Urien

For other uses, see Urien (disambiguation).

Urien ap Cynfarch Oer or Urien Rheged (Welsh pronunciation: [ˈɨ̞riɛn ˈr̥ɛɡɛd], Old Welsh: Urbgen or Urbagen) was a powerful sixth-century Brittonic-speaking figure who was possibly the ruler of the territory or kingdom known as Rheged. This kingdom was probably centred around the Solway Firth.^[3] The most secure evidence for his existence comes from a ninth-century Welsh history and eight praise-poems in Middle Welsh dedicated to him surviving in a fourteenth-century manuscript. Despite their being found in Middle Welsh orthography, these poems may possibly reflect earlier material, even material contemporaneous to Urien. One of these poems is explicitly attributed to the poet Taliesin. In addition to this poetry, Urien and his family feature elsewhere in medieval literature from Wales, and in popular culture down to the present. Outside of the Welsh context, he eventually was transformed in Arthurian legend into the figure of king Urien of Garlot or Gore.^[4] His most celebrated son, Owain ab Urien, similarly gave his name to the character of Ywain.

Urien Rheged
Arms of Rhys ap Thomas (d. 1525), attributed to Urien, with whom Rhys claimed kinship.[1]
King of Rheged
Reign	c. 550? – c. 572 x 593
Predecessor	Cynfarch Oer?
Successor	Owain ab Urien?
Died	c. 572 x 593 Aber Lleu[2]
Cause of death	Assassination
Spouse	Modron ferch Afallach (legendary)
Issue	Owain ab Urien Rhun ab Urien Pasgen ab Urien Elffin ab Urien Rhiwallon ab Urien (legendary) Morfydd ferch Urien (legendary) Various other legendary children
Dynasty	Cynferching (Coeling)
Father	Cynfarch Oer
Mother	Nefyn ferch Brychan Brycheiniog (legendary)

Early material

Material found in Harley MS 3859

The earliest genealogy of Urien, found in Harley MS 3859 (c. 850–950 AD), gives his patrilineal descent as 'Urien son of Cynfarch son of Meirchion son of Gwrwst son of Coel Hen.'^[5] His earliest recorded ancestor is Coel Hen, who functioned as an origin point for many of the northern Brythonic-speaking dynasties of the early Middle Ages in England. In modern scholarship, it is not generally held that Coel was an important historic figure or the ancestor of all these dynasties, known collectively as the 'Coeling'. Rather, the fact that he features as the origin of so many pedigrees of important figures from the sixth century is because it adds a greater sense of cohesion to the narrative of Urien's career.^[6] Since the 'Coeling' first appear in genealogies together in Harley 3859 with the Historia Brittonum, the earliest historical reference to Urien, it is thought the compiler of the genealogies joined together the lineages of all the British (i.e. 'Welsh'-speaking) leaders mentioned in the narrative. Nothing reliable is known of Urien's father Cynfarch, even if he ruled over Rheged, though this may be assumed given that later material refers to the 'Cynferching', those claiming (or attributed) descent from him.^[7]

The Historia Brittonum, written in 829 AD in Gwynedd, is our only historical record of Urien, though its usefulness for reconstructing history is a matter of academic debate as it was composed hundreds of years after Urien's death.^[8] The Historia Brittonum, based on Bede, synchronises Urien's life to the reign of Theodric of Bernicia (d. c. 579 x 593).^[9] Interestingly, in a later prologue attached to the text, the author of the History Brittonum claims to have assembled his text based on the work of Rhun, Urien's son, who is also credited with baptising Edwin of Northumbria, together with Paulinus of York, though as with much of the Historia Brittonum, this is of uncertain historical value.^[10] The narrative concerning Urien relates him as having taken hostile action against Theodric, together with Rhydderch Hen, Gwallog ap Llênog, and Morgan, who are (excluding Rhydderch) all recorded as descendants of Coel in the genealogies contained in the same manuscript. Echoing Gildas, it is said that the conflict between the Britons and the Saxons went back and forth, but Urien and his allies eventually gained the upper hand and besieged Theodric on Lindisfarne (Old Welsh: Medcaut). Urien, however, was killed at the instigation of Morgan, who, according to the author of the Historia Brittonum, was jealous of Urien's martial ability.^[11] As Morgan is supposed to have come from a nearby territory to Lindisfarne, it has been suggested that Morgan at that moment felt more as threatened by Urien's powerful presence near his home than by Theodric.^[12]

Poetry to Urien attributed to Taliesin

Urien has the distinction of having a sizeable body of possibly contemporaneous poems dedicated to him. These are attributed to his court poet Taliesin. Taliesin is mentioned in the Historia Brittonum as well, though his life is synchronised to the reign of Ida of Bernicia (c. 547 – 559), slightly before Urien's reign.^[13] Much like many cultures in north-western Europe during Late Antiquity, medieval Welsh culture valued praise-poetry, or poems extolling the virtues of a ruler or leading figure in a society.^[14] The poems which are attributed to Taliesin survive in the Book of Taliesin, a Middle Welsh manuscript of the early fourteenth century. Taliesin was very well known for his poetic skill in later medieval Wales, and all sorts of legends sprang up about him attributing to him magic powers, including many poems 'in character' attributed to him, and these poems form the bulk of this text.^[15] The manuscript was given its title in the seventeenth century because of the preponderance of this legendary material within it.

There are eight poems in this manuscript attributed to Taliesin which are dedicated to Urien Rheged and devoid of supernatural or gnomic content. These are categorised as the 'historic' Taliesin poems, together with one poem to Cynan Garwyn, one to Owain ab Urien, and two to Gwallog ap Llênog.^[16] Only one poem of these twelve, "Yspeil Taliessin", is explicitly attributed to Taliesin in the manuscript, but since Taliesin was strongly associated with Urien in later medieval Welsh literature, and the bulk of the content of the manuscript is to do with Taliesin, the attribution has stuck.^[17] The dating of these poems is still hotly debated between those who see the poems as reflecting early material, and those who favour a later date.^[18]

These poems are in sometimes obscure language and do not offer very much in the way of clear biographical information about Urien, though fleeting references to Urien as 'lord of Catraeth' have led to much speculation about his involvement in the Battle of Catraeth.^[19] Much of the place-name evidence of these poems is understood to refer to places in modern-day Cumbria, though Urien is also said to have led battle in the area of the River Ayr, in the Brythonic-speaking kingdom of Strathclyde, and perhaps against the Picts.^[20] He is also recorded as fighting against the English, much like he is said to have done in the Historia Brittonum.^[21] One poem mentions Urien and Owain as having fought one 'Fflamddwyn' (meaning 'flame-bearing'), which has been traditionally identified as a kenning referring to one of Ida's sons, perhaps even Theodric, since Owain ab Urien is praised for killing Fflanddwyn alongside a 'broad host of English' in another poem.^[22] Nevertheless, Urien is far more often mentioned fighting other Britons or the Picts than the English. The two most technically accomplished poems in the corpus are generally taken to be 'Uryen yr echwyd', and 'Gweith argoet llwyfein'.^[23] There is also one dadolwch, or reconciliation-poem, among these poems, implying that Taliesin ran afoul of Urien at some point and was obliged to get back into his good graces.^[24]

Later material

Saga poetry and Canu Urien

Due to his appearance in early poetry and place in the narrative of the Historia Brittonum, Urien became a figure in the later Welsh literature concerning the 'Old North', which functioned as the setting for much medieval Welsh literature. One such piece of literature concerning Urien, or more accurately Urien's sons, is fittingly called the 'Urien Rheged' cycle (Welsh: Canu Urien) by modern scholars, as the poems are concerned with the events in Rheged after the killing of Urien. The poems survive mainly from two Middle Welsh manuscripts, the Black Book of Carmarthen (c. 1250) and the Red Book of Hergest (after 1382). Nevertheless, Canu Urien is traditionally understood to be a copy Old Welsh-period material, dated to around the same period of the Historia Brittonum.^[25] This material is called 'saga poetry' by comparison with Icelandic sagas, both because like the Icelandic material, the Welsh poems are thought to have been taken from longer, partly prose (or oral) works, and because they both might reflect earlier history through a literary lens.

Though one of Urien's allies in the narrative of the Historia Brittonum was Gwallog ap Llênog, he is recorded as having fought against Urien's son Elffin in another one of the poems in this cycle, "Dwy Blaid". Likewise, one Dunod fought with Owain, while Brân ab Ymellyrn and Morgan – the orderer of Urien's killing – fought the narrator.^[26]

The most impactful and moving poems from this cycle are given the titles "Pen Urien" (Urien's Head) and "Celain Urien" (Urien's corpse) by modern scholarship. They relate the immediate aftermath of Urien's killing, with the name of the assassin given in another poem as Llofan Llaw Ddifro.^[27] In "Pen Urien" and "Celain Urien", it is an unnamed companion and relative of Urien who was forced to finish Urien off and strike off his head, with the implication that it was unsafe to carry Urien's entire body home for burial. The narrator laments his fortune that he must leave the body of his caring lord behind and curses his hand for carrying out this grim task.

Canu Urien §§7–27, 'Pen Urien' and 'Celain Urien' (Jesus MS 111)^[28]

"Pen Urien" (Welsh)	English translation	"Celain Urien" (Welsh)	English translation
Penn a borthaf ar [uyn] tu. bu kyrchynat rwng deulu. mab kynuarch balch bieiuu.	I carry a head on my side: he was an attacker between two hosts, the proud son of Cynfarch is he whose it was.	Y gelein veinwen a oloir hediw. a dan brid a mein. gwae vy llaw llad tat owein.	The slender white corpse is being buried today under soil and stones. Alas, my hand, for the killing of Owain's father.
Penn a borthaf ar vyn tu. penn uryen llary llywei llu. ac ar y vronn wenn vran du.	I carry a head on my side, the head of generous Urien – he used to lead a host. And on his white breast is a black raven.	Y gelein ueinwen a oloir hediw. ymplith prid a derw. gwae vy llaw llad vyg keuynderw.	The slender white corpse is being buried today in soil and an oak coffin. Alas, my hand, for the killing of my cousin.
Penn a borthaf mywn vyg crys. penn vryen llary llywyei llys. ac ar y vronn wen vrein ae hys.	I carry a head on my belt, the head of generous Urien – he used to rule a court. And ravens on his white breast consume him.	Y gelein ueinwenn a oloir [hediw] a dan vein a edewit. gwae vy llaw llam rym tynghit.	The slender white corpse is being buried today – under stones it has been left. Alas, my hand, for the fate which was fated for me.
Penn a borthaf ym nedeir. yr yrechwyd oed uugeil. teyrnvron treulyat gennweir.	I carry a head in my hand. He was shepherd over Erechwydd, lord and soldier, a spender of spears.	Y gelein veinwen a oloir [hediw] ymplith prid a thywarch gwae vy llaw llad mab kynuarch.	The slender white corpse is being buried today amidst soil and sods. Alas, my hand, for the killing of the son of Cynfarch.
Penn a borthaf tu mordwyt. oed ysgwyt ar wlat. oed olwyn yg kat. oed cledyr cat kywlat rwyt.	I carry a head on the side of my thigh. He was a shield over the country, a wheel in battle, he was a prop in war, a snare of the enemy.	Y gelein ueinwenn a oloir hediw. dan weryt ac arwyd. gwae vy llaw llad vy arglwyd.	The slender white corpse is being buried today under earth and a standard. Alas, my hand, for the killing of my lord.
Penn a borthaf ar vyg kled. gwell y vyw nogyt y ued. oed dinas y henwred.	I carry a head on my right side – better he alive than in his grave. He was a fortress for the aged.	Y gelein ueinwen aoloir hediw a dan brid athywawt gwae vy llaw llam rym daerawt.	The slender white corpse is being buried today under soil and sand. Alas, my hand, for the fate which has befallen me.
Penn a borthaf o godir. penawc pellynnyawc y luyd [penn] vryen geiryawe glotryd.	I carry a head from the region of Pennawg – his hosts were far-travelling – the head of eloquent and celebrated Urien.	Y gelein veinwenn a oloir hediw. a dan brid a dynat. gwae vy llaw llam rym gallat.	The slender white corpse is being buried today under soil and nettles. Alas, my hand, for the fate which has been brought about for me.
Penn a borthaf ar vy ysgwyd. nym aruollei waratwyd. gwae vy llaw llad vy arglwyd.	I carry a head on my shoulder – shame did not use to receive me – alas, my hand, (for) the striking of my lord.	Y gelein veinwen aoloir hediw a dan brid a mein glas. gwae vy llaw llam rym gallas.	The slender white corpse is being buried today under soil and grey stones. Alas, my hand – it caused my fate.
Penn a borthaf ar vym breich. neus goruc o dir bryneich. gwedy gawr gelorawr veich.	I carry a head on my arm. He made of the Bernicians after battle a burden for biers.
Pen a borthaf o dv Paul pen vrien udd dragonawl a chyd del dydd brawd ni'm tawr	I carry a head from the side of a post, the head of Urien, a warlike lord, and though Judgment Day were to come I do not care.
Penn a borthaf yn aghat vy llaw. llary ud llywyei wlat. penn post prydein ry allat.	I carry a head in the grasp of my hand of a generous lord - he used to lead a country. The chief support of Britain has been carried off.
Penn a borthaf am porthes. neut atwen nat yr vylles. gwae vy law llym digones.	I carry a head which cared for me. I know it is not for my good. Alas, my hand, it performed harshly.
Penn a borthaf o du riw. [ar] y eneu ewynvriw. gwaet gwae reget o hediw.	I carry a head from the side of the hill and on his lips is a fine foam of blood. Woe to Rheged because of this day.
[Ry] thyrvis vym breich ry gardwys vy eis. vyg callon neur dorres penn a borthaf am porthes.	It has wrenched my arm, it has crushed my ribs, it has broken my heart. I carry a head which cared for me.

Urien in other medieval Welsh literature

Urien is mentioned in passing in the Llywarch Hen cycle, poems about the sufferings of his kinsman Llywarch and written with the poet speaking from Llywarch's point of view. They are, like Canu Urien, certainly later than Llywarch and Urien's time. Urien is recorded as supplying Llywarch's last surviving son Gwên with a horn which Llywarch advises Gwên to blow if he needs aid while on guard at night.^[29]

In the mnemonic devices known as the Welsh Triads, intended for poets to recall traditional stories, Urien is mentioned repeatedly. These mostly agree with the testimony of the Historia Brittonum and the other early sources, though there are some references to the later traditions.^[30] Urien is one of the 'Three Armoured Warriors', 'Three battle-rulers', and 'Three Holy Womb-burdens'. The latter gives his mother as Nefyn ferch Brychan Brycheiniog, and his wife as Modron ferch Afallach. Likewise, his killing at the hands of Llofan Llaw Ddifo is one of the 'Three Unfortunate Slaughters'.^[31] There are chronological impossibilities with associating his wife with a daughter of Brychan, however, and Modron is a purely legendary figure, whose first association with Urien is in this triad.^[32] Nevertheless, these show the enduring interest in Urien in the later Middle Ages, and the invention of tradition to satisfy continued regard for his life and deeds.^[33]

As well as Taliesin, Urien was supposed to have employed a poet named Tristfardd (literally 'sad poet'), as recorded in another triad, which calls Tristfardd one of the 'Three Red-Speared Bards'.^[34] Three englynion preserved in a very late manuscript record a story recounting how this Tristfardd secretly courted Urien's wife, and, not recognising the king, sent a disguised Urien to send a message to her. Urien slew Tristfardd for this offence at 'Rhyd Tristfardd', supposed to be in Radnorshire.^[35] This is a late tradition, and runs contrary to the association of Urien with Taliesin and the very strong association of Urien with the North, though it seems probable that this story was affixed to the name of Trisfardd even later than his appearance in the Triads.

Literature about Urien, whether reflecting early material or not, seems to have circulated in more channels than survive to the present. This can be evidenced by the twelfth-century poet Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr's attribution of the 'wrath of Urien' to his patron Owain Cyfeiliog, using the form Urfoën (Middle Welsh: Uruoen).^[36] This reflects an older form of the name *Urbogen which retained the composition vowel also reflected in weakened form in a rendition of Urien's name in the Historia Brittonum, Urbagen.^[37] Kenneth Jackson dated the loss of this vowel to the sixth century in Welsh, and Ifor Williams went so far as to say the trisyllabic form must be reinserted in one of the Taliesin poems to rectify a defect in the metre in a line in one poem.^[38] Assuming Cynddelw did not independently create this form so that he might fill the metre of this line in his own poem, this gives the tantalising suggestion that he was reading sources about Urien which do not survive to us, or that this name survived in a fossilised spoken form as a part of bardic lore.^[39]

Rhys 'FitzUryen' ap Gruffydd

Like many other figures of the Early Middle Ages in Welsh tradition, Urien captured interest well into a millennium after his death. In the sixteenth century, Rhys ap Gruffydd, a grandson of Rhys ap Thomas who greatly aided Henry Tudor at the Battle of Bosworth Field, was disinherited from his grandfather's estates by order of Henry VIII, who instead gave these lands to Walter Devereux. This greatly incensed Rhys, who began a long feud with Devereux, ultimately culminating in the execution of Rhys on charges of treason. Like Henry Tudor, Rhys tried to weaponise political prophecy to gather support for his cause, and he was accused of going by the name 'FitzUryen' (son of Urien) and attempting to gain support to make himself Prince of Wales independent of Henry with the help of James V of Scotland.^[40] Rhys claimed to be a member of the house of Dinefwr, which originated with Rhodri Mawr's son Cadell. Rhodri's ancestry claims an origin from Llywarch Hen, which would make Rhys ap Gruffydd a distant relative of Urien.^[41] As Urien was remembered for his battles against the English, the authorities feared he would be able to capitalise on anti-English sentiment in Wales. Urien's son Owain was associated with ravens in later Welsh literature, and Rhys ap Gruffydd, together with his grandfather Rhys ap Thomas, bore three ravens on their coat of arms, which were called the 'ravens of Urien' by contemporaneous poets.^[42]

Arthurian literature

Geoffrey of Monmouth, drawing on Welsh sources and his own imagination, adapted Urien into Arthurian legend, and made him known across Europe with the explosive popularity of his Historia Regum Britanniae. In Geoffrey's telling, taken on by many following him, Urien is one of three brothers who ruled Scotland before the Saxon invasion – the others being Lot of Lothian, and Augusel. After freeing Scotland, Arthur restored the throne of Alba to Augusel, and made Urien king of Mureif (perhaps Monreith, or Moray). Urien's son Eventus later succeeds Augusel as king of Alba.^[43]

Romances

Urience slain by his own wife Morgane (succeeding here unlike in medieval tellings) in Eric Pape's illustration for Madison Cawein's 1889 poem "Accolon of Gaul"

In the 13th-century Arthurian chivalric romances, the location of his kingdom is transferred to either the Otherworldly and magical Kingdom of Gorre [fr] (Gore) or a much less fantastic Garlot (Garloth). During the reign of Uther Pendragon, Arthur's father, Urien (or Uriens) marries a sister or half-sister of the young Arthur. She is either Morgan or one of the others, such as Hermesan in the Livre d'Artus and Blasine in Of Arthour and of Merlin. Urien, like the kings of several other lands, initially opposes Arthur's accession to the throne after Uther's death. He and the others rebel against the young monarch (with Urien even briefly kidnapping Arthur's wife Guinevere in the Livre d'Artus). Upon their defeat, he is among the rebel leaders become Arthur's allies and vassals. His marriage to Morgan is not portrayed as a happy one, however, as in a popular version from the Post-Vulgate Cycle (later included in Thomas Malory's influential Le Morte d'Arthur) Morgan plots to use Excalibur to kill both Urien and Arthur and place herself and her lover Accolon on the throne. Morgan fails in both parts of that plan, foiled by their own son and by the Lady of the Lake, respectively.

Urien is usually said to be the father of Ywain (Owain) by Morgan, but many texts also give him a second son, Ywain the Bastard, fathered on his seneschal's wife. Welsh tradition further attributes to him a daughter named Morfydd, daughter of Modron.

According to Roger Sherman Loomis, the name and character of another Arthurian king, Nentres of Garlot (in Malory, the husband of Arthur's sister Elaine), could have been derived from that of Urien.^[44] Malory spells Urien's name as Urience of Gore (Gower), which has led some later authors (e.g. Alfred Tennyson) to identify him with Arthur's relentless rival King Rience.

In the Didot-Perceval manuscript of the Perceval en prose (c. 1200), Perceval fights Urbain, son of the Queen of the Black Thorn (Reine de la Noire Espine) and defender of a ford and an invisible castle. Following Urbain's defeat, a flock of monstrous ravens attacks Perceval, who manages to wound one of them which immediately transforms into a beautiful young girl, soon carried off by the other birds to Avalon. Urbain explains that she is the sister of his fairy mistress and her attendants. According to Loomis, the story's Urbain corresponds to Urien, father of Owain (Yvain) and husband of Morgen (Morgan), the latter being the equivalent of the Welsh Modron and the Irish Mórrigan ("Great Queen").^[45][46]

Popular culture

• The [c]awraidd freichiau Urien 'giant arms of Urien' are mentioned in the 1917 awdl 'Yr Arwr' by Hedd Wyn, for which he was awarded the Bardic Chair posthumously in the 1917 National Eisteddfod.
• He is a minor character in Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy.
• He appears as Uryens in John Boorman's film Excalibur (1981), depicted as an enemy lord who becomes Arthur's ally and is the one to knight him. He is ultimately killed by Mordred’s rebellion.
• He is one of the key characters in Melvyn Bragg's novel Credo (1996) (reprinted as The Sword and the Miracle in the USA), a celebration of the Celtic tradition and its fight against the Northumbrian and Roman (Catholic) incursions.

References

1. Flood, Victoria, 'Political Prophecy and the Trial of Rhys ap Gruffydd, 1530–31', Studia Celtica L (2016), pp. 133–150 (138–141)
2. See Rowland, Jenny, Early Welsh Saga Poetry: A Study and Edition of the Englynion (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1990), 'Efrddyl', §30–31; henceforth EWSP
3. This is based upon an obscure reference to the 'Merin Reget' in a thirteenth-century prophecy attributed to Taliesin and an off-hand remark by Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd to an imaginary journey to [[Carlisle|'[C]aer Lliwelyt']] in 'Reged'. See Charles-Edwards, Thomas, Wales and the Britons, 350-1064 (Oxford: University Press, 2013), p. 10. The references in the poems are Dydyccawt eniwet / tra Merin Reget; / perif perchen ket / gwledychawt yn Eluet; / hael hydyr y dylif, / goruawr y gynnif. / Wrth awyr volif / Katwaladyr gweith heinif. 'He will carry suffering beyond the Firth of Rheged; a lord (who is the) owner of gift(s) shall rule in Elfed; a generous one, strong his strategy, mighty his struggle. To the skies shall I praise Cadwaladr, energetic in battle.' See further Haycock, Marged, Prophecies from the Book of Taliesin (Aberystwyth: CMCS Publications, 2013), poem 8, ll. 79-86. For context, see Haycock, Marged, 'Early Welsh Poets Look North', in Woolf, Alex (ed.), Beyond the Gododdin: Dark Age Scotland in Medieval Wales (St Andrews: Committee for Dark Ages Studies, 2013), pp. 9-40, note 32, where it is argued that 'merin Rheged' is paralleled in the mention of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth going 'tra merin' in a poem by Elidir Sais, perhaps an oblique reference to his joining a campaign of King John of England (Llywelyn's overlord and eventual father-in-law) against the Scots in 1209. For the reference by Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd, see Bramley, Kathleen Anne, and Morfydd E. Owen (eds.), Gwaith Llewelyn Fardd I ac eraill o feirdd y ddeuddegfed ganrif (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1994), poem 6, ll. 34-37: Arglwyt nef a llaỽr, Gwaỽr Gwyndodyt, / Mor bell o Geri Gaer Lliwelyt! / Esgynneis ar uelyn o Uaelyenyt / Hyd y nhir Reged rỽg nos a dyt. 'Lord of heaven and earth, Prince of the men of Gwynedd, how far from Ceri [is] Carlisle! I rode on a yellow [horse] from Maelienydd until the land of Rheged, between night and day.'
4. Christopher W. Bruce, The Arthurian Name Dictionary, p. 544. Routledge 2013. ISBN 1136755373, 9781136755378.
5. HG[§8] [U]rbgen map Cinmarc map Meirchia[un] map Gurgust map Coil Hen. On this, see Guy, Ben, Medieval Welsh Genealogy (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2020), chapter 2 for the dating of the genealogies, and p. 335 for Urien's patriline just cited.
6. Guy, Medieval Welsh Genealogy, pp. 66–67.
7. See Jones, Nerys Ann, and Ann Parry Owen (eds.), Gwaith Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr, vol. I, (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1991), poem 5, line 66n, and 24, line 153. Note objections in Parker, Will, 'The Coeling: Narrative and Identity in North Britain and Wales AD 580–950', Northern History 59, pp. 17-21, where it is argued that Urien was a (possibly Pictish!) interloper.
8. See the essays in Dumville, David, Histories and pseudo-histories of the insular Middle Ages, (Aldershot: Variorum, 1990), especially essays I and II. For a recent very critical assessment of the Historia Brittonum, see Parker, Will, 'The Coeling: Narrative and Identity in North Britain and Wales AD 580–950', pp. 2–27.
9. The Historia Brittonum offers no dates of its own for Urien's life, and scholars cannot date the death of Theodric with certainty. The reckoning of reigns of Bernician rulers from the text implies his rule ended at 579, but his successor, Hussa of Bernicia, does not appear in Northumbrian sources, implying that he may have been a pretender. The next king all sources agree on is Æthelfrith, who took the throne c. 593, and so Urien could have died as late as this. See Jackson, Kenneth H., Language and History in Early Britain (Edinburgh: University Press 1953) pp. 707–708, Lovecy, Ian, 'The end of Celtic Britain: a sixth-century battle near Lindisfarne', Archaeologia Aeliana, Series 5, vol. 4, pp. 31–45 doi:10.5284/1060643, and David Dumville, in a lecture to Cylch yr Hengerdd, Oxford, May 20, 1978.
10. Morris, John (ed. and tr.) Nennius: British History and the Welsh Annals (London: Phillimore, 1980), prologue, §63; henceforth HB. See Jackson, Kenneth H., 'On the northern British section in Nennius', in Nora K. Chadwick (ed.), Celt and Saxon: studies in the early British border (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1963) 20–62 (33).
11. Morris (ed.), HB §63.
12. Parker, Will, 'The Coeling: Narrative and Identity in North Britain and Wales AD 580–950', Northern History 59, pp. 2–27 (19–20).
13. Morris (ed.), HB §62. It is not that Taliesin would have been only active for twelve years, but this is when it is said he was famed for poetry.
14. While associated with the Romantic idea of the 'bard' for many hundreds of years now, one finds this occupation among Romans as well, e.g. Sidonius Apollinaris' panegyric to Avitus, or Venantius Fortunatus' praise-poems to various Merovingian dynasts, all in Latin.
15. For an edition and translation of these, see Haycock, Marged, Legendary Poems from the Book of Taliesin (Aberystwyth: CMCS Publications, 2007), and Haycock, Marged, Prophecies from the Book of Taliesin (Aberystwyth: CMCS Publications, 2013)
16. See Williams, Ifor (ed.), and Caerwyn Williams, J. E. (trans.),The Poems of Taliesin (Dublin: Institute for Advanced Studies, 1968), pp. xiv–xxiii, henceforth PT.
17. For the enduring association of Taliesin with Urien, see, e.g. the reference to them made by Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr in the twelfth century: Ny bu warthlef kert Kynuerching werin / O benn Talyessin, bartrin beirtrig 'The verse of the host of the Cynferching was not derisive from the mouth of Taleisin, [who had] the poetic learning of the company of bards'. The 'Cynferching' were the descendants of Cynfarch Oer, Urien's father, so this is an allusion to Urien. See Jones, Nerys Ann, and Ann Parry Owen (eds.), Gwaith Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr, vol. I, (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1991), poem 24, ll. 153–154n.
18. See Rodway, Simon, Dating Medieval Welsh Literature: Evidence from the Verbal System (Aberystwyth: CMCS Publications, 2013), p. 14, for an overview of the different positions on these poems. Only the poems edited in Williams (ed.), PT, as nos. II and VI have been rejected as authentic to an early period on linguistic grounds, though not without objections.
19. Williams (ed.), PT II ll. 1–2, VIII, l. 9. For the implications of this, see, e.g. Koch, John T. (ed. and tr.) The Gododdin of Aneirin: Text and Context from Dark-Age North Britain (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1997), pp. xiv–vi, xxv–xxxiv, and throughout. Koch argues that Urien was the leader of the opposing force to those memorialised in Y Gododdin, together with Gwallog.
20. Williams (ed.), PT II l. 6n, VII, l. 12, VII, l. 22
21. Williams (ed.), PT III, l. 9
22. Williams (ed.), PT VI, ll. 3–19, IX, l. 11–14. For the identification of Fflamddwyn with a son of Ida, see p. lxi.
23. Williams (ed.), PT III, PT VI
24. Williams (ed.), PT IX. The dadolwch was practiced by Welsh poets who offended their patrons well into the late Middle Ages, where we find plenty of examples.
25. Jenny Rowland, essentially following the arguments of Ifor Williams set down a half-century prior, dates Canu Urien to the late eighth century to mid ninth. See Rowland, EWSP, pp. 388–389.
26. Rowland, EWSP, 'Dwy Blaid'
27. Rowland, EWSP, Canu Urien §45, for Llofan.
28. Text and translation taken from Rowland, EWSP, pp. 420–422, 477–478.
29. Rowland, EWSP, 'Gwên and Llywarch', §10
30. See Bromwich, Rachel (ed. and tr.) Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain, fourth ed. (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2014), §6, §25, §70, henceforth TYP.
31. Bromwich, TYP §33
32. Bromwich, TYP pp. 197–198
33. Despite what one might find in earlier scholarship, and reams of sources online, there is no good reason to claim that these stories about character such as Modron reflect some kind of older, pagan connection, as the names which appear to be survivals from pre-Christian religion do not necessarily bear any relation to their pagan forebears. Take, for example, the name Llywelyn, which is *Lugu-belinos, two pagan gods smashed together, but a name given to perfectly ordinary and historic men, and devoted Christians, too. See Rodway, Simon, 'The Mabinogi and the shadow of Celtic mythology', Studia Celtica 52 (2018), pp. 67–85; for Llywelyn, see Jackson, Kenneth H., Language and History in Early Britain (Edinburgh: University Press 1953) p. 414. In the Middle Ages, it appears that people just associated these names with great antiquity, and so recycled them for use in stories about their legendary past, of which Urien plays a part.
34. Bromwich, TYP §11
35. Bromwich, TYP pp. 507–508
36. Jones, Nerys Ann, and Ann Parry Owen (eds.), Gwaith Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr, vol. I, (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1991), poem 16, line 97
37. Morris (ed.), HB, preface
38. Kenneth H. Jackson, Language and History in Early Britain (Edinburgh: University Press 1953), pp. 647–648, PT II, l. 32n, p. xxxvii.
39. Andrews, Celeste L. 'What Did Cynddelw Know About the Old North?' Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium 39 (2019), pp. 39–52 (43–44)
40. Flood, Victoria, 'Political Prophecy and the Trial of Rhys ap Gruffydd, 1530–31', Studia Celtica L (2016), pp. 133–150
41. However, it appears that Rhys claimed direct descent from Urien, perhaps a confusion on the part of later tradition. Note that other, similarly late medieval families claimed descent from Urien's sons, see Bartrum, Peter, Welsh genealogies AD 300–1400 (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1974), 11, 51, etc.
42. Bromwich, TYP, pp. 468–470, 512.
43. Bromwich, TYP, p. 511.
44. Loomis, Roger Sherman. "Some Names in Arthurian Romance" in Proceedings of the Modern Language Association, Volume 45, Number 2, pp. 416–443. Cambridge University Press, June 1930. "A king whose name appears in the Vulgate Cycle frequently as Uentres or Nentres was derived from the name Urien, borne originally by a king of the Britons of Strathclyde in the seventh century. Besides the test of an established transmission that derivation can be supported by two other tests: a community of relationships between Urien and Uentres, and an explanation of the latter corrupt form. According to the Huth Merlin, Morgain is given in marriage to Urien of Garlot; according to the English Merlin, Morgan, a bastard daughter of Ygerne, is given to Neutre of Sorhaut. (...) Urien is king of Garlot in the Huth Merlin, and of Gore in Malory, but Sorhaut is a city within his borders. So marked an equation of Urien and Uentres as husbands of Morgain and as lords of Garlot and Sorhaut should suggest a confusion between the names."
45. Roger Sherman Loomis, "More Celtic Elements in Gawain and the Green Knight." The Journal of English and Germanic Philology 42 (1943), pp. 173-174.
46. Roger Sherman Loomis, "The Combat at the Ford in the Didot Perceval." Modern Philology 43 (1945), pp. 65-71.