Battle of Catterick

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Catraeth


caption=
partof=
date=c. 600
place=Catterick, North Yorkshire
result=
combatant1=Votadini
combatant2=Angles
commander1=
commander2=
strength1=
strength2=
casualties1=
casualties2=

The Battle of Catterick, also known as the Battle of Catraeth, was fought by Votadini circa 600 to resist the advance of Angles. The battle was immortalized in the poem "Y Gododdin".

Sir Ifor Williams in his "Canu Aneirin" first published in 1938 interpreted "mynydawc mwynvawr" in the text of "Y Goddodin" to refer to a person, Mynyddog Mwynfawr in modern Welsh. Mynyddog, in his version, was the king of the Gododdin, with his chief seat at "Din Eidyn" (modern Edinburgh). Around the year 600 Mynyddog gathered about 300 selected warriors, some from as far afield as Gwynedd. He feasted them at Din Eidyn for a year, then launched an attack on "Catraeth", which Williams agrees with Thomas Stephens in identifying as as Catterick in North Yorkshire, which was in Anglo-Saxon hands. They were opposed by a larger army from the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Deira and Bernicia. [Williams, pp. xxiii-xlviii.]

The battle at Catraeth has been seen as an attempt to resist the advance of the Angles, who had probably by then occupied the former Votadini lands of Bryneich in modern north-eastern England and made it their kingdom of Bernicia. At some time after the battle, the Angles absorbed the Gododdin kingdom, possibly after the fall of their capital "Din Eidyn" in 638, and incorporated it into the kingdom of Northumbria.

This interpretation has been accepted by most modern scholars. Jackson accepts the interpretation but suggests that a force of 300 men would be much too small to undertake the task demanded of them. He considers that the 300 mounted warriors would have been accompanied by a larger number of foot soldiers, not considered worthy of mention in the poem. [Jackson, pp. 13-18.] Jarman also follows Williams' interpretation. [Jarman, pp. xxi-xxiv.]

Historical fiction

* John James used the "Y Gododdin" of Aneirin as the basis for his novel "Men went to Cattraeth" (originally published 1969).
* Rosemary Sutcliff's young adult novel, "The Shining Company", tells the story of the Battle of Catterick from the viewpoint of Prosper, shieldbearer to one of King Mynydogg's Gododdin warriors.

External links

* [http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsBritain/BritainGoutodin.htm Post-Roman Celtic Kingdoms - Goutodin (Votadini/ Gododdin/ Lothian)]
* [http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/skyelander/celts11.html Ancient Celtic Warriors: Britons Battle Anglo-Saxons]
* [http://www.heretical.com/British/gododdin.html Heroism at the dawn of time: The Gododdin]

Notes