A 19th-century theory proposing Catraeth, site of the Y Gododdin poem, was near Kirkcaldy, Scotland, later superseded by Catterick identification.
Key Facts
- Proposed date
- 596 AD
- Theorist
- E. W. B. Nicholson, Bodleian Library
- Proposed location
- West of Kirkcaldy, Fife coast
- Allied commander (theory)
- King Áedán mac Gabráin of Dál Riata
- Current scholarly consensus
- Battle of Catraeth located at Catterick
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
E. W. B. Nicholson, aware that no scholar had identified the location 'Catraeth' from the Welsh poem Y Gododdin, parsed the name as Gaelic 'cat' (battle) combined with 'Raeth', linking it to the Scottish place name Raith near Kirkcaldy, Fife.
Nicholson proposed that in 596 AD, an Anglian invading force landed on the Fife coast near Raith and defeated an allied army of Scots, Britons, and Picts commanded by King Áedán mac Gabráin of Dál Riata. The theory was later popularised in the local history volume 'Kirkcaldy Burgh and Schyre'.
Nicholson's hypothesis gained some circulation through its inclusion in local historical literature but was ultimately not accepted by mainstream scholarship, which instead identifies the Battle of Catraeth with Catterick in North Yorkshire, England.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Side B
1 belligerent
Áedán mac Gabráin.