Culhwch and Olwen
Culhwch and Olwen is a Welsh tale that survives in only two manuscripts about a hero connected with Arthur and his warriors: a complete version in the Red Book of Hergest, ca. 1400, a fragmented version in the White Book of Rhydderch, ca. 1325. It is the longest of the surviving Welsh prose tales; the prevailing view among scholars was that the present version of the text was composed by the 11th century, making it the earliest Arthurian tale and one of Wales' earliest extant prose texts, but a 2005 reassessment by linguist Simon Rodway dates it to the latter half of the 12th century. The title is a invention and does not occur in early manuscripts. Lady Charlotte Guest included this tale among those. Besides the quality of its storytelling it contains several remarkable passages: the description of Culhwch riding on his horse is mentioned for its vividness, the fight against the terrible boar Twrch Trwyth has antecedents in Celtic tradition, the list of King Arthur's retainers recited by the hero is a rhetorical flourish that preserves snippets of Welsh tradition that otherwise would be lost.
Culhwch's father, King Cilydd son of Celyddon, loses his wife Goleuddydd after a difficult childbirth. When he remarries, the young Culhwch rejects his stepmother's attempt to pair him with his new stepsister. Offended, the new queen puts a curse on him so that he can marry no one besides the beautiful Olwen, daughter of the giant Ysbaddaden Pencawr. Though he has never seen her, Culhwch becomes infatuated with her, but his father warns him that he will never find her without the aid of his famous cousin Arthur; the young man sets off to seek his kinsman. He finds him at his court in Celliwig in Cornwall. Arthur agrees to help, sends six of his finest warriors to join Culhwch in his search for Olwen; the group meets some relatives of Culhwch's that agree to arrange a meeting. Olwen is receptive to Culhwch's attraction, but she cannot marry him unless her father agrees, he, unable to survive past his daughter's wedding, will not consent until Culhwch completes a series of about forty impossible-sounding tasks.
The completion of only a few of these tasks is recorded and the giant is killed, leaving Olwen free to marry her lover. The story is on one level a typical folktale, in which a young hero sets out to wed a giant's daughter, many of the accompanying motifs reinforce this. However, for most of the narrative the title characters go unmentioned, their story serving as a frame for other events. Culhwch and Olwen is much more than a simple folktale. In fact, the majority of the writing is taken up by two long lists and the adventures of King Arthur and his men; the first of these occurs when Arthur welcomes his young kinsman to his court and offers to give him whatever he wishes. Culhwch, of course, asks that Arthur help him get Olwen, invokes some two hundred of the greatest men, dogs and swords in Arthur's kingdom to underscore his request. Included in the list are names taken from Irish legend and sometimes actual history; the second list includes the tasks Culhwch must complete before Ysbaddaden will allow him to marry Olwen.
Only a fraction are recounted. A version of the longest episode, the hunt for the boar Twrch Trwyth, is referenced in Historia Brittonum and it may be related to the boar hunt in the Irish stories of Diarmuid Ua Duibhne; the rescue of Mabon ap Modron from his watery prison has numerous parallels in Celtic legend, the quest for the cauldron of Diwrnach the Irishman may well be related to the tales of Bran the Blessed in the second branch of the Mabinogion and the poem The Spoils of Annwn in the Book of Taliesin linking it to the Grail Quest. Writers and Tolkien scholars, Tom Shippey and David Day have pointed out the similarities between The Tale of Beren and Lúthien, one of the main cycles of J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Culhwch and Olwen; the British painter/poet David Jones wrote a poem called "The Hunt" based on the tale of Culwhch ac Olwen. A fragment of a larger work, "The Hunt" takes place during the pursuit of the boar Twrch Trwyth by Arthur and the various war-bands of Celtic Britain and France.
In 1988 Gwyn Thomas released a retelling of the story, Culhwch ac Olwen, illustrated by Margaret Jones. Culhwch ac Olwen won the annual Tir na n-Og Award for Welsh language nonfiction in 1989. A shadow play adaptation of Culhwch and Olwen toured schools in Ceredigion during 2003; the show was supported by Theatr Felinfach. The tale of Culhwch and Olwen was adapted by Derek Webb in Welsh and English as a dramatic recreation for the reopening of Narberth Castle in Pembrokeshire in 2005; the Ballad of Sir Dinadan, the fifth book of Gerold Morris's The Squire's Tales series, features an adaptation of Culhwch's quest. Bromwich. Rachel and Evans, D. Simon Culhwch and Olwen: An Edition and Study of the Oldest Arthurian Tale University of Wales Press, 1992. ISBN 0-7083-1127-X. Patrick K. Ford and Olwen, from The
Guinevere
Guinevere written as Guenevere or Guenever, is the wife and queen of King Arthur in the Arthurian legend. Guinevere has been portrayed as everything from a villainous and opportunistic traitor to a fatally flawed but noble and virtuous lady, she has first appeared in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, a pseudo-historical chronicle of British history written in the early 12th century, continues to be a popular character in the modern adaptations of the legend. In the medieval romances, one of the most prominent story arcs is Queen Guinevere's tragic love affair with her husband's chief knight and friend, indirectly causing the death of Arthur and many others and the downfall of the kingdom; this story first appeared in Chrétien de Troyes's Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart and became a major motif in the Lancelot-Grail of the 13th century, carrying through the Post-Vulgate Cycle and Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. The original Welsh form of the name Gwenhwyfar, which seems to be cognate with the Irish name Findabair, can be translated as "The White Enchantress" or "The White Fay/Ghost", from Proto-Celtic *Windo- "white, holy" + *sēbarā "magical being".
Some have suggested that the name may derive from Gwenhwy-fawr, or "Gwenhwy the Great", as a contrast to Gwenhwy-fach, or "Gwenhwy the less". Gwenhwyfach appears in Welsh literature as a sister of Gwenhwyfar, but Welsh scholars Melville Richards and Rachel Bromwich both dismiss this etymology. Geoffrey of Monmouth rendered her name as Guanhumara in Latin; the name is given as Guennuuar in the Vita Gildae, while Gerald of Wales refers to her as Wenneuereia. In the 15th-century Middle Cornish play Bewnans Ke, she was called Gwynnever; the 15th-century English author Thomas Malory wrote her name as Gwenyvere. A cognate name in Modern English is Jennifer, from Cornish. In one of the Welsh Triads, there are three Gwenhwyfars married to King Arthur; the first is the daughter of Cywryd of Gwent, the second of Gwythyr ap Greidawl, the third of ogrfan Gawr. In a variant of another Welsh Triad, only the daughter of Gogfran Gawr is mentioned. There was once a popular folk rhyme known in Wales concerning Gwenhwyfar: "Gwenhwyfar ferch Ogrfan Gawr / Drwg yn fechan, gwaeth yn fawr."Welsh tradition remembers the queen's sister Gwenhwyfach and records the enmity between them.
Two Triads mention Gwenhwyfar's contention with her sister, believed to be the cause of the Battle of Camlann. In the mid-late 12th-century Welsh folktale Culhwch and Olwen, she is mentioned alongside Gwenhwyfach. Guinevere is childless in most stories, the exceptions being Perlesvaus and Parzival and the Alliterative Morte Arthure. In the latter text, Guinevere willingly becomes Mordred's consort and bears him two sons, although the dying Arthur commands Mordred's children to be killed. There are mentions of Arthur's sons in the Welsh Triads. Other family relations are obscure. A half-sister and a brother play the antagonistic roles in the Lancelot–Grail and the German romance Diu Crône but neither character is mentioned elsewhere. While literature always named Leodegrance as Guinevere's father, her mother was unmentioned, although she was sometimes said to be dead; some works name cousins of note, though these do not appear more than once. The earliest datable mention of Guinevere is in Geoffrey's Historia, written c.
1136. It relates that Guinevere, described as one of the great beauties of Britain, was descended from a noble Roman family and educated under Cador, Duke of Cornwall. Arthur leaves her in the care of his nephew Modredus when he crosses over to Europe to go to war with the Roman leader Lucius Tiberius. While her husband is absent, Guinevere is seduced by Modredus and marries him, Modredus declares himself king and takes Arthur's throne. Arthur returns to Britain and fights Modredus at the fatal Battle of Camlann. Early texts tend to portray her inauspiciously or hardly at all. One of them is Culhwch and Olwen, in which she is mentioned as Arthur's wife Gwenhwyfar, but little more is said about her, it can not be securely dated. The works of Chrétien de Troyes were some of the first to elaborate on the character Guinevere beyond the wife of Arthur; this was due to Chrétien's audience at the time, the court of Marie, Countess of Champagne, composed of courtly ladies who played social roles. Authors use her good and bad qualities to construct a deeper character who plays a larger role in the stories.
In Chrétien's Yvain, the Knight of the Lion, for
Common Brittonic
Common Brittonic was an ancient Celtic language spoken in Britain. It is variously known as Old Brittonic and Common or Old Brythonic. By the sixth century AD, this language of the Celtic Britons had split into the various Neo-Brittonic languages: Welsh, Cornish and the Pictish language. Common Brittonic is a form of Insular Celtic, descended from Proto-Celtic, a hypothetical parent language that, by the first half of the first millennium BC, was diverging into separate dialects or languages. There is some evidence that the Pictish language may have had close ties to Common Brittonic, might have been either a sister language or a fifth branch. Evidence from Welsh shows a great influence from Latin on Common Brittonic during the Roman period, so in terms related to the Church and Christianity, which are nearly all Latin derivatives. Common Brittonic was replaced in most of Scotland by Middle Irish and south of the Firth of Forth by Old English. Brittonic was replaced by English throughout England.
O'Rahilly's historical model suggests the possibility that there was a Brittonic language in Ireland before the arrival of Goidelic languages there, but this view has not found wide acceptance. O'Rahilly's model seems to be supported by the presence of Belgic tribes in Ptolemy's maps. No documents written in Common Brittonic have been found, but a few inscriptions have been identified; the Bath curse tablets, found in the Roman reservoir at Bath, contain about 150 names, about half of which are undoubtedly Celtic. There is an inscription on a metal pendant discovered in 1979 in Bath, which seems to contain an ancient Brittonic curse: Adixoui Deuina Deieda Andagin Uindiorix cuamenai or maybe Adixoui Deiana Deieda Andagin Uindiorix cuamiinai The affixed – Deuina, Andagin, Uindiorix – I have bound An alternative translation taking into account case marking is: May I, Windiorix for/at Cuamena defeat the worthless woman, oh divine Deieda. There is a tin/lead sheet with part of 9 lines of text; this seems to contain Brittonic names.
British toponyms are another type of evidence, recorded in Latinised forms by Ptolemy's Geography. The place names of Roman Britain were discussed by Rivet and Smith in their book of that name published in 1979, they show. Some English place names still contain elements derived from Common Brittonic; some Brittonic personal names are recorded. Tacitus' Agricola noted. Comparison with what is known of the Gaulish language suggests a close relationship with Brittonic. Pritenic is a modern term, coined to label the language of the inhabitants of prehistoric Scotland during Roman rule in southern Great Britain. Within the disputed P-Celtic vs. Q-Celtic division of the Celtic languages, "Pritenic" would thus be either a sister or daughter language of Common Brittonic, both deriving from a common P-Celtic language spoken around the 1st century BC; the evidence for the language consists of place-names, tribal names and personal names recorded by Greek and Latin writers in accounts of northern Britain.
These names have been discussed by Kenneth H. Jackson, in The Problem of the Picts, who considered some of them to be Pritenic but had reservations about most of them. Katherine Forsyth reviewed these names and considers more of them to be Celtic, still recognizing that some names of islands and rivers may be pre-Indo-European; the rarity of survival of Pritenic names is due to Dál Riatan and Norse settlement in the area. The dialect position of Pritenic has been discussed by Koch, their conclusions are that Common Brittonic had split by the 1st century. The Roman frontier between Britannia and Pictland is to have increased the split. By the 8th century, Bede considered Welsh/British to be separate languages. Common Brittonic was used with Latin following the Roman conquest of Britain in 43 AD, at least in major settlements. A number of Latin words were borrowed by Brittonic speakers; the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain during the 6th century marked the beginning of a decline in the language, as it was replaced by Old English.
Some Brittonic speakers migrated to Galicia. By 700, Brittonic was restricted to North West England and Southern Scotland, Wales and Devon, Brittany. In these regions, it evolved into Cumbric, Welsh and Breton, respectively; the early Common Brittonic vowel inventory is identical to that of Proto-Celtic. /ɨ/ and /ʉ/ have not developed yet. Notes: The central mid vowels /ə/ and /ɵ̞/ were allophonic developments of /i/ and /u/, respectively. Through comparative linguistics, it is possible to reconstruct the declension paradigms of Common Brittonic: Notes: The dative dual and plural represent the inherited instrumental forms, which replaced the inherited dative dual and plural, from Proto-Celtic *toutābom, *toutābos. Notes: Neuter 2nd declension stems deviate from the paradigm as such:Notes: Dual is same as singular All other declensions same as regular 2nd declension paradigm Common Brittonic survive
Brut y Brenhinedd
Brut y Brenhinedd is a collection of variant Middle Welsh versions of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Latin Historia Regum Britanniae. About 60 versions survive, with the earliest dating to the mid-13th century. Adaptations of Geoffrey's Historia were popular throughout Western Europe during the Middle Ages, but the Brut proved influential in medieval Wales, where it was regarded as an accurate account of the early history of the Celtic Britons. Geoffrey's Historia Regum Britanniae purports to narrate the history of the Kings of Britain from its eponymous founder Brutus of Troy to Cadwaladr, the last in the line. Geoffrey professed to have based his history on "a certain ancient book" written in britannicus sermo which he had received from Walter of Oxford, it became one of the most popular works in the medieval West, but its impact was profound and enduring in Wales, where the Historia was accepted as a authentic and authoritative account. The influence is most evidenced by the existence of several translations into Welsh from the 13th century onwards known as Brut y Brenhinedd.
The manuscript history of these texts is a rich and long one attesting to the production of several translations and new redactions, most of which were copied many times over. The Welsh renderings are not straightforward translations in the modern sense, but by contemporary standards, they are close to their Latin source text, with only some commentary or additional material from bardic traditional lore appended to the text. Several manuscripts include a version of the tale known as Lludd and Llefelys inserted in the segment about Lludd Llaw Eraint. One notable area in which Welsh translators have corrected or adapted Geoffrey based on native traditions is that of personal names and sobriquets. Geoffrey's "Hely", for instance, was substituted for Beli Mawr, an ancestor figure who appears in Branwen ferch Llŷr and elsewhere in Middle Welsh literature. There are about sixty attestations of the Welsh Brut in the manuscripts. Brynley F. Roberts, citing J. J. Parry and his own examination of the texts, places all the existing versions into six variant classes: 1) Dingestow MS. 2) Peniarth 44, 3) Llanstephan 1, 4) Peniarth 21, 5) Cotton Cleopatra B. v, 6) the Brut Tysilio.
1. The Brut in NLW, Llanstephan MS 1, is a close translation of Geoffrey's Historia. 2. The Brut in NLW, Peniarth MS 44; this text becomes more condensed towards the end, omitting Merlin's prophecy in the process on stated grounds that it lacks credibility. Yet it has the distinct quality of being the first Brut to incorporate the tale Llefelys. 3. Brut Dingestow, now in MS Aberystwyth, NLW 5266, once appears to have been in MS 6 of the Dingestow court collection, may have originated in Gwynedd. Again, the text is a faithful translation, aided by its occasional reliance on Llanstephan MS 1. Of these three texts, it is Llanstephan MS 1 and Brut Dingestow which came to provide the textual basis for many of the copies attested in other MSS from the 13th century onwards, such as Mostyn MS 117 and NLW Peniarth MS 16. Red Book of Hergest redaction. A revised version from south Wales, was produced which follows the Dingestow version up to the end of Merlin's prophecy, continues with the Llanstephan 1 version.
Copied in numerous MSS, this conflated version is most famously represented by the text in the Llyfr Coch Hergest or Red Book of Hergest. In most every manuscript, it is preceded by the Ystorya Dared, i.e. a Welsh translation of the De Excidio Troiae ascribed to Dares Phrygius, followed by the Brut y Tywysogion. In this way, the text is made the central piece in a world history extending from the Trojan War up to events close to the redactors' own time, it seems that the Ystorya Dared, which has no independent existence in the manuscripts, was specially composed to serve as its prologue. 4. The Brut in NLW Peniarth MS 23 and elsewhere, a fresh and close translation of Geoffrey's Historia. 5. The Brut in BL Cotton Cleopatra B. v, NLW MS 7006 and elsewhere, appears to have circulated in north-east Wales. It represents a freer and more piquant version than was attempted and draws on some extraneous material, notably Wace's Roman de Brut and a Latin chronology. In the manuscripts, it is sandwiched between the Ystorya Dared and the Brenhinoedd y Saeson, a version of the Brut y Tywysogyon which incorporates material from English chronicles.
Included is a condensed version of the Lludd and Llefelys tale. This Brut is the version used for the Welsh historical compilation attributed to the late 15th-century poet Gutun Owain, as well as for the Brut Tysilio. 6. Brut Tysilio. Oxford, Jesus College MS 28, transcript from Jesus College MS 61 made by Hugh Jones in 1695; the version known as the Brut Tysilio, attributed to the 7th-century Welsh saint Tysilio, became more known when its text was published in The Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales, a once-influential collection of Welsh literary material whose credibility has suffered due the involvement of the antiquarian forger Iolo Morganwg, in 1801-1807. The editors did not place much faith in the attribution to Tysilio, using that title to distinguish it from another Welsh Brut entitled Brut Gruffudd ap Arthur (the chronicle of Geoffrey son of Arthur, an alternative name for Geoffrey o
Historia Regum Britanniae
Historia regum Britanniae called De gestis Britonum, is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the kings of the Britons over the course of two thousand years, beginning with the Trojans founding the British nation and continuing until the Anglo-Saxons assumed control of much of Britain around the 7th century, it is one of the central pieces of the Matter of Britain. Although taken as historical well into the 16th century, it is now considered to have no value as history; when events described, such as Julius Caesar's invasions of Britain, can be corroborated from contemporary histories, Geoffrey's account can be seen to be wildly inaccurate. It remains, however, a valuable piece of medieval literature, which contains the earliest known version of the story of King Lear and his three daughters, helped popularise the legend of King Arthur. Geoffrey starts the book with a statement of his purpose in writing the history: "I have not been able to discover anything at all on the kings who lived here before the Incarnation of Christ, or indeed about Arthur and all the others who followed on after the Incarnation.
Yet the deeds of these men were such that they deserve to be praised for all time." He claims that he was given a source for this period by Archdeacon Walter of Oxford, who presented him with a "certain ancient book written in the British language" from which he has translated his history. He cites Gildas and Bede as sources. Follows a dedication to Robert, earl of Gloucester and Waleran, count of Meulan, whom he enjoins to use their knowledge and wisdom to improve his tale; the Historia itself begins with the Trojan Aeneas, who according to Roman legend settled in Italy after the Trojan War. His great-grandson Brutus is banished, after a period of wandering, is directed by the goddess Diana to settle on an island in the western ocean. Brutus lands at Totnes and names the island called Albion, "Britain" after himself. Brutus defeats the giants who are the only inhabitants of the island, establishes his capital, Troia Nova, on the banks of the Thames; when Brutus dies, his three sons, Locrinus and Albanactus, divide the country between themselves.
The story progresses through the reigns of the descendants of Locrinus, including Bladud, who uses magic and tries to fly, but dies in the process. Bladud's son Leir reigns for sixty years, he has no sons, so upon reaching old age he decides to divide his kingdom among his three daughters, Goneril and Cordelia. To decide who should get the largest share, he asks his daughters. Goneril and Regan give extravagant answers, but Cordelia answers and sincerely. Goneril and Regan are to share half the island with their husbands, the Dukes of Albany and Cornwall. Cordelia marries Aganippus, King of the Franks, departs for Gaul. Soon Goneril and Regan and their husbands rebel and take the whole kingdom. After Leir has had all his attendants taken from him, he begins to regret his actions towards Cordelia and travels to Gaul. Cordelia restores his royal robes and retinue. Aganippus raises a Gaulish army for Leir, who returns to Britain, defeats his sons-in-law and regains the kingdom. Leir rules for three years and dies.
They imprison Cordelia. Marganus and Cunedagius divide the kingdom between themselves, but soon quarrel and go to war with each other. Cunedagius kills Marganus in Wales and retains the whole kingdom, ruling for thirty-three years, he is succeeded by his son Rivallo. A descendant of Cunedagius, King Gorboduc, has two sons called Ferreux and Porrex, they quarrel and both are killed, sparking a civil war. This leads to Britain being ruled by five kings. Dunvallo Molmutius, the son of Cloten, the King of Cornwall, becomes pre-eminent, he defeats the other kings and establishes his rule over the whole island. He is said to have "established the so-called Molmutine Laws which are still famous today among the English". Dunvallo's sons and Brennius, fight a civil war before being reconciled by their mother, proceed to sack Rome. Victorious, Brennius remains in Italy. Numerous brief accounts of successive kings follow; these include Lud. Lud is succeeded by his brother, Cassibelanus, as Lud's sons Androgeus and Tenvantius are not yet of age.
In recompense, Androgeus is made Duke of Kent and Trinovantum, Tenvantius is made Duke of Cornwall. After his conquest of Gaul, Julius Caesar looks over the sea and resolves to order Britain to swear obedience and pay tribute to Rome, his commands are answered by a letter of refusal from Cassivellaunus. Caesar sails a fleet to Britain, but he is overwhelmed by Cassivellaunus's army and forced to retreat to Gaul. Two years he makes another attempt, but is again pushed back. Cassivellaunus quarrels with one of his dukes, who sends a letter to Caesar asking him to help avenge the duke's honour. Caesar besieges Cassivellaunus on a hill. After several days Cassivellaunus offers to make peace with Caesar, Androgeus, filled with remorse, goes to Caesar to plead with him for mercy. Cassivellaunus pays tribute and makes peace with Caesar, who
Cumbria
Cumbria is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's county town is Carlisle, in the north of the county, the only other major urban area is Barrow-in-Furness on the southwestern tip of the county; the county of Cumbria consists of six districts and in 2008 had a population of just under half a million. Cumbria is one of the most sparsely populated counties in the United Kingdom, with 73.4 people per km2. Cumbria is the third largest county in England by area, is bounded to the north by the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders, to the west by the Irish Sea, to the south by Lancashire, to the southeast by North Yorkshire, to the east by County Durham and Northumberland. Cumbria is predominantly rural and contains the Lake District National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site considered one of England's finest areas of natural beauty, serving as inspiration for artists and musicians.
A large area of the southeast of the county is within the Yorkshire Dales National Park while the east of the county fringes the North Pennines AONB. Much of Cumbria is mountainous, it contains every peak in England over 3,000 feet above sea level, with Scafell Pike at 3,209 feet being the highest point of England. An upland and rural area, Cumbria's history is characterised by invasions and settlement, as well as battles and skirmishes between the English and the Scots. Notable historic sites in Cumbria include Carlisle Castle, Furness Abbey, Hardknott Roman Fort, Brough Castle and Hadrian's Wall; the county of Cumbria was created in April 1974 through an amalgamation of the administrative counties of Cumberland and Westmorland, to which parts of Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire were added. During the Neolithic period the area contained an important centre of stone axe production, products of which have been found across Great Britain. During this period stone circles and henges began to be built across the county and today'Cumbria has one of the largest number of preserved field monuments in England'.
While not part of the region conquered in the Romans' initial conquest of Britain in 43 AD, most of modern-day Cumbria was conquered in response to a revolt deposing the Roman-aligned ruler of the Brigantes in 69 AD. The Romans built a number of fortifications in the area during their occupation, the most famous being UNESCO World Heritage Site Hadrian's Wall which passes through northern Cumbria. At the end of the period of British history known as Roman Britain the inhabitants of Cumbria were Cumbric-speaking native Romano-Britons who were descendants of the Brigantes and Carvetii that the Roman Empire had conquered in about AD 85. Based on inscriptional evidence from the area, the Roman civitas of the Carvetii seems to have covered portions of Cumbria; the names Cumbria, Cymru and Cumberland are derived from the name these people gave themselves, *kombroges in Common Brittonic, which meant "compatriots". Although Cumbria was believed to have formed the core of the Early Middle Ages Brittonic kingdom of Rheged, more recent discoveries near Galloway appear to contradict this.
For the rest of the first millennium, Cumbria was contested by several entities who warred over the area, including the Brythonic Celtic Kingdom of Strathclyde and the Anglian kingdom of Northumbria. Most of modern-day Cumbria was a principality in the Kingdom of Scotland at the time of the Norman conquest of England in 1066 and thus was excluded from the Domesday Book survey of 1086. In 1092 the region was incorporated into England; the region was dominated by the many Anglo-Scottish Wars of the latter Middle Ages and early modern period and the associated Border Reivers who exploited the dynamic political situation of the region. There were at least three sieges of Carlisle fought between England and Scotland, two further sieges during the Jacobite risings. After the Jacobite Risings of the eighteenth century, Cumbria became a more stable place and, as in the rest of Northern England, the Industrial Revolution caused a large growth in urban populations. In particular, the west-coast towns of Workington and Barrow-in-Furness saw large iron and steel mills develop, with Barrow developing a significant shipbuilding industry.
Kendal and Carlisle all became mill town, with textiles and biscuits among the products manufactured in the region. The early nineteenth century saw the county gain fame as the Lake Poets and other artists of the Romantic movement, such as William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, lived among, were inspired by, the lakes and mountains of the region; the children's writer Beatrix Potter wrote in the region and became a major landowner, granting much of her property to the National Trust on her death. In turn, the large amount of land owned by the National Trust assisted in the formation of the Lake District National Park in 1951, which remains the largest National Park in England and has come to dominate the identity and economy of the county; the county of Cumbria was created in 1974 from the traditional counties of Cumberland and Westmorland, the Cumberland County Borough of Carlisle, along with the North Lonsdale or Furness part of Lancashire referred to as "Lancashire North of
River Camel
The River Camel is a river in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It rises on the edge of Bodmin Moor and with its tributaries its catchment area covers much of North Cornwall; the river flows into the eastern Celtic Sea between Stepper Point and Pentire Point having covered about 30 miles. The river is tidal upstream to Egloshayle and is popular for sailing and fishing; the name Camel comes from the Cornish language for'the crooked one', a reference to its winding course. The river was divided into three named stretches. Heyl was the name for the estuary up to Egloshayle, the River Allen was the stretch between Egloshayle and Trecarne, whilst the Camel was reserved for the stretch of river between its source and Trecarne; the River Camel rises on Hendraburnick Down on the edge of Bodmin Moor, an area which forms part of the granite spine of Cornwall. The river's course is through upper and middle Devonian rocks, predominantly the Upper Delabole Slates, Trevose Slates and Polzeath Slates that stretch to the coast, although Pentire Head is composed of pillow lavas.
The only active quarry in the River Camel catchment area is at Delabole and there has been mining for lead and silver on Pentire Head, building stone at various locations. Further inland mines surrounding the Camel and its tributaries produced tin, lead and iron. Several small China Clay pits operated in the 19th century around Blisland; the source of the Camel is at 218 metres above sea level and it has an average incline of 7m/km. The upper reaches of the Camel and its tributaries are moorland giving way to woodland and farmland, predominantly livestock; this means that 64.8% of the catchment is grassland, with a further 14.8% arable land and 12.9% woodland. Of the remaining 7.4%, 4.5% is through urban or built-up areas, 2.7% is mountain and bog and the remainder is inland waters. The Camel's catchment area covers 413 km2 on the western side of Bodmin Moor, is Devonian slates and granite, with some shales and sandstones. Water volumes are affected by the reservoir at Crowdy Marsh, by abstraction of water for public supply, by effluent from the sewage system around Bodmin.
Data collected by the National Water Archive shows that water flow in the River Camel for 2006 was below average. This correlates with reduced rainfall between the months of June and September. Data from 2013 and 2014 shows below average annual flow but with points of higher that average flow during Winter; the next five and a half miles beside the broadening Camel to Padstow is the most beautiful train journey I know The Camel Estuary stretches from Wadebridge downstream to the open sea at Padstow Bay. The quays at Wadebridge are now developed with retail space on the west bank. North of the quays, the river passes under a concrete bridge carrying the A39 bypass and past the disused Vitriol Quay. Downstream of Burniere Point the valley widens on the right with acres of salt marsh where the River Amble flows in. Here the Cornwall Birdwatching and Preservation Society has hides on both sides of the river; the main river follows the western side of the valley, while on the eastern side a barrage prevents the rising tide from entering the River Amble.
Downstream from the Amble, an adit can be found on the foreshore below Dinham Hill, only accessible from the foreshore at low tide, the remains of Wheal Sisters copper mine. Cant Cove lies on the east bank below the rotting ribs of a ship project from the mud. Opposite Cant Hill on the west bank is Camel Quarry, the piles of waste rock visible above the river with the remains of a quay visible at low water. From here the mud gives way to sand and Gentle Jane, named after a legendary lady who treated the ills of all comers. From Porthilly Cove on the east bank, the estuary swings to the north. On the west bank, the Camel Trail crosses the triple-span “Iron Bridge” over Little Petherick Creek passes below Dennis Hill and its obelisk; the fishing port of Padstow stands on the west bank from where the Black Tor Ferry carries people across the river to Rock. The mouth of the Camel lies between Stepper Point on the west and Pentire Point on the east, each headland shelters sandy beaches. On the west side of the estuary, Tregirls beach is protected by Stepper Point.
At the northern end of Tregirls beach is Harbour Cove and between here and Hawker's Cove evidence has been found of occupation during the Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman periods, use of Harbour Cove for trading vessels. In 1827, Padstow Harbour Association chose Hawker's Cove as the location for the Padstow lifeboat. Operations were taken over by the RNLI in 1856. A new lifeboat station and slipway were built in 1931 and a second lifeboat stationed at Hawker's Cove; the station closed in 1962. The building is now converted to residential use. Beyond Hawkers Cove, the Doom Bar extends across the estuary; the sandbank has been the graveyard of many ships. A legend as to how the Doom Bar came about describes how a local fisherman is reputed to have shot a mermaid with an arrow, with the result that she cursed Padstow by putting the sandbar between the harbour and the sea. On the east side of the estuary, the village of Rock is centre for sailing, dinghy racing and marine leisure. From Rock and intertidal sands extend north as far as Brea Hill.
Beyond Brea Hill is Daymer Bay with a
