Gwallog ap Llênog: Difference between revisions

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'''Gwallog''' ([[Old Welsh]]: ''Guallauc'') was possibly a sixth-century ruler of [[Elmet|Elfed]], a region in the wider area memorialised in later Welsh literature as the [[Hen Ogledd]]. The evidence for his existence survives entirely from two poems of spurious date and several other references in semi-legendary genealogy and literature well beyond his era. If this later material is to be believed, he was a member of the Coeling, a family which is supposed to have been prominent across several kingdoms in northern Britain in the sixth century. He is probably best remembered for his role in the [[Historia Brittonum]] as an ally of [[Urien|Urien Rheged]]. As with many figures of this period, he attracted much interest in later [[Welsh literature]].

'''Gwallog ap Llenog''' ([[Old Welsh]] ''Guallauc'', [[Middle Welsh]] ''Gwallawc''; his father's name is spelled variously ''Lleinauc'', ''Lleynna[u]c'', ''Lleenawc'', and ''Llennawc'') was a hero of the [[Hen Ogledd]]. He has long been considered a probable sixth-century king of the [[Sub-Roman Britain|sub-Roman]] state of [[Elmet]] in the [[Leeds]] area of modern [[Yorkshire]], though some more recent scholarship would identify him more tentatively simply as a 'king of an unidentified region in the north'.<ref>Thomas Owen Clancy (ed.), ''The Triumph Tree; Scotland's Earliest Poetry, AD 550-1350'' (Edinburgh: Canongate, 1998), p. 14.</ref>

==Life==

Our only possibly contemporary source for Gwallog's life comes from two [[Middle Welsh]] poems honouring him attributed to [[Taliesin]] by modern scholarship.<ref>This is because they survive in the [[Book of Taliesin]]. However, these two poems are not attributed to Taliesin in the manuscript itself, and the name 'Book of Taliesin' is an appellation of the seventeenth century. Nevertheless, even if it is uncertain that the medieval compilers of the manuscript attributed the poem to Taliesin, the poems are still called 'historical' Taliesin poems by modern scholars, following Ifor Williams' categorisation in ''The Poems of Taliesin'' (henceforth ''PT'').</ref> Though both poems survive in a [[Book of Taliesin|fourteenth-century manuscript]], one of the poems may date to Gwallog's period based on an archaic feature of the text.<ref> See [[John T. Koch|Koch, John T.]], 'Why Was Welsh Literature First Written Down?’ in [[Helen Fulton|Fulton, Helen]] (ed.), ''Medieval Celtic Literature and Society'', (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2005), pp. 15–31 (20). This is based on the occurrence of ''brot'' /brɔ:d/ for later ''brawt'' 'judgement' in line 17 of poem XI in ''PT'', a praise of Gwallog. This could make this poem contemporaneous with Gwallog's period, assuming this is not a case of orthographic conservatism, since the sound change /ɔ:/ > /au/ in Welsh has been dated in modern scholarship to the late sixth or early seventh century. See Rodway, Simon, ''Dating Medieval Welsh Literature: Evidence from the Verbal System'' (Aberystwyth: CMCS Publications, 2013), p. 14, n. 37, and p. 136.</ref> The first poem is a praise to Gwallog, and the second is an elegy memorialising him after his burial. There is very little biographical information in either of these poems, as they reference places and figures about which no corroborating evidence survives, neither contemporaneously or in later sources. Nevertheless, it is said that Gwallog fought in battles all around northern Britain, against [[Kingdom of Gwynedd|Gwynedd]], [[Kingdom of Strathclyde|Strathclyde]], and the [[Picts]].<ref>''PT'' XI, ll. 21, 36-7, 41.</ref> The second poem to him, his elegy, calls him the son of Llenog, and yields a connection to [[Elmet|Elfed]], since he is called ''ygnat ac'' (read ''ar'') ''eluet'' 'judge over Elfed'.<ref>''PT'' XII, ll. 21n, 37.</ref> Nothing is said about his manner or cause of death.

Gwallog is most clearly attested in a note incorporated into [[Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies]] of Northumbrian kings found in London, British Library, MS Harley 3859 (the earliest manuscript of the ''[[Historia Brittonum]]''). These are thought to originate in a perhaps eighth-century source and so to be relatively reliable. Commenting on the reign of the [[Bernicia]]n king [[Hussa of Bernicia|Hussa]], the regnal list states

==Harleian Genealogies and the Historia Brittonum==

::Contra illum quattuor reges, Urbgen et Riderchen et Guallanc (''leg''. Guallauc) et Morcant, dimicaverunt. Deodric contra illum Urbgen cum filiis dimicabat fortiter--in illo autem tempore aliquando hostes, nunc cives vincebantur--et ipse conclusit eos tribus diebus et noctibus in insula Metcaud et, dum erat in expeditione, iugulatus est, Morcante destinante pro invidia, quia in ipso prae omnibus regibus virtus maxima erat instauratione belli.

::Against him fought four kings, Urbgen ([[Urien]]) and Riderc Hen ([[Riderch I of Alt Clut|Rhydderch Hen]]) and Guallauc (Gwallawg) and Morcant ([[Morcant Bulc|Morgant]]). [[Theodric of Bernicia|Deodric]] fought bravely with his sons against that Urbgen--at that time sometimes the enemy, now the citizens, were being overcome--and he shut them up three days and nights in the island of Metcaud ([[Lindisfarne]]), and, while he was on an expedition, he was murdered at the instance of Morcant out of envy, because in him above all the kings was the greatest skill in the renewing of battle.<ref>''The Poems of Taliesin'', ed. by Ifor Williams, trans. by J. E. Caerwyn Williams, Medieval and Modern Welsh Series, 3 (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1968), pp. xi-xii.</ref>

The genealogies from [[Harleian Library|Harley MS]] 3859 (c. 850-950 AD), primarily concerned with northern Brythonic dynasties, give Gwallog's patrilineal descent as 'Gwallog son of Llenog son of Maeswig Gloff son of Cenau son of [[Coel Hen]]'.<ref>HG[§9] [G]uallauc map Laenauc [194rb] map Masguic Clop map Ceneu map Coyl Hen. See Guy, Ben, ''Medieval Welsh Genealogy'' (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2020), chapter 2 for the dating of the genealogies, and p. 335 for Gwallog's patriline.</ref> That Coel was truly the progenitor of all these dynasties, however, is a matter of ongoing academic debate, since the only testimonies of this common descent are from texts written in Wales hundreds of years after the kingdoms they represent disappear from the historical record.<ref>Ben Guy suggests that the genealogies were grouped together and made to derive from Coel Hen by the editor of Harley MS 3859. This is because the four men who are descended from Coel (Urien, Rhydderch Hen, Gwallog, and Morgan) are all mentioned in the narrative of the Historia Brittonum (see below), which also appears in the same manuscript. See ''Medieval Welsh Genealogy'', pp. 66-7.</ref> Next to nothing is known about Gwallog's father Llenog, who may have founded a (possibly monastic) settlement called Llanllennog, the ___location of which is entirely unknown.<ref>Williams, Ifor (ed.), and Caerwyn Williams, J. E. (trans.),''The Poems of Taliesin'' (Dublin: Institute for Advanced Studies, 1968), p. lv, poem XI, line 5.</ref>

Thus it appears that Gwallog joined a group of [[Britons (historical)|Brittonic]] kings, including [[Urien|Urien Rheged]], [[Riderch I of Alt Clut|Rhydderch Hael]] and [[Morcant Bulc|Morgant Bwlch]] of [[Bryneich]], in an attempt to defeat the [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]] of [[Bernicia]]. This endeavour failed after Urien was slain.

The other document of historical interest found in Harley MS 3859 is the [[Historia Brittonum]]. This text is a composite narrative cobbled together from Bede and other, lost sources, created in Gwynedd in 829 AD.<ref>See Dumville, David N., “‘Nennius’ and the ''Historia Brittonum''”, ''Studia Celtica'' 10–11 (1975–1976), pp. 78–95. It is still debated as to what extent the ''Historia Brittonum'' is useful as a historical source.</ref> In it, a series of events are connected to the reigns of various Northumbrian kings. Gwallog occurs in a section dated to the reign of [[Theodric of Bernicia]] (d. c. 572 x 593), where he, together with [[Urien]], [[Rhydderch Hael|Rhydderch Hen]], and [[Morcant Bulc|Morgan]], are recorded as fighting against that Anglian king.<ref>Morris, John (ed. and tr.) Nennius: British History and the Welsh Annals (London: Phillimore, 1980), §63.</ref> Gwallog is only mentioned in one sentence of this narrative, however, and it is unknown what other involvement he had in this campaign.

Gwallog is the addressee of two poems in the [[Book of Taliesin]] which [[Ifor Williams]] identified on linguistic and historical grounds as (in part) plausibly originating in the sixth century, and possibly being genuine praise-poems addressed to Gwallog.<ref>''The Poems of Taliesin'', ed. by Ifor Williams, trans. by J. E. Caerwyn Williams, Medieval and Modern Welsh Series, 3 (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1968), pp. xi-xii, 12-15; the poems are XI and XII in Williams's numbering. Translated in Thomas Owen Clancy (ed.), ''The Triumph Tree; Scotland's Earliest Poetry, AD 550-1350'' (Edinburgh: Canongate, 1998), pp. 91-93.</ref> These afford some evidence that Gwallog was a king of [[Elmet]].<ref>''The Poems of Taliesin'', ed. by Ifor Williams, trans. by J. E. Caerwyn Williams, Medieval and Modern Welsh Series, 3 (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1968), p. lvii.</ref> If so, he was apparently succeeded by [[Ceretic of Elmet|Ceredig]], the last king of Elmet, who was deposed by [[Edwin of Northumbria|St. Edwin]] of [[Northumbria|Deira]]; this would be consistent with the appearance of a 'Ceretic, son of Gwallawg' in one of the [[Welsh Triads]]. However, as evidence for sixth-century historical realities, this evidence is very tenuous.<ref>Tim Clarkson, 'The ''Gododdin'' Revisited', ''The Heroic Age'', 1 (1999), http://www.heroicage.org/issues/1/hatf.htm.</ref>

==Later reputation==