arrival of Ida with forty ships. Gododin, Deivyr, and Bryneich, being
situated on the eastern shore, would be especially exposed to the ravages of
these marauders. Indeed it does not appear that Gododin ever recovered its
pristine independence after the death of Cunedda, at least we do not hear
that any of his sons subsequently asserted their claims to it, or had
anything to do with the administration of its government: they all seem to
have ended their days in their western dominions. Deivyr and Bryneich,
however, were more fortunate, for we find that they were ruled as late as the
6th century by British monarchs, among whom are named Gall, Diffedell, and
Disgyrnin, the sons of Disgyvyndawd; {3a} though there is reason to believe
that at that time they were in treacherous alliance with the Saxons. A Triad
positively affirms, that "there were none of the Lloegrwys who did not
coalesce with the Saxons, save such as were found in Cornwall, and in the
Commot of Carnoban in Deivyr and Bryneich." {3b} And it is a remarkable
fact, as corroborative of this statement, that the Cymry ever after, as may
be seen in the works of the Bards, applied the term Bryneich to such of their
kindred as joined with the enemies of their country.

Certain it is, that, at the period of our Poem, the people of the three
provinces in question were open enemies of the Cymry, as appears from stanzas
iii, v, and ix. When we see there how the Bard commends one hero for not
yielding to the army of Gododin, and celebrates the praise of another who
committed an immense slaughter amongst the men of Deivyr and Bryneich, and
threatens, in the case of a third party, that if they were suspected of
leaning to the Bernician interest, he would himself raise his hand against
them, we can come to no other conclusion than that those countries were
arrayed against the Cymry when the battle of Cattraeth took place.

Ida had to encounter a powerful opponent in the person of Urien, king of
Rheged, a district in or near which Cattraeth lay, as we infer from two poems