[9] Specifically, the ninth- to twelfth-century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that Æthelræd II, King of the English unleashed a devastating campaign against the Cumbrian kingdom in 1000.

[19] In fact, there is reason to suspect that the English had struck a deal with a Scandinavian army seated in England, and thereafter directed one part of this force to engage the Cumbrians and another to attack the Normans.

[22] A passage preserved by the eleventh- or twelfth-century Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib claims that, whilst in the north, Brian's maritime forces levied tribute from Saxons and Britons, and from Argyll, the Lennox, and Alba.

[23] This source may be evidence that Brian's Scandinavian forces—perhaps commanded by Sitriuc mac Amlaíb, King of Dublin—campaigned against various Cumbrian-controlled territories, and either the English population of Lothian[24] or the western coast of Northumbria.

[28] The twelfth-century pseudo-prophetic Prophecy of Berchán describes this monarch as an "enemy of Britons", and within the same passage seems to refer to military actions against the islands of Islay and Arran.

[24] Also in 1006, the eleventh-century De obsessione Dunelmi records that the Scots penetrated into Northumbria, and besieged Durham before being beaten back by Uhtred, son of the northern English magnate Waltheof.

[25] Whilst it is possible that these records refer to the like-named Owain Foel, King of Strathclyde,[35] there is evidence indicating that this man lived on years afterwards, and there is no reason to disregard the aforesaid obituaries as erroneous.

[37][note 2] According to the twelfth-century Historia regum Anglorum, Owain Foel assisted his Scottish counterpart, Máel Coluim mac Cináeda, against the English at the Battle of Carham in 1018.

[43] Another like-named member of the Cumbrian dynasty may be the Owain ap Dyfnwal who is reported to have been slain in 990 by sources such as the "B" version of Annales Cambriæ,[44] Brut y Tywysogyon,[45] and Brenhinedd y Saesson.