Battle of Guoloph

Part of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain

Britain in the 5th century CE, showing the gradual influx of Anglo-Saxon settlements in eastern portion of the isles.

Date	c. 437-440
Location	Nether Wallop, Hampshire, England
Result	Briton victory

Belligerents

Britons

Saxons
Jutes

Commanders and leaders

Ambrosius Aurelianus

Vitalinus

Anglo-Saxon invasions and the founding of England

Timeline

The Battle of Guoloph took place in the 5th Century. Various dates have been put forward: 440 A.D. by Alfred Anscombe,^[1] 437 A.D. according to John Morris,^[2] and 458 by Nikolai Tolstoy.^[3] It took place at what is now Nether Wallop, 15 kilometers southeast of Amesbury, in the district of Test Valley, northeastern Hampshire.Coordinates: 51°07′39″N 1°34′10″W / 51.127440°N 1.569520°W / 51.127440; -1.569520 The battle pitted a Britonnic alliance against invading Jutes and Saxons. The Britons were victorious.

Context

In his book, Historia Brittonum, Nennius affirms that The reign of Vortigern, and the fight between Vitalinus and Ambrosius in Guoloppum, the Battle of Guoloph, are separated by twelve years.

In the 12th century A.D. (largely fictitious) pseudo-history written by Geoffrey of Monmouth - the Historia Regum Britanniae - Ambrosius Aurelianus (Emrys Wledig, the imperator) is considered the son of the emperor Constantine. Geoffrey of Monmouth states that while Ambrosius was a child, his entire family was assassinated with only him and his brother Uthyr Pendragon making their escape via a canal at the court of their cousin, Budic I of Brittany. This attack was allegedly perpetrated by Vortigern, governor of the city of Dubris, one of the most important ports in the kingdom. Vortigern had formed a pact with the powerful Jute kings, Hengist and Horsa.^[4]

Years later, Ambrosius returned to Great Britain, disembarking at Totnes (Devon), a reunion of the monarchs of all the kingdoms of the south with the purpose of forging alliances and solving collective problems. It was there that he was able to convince the Romano-British leaders of the Jute menace and of their alliance between Vortigern.

Archaeology and Legacy

In the parish of Nether Wallop, northeast of the town of the same name, there is a fortress on the hill of Danebury dated to the Iron Age where a multitude of excavations have taken place between 1968 and 1988. There is no evidence of its occupation during the Roman period, but there is ample evidence of its fortification in Sub-Roman Britain. The perimeter of the defensive works has been lost to the years, but the trench work is still discernible, archaeologists having found ceramics from the 5th and 6th centuries. This allows the fortifications to be dated contemporarily to the battle between Vitalinus and Ambrosius.

Some historians maintain that Ambrosius himself was responsible for the refortification of Danebury prior to the Battle of Wallop in 437-440, but there is no hard archaeological evidence to support these theories. It is probably that the battle actually occurred further to the south where the enemy would have been able to have taken up a strategic position that the Celtic tradition recalls as Cad Hill (now Chattis Hill) on the border of Nether Wallop and Broughton.

The accounts of Historia Britonum place the Battle of Guoloph as having occurred in 437-440, some forty to fifty years before the historian Gildas places the battles commanded by Ambrosius Aurelianus. This leads historians to debate the accuracy of the first accounts of these conflicts or that they refer to different persons.

References

↑ Anscombe, Alfred, "The Exordium of the 'Annales Cambriae", in: Ériu 3 (1907), p. 117-134.
↑ Morris, John R. 1980. Nennius: British History and the Welsh Annals. History from the Sources 8, Chichester: Phillimore.
↑ Tolstoy, Nikolai. 1962. "Nennius, Chapter Fifty-Six." The Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 19:118-162.
↑ Whilst some authors categorize them as Saxons, they were originally from Jutland. They led a combined force of Saxons, Jutes and Britons and established themselved in Kent as a Jute faction. (, , , Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England de Barbara Yorke, History of England, de Charles W. Oman, The origin of the English, Germanic, and Scandinavian languages, and nations, Longman, etc.).

Bibliography

External links

Geoffrey of Monmouth

Works	Prophetiae Merlini (c. 1135) Historia Regum Britanniae (c. 1136) Vita Merlini (c. 1150)

Translations	Roman de Brut Layamon's Brut Brut y Brenhinedd

Characters	Aeneas Saint Alban Albanactus Alhfrith of Deira Allectus Ambrosius Aurelianus Amphibalus Andragius Archgallo Archmail King Arthur Arvirargus Ascanius Augustine of Canterbury Aurelius Conanus Bedivere Beldgabred Beli Mawr Belinus Bladud Bledric ap Custennin Bledudo Brennius Brutus Greenshield Brutus of Troy Budic II of Brittany Cadfan ap Iago Cadoc Cador Cadwaladr Cadwallon ap Cadfan Camber (legendary king) Cap of Britain Capetus Silvius Capoir Caracalla Caradocus Carausius Cassivellaunus Catellus Catigern Cherin Claudius Cledaucus Clotenus Coel Hen Coilus Conan Meriadoc Constans II (usurper) Constantine the Great Constantine III (Western Roman Emperor) Constantine (Briton) Constantius Chlorus Cordelia of Britain Corineus Cunedagius Cunobeline Danius Saint David Digueillus Diocletian Dionotus Dunvallo Molmutius Ebraucus Edadus Edern ap Nudd Edwin of Northumbria Eldol Eldol, Consul of Gloucester Elidurus Eliud Enniaunus Estrildis Eudaf Hen Ferrex Fulgenius Gawain Gerennus Goffar the Pict Gogmagog (folklore) Goneril Gorboduc Gorbonianus Gorlois Gracianus Municeps Guiderius Guinevere Guithelin Gurgintius Gurguit Barbtruc Gurgustius Gwenddoleu ap Ceidio Queen Gwendolen Helena (empress) Helenus Hengist and Horsa Hoel Humber the Hun Iago ap Beli Idvallo Igraine Ingenius of Britain Jago of Britain Julius and Aaron Julius Asclepiodotus Julius Caesar Sir Kay Keredic Kimarcus Kinarius Latinus Lavinia Leil Leir of Britain Locrinus King Lot Lucius of Britain Lucius Tiberius Lud son of Heli Maddan Maelgwn Gwynedd Magnus Maximus Mandubracius Queen Marcia Marganus Marganus II Marius of Britain Mempricius Merianus Merlin Millus Mordred Morgause Morvidus Myrddin Wyllt Nennius of Britain Octa of Kent Oenus Oswald of Northumbria Oswiu of Northumbria Owain mab Urien Penda of Mercia Peredur Peredurus Pir of the Britons Porrex I Porrex II Publius Septimius Geta Quintus Laberius Durus Redechius Redon of Britain Regan (King Lear) Rhydderch Hael Rience Rivallo Rud Hud Hudibras Runo Sawyl Penuchel Septimius Severus Silvius (mythology) Sisillius I Sisillius II Sisillius III Son of Gorbonianus Taliesin Tasciovanus Trahern Turnus Urianus Uther Pendragon Venissa Vespasian Vortigern Vortimer Vortiporius Wulfhere of Mercia Ywain Æthelberht of Kent Æthelfrith of Northumbria Œthelwald of Deira

Topics	Avalon Battle of Arfderydd Battle of Badon Battle of Camlann Battle of Guoloph Brut y Tywysogion Crocea Mors Excalibur Lailoken List of legendary kings of Britain List of legendary rulers of Cornwall Logres Matter of Britain Molmutine Laws Nennius Riothamus River Malvam Siege of Exeter (c. 630) Locations associated with Arthurian legend Treachery of the Long Knives Trinovantum Trojan genealogy of Nennius Walter of Oxford

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