Who Were the Welsh-Connected Peoples of Scotland and England? Kingdom of Strathclyde and Hen Ogledd
Channel: Celtic History Decoded
Date: 2022-08-09

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Who Were the Welsh-Connected Peoples of Scotland and England? The Kingdom of Strathclyde and the Hen Ogledd

Who were the people of the Kingdom of Strathclyde and the Hen Ogledd (Hen Ogleav), and what is their connection to Wales? Today, I’ve come to Dumbarton Castle, which sits on the volcanic plug know as Dumbarton Rock. Dumbarton, meaning fortress of the Britons, was the scene of countless epics down through history, including a Viking raid that I will explore in more detail later. 

Dumbarton Castle was the capital of the Kingdom of Strathclyde, also know as the Alt Clut (meaning Rock of the Clyde), an early Brittonic kingdom that existed from around the 5th century to the 11th century. The people of the Kingdom of Strathclyde spoke Cumbric, a variety of the Common Celtic Brythonic language. Cumbric was very closely related to Old Welsh, and there are many more references to Wales in this story. 

This is because the Kingdom of Strathclyde was part of what is called the Hen Ogledd in Welsh, or the Old North in English. It refers to a historical region in parts of southern Scotland and northern England that was inhabited by Brythonic people who spoke Cumbric. Interestingly, the Welsh word for themselves is Cymru, meaning fellow-countrymen.

Strathclyde was just one of many kingdoms and peoples in the Hen Ogledd. They included the Gododdin (Godovin), who inhabited a region of modern south-east Scotland and north-east England) and who were descendants of the Votadini; the Kingdom of Elmet who inhabited a region around West Yorkshire; and the Rheged (khreged) who inhabited the region around Galloway in modern Scotland and Cumbria. 

There was, and still is, a strong affinity between Wales and the people of the Hen Ogledd. Perhaps part of the reason for this affinity is that some traditions state that an important Welsh leader called Cunedda, who lived from 386-460AD, came from the Kingdom of Gododdin (VIN)  in the Hen Ogledd.  Cunedda is said to have come from Manaw Gododdin, the modern Clackmannanshire region of Scotland, and settled in North Wales. He would go on to become the King of Gwynedd (Gwineth) in ancient Wales, and found the royal dynasty of the royal dynasty of Gwynedd. 

The Men of the North are consistently referenced in Welsh literature, and with many heroes drawn from the Hen Ogledd. Coel Hen is one legendary figure for instance, a leader of the Brythonic peoples in the late Roman period and the progenitor of several kingly lines in Yr Hen Ogledd. Later legend spoke of him being the grandfather of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great.

If we turn our attention back to Kingdom of Strathclyde, Dumbarton was a defensive strong hold of the Kingdom, with Dumbarton Rock allowing them to control the shipping trade along the river Clyde.

Sources:

Scotsman - Ivar the Boneless and a brutal Viking invasion of Scotland https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/ivar-boneless-and-brutal-viking-invasion-scotland-1460905 

Siege of Dumbarton  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Dumbarton 

The Kingdom of the Britons https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/scottishhistory/darkages/trails_darkages_britons.shtml 

Kingdom of Strathclyde https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Strathclyde 

Hen Ogledd, Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hen_Ogledd 

Coel Hen, Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coel_Hen 

Strathclyde, Britannica - https://www.britannica.com/place/Strathclyde
 
Cunedda, Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cunedda 

History with Hilbert - The Old North: British Celtic Kingdoms in the North of England (Hen Ogledd) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amcyb_q4MGE 

Creative Commons Imagery:

Jakednb https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Strathclyde-940-AD.png Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Strathclyde-940-AD.png

Notuncurious https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yr.Hen.Ogledd.550.650.Koch.jpg Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yr.Hen.Ogledd.550.650.Koch.jpg 

Llywelyn2000 /NLW https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crop_Cunedda_from_File_History_of_the_Kings.jpg Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en 

#scotland #wales #history