War between the Britons and the Anglo-Saxons started in c. 430 CE and continued for centuries. For some time, the Anglo-Saxons faced little difficulty in conquering new territory. However, a war leader, either named Ambrosius Aurelianus or King Arthur, helped the Britons fight back effectively against the Germanic Anglo-Saxons. This counteroffensive climaxed with the Battle of Badon. At this site, Mount Badon, the Britons inflicted a great defeat on the Anglo-Saxons. It ushered in a period of relative peace that lasted at least a generation. But the location of this legendary and important battle remains uncertain.
What Do We Know About Mount Badon?
Mount Badon was first mentioned by Gildas, a British scribe writing at some point in the 6th century. He refers to the location of this battle as “mons badonicus,” or the Badonic Mountain. However, this is almost always translated as “Mount Badon,” and that is the form used in essentially all subsequent sources. Gildas refers to it as a siege rather than simply a battle, which suggests that there was a settlement on the mountain.
This battle is also mentioned by Bede, the English historian, in the 8th century. It also appears in the Historia Brittonum in the 9th century, where it is presented as one of the battles fought by the legendary Arthur. It appears in the Annales Cambriae, a chronicle written in the 10th century, where it is again associated with Arthur. However, none of these sources provide any notable clues as to the location of Mount Badon.
The Traditional Location of Mount Badon
Traditionally, Mount Badon is identified as Bath. This is based on the name given to this site of Badon in Welsh texts, Caer Faddon (“Caer” referring to a fortified settlement). This was also the normal Welsh name used for Bath. This is ostensibly supported by the fact that the name of the settlement in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is “Bathanceaster,” seemingly equivalent to “Caer Faddon.” On this basis, there are many researchers today who still hold to this traditional location. The specific “mount” is usually identified with Solsbury Hill, not far from the city of Bath itself.
However, there are numerous fundamental problems with this identification. For one thing, the name of this English city comes from the English word for “bath,” in reference to the Roman baths there. Since the Anglo-Saxons only conquered Bath in 577, it is highly implausible that Gildas would have referred to it by this English name. Furthermore, the settlement on Solsbury Hill was abandoned in 100 BCE and never reoccupied. Therefore, this cannot be the site of the medieval siege of Mount Badon.
Mount Badon in the Welsh Tradition
While the earliest sources do not reveal where Mount Badon was, there are a number of references to it in Welsh sources, or translations of Welsh sources, which might give us some indications. For example, it appears in the late Welsh tale entitled The Dream of Rhonabwy. This tells the story of Rhonabwy, a figure from the 12th century, being transported back to Arthur’s time in a dream. He accompanies Arthur’s men during part of their march towards Mount Badon.
Of course, we can immediately see that this is a fanciful tale, not a historical text. Nonetheless, it may well reveal clues as to where Mount Badon was placed in Welsh tradition. Notably, it does not support the identification of Mount Badon with Bath. Rather, it depicts Arthur’s army as crossing the Severn to go into Wales, not away from it.
The first location mentioned in this account is the plain of Argyngroeg. Here, Rhonabwy meets Arthur and his large host at a ford that crosses the Severn. They are on a road, which obviously must be a prominent road for it to be used to transport an army. While at the ford, it is remarked that the army are, incredibly, expected to be at Mount Badon by midday. This suggests that they are still quite some distance from Mount Badon, although they must be in the right general part of the country. The army is then described as marching towards Cefn Digoll, which is Long Mountain, on the border between Powys (in Wales) and Shropshire (in England).
On the basis of these geographical markers, some scholars have suggested that this story places Arthur’s army, and thus Mount Badon, in Powys or Shropshire. One possible location in this area, in Welshpool, is named Gungrog. This is thought to be the Argyngroeg mentioned in the tale, due to the superficial similarity between their names.
A Location in Southeast Wales
However, this is not the only possible interpretation of the tale. For one thing, there is no actual evidence that “Gungrog” was previously known as “Argyngroeg.” In fact, “Argyngroeg” could be interpreted with equal validity to be the place name “Ergyng” with a suffix added to it. This was the name of a prominent kingdom in medieval Wales. The medieval place name survives today as “Archenfield” in Herefordshire. Ergyng straddles the Severn River, and the region intersected by that river is indeed a large plain. Even the name “Archenfield” indicates this. Furthermore, the main Roman road going into southeast Wales cut right through Ergyng, crossing the Severn.
Therefore, the plain of Argyngroeg, the prominent road on which Arthur’s army traveled, and the ford across the Severn are all consistent with this location. The only notable objection to this scenario is the reference to Arthur’s army traveling across the ford in the direction of Cefn Digoll, which is in distant Welshpool. However, Cefn Digoll appears in Welsh literature as a marker of the border between Wales and England. Since The Dream of Rhonabwy was written in Powys, the writer could have simply been using a landmark familiar to his audience. It may be that he used Cefn Digoll as a way of saying that the army was entering Wales, traveling in that general direction.
Nonetheless, is there any active reason to favor this southern location over the traditional placement near the border of Powys and Shropshire?
There is an interesting line near the end of the tale which is commonly overlooked in discussions of where the story is set. One of Arthur’s men calls out to the others with the following instructions: “Whosoever will follow Arthur, let him be with him to-night in Cornwall.”
Although this final word is translated as “Cornwall,” the word is actually “Kerniw.” While this is indeed the Welsh word for Cornwall, it is also used for other locations. For example, there is evidence that Kerniw was an alternative name for Gwent in southeast Wales. It is preserved in the modern place name “Coedkernew” (or Kerniw Wood) in Gwent. Within Arthurian tradition, King Arthur’s court was at a place called Gelliwig in Kerniw. Notably, there are medieval records of a location by that very name in Gwent. This strongly indicates that the Kerniw of Arthurian tradition was Gwent, not Cornwall.
Therefore, the fact that Arthur’s men were called to be with him in Kerniw that very same night indicates that they were close to Gwent in southeast Wales. This would preclude the traditional placement in Powys and Shropshire.
Evidence From Geoffrey of Monmouth
Another piece of supporting evidence for this location comes from Geoffrey of Monmouth. He wrote his landmark Historia Regum Britanniae in c. 1137. Writing so many centuries after the event makes Geoffrey’s information problematic, but his account of the Roman era of Britain is broadly accurate both in events and geography.
In his account of King Arthur’s special coronation, he referred to a figure named Urgennius, whom Geoffrey describes as the ruler of Badon. This is an unusual name, and it is tempting to think that it is supposed to be Urien Rheged. However, Urien appears elsewhere in the same passage as a distinct figure. The only other figure with a name like this in records concerning the 6th century is a certain “Wrgannus.” He appears in the Life of St Cadoc as a king in the region of Glamorgan, in the southeast corner of Wales. Therefore, in the absence of any other candidate for Geoffrey’s Urgennius, this would support the placement of Badon in southeast Wales, in the territory of Glamorgan in particular.
Can Mount Badon Be Identified as Mynydd Baedan?
Is there a location in southeast Wales, in Glamorgan, that might be identifiable as Mount Badon? A location which has been suggested since at least the 19th century is Mynydd Baedan. The obvious attraction of this site is the name. However, some researchers argue that it is impossible for “Baedan” to be connected to “Badon.” Rather, “Baedan” looks to be an Irish personal name. Nonetheless, there are examples of place names evolving in ways that go against the expected rules. For example, one place name in Wales which incorporates the personal name “Faeddog” is seen in earlier records as “Fadog.” Therefore, the kind of corruption required to change “Badon” into ‘Baedan” is not unheard of. Sometimes a place name is simply exchanged for a similar word, conflicting with how it should naturally evolve.
Another example of unexpected corruption is that Badon is spelled “Beadonascan” in a 9th-century version of Bede. Furthermore, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle appears to refer to the second Battle of Badon (placed in 665 in the Annales Cambriae) as “Biedanhead.”
A final consideration is the fact that Gildas actually calls it the “Badonic Mountain.” This suggests that it was not as simple as the mountain being called “Badon.” Rather, the mountain was “Badonic” in some sense. Notably, Mynydd Baedan is believed to actually be named after the river that flows just next to it. Therefore, this fits well with the wording used by Gildas in a way that almost all other candidates for Badon do not.
Some might object to the idea of Mount Badon being as far west as Glamorgan. However, this is based on an outdated view of how far west the Saxons had managed to get by the 6th century. We now know from archeology that they got a lot further west much faster than originally thought. In fact, the Book of Llandaff supports this too. It refers to a battle fought between the Saxons and a king named Tewdrig in the early 6th century. Roughly contemporary with this is the reference to a battle between the Saxons and Gwrfoddw, king of Ergyng.
Where Was the Real Mount Badon?
In conclusion, we cannot say with any certainty where King Arthur’s Battle of Mount Badon was fought. Nonetheless, there is a good case to be made that Mount Badon can be identified as Mynydd Baedan. For one thing, it is supported by Welsh tradition, as seen in The Dream of Rhonabwy and the Historia Regum Britanniae. Furthermore, the name “Baedan,” while not a natural evolution of “Badon,” is plausibly interpreted as a corruption of it.
The suggestion that the name of the mountain actually comes from the nearby river makes sense of Gildas’ reference to it being the “Badonic Mountain.” Evidence from the Book of Llandaff supports the idea that battles against the Saxons were fought in this general area at that time. It is also worth noting that local place names at Mynydd Baedan, such as Maescadlawr (meaning “field of the battle area”), support the notion that a battle was fought there. Archeology may one day reveal whether the extensive trenches over the mountain date to King Arthur’s era.
