Arthurian TW Preview 18th April: Picts and Gododdin
PICTS & GODODDIN
Today our fourth preview features the great kingdom of the Picts, and their neighboors, the Britons of Gododdin - the land of Cunedda Wledig, Gwalchmai (also known as Gawain) and Mynyddawg.
Picts
The creation of the Picts is largely conjecture. It is simply unknown the full story of how the Picts came to be, though when and why does occur. When the Romans conquered and annexed portions of Britain, many British nobles took their armies, their families, and their loyal retainers, who did likewise, and fled north, into the isolated lands of Caledonia. Some settled in the south, but many went further, ultimately settling in the distant highlands, seemingly without much contestation from the local Caledonian tribes. The Irish record vague dealings with the early Picts, include helping them establish a confederated authority, but the validity of such claims is spotty; all the same, it did not stop such claims even as late as the renaissance. In any event, the Picti came about, and were divided into seven kingdoms that ruled much of what is now Scotland.
According to Pictish legend, there was once a king named Cruithne, son of Cing. Cruithne reigned for one hundred years, and had seven sons, who were named Fibb, Fidach, Fotla, Fortriu, Cat, Ce and Circind. When Cruithne died, his kingdom was split into seven regions, each one given to one of his sons. This is clearly affected by the Gaels; Cruithne is itself a Gaelic word for 'Picts', and is what they referred to both the pre-Gaelic inhabitants of Ireland and Scotland as. However, the seven kingdoms did exist, and were recognized as the seven ruling principalities of the Picts by both themselves and their nieghbors.
Of paramount importance in this series of events, though, are the kingdoms of Cat, or Caithness, and Fibb. These two kingdoms would take control over near all of Pictland, likely by way of a combination of the Picts' matrilineal succession and war. The Picts followed lines of succession through their mothers rather than fathers. Legendarily, this is because the kings of Pictland were given wives by the Irish king Niall, but demanded the Picts follow lines of succession through their mothers, to ensure they always had a king of Gaelic descent. The interrelation of all Pict kings meant they were all eligible to inherit rule of one another's kingdoms, and ultimately Fibb came to rule all of the lowlands of Pictland, and Cat controlled most of the highlands.
It is unknown when exactly the two fell under control of a single king, though it may have been as early as Argentocoxos, but he may have only been king of Fibb. However, Drust mhic Yrp ascended the throne in 413 AD, and was king of both north and south. After his heir Talorg died, his younger brother Nectan Morbet mhic Yrb Mawr (the great) came to power. Nectan was possibly the first Christian ruler of Pictland. This fact may have laid the groundwork for the coming split between north and south. Nectan supposedly had to put down a number of pagan revolts in the north. Both his heir, Drust Guorthinmoc, and then Galan Arilith had to deal with similar religious revolts.
To curb such revolts, when Galan Arilith died, Drust mhic Udrost and Drust mhic Gyrom ruled jointly, one in the north, and one in the south, as one was a pagan and the other a Christian, though which was which is unknown. However, it is known Drust mhic Gyrom ruled a united Pictland for 5 years, but when he died, the kingdom was split between Fibb and Cat, though the official split would not occur until Drust mac Manaith died, presumably of the yellow plague, in 552 AD.
The history of the south is actually far spottier than the history of the isolated north. The succession of kings is largely lost. It is known that Brudei mhic Maelgwyn briefly ruled the south in addition to his rule as king of the north, through the puppet king Galam Cennelath. A little under a century after Galam's death in 580 AD, Northumbrians under Oswiu invaded Fibb, and killed the king possibly named Talorn. Fibb was conquered but for the land of Fife. Brudei mac Billi, king of Cat, recovered the south for the Picts.
The north was then ruled by the pagan king Brudei mhic Maelgwyn, son of the king of Gwynedd. He met Saint Columba, who freely converted and served numerous individuals in Cat's kingdom, including two of his sons. In 573 AD, he personally led his army to victory over a Dal Riadan invasion, and eventually commanded a brief vassalage of the Dal Riada. His heirs prepared to take control of the lands of Fibb, now under Anglo-Saxon rule, and in 667, began a war with Northumbria. The king Drust mac Donnel was defeated in battle against Ecgfrith, and was deposed by a rival claimant, Brudei mac Billi, who killed Ecgfrith in battle. Brudei defeated a massive Anglo-Saxon army at Nechtansmere, where he slaughtered the mass, and personally killed Ecgfrith, and proceeded to enslave or slaughter Northumbrians who inhabitted the region. His heir Taran was weak, and was deposed by Brude of Derelei, who became king of a once more united Pictland in 697 AD.
King Brude of the noble house Derelei was a powerful king, exerting his might to demand vassalage of both Dal Riada and Strathclyde briefly, though this was rescinded on his death. Nechtan mac Derile succeeded him, and brought the local church into union with Rome. In 737, a war with Dal Riada began under King Angus. Angus recieved aide from the kingdom of Ulaid, the northern Ui Neill, who had lost a few territories in Ireland to the Dal Riada. Angus defeated them in both Caledonia and Ireland, giving the territories in Ireland to Ulaid, and rendering Dal Riada in Caledonia as a province of Pictland, with his brother Talorgan being installed as chief.
Talorgan and Angus attempted then to conquer Strathclyde in 750 AD, and further expand the holdings of Pictland. A good initial campaign ended suddenly when Talorgan was killed in battle, most gruesomely as he was severed in two by a champion from Strathclyde, but not before he killed King Tewdur of Strathclyde. The Britons maintained the field though, while the Pictish army was broken and fled into the north. Angus, in revenge for the death of his brother launched a new campaign six years later, with aide from Northumbria. Again, the campaign started well, nearly capturing Dunbarton, but in an unrecorded battle outside of Dunbarton, the Northumbrians and Picts were slaughtered, and Angus had to flee back to Pictland with only a small entourage.
Dal Riada escaped the grasp of Pictish rule in a revolt in 768 AD, funded by Ulaid, who were fearful of a Pictish invasion. In 839 AD, King Eoganan of Pictland died in battle with vikings. Inheritance of rule, in an amount of irony, left the king of Dal Riada, Cinaed mac Alpin, ruler of much of Pictland, though the north remained under Pictish rule, until 'Mac Alpin's Treason' in 848 AD. In 841 AD, the Dal Riadan war with the Picts was at an apex, and Cinaed earned the title of 'Raven Feeder' for slaughtering countless Picts in excellently orchestrated battles. Cinaed invited his cousin, Drest mac Fethal, king of the northern Picts, and the remaining Pictish nobles to his palace at Scone, to discuss peace in 848 AD. Cinaed was one of the nobles who had a legal claim to the throne of the Picts. Every other heir was isolated with him at his capitol at Scone, where, in unknown circumstances, they were all murdered. The last Pictish king was dead, and Cinaed mac Alpin became the king of most of what is now the northern two-thirds of Scotland, though much was under control of vikings in reality. Pictish rebellions occured sporadically, but no Pictish kingdom would ever rule again, and their culture would eventually be worn out of existence under the weight of Gaelic and Norse influences in the north.
Preface to all British factions
See our Dyfneint preview.
Gododdin
Gododdin, like Alcluyd, has an amount of fame because it never fully fell under Roman rule. It was originally ruled by the Votadini tribe, which fell on both the south and northern side of the Antonine Wall. The kingdom's original Caledonian name was likely closer to 'Goutodin', from which originated the Latinized name of the tribe; the Votadini. Goutodin soon after would become Gododdin, and refered to by some others as Lotottin, referring to 'King Lot's Folk', from which came 'Lothian'.
The post-Roman kingdom of Gododdin probably formed out of Coel Hen's kingdom of Northern Britain, taking most of the ancient Votadini territories, though it never maintained the southernmost reaches of this territory, with the south terminating around Berwick. Only once Coel Hen's kingdom had dissolved after his death are their any lists of kings. The portion of the kingdom that fell outside of Gododdin was the land of Manaw, or 'Manaw Goutodin', and from this came the new kingdom's first ruler, Cunedda Wledig; Cunedda was not called king though, only protector, as he was a vassal.
Cunedda was an enterprising and intelligent individual, uniting the majority of the Votadini under his rule. With the lands united, Cunedda installed his son, Typaun ap Cunedda, as 'protictoris', or 'protector', and went into the south, where he founded Gwynedd. However, even now, they were not indepedent, and these 'kings' were probably more akin to regional governors, being ruled from Ebruac, but by around 470 AD, Gododdin was effectively indepedent. King Lot Lwyddog, first true king of Gododdin, ruled his kingdom indepedently in 470 AD, from Traprain Law, and was descended from King Caratacus, the pre-Roman ruler of Britain, refered to in this period as Caradog, or High King Guiderius, who had ruled all of Britain south of Brigantia, and maybe had extracted vassalage from Brigantia as well.
Gododdin, for a brief period, exercised political clout, and eventually was united very briefly with Bernicia, under Morcant Bulc. Morcant became king after, however, Gwalchmai Gwalltafwyn, also potentially known as the legendary knight Gawain. Gwalchmai potentially was the king who established additional offices at the capitol Din Eidyn, and more at Traprain Law, giving the kingdom two capitols, to help it resist invasion, and likely installed Morcant as king of Bernicia, and pressured the nobles to elect him as the tanist; the elected heir of a Celtic society; in an attempt to unite the two kingdoms.
However, such unity was a temporary event, and Bernicia fell to the Angles, and open war occured between the two. This dragged on for many years, until finally, Din Eidyn fell to the Northumbrians, and Bernicia swiftly overran the kingdom. It was ruled directly until 671, with massive Anglo-Saxon land settlements in the region, followed by the kingdom of Dunbar forming. This came about when Oswiu died, where Northumbria was suddenly weakened, and local pride created this sub-kingdom, ruled by Anglo-Saxon sub-kings, several of which were killed by Picts.
When Northumbria was overrun by the kingdom of York, the region may have briefly been fully indepedent again, but the northern border soon became part of Alba, and the remainder became part of York, then the early, pre-Norman kingdom of England. Around 980 AD, the territories steadily fell under Scottish rule, as mixed blood Gaelo-Saxons took control of the region. When England became ruled by Normans, any remaining Gaelo-Saxon nobles abandonned the new Norman king, William, and swore fealty to the king of the 'Scots', as they would soon be called due to the huge amount of Saxon subjects that it absorbed in this process.
And now, the Pictish warriors, followed by two new briton units.
PICTISH UNITS
Infantry
Gairlom
'Those who carry spears'
Most Pictish warriors are portrayed as fighting with bucklers and shields, almost certainly unarmoured. These men are the basic levies of tribal warriors, and while the Picts were renowned as fierce warriors, they cannot be expected to stand for long against professional troops. Nevertheless, deployed correctly they can be useful warriors, especially if their abilities to hide and run like the wind are exploited correctly.
Gairmorlom
Pictish warriors sometimes seem to have been trained in the use of a long spear, almost a pike, and to fight in a dense formation perfectly suited to resisting enemy cavalry charges. These men are only freemen, and so cannot be expected to stand and fight if the situation is desperate, but they can be expected to hold their formation and give any enemy that tries a frontal attack more than a bloody nose!
Ludodaoer
'Swordsmen'
Only the wealthy could afford a fine sword and the time to practice with it, and so these warbands are drawn from the rich elite of society – the sons of nobles or wealthy freemen. They fight without protection other than their bucklers, but are nevertheless deadly, not least because being unencumbered they can run at speed and hide to ambush their enemies. They do particularly well when supported by the spears of the schiltrons.
Gai Aurmahr
'Spear masters'
These elite Pictish warriors are drawn from the finest of the kingdom’s warriors. Though they are equipped like their poorer brethren with spears and shields, they wear helms and mail shirts, making them a sturdy force on the battlefield, and one to be feared by enemy cavalry. Of course, their armour means that they are not so quick or agile as the lighter troops, but are more useful for holding important parts of the battle line.
Aumue Boai
Famously, some Picts in pagan times went into battle skyclad, trusting in their own skill to protect them from injury. Though such times are now over, the practice has not entirely died out in the lands of the Picts, and some warriors still choose to show their bravery by fighting naked. These men are fanatically brave as well as being fast and brutal on the attack.
Light Infantry
Dim
'Youths'
Boys too young to stand in the battle line and fight the enemy face to face would learn the ways of war by accompanying their fathers and brothers and supporting them with a hail of javelins. They are ill equipped and their morale is brittle, but then they should not be engaged in hand to hand combat at all, but rather should use their superior speed to stay out of the way of the enemy while their javelins wreak havoc.
Elbharu
Pictish huntsmen may have been called up in times of war to provide their kings with a force of useful skirmishers, armed as they were with a form of crossbow, the Roman manuballista. While probably never present in great numbers their skills at hunting and hiding in their misty homeland would have made them useful scouts with which to threaten the flanks of the enemy or pick off important men.
Saiogdaoer
'Bowmen'
Picts seem to have only seldom raised units of archers for use on the battlefield, but the few that they do have are skilled at finding their mark and ambushing their enemies. Though they will quickly be surrounded and overwhelmed in hand to hand combat, these men are skilled enough to strike only when the enemy least expects it, and to escape swiftly when they get too close for comfort.
Cavalry
Marchan
The Picts were exceptional horsemen, and were exceedingly proud of their horses. Their noblemen fight as light cavalry with their bands of armed retainers who are fed and housed at their expense. They are well able to serve both as skirmishers, peppering the enemy with javelins and as a powerful force of cavalry when they charge in with their spears. Their light armour is compensated for by their skill and speed.
Mormaers
The Mormaers are the rulers of Pictish society, and they are supported in battle by noble warbands from their own household, consisting of sons, cousins and hostages from other chieftains, as well as picked warriors from their own lands. They fight as heavy cavalry, armoured in chain mail and hurling their javelins before charging home with their spears to devastating effect.
GODODDIN UNITS
Aumabellu
AoR Gododdin
Described by the early historians of Alba as 'among the finest spearmen in Britain', the Aumabellu use longspears and tight formations to absorb enemy charges and bring down cavalry with ease. Their superior armor compared to most spearmen allows them to stand and fight longer, and their experience ensures high morale and ability to withstand enemy attack for a long period of time.
Rhyfelwyr
"Warrior"
Constant in fighting between the petty kingdoms of post-Roman Britain and skirmishes with the English led to the Britons becoming accustomed to war, they became a “jack of all trades”, perfectly suited to irregular warfare. Carrying a powerful bow, that could pin a horseman’s leg to his horse, a large sword and a small round shield, the prominent tactics of the Britons were to ambush the enemy, pepper them with arrows and then charge in for the kill.
Marca Contwn
The Romans, who occupied Britain before the Arthurian period, recruited soldiers from all over their empire. Part of the Roman garrison in Britain was from Sarmatia whose heavy cavalry was of a very high quality. Some historians theorise that Arthur and his knights were actually Sarmatian horse-warriors themselves. The naturally skilled horsemen of the Sarmatian steppes heavily influenced British cavalry, inspiring some soldiers to fight as an almost Carbon-copy of them. They had a long lance-like spear, the 'Contus', which, due to its length, meant they wore their sheilds on their backs. They were also wore heavy armour, and so were a very effective heavy shock cavalry.
A battle between Picts and Britons from Gododdin on North Britain coast.
The team is made of :
Agraes - project leader & historical research - skinner - mapper
Ian_of_Smeg - mapping & historical research - traits
Ranika - historical research - gaelic specialist
Thrashaholic - historical research - briton specialist
Vortigern - historical research - briton specialist
Spongly - historical research - saxon and pictish specialist
Blindfaithnogod (of the Byzantium TW team) - skinner/modeler
Hross - historical research - germanic specialist
Kscott - mapper/skinner
Alcibiades of Athens - skinner/modeler
Professor S - symbol maker, skinner
Favre - skinner
Zhuge_Liang - skinner/modeler
Sher Khan - concept artist
Shrimpy - 3D animator
Uranos - mapper
Pinarius - skinner/modeler
Kaweh K. - 2D art
Publius - 2D art
Hader102 - 2D art
Special thanks to :
- Atheist Peace who make us a space on the Imperium forums
- BDH who give us a great map_heights of Britain
- Lusted and Atilla Reloaded for let us use their amazing Late Romans skin packs
- Dust for his gallic saddle model
- Pinarius for allowing us to use his wonderful horses
- Webbird for giving us the right to use his awesome celtic skins
- Promotheus for his spear blade models
- The Stranger for his unit layout
A great thanks to Attila Reloaded especially for this preview - as you can see his models and skins were very helpful for doing Picts!
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