The Battle of Argoed Llwyfain was fought between the forces of the
Kingdom of Rheged under the command of
Urien
Urien ap Cynfarch Oer () or Urien Rheged (, Old Welsh: or , ) was a powerful sixth-century Brittonic-speaking figure who was possibly the ruler of the territory or kingdom known as Rheged. He is one of the best-known and best documented o ...
and
Owain mab Urien and the forces of the
Kingdom of Bernicia under ''Fflamddwyn'' (Firestealer or Flamebearer).
Most of what is known about the battle comes from the early Welsh poem ''Gwaith Argoed Llwyfain'' by the
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...
and
bard
In Celtic cultures, a bard is an oral repository and professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's a ...
Taliesin.
Supposedly on one Saturday, ''Fflamddwyn'' had surrounded the seat of power within Rheged and demanded that
King
King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...
Urien
Urien ap Cynfarch Oer () or Urien Rheged (, Old Welsh: or , ) was a powerful sixth-century Brittonic-speaking figure who was possibly the ruler of the territory or kingdom known as Rheged. He is one of the best-known and best documented o ...
submit and provide
hostages. Urien's son
Owain used the memory of his ancestor Ceneu son of Coel and denied giving hostages. Urien then stirred his men and fighting began. In the ensuing combat Fflamddwyn was slain, temporarily freeing Rheged from
Anglian domination.
See also
*
Battle of Alclud Ford
*
Taliesin
*
Rheged
Rheged () was one of the kingdoms of the ('Old North'), the Brittonic-speaking region of what is now Northern England and southern Scotland, during the post-Roman era and Early Middle Ages. It is recorded in several poetic and bardic sources, ...
*
Bernicia
Bernicia () was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom established by Anglian settlers of the 6th century in what is now southeastern Scotland and North East England.
The Anglian territory of Bernicia was approximately equivalent to the modern English cou ...
*
Owain mab Urien
*
Urien
Urien ap Cynfarch Oer () or Urien Rheged (, Old Welsh: or , ) was a powerful sixth-century Brittonic-speaking figure who was possibly the ruler of the territory or kingdom known as Rheged. He is one of the best-known and best documented o ...
*
Theodric of Bernicia
*
Ida of Bernicia
References
{{reflist
Argoed Llwyfain
6th century in England
Argoed Llwyfain
Argoed Llwyfain
Hen Ogledd