Initially, Leeds might not seem the most obvious place to host a conference on Celtic cultures: it is, after all, in England, and even the briefest survey of Western European history will demonstrate the fact that Celtic cultures have hardly had an unproblematic relationship with English politics. But in fact, the contemporary counties of Yorkshire were themselves the geographical location of several significant manifestations of this problematic in the first millennium of the Common Era. In order to understand the dynamics involved in this, we have to remember that English expansion into Britain (through the previously Continental Germanic tribes known as Angles, Saxons, or Jutes) only really began to have a marked affect from around 500 CE - prior to that, before and during the Roman occupation, the vast majority of Britain was populated by myriad tribes speaking languages which were the forerunners of modern Welsh (excepting the North of Scotland, populated by the Picts).
Prior to the Roman occupation, the area around Leeds itself was populated by a tribe called the Loides (hence ‘Leeds’), while what is now West Yorkshire was the main Northern home of the Brigantes, a tribal name which links to the Celtic goddess Brigantia (often associated with the Gaelic goddess Bride, and her christianised form of St. Bridget, or Ffraid in Welsh). Other deities with local associations included Dôn (Danu in Irish), the great Mother goddess of Celts throughout Europe, commemorated in the name of the River Don (running through Sheffield, and along Elmet’s Southern borders), and the goddess Verbeia, from whom it is claimed the name of the River Wharfe derives. In fact, Verbeia may have been a Continental import, brought in by a cohort of the Roman army stationed at Ilkley (Olicana) which was made up from the Celtic Gaulish tribe of the Lingones.
After the collapse of the Roman Empire, and around the time of the English expansion from the Eastern seaboard of Britain, Leeds was within a Celtic, Welsh-speaking kingdom known as Elmet (or Elfed), a name which is retained today in the modern parliamentary constituency of the same name on the North-Eastern side of the city, and the adjacent Eastern towns of Sherburn-in-Elmet and Barwick-in-Elmet. In general, Elmet was part of a system of Celtic nations which included: Rheged, on the North-Western side of modern England and extending into the South-Western side of modern Scotland; Ystrad Glud, more-or-less around the modern Mid-Western Scottish region of Strathclyde, with its capital at Din Brython, or modern Dumbarton; and Gododdin, covering the South-East of modern Scotland, with its capital normally thought to have been at Din Eidyn, or modern Edinburgh. In the old Welsh texts, all of these nations came under the general heading of Y Gwyr y Gogledd, or ‘The Men of the North’.
Aneirin’s Y Gododdin, (c.600 CE) the first surviving major bardic poem written in a dialect of Welsh (Cumbrian, or Northern Old Welsh) recounts the major battle which lead to the downfall of Y Gwyr y Gogledd, including Gododdin itself, but also ultimately Elmet. Aneirin here recounts the assembly of the Gododdin and various other Celtic tribes at the hall of Mynyddog Mwynfawr in Edinburgh, their march South into the Saxon kingdom of Deira (Eastern Yorkshire), and their engagement of the Deiran Saxons and the Bernician (Northumbrian) Angles at Catraeth (modern Catterick in North Yorkshire - to this day, the site of an English army garrison). At that time, the leader of Elmet was Gwallawg ap Lleenawg, although the only identifiably-named warrior from Elmet mentioned by Aneirin is Madog Elfed, described as ‘adwythig sgwydog’, or a deadly shield-bearer (see stanza above). It has also been suggested that Aneirin was Gwallawg’s nephew, being the son of the latter’s sister, Dwywai. However, given that Y Gododdin makes no mention of Gwallawg, this may simply be conjecture, even if there is a certain appeal in making Aneirin either native to or connected with Elmet.
Ultimately, though, the Gododdin’s attempt to halt English expansionism
at Catraeth had tragic results, and according to Aneirin, only three survivors
of the Celtic army left the field alive. Shortly after, the English
expanded Northwards and Westwards, leaving Strathclyde as the only significant
Northern Cymric nation for the next few centuries. Elmet itself fell
to Edwin of Northumbria, who defeated Gwallawg’s son, Ceredig, in 617 CE.
From that time on, much of the upper classes of Elmet - the nobility, clergy,
druids, bards, and so forth - would have moved westwards, particularly
into North Wales, much as their compatriots from Strathclyde were forced
to do in the centuries to come.
Other Websites of Potential Interest:
NB.: these sites are produced independently of the Celtic Cultures
Conference
Barwick-in-Elmet Historical Society (including articles published in The Barwicker)
Tony Cox, “The Ancient Kingdom of Elmet”, The Barwicker, no.39
Barwick-in-Elmet Historical Society Maps
Biographies of The Kings of Elmet
Elmet General Election Result,
May 1997