Chapter Nine
On the Easter of 647, war broke out between King Cadell of Cair Mammik and Eluit, King of Powis and hegemon of the 'Middle Britons', as the Anglo-saxon sources refer to them[1].
The Cumbrian narrative follows in the vein of Gildas the Wise in depicting the Powisian overlord as an impious tyrant. According to the Brittonem; Eluit, desiring to expand his own holdings, sent an assassin to kill Cadell during the most important of Christian holy days. When the attempt failed, he marched to war to do the job himself. By contrast the Annales Ængliae, the record kept by the monks of Medehamstede[2], says that one of Eluit's men, a kinsman of the king, died while under the hospitality of Cadell and for this reason the overlord of the middle britons raised an army to punish the country for the insult. Regardless, he did not count on the king of Reget throwing his weight behind Cadell. Though Reget had not exercised authority over the region since the death of Cundiarn, Arthwal was keen to both check southern involvement in the north and to get revenge for his father and brother now more than ten years dead.
Eluit brought his army up to Stretryd[3], a crossing on the avon Mersuwy and the most direct route to Cair Mammik. The southern king was settling his men down to camp after a hard march and a river crossing when the northern kings fell upon them. The middle britons, tired and pressed against the river, were cut down. Many tried to flee back across the river only to drown, among them Eluit himself is reported to have found a watery grave in the bloodied river.
Arthwal did not stop there however, as his army went on to ravage the land south of the river, including sacking the important city Cairleon on Deverdewr, before moving further west into the lands of Gwinet. There men sympathetic to Cadwaladur, especially his kin the lord of Ros, joined them to depose the Powisian puppet Cadvail. It was to Cadvail's great horror to find Dinas Maylgun[4] besieged by all his enemies. After an escape attempt through the latrine was foiled Cadvail was forcibly tonsured and sworn to a monk's life upon relics fetched from the nearby Lanndudno.
Dinas Maylgun
All of this made Eidyn of Cair Daun justifiably nervous and so with the threat of a spear at his throat he negotiated the payment of a galnas[5], or blood-price, to be reconciled. Negotiating through churchmen, eventually it was agreed to that the price for Cundiarn's death had been exacted from Eluit, so Eidyn only paid the hefty sum for Arthwal's brother: three hundred cows and six silver rods the thickness of the king's small finger and the height of the king when sitting.
This southern campaign was a smashing victory for Arthwal and his allies. Cadwaladur was probably the biggest winner after being returned to his throne, though certainly Cadell receiving control of Cairleon was a big reward. Gwinet would be a loyal ally of the north for generations and be reckoned among the Cumbry. Indeed the region is considered by some to be the southern border of the cumbraek dialect of Brittonic. More importantly for the formation of the cumbrian national identity and political evolution, it is from this moment onwards documentation begins calling to the rulers of Reget as 'Preeminent of the Cumbrians' (Breenyn er Cumbry), or Prince of the Cumbrians (Mayldiarn er Cumbry).
Eluit's fall saw a rival Powisian dynasty come to the throne with Cundhelan ap Cuntroen, who wasted little time cementing his place by arranging the marriage of his sister Heledh to king Censige Cearling of Merce the help of his kinsman Amros , Abbot of Megwaid[6] and Bishop of Cair Gwrikon.
[1] "middil brytas", as opposed to the west welsh "west welas" of the kingdom of Devneint, and the north welsh "norþ wealhcynn" of the Cumbrians.
[2] Founded in 628 by the Mercian convert Seaxwulf, with the patronage of the Cearling dynasty it quickly became the religious center of a now christian Merce.
[3]"street ford", OTL stretford
[4] "fortress of Maylgun (Maelgwyn)", aka Deganwy Castle
[5] one of the few words we have of OTL cumbric, 'galnys'.
[6] otl meifod, a religious center near the fortress of Mathrafal