Owain Foel

Parentage

Owain Foel seems to have been a member of the ruling dynasty of the Kingdom of Strathclyde. For much of the tenth century, the kingdom was ruled by Dyfnwal ab Owain, King of Strathclyde (died 975). The chronology of Dyfnwal's apparent abdication is uncertain. He seems to have vacated the throne by the 970s. His apparent son, Rhydderch (fl. 971), may have briefly reigned as king, although no source states as much. Certainly, English sources reveal that Dyfnwal's son, Máel Coluim (died 977), ruled in 973 whilst Dyfnwal was still alive. Following Máel Coluim's death in 997, the kingship appears to have passed to a certain Owain ap Dyfnwal (died 1015), a man who seems to have been yet another son of Dyfnwal.

According to the "B" version of the eleventh–thirteenth-century Annales Cambriæ, Owain ap Dyfnwal was slain in 1015. This obituary is corroborated by the thirteenth/fourteenth-century texts Brut y Tywysogyon and Brenhinedd y Saesson. Although the notices of Owain ap Dyfnwal's demise seem to indicate that he had been killed in battle, nothing is known of the circumstances. Whilst it is possible that these records refer to Owain Foel himself, Owain Foel clearly lived on years afterwards, and there is no reason to disregard the obituaries as erroneous. If the like-named men are indeed different people, they could well have been closely related, with the latter perhaps being a son of Owain ap Dyfnwal's brother, Máel Coluim. The likelihood that there were indeed two contemporary Cumbrian rulers named Owain could account for Owain Foel's epithet (meaning "the bald").

Battle of Carham

In 1005, Máel Coluim mac Cináeda (died 1034) succeeded a kinsman as King of Alba. One of this man's earliest royal acts was a strike against his embattled English counterpart, Æthelræd II, King of the English (died 1016). Unfortunately for the Scots, this invasion of Northumbria was utterly crushed by Uhtred (died 1016×), a young northern magnate who was made Earl of Northumbria as a result of his stalwart defence. In the years that followed, Æthelræd's royal authority collapsed under a sustained Scandinavian onslaught until Knútr Sveinnsson (died 1035) attained the kingship of the entire English realm in 1016.

It may have been the unfolding turmoil in the north of England that lured Máel Coluim mac Cináeda into another cross-boarder foray. In the course of this invasion, Owain Foel campaigned alongside the Scots, possibly as an ally or vassal of his Scottish counterpart. The operation culminated in the Battle of Carham, a conflict in which the two kings fought and defeated the English at Carham in 1018. Although the battle is recorded by numerous sources, Owain Foel's participation is specifically attested by the twelfth-century Historia regum Anglorum. There is a degree of uncertainty as to the identity of the man who mounted the English defence. According to Historia regum Anglorum, Uhtred commanded the English forces. A passage preserved by the ninth–twelfth-century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, however, may indicate that this man had been slain two years beforehand, perhaps revealing that it was actually Uhtred's succeeding brother, Eadwulf Cudel, Earl of Northumbria (died c.1019), who commanded the English troops.

The defeat inflicted upon the English seems to have confirmed the Scots' royal authority over Lothian and established the River Tweed as the southern frontier of their realm. For Owain Foel and the Cumbrians, the successful outcome of the campaign would have probably meant a surplus of plunder: including cattle, slaves, and other valuables. It is also possible that the territorial extent of the Cumbrian realm was enlarged by way of the Northumbrian defeat. For instance, a twelfth-century inquest of the landholdings of the Bishop of Glasgow—undertaken at a time when the realm had long since been absorbed by the Scots—appears to identify territories formerly encapsulated within the kingdom. The fact that this inquest included Teviotdale, an important part of what had been Northumbrian territory, could indicate that this region had been annexed by the Cumbrians as a result of the victory at Carham.

Death and Cumbrian contraction

Owain Foel's death date is unknown. Although it is possible that he died at the battle, or else soon after, there is no specific evidence that he was indeed killed or mortally wounded. In fact, he could well have lived and reigned long afterwards. Whatever the case, it may have been upon his death that Máel Coluim mac Cináeda seized control of the kingdom. If the latter had indeed done so in the near aftermath of Carham, such an acquisition would have taken place at the height of his power. There may be reason to suggest that Owain Foel died sometime before 1030, perhaps leaving a weak heir or vacated throne. Certainly, the fourteenth-century Annals of Tigernach records a ravaging inflicted upon Britons that year by the English and the Scandinavians of Dublin.

Another historical episode that may cast light upon the fate of the Cumbrian realm concerns an assembly of northern kings in about 1031. Specifically in about 1031, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records a concord between Knútr, Máel Coluim mac Cináeda, Mac Bethad mac Findlaích (died 1057), and Echmarcach mac Ragnaill (died 1064/1065). The fact that no Cumbrian king is recorded at this royal assembly seems to reveal that no such king reigned by this date, and may indicate that the Cumbrian realm then formed part of the Scottish Kingdom of Alba. The rationale behind the meeting of the four kings is uncertain. One possibility—amongst many—is that it concerned the collapse of the Kingdom of Strathclyde, and perhaps had something to do with the recorded ravaging of 1030.

Another aspect of the uncertainty surrounding the kingdom is the obituary of Suibne mac Cináeda (died 1034), a man styled King of the Gall Gaidheil. The Gaelic term Gall Gaidheil appears to have been applied to a population of mixed Scandinavian and Gaelic ethnicity first recorded in the ninth century in the Hebrides and part of the former Kingdom of Dál Riata. By the twelfth century, the Gall Gaidheil had certainly left their mark upon the territory which makes up modern-day Galloway. In fact, this mainland territory of the Gall Gaidheil appears to have been much more expansive than the extent of modern-day Galloway, and there is reason to suspect the Gall Gaidheil had also expanded deep into what had formerly been Cumbrian-controlled territories. For example, there is evidence indicating that the entire region south-west of Clydesdale and Teviotdale became lands of the Gall Gaidheil. Such an expansion at the Cumrbrian kingdom's expense could well have taken place in the eleventh century, perhaps with the demise of Owain Foel himself. In fact, Suibne could have been the leader of the Gall Gaidheil who expedited the undoing of the Cumbrian regime, and oversaw the acquisition of much the kingdom's western territories.

The patronym borne by Suibne is the same as that of the reigning Máel Coluim mac Cináeda. This patronym could be evidence that the two were brothers, and that Suibne had instead been placed upon the throne in a region occupied by the Gall Gaidheil. If Suibne and Máel Coluim mac Cináeda were indeed brothers, another possibility is that Suibne's title is evidence that Máel Coluim mac Cináeda seized upon the vacated Cumbrian kingship and installed Suibne as king over the Cumbrians. Such a move may explain the Scots' failure to immediately exploit their victory over the English in 1018, and could indicate that the Scottish king's resources were instead projected against the vulnerable Cumbrian realm.

In the words of the pseudo-prophetic twelfth-century Prophecy of Berchán, Máel Coluim mac Cináeda was biodhba Bretan ("enemy of Britons"). Whether this description reflects genuine animosity between him and the Kingdom of Strathclyde is unknown. It is possible that this description of the Scottish king refers to aggression against the Cumbrians at some point after the Battle of Carham and Owain Foel's demise. In 1038, Eadwulf, Earl of Northumbria (died 1041) is stated by Historia regum Anglorum to have attacked certain unspecified Britons. Whilst it is conceivable that this source is evidence that at least some Cumbrians were still independent by this date, another possibility is that these particular people were under Gall Gaidheil overlordship when attacked by the English.

Owain Foel could have lived into the 1050s. In 1054, Siward, Earl of Northumbria (died 1055) invaded Alba and defeated the reigning Mac Bethad. According to the twelfth-century texts Gesta regum Anglorum, and Chronicon ex chronicis, Siward set up a certain Máel Coluim (fl. 1054)—identified as the son of the king of the Cumbrians—in opposition to Mac Bethad. Máel Coluim appears to have been a member of the Cumbrian royal dynasty, and may well have been a descendant of Owain Foel himself: perhaps a son or grandson. The Gaelic personal name borne by this man could be evidence of an ancestral link with the ruling Scottish Alpínid dynasty: perhaps a matrilineal link to Owain Foel's confederate at Carham, Máel Coluim mac Cináeda. If the Máel Coluim of 1054 was indeed a member of Owain Foel's family, one possibility is that the Scots had deprived him of the Cumbrian kingship following Owain Foel's demise, and that Siward installed him as king over the Cumbrians following the English victory against Mac Bethad. Another possibility, suggested by the account of events dictated by Chronicon ex chronicis, is that Siward installed Máel Coluim as King of Alba. If Máel Coluim was indeed placed upon the Scottish throne, one possibility is that Owain Foel was still reigning as King of Strathclyde. Whatever the case, Owain Foel is the last known king of the realm.