south of Scotland. The traces of Brythonic numerals, which have been ably investigated by Mr. David MacRitchie and others, also deserve attention. In so obscure a subject every ray of light may help to diminish the gloom. Nor is it possible to overlook the evidence that may accrue from the early ecclesiastical history of Wales and Scotland. The name of St. Kentigern alone links Glasgow and St. Asaph; and the students of Welsh hagiology know only too well that this is not by any means the only link between the Christians of Wales and their brethren of the North. In view of the distance between Wales and Southern Scotland, it seems strange that there should be such links, but nothing is clearer to the student of early Welsh literature and of the genealogies of the princely families of Wales than that they are very real. Certain Welsh families whose genealogies have been preserved (as, for example, the pre-Norman genealogies called the ‘Harleian’), styled themselves even in the Middle Ages ‘Gwyr y Gogledd’ or ‘The Men of the North,’ and the early Welsh poetry which is based on their traditions make the North the chief scene of their exploits. A valuable genealogical document of the Middle Ages (Hengwrt MS. 536) is entitled ‘Bonedd Gwyr y Gogledd yw hyn’ (‘This is the genealogy of the Men of the North’). It may be seen with a translation in Skene’s Four Ancient Books of Wales, vol. ii. In the same manuscript is contained another document entitled ‘Trioedd Arthur a’i wyr’ (‘ The triads of Arthur and his men’), and in this there are the names of several members of the same northern families. There are not a few points of contact also between the oldest Welsh traces of the Arthurian legend and the genealogies in question.
Closely connected, again, with the genealogies are the two manuscripts (A and B) of the Annales Cambriæ, which contain a few references to the affairs of Northern Britain, similar in character to those found in the Irish Annals. For the sake of convenience these references will be given at the outset in chronological order. The portions enclosed in brackets are the additions of MS. B.
