The Battle of Arthuret
In the Annals of Wales, the section dealing with the history of the Old North starts with this battle.
It is the first one mentioned after Camlann in which the Annals tell us that Arthur was killed.
As warfare was endemic in this region at the time. The fact that the battle was recorded at all underlines the importance attached to it.
It was a conflict between princes decended from Coel Hen, the Old King Cole that children still sing about and was therefore a struggle for power between cousins and not against a foreign invader. The most famous participant was Merlin described as Bard or Chief Adviser of Gwenddoleu leader of the Pagan faction opposed by a coalition of Christian princes.
Although we can only speculate as to its causes, the battle seems to have decided the supreme leadership of those who the Welsh caled 'The Men of the North'. A death toll of 80,000 is claimed, though this may be the chronicler's way of emphasising the sheer ferocity of the conflict. In any event Longtown was the site of one of the most influential battles in the history of the Old North.