St. Victricius of Rouen
In the following article, I once again treat of the Gwythyr/Gwythur found in an elegy poem on Uther Pendragon and in the MABINOGION tale 'Culhwch and Olwen:'
As related articles attest, I've long sought various identities for this 'Victor' of the North. My guesses ranged from Flavius Victor, son of Magnus Maximus, or Withur of Leon in Brittany, to various Pictish or Gaelic entities (Buadach, 'the Victorious One'), the Budicius of Geoffrey of Monmouth, the Victrix title of a Roman legion, the Roman fort of Victoria at Inchtuthil or a construct from 'victoria', used for Nechtan's victory over Alpin at the Hill of Belief (a place personified in the Welsh tale as Creiddylad). There are also various other known Victor-/Victri- names for Britain found from the early 5th century on, all searchable at CANMORE and CISP. There was even a Roman vicarius named Victorinus in the late period.
Furthermore, I had proposed that the Gwyn of the Creiddylad tale had been substituted for the Pictish Alpin, a name derived from or cognate with Latin albinus, from albus, 'white.' For all of this, see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2020/04/creiddylad-not-goddess-welsh.html.
Well, it has occurred to me I may have missed a very obvious candidate for Gwythyr: the Victor mentioned in the HISTORIA BRITTONUM (Ch. 51) as the angel who told Patrick to go back to Ireland from Britain.
The identity of this 'angel' has been discussed by authorities over the years. It is fairly clear he is an alteration of the Victoricus mentioned in the sources on St. Patrick. This man has been tentatively linked to St. Victricius of Rouen, who supposedly traveled to Britain to deal with doctrinal issues. He encountered much paganism and heresy there. This trip happened at the very end of the 4th century, and the saint died in the late beginning of the 5th.
The identity of this 'angel' has been discussed by authorities over the years. It is fairly clear he is an alteration of the Victoricus mentioned in the sources on St. Patrick. This man has been tentatively linked to St. Victricius of Rouen, who supposedly traveled to Britain to deal with doctrinal issues. He encountered much paganism and heresy there. This trip happened at the very end of the 4th century, and the saint died in the late beginning of the 5th.
We could not find someone more suitable to match against the pagan god Gwyn in a contest for the Hill of Belief than Victricius!
Furthermore, I have proven that St. Patrick was born at Banna/Birdoswald, a Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/02/banna-as-home-of-st-patrick-repost.html). I have also suggested Banna may have been the ruling center of Uther Pendragon. When Patrick escaped from his Irish captors, he made his way home. It was while he was there that he encountered Victor/Victoricus:
"A few years later I was again with my parents in Britain. They welcomed me as a son, and they pleaded with me that, after all the many tribulations I had undergone, I should never leave them again. It was while I was there that I saw, in a vision in the night, a man whose name was Victoricus coming as it were from Ireland with so many letters they could not be counted."
"A few years later I was again with my parents in Britain. They welcomed me as a son, and they pleaded with me that, after all the many tribulations I had undergone, I should never leave them again. It was while I was there that I saw, in a vision in the night, a man whose name was Victoricus coming as it were from Ireland with so many letters they could not be counted."
For the sources on Victor/Victoricus and St. Patrick, please see the following sites:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.