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'''Meldred''' is a character who appears in literary accounts of [[post-Roman Britain]].  He is identified as a chieftain in part of what is now southern [[Scotland]] for a period in the 6th Century. A twelfth century text references a petty king named ''Meldredus'' who had ruled in [[Tweeddale]].<ref name ="MacQueen1989"> MacQueen, W. and MacQueen, J. (eds.), (1989), ''Vita Merlini Sylvestris'', in ''Scottish Studies'' 29, pp. 77 - 93, at 81</ref> The village of [[Drumelzier]] in Peeblesshire may take its name from him and his seat of power may have been the fort of Tinnis Castle.<ref>Clarkson, T. (2016), ''Scotland's Merlin: A Medieval Legend and its Dark Age Origins'', Birlinn, Edinburgh {{ISBN|978-1-906566999}}</ref>  He is of interest as a character in the source texts on which the Arthurian romances are based and potentially the first named political leader associated with the [[Scottish Borders]] in the post-Roman period.
== Death of Lailoken ==
In ''Vita Merlini Silvestris'',<ref name ="MacQueen1989"/> a twelfth-century source text for the literary character [[Merlin]], Meldred features as the captor of [[Lailoken]], a warrior so traumatised by the scale of the slaughter he witnesses at the Battle of [[Arfderydd]] (Arthuret) in 573 that he retreats to the [[Caledonian Forest|Great Wood of Caledon]], where he lives as a wild man.  Lailoken's madness endows him with the gift of prophecy and Meldred holds him captive in his fortress at Drumeller in the hope of extracting prophecies which he can use to his advantage.  During negotiations over his release, Lailoken draws attention to a leaf caught in the queen's wimple which he claims is evidence of an assignation with her lover in the king's garden.  Lailoken secures his release, but the queen takes revenge on him for revealing her affair by arranging to have him ambushed and killed by a gang of shepherds.<ref>[[John Veitch (poet)|Veitch, John]] (1893), ''History and Poetry of the Scottish Border'', Volume 1, [[William Blackwood and Sons]], p. 224</ref>  Meldred has Lailoken buried in the churchyard to the west of his fortress, close to where the Powsail Burn (also called Drumelzier Burn) joins the [[River Tweed]].
==Maldred of Allerdale==
The sixth-century literary Meldred of Arthurian romance may have been inspired by a much later historical figure, the eleventh century Maldred (Gaelic: ''Máel Doraid'') of [[Allerdale]], referred to by ''[[De obsessione Dunelmi]]'' as a son of 'thegn Crínán', possibly [[Crínán of Dunkeld|Crínán]], abbot of [[Dunkeld]], which would make him a younger brother of King [[Duncan I of Scotland]]. Maldred and his wife Ealdgyth, a daughter of [[Uhtred the Bold]] and granddaughter of King [[Æthelred the Unready]], were the parents of [[Gospatric, Earl of Northumbria]] and progenitor of the [[Earl of Home|earls of Home]] and the [[earls of Dunbar]].<ref>McGuigan, Neil (2021), ''Máel Coluim II 'Canmore': An Eleventh-Century Scottish King'', John Donald, Edinburgh, pp. 74 - 79, {{isbn|9781910900192}}</ref>
== References ==
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== Further reading ==
* Clarkson, Tim (2016), ''Scotland's Merlin: A Medieval Legend and its Dark Age Origins'', [[Birlinn (publisher)|John Donald]], Edinburgh, {{isbn|9781906566999}}
* Young, William D. (2022), ''The Ghosts of the Forest: The Lost Mythology of the North'', Inter-Celtic, {{isbn|9781399920223}}
[[Category:Medieval literature]]
[[Category:Arthurian characters]]
[[Category:Scottish Borders]]
[[Category: People from the Scottish Borders]]
[[Category:Tweeddale]]