At all events it is clear that the author of the entries in the Historia Brittonum knew of ancient British poets. Neirin and Taliessin are only two out of five names recorded by him, the rest apparently being altogether unknown from other sources[161]. It is true that he places all these persons about a generation before Urien and Rhydderch Hen, but chronological accuracy is hardly to be expected in references to such a remote period. Certainly we should note that the last British king mentioned in these entries is a certain Cadafael (Catgabail Catguommed), who is said to have escaped alone from the battle in which Penda was killed (A.D. 655). The wording of this passage (§ 65) seems rather to suggest acquaintance with a poem on the subject.
We have seen now that the persons and events celebrated in the poems belong to a period extending roughly from 500 to 650 and that there are ancient records of famous British poets, who are referred to the earlier part of this period and of whom two are traditionally associated with the poems. Next we must notice that the poems themselves, even in the corrupt and often unintelligible form in which they are preserved, plainly show all the marks of Stage I of our scheme. Their characteristics are those of court-poetry, but they never attain to true narrative. For analogies to the poems which deal with Urien we can hardly do better than turn to the court-poetry of the Viking Age (cf. pp. [15] f., [91]); for the Gododin poems perhaps the best parallels are to be found in the Battle of Maldon and the Story of Igor's Expedition, though in both the latter the narrative element is much more fully developed. Taking all the evidence into account, it seems to me that the choice lies between two alternatives: either the poems really are works of Stage I, which have survived from the Heroic Age itself, or they are exceedingly clever imitations of such works, composed at a time when the latter were still in existence. The decision between these two alternatives must of course be left to experts. In the meantime we shall be ready to admit that the poems are extremely corrupt, and that in some cases perhaps we have nothing more than disjecta membra of earlier pieces. But until conclusive evidence is brought forward it seems to me highly improbable that the original poems have been entirely lost[162].
The history of Cumbrian heroic poetry is easily intelligible when taken in connection with the national history. It is probable enough that on the withdrawal of the legions large portions of the country were occupied by northern Britons from beyond the Wall—who are represented in tradition by Cunedda and his sons[163]. These were doubtless affected by Roman influence to a very much less degree than the inhabitants of the province; and the growth of heroic poetry during the sixth century may be satisfactorily accounted for by the wealth and prosperity which would naturally accrue to their princely families during the early days of their dominion. It was probably not until the time of Aethelfrith that their power was really broken. But the following half century was a most disastrous period, ending in the permanent obliteration of their nationality—in a political sense—throughout the whole region between the Dee and the Clyde. Any records which survived must owe their preservation, ultimately at least, to refugees who escaped into the Welsh highlands.
Now we can see why so many place-names (Reged, Catraeth and dozens of others) are incapable of identification. But further, the conditions in Wales, the poorest and probably the most backward part of the province, were doubtless highly unfavourable to the development of heroic poetry. Under such conditions we should expect that narrative poems would rapidly disintegrate into the semblance of folk-tales; and it may be that here we have the explanation of the medieval stories of Arthur. At all events they show a certain resemblance to the Russian stories of Vladimir and his heroes. But Arthur, as we have seen, belongs to the beginning of the Heroic Age. We have no evidence for the composition of poems, which can properly be called narrative, dealing with the later heroes. Here the original type of poem seems to have become stereotyped—presumably because conditions favourable to development were no longer present. The only marvel is that so much has been preserved.
FOOTNOTES:
[157] Tunc Dutigirn in illo tempore fortiter dimicabat contra gentem Anglorum, tunc Talhaern Tataguen in poemate claruit, et Neirin et Taliessin et Bluchbard et Cian, qui uocatur Gueinth Guaut, simul uno tempore in poemate Britannico claruerunt.
[158] De rege Roderco, filio Tothail, qui in Petra Cloithe regnauit.
[159] It is possibly worth noting that the Irish annals record a battle between Oswio and the Britons in the same year as Domnall Brecc's death; cf. Skene, Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, pp. 70, 348.
[160] This view is favoured by Prof. Anwyl in his Prolegomena to the Study of Old Welsh Poetry (Trans. of the Hon. Soc. of Cymmrodorion, 1903-4), p. 7 f.
[161] It has been suggested that Bluchbard (cf. p. [106], note) may be a corruption of the name Llywarch. Certainly the form Neirin (which is thought to be due to a misunderstanding of aneirin as et neirin) seems to show that the scribe himself had no knowledge of Aneirin.