Meldred is a character who appears in literary accounts of
post-Roman Britain. He is identified as a chieftain in part of what is now southern
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...
for a period in the 6th Century. A twelfth century text references a petty king named ''Meldredus'' who had ruled in
Tweeddale.
[ MacQueen, W. and MacQueen, J. (eds.), (1989), ''Vita Merlini Sylvestris'', in ''Scottish Studies'' 29, pp. 77 - 93, at 81] The village of
Drumelzier in Peeblesshire may take its name from him and his seat of power may have been the fort of Tinnis Castle. He is of interest as a character in the source texts on which the Arthurian romances are based and potentially the first named political leader associated with the
Scottish Borders
The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lot ...
in the post-Roman period.
Death of Lailoken
In ''Vita Merlini Silvestris'',
a twelfth-century source text for the literary character
Merlin
Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...
, Meldred features as the captor of
Lailoken, a warrior so traumatised by the scale of the slaughter he witnesses at the Battle of
Arfderydd
The Battle of Arfderydd (also known as Arderydd) was fought, according to the Annales Cambriae, in 573. The opposing armies are variously given in a number of Old Welsh sources, perhaps suggesting a number of allied armies were involved. The main ...
(Arthuret) in 573 that he retreats to the
Great Wood of Caledon, where he lives as a wild man. Lailoken's madness endows him with the gift of prophecy and Meldred holds him captive in his fortress at Drumeller in the hope of extracting prophecies which he can use to his advantage. During negotiations over his release, Lailoken draws attention to a leaf caught in the queen's wimple which he claims is evidence of an assignation with her lover in the king's garden. Lailoken secures his release, but the queen takes revenge on him for revealing her affair by arranging to have him ambushed and killed by a gang of shepherds. Meldred has Lailoken buried in the churchyard to the east of his fortress, close to where the Powsail Burn joins the
River Tweed
The River Tweed, or Tweed Water ( gd, Abhainn Thuaidh, sco, Watter o Tweid, cy, Tuedd), is a river long that flows east across the Border region in Scotland and northern England. Tweed cloth derives its name from its association with the R ...
.
Maldred of Allerdale
The sixth-century literary Meldred of Arthurian romance may have been inspired by a much later historical figure, the eleventh century Maldred (Gaelic: ''Máel Doraid'') of
Allerdale
Allerdale is a non-metropolitan district of Cumbria, England, with borough status. Its council is based in Workington and the borough has a population of 93,492 according to the 2001 census, increasing to 96,422 at the 2011 Census.
The B ...
, referred to by ''
De obsessione Dunelmi'' as a son of 'thegn CrÃnán', possibly
CrÃnán, abbot of
Dunkeld
Dunkeld (, sco, Dunkell, from gd, Dùn Chailleann, "fort of the Caledonians") is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The location of a historic cathedral, it lies on the north bank of the River Tay, opposite Birnam. Dunkeld lies close to ...
, which would make him a younger brother of King
Duncan I of Scotland. Maldred and his wife Ealdgyth, a daughter of
Uhtred the Bold and granddaughter of King
Æthelred the Unready
Æthelred II ( ang, Æþelræd, ;Different spellings of this king’s name most commonly found in modern texts are "Ethelred" and "Æthelred" (or "Aethelred"), the latter being closer to the original Old English form . Compare the modern dial ...
, were the parents of
Gospatric, Earl of Northumbria and progenitor of the
earls of Home and the
earls of Dunbar.
[McGuigan, Neil (2021), ''Máel Coluim II 'Canmore': An Eleventh-Century Scottish King'', John Donald, Edinburgh, pp. 74 - 79, ]
References
{{reflist
Medieval literature