Degsastan and the Origin of the mil uathmar/fer uathmar, the Prototype for Uther Pendragon

The Ruthwell Cross

Long ago I proposed that the mil uathmar or "terrible warrior", also called fer uathmar or "terrible man" in the Irish story of the Conception of Mongan, a probable source for Geoffrey of Monmouth's own tale on Arthur's birth, may ultimately lie behind the name/title Uther Pendragon.

At the time, I did not bother to ask myself the next logical question: who was the mil uathmar?

We are told he is brought with the English as a champion of sorts to fight against Aedan of Dalriada (who had a son named Arthur).  The location of this battle is the famous Degsastan, a place still best identified with the Ruthwell Cross (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2018/12/a-new-and-certain-identification-of.html).  The following entry from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and an attending note are from English Historical Documents, 500-1042, edited by Dorothy Whitelock:

The reader will note that a fairly common corruption of the battle-site name was Egesan stan.  Suppose it was this spelling that the author of the Conception of Mongan possessed?  Might we not, then, assume that he might have linked Egesan- with these English words (from the Bosworth and Toller Anglo-Saxon Dictionary):

egesa
egsa, ægsa, an; m. [ege fear] Fear, horror, dread; tĭmor, horror, terror, formīdo Him gásta weardes egesa on breóstum wunode fear of the guardian of spirits dwelt in his breast, Cd. 138; Th. 173, 24; Gen. 2866: Beo. Th. 1572; B. 784: Andr. Kmbl. 789; An. 445: Rood Kmbl. 170; Kr. 86: Judth. 12; Thw. 25, 10; Jud. 252. Bútan Godes egsan [MS. B. egesan] without fear of God, Bd. 4, 12; S. 581, 1: Cd. 178; Th. 223, 23; Dan. 124:

EGE
æge, eige, es; m. Fear, terror, dread, AWE; tĭmor, terror, formīdo Eorþcynincgum se ege standeþ terribĭli ăpŭd rēges terræ, Ps. Th. 75, 9. On ðǽm dagum wæs mycel ege fram ðǽm wífmannan in those days there was a great dread of these women, Ors. 1, 10; Bos. 33, 26: Bt. Met. Fox 1, 143; Met. 1. 72. Ege Drihtnes tĭmor Domĭni, Ps. Spl. 18, 10.

If so, then the Conception of Mongan, with its terrible warrior/man, is indirectly informing us that this champion had been wrongly taken as a eponym for 'Egesan'-stan.  In other words, that the battle was, indeed, that of Degsastan/Ruthwell.

The corollary to the begetting of Mongan on Caintigerna by the transformed Manannan son of Llyr is his later slaying by an Arthur son of Bicoir the Briton. Although the Welsh would have their Eigr, mother of Arthur, as the character from whom Geoffrey of Monmouth derived his Igerna, it is obvious that the latter should be given precedence: Igerna is merely a truncation of Caintigerna.

It may - or may not - be a coincidence that the Ruthwell Cross lies amidst a cluster of sites named for the god Maponus, Welsh Mabon.  In the W. poem the PA GUR, Uther Pendragon is said to have Mabon son of Modron as his servant.  

Pen/Ben and chend/chind in the 'Conception of Mongan'

I'm now more convinced than ever that Uther Pendragon is a fiction - if not of Geoffrey of Monmouth, then of his source.  In the 'Conception of Mongan', the word "chend" occurs in the sentence about the fer uathmar.  Here is the relevant text from Kuno Meyer's edition:

Chend is Irish cenn, a word cognate with Welsh Pen (Ben).  It can mean 'head' or 'chief.'  But in the Irish, it could have other meanings as well.  In this particular sentence it means something like the terrible man is brought forward against Aedan.  Such usage of cenn is set out in the entry for that word in the eDIL:

39 fo ch.¤ towards, against, for (see 21, 45): teacht fam cheann `(to) attack me', Content. xviii 1 . éirghid fo cend mo c[h]reiche they go for my booty, ZCP viii 226.22 . Note also: gabh fád cheann mo chonmharccsa `take upon thee my quarrel(?)', Studies 1924, 243 § 12 

45 i c.¤ in contexts implying motion (us. with prec. vb.) to, in the direction of, towards, against (see 21, 39): na torcair nemh inna ccent `on them', Blathm. 68 . lotir remib hi cend in Brogo, LU 10575 . co torracht C. i c.¤ in droichit cucu, CCath. 1283 . dorat . . . / Conall i cend Chonculaind matched C. against C., Met. Dinds. iii 446.96 . ro cuired cach i ceann araili dona Romanchaib, CCath. 3159 . an uair chuirid i n-a chionn when they oppose him, DDána 96.33 . connsuine . . . do rachadh na cheann, mur atá so: slat ┐ dearg, slaitearg sin which would be assimilated to it, IGT Introd. 10.2 . do tuit an torc a cend a choss fell forward , BCC 324.30 .

53 Various: i mbun na gabla ro boí hi ciund tened over against, LU 9194 ( FB 92 ). a cheann i cind tened, ZCP i 464.33 . gach aon a gceann a dhíre ┐ a dhúthchasa féin in possession of, ML 102.14 . mac S. a cind arrad at the head of nobles, Ériu v 244.194 . in cís d'ícc a cind chruid, LB 133b56 `in respect of', Todd Lect. vi 40.6 .

It would have been quite easy for chend to have been read wrongly by a Welshman, and for the word to have become attached to the terrible man/terrible warrior.  Uathmar = Uthr, warrior = dragon, chend/chind = Pen.  

Alternately, as the mil uathmar/fer uathmar is the champion brought forward against Aedan by the English, this would be sufficient to account for the Pen of Pen-dragon/warrior.  In other words, he was seen as the 'chief warrior' of the English. 

I feel quite confident that there is no longer any need to seek a historical identification for Uther Pendragon.  Simply put, he is an invented character and was not the father of the famous Arthur. 

This conjured sire for our hero was given a wife whose name - Igerna- is but a truncated form of Caintigerna, the mother of Mongan is the same Irish tale. The Irish Manannan Mac Lir transforms into Caintigern's husband Fiachna in order to beget Mongan. Geoffrey or his source merely substituted Merlin for Manannan. I've pointed out before that the Irish tale itself may have been copied frim the story of Herakles' birth.

Given all that, we are left with a famous Arthur with no real parentage and no known kingdom to which to belong.