page_title: Owain ap Dyfnwal (died 1015)
section_title: Invasions of Owain's realm
hierarchical_section_title: Owain ap Dyfnwal (died 1015) / Invasions of Owain's realm
caption_attribution_description: English: The name of Æðelræd II, King of the English (died 1016) as it appears on folio 152r of British Library Cotton MS Tiberius B I (the "C" version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle): "Æþelred".
context_page_description: Owain ap Dyfnwal (died 1015) may have been an eleventh-century ruler of the Kingdom of Strathclyde. He seems to have been a son of Dyfnwal ab Owain, King of Strathclyde, and may well have succeeded Dyfnwal's son, Máel Coluim, King of Strathclyde. During Owain's reign, he would have faced a massive invasion by Æthelræd II, King of the English. Owain's death is recorded in 1015, and seems to have been succeeded by Owain Foel, a man who may have been his nephew.
context_section_description: Surviving sources fail to note the Cumbrian kingdom between the obituaries of Dyfnwal in 975 and his son, Máel Coluim, in 997. Little is certain of Owain's apparent reign. Near the turn of the new millennium, Owain may well have been in his fifties or sixties, and seems to have faced an English invasion of his realm. Specifically, the ninth- to twelfth-century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that Æthelræd II, King of the English unleashed a devastating campaign against the Cumbrian kingdom in 1000. Although the English are said to have ravaged nearly all of the country, the English naval forces based at Chester failed to link up with the land forces—seemingly due to adverse weather conditions—and are recorded to have attacked the Isle of Man instead. On one hand, this island assault could indicate that the English fleet had originally intended to penetrate the Firth of Clyde region before improvising an attack in the Solway Firth. On the other hand, it is possible that the English originally intended to strike out at both the Cumbrians and Islesmen.
  The specific reasons behind Æthelræd's attack upon the Cumbrians are uncertain. It may have been meant as a message to his northern subjects and neighbours signifying the strength of English royal authority. One possibility is that Æthelræd's invasion concerned Cumbrian support of Scandinavian predatory forces in the area, and that the operation was aimed at Scandinavian outposts in the Irish Sea region. Certainly, the aforesaid annal-entry also notes that an "enemy fleet" departed for Normandy that year, although no context for this movement is given. According to the twelfth-century Chronicon ex chronicis, the fleet vacated the north prior to Æthelræd's strike, which may well explain why the latter was free to undertake a foreign campaign. In fact, there is reason to suspect that the English had struck a deal with a Scandinavian army seated in England, and thereafter directed one part of this force to engage the Cumbrians and another to attack the Normans.
  An Irish contemporary of Owain was Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig, High King of Ireland. In 1006, he mustered a massive force in southern Ireland and marched throughout the north of the island in a remarkable show of force. A passage preserved by the eleventh- or twelfth-century Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib claims that, whilst in the north, Brian's maritime forces levied tribute from Saxons and Britons, and from Argyll, the Lennox, and Alba. This source may be evidence that Brian's Scandinavian forces—perhaps commanded by Sitriuc mac Amlaíb, King of Dublin—campaigned against various Cumbrian-controlled territories, and either the English population of Lothian or the western coast of Northumbria. Just the year before, Máel Coluim mac Cináeda succeeded a kinsman to become King of Alba. The twelfth-century pseudo-prophetic Prophecy of Berchán describes this monarch an "enemy of Britons", and within the same passage seems to refer to military actions against the islands of Islay and Arran. This source, therefore, may refer to events related to Brian's apparent overseas operations. It could also be evidence of competition in the region between Brian and his Scottish counterpart.
  Also in 1006, the eleventh-century De obsessione Dunelmi records that the Scots penetrated into Northumbria, and besieged Durham before being beaten back by Uhtred, son of the northern English magnate Waltheof. The fact that there is no record of Cumbrian involvement in this Scottish enterprise could indicate that the devastation wrought by the English in 1000 had nullified Cumbrian military might. Another possibility is that the Cumbrians had adhered to the conditions of some sort of submission which Æthelræd had exacted from them as a result of his campaign.
caption: The name of Æthelræd II as it appears on folio 152r of British Library Cotton Tiberius B I: "Æþelred".[14]
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