DescriptionThe Cottonian Chronicle for the year 1075 notes:
bellum candubr inter filios kadugaun et inter res et rederch qui uictores fuerunt (Gough-Cooper c397.1).
Translation: the battle of Camddwr between the sons of Cadwgan, and Rhys and Rhydderch who were victorious (Remfry, 210).
The Brutiau provides the names of the sons of Cadwgan:
Ac yna y bu y vrwydr yg Kamdwr rwg Goronw a Llywelyn, meibon Kadwgawn, a Charadawc vab Gruffud gyt ac wynt, a Rys vab Ywein a Ryderch vab caradawc. A Goronw a Llewelyn a oruuwyt, a Charadawc y gyt a rei hyny (Jones, 28).
Translation: And then was the battle in the Camddwr between Goronwy and Llywelyn, sons of Cadwgan, and Caradog ap Gruffudd along with them, and Rhys ab Owain and Rhydderch ap Caradog. And Goronwy and Llywelyn were defeated, and Caradog along with them (Jones, 29).
The River Camddwr runs from SN 755 601, through Blaen Camddwr, past Soar y Mynydd and into the Llyn Brianne reservoir. Before the reservoir was built it joined the Towy at SN 806 499. In 1808 Meyrick suggested that the event took place at Rhyd y Meirch (SN 7744 5598) (Meyrick, 268), but anywhere along the length of this river could be a possible site.
RCAHMW (Battlefields Inventory), Dec 2016
Bibliography
Gough-Cooper, Henry (ed.) The Cottonian Chronicle: Annales Cambriae, The C Text from London, British Library, Cotton MS Domitian A. i, ff. 138r?155r, online edition.
Jones, Thomas (ed. and trans), Brut y Tywysogyon or the Chronicle of the Princes: Red Book of Hergest Version (Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 1955).
Meyrick, Samuel Rush, The History and Antiquities of the County of Cardigan (London, 1808).
Remfry, Paul M. Annales Cambriae: A Translation of Harleian 3859: PRO E. 164/1: Cottonian Domitian, A1: Exeter Cathedral Library MS.3514 and MS Exchequer DB Neath, PRO E. 164/1 (Castle Studies Research, 2007).
