Friday, March 28, 2025

THE PROBLEM OF THE IRISH ARTHURS (with a proposed "double" solution)

The Distribution of Ogam Inscriptions in the British Isles

Over the years I have hammered away at what I call the 'Irish Arthur' problem.  In brief, no one has been able to satisfactorily account for why all the Arthurs of the Dark Ages who are in the generation immediately following the famous Arthur of the Historia Brittonum and the Annales Cambriae belong to Irish-descended dynasties in Britain.

I've written many pieces on the subject.  One of the better ones, which is a sort of summary of the problem, can be read here:


The main focal point of "The Problem" does not lie in Dessi-founded Dyfed in SW Wales.  We might be able to allow for the name Arthur being brought there not only because, like the Dalriadans in the North, the Dessi were Irish, but because one of the members of the Dyfed pedigree (in the Irish version; the Welsh version substituted Roman names) was named Artchorp, 'Bear-body' (name etymologized by Professor Jurgen Uhlich). The Dyfed Arthur, son of Pedr, is also dated after Arthur of Dalriada, although before Arthur son of Bicoir 'the Briton' (who probably does not belong in Kintyre, but in NW Wales; see the Beccurus Stone at Gesail Cyfarch).  

To tackle The Problem head-on, we have to look at Dalriada, where the earliest historically attested Arthur occurs, viz. Arthur son of Aedan (or of Conaing, Aedan's son, a man bearing a name derived from English cyning, 'king, ruler, emperor').

We have fairly decent records for a British wife being taken by Aedan son of Gabran.  As all efforts to parse the name Arthur as Celtic (including my own) rather than as being derived from the Latin/Roman Artorius have failed, we must presume that the name Arthur came into the Dalriadan royal family via a British wife.  

Maithgemma or 'Gemma' (a hypocoristic form of the name) was a daughter of Aedan and a niece of a British king. However, her name, meaning "Bear", is Irish, not British.  But it is interesting, nonthesless, given the propensity among Cumbric speakers to view Arthur as containing arth, their word for bear.

The only British kingdom worth considering when it comes to intermarriage for the Dalriadans is, of course, Strathclyde, with its center at Alclud.  

I've made a case before for seeing Uther Pendragon, the Cruel (see GPC for the maenings of uthr, and the reference to Arthur son of Uter being cruel in a gloss to a Historia Brittonum MS.) Leader of Warriors as Ceredig Wledig of Alclud, who is called the 'cruel tyrant' in a St. Patrick source.  A letter by Patrick is addressed to his rapacious soldiers. Ceredig's floruit is perfect in terms of chronology.  Patrick's life is treated of in the section just before that of Arthur in the HB.  This Strathclyde ruler was vilified to the extreme, so it would not be unexpected for a poetic term for him to have been substituted, as otherwise Arthur's reputation would be tarnished.

As the Strathclyde kingdom was the earlier territory of the Dumnonii tribe, and a tribe of the identical name inhabited Cornwall in the Roman period, would could easily account for the tradition which tended to situate Arthur in Cornwall.   

But if we take this easy way out of The Problem, we are faced with the following two questions:

1) How/why did the name Arthur find its way into the elite of the Strathclyde kingdom?

and

2) If Arthur was son of Ceredig of Alclud, is it plausible to have the former fight the English in the east as Rhydderch Hael, King of Strathclyde. (b. c. 540), (d. 614?) would later on?

We can tackle the second question first, as it is rather easy to answer.

The HB account literally says that Arthur was a leader in war and that he fought with the British kings against the Saxons.  This sounds either like a sort of overlord or, just as plausibly, a mercenary captain.
As Strathclyde was a powerful kingdom early on, there is no reason why one of its royal sons could not have taken on either role.  

The first question is quite a bit harder.

We pretty much have to evoke the ghost of good, old L. Artorius Castus, and accept that he did participate in campaigns in the North.  And that whatever he did there made his name famous enough among the Northern British that it was preserved, handed down and, ultimately resurfaced as the name of a son of Ceredig of Alclud.  And this is true despite the bulk of the evidence supporting the view that Castus went to Armenia and was not involved in any of the later major Roman campaigns in northern Britain.  We would have to adopt one of my proposed readings for the ARM[...]S lacuna on his memorial stone: "arm(atas) gentes".  

PETRA CLOITHE AND PETRIANA/'ARTHURIBURGUM'

Bartrum says of Ceredig Wledig: "He appears in the unique pedigree of the kings of Strathclyde in the ‘Harleian Genealogies’..."

To quote the relevant section for the Harleian:

Ystrad Clud
[R]un map Arthgal map Dumnagual map Riderch map Eugein map Dumnagual map Teudebur map Beli map Elfin map Eugein map Beli map Neithon map Guipno map Dumngual hen map Cinuit map Ceritic guletic map Cynloyp map Cinhil map Cluim map Cursalem map Fer map Confer, ipse est uero olitauc dimor meton uenditus est.

Gwyr y Gogledd
[R]iderch hen map Tutagual map Clinoch map Dumgual hen.

We notice immediately that there is a huge discrepancy between these two pedigrees for Rhydderch.  and all kinds of related chronological issues (when reckoning by the generations).

And this is where a rather unusual confluence of "coincidences" may come into play.

1) In Adomnan, Alclud - the 'Aloo' of the Patrick source - is called Petra Cloithe. 

2) Arthur of Dyfed is the son of Pedr, viz. Petrus.

3) Arthur son of Bicoir is said to kill Mongan with a stone (lapide).

4) The largest Roman cavalry fort in all Britain and the command center of Hadrian's Wall at Stanwix, properly Uxellodunum, is called Petriana in the Notitia Dignitatum.  The Ala Petriana was named for Titus Pomponius Petra. Thought by some to be a mere ghost name, based on the cavalry unit that was there throughout the late period, there are some scholars who accept it as a genuine nickname for the place.  Stanwix is close to the Aballava (Avalana; Avalon?, with its Dea Latis/Lake Goddess) Roman fort, the Concavata ( = Grail?) Roman fort, and the Roman fort of Camboglanna (Camlan?). 

There is an antiquarian record of the Stanwix fort being called ARTHURIBURGUM, 'Arthur's fort.'

It is possible, I wonder, that Ceredig Wledig does not belong at Alclud, but that the Aloo of the Patrick source is an error for Petriana/Uxellodunum?

Obviously, all the stone references may point instead to Alclud itself, and that is, perhaps, the more reasonable assumption.  

But... look at the map:




 
I would add - and this is important - that I'd long ago proven St. Patrick himself came from Birdoswald, the Banna Roman fort (https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/02/banna-as-home-of-st-patrick-repost.html). This fort was in the same river-valley as Camboglanna. 















Sunday, March 23, 2025

ILLTUD THE TERRIBILIS MAGISTER MILITUM AND HIS SON, ARTHUR: AN OUTLINE OF A NEW/OLD THEORY

           Liddington Castle, Badbury

Illtud = terribilis [miles]
Illtud =                magister militum
                           princeps militum
             Uther    Pen           dragon

Sometimes you get lucky and things are simple. But then you make the mistake of complicating them through personal bias.

I wanted a Northern Arthur - for a variety of reasons. Thus when I came to the certain conclusion that Uther was St. Illtud, I immediately employed the Sawyl of the Uther elegy and in the tradition of the saint to move Arthur's father north to Ribchester, home of Sawyl Benisel.

I even chose to ignore the Uther-Mabon relationship.

And I did this despite some truly significant findings made concerning Illtud's father and place of origin. 

For Illtud's father Bican and his homeland of Llydaw was a distorted reference to Bicknor and Lydbrook in what had been the ancient kingdom of Ercing, a region rife with Arthurian associations. Bicknor itself, an English place-name, had earlier been the Church of Constantine and in the Galfridian tradition, a Constantine is the father of Uther.

But it didn't stop there. The Bican of Bicknor and Lydbrook had their perfectly matching counterparts at Bican Dic and Lyd Brook at Badbury in Wiltshire. Liddington Castle is the Badon mentioned in the context of the Second Battle of Badon in the Welsh Annals.

And still I clung to my Northern Arthur!

Until just a short time ago, when I realized the Cefn Digoll ("unbroken or continuous ridge") of the Welsh DREAM OF RHONABWY, where Badon is situated, was a rolocation of the Ridgeway on Wiltshire, which runs right at the foot of Liddington Castle.

The same Ridgeway connects Liddington with nearby Barbury Castle, the Fort of the Bear. The Arth- of the name Arthur was linked by the Welsh with their name for bear, 'arth.'

So two Welsh sources identified Badon as the Liddington Castle of
Illtud!

But wait - there's more!

The Roman period name of the Liddington Badbury, according to Rivet and Smith (in THE PLACE-NAMES OF ROMAN BRITAIN) was...

DUROCORNOVIUM

A name that contained the same British word that yields Cernyw, i.e. Cornwall. Yes - the very Cornwall were Arthur was traditionally placed.

Now, combine all that with the ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE's account of a nonvictorius battle by the Gewissei at Barbury near Liddington, followed by a 36 year gap before another unsuccessful incursion into Wiltshire, and we have what appears to be the Arthur story. 

And the only good place for the Battle of Badon in that narrative is right after the failed attempt by the Saxons and their allies to take the Bear's Fort.

Chronological questions abound, of course. I've discussed those in the past and may treat of them again in the near future.

As for the Arthurian battles, I've shown that they are Cymracized versions of the ASC's Gewissei battles. Meaning that Arthur was the chief military leader against those Saxons who would eventually found the Kingdom of Wessex.

Seems that I will definitely be writing a new book on Arthur sometime in the future. Maybe a good project for my retirement?












Saturday, March 22, 2025

ARTHUR AND BARBURY CASTLE: EVIDENCE AND THE LITTLE VOICE IN THE BACK OF MY HEAD

                      Barbury Castle

When I wrote this piece just a week or so ago -


- I was leaning towards Ceredig son of Cunedda as the best candidate for Arthur. However, I could only do this by viewing the Welsh PA GUR's identification of Uther as Illtud, and the whole Uther and Illtud business with Samuel/Sawyl as spurious tradition. 

Despite the fact that a little voice in the back of my head kept insisting that I was making a mistake. That I was willfully ignoring the only evidence we had for the identity of Arthur's father for the sake of reading the MARWNAT VTHYR PEN's pen kawell as a reference to Ceawlin/Cunedda. And that I was doing this solely because I liked the latter theory better.

Only the other day I had cause to revisit my dilemma. I had been ignorant of the fact the Barbury Castle, the 'Bear's fort', appears to show Dark Age activity, if not reuse:

From


"Early medieval There is considerable evidence for early medieval activity in and around Barbury Castle in the form of artefacts and, possibly, human remains. At the hillfort itself a scramasax of 6th- or 7th-century date was found before 1934 with fragments of several others, smaller single-edged knives and a spearhead; in 1939-45 human skeletons buried in the rampart were found by American troops and these have been assigned an early medieval date (Meaney 1964, 265) though on what evidence is unclear. Colonel Burne recorded that: `To the consternation of the archaeologists ... [US Army] soldiers brought up bulldozers to Barbury Castle and began deliberately to demolish the vallum. When human bones were found in the excavating bucket, they deemed it time to report an unusual occurrence. Mr Alexander Keiller went out at once to the site and was in time to photograph a section of the vallum which showed that the parapet had at some time been heightened by a few feet' (1950, 399). Burne argued that this heightening of the rampart was done by the Britons prior to the Battle of Beranburgh, so the dating of the skeletons to the same period may be due to his influence. Some (but apparently not all) of Keiller's photographs survive (Alexander Keiller Museum, Avebury, No 20000584), showing that it was on the north side of the west entrance that the skeletons were found; these surviving photographs do not show evidence for the heightening of the rampart, however. It should also be noted that a fragment of human skull has been found more recently on the outer rampart to the south of the east entrance (Lynne Simpson pers comm). Barbury Castle, the lower ground to the north or the ridge to the south-east, is the traditional site of the Battle of Beranburgh in 556, a possibly indecisive encounter between the Saxons under Ceawlin and Cynric, and the Britons. The battle was
discussed by Maskelyne (1886, 191-3) who believed it to have been a great Saxon victory, but later writers have emphasised that victory was not achieved until Dyrham in 577 (e.g. Entwistle 1994, 77). There seems to be general agreement, however, that the battle was fought near, not at, the hillfort. The OS have placed it at SU 147 768, 500m north of the fort, while Burne argues that it took place 750m south-east of the fort on Smeath's Ridge (1950, 402). The Battle of Ellandun, decisive victory of Egbert of Wessex over Beornwulf of Mercia in 825, is also believed to have taken place at Wroughton (Smurthwaite 1984, 36-7)."

Now, the word "indecisive" there pretty much says it all. For I once discussed the 36 year Wiltshire gap in the ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE:


Southern England was the most heavily Romanized part of the island. There is no problem with the Artorius name having been preserved there into the sub-Roman. The name was not rare and we need not restrict its origin to the northern 2nd century L. Artorius Castus.

But, there is a real problem with claiming it as a second name for Cerdic of Wessex. There is no problem suggesting it belonged to a war prince at Barbury whose father hailed from Durocornovium at the Liddington Badon. And that the Arthur name, taken by the Britons as a bear name, caused the English to name the fort for the Bear who ruled there.

It may well be that I shall have to write yet another book. One that places the great Arthur in Wiltshire.




Wednesday, March 19, 2025

FINAL WORK ON ARTHUR'S CAMLAN, PART TWO

The Cams, Hampshire



ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE

530

Her Cerdic 7 Cynric genaman Wihte ealand 7 ofslogan fea men on Wihtgarabyrig.

534

Her Cerdic forðferde, 7 Cynric his sunu rixode .xxvii. wintra, 7 hie gesealdan heora twam nefum, Stufe 7 Wihtgare, Wihte ealand.

A.D. 530. This year Cerdic and Cynric took the isle of Wight, and slew many men in Carisbrook.

A.D. 534. This year died Cerdic, the first king of the West-Saxons. Cynric his son succeeded to the government, and reigned afterwards twenty-six winters. And they gave to their two nephews, Stuff and Wihtgar, the whole of the Isle of Wight.

WELSH ANNALS

537

The battle of Camlann, in which Arthur and Medraut fell: and there was plague in Britain and Ireland.

537 

Gueith camlann in qua Arthur et Medraut corruerunt, et mortalitas in Brittannia et in Hibernia fuit.



This post is a continuation of the one offered here:


That article covered my findings pertaining to the Welsh Camlan (the Afon Gamlan).

Here I wish to discuss in some detail what I think is the actual, as opposed to the traditional, site.

Some time ago I put forward an outlandish idea - one that was quite harshly received.  In fact, it was so universally disliked that I pulled the relevant blogs.  However, I've recently had cause to reexamine the theory and have obtained some support for at least the premise from Dr. Richard Coates, one of the top experts in English place-names.

By now, my readers are aware that I was the person who first proposed (to Dr. Oliver Padel) that the name Medraut or, rather, the Cornish form Modred, represented the well-attested Roman/Latin name Moderatus.

When I was considering Arthur as an opponent of Cerdic of Wessex (or that Arthur actually was Cerdic of Wessex/Ceredig son of Cunedda), I had noticed something peculiar.  Yes, Cerdic's and Arthur's death-dates pretty nearly correspond: Cerdic in 534, Arthur c. 537.  But when it came to Cerdic, the context of his death was important.  We are told that 4 years prior he had fought at the fort of Wight (Carisbrook).  Upon his death, the Isle of Wight is given to Wihtgar and Stuf.  

Now this Stuf is earlier mentioned during the battle at Cerdicesora, probably the Ower by Netley (the Natanleag of the ASC Cerdic battles), but also possibly the Ower by Calshot. To my eye, the proximity of Stubbington, Hampshire, to these Owers, and to Wight, was interesting.   The place-name specialists (Ekwall, Mills, Watts) have two ideas for Stubbington.  Either it contains a personal name Stubba or it is from stubbing, a Middle English term for cleared land with tree-stumps, from the OE word for tree-stump.

But we often find in certain circumstances that the letters b and f can be mistaken for each other, and thus substituted for each other.  I wondered if the ASC's Stuf could represent an attempted eponym for Stubbington.  As it happens, it is well-known that the early portion of the ASC contains several attested eponyms.  The most blatant, perhaps, is Port, a chieftain whose name supposedly lies behind the place-names Portchester and Portsmouth. 

[I have asked Dr. Coates, who is working on the Isle of Wight place-names right now, what his take is on Stuf and Stubbington. His response will be added to this blog post in due course.]

An even more fascinating place-name was near Stubbington: The Cams, a name which preserved W. camas, 'bend', for the remarkable loop in the estuary of the Wallington River at Portsmouth Harbour.  The Cams Shore is spoken of in modern times, but we have ancient ora place-names all over the region.  The closest to The Cams  (actually right next to Cams Bay) is Wicor.  According to Coates, this is for wic ‘specialized farm’ + ora 'shore, bank.'

When I asked Coates if The Cams might well have had an ora attached to it, he remarked that it was possible. 

But an additional surprise was soon forthcoming.  As it turned out, the name of the principal river of Wight - Medina, from OE medume - had among its various meanings "moderate."  In other words, had someone known what medume meant, he could have rendered it into Latin as 'moderatus.'  And that word could have been miscontrued at some point as a personal name. 

Silly, right?

Well, not so fast.

Just across from the Medina, on the shore of Hampshire, the River Meon empties into The Solent at Stubbington! We have records that the people of the Meon were called the MEONWARA.

So, I went ahead and asked Dr. Coates what the inhabitants of the Medina would have been called. His reply:

"I suppose it would be *Meodemware."

What I'm thinking now, therefore, is that Medraut/Modred/Moderatus is an error for the men of the River Medina, who were fighting either for or against Arthur.  If after the battle of Carisbrook in 530 Cerdic had the Isle of Wight, and The Cams [ora] = Camlan, then Cerdic and the men of Medina fell at The Cams.

I feel fairly confident that this may really be what happened.

***

The complete listing for Medina, courtesy Coates:

The Medina

Medine c. 1200 HMC, 1299 RS, t. Ed 4 Ct

Medme 1279 Ass, (cursum aque que vocat’) medeme before 1295 CarD, Medeme c.1250 QCh, 13th AD, Madox, AD, t. Ed. 1 RS, Medome 1299 RS

Medone 1299 Add

Mede c.1240x1250 GBCart, c.1250 QCh, 13th AOMB, ?13th (18th) Harl, aqua de Meda 1300 CarD

Medene R. 1775 M, River Medina 1781 M, R. Medena 1785 M

Ekwall (1928: 283-284 and DEPN) suggested that Medina and the name of the river Meden (Nottinghamshire) derive from the OE adjective medume, meodeme ‘middle’. That is appropriate for this river, which divides the island into two approximately equal halves. Forms like Medine and Medeine, which also occur in the names of the hundreds deriving from the river-name, probably result from mistaken resolution of minim-letter sequences in medieval handwriting, with <m> resolved as <in>. Subsequently Medine was latinized as Medina; there is no such Latin word, but it no doubt conveniently suggested medium ‘centre’ and related words. The name is now stressed on the second syllable, on the model of the many names, especially female given names, ending with     -ina.

Ekwall (1928: 284) explains the short form Mede as being due to the fact that the river name appeared in long hundred-names such as *Estemedeme hundred. He felt that the loss of the <m> could be due to the second of three nasal consonants <…m…m…n…> in the long name being affected by dissimilation or haplology. In both the river-name and  the hundred-names the shorter form is not found after the 14th century, after which, in the hundred-names, it is usually supplanted by forms in <-in->. That may suggest that the reason for the loss of <-m-> is really to be traced in the sociolinguistics of the High Middle Ages. Only one instance of the shorter form is found after the Black Death (1348-9) which precipitated the decline of French in legal-administrative usage. In medieval French, final resonant consonants in words adapted from Latin, where they represented historic syllables two after the stressed syllable, were strongly subject to elision (angele > ange, imagene > image, virgene > vi(e)rge), and this may be a reason for the early reduction of initially-stressed Medeme to Mede by scribes conversant with Law French. A further contributory factor may be the resemblance of the first syllable to the familiar ME place-name element mēde ‘meadow’.[1] From the later 14th century, local usage mediated by writers of English prevailed, though using the forms in <-in-> which had become normal.

A full discussion of medume from the University of Texas:


medume, medeme, meodume; adj. I. middling, moderate, common :-- Medeme mediocer, Ælfc. Gr. 9, 18; Som. 9, 67. Gif hwylc man forstele deórwurþe þing ... Gif hwylc man medeme þing (rem mediocrem) UNCERTAIN stele, L. Ecg. P. ii. 25; Th. ii. 192, 17-20. II. occupying the middle or mean position as regards (a) size, amount, etc. :-- Medume leódgeld a half fine (cf. medietas leudis, and other examples, Grmm. R. A. 653), L. Ethb. 7; Th. i. 4, 9: 21; Th. i. 8, 3. Hé hæfþ medemne wæstm he is of middle height, Homl. Th. i. 456, 18. Heáfdu medumra manna heads of average, ordinary men, Salm. Kmbl. 525; Sal. 262. Gehwar gebúrrihta sýn hefige, gehwar medeme (moderate), L. R. S. 4; Th. i. 434, 5. Se mǽsta segl acateon; se medemesta segl epidromas; se lesta dalum, Wrt. Voc. i. 56, 51-53. (b) place, rank, means :-- Medemra þegna heregeata the medial thanes' heriots, L. C. S. 72; Th. i. 414, 12. Ic tǽhte ðám rícan ... ic tǽhte ðám medeman mannum ... Ic bebeád þearfum, Homl. Th. i. 378, 20. Heáfodmynstres griþbryce ... medemran mynstres ... and ðonne git læssan, L. Eth. ix. 5; Th. i. 342, 1: L. C. E. 3; Th. i. 360, 21. Ðæs medemestan lífes (the life mid-way between the best and worst, cf. mon forlǽt ðæt wyrreste líf and ne mæg git cuman tó ðæm betstan, 10), Past. 51, 6; Swt. 399, 15. (c) age :-- Mínre yldstan déhter ... ðære medemestan ... ðære gingstan, Chart. Th. 488, 28-32: 489, 23-25. III. observing the just mean, perfect, meet, fit, worthy :-- Hé wæs þurh eall meodum (MS. B. medeme: MS. O. medum) erat dignus per omnia, Bd. 4, 3; S. 567, 19. Meoduma, Mt. Kmbl. Rush. 10, 37. Hwelc se beón scolde ðe medome (dignus) hierde bión sceolde, Past. 11, 7; Swt. 73, 20, Medeme, Blickl. Homl. 129, 35. Hé wyrþ ǽlces cræftes medeme (fit for, capable of) ... ǽlces þinges swá medeme swá hé ǽfre medemast (medomist, MS. Cott.), Bt. 38, 5; Fox 206, 25-29. Hwylc ðæt medeme gód wæs hwylc ðæt unmedeme quæ sit imperfecti, quæ perfecti boni forma, 35, 1; Fox 134, 4. Medeme fæsten a proper fast, L. E. I. 39; Th. ii. 436, 35. Medeme lác, Blickl. Homl. 37, 32. Ful medomne wæstm, 55, 5. Drihtne tó geearnienne medome folc ('a prepared people,' Lk. 1, 17), 165, 15. Ne gedéþ se anweald gódne ne meodumne (MS. Cott. medomne) power makes him neither good nor worthy, Bt. 16, 3; Fox 56, 20. Góde and medeme, Blickl Homl. 129, 23; 32. Mid medemum wæstmum hreówe dignis pænitentia fructibus, Bd. 4, 27; S. 604, 24: Mt. Kmbl. 3, 8. Medeme þinc res dignas, Kent. Gl. 396. Drihten ðú ðe eall medemu geworhtest and náht unmedemes, Shrn. 165, 31. Ne mágon wé nánwuht findan betere (MS. Cott. medemre) ðonne God, Bt. 34, 4; Fox 138, 26. Nis meodumre ne mára ðonne it is not too good nor too great for, Exon. 38 a; Th. 125, 16; Gú. 355. Ðæt medemæste the best, Bt. 24, 4; Fox 86, 10. Ða medumestan ealdras exspectabiles senatores, Wrt. Voc. ii. 145, 51. [O. H. Ger. metam, metem.] v. un-medume.

My previous articles on The Cams:







Monday, March 17, 2025

Coming Soon: FINAL WORK ON ARTHUR'S CAMLAN, PART TWO


I will soon be revealing the real location of Camlan, as well as the true identity of Medraut/Modred/Moderatus.

Sunday, March 16, 2025

FINAL WORK ON ARTHUR'S CAMLAN: PART ONE

[From Koch, Celtic Culture]

If, based on the arguments laid out here for Arthur as Ceredig son of Cunedda/Cerdic of Wessex -


- we then set about looking for Arthur's Camlan, two candidates emerge. One is presented here in this blog and is comprised of older material. The other will be offered in Part Two of this piece (to be posted separately).

An Arthur whose Welsh kingdom equated with Ceredigion might well have engaged in internecine warfare farther north in Gwynedd. As it happens, it is there that we find the traditional Welsh localization of the Camlan battle site.

Camlann and the Grave of Osfran’s Son

The purpose of this essay is to prove, once and for all, where Arthur’s Camlann battle site was located. Or, more accurately, where Welsh tradition happen to place it!

It is fairly well known that the Welsh record seven survivors of Camlann. Yet, to my knowledge, no one has sought to plot these personages out on a map. To do so may help us pinpoint a geographical region in which Camlann was believed to be situated.

One of the seven – Geneid Hir – it a difficult and otherwise unknown name. P.C. Bartram (in “A Welsh Classical Dictionary: People in History and Legend up to about A.D. 1000) suggests the name may be corrupt and offers an unlikely identification with a personage named Eueyd or Euehyd Hir (often rendered Hefeydd). However, I would see in Geneid ‘Cannaid’, “white, bright, shining, pure, clean, radiant,” an epithet substituted for the original title Ceimiad, ‘Pilgrim’, of St. Elian. Elian had churches on Mon/Anglesey and in Rhos, Gwynedd.

Sandde Bryd Angel looks to be a pun for the Afon Angell, Aberangell, etc., places immediately to the south of the Camlan on the Afon Dyfi in Merionethshire.

Morfran son of Tegid is from Llyn Tegid, now Bala Lake in Gwynedd.

St. Cynfelyn is of Llancynfelyn in Ceredigion just below the Afon Dyfi.

St. Cedwyn of Llangedwyn in Powys, while somewhat further removed than the rest, is still in NW Wales.

St. Pedrog of Llanbedrog is on the Lleyn Peninsula in Gwynedd, just opposite the three Camlans in Merionethshire.

St. Derfel Gadarn is at Llandderfel near Bala Lake in Gwynedd.

Needless to say, if we “triangulate” with all these names/places, we find at the center the three
Merionethshire Camlans.

So which one is the right one?

Only one way to know for sure: we must find the Camlann that is claimed as the gravesite of Osfran’s son. This reference comes from the ‘Stanzas of the Graves:’

Bet mab Ossvran yg Camlan,
Gvydi llauer kywlavan…

The grave of Osfran’s son is at Camlan,
After many a slaughter…

[“The Black Books of Carmarthen ‘Stanzas of the
Graves’, Thomas Jones, Sir John Rhys Memorial
Lecture, 1967, Critical Text and Translation.]

While –fran of Osfran looks like Bran or ‘Raven’, the Os- does not look at all right for a Welsh name. I suspected Ys- and after a first search failed, I defaulted to bryn or ‘hill’ as the original of –bran. Thus I was looking for an Ysbryn.

And I actually found him – or, rather, it! [See “An
Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Wales  and Monmouthshire: VI – County of Merioneth”, p. 98, RCAHMW, 1921.]

On the Mawddach River in Merionethshire there is a Foel Ispri. It used to be Moel Ysbryn and was the legendary residence of Ysbryn Gawr or Ysbryn the Giant. If we go north on the Mawddach we run into its tributary the Afon Gamlan, i.e. the Water of the Crooked Bank.

According to David Hopewell, Senior Archaeologist with the Gwynedd Archaeological Trust, 

"As far as we know the Roman road runs to the east of the Mawddach.  It is well-preserved and easy to trace from Tomen-y-Mur to Penystryd (just E of Bronaber) after that it presumably runs to Brithdir but its line is somewhat debatable.  On current evidence I don’t know of anything crossing the Gamlan."

Hopewell has more on this in

"The well preserved length of road at Pen y Stryd dictates the alignment of the northern part of this road. The southern half is mainly predicted. There are two main candidates for the route, either along the line of the [A470] turnpike along the western side of Coed y Brenin and then onwards towards Dolgellau along the Mawddach valley or along hillsides to the east of the Mawddach and through Bwlch Goriwared to Brithdir. The former is often dismissed because it runs to Dolgellau which was thought to be a potential site of a Roman fort before the discovery of the fortlet at Brithdir. There are however indications that the Roman road may have turned in this direction after Pen y Stryd. The latter route runs fairly directly to Brithdir but little physical evidence has been discovered despite a great deal of investigation by several workers in the field. Waddelove’s route is conjectural and again relies on the
presence of a fort art Dolgellau. His argument for this, based on the current street plan of the town, is
unconvincing."

As it is common for modern roads to follow the course of the old Roman roads, I think we can feel fairly confident that the A470 is, in the main, marks the route during the Roman and sub-Roman periods.

[From D. Hopewell]
 


In a section of my book THE MYSTERIES OF AVALON, I included the following note detailing one of the supposed sites for Arthur’s grave. As it happens, this tradition matches the one that places Camlan on the Afon Gamlan.

A Note on Northwestern Wales as the Site of
Arthur’s Grave

There are a few Camlans/Gamlans in northwestern Wales or Gwynedd. The presence of these sites has prompted various Arthurian scholars to propose that Arthur fought his last and fatal battle in this region. The modern champions of this notion are Steve Blake and Scott Lloyd, whose book PENDRAGON: THE DEFINITIVE ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGINS OF KING ARTHUR, was released in 2003 by Lyons press.

We cannot ignore these Camlans or Gamlans (the most noteworthy being the Afon Gamlan, a river) when searching for a historical Arthur. Unlike the placement of Camlan (or Camlann) in
Cornwall, something done by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his HISTORY OF THE
KINGS OF BRITAIN, Gwynedd can claim to possess real candidates for Arthur’s final battle site. The only other known site that qualifies linguistically is much further north – Camboglanna on Hadrian’s Wall, which I have discussed above in Chaper 3.

Blake and Lloyd place their trust in a very late medieval source, the VERA HISTORIA MORTE DE ARTHURI, a work dated in extant MSS. to c.
1300, although perhaps to originals dating between 1199 and 1203. According to Blake and Lloyd, the VERA HISTORIA probably was written in Gwynedd. I will not contest this point, as it may well be correct.

The importance of the VERA HISTORIA lies in its placement of Arthur’s interment – and thus of Avalon – in Gwynedd. Although Blake and Lloyd are familiar with the Gwynedd tradition which places Arthur’s grave at Carnedd Arthur near Cwm-y-llan or Cym Llan (an error for Cwm Llem, the Valley of the river Llem), they choose to ignore this bit of folklore and instead settle on Tre
Beddau near Llanfair, well to the east on the Conwy River, as the actual burial place of the king. They deduce this from the fact that the VERA HISTORIA states that the grave is near a church of St. Mary (in Welsh, Llan-fair), and that archaeologists have recently uncovered a Dark Age or 6th century cemetery at Tre Beddau.

[Note: Cwm Llan is a very clumsy attempt at rendering Camlan, and is obviously spurious tradition.]

Unfortunately, the authors of PENDRAGON also choose to ignore the description of the burial place of Arthur as preserved in the VERA HISTORIA. In their own words, the burial of Arthur after Camlan is told as follows:

“… the VERA HISTORIA describes the funeral of Arthur as taking place at a chapel dedicated to the Virgin, the entrance to which was so narrow that the mourners had to enter by first forcing their shoulder into the gap and then dragging the rest of their body through the opening. While the funeral took place inside the chapel, a large storm blew up and a mist descended, so thick that is was impossible to see the body of Arthur – which had been left outside, as it would not fit into the chapel. Following the storm the mourners came out to find that the body had gone and the tomb prepared for Arthur was sealed shut, ‘such that it rather seemed to be one single stone’.”

Now, this passage quite obviously DOES NOT portray a 6th century Christian cemetery. Rather, it is a fitting description of a ‘chapel’ comparable to the “Green Chapel’ of SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT. In other words, the said ‘chapel’ is a Neolithic chambered tomb, whose passage is so tight as to barely allow the entrance of the mourners.

Furthermore, we are talking about TWO conjoined passage tombs – one that is the chapel of the Virgin, and the other which mysteriously receives the body of King Arthur. In all of Gwynedd, there is only one such ancient monument: that of the double chamber tomb of Dyffryn Ardudwy not far west of the Afon Gamlan.

One of the two chambers of Dyffryn Ardudwy is actually known as Coetan Arthur or Arthur’s Quoit. The “Virgin” is here a Christian embellishment on what would have been a pagan goddess associated with the Otherworld site.

The grave of Arthur discussed in the VERA HISTORIA is thus a product of folklore only. It can thus be dismissed as an actual grave of Arthur.

Granted, we cannot so easily dismiss the Camlans/Gamlans in northwestern Wales. Since writing this, Dr. Jessica Hughes of CADW has sent me information via snail-mail that adds important details to the description of the Dyffryn Ardudwy chambered tombs. To quote Dr. Hughes:

“The Chambered tomb at Dyffryn Ardudwy has been known as Coetan Arthur in the past, indeed antiquarian reports of the site refer to
Dyffryn as ‘Coetan Arthur’. However, the name appears to refer to the whole of the monument as opposed to a particular chamber. Interestingly (and maybe somewhat confusingly), one mile to the east of Dyffryn lies another chambered tomb known as ‘Cors-y-Gedal’. This was also known in the past as ‘Coetan Arthur’… Regarding whether there is a church of St. Mary in proximity to Dyffryn Ardudwy, I have found a church 4 miles north of Dyffryn in the village of
Llanfair. “

The enclosed Detail Report on this Church of St.
Mary states that Llanfair was dedicated to Mary “by at least the 12c when Gerald of Wales and Archbishop Bladwin stayed there in 1188…”

Here is the COFLEIN listing for the second chambered cairn:

http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/93724/detai
ls/CORS-Y-GEDOL%2C+BURIAL+CHAMBER/

“A rather tapering rectilinear cairn, c.31m NESW by 14.5m, showing at its eastern end a number of orthostats, partly supporting a tipped capstone, c.3.6m by 3.0m & 0.45m thick: a spindlewhorl, thought to be IA, is said to have come from under the capstone.”

Both of these chambered tombs are directly west of the Afon Gamlan.




Friday, March 14, 2025

The Two Candidates for a Southern Arthur

                             Illtud

                             Cerdic

If we accept that Arthur really did fight at the Liddington Badbury, and therefore was a southern figure, in the past I've had two principal candidates for that figure: a son of St. Illtud and Cerdic of Wessex son of Cunedda.

In this blog post I will briefly re-explore both military leaders, listing the pros and cons for each argument. The choice is an interesting one, as Arthur and Cerdic would appear, in one scenario at least, to have been opponents. 

However, as I've conclusively shown that Cerdic was the son of the Irish chieftain Cunedda, and the Gewissei were federate mercenaries apparently fighting for a Welsh king based at Wroxeter, AND some historians (like Barbara Yorke) think Cerdic and the Gewissei were actually fighting for the British and were co-opted by the English conquerors, deciding between him and Illtud's son is made more difficult.

THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST ILLTUD AS FATHER OF ARTHUR

As I've described before, the PA GUR placement of Mabon servant of Uther Pendragon on the River Ely, etc., points to the military titles of St. Illtud (terribilis miles, magister militum, princeps militum) being the Latin equivalent of the Welsh Uther Pendragon.  Illtud, prior to becoming a religious, was captain of the soldiers under Paul Penychen.  I've demonstrated the the Bican father and Llydaw homeland of Illtud was, according to the hagiography, Bicknor and Lydbrook in what was the Kingdom of Ercing - but that these two place-names were also found at Liddington Castle in Wiltshire, the Badon of Arthur.

While Illtud seems like a perfect father of Arthur, there are some major problems with the identification.  First, the saint's Life makes him out to be Arthur's cousin.  Also, Illtud puts away his wife when he becomes a religious and is not said to have any children.  

Finally, it is entirely possible that the author of the PA GUR (or his source), knowing the Latin military titles of Illtud, decided simply to identity him with Uther Pendragon (who was, originally, an entirely different personage).  This would not be an unexpected development in the literary expression of heroic legend.  If Illtud is rightly to be associated with the Liddington Badbury, when he would have been ripe for conflation with Uther.

Finally, Mabon is found just across the River Thaw at Gileston (Church of Mabon of the Vale) from Penychen, so his being one of the predatory birds of the Ely may be due only to proximity to that river and have nothing to do with Illtud.

An Illtud as Arthur's father does not provide us with any means by which to explain why all the subsequent Arthurs belonged to Irish-descended dynasties in Britain.

THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST CUNEDDA AS FATHER OF ARTHUR

There is much to be said in favor of Cerdic as Arthur.  In fact, I once wrote an entire (rather convincing) book on the subject.  That title has since lapsed from publication.

The main problem, of course, is that we are dealing with two separate and very different names.  That in and of itself poses a significant problem.  While not an insurmountable one (as we have evidence for people bearing mixed Celtic and Roman names), it would pretty much be doomed for failure were it not for one very important fact: Cerdic son of Cunedda's kingdom had at its center the Afon Arth, the 'Bear Water', and no fewer than three of his immediate descendents have *Arto-/"Bear"- names.  The nature of their names points to some kind of regional bear cult and it is quite conceivable that the Latin Artorius (which became British Arthur) was chosen as a decknamen for Cerdic.  Perhaps he was originally styled the Bear King (W. Erthyr, Ir. Artri).

Professor Roger Tomlin long ago pointed out to me that Artorius was "not an uncommon name", and did not believe the Dark Age war-leader need be connected in any way to a Roman officer at York. Especially as whatever fame L. Artorius Castus achieved was the result of his activity in Armenia - which took place after he departed Britain. 

The second biggest problem has already been alluded to: according to English tradition, Cerdic and the Gewissei were fighting with the English against the British. If this is true, then clearly Cerdic wasn't Arthur.  On the other hand, the Celtic names (Ceawlin/Coline, a byname of Cunedda, plus Cerdic and Cynric/Cunorix) gives us pause.  Might Barbara Yorke's very tentative suggestion that these men were claimed as founders of Wessex by the victorious Saxons when, in reality, they were federate mercenaries on the side of the British, be valid?

It has always been strange that Arthur's floruit as presented to us by the ANNALES CAMBRIAE dates perfectly matches the floruit given for Cerdic of Wessex in the ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE.  Despite chronological problems across the board for the Gewissei, is Arthur and Cerdic were contemporary, then they were either enemies or they are one and the same person.  

HOW DO WE DECIDE BETWEEN THE TWO?

So, Illtud's son or Cunedda's son... which will it be?

Well, I keep coming back to the (by now!) dreaded MARWNAT VTHYR PEN elegy.  

In that poem, the terms 'pen kawell' and 'eil kawyl' can be subjected to a few different interpretations or emendations.

Pen Kawell of 'Chief Basket', if taken literally, could well be a Welsh attempt at Ceawlin, father of Cerdic.  Ceawl in AS in 'basket'.  This reading is actually allowed by the editor of the poem herself, Professor Marged Haycock, and by other top Celticists.  

Kawyl as a word does not exist.  It must be emended.  The most commonly accepted alteration is to propose that scribal eye-skip occurred from the previous k- in kawell and that the word should instead read 'sawyl', i.e. Sawyl or Samuel.  Illtud does seem to be associated with both the Biblical Samuel and a Samuel saint in southern Wales.  If kawyl is Sawyl, then kawell could be for cafell (as both words have the same origin), 'sanctuary'.  Pen Kawell, 'Chief of the Sanctuary', would be an epithet for God, who appears to be mentioned in the same line.  

Otherwise, we could look to kawyl as kanwyll, a 'candle in the gloom' to match the 'leader in the darkness' a few lines prior. Canwyll has the figurative sense of  'star' and I've wondered if this reading could have provided Geoffrey of Monmouth with his dragon-star.  The same author converted the gorlassar epithet of Uther to the new character, Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall.  Thus it would seem Geoffrey had knowledge of the elegy.  In the HISTORY OF THE KINGS OF BRITAIN, the dragon-star is said to be Uther himself.  An eil kanwyll in the elegy would mean that Uther had been transformed by God and was now 'like a candle/star.'

[It is also true that Pen Kawell could be an error for Pen Kanwyll, 'Chief Luminary', again a title.for God. Occam's Razor, however, favors either basket or sanctuary.]

Needless to say, we could retain kawell as 'basket', and then render kawyl as 'star.'  That would make Ceawlin out to be Uther Pendragon.

As Cunedda was Irish, we can account for the Irish-descended Arthurs subsequent to the more famous war-leader.

Quite a dilemma!

Fortunately, I may have a way to resolve it.  The evidence we need to make a decision lies here:


That article concentrates on geographically placing the other characters mentioned in the MARWNAT VYTHER PEN elegy.  All four are pretty firmly associated with the North or with northern Wales, especially with Gwynedd.  

As a side note, of the places mentioned in the elegy only one may be locatable: pen mynydd.  This looks to be the place of that name on Anglesey, where a dragon story very much like the one on Dinas Emrys was preserved.  See https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2021/10/uther-and-dragons-of-gwynedd.html.  Dinas Emrys is the Caer Dathal of Uther's relatives (https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2021/01/dinas-emrys-as-caer-dathal-late.html).

For the sake of comparison with the Uther elegy, see my treatment of the Welsh Cunedda elegy here:


If the various references to personages and places in the Uther elegy all point to the North and/or to northern Wales, then the notion that the poem refers to Illtud must be held highly suspect or even utterely abandoned.  

On the other hand, the elegy's content would support the contention that Uther is actually Cunedda/Ceawlin, the Pen Kawell of the poem.