Medieval Welsh traditions Caratacus' memory may have been preserved in medieval Welsh tradition. A
genealogy in the Welsh Harley MS 3859 () includes the generations "
Caratauc map Cinbelin map Teuhant", corresponding, via established processes of language change, to "Caratacus, son of Cunobelinus, son of
Tasciovanus", preserving the names of the three historical figures in correct relationship. Caratacus does not appear in
Geoffrey of Monmouth's
History of the Kings of Britain (1136), although he appears to correspond to
Arviragus, the younger son of
Kymbelinus, who continues to resist the Roman invasion after the death of his older brother
Guiderius. In Welsh versions his name is Gweirydd, son of Cynfelyn, and his brother is called Gwydyr; the name Arviragus is taken from a poem by
Juvenal.
Caradog, son of Bran, who appears in medieval Welsh literature, has also been identified with Caratacus, although nothing in the medieval legend corresponds except his name. He appears in the
Mabinogion as a son of
Bran the Blessed, who is left in charge of Britain while his father makes war in
Ireland, but is overthrown by
Caswallawn (the historical
Cassivellaunus, who lived a century earlier than Caratacus). The
Welsh Triads agree that he was Bran's son, and name two sons, Cawrdaf and Eudaf. Two hills in Shropshire bear the name Caer Caradoc (Welsh – Caer Caradog), meaning fort of Caradoc, and have popular associations with him. One is an Iron Age hill fort and Scheduled Monument near the town of Clun. It overlooks the village of Chapel Lawn. The other Caer Caradoc is a prominent hill and Iron Age hill fort near Church Stretton, 16 miles (26 km) to the north-east.
Modern traditions Caradog began to be identified with Caratacus only after the rediscovery of the works of Tacitus and new material appeared based on this identification. An 18th-century tradition, popularised by the Welsh antiquarian and forger
Iolo Morganwg, credits Caradog, on his return from imprisonment in Rome, with the introduction of Christianity to Britain. Iolo also makes the legendary king
Coel Hen a son of Caradog's son
Saint Cyllin.
Richard Williams Morgan said a reference to Cyllin as a son of Caratacus was found in the family records of
Iestyn ab Gwrgant and used this as evidence of the early entry of Christianity to Britain: "Cyllin ab Caradog, a wise and just king. In his days many of the Cymry embraced the faith in Christ through the teaching of the saints of Cor-Eurgain, and many godly men from the countries of Greece and Rome were in Cambria. He first of the Cymry gave infants names; for before, names were not given except to adults, and then from something characteristic in their bodies, minds, or manners." Another tradition, which has remained popular among
British Israelites and others, makes Caratacus already a Christian before he came to Rome, Christianity having been brought to Britain by either
Joseph of Arimathea or
St Paul, and identifies a number of early Christians as his relatives. One is
Pomponia Graecina, wife of
Aulus Plautius, the conqueror of Britain, who as Tacitus relates, was accused of following a "foreign superstition", which the tradition considers to be Christianity. Tacitus describes her as the "wife of the Plautius who returned from Britain with an ovation", which led
John Lingard (1771–1851) to conclude, in his
History and Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church, that she was British; however, this conclusion is a misinterpretation of what Tacitus wrote. An
ovation was a military parade in honour of a victorious general, so the person who "returned from Britain with an ovation" is clearly Plautius, not Pomponia. This has not prevented the error being repeated and disseminated widely. Another is
Claudia Rufina, a historical British woman known to the poet
Martial. Martial describes Claudia's marriage to a man named Pudens, almost certainly
Aulus Pudens, an
Umbrian
centurion and friend of the poet who appears regularly in his
Epigrams. It has been argued since the 17th century that this pair may be the same as the Claudia and Pudens mentioned as members of the Roman Christian community in
2 Timothy in the
New Testament. Some go further, asserting that Claudia was Caratacus' daughter, and that the historical
Pope Linus, who is described as the "brother of Claudia" in an early church document, was Caratacus' son. Pudens is identified with
St. Pudens, and it is asserted that the basilica of
Santa Pudenziana in Rome, and with which St. Pudens is associated, was once called the
Palatium Britannicum and was the home of Caratacus and his family. This theory was popularised in a 1961 book called
The Drama of the Lost Disciples by George Jowett, but Jowett did not originate it. He cites renaissance historians such as Archbishop
James Ussher,
Caesar Baronius and
John Hardyng, as well as classical writers like
Caesar,
Tacitus and
Juvenal, although his classical citations at least are wildly inaccurate, many of his assertions are unsourced, and many of his identifications entirely speculative. He also frequently cites
St. Paul in Britain, an 1860 book by
R. W. Morgan, and advocates other tenets of British Israelism, in particular that the British are descended from the
lost tribes of Israel. == In modern culture ==