The heroic king Dunmail was the last of a succession of native
princes, who up to the tenth century ruled over those mountainous
provinces in the north-western region of England which were chiefly
peopled by the earliest masters of Britain, the Celtic tribes of
Cymri, or Picts. The territories of Dunmail, as king of Cumbria,
included the entire tract of country from the western limits of
the Lothians in Scotland to the borders of Lancashire, and from
Northumberland to the Irish Sea.
The several British kingdoms which were originally comprised within
this area maintained a long and resolute resistance against the
power of the first Saxon monarchs; and although in the course
of time most of them were brought under the supremacy of those
strangers, as tributary provinces, they still continued a sort of
independent existence, electing their own kings and obeying their
own laws.
On the establishment of the Heptarchy, several of these provinces
were included within the Saxon kingdom of Northumbria; but although
they were claimed by the Northumbrian monarchs, there was even then
little admixture of their people with the fair-haired followers of
Hengist and Horsa, and each continued to be governed by its own
chieftain or king until the Norman conquest, and existed under what
was called the Danish law. So long as the native chieftains were
allowed to exercise a subordinate authority, the Northumbrian kings
had no occasion to interfere with the internal government of the
subject provinces. If the tribute was duly rendered, they remained
unmolested; if it was withheld, payment was enforced by arms; or,
in extreme cases, the refractory state (to use a modern phrase) was
"annexed," and the domestic government extinguished.
Of the petty rulers of these British kingdoms no notices have been
transmitted to us. These are confined to the kings of Strathclyde,
or, as they are designated by our earliest informers, of Alclyde;
the latter being the name of their capital, which stood on a rocky
eminence, adjacent to the modern town of Dumbarton; whilst the
former significantly describes the position of their territory
in the great strath or valley of the Clyde. This little district
(of Strathclyde), which must not be confounded with the larger
territory of Cumbria, that as yet had no existence under any
general government or common name, comprised the modern counties of
Lanark, Ayr, and Renfrew, on the south of the Clyde, and, probably,
Dumbartonshire on the north. In the series of Strathclydian kings,
tradition has placed the name of the celebrated King Arthur;
and the local nomenclature is said to afford many traces of his
fame, especially in the case of their citadel of Alclyde, or
Dumbarton, which is styled "Castrum Arthuri," in a record of the
reign of David the Second. Ryderic, the successor of Arthur, died
in 601, in the eighth year of the reign of Ethelfrith, king of
Northumberland; and from that time onward, during the remainder
of this and the succeeding reigns of Edwin and Oswald, we hear
nothing of the independent existence of this people, nor do we
even know the names of their chieftains; it is probable that they
had been reduced to subjection. But in the very year of Oswald's
disastrous death, A. D. 642, we find the Britons carrying on
important military operations on their own account, in which Owen
their king distinguished himself, by slaying on the battle-field
of Strath-carmaic, Donal Break, king of the Scots. During the
long reign of Oswi in Northumberland, we read of one king of
Strathclyde, Guinet, but the record is only of his death, A.
D. 657, not of any exploit which he performed. On the death of
Ecgfrith, A. D. 670, the Britons of Strathclyde appear to have
recovered their liberty; and thenceforward we have a tolerably
complete list of their kings during the two succeeding centuries.
Ethelfrith, who had effected the conquest of the central and
western portion of Northumbria, and may be regarded as the founder
of the Northumbrian kingdom, "conquered," as we read in Beda, "more
territories from the Britons than any other king or tribune;" but
although he was thus able to overrun a vast district of country,
his followers were not sufficiently numerous to colonise it. In
some places, indeed, "he expelled the inhabitants, and placed
Angles in their stead," but "in others," and doubtless to a
much greater extent, "he allowed the vanquished to retain their
lands, on payment of tribute." In the reign of Edwine, too, the
Anglo-Saxon population were under his immediate government; the
petty British States were still ruled by tributary princes. And no
doubt their political condition continued more or less the same
during the century and half which preceded the dissolution of the
Heptarchy, and after the reconstruction of its several parts under
one crown.
On Northumbria being overrun by the renowned Danish Viking
Healfdene, A. D. 875, fifty years after the Heptarchal kingdoms
had been dissolved, it is recorded that the indigenous inhabitants
of the part called Cymriland, the Cumbrians, or Britons, being
too weak to defend themselves from the hateful aggressions of
the Danes, and deprived of the protection of the Saxon kings of
Northumbria, who had themselves succumbed to the common enemy,
turned for aid to the only neighbours who seemed sufficiently
powerful to resist the invaders. They therefore implored the
aid of Grig or Gregory, king of Scotland, by whose assistance
in the following year the Scandinavian ravagers were expelled.
These Indigenoe, or British inhabitants, must have been the
people of Galloway, and of the district around Carlisle; for the
Strathclyde Britons were already under the authority of Gregory,
as the guardian of Eocha, a minor, who, as the son of Hu king
of Strathclyde, and nephew of the second Constantine, king of
Scotland, succeeded to the crowns of both these realms. Whether
the Britons subsequently quarrelled with their powerful ally, and
being defeated in battle, were obliged to cede to the victor their
rocky highlands and adjacent places; or they voluntarily submitted
themselves to Gregory, with their lands and possessions, thinking
it preferable to be subject to the Scots, who, although enemies,
were Christians, than to infidel pagans, there does not appear to
be any evidence to determine.
The vigour of Gregory king of Scotland having been found,
notwithstanding his prowess and the success of his arms, inadequate
to support an authority which had been usurped by him as regent
during the minority of Eocha, after holding the reins of government
in Scotland and Strathclyde during eleven years, was expelled,
together with Eocha, by Donal, son of the late King Constantine
II., A. D. 893.
To Donal, who was slain by the Danes, A. D. 904, succeeded his
cousin Constantine III., the son of Aodh, who had been slain by
Gregory. Another Donal, brother to Constantine III., had been
"elected" king of the Strathclyde Britons four years before the
elevation of that monarch to the throne of Scotland. During the
life of this Donal, the districts of Carlisle and Galloway were
not united to Strathclyde, but remained attached to Scotland; from
which, however, they were separated after his decease, and given to
his son and successor, Eugenius.
To the new kingdom, thus founded by Constantine in favour of his
nephew and presumptive heir, by the union of Carlisle and Galloway
with Strathclyde, was given the name of Cumbria, derived from the
common appellation of its inhabitants. Its extent is precisely
defined in a return made by the prior and convent of Carlisle
to a writ of Edward the First, requiring them, as well as other
religious houses, to furnish, from chronicles or other documents
in their possession, any information bearing upon the alleged
right of supremacy over Scotland vested in the English crown. The
return sets forth, "That district was called Cumbria, which is now
included in the bishoprics of Carlisle, Glasgow, and Whitherne,
together with the country lying between Carlisle and the river
Duddon:" in other words, the entire tract from the Clyde to the
confines of Lancashire. In the "Inquisitio Davidis," which does
indeed extend to all parts of Cumbria which remained in David's
possession, we are expressly told that "he had not then within
his dominion the whole Cumbrian region," the present county of
Cumberland, or, as it was then called, Earldom of Carlisle, having
been severed from it soon after the Norman Conquest. Although
Fordun is the only author who narrates the cession of Carlisle and
Galloway to Gregory, and the subsequent grant of these districts
to Eugenius, whereby they were united to Strathclyde, and the
whole merged into a single government, we have abundant evidence
of the existence of Cumbria and the intimate union of Constantine
and Eugenius at this period. In the year 938, these princes, in
conjunction with the Danes and Welsh, attempted to wrest the
sovereign power out of the vigorous hands of Athelstane. The
combined forces were signally defeated by the Anglo-Saxon monarch
at Brunanburgh (supposed by some to be Bromborough, near Chester);
Eugenius was slain, and Constantine escaped only by a precipitate
retreat.
It is at this period that Dunmail, the second and last _sole_
"king of rocky Cumberland," appears upon the historic stage. It
has been thought not improbable that he was the son of Eugenius or
Owen, the preceding king, and the same person who is described as
Dunwallon, "the son of Owen," and who died at Rome thirty years
after his memorable engagement with Edmund of England and Leoline
of South Wales, in the mountain pass which is distinguished by
his name. "In the annals of Ulster, indeed," say the supporters
of this supposition, "this Dunwallon is described as king of
Wales, but Caradoc calls him prince of Strathclyde, and his
patronymic designation seems to identify him with Dunmail, if, as
we assume, the latter was the son of the first king of Cumberland."
But by whatever means Dunmail obtained the crown; whether by
inheritance as the son of Eugenius, or by "election" as one of
the native Cumbrian princes, and according to the ancient custom
of the Britons; we soon find him supporting the Northumbrians in
hostilities against the Saxon monarch, Edmund the First. That
monarch, although victorious, was so weakened that he dared not
pursue Dunmail without the assistance of the Scots. And the
condition upon which Malcolm, king of Scotland, joined Edmund with
his forces, was, that if they were successful, Malcolm should
possess Cumbria by paying homage to Edmund and his successors. The
subjection of this wild race of mountaineers was then determined
upon as a necessary step towards the pacification of the kingdom;
and the last record which history affords us of the Cumbrian
Britons, is that of their defeat, A. D. 945, in the heart of their
native mountains, between Grasmere and Keswick, and their final
dispersion or emigration into Wales.
The place where Dunmail determined to hazard the battle which
proved fatal to him was the famous Pass which bears his name.
Edmund slew his vanquished enemy upon the spot which is still
commemorated by the rude pile of stones so well known as his
cairn; and, in conformity with the barbarous customs of that age,
put out the eyes of his two sons; after which, having completely
ravaged and laid waste the territories of Dunmail, he bestowed
them on his ally Malcolm; the latter undertaking to preserve in
peace the Northern parts of England, and to pay the required
fealty and homage to Edmund. Upon the same conditions they were
afterwards confirmed to him by one of Edmund's successors, Edgar;
which monarch also divided what at that time remained of the
ancient kingdom of Northumbria into Baronies, and constituted it an
Earldom. Thenceforward these north western regions were held as a
military benefice subject to the English sceptre by the heir to the
crown of Scotland, under the title of the Principality of Cymriland
or Cumbria. This Principality, which included Westmorland,
continued in possession of the heirs to the Scottish crown during
the reigns of Harold and Hardicanute, the last Danish Kings, and of
Edward the Confessor and Harold the Second, the last Saxon monarchs
of England.
The only circumstance which is recorded of it during the century
which followed the defeat of Dunmail, is its total devastation
by Ethelred, king of England, A. D. 1000, at which time it is
represented by Henry of Huntingdon as the principal rendezvous of
the marauding Danes.
In the year 1052, Macbeth held the Scottish throne, whilst Malcolm,
the son of his predecessor, the murdered Duncan, sat on that of
Cumbria. Siward, earl of Northumberland, was commissioned by
Edward the Confessor to invade Scotland, and avenge the "murder"
of Duncan. In this he succeeded, defeated and slew Macbeth, and
placed the king of Cumbria, or, as some historians assert, his son,
on the throne of Scotland. This Malcolm, surnamed Canmore, held at
the time of the Conquest, Cumbria and Lothian, in addition to the
ancient kingdom of Scotland.
In the year 1072, the Earldom of Carlisle, containing the present
County of Cumberland, with the Barony of Westmorland, was wrested
from Malcolm Canmore by William the Conqueror, who granted it
to his powerful noble, Ranulph de Meschin, one of that numerous
train of military adventurers, amongst whom he had distributed
all the fair territory of Britain, to hold, with a sort of royal
power, by the sword, as he himself held the kingdom by virtue of
the crown,--_tenere ita libere ad gladium, sicut ipse rex tenebat
Angliam per coronam_.
Thus the existing limits were established between England and
Scotland. The kingdom of Cumbria was reduced to the dimensions
indicated by the "Inquisitio Davidis," and was held as a
principality dependent on the crown of Scotland; until it at length
became formally attached to the Scottish dominions.
Meanwhile the Barony of Westmorland having been separated from the
Earldom of Carlisle, there remained the district comprised within
the present limits of the County of Cumberland, to which alone that
name was thenceforward applied.
The circular heap of stones which forms the pile called
Dunmail-Raise, and gives its name to the mountain Pass between the
vales of Grasmere and Wytheburn, is seen adjoining the highroad,
where it is crossed by the wall which there marks the boundaries
of Westmorland and Cumberland. The stones constituting this rude
monument are thrown loosely together on each side of an earthen
mound in a huge cairn or _raise_, the history of which is little
known, and concerning which antiquarians are by no means agreed.
It measures twenty-four yards in diameter, and rises gradually to
an elevation of six feet, being flat at the top, and the centre
indicated by a well defined space in rather larger stones.
Mr. Gilpin conjectures that the pile was probably intended to
mark a division not between the two Counties of Cumberland and
Westmorland, but rather between the two kingdoms of England and
Scotland, in elder times, when the Scottish border extended beyond
its present bounds. The generally received tradition, however,
concerning this cairn is, that it was raised to commemorate the
name and defeat of Dunmail, the last king of Cumbria, in the year
945, in his conflict with the Saxon Edmund, on the occasion above
related. "But," says Mr. Gilpin, "for whatever purpose this rude
pile was fabricated, it hath yet suffered little change in its
dimensions; and is one of those monuments of antiquity, which may
be characterized by the scriptural phrase of _remaining to this
very day_."
The legend of the Cumbrian hero and his host, awaiting the
completion of their rocky pile beneath the lonely mountain pass;
from which they are to issue in their appointed time to join "in
that great battle which will be fought before the end of the
world;" is but one of the beliefs which seem to have been left
behind them by our Scandinavian ancestors. It is in fact another
version of the story of Woden and his host, whose winter trance
is enacted by various popular heroes; and which has not only
been localised amongst ourselves, but has almost overspread all
christendom. The original nature of Woden or Odin was represented
as that of a storm god, who swept through the air in roaring winds,
either alone or with a great retinue consisting of souls of the
dead which have become winds. The whirlwind, which precedes the
tempest, and has ravaged the woods and fields, is pursued to its
death in the last storms of autumn. Sometimes the god is pictured
as a hunter, and the winds have taken the shapes of men, dogs,
etc., whilst the whirlwind figures as a boar. The achievement of
its death is soon followed by that of the hunter Woden himself; who
during the winter is dead, or asleep, or enchanted in the cloud
mountain. From this beautiful fiction of a twilight age, the winter
trance of Woden, has grown up the story of those caverned warriors,
which, under whatever name they are known, and wherever they
repose, are all representations of Odin and his host.
Arthur, the vanished king, our own Arthur, whose return is expected
by the Britons, according to mediæval Germany, is said to dwell
with his men at arms in a mountain; all well provided with food,
drink, horses, and clothes.
Charlemagne slumbers with his enchanted army in many places; in the
Desenberg near Warburg, in the Castle of Herstella on the Weser, in
the Karlsburg on the Spessart, the Frausberg and the Donnersberg on
the Pfalz, etc.
The Emperor Henry the Fowler is entranced in the Sudernerberg, near
Goslar.
The Emperor Frederick Barbarossa is in a cavern in the Kyffhaüser
mountain, in the old palatinate of the Saxon imperial house. There
with all his knights around him, he sits to this day, leaning his
head upon his arm, at a table through which his beard has grown,
or round which, according to other accounts, it has grown twice.
When it has thrice encircled the table he will wake up to battle.
The cavern glitters with gold and jewels, and is as bright as
the sunniest day. Thousands of horses stand at mangers filled
with thorn bushes instead of hay, and make a prodigious noise as
they stamp on the ground and rattle their chains. The old Kaiser
sometimes wakes up for a moment and speaks to his visitors. He once
asked a herdsman who had found his way into the Kyffhaüser, "Are
the ravens (Odin's birds) still flying about the mountain?" The man
replied that they were. "Then," said Barbarossa, "I must sleep a
hundred years longer."
The Eildon Hills, which witnessed of old the magical exploits of
Michael Scott, are three in number. These were originally one:
their present formation being the work of a demon, for whom the
wizard, in fulfilment of some infernal contract, was obliged to
find employment, and by whom the mighty task was achieved in a
single night. They are nearly of the same height, changing greatly
their appearance, and, as it were, their attitude, with the point
of view; at one time one of them only being visible, at another
time two, and again all three. They form a peculiar and romantic
feature in the scenery of the Tweed: and are still to the eye of
the imagination what they once were in the common belief,--wizard
hills, the subjects of wild traditions and unearthly adventures.
In them lay for centuries those "caverned warriors," which Thomas
the Rhymer showed at night to the daring horse jockey, who went by
appointment to the Lucken Hare to receive the price of the black
horse which he had sold to the venerable favourite of the Fairy
Queen. His money having been paid to him, in ancient coin; on the
invitation of his customer to view his residence, he followed his
guide in the deepest astonishment through long ranges of stalls,
in each of which a horse stood motionless, while an armed warrior
lay equally still at the charger's feet. "All these men," said the
prophet in a whisper, "will awaken at the battle of Sheriffmuir."
The small mountain lake, called Grisedale Tarn, is situated at
a very considerable elevation above the surrounding vales, in a
depression formed at a point where the shoulders of Helvellyn,
Seat-Sandal, and Fairfield touch each other; and just below the
summit of the "hause" or pass through which winds the mountain
track that leads from Grasmere into Patterdale.