"Primum bellum fuit in ostium fluminis quod dicitur Glein/Gleuy."
"in ced cath in n-indbear Glein;"
"His/The first battle ((in which he was engaged,) was) in the east at / at the mouth of the river ((which is) called) Glein/Gleni/Gleuy ./;" (- HB, Irish HB, LF.)
"Arthur king of the kings of the island of Britain and an eminent renowned hero wrought 12 notable battles against the Saxons and the Picts; in the first of them he was vanquished (!?) And a fugitive because of treachery in Caer Lwytcoed (this place was Dinas Y Llwyn Llwyt) in the other contests he was victorious and deservedly paid in kind his oppressors the Saxons and Picts although he was an old man" (- The History of Gruffydd ap Cynan.)
"Clarence site 2 battles, 1st loose because KA & knights not there, 2nd battle great victory drives Saxons out of England". "Clariance was name of 2 kings on 2 sides at battle of Bedegraine" "Clarence battle cry of Uther Pendragon & King Arthur" "In the vulgate 'Merlin' King Arthur smashes the Saxons at Clarence" "Clarent maybe was KA's father's weapon which Mordred slew King Arthur with."
"Pagans came from Germany & occupied East Anglia ... some of who invaded Mercia & fought many battles with the British" ca 515/527 (- Roger of Wendoer & Matthew Paris.)
KA fought "up and down the East coast" (- Prof Fields?)
"Henry of Huntingdon in his Historia Anglorum of 1133 says that the providence of God had masked the real locations of the 12 battles he incorrectly credits to Gildas."
Checklist of identification details of Glein from the source text(s): - number/order 1st of 9/12 with 8/11 others (HB, LF) - in a traid of rivers (HB, O'Toole) - near or not far from Dubglas/Linnuis (HB, Jackson) - Not in Linnuis (HB). - 'ositum fluminis Glein' name/meaning (HB) - Glein "pure, clear" contrasted with Dubglas "black water" (HB, like the Glen is supposed to contrast with the Welland) - a battle there - Arthur/Britons there (HB, LF) - Saxons "from Germany & every province" there (LF, HB) - date before Ida "547" (HB) - in "(the island of) Britain" (HB) - written by "Nennius" who also wrote the Wonders (HB, us) - to the east of or in the east (Irish HB, O'Toole, infopedia, Fields) - true site masked (Henry of Huntingdon) - analogous to the Glen in Northumberland. - Arthur/Britons lost the 1st battle? - in the north-east (Brynjulfson).
Number/order match: Glein is the 1st battle site of 9 in the HB of Nennius. Gariannonum/Burgh/Yarmouth is the 2nd of 9 SS forts in the ND, but is the 1st of 9 SS sites matching the HB sites excluding unmatched 1st fort Branodunumm/Btancaster. Tribruit 1 the 1st battle of 9 in the Pa Gur. This map shows the 9 battle sites of "(King) Arthur" matches with the 9 Saxon Shore sites. You can see that all 9 battle sites (or 12 battles) all match all in order from north-east to south-west. http://2rbetterthan1.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/map-12battleska-9fortsss2.png The orthodox Glen is not attested "1(st)" in an attested list/group of 9/12 numbered sites which all matching in numbers and order.
Meaning of the name Glein match: The origin and meaing of the name Glein/Gleni (or Gleuy) is supposed to be from either: *glan "pure (river), clear, clean (refering to the character of the water), bright, brilliant", "used specifically of rivers", glain "glass, crystal", gleno "holy", ceinion/gleinion "of the saints", ceinion "brilliant, pure, white (horses)"; or, *glinn/glenn/glen/glyn "a glen, valley, glen of the river, river of the valley, dale, head of the hollar, where a valley butts up against the mountain, usually with a spring", "mountain valley", related to klettr "cliff", glan "a bank, shore", glynde/glyndy "glenhouse", glind "fence, enclosure", or dyn glan "man alive", gein "birth". gleu/glyw "brave, war"? gloeu/glur "brilliant"?
(The 1st battle site Glein "clean" might be connected with baptism and/or the Jordan. Gleinion means "of the saints". The orthodox candidate Glen in Northumberland is associated with the baptisms by Paulinus or Rhun there. St Ives / Johannes the 1st of the 15 children of Brychan corresponds with Glein (1st), and may be linked with John the Baptist. The baptism by Germanus in river Alyn might be connected with the river Glein and Gariannonum? Germanus is said to have been in a "valley encompassed by hills", and glen can mean "(mountain) valley". Germanus returned to Britain a 2nd time in 447, which might link with "John the Baptist" appeared in 448 in the ASC?)
The root and meaning of the name Gariannonum is not definitely certain ("don't know for sure") and is disputed, but the few suggestions have included *gar/*yar/*gwar_onnen "ash (river), ridge of the ash tree", "shout, babble, babbling (river)", "rough", or ear "gravel(ly)" (though the experts say it is not this last one).
Some of the proposed meanings of Glein do or may match with our site's area. I assume that the "clean, clear" water probably matches the water of the river at our site. There is a glass vessel at Burgh castle which sounds similar to the glass vessel at Dover which may have a link with the holy grail. (Hawkes also seemed to imply that Rhine glassware was imported through Caister by Yarmouth?) The "(mountain) valley" or "bank" meaning might match with our sites description of "underlying hillside, on summit of ground sloping steeply towards estuary of river Waveney, overlooking estuary/marsh", and "the estuary this fort once overlooked", or with Grandval in the wider area? There is a cliff in the vicinity of our site. The fort's walls at our site could match "fence, enclosure"? The "gravel bank of Garanwyn(yon)" in one of Taliesin's 56 chapters may possibly be similar to the name Gariannonum and to that Yar/Yare/Yarmouth could be from ear "gravel"? The "birth" meaning might match that our site is the 1st of 9 SS sites that match the HB battle sites?
Name match: The HB's description of 'in ostium fluminis (...) Gleni/Gleni' means "at the mouth/confluence of the river (...) Glein/Gleni" matches at our site with "Gariannonum (Burgh Castle established to guard the River Yare (Gariannus Fluvius)", and "Burgh Castle near the mouth of the river Yare", and "Gariannonum overlooks the confluence of the Rivers Yare & Waveney at the opening of the major estuary Breydon Water, with the River Bure joining not far to the north", or "the fort at Caister-on-Sea... being on the opposite bank of the same estuary as Burgh Castle".
The full name 'ostium fluminis (...) Gleni/Gleni' means "the mouth of the river (...) Glein/Gleni" and this matches at our site with 'Garien(n)i fluvii ostia' or '(ost.) Gariennus/Gariannus (flumen/fluvius)' meaning "(the mouth of the) (river) Garienus/Gariannus" (in Ptolemy, the Ravenna cosmography, and the Notita Dignitatum). Everyone can see that our site has a match with all 3 words of the full name (ostium/mouth, fluminis/river, and Glein/Gleni), with the first two words being indisputably the same, and only the last word being disputed by some archly-critical people.
It is true that one of the two rival orthodox location candidates (one in Northumberland, and one in Lincoln) was also called 'fluvius Gleni', which has two words the same, but it doesn't have all 3 words all the same like ours does.
For the first of the 3 words 'ostium' which means "flow into the sea" or "vicinity to the embochure of a river" or "door, entrance, mouth" or "confluence", and which is considered by some to have been from British/Welsh oper/aber meaning "(river-)mouth, an estuary, a confluence" or "a river's confluence with another" or "the mouth of a river at the coast", we have the word 'ostium' "mouth" exactly matched in 'Garien(n)i fluvii ostia' or 'ost. Gariennus/Gariannus flumen/fluvius' and "the mouth of the (river) Garienus/Gariannus", and the word "mouth" is also matched in the later 'Gerne(mwa)' and 'Great Yarmouth' and "the mouth of the river Yare", and/or the word "confluence" matches "the confluence of the Rivers Yare & Waveney at the opening of the major estuary Breydon Water, with the River Bure joining not far to the north". (Also note that Tribruit 1 the 1st of 9 battles of the Pa Gur matches Glein of the HB and Gariannonum/Burgh of the ND/SS, and one of the meanings of Tribruit's name is "3 streams/rivers" which matches our site's 3 rivers and the "confluence" meaning of ostium.) Thus the criticism that "Nennius used ostium not aestuarium" is nullified here. One of the 2 rival orthodox candidates is said to not have any (river) mouth, though they say it did have a minor aber, and it doesn't have "mouth" preserved in its name today like ours does. They also haven't proven that their Glen river was called ostium?
The second word 'fluminis' meaning "running water" or "river, stream" is exactly matched in 'Garien(n)i fluvii' or 'Gariennus/Gariannus flumen/fluvius' meaning "the river Garienus/Gariannus", and the "river" matches "the river Yare" (and/or "the Rivers Yare & Waveney", and/or "the River Bure", and/or the Ant river?) The "running water" meaning might also even possibly match with the proposed "babbling" meaning of the name Gariannonum? So the argument that "Nennius said fluminis not riv(i)us" is no problem here.
Lastly the 3rd word Glein/Gleni seems to surely match with 'Garien(n)i' / 'Garianno/Gar[ienno]' / 'Garien(n)us/Gariannus'. It might also be possible that 'Great Yarmouth' and/or 'Grandval' may be connected with Glinmaur "Great Glen", thereby confirming the match of Glein & Garienno/Yare? Grannona/Seine/Granville in France might also confirm it too? This match of Glein with Garieni has been disputed by archcritics who adamantly assert that the 2 names can't be the same or related because expert linguists believe they have different linguistic roots and meanings (see the believed meanings already given above), and so we must now give evidence against their believed "fact(s)" and in favour of our name(s) match.
Firstly as we have already said the root and meaning of the name Garieni / Gariannonum is not definitely certain ("don't know for sure") and is disputed, and there have been a couple or few different suggestions (see them already given above). (This is confirmed by the asterisk which means like "unrecorded hypothetical/theoretical reconstructed root".) Different sources also contradict in saying Yarmouth/Yare and Gariannonum are either from the same root or two different roots. Some sources also say/imply that the origin of the name Glein in the HB is also maybe not necessarily definitely certain?
Everyone can surely see and not deny that the two names Glein/Gleni and Garieni are very similar, especially also with the two other matching words ostium & fluminis, and with the matches of the other 8 battle sites too. Glein/Gleni and Garieni both have in common G-l/r-(i)e/e(i)-n(-i). In addition some spellings of the name of the main rival orthodox candidate in Northumberland are also similar to either/both Glein and/or Garieni. Versions of the 3 names are:
(If our Garieni cant match then their Gefrin also cant match?) There are also other names in Arthurian traditional sources which may also similarily provide a bridge between the two names, eg Grynn, Graine/Granairet/Granard, Gleinion, Igraine/Igerna, Alyn, Caer Glan, Glannauc, Garanwyn(yon), Glinmaur.
Possible examples for verification of an/the r/l interchange (rhotacism) include: Glein/Garieni, Avalon/Avaron/Afallach/Afarnach, Cheldric/Cerdic, Badon/Braddon/Bladud, Arestal/Lastalric. (The l/r interchange is known in Indo-European, Malayo-Polynesian, Hamito-Semitic.)
The name Carausius/Carutius/Carucius/Carutius/Karitius might be a British version of Claudius, and this might be an example of the -a- in Garieni being omitted in Glein?
Nennius could have conflated or punned similar names, or the name could have been just given/coined by him, and/or only the meaning of the name might match? The a.d. "Christian" Romans are well known for such clever words/names/myths games many times in the last 2000 years. Nennius himself seemingly may have done other similar clever conflations with province names in the Wonders of Britain. (Though this might not be possible since the HB does say "(which is) called Glein", which maybe implies that the river was called that by some other person or persons before or during "Nennius's" time?)
Additional or alternative candidates for the name match in our site's wider area might be: Peter Glean? Grimes Graves? Iceni/Iclingas? Icklingham? St Giles? Ken Hill? I think i also saw a Glynde somewhere in the wider area (though i have not yet been able to find it again in searches)?
We may also confirm our location by analogous matches. The Glen river in Northumberland or Lincoln is maybe in an analogous position to the Yare in Norfolk (both on north-east coast above/before Linnuis, both flowing to east)? Both Northumbria and Norfolk / East Anglia were Anglian, and to the "North". The "grim mouth" in Palgrave's poem about Paulinus is similar to Grime's Graves near our site?
There seems to be confirmation in other sources that Glein had a plain or fields like our site does: - Our site has fields all around it. - The matching 1st battle in Gwallawg's battles in Taliesin is called the "plain of Lleenawg". - Llwyn Gwair "Mown/Hay Grove" (Newport, Pembroke)? - The orthodox location candidate Glen is in "Millfield Plain" and may be an analogous site. - The main ASC candidate match is called "plain of Aegelesthrep" in Ethelwerd.
Paulinus match: Paulinus is linked with Glen in Northumbria, Canterbury in Kent, and Leon in Brittany. (There is also the Pavloc/Paul in Sutton Hoo?)
Fought "in the east (at)" or "(to the) east of the river" or "at/above the mouth/river" match: "Above" (in some versions) might match the fort being above the Yare, and/or "the estuary this fort once overlooked", and/or that there is a cliff at our site; or it could match the "fort on the north side of an estuary", and/or "Caister on north side of estuary" (as in above = north?) The battle being "east of" the river or "in the east" (in some versions) might match either that our site is just west of Yarmouth, or "Caister north east, Burgh south west", or "the site is on the western edge of the town of Caister", or that the Yare flows from west to east and the mouth of the Yare is to/in the east, or that the site is in East Anglia & the East of England?
"Arthur"/Britons there then match: The 9 battle sites of the HB certainly match the ND/SS forts/sites, and the Glein battle site of Arthur seems to match Great Yarmouth. Ripley says that the Britons had refuge in the fens area? Some sources like History files and Wikipedia give evidence of quite late presence of Britons at sites like Caer Went (Norwich), Walton (Suffolk), and Caer Colun / Colchester. Some sources give evidence that Sutton Hoo was British not Saxon (eg the helmet has a figure like the Long Man). "at Sutton Hoo and inscriptions at Staffordshire definitely points to the British". Arthurian sources mention south-east sites like London (HRB, Malory, Tennyson). Some think 'Clarence' is Suffolk. Caerwent in the Lai d Ywenec could possibly be Norwich? Tribruit 1 of the Pa Gur seemingly also matches Yarmouth. The HRB says the Saxons went around from "Lincoln" to "Totness"/"Severn" (presumably clockwise). A modern genetic map posted in Apricity forum showed East Anglia less Saxon. Mortimer Wheeler's & Deniker's Colchester-St Albans-London (Essex) triangle gap/salient of Britons in the South-East quarter. "glass vessels were used by the Britons in the 6th century". There is a glass vessel at Burgh (Gariannonum, our Glein battle site). The name Aurelius Ursicinus "bear" in the Hoxne hoard might be connected with Arthurian (Aurelius Ambrosius, Arthur arth "bear"). "Norfolk has more large Anglo-Saxon cemeteries than the neighbouring East Anglian county of Suffolk". Some "Saxon" sites in East Anglia may be mislabeled Saxon? "The dolichocephali, or long-skulled type of men, who, in part, preceded the English, have been found abundantly in the Suffolk region of the Littus Saxonicum, where the Celt and Saxon [Englishman] are not known to have met as enemies when East Anglia became a kingdom." (- Grant Allen's 'Early Britain' chapter 7.)
Battle there then match: Archaeological evidence: The fort and visible possible traces of battle/s fought there (in pictures & descriptions). The Spong Hill cemetary may possibly be/have graves from the battle? Historical records or traditions evidence: "Emigration of Angles & Frisians to the Continent 510-555" (Evans). The name of Grime's graves might possibly connect. Historical &/or strategic: Some think that the battle of Cerdicesshore was at Yarmouth (ref GYAM). Strategic evidence: There are British & Roman ways/tracks/roads across the south-east quarter of England from East Anglia to Hampshire. Arthur fought Saxons "from Gemany and every province". The threat/problem was in the east. The Saxon Shore is strategic. Prof Fields also located the 12 battles "up & down the east coast"?
Date match: Our site has a name match for all 3 words of the name from Ptolemy to the present.
Saxons there then match: Arthur fought Saxons "from Germany and every province", and as such his battles sites must have been near where Saxons were then. The threat was in the east not the west. The "Saxon Shore". Hardly any souces say Arthur fought Angles/English except for a few later sources (LF, etc). "Pagans came from Germany & occupied East Anglia ... some of who invaded Mercia & fought many battles with the British" - Roger of Wendover & Matthew Paris. "Emigration of Angles & Frisians to the Continent 510-555" (Procopius/Evans). Anglia laid waste between Saxons & Jutes/Kentish (ASC)? "Saxons" can mean Anglo-Saxons (Saxons, Angles, Jutes, Frisians) or (West/South/East/Middle) Saxons. At the estimated time of Arthur's battles the Anglo-Saxons were mainly limited to the south-east quarter of England/Britain on the east side of a line drawn from the Wash to the Solent (refs Sayles, etc). "Norfolk has more large Anglo-Saxon cemeteries than the neighbouring East Anglian county of Suffolk". Some scholars have thought that Cerdicesshore might be Great Yarmouth not Portsmouth/Portland (ref GYAM). The HRB said the Saxons went around from "Lincoln" to "Totness"/"Severn" (presumably clockwise). Hengist & Octa were supposed to have been in Linnuis & the North.
Nennius match: What evidences are there that the author of the HB knew our site(s)? The authorship and date of the HB is not known for sure. Proposals for the author include Gildas, Nennius, Mark the Anchorite. The date of the HB and/or Nennius/Nynniaw as ranged from Nennius 55 bc to Ninnian "long before 560" to Nynnio c555-595 to 613/674 to 796 to "829"/858 to 946/976/994. The 9 battle sites of the HB certainly match the ND/SS forts/sites. Since "Nennius" wrote both the 12 battles and the Wonders it would not be surprising if the Wonders were the same sites, and if it happens to be found to be so then then it is possible confirmation that the sites are right. We totally accidentally found that alot of the Wonders do seem to match our 9 battle sites. Most of the Wonders match the sites in Kent, and little or none certainly match the Norfolk & Essex sites, though. The few Wonders which very uncertaily/doubtfully might possibly match our Glein site include: Glen Ailbe? Loch Lein? "Nennius" said he used sources similar to the ND (and Ptolemy, Ravenna, Peutinger, Antonine, Pliny, etc). Some scholars believe that Nennius may have had an earlier poem source for the 12 battles. We found that some other traditional sources lists also seem to match our 9 battle sites (the Pa Gur, the 12 Monasteries, the 11 Consuls in the HRB, Gwallawg's battles in Taliesin, the Boar hunt track site, etc).
Recapitulation of reasons why the two orthodox candidates can't match Glein: - They haven't proven it, and they pretty much only have a name match and nothing much else except that their site is "near Lindsey (their supposed Linnuis site)" and that the waters of the Welland & Witham contrast. - Their site only has a match for one or two of the three words of the name ostium fluminis Glein?
- If our Garieni can't match then their site's name Gefrin also can't? - They can't even decide/show which of their 2 Glen candidates is the one. - Their site is not number 1 in an attested set of 9/12 sites which all match. - One of their Glens is in Lincoln(shire), but Nennius didn't say Glein was in Linnuis like he did for Dubglas. (Though they claim that Linnuis may only be Lindum/Lincoln/Lindsey rather than Lincolnshire?) - One of their sites "has no (river) mouth" (though they say it has an aber). - Their Glen does date to the time of Paulinus, but can they show it dates to Arthur's time? - One of their sites "has no distinctive features or strategic fortifications". - The main 9 SS forts of the ND didn't extend as far up/north as their two sites. - Arthur fought Saxons (before Ida) not Angles? - Doesn't match that the true sites were masked of Henry of Huntingdon? - Our site(s) have better/stronger matches evidences. - Can the orthodox scholars show that Nennius knew either of their 2 minor river Glens (visited/knew them not just knew them indirectly from Bede)?
Previous hitherto Glein location candidates: Lune/Loyne, Lancs (Anscombe) Glen (near Loudon, Ayrshire, McHardy, Skene) Glens of Dalriada/Argyll (Ardrey) the Great Glen (Caledonia) Glen Douglas Glen, Scotland (Faral) Glinmaur "Great Glen" (HB) Glen/Till, Northumberland (Bede, Skene, Anscombe, Ekwall, Lot, Johnstone, Crawford) Glen/Welland, Lincs (Johnstone, Jackson) Linnuis (Wamsley) Great & Little Glen, Leics (Johnstone) The Wash Granta/Cam Glaven Great Yarmouth (Bambrough) Glem (Essex/Suffolk) Genlada/Wantsum, Reculver Blean (Canterbury or Reculver area?) Glynde, Sussex (Collingwood) Clausentum or Claunio/Portsmouth (Bullen)? Caer Glan/Gloucester? Grannona/Granville (France, ND/SS)? Seine? Gleipnir? Grendel?
Possible synonyms or analogies of Glein/Gariannonum in various sources: Glein/Gleni 1st of 9 (HB, Irish HB, LF) fluvius Gleni (EH) Gefrin/Glen/Glene / Adgefrin/Yeavering/Glendale, Millfield plain (Northumberland) Garieni (Ptolemy) Gariannonum/Burgh 2nd/1st of 8/9/10 SS forts/sites (ND/SS) Caer Glan (OEC)? Glinmaur "Great Glen" (HB)? Caer Glan/Claudii/Gloucester? Glyn Rosin 12th/1st of the 12 Monasteries list? Grynn 1st of the 7 servants of the Porter? Grail 454 (Malory)? "Battle of Graine/Granairet/Granard in Leinster 480" (Irish)? Geraint? Cynon / Ceinion/Gleinion (Y Gododdin)? Barclenses (HRB)? Igraine/Igerna? Abergele 856? Plain of Lleenawg 1st of Gwallawg's battles sites (Taliesin)? Llwyn Gwair "Mown/Hay Grove" (Newport, Pembroke)? Morvid of "Gloucester" 1st of 11 Consuls (HRB)? plain of Aegelesthrep/"Ayelsford" 455 (ASC, Ethelwerd)? Celestine 429/430 or Aegelesthrep 455 or Cerdicsshore 495/514 (ASC)? Clav/Claudius (Arch of Claudius)? Clarence? King Clariance of Northumberland of 11 kings at Bedegraine? Clair or Gildas of 7 saints (Breton) AberLleu? Grannona/Seine/Granville (Gallic/French Saxon Shore fort in the ND)? The gravel bank of Garanwyn(yon) (Taliesin)? St Germanus 429 (baptised, lent, river)? Germaus & river Alyn or "valley encompassed by hills"? Unnamed or Che/Kay (Modena Archivolt)? Caesar at mouth of Thames 1st of 7/9 emperors (HB)? St Ives / Johannes the 1st of the 15 children of Brychan. "John the Baptist" appeared in 448 in the ASC? Jordan in Joshua's battles (Higham)? Cynfarch/Urien/Rheged 1st of 12 men of the North (Hen Ogledd) Tribruit 1 1st of 9 (Pa Gur, Bl Bk Carmarthen) Caerwent (Ywenec)? Meriaun 1st of 9/12 sons of Cunedda (Harleian)? 1st maritime of 3 churches of Padarn? one of 3 several battles (HRB)? "Ireland" (boar hunt, C&O)?
Place names in our sites wider area include: Gariannonum, Yare, Great Yarmouth, Burgh, Caistor/Caister, Iceni, Grandval, Spong Hill, Grime's Graves, Caerwent/Norwich, Waveney, Cnobheresburg, Saxon Shore, Breydon, Bure/Bute, Blackwater, Ant, Wensum, Equites Stablesiani, Glynde?
