Battle of Alclud Ford

Infobox Military Conflict


caption=
conflict=Battle of Alclud Ford
partof=
date="c."580
place=Ford of Alt Clut, Strathclyde
result=British victory
combatant1=Rheged
combatant2=Bernicia
commander1=Urien map Cynfarch, Owain mab Urien
commander2=Theodulf or Frithuwolf of Bernicia
strength1=
strength2=
casualties1=Unknown
casualties2=Bernician king killed

The Battle of Alclud Ford was fought in "c."580 at an unknown fordMorris, John. "The Age of Arthur" AS Edition Phoenix 2004 ISBN 1-824212-477-3 p234] near Alt Clut, the original name for Dumbarton Rock which could also used for the whole of the kingdom of Strathclyde in modern Scotland. It is known from two poems in the Book of Taliesin.

According to Taliesin the Anglian king Ulph "came with violence on his enemies" and was met in battle and killed by Urien map Cynfarch, King of Rheged (probably Cumbria and/or Galloway), and his son Owain mab Urien, as noted in two separate poems. The Bernician attack would have been faced by spear and javelin armed horsemen, who made up the bulk of the Rhegedian warriors [Nicolle, David. "Arthur and the Anglo-Saxon Wars" Osprey Publishing 2006 ISBN 0-85045-548-0 p18] , whilst the Bernicians themselves would have primarily consisted of infantry as was the standard for Anglo-Saxon warriors of the period [Harrison, Mark. "The Anglo-Saxon Thegn AD 449-1066" Osprey Publishing 1993 ISBN 1-855532-349-4 p12] . Ulph was probably one of the sons of King Ida of Bernicia, most likely Theodulf [Ashely, Mike. "The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens" New York: Carroll & Graff 1998 ISBN 0-7967-0692-9 p274] , which puts the battle at "c."574 or "c."590, or potentially Frithuwolf, also known as Freothulf or Frithuwald, which would put the Alclud Ford at "c."580.

The battle was fought at a time when Rheged was at its ascendancy, and the armies under Urien and Owain were the most powerful in the north.

References

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/branwaedd/t18.html A rumour has come to me from Calchvynyd, Book of Taliesin XVIII]
* [http://www.geocities.com/branwaedd/t36.html Song for Urien, Book of Taliesin XXXVI]