The Celtic Horse Goddesses ONLINE CLASS starts on 30th October, 2024. Learn about Rhiannon, Macha, Epona and so much more. PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN More info here: tinyurl.com/TCHG24 Information about classes always available at tinyurl.com/GDclasses
Thanks Kris. Bless Wales. May Her people become safer and faithful. Sorrows for those who die on roads,etc. Kind regards Niall O'Connell Dundalk Ireland. Eire.🇨🇮🙏🙋🥰☃️
The end lines of this video are poetically profound. Urien is a man of the North and that's how I will remember him and so he should be remembered by its people 💪 Brilliant video
@@KrisHughes there’s no such thing as Cumbria. You you want to know your history, you should start there. Cumbria is the name of a council that was created in 1974 and is being abolished in 2023. It’s actually Cumberland, Westmorland, North Lancashire and parts Yorkshire.
I love things like this, as I am ancestrally Cumbrian, and I wasn't taught a thing about this as a child. It's part of the hidden history of the British Isles, and you could be forgiven for thinking that it's been deliberately buried.
I can't even state how much I appreciate you putting all the time and effort that you have into making this and keeping important histories alive. Fine, fine work.
After watching innumerable videos on the topic an reading talesin this video is the first time i feel i understand the broader structure of this very confusing(for me at least) time. Thank you so much. The map of events was especially helpful.
This is great work, thank you so much. I'm from Northumberland, but have learned Welsh, and am so shocked that we are not taught this fascinating part of our history.
It's a real problem. I wasn't educated in Scotland, but it is much the same there. The Old North is seen as 'too English' - the tendency is to focus on Highland history with what little Scots history is even taught. On the other side of the border, it's seen as 'too Welsh'.
@@jackieroberts7895 In my reply to Brendan, above, I'm talking about how the history of Hen Ogledd is perceived from both the perspective of Scottish education, and of English education.
@@jackieroberts7895 the region of the Hen Ogledd never encompassed Wales, but areas of present day Northern England and Southern Scotland. The people of these areas were once brythonic speaking, with Welsh being its closest modern equivalent. The people of Cumbria still retain many brythonic place names, and some of the old shepherds of northern England still count in some regional form of brythonic despite being and speaking English. The genetic analysis of the UK showed that people from the different counties of Northern England retained different markers to the rest of the English population - attributed to the ancient tribal boundaries of their isolated brythonic kingdoms i.e Rheged and Elmet. Language does not determine cultural identity, for this reason it does not mean large areas of Northern England are either Norwegian or Danish because people speak with old norse dialect, likewise it does not make a Welsh person speaking English, English
This video inspired me to look into the history of Cumbria rheged is really fun would be a perfect setting for an rpg or something akin to the witcher or the elder scrolls
Thanks for this very informative and interesting video I have just been reading the Taliesin poems in The Triumph Tree anthology and if I hadn't already been searching for Y Gododdin would have been a little disturbed youtube had anticipated its relevance! An utter gem of a presentation
I haven't been in the British Isles since the 80's, but including the Arthurian subject matter and some of my ancestry, there are various reasons I have been enthralled with all the detailed investigations, books and research for many years which has led me to be a strong proponent for the more northern regions. Thanks so much for the video.
Really informative as so much of this period is Southern based. Shame there isn't more archaeologic investigation in the area of the Kingdom of Rheged.
Yes, well, the part that's in England won't be seen as 'important' unless its Roman. There has been some investigation of some hill forts - Traprain and Trusty's come to mind, but there isn't much that is conclusive. I think it really was a pretty grim time for both common people and the nobility/warrior class.
Fantastic video. The Old North is such a fascinating lost world. I want to see more fiction and video games set there,so much untapped potential. I didnt expect to hear the phrase "military science." Id love to hear those bards make praise poems about modern states. I want to hear how theyd describe nuclear weapons. lol
Thank you for this informational video! I recently delved into my family ancestry, and King Urien is one of my ancestors from the name (present) Truran, (origin) Trewren. Commonly abbreviated Urien/Uren. I love learning about my ancestry and origins. From finding that im Cornish, Celtic, Norwegian and so forth. So fascinating
So funny to see your comment, I have just this minute been writing about how Norman storytelling places Arthur at the centre of "Dark Age" literature, but Urien is so very central to the Welsh perception of that period.
I'm from Lancashire and there's strong evidence that Rheged stretched down here too. Lancaster itself gets its name from Brythonic root referring to the river Lune (which was associated with the meadow God, Ialonus Contrebis). Around that area, or westmorland is a possible capital of Rheged, and likely where the shortly lived south Rheged is said to be located. I believe there was also a semi operational Roman fort nearby, around the Penines, also given as a possible capital location. I believe after the English conquered Rheged, that all that was left of their territory was the Isle of Man. They would marry into the dynasty which ruled Gwynedd, inheriting it through a daughter. However by the time their king inherited Gwynedd the isle of Mann was ruled over by Vikings. His descendant however, Rhodri the Great, was the founder of the Abberfraww dynasty which would go on to rule all of the Welsh kingdoms. Their last ruler was conquered by the English, but named the Prince of Wales, setting the foundation for the principality of Wales. There is a heavy connection to the Britons in the North West, in Cumbria most of all. However the area around Lancashire wasn't inhabited by many during the dark ages, which is probably why the Norse-Gaels left a little known large impact on the area. There is also evidence of roman infrastructure lasting much longer in the north west then it did in most other places in Britain, a testament to the prestige of the Rheged.
I live in Catterick(Catraeth)and have been looking for the battle site for 2 years.Ive found 3 saxon burial mounds (Tumuli)….one is said to be a kings….could it be Urien?.Maybe i will never know.
That's impossible to say. We don't know the sequence of events after his death. If, as the bards say, he died at Ross Low (between Holy Island and Bamburgh) then Catterick is a long way to transport a body after what sounds like a failed siege in which the Britons were possibly in disarray. There is actually some kind of mound (grave? natural? I have no idea) near Ross Low which has been suggested, but I don't know whether it's ever been investigated.
@@KrisHughes Thanks for the reply.I wondered what it was that inspired the attack on Catraeth,i know it was regarded as a holy place and thought they may have taken him when there when it was still part of Rheged,but probably not as you say.I will continue my endeavours and hopefully find more info.
I recently became interested in Urien and watched this video. I live in Korea, but there are few stories about him here. Your video helped my curiosity. Is there a way to buy your book from abroad?
Those stories are probably just fiction. I think I mention that in this video. There's a bit more about it here: www.godeeper.info/blog/the-morrigan-modron-and-morgan-le-fay
Hi, first of all: great video. Second of all: where do you get the pronounciation of the ‘au’ of, for example, ‘Ebrauc’ or ‘Medcaut’, as ‘ai’? I’m interested to know because I’d pronounce it more as ‘ow’. I am working on a modification of an old computer game, and the mod is set in 452AD (in the generation of Urien/Urbgen’s great-grandfather Gwrgwst/Gurgast and his son Meirchiaun) in the North Sea area. In order to recreate this part of the world and the many tribal kingdoms within it I’ve needed to parse through many genealogies and many times needed to make stuff up as the information available to us is so limited. I commend you for making such an interesting video essay about such an interesting topic. Thank you very much.
Thanks for you kind comments. That's just the standard pronunciation for the Welsh diphthong "au". Vowels in Welsh don't often behave as English-speakers expect them to!
i have searched my ancestry back to near those times and it is wonderful for your information on this subject as i find that most of British history consists manly on the south
So the most likely candidate for Arthur is the Great King Urien in your opinion then? Are there any other Documentaries on TH-cam I can view related to Urien, the King of Rheged and his ties to the Legend? Thank you again for this Work you put in.
No. If you listen to the last few minutes again, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that we know Urien was real, his story has some parallels to the story told about Arthur, and it's too bad such a great man is so overshadowed by all the literary stuff about Arthur. There don't seem to be people who care about Urien on TH-cam or off, unfortunately, and much of what I see is wild speculation.
Stumbled on this last night. Excellent! The best history is the history that tantalizes. I subbed, thx! (This clueless Yank would love a guide to Britonnic pronunciation!)
Thanks so much for your kind comment! I work hard to make sure that my pronunciations are correct, but as I'm not a native-speaker of Welsh, I'm not the best person to advise you. The TH-cam channel Welsh Plus - Learn Welsh With Us ( th-cam.com/users/welshplusvideos ) has some excellent guides to modern Welsh pronunciation. We don't really know what Middle Welsh sounded like (let alone Cumbric!) but modern Welsh is a good starting point.
I've been trying to look into post Roman celtic England near where I live (near Ribchester), but I can't quite figure out where we fit in to the celtic kingdoms. Supposedly south Rheged was centred around here, but I can't find any link as to how the Rheged shown here extends so far south. It seems the river Hodder may have been a boundary between kingdoms for some time, even before it came to be the old Lancashire-Yorkshire border, as the word Hodder may be from a celtic word for border, but I still don't know what this border would have been between, and I also can't figure out when the area was Christianised (seemingly 7th century?). I've only just started looking into this and by no means am an expert, but wass wondering if you had any info to help start me off on how to research this kind of thing?
Lancashire definitely isn't my area of expertise. The shaded area indicating the widest possible extent of Rheged on my map is not particularly accurate, it's just to give an idea, but I don't believe that there is anything definitive, anyway. However, I tried to include the widest possible extent that I've seen suggested - it's was probably smaller - probably also in constant flux. I would have said that south Rheged was centred more on Carlisle-Penrith-Eden Valley, with SW Scotland being North Rheged. I may be wrong, but what I can tell you is that there is no scholarly agreement on the question. It's likely that there never will be. So I would see your part of the world as part of the Old North, but not Rheged. I don't think that I have any academic type information about Lancs. but I have one suggestion. Lorna Smithers, who lives in Penwortham, the other side of Preston from you along the Ribble, has an interesting blog called From Penverdant. ( lornasmithers.wordpress.com/ ) Lorna is a Pagan writer, but if that's not your thing don't be put off. She's fairly knowledgeable about the Old North as is relates to her area, and the blog has a search function you could play around with, which might give you a few leads, and her writing often has citations, which might give you more. Good luck with your search!
@@KrisHughes thank you. Also, I keep hearing the myths about king dunmail and how his crown was thrown into Grisedale tarn, but nobody seems to have gone looking for it, which seems weird since people love that kind of stuff even if it may not be fully based in reality, is there some kind of taboo about it?
@@taliesin8192 I'm not sure what you're arguing here, of course there are no references to Celt in old texts, Celt is a word invented in the 1700s to describe the languages and cultures, although it seems to derive from a similar word that Julius Caesar claimed that the people he called the gauls called themselves Celtae in the first century BC. In the video you link, Alan decribes what is recognised as the introduction of Celtic languages and culture to the British Isles, the migrations from near Assyria. These invasions are described both in old Gaelic (a form of Celtic) literature, and are also evidenced genetically here: www.pnas.org/content/113/2/368 . Also the argument that there are no Celtic languages here seems odd, considering that Scottish Gaelic, modern and old Welsh, Cornish, Cumbric, and Irish are all known to have been related languages deriving from the early invasions, hence the similarity of the language to other points of this migration, such as parts of Iberia, and these languages are what we know as the Celtic languages. This is also why pretty much all Welsh and Scottish place names are from a Celtic language and so really weird for us to pronounce, or are names that have been changed from Celtic (Cumbria having similar origins to the welsh name for themselves). As for literature, see here www.britannica.com/art/Celtic-literature/Welsh-literature for what has happened to that. As for customs, evidently you have never been to a Ceilidh dance. These are a traditional Scottish and Irish social gathering originating from gaelic and sharing lots of similarities to Celtic gatherings from other parts of the UK, such as the Troyl in Cornwall. I don't disagree with the video you linked, I'm just not sure why that has anything against the presence of Celts in Britain? What did you think a Celt was?
@@taliesin8192 Also, I'm confused as to what you mean by 'AW is NOT an "academic", he is a professional researcher / writer of Ancient Histories', this is exactly what an academic is - a professional researcher in an academic subject (history). To say 'has an IQ which is off-the-scale: a plain speaking and highly intelligent man' is an opinion, not to say it is incorrect, but this is a really weird thing to say about someone. I haven't looked into John R. Colliss yet
Rory Stewart did a doc or series a while ago on Rheged. Bitty, don’t know if you’ve seen but a different take compared to standard landscape archaeology.
@@KrisHughes Sadly unavailable, “Border Country: The Story of Britain's Lost Middleland”. One episode on the eastern side, one west. BBC archives occasionally allow access to programming catalogues if you approach as an independent researcher.
Flamborough Head and the "Danes Dyke would make a great Video please. Regarding Arthur, I suspect that Barwick in Elmet is Caer Elmet (Camelot) of legend, Especially as Barwick is in Arthursdale and right on the Frontline of the Saxon Invasions
South Cadbury hillfort is the best probable location for an historical Arthurs base, and that is in Somerset defending Dumnonia. So not northern. But I think it likely he was travelling up and down the land on a patrol to prevent or react to Saxon raids so he could have easily been in the north.
Yeah - I don't pretend to know that much about all the Arthurian questions. It's probably more a question of which parts of Britain preserved certain stories over time.
Hello this is amazing stuff , I went to Trusty’s Hill to find Uriens palace lol. Beautiful place whether it is or not . I’m also a bit of an artist and I drew a picture of Trusty’s Hill as an Iron Age hill fort on my computer . And then Urien himself . Anyway this is not about me, so pleased I found your video!
Yeah - to me it seems like associating Trusty's Hill with Urien might be a case of archaeologists grasping at straws - or I should say, it's no more likely a candidate than a number of other places. If he was controlling a big territory he probably had many forts that he used. To pick one, and say, "this is it" would require a lot of proof. Your art sound interesting.
@@KrisHughes yeah totally agree , mote of mark is just one more candidate , planning to go there next. But as you said he probably had several “ bases”. What id love to do is a comic strip or illustrated book about Uriens but often I don’t have the time too busy working my day job lol. Anyway thanks again for a most interesting video
@@alastairbrewster4274 go ahead and drop a link, if you want to. It may not show up immediately. TH-cam will probably flag it to me as potential spam, but I can approve it.
Great video by the way...If this archaeology dig site is the kingdom of Rheged (with pretty convincing evidence) and Urien and his sons fits the timeline then Urien has a monument, even though someone when to great lengths to destroy it by setting it on fire for days on end. They were trying to erase its existence off the face of the earth.
@@TheGhostofXmasfuture Sorry I didn't see your comment - TH-cam decided to bury it. Perhaps it originally contained a link? If so, it's not there, but I'm guessing you're talking about Trusty's Hill Fort. We don't really know why vitrified hill forts were burned like that, but I was thinking more in terms of any kind of modern monument - a public statue or something.
@@KrisHughes Yes, Trusty Hill fort. TH-cam deleted the link I had it was for the book; The Lost Dark Age Kingdom of Rheged: the Discovery of a Royal Stronghold at Trusty’s Hill. Excellent book concerning the archaeology that was done at the site. Was this where Urien of Rheged reigned? Someone went to great lengths to wipe the existence of the place off the map, they burned the place for days and melted the rock. It seems possible that the story of your video has a strong connection to the place?
@@TheGhostofXmasfuture Kings were generally peripatetic, so Urien would have had seats all over the place. This could have been one of them. He appears to have been at Carlisle, Catterick, and perhaps somewhere in the Lyvennet valley, that we know of. If the extent of Rheged was very large, bits of it were probably farmed out to relatives or other retainers and visited less often. We know so little about how things operated in the 6th century - I'm really basing these guesses on how things were done later.
@@KrisHughes Thanks for you reply. If you haven't read the book definitely get it, its an archaeology read so a bit of a curve but worth the look. Thanks again for you time.
What about Arthwys, son of Mar/Masguid, who was son of Cenau, who was also grandfather of Merchion, who himself was grandfather of Urien? If Arthwys was born around 480, how could Urien be born around 490. That's not possible. And how does every son of every branch in this family get to be a king? That would be seriously problematic
I'm not sure where you're getting your dates, because any kind of precise dating for the births is impossible. However, generations don't necessarily flow in tandem, and many of the medieval warlords had many sons, via multiple mothers, which means that generations can cover a lot of decades. The offspring of Coel, and the offspring of Cynfarch ap Meirchion, in particular, are famous for controlling vast swathes of the north. That kind of concentration of power in the hands of one family is pretty common in medieval Europe. Perhaps people gravitated to this in the hope that it would provide some stability.
I'm one of 3 Double First Cousins. My dad's sister is my cousin's mother from her marriage to my mom's brother. So brother n sister get married to brother n sister from another family. Big double wedding that long term were both cursed from first moment. 3 of us , all males are the results of said "Unholy Marriages". My closest in age is one of my double first cousins with him being 5 weeks older. Then I come along , and 5yrs later his younger brother was born. I am an only child and refuse to speak to anyone related to me from both sides of my family. Just don't need the head games and toxic people
Fabulous Video! You seem to have mastery over the name pronunciations. Not sure if mine were that good or not: th-cam.com/video/2k91koiVlGc/w-d-xo.html. (Not only do you tube not pay us anything; they didn't even list this one under 'Gododdin' so we unpublished it! Still, hope it equates to a 'cuppa' in kind, because it's the least you deserve!)
I like the way you've put that together. The accent is generally on the last syllable but one in Welsh (so on the 1st syllable in a 2 syllable word). My pronunciation isn't perfect, but I did a LOT of research.
if Arther was King on the Britons, then his land would be in modern day France, it is not hard to look up where the country and people of Briton originated. but i understand since they hide this information in things called books. we know this for a fact, not speculation. the Franks are the key, woulds also explain why nobles of that time in England only spoke the frank's dialect.
Frankish was not spoken in Britain in the 5th-6th century, or indeed at any time. They would have either spoken a form of Brythonic (the precursor of Welsh) or possibly Latin, like their (receding) Roman overlords.
@@themanhimself1229 it is believed the Bretons were people fleeing from the encroachments of Germanic people , westwards in the centuries that followed the end of Roman Britannia
You’re reading the wrong books. Try following up on what you’ve just listened too. Alistair Moffat’s books on Arthur and the north may illuminate things for you.
The Celtic Horse Goddesses ONLINE CLASS starts on 30th October, 2024. Learn about Rhiannon, Macha, Epona and so much more. PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN More info here: tinyurl.com/TCHG24
Information about classes always available at tinyurl.com/GDclasses
Thanks Kris. Bless Wales. May Her people become safer and faithful. Sorrows for those who die on roads,etc. Kind regards Niall O'Connell Dundalk Ireland. Eire.🇨🇮🙏🙋🥰☃️
The end lines of this video are poetically profound. Urien is a man of the North and that's how I will remember him and so he should be remembered by its people 💪 Brilliant video
Thank you so much!
True !
Thank you for this video. Excellent work. I'm from Cumbria and the rich history of Rheged is often forgotten.
I'm glad you enjoyed it. I agree that Cumbrian history should get more attention.
@@KrisHughes there’s no such thing as Cumbria. You you want to know your history, you should start there. Cumbria is the name of a council that was created in 1974 and is being abolished in 2023. It’s actually Cumberland, Westmorland, North Lancashire and parts Yorkshire.
This was wonderfully expalined and really cleared up some on my confusion. I loved the genealogy "maps"
Thank you, so much!
I love things like this, as I am ancestrally Cumbrian, and I wasn't taught a thing about this as a child. It's part of the hidden history of the British Isles, and you could be forgiven for thinking that it's been deliberately buried.
Yes, you could!
I can't even state how much I appreciate you putting all the time and effort that you have into making this and keeping important histories alive. Fine, fine work.
Why thank you! I'm glad it's meaningful for you.
Urien's story represents flawlessly the struggle between the anglian tribes and the britons in these dark times.
Thank you so much for this video.
Thank you so much for your kind comment.
After watching innumerable videos on the topic an reading talesin this video is the first time i feel i understand the broader structure of this very confusing(for me at least) time. Thank you so much. The map of events was especially helpful.
Comments like this make me happy. I'm so glad it helped clarify things for you.
This is great work, thank you so much. I'm from Northumberland, but have learned Welsh, and am so shocked that we are not taught this fascinating part of our history.
It's a real problem. I wasn't educated in Scotland, but it is much the same there. The Old North is seen as 'too English' - the tendency is to focus on Highland history with what little Scots history is even taught. On the other side of the border, it's seen as 'too Welsh'.
@@KrisHughes so are you talking about the welsh or the Scottish ?
@@jackieroberts7895 In my reply to Brendan, above, I'm talking about how the history of Hen Ogledd is perceived from both the perspective of Scottish education, and of English education.
@@jackieroberts7895 the region of the Hen Ogledd never encompassed Wales, but areas of present day Northern England and Southern Scotland. The people of these areas were once brythonic speaking, with Welsh being its closest modern equivalent. The people of Cumbria still retain many brythonic place names, and some of the old shepherds of northern England still count in some regional form of brythonic despite being and speaking English. The genetic analysis of the UK showed that people from the different counties of Northern England retained different markers to the rest of the English population - attributed to the ancient tribal boundaries of their isolated brythonic kingdoms i.e Rheged and Elmet. Language does not determine cultural identity, for this reason it does not mean large areas of Northern England are either Norwegian or Danish because people speak with old norse dialect, likewise it does not make a Welsh person speaking English, English
Always love your videos. I'm sure I've watched this a few times now but always learning something new. Keep it up
Glad you're enjoying it.
This video inspired me to look into the history of Cumbria rheged is really fun would be a perfect setting for an rpg or something akin to the witcher or the elder scrolls
Very well done,well explained.
Thank you.
This was wonderful, thank you! This video deserves far more views and likes than it has!
Hen Ogledd am byth! From a son of Elmet and Ebrauc :)
Thanks so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for this very informative and interesting video
I have just been reading the Taliesin poems in The Triumph Tree anthology and if I hadn't already been searching for Y Gododdin would have been a little disturbed youtube had anticipated its relevance!
An utter gem of a presentation
So pleased to read your comment! Maybe it's time for me to think about a video on useful books and papers on the Old North.
@@KrisHughes That sounds a great idea (says the guy who doesn't have to do the work!)
@@paulh5494 It's probably a great way of getting my own research more organised. Just ... don't hold your breath, but it seems like a good plan.
I haven't been in the British Isles since the 80's, but including the Arthurian subject matter and some of my ancestry, there are various reasons I have been enthralled with all the detailed investigations, books and research for many years which has led me to be a strong proponent for the more northern regions. Thanks so much for the video.
I'm glad you liked it.
Thank you, this was really useful during my writing of a history fiction novel set in the Old North at the times of Urien and Riderch.
Really informative as so much of this period is Southern based. Shame there isn't more archaeologic investigation in the area of the Kingdom of Rheged.
Yes, well, the part that's in England won't be seen as 'important' unless its Roman. There has been some investigation of some hill forts - Traprain and Trusty's come to mind, but there isn't much that is conclusive. I think it really was a pretty grim time for both common people and the nobility/warrior class.
Thanks for sharing.
Fantastic video. The Old North is such a fascinating lost world. I want to see more fiction and video games set there,so much untapped potential. I didnt expect to hear the phrase "military science." Id love to hear those bards make praise poems about modern states. I want to hear how theyd describe nuclear weapons. lol
Worth mentioning that even now, Catterick is the Largest Garrison in Western Europe.
Yes, indeed.
Thank you for this informational video! I recently delved into my family ancestry, and King Urien is one of my ancestors from the name (present) Truran, (origin) Trewren. Commonly abbreviated Urien/Uren. I love learning about my ancestry and origins. From finding that im Cornish, Celtic, Norwegian and so forth. So fascinating
Incredible.
thank you!
I have always found it a tad curious that Uriens name comes almost intact via the term 'Arthurian'
So funny to see your comment, I have just this minute been writing about how Norman storytelling places Arthur at the centre of "Dark Age" literature, but Urien is so very central to the Welsh perception of that period.
I'm from Lancashire and there's strong evidence that Rheged stretched down here too. Lancaster itself gets its name from Brythonic root referring to the river Lune (which was associated with the meadow God, Ialonus Contrebis). Around that area, or westmorland is a possible capital of Rheged, and likely where the shortly lived south Rheged is said to be located. I believe there was also a semi operational Roman fort nearby, around the Penines, also given as a possible capital location.
I believe after the English conquered Rheged, that all that was left of their territory was the Isle of Man. They would marry into the dynasty which ruled Gwynedd, inheriting it through a daughter. However by the time their king inherited Gwynedd the isle of Mann was ruled over by Vikings. His descendant however, Rhodri the Great, was the founder of the Abberfraww dynasty which would go on to rule all of the Welsh kingdoms. Their last ruler was conquered by the English, but named the Prince of Wales, setting the foundation for the principality of Wales.
There is a heavy connection to the Britons in the North West, in Cumbria most of all. However the area around Lancashire wasn't inhabited by many during the dark ages, which is probably why the Norse-Gaels left a little known large impact on the area.
There is also evidence of roman infrastructure lasting much longer in the north west then it did in most other places in Britain, a testament to the prestige of the Rheged.
Rheged was ultimately articulated to Northumbria by the dynastic marriage of Rhiainfellt, the heiress Queen of Rheged, in 638 AD.
Nicely done. Did a video in Lindisfarne myself recently, really wish I'd have watched this video before then, some interesting stuff.
Thank you!
To our Celtic brothers and sisters in Ireland Scotland isle of man wales Cornwell and Brittany 😃
Very well explained. I’ve just discovered you on You Tube, listening whilst making soup, very interesting.
Glad you're enjoying it.
God bless ye! For being a caretaker of this cultural history of such a fascinating time! Your friends in America are listening!
Aw! Thank you!
Thanks for correct pronunciation of Urien- "Irr-ee-en" - so many people pronounce him as "Urine" 🙄
Well, my Welsh pronunciation is still a work in progress, but thanks for noticing my efforts!
I live in Catterick(Catraeth)and have been looking for the battle site for 2 years.Ive found 3 saxon burial mounds (Tumuli)….one is said to be a kings….could it be Urien?.Maybe i will never know.
That's impossible to say. We don't know the sequence of events after his death. If, as the bards say, he died at Ross Low (between Holy Island and Bamburgh) then Catterick is a long way to transport a body after what sounds like a failed siege in which the Britons were possibly in disarray. There is actually some kind of mound (grave? natural? I have no idea) near Ross Low which has been suggested, but I don't know whether it's ever been investigated.
@@KrisHughes Thanks for the reply.I wondered what it was that inspired the attack on Catraeth,i know it was regarded as a holy place and thought they may have taken him when there when it was still part of Rheged,but probably not as you say.I will continue my endeavours and hopefully find more info.
I recently became interested in Urien and watched this video. I live in Korea, but there are few stories about him here. Your video helped my curiosity. Is there a way to buy your book from abroad?
You should be able to buy it if you have PayPal.
Those stories are probably just fiction. I think I mention that in this video. There's a bit more about it here: www.godeeper.info/blog/the-morrigan-modron-and-morgan-le-fay
@@KrisHughes The book is out of stock now, do you sell it again? I want to buy it when I have enough money
thank you.
Hi, first of all: great video.
Second of all: where do you get the pronounciation of the ‘au’ of, for example, ‘Ebrauc’ or ‘Medcaut’, as ‘ai’? I’m interested to know because I’d pronounce it more as ‘ow’.
I am working on a modification of an old computer game, and the mod is set in 452AD (in the generation of Urien/Urbgen’s great-grandfather Gwrgwst/Gurgast and his son Meirchiaun) in the North Sea area. In order to recreate this part of the world and the many tribal kingdoms within it I’ve needed to parse through many genealogies and many times needed to make stuff up as the information available to us is so limited. I commend you for making such an interesting video essay about such an interesting topic. Thank you very much.
Thanks for you kind comments. That's just the standard pronunciation for the Welsh diphthong "au". Vowels in Welsh don't often behave as English-speakers expect them to!
i have searched my ancestry back to near those times and it is wonderful for your information on this subject as i find that most of British history consists manly on the south
That's very true. That's just the way the UK is rigged.
Cool me too!
So the most likely candidate for Arthur is the Great King Urien in your opinion then? Are there any other Documentaries on TH-cam I can view related to Urien, the King of Rheged and his ties to the Legend? Thank you again for this Work you put in.
No. If you listen to the last few minutes again, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that we know Urien was real, his story has some parallels to the story told about Arthur, and it's too bad such a great man is so overshadowed by all the literary stuff about Arthur. There don't seem to be people who care about Urien on TH-cam or off, unfortunately, and much of what I see is wild speculation.
As a Welshman living in south Scotland, I feel I’m re-inhabiting our ancestral lands. Hopefully, I could kickstart the welsh language here. 😎 🏴
Go for it! To bad there's so little left of Cumbric.
@@KrisHughes I know, it’s a pipe dream. Who knows though. 😂
Stumbled on this last night. Excellent! The best history is the history that tantalizes. I subbed, thx! (This clueless Yank would love a guide to Britonnic pronunciation!)
Thanks so much for your kind comment! I work hard to make sure that my pronunciations are correct, but as I'm not a native-speaker of Welsh, I'm not the best person to advise you. The TH-cam channel Welsh Plus - Learn Welsh With Us ( th-cam.com/users/welshplusvideos ) has some excellent guides to modern Welsh pronunciation. We don't really know what Middle Welsh sounded like (let alone Cumbric!) but modern Welsh is a good starting point.
I've been trying to look into post Roman celtic England near where I live (near Ribchester), but I can't quite figure out where we fit in to the celtic kingdoms. Supposedly south Rheged was centred around here, but I can't find any link as to how the Rheged shown here extends so far south. It seems the river Hodder may have been a boundary between kingdoms for some time, even before it came to be the old Lancashire-Yorkshire border, as the word Hodder may be from a celtic word for border, but I still don't know what this border would have been between, and I also can't figure out when the area was Christianised (seemingly 7th century?). I've only just started looking into this and by no means am an expert, but wass wondering if you had any info to help start me off on how to research this kind of thing?
Lancashire definitely isn't my area of expertise. The shaded area indicating the widest possible extent of Rheged on my map is not particularly accurate, it's just to give an idea, but I don't believe that there is anything definitive, anyway. However, I tried to include the widest possible extent that I've seen suggested - it's was probably smaller - probably also in constant flux. I would have said that south Rheged was centred more on Carlisle-Penrith-Eden Valley, with SW Scotland being North Rheged. I may be wrong, but what I can tell you is that there is no scholarly agreement on the question. It's likely that there never will be. So I would see your part of the world as part of the Old North, but not Rheged.
I don't think that I have any academic type information about Lancs. but I have one suggestion. Lorna Smithers, who lives in Penwortham, the other side of Preston from you along the Ribble, has an interesting blog called From Penverdant. ( lornasmithers.wordpress.com/ ) Lorna is a Pagan writer, but if that's not your thing don't be put off. She's fairly knowledgeable about the Old North as is relates to her area, and the blog has a search function you could play around with, which might give you a few leads, and her writing often has citations, which might give you more. Good luck with your search!
@@KrisHughes thank you. Also, I keep hearing the myths about king dunmail and how his crown was thrown into Grisedale tarn, but nobody seems to have gone looking for it, which seems weird since people love that kind of stuff even if it may not be fully based in reality, is there some kind of taboo about it?
@@calummclennan6699 Now, you're asking! No idea.
@@taliesin8192 I'm not sure what you're arguing here, of course there are no references to Celt in old texts, Celt is a word invented in the 1700s to describe the languages and cultures, although it seems to derive from a similar word that Julius Caesar claimed that the people he called the gauls called themselves Celtae in the first century BC. In the video you link, Alan decribes what is recognised as the introduction of Celtic languages and culture to the British Isles, the migrations from near Assyria. These invasions are described both in old Gaelic (a form of Celtic) literature, and are also evidenced genetically here: www.pnas.org/content/113/2/368 . Also the argument that there are no Celtic languages here seems odd, considering that Scottish Gaelic, modern and old Welsh, Cornish, Cumbric, and Irish are all known to have been related languages deriving from the early invasions, hence the similarity of the language to other points of this migration, such as parts of Iberia, and these languages are what we know as the Celtic languages. This is also why pretty much all Welsh and Scottish place names are from a Celtic language and so really weird for us to pronounce, or are names that have been changed from Celtic (Cumbria having similar origins to the welsh name for themselves). As for literature, see here www.britannica.com/art/Celtic-literature/Welsh-literature for what has happened to that. As for customs, evidently you have never been to a Ceilidh dance. These are a traditional Scottish and Irish social gathering originating from gaelic and sharing lots of similarities to Celtic gatherings from other parts of the UK, such as the Troyl in Cornwall. I don't disagree with the video you linked, I'm just not sure why that has anything against the presence of Celts in Britain? What did you think a Celt was?
@@taliesin8192 Also, I'm confused as to what you mean by 'AW is NOT an "academic", he is a professional researcher / writer of Ancient Histories', this is exactly what an academic is - a professional researcher in an academic subject (history). To say 'has an IQ which is off-the-scale: a plain speaking and highly intelligent man' is an opinion, not to say it is incorrect, but this is a really weird thing to say about someone. I haven't looked into John R. Colliss yet
Rory Stewart did a doc or series a while ago on Rheged. Bitty, don’t know if you’ve seen but a different take compared to standard landscape archaeology.
Interesting. I wasn't aware of that at all. I'll have to look for it. Do you remember the title?
@@KrisHughes Sadly unavailable, “Border Country: The Story of Britain's Lost Middleland”. One episode on the eastern side, one west. BBC archives occasionally allow access to programming catalogues if you approach as an independent researcher.
Is a transcript available on your website ?
No, I'm afraid not.
Flamborough Head and the "Danes Dyke would make a great Video please. Regarding Arthur, I suspect that Barwick in Elmet is Caer Elmet (Camelot) of legend, Especially as Barwick is in Arthursdale and right on the Frontline of the Saxon Invasions
South Cadbury hillfort is the best probable location for an historical Arthurs base, and that is in Somerset defending Dumnonia. So not northern. But I think it likely he was travelling up and down the land on a patrol to prevent or react to Saxon raids so he could have easily been in the north.
Yeah - I don't pretend to know that much about all the Arthurian questions. It's probably more a question of which parts of Britain preserved certain stories over time.
Arthur was a Welshman King of Glamorgan!
Hope there was more Flora and fauna back then. Reforest please.
Fun fact as well, there is only one lake in the 'Lake district' :-)
But what's in a name.
@@KrisHughes that's a whole other potential video for you lol...
Wrlsh Kings are Descendants of King Coel = ArthUrien Very Interesting name ♡
Hello this is amazing stuff , I went to Trusty’s Hill to find Uriens palace lol. Beautiful place whether it is or not . I’m also a bit of an artist and I drew a picture of Trusty’s Hill as an Iron Age hill fort on my computer . And then Urien himself .
Anyway this is not about me, so pleased I found your video!
Yeah - to me it seems like associating Trusty's Hill with Urien might be a case of archaeologists grasping at straws - or I should say, it's no more likely a candidate than a number of other places. If he was controlling a big territory he probably had many forts that he used. To pick one, and say, "this is it" would require a lot of proof. Your art sound interesting.
@@KrisHughes yeah totally agree , mote of mark is just one more candidate , planning to go there next. But as you said he probably had several “ bases”. What id love to do is a comic strip or illustrated book about Uriens but often I don’t have the time too busy working my day job lol. Anyway thanks again for a most interesting video
@@KrisHughes ps I have an Instagram art site if you’re interested?
@@alastairbrewster4274 go ahead and drop a link, if you want to. It may not show up immediately. TH-cam will probably flag it to me as potential spam, but I can approve it.
nice dear
Cheers! Give my love to Edinburgh next time you step outside.
Buy me a cuppa at Ko-Fi! ko-fi.com/krishughes Thanks!
Great video by the way...If this archaeology dig site is the kingdom of Rheged (with pretty convincing evidence) and Urien and his sons fits the timeline then Urien has a monument, even though someone when to great lengths to destroy it by setting it on fire for days on end. They were trying to erase its existence off the face of the earth.
@@TheGhostofXmasfuture Sorry I didn't see your comment - TH-cam decided to bury it. Perhaps it originally contained a link? If so, it's not there, but I'm guessing you're talking about Trusty's Hill Fort. We don't really know why vitrified hill forts were burned like that, but I was thinking more in terms of any kind of modern monument - a public statue or something.
@@KrisHughes Yes, Trusty Hill fort. TH-cam deleted the link I had it was for the book; The Lost Dark Age Kingdom of Rheged: the Discovery of a Royal Stronghold at Trusty’s Hill. Excellent book concerning the archaeology that was done at the site. Was this where Urien of Rheged reigned? Someone went to great lengths to wipe the existence of the place off the map, they burned the place for days and melted the rock. It seems possible that the story of your video has a strong connection to the place?
@@TheGhostofXmasfuture Kings were generally peripatetic, so Urien would have had seats all over the place. This could have been one of them. He appears to have been at Carlisle, Catterick, and perhaps somewhere in the Lyvennet valley, that we know of. If the extent of Rheged was very large, bits of it were probably farmed out to relatives or other retainers and visited less often. We know so little about how things operated in the 6th century - I'm really basing these guesses on how things were done later.
@@KrisHughes Thanks for you reply. If you haven't read the book definitely get it, its an archaeology read so a bit of a curve but worth the look. Thanks again for you time.
my sort of channel
I aim to please.
Cymru history has been recreated the church. Same with the isles.
thanks, an important part of history lost. These were Good Righteous Christ loving Kings.
What about Arthwys, son of Mar/Masguid, who was son of Cenau, who was also grandfather of Merchion, who himself was grandfather of Urien?
If Arthwys was born around 480, how could Urien be born around 490. That's not possible.
And how does every son of every branch in this family get to be a king? That would be seriously problematic
I'm not sure where you're getting your dates, because any kind of precise dating for the births is impossible. However, generations don't necessarily flow in tandem, and many of the medieval warlords had many sons, via multiple mothers, which means that generations can cover a lot of decades.
The offspring of Coel, and the offspring of Cynfarch ap Meirchion, in particular, are famous for controlling vast swathes of the north. That kind of concentration of power in the hands of one family is pretty common in medieval Europe. Perhaps people gravitated to this in the hope that it would provide some stability.
Cymru am byth
He was killed by some of his supporters.
Mor de Cae Artyr Myrdne Aurelius Ceylon Vert.
I'm one of 3 Double First Cousins.
My dad's sister is my cousin's mother from her marriage to my mom's brother.
So brother n sister get married to brother n sister from another family. Big double wedding that long term were both cursed from first moment. 3 of us , all males are the results of said "Unholy Marriages".
My closest in age is one of my double first cousins with him being 5 weeks older. Then I come along , and 5yrs later his younger brother was born. I am an only child and refuse to speak to anyone related to me from both sides of my family. Just don't need the head games and toxic people
Fabulous Video! You seem to have mastery over the name pronunciations. Not sure if mine were that good or not: th-cam.com/video/2k91koiVlGc/w-d-xo.html. (Not only do you tube not pay us anything; they didn't even list this one under 'Gododdin' so we unpublished it! Still, hope it equates to a 'cuppa' in kind, because it's the least you deserve!)
I like the way you've put that together. The accent is generally on the last syllable but one in Welsh (so on the 1st syllable in a 2 syllable word). My pronunciation isn't perfect, but I did a LOT of research.
@@KrisHughes Thanks for the tip!
Brit in Hebrew, means Covenant. Israelite Kings, Gods chosen Rightous Shepards of the people.
if Arther was King on the Britons, then his land would be in modern day France, it is not hard to look up where the country and people of Briton originated. but i understand since they hide this information in things called books. we know this for a fact, not speculation. the Franks are the key, woulds also explain why nobles of that time in England only spoke the frank's dialect.
Frankish was not spoken in Britain in the 5th-6th century, or indeed at any time. They would have either spoken a form of Brythonic (the precursor of Welsh) or possibly Latin, like their (receding) Roman overlords.
The Bretons and Britons are not the same. Celts hadn't ruled over any part of France since Vercingetorix and the Roman Invasion. I'm rather confused.
@@themanhimself1229 it is believed the Bretons were people fleeing from the encroachments of Germanic people , westwards in the centuries that followed the end of Roman Britannia
You’re reading the wrong books. Try following up on what you’ve just listened too. Alistair Moffat’s books on Arthur and the north may illuminate things for you.
The Bretons move to France when the Anglo Saxons invaded britain. So yes they are the descendents of Britons who ran away from the anglesaxons.