The
Battle of Catraeth was fought around AD 600 between a force raised by the
Gododdin, a
Brythonic people of the
Hen Ogledd or "Old North" of
Britain, and the
Angles of
Bernicia and
Deira. It was evidently an assault by the Gododdin party on the Angle stronghold of
Catraeth, perhaps
Catterick, North Yorkshire. The Gododdin force was said to have consisted of warriors from all over the Hen Ogledd, and even some from as far afield as
Gwynedd in
North Wales and
Pictland. The battle was disastrous for the Britons, who were nearly all killed. The slain warriors were commemorated in the important early poem
Y Gododdin, attributed to
Aneirin.