Annales Cambriae & The Battle of Badon
Let's take another look at the Annales Cambriae,
specifically to the entry for AD 516:
516 - Bellum Badonis, in quo Arthur portavit crucem
Domini nostri Jesu Christi tribus diebus et tribus noctibus in humeros
suos et Britones victores fuerunt.
516 - The Battle of Badon, in which Arthur
carried the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ on his shoulders for three
days and three nights and the Britons were victors
AD 516 does not reconcile with the latest possible
date for Badon which is AD 491. This is not the only reason why
the AD 516 entry is suspect. As mentioned earlier Arthur was
probably not at the Battle of Badon. The language of the entry
seems at best a riddle, at worst a fantasy. However, with
reference to the three days and nights, there is a probable link with
Gildas who described the Battle of Badon as being a "siege". The
most likely conclusion is that the AD 516 entry is an incorrect
interpolation, i.e. an erroneous entry made into the annals long after
the events, probably with political/religious aims in mind.
