A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



of the narratives to the political conditions of any special locality. The 

 memories of their struggles for independence have been handed down in 

 the legendary poetry of the race. At an early date the immortal name 

 of Arthur was known and his exploits were celebrated in this district. 

 It is needless to inquire whether or not he was a local personage. The 

 pertinacity of the tradition which has covered the modern county with 

 Arthurian sites 1 may not be set aside as altogether valueless. It is pos- 

 sible that we have in Arthur the eponymous hero who represents in 

 himself the vicissitudes of the British race, the ideal and never-to- 

 be-forgotten champion in whose deeds the struggles of the nation 

 for liberty and independence have been personified, an early type of all 

 that was high and noble which was to stir men's hearts for ages yet 

 to come. From another class of legend with more claim to be con- 

 sidered historical we derive a circumstantial laccount of the political 

 triumph of the Christian faith and the establishment of a British king- 

 dom of which our district formed a part. If the general features of the 

 narrative be genuine, the victory of Rederech over the forces of paganism 

 in the great battle of Ardderyd in 573 forms an important landmark in 

 local history. On one side were the Britons, who had remained steadfast 

 to the faith of their Christian teachers, and on the other were those who 

 had apostatized and wished to adhere to the old religion of their race. 

 The struggle ' to break the heathen and uphold the Christ ' was event- 

 ually successful. After the battle, the site of which has been identified 

 with Arthuret, a parish about eight miles to the north of Carlisle, it is 

 said that Rederech, the Christian leader, became king of the Britons 

 and consolidated the mixed tribes of the western coast into a kingdom 

 which stretched from the Clyde to the Mersey. The capital was fixed 

 at Alcluyd or Dumbarton, and the kingdom was called Strathclyde. 2 



Whatever value may be ascribed to these traditions it is quite cer- 

 tain that the kingdom of Strathclyde did not survive in its entirety for 

 many years, for we know that in the seventh century the district south 

 of the Solway was an integral portion of the English kingdom of North- 

 umbria. The district at that time had no distinctive name and perhaps 

 no separate political existence. All we know is that it was subject to 

 English 3 rule. But there is one circumstance from which, in the ab- 



1 The legend of King Arthur has been a fruitful subject of controversy which cannot be noticed 

 here. The Arthurian sites in Cumberland have been discussed by writers of ability like Dr. Skene (Celtic 

 Scotland, i. 1528). See also his Four Ancient Books, and his ' Notice of the site of the Battle of Arderyth ' 

 in Proceeding of the Soc. of Antiq. of Scotland (1867), vi. 95. Mr. Stuart Glennie has gone minutely into 

 the Cumberland section of Arthurian Scotland (Arthurian Localities, pp. 68-76). Apart from the 

 statements of writers like Gildas and Nennius, the earliest reference that we have found of Arthur's 

 connection with the district is contained in the confirmation charter of Henry II., dated about 1175, in 

 which some land in Carlisle is described as being ' circa Burum Arthuri in Kaerlelol iuxta mansionem 

 Canonicorum ' (Trans, of Cumb. and West. Arcbtetl. Soc. iii. 248, new ser.). Welsh traditions were very 

 prevalent among the antiquaries of Cumberland in the twelfth century. What is meant by the ' burum 

 Arthuri' may be considered a subject of debate. 



a The battle of Ardderyd, the centre of a group of Welsh traditions, has been fully described by 

 Dr. Skene in Celtic Scotland, \. 157-9, where he has collected the most valuable of the authorities. 



3 On the use of the word 'English' to designate the inhabitants of Britain before the Norman 

 Conquest as distinguished from ' Saxon ' or ' Anglo-Saxon,' the interesting and learned note of Mr. 

 Freeman should be consulted (Norman Conquest, i. 528-41). 



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