View source for Gildas

===Birthplace===
Differing versions of the ''Life of Saint Gildas'' exist, but both agree that he was born at a place called ''Arecluta'' which is described by the author as taking its name from a "certain river called the Clut, by which that district is, for the most part, watered".<ref name="Breeze">{{cite journal |last1=Breeze |first1=Andrew |title=Where was Gildas born? |journal=Northern History |date=2008 |volume=XLV |issue=2 |pages=347–349 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1179/174587008X322599 |access-date=28 December 2024}}</ref> This was long taken by historians to mean that Gildas was born in what is now [[Scotland]] on the banks of the [[River Clyde]].<ref name="Breeze" />

He is now thought by some historians to have his origins farther south.<ref>Kerlouégan, "Gildas"; Williams, "Gildas"</ref> Their belief is that his writing suggests a lack of familiarity with the geography of [[Kingdom of Strathclyde|Strathclyde]], but is more accurate regarding southern Britain.<ref name="Breeze" /> Furthermore, Gildas shows a familiarity with classical Latin texts that historians such as [[Nick Higham (historian)|Nick Higham]] and [[E. A. Thompson|E.A. Thompson]] view as more likely to have been acquired further south, within the bounds of former [[Roman Britain]].<ref name="Breeze" /> Thompson suggested [[Chester]] as a possible birthplace, while the linguist [[Andrew Breeze]] suggests [[Arclid]], near [[Sandbach]] in [[Cheshire]], based on its plausible derivation from ''Arecluta''.<ref name="Breeze" />