Celtic Kingdoms of the British Isles

The Peak (South Pennines) (Romano-Britons)

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The capital of the north of Roman Britain was Eboracum (modern York), former territory of the Brigantes. From AD 197 it was the capital of the province of Britannia Inferior but, in the early fourth century, this was renamed Britannia Secunda and was reduced in size, roughly from the Humber to Hadrian's Wall. This created the concept of a 'Kingdom of Northern Britain' which would be preserved in oral and written traditions in Wales (see feature link for more).

It is this late Roman province which Coel Hen is traditionally assumed to have inherited at the end of the fourth century AD. If that tradition has any basis in fact then Coel Hen was effectively the first post-Roman Governor of the north. According to the sources, out of this was formed the kingdom of 'The Pennines', upon the death of Coel's grandson, Mor ap Ceneu.

Mor's second son was Arthuis, inheritor of 'The Pennines'. Following the abdication of his brother and successor, Pabo Post Prydein, the kingdom was divided into The Peak (the southern section) and Dunoting (the northern section).

Given the rough regnal lengths of both of Pabo's sons, Sawyl Penuchel and Dunaut, they must both be infants at the time, and their remains some question in regard to who actually commanded during this period.

As a name, 'The Peak' is not necessarily the one which was used by the Britons who lived there, but it was clearly a name which remained in use to describe the region, or some aspect of it. The later Mercians who integrated into it from the south called themselves the Pecset ('Peak settlers', with the suffix '-set' evolving into 'settlers'). They are more normally known as Pec Saetan, Pecsaetan, Pecsætan, or Pecsætna (the latter may be more in favour with twenty-first century scholars).

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(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Edward Dawson, from History of the Kings of Britain, Geoffrey of Monmouth, from the Annales Cambriae, James Ingram (taken from the Harleian manuscript, the earliest surviving version, London, Everyman Press, 1912), from The Oxford History of England: The English Settlements, J N L Meyers, from the Historia Brittonum (The History of the Britons), Nennius (J A Giles, Ed & Trans, 1841, published as part of Six Old English Chronicles (Henry G Bohn, London, 1848)), from The Oxford History of England: Anglo-Saxon England, Sir Frank Stenton, from The Anglo-Saxon Age c.400-1042, D J V Fisher, from A History of the English Church and People, The Venerable Bede (Leo Sherley-Price translation - revised by R E Latham), and from The Ethnology of Germany Part 3: The Migration of the Saxons, Henry H Howorth (Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol 7, 1878).)

c.525 - c.590

Son of Pabo of the Pennines? 'King of the Peak' (S Pennines).

547

The core of Bernaccia falls to the Angles under their leader, Ida. Whilst laying claim to Catreath as an outlying and unconquered section of Bernaccia, Ebrauc suddenly finds itself with a Germanic kingdom on its northern border. It is the first such breach in the defences of the north, despite over a century of such chaos in the south of Britain. Suddenly the defensive strength of the 'Men of the North' looks shaky.

At the start of this period, the Angle and Saxon kingdoms on the east and south coasts were firmly established. Many of the rapidly-formed Romano-British territories in those areas had been swept away in the late fifth century (click or tap on map to view full sized)

559

The Angles in Deywr pronounce their kingdom of Deira, perhaps with help from their kinsmen in Bernicia, and Ebrauc suddenly faces a threat on two sides. Within a short space of time the Deirans probably secure the coastal region in which they have been settled for up to a hundred and twenty years.

c.570 - 580

The Deirans continue to gain ground in the region. Although they seem already to have captured the coast by about 570, the city of Ebrauc (York) is known to fall later, between about 570-580. Therefore it seems likely, given their dates of death in the Annales Cambriae (see feature link), that the sons of Eliffer fight on from their capital until overrun.

Peredyr's son, Gwrgant, is forced to flee the kingdom, and at least two and-a-half centuries of Christian worship in one of the key bishoprics of the British Church is also ended. North Rheged gains the territory of Catreath, while the loss of Ebrauc to the Deirans leaves Elmet's long north-eastern border exposed, and also exposes Dunoting.

fl c.600

Son. His mother was the dau of the king of Ulster. Died 626.

St Madoc is educated at the court of his maternal grandfather, King Muiredach of Ulster (507-534). It is there that he becomes interested in Christianity, and he later studies under St David (Dewi Sant) at Glyn Rhosyn. After a spell as abbot of Glyn Rhosyn, he returns to Ireland to found several monasteries, including Clonmore, Drumlane, and Ferns.

The ruins of St Madoc's Clonmore Abbey survive as one of County Carlow's most important early Christian sites, as do many of the headstones in the graveyard

Brother.

Brother.

Catguallaunliu is something of a mystery. His name is a later form of Cassivellaunus or Catuvellanus (high king of the pre-Roman Britons). The name form is also closely related to 'Cadwalader' and 'Cadwalla', both also late British forms. The names have the same first two elements, but the 'liu' ending may be down to a copyist's error.

c.590

Flush with recent successes, the Bernician Angles successfully destroy the kingdom of 'The Peak' around this time, during a general expansion which also sees the fall of Dunoting. Sawyl is forced to flee to Wales.

There is a story in the Life of St Cadoc which places Sawyl Penuchel at Allt Cunedda near Kidwelly in South Wales. This places his exiled court in Dyfed, but the name of the location links it to Cunedda of Venedotia, suggesting that his own fairly recent campaigns to clear Wales of Irish raiders managed to extend much farther south than is otherwise known.

St Cadoc's Church is set in the village of Llancafarn in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales, now famous thanks to a 2007 discovery of medieval religious illustrations beneath centuries of lime wash and paint, with these including 'St George and the Dragon', the 'Seven Deadly Sins', the 'Seven Virtues' and others, and with restoration work ongoing

The story about Sawyl in Wales has him and his warband stealing food from Llancarfan Abbey (hard times, clearly, for this dispossessed king). St Cadoc follows them and finds them sleeping under a tree. He cuts off their hair and flees to a bog. When Sawyl and his men follow the bog claims them.

It is unclear whether this is the same Sawyl, but the approximate dates for the saint coincide with those for Sawyl of 'The Peak'. Sawyl's body is recovered and buried in a nearby mound called 'Banc Benuchel'.

Following Bernician conquest of the Pennines, their authority is seemingly not stamped on the southern part of the region. Angles move into the south Pennines from the Midlands, becoming the Pecset (or Pecsætna - Peak settlers - see feature link).

These migrant groups are probably already a client unit of the swiftly growing kingdom of the Iclinga Mercians, and are mentioned in the 'Tribal Hidage' document of the seventh century (see feature link).

The 'Tribal Hidage' is almost certainly Mercian, although some still argue for a Northumbrian origin, but the British Library version shown here, Harley 3271, is an eleventh century miscellany which includes, amongst others, the Grammar of Ælfric, abbot of Eynsham

Evidence exists of recurring famine and virulent bubonic plague across Europe in the second half of the sixth century. It is possible, therefore, that the Pecset move into a territory which is much reduced in terms of population.

The low incidence of Celtic place names may provide some support for this as these names usually have a higher survival rate from British territory which is conquered in the late sixth century onwards.