warrior class is decimated by the superior numbers of the Bernician Angles. Goutodin, as well as the other kingdoms of the North, probably including Elmet, are all fatally weakened by the defeat.

638

The events of around 597, as chronicled in The Gododdin poem, 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.

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. Probably part of the Northumbrian effort to conquer and colonise southern Pictland, it eventually came to nothing, probably weakened by the deaths of its successive rulers at the hands of the Picts.

671 - 685

Beornheth

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. The Picts defeat them and massacre the entire army including Ecgfrith, and proceeds to clear Pictland of the remaining Northumbrians who had settled there, killing or enslaving them.

685 - 698

Beorhtred

Killed by Brude of Pictland?

698 - 711

Beorhtfrith

Killed at Manaw by the Picts?

711

Nechtan of the Picts tries to befriend the Northumbrian Angles. 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.

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.

954 - c.975

England is united under one Anglo-Saxon king, and the region is governed by an English lord.

c.975 - 1296

The Goutodin territories become part of the Scottish crown.