Yon Gododdin

Yon Gododdin (Welsh pronunciation: [godoðin]) wer a Brittonic folk o nor-eastren Breetain (east lallans o Scotland an nor-east o Ingland) efter the end o Roman Breetain. It wiz yan o the kinrick o the aurie kent tae the Welsh as 'Yr Hen Ogledd' or yon auld nor. Yon Gododdin are weel kent cause o the epic 6t-centurie Welsh poetry named 'Y Gododdin', which recaws the Battle o Catraeth (modren Catterick in Ingland) an is credited tae a bard frae a keengie courts, Aneirin or Neirin.

The name 'Gododdin' is the modren Welsh form; it cums fae Auld Welsh 'Guotodin' an some believe hither fae the aulder Brittonic leid wird 'Votadini', which wiz mentioned in written werks fae the Roman period.

Kinrick

The borders o the kinrick o the Gododdin urney kent but thay cud o extendit fae Stirlingshire tae the kinrick o Bryneich (Bernicia), an includin what's noo Lothian an Borders. Gododdin wis bounded on the wast bi the Brittonic Kinrick o Strathclyde an, tae the north, bi the Picts. Them whae dwelt aroond Clackmannanshire war kent as the Manaw Gododdin. Accordin tae tradeetion, local kings o this period did bide at Traprain Law an Din Eidyn (Edinburgh, still kent as Dùn Éideann in Scottish Gaelic), an probably at Din Baer (Dunbar) an aw.

Cunedda, legendary founder o the Kinrick o Gwynedd in nor Wales, is meant tae hae bin a Manaw Gododdin warlord whae quit Gododdin an migrated tae Wales in the 5t century.

Later history

In the 6t century, Bryneich wis invaded bi the Angles an became kent as Bernicia. The Angles then kept pressin nor. Aboot 600 yon Gododdin levied aboot 300 tae hammer the Angles o Catraeth, noo Catterick, nor Yorkshire. The battle, wis memorialized in the poem Y Gododdin an went badly fir the kinrick o Gododdin.

In 638, Din Eidyn, noo Edinburgh, fell tae the Angles o Bernicia. Whither the folk o Gododdin war killt, fleed or adoptit Auld Inglis isney kent. Bernicia joint wi Deira tae acome Northumbria, an bi 954 wis conquered bi the Danish Kinrick o Jorvik (York). The Kinrick o Yorvik came intae Inglis haunds suin efterward until 1018 when Malcolm II made it pairt o Scotland doon tae the Tweed.

References

• Ian Armit (1998). Scotland's Hidden History (Tempus [in association wi Historic Scotland]) ISBN 0-7486-6067-4
• Kenneth H. Jackson (1969). The Gododdin: The Oldest Scottish poem (Edinburgh: Varsity Press)
• Stuart Piggott (1982). Scotland Afore History (Edinburgh: Varsity Press) ISBN 0-85224-348-0
• W. J. Watson (1926, 1986). The History o the Celtic Place-Names o Scotland: bein the Rhind lectures on archaeology (expanded) delivered in 1916. (Edinburgh, Lunnon: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1926; Edinburgh: Birlinn, 1986, reprint edition). ISBN 1-874744-06-8
• Skene, William Forbes (1869), The Gododdin Poems, Forgotten Beuks (published 2007), pp. 108, ISBN 1605061670, http://books.google.com/?id=bZ6ytxW0EwwC, retrieved 2008-08-09