MY PURELY IMAGINARY NORTHERN ARTHUR: THE "CONSTRUCT" I LOVE BEST

NOTE: The following piece is for entertainment value only. I've been invited to submit my new reading of ARM.GENTES for the Castus lacuna to https://www.eagle-network.eu/. In other words, people are taking the new reading seriously. If ARM.GENTES happens to be correct, and Castus did participate in the Severan campaigns in northern Britain, I cannot justify putting forward for consideration a second prototypical Arthur candidate.

A reader, disappointed on my settling for a Roman prototype for Arthur, has asked me to "put out there" what my "fantasy version" of a Dark Age British Arthur would look like - an Arthur who, while taking advantage of my past research findings was otherwise less constrained by evidence or even good argumentation and more "free-form" or "forgiving" in nature.

This is actually an easy thing for me to do, as I've long had exactly that kind of Arthur fleshed out in my imagination.

To begin, I would place his ruling center at Stanwix/Petrianis just north of Carlisle. This site was called Arthuriburgum in the 1700s. Carlisle itself has often been viewed as an Arthurian capital due to its misidentification with Carduel of the French romances. [1] 

Stanwix or Uxellodunum housed Britain's largest cavalry force and was the command center of the Wall with a close connection to York. Castlesteads/Camboglanna is just a little to the east while Drumburgh/Concavata (the Grail Castle) and Burgh By Sands/Aballava (Avalon) is just a short distance to the west. Dea Latis or the Lake Goddess was present at Aballava.

Arthur would have been a sort of sub-Roman version of the Dux Britanniarum, in this case functioning as a sort of overlord for what had been the Brigantes confederation.  His territory would have stretched from Buxton (Badon) on the southern boundary of the Brigantes to the northern boundary of Carvetii in the west to the border of the Votadini in the northeast (if we allow for the Votadini of this period to have withdrawn farther to the north).

The distribution of some of the more northerly Arthurian battles need not be seen as a problem. Breguoin/Brewyn/Bremenium in High Rochester as well as the River Glen in Northumbria are credible battles against as nascent, emerging Bernicia.

The other battles - Bassas at Dunipace, the Tribruit at Queensferry and the wood of the Caledonii - do not have to be relegated to L. Artorius Castus. They could well belong to any of the subsequent Dalriadan Arthurs. 

Which brings up one final point. I have before discussed the oddness of the rock-stone motif found in the Arthurian tradition. The Dalriadans got the Arthur name, it would appear, frim the neighboring Strathclyde Britons. Their capital was Alclud or Petra Cloithe, the Rock of the Clyde. Arthur of Dyfed was the son of Pedr/Petrus. Arthur son of Bicoir the Briton killed Mongan with a stone. 

I have suggested these rock-stone references can be traced back to the Petriana name of the cavalry unit at Stanwix, which was named for the original commander Titus Pomponius Petra. In other words, Arthur traced his ancestry through the descendents of the Ala Petriana. Because of this the name Arthur gained currency at the Rock of the Clyde and was chosen by Petrus of Dyfed for the obvious reason.

Needless to say, this "open theory" does nothing to dispell the notion that L. Artorius Castus may still have introduced his name to the north. 

More critically, perhaps, it does not help us with Uther, Arthur's father. I had once placed the terrible chief dragon at Birdoswald of the Dacian draco, with Arthur belonging in the Irthing Valley. Irthing is, perhaps, from the Cumbric for "Little Bear" and the Bear People (Arthwys, *Artenses) may have lived in that valley. The next fort to the east - that of Carvoran/Magnis - housed a late period Dalmatian garrison where the name Artorius may have been present.

Alas, there is no tradition placing Arthur in the Irthing Valley. And Uther's dragon title is metaphorical, with Pendragon meaning "chief warrior" or "chief of warriors." This is made clear by early Welsh poetic use of the word dragon. 

Uther is from a British cognate of Irish ochtar/uachtar. The original meaning of the former was the "high or lofty one."  In a corrupt Triad, Arthur is called Penuchel.  The -uchel element of Penuchel is the Welsh form of the British Uxello- of the Uxellodunum place-name for Stanwix/Petrianis.

Furthermore, situating Arthur at Birdoswald would also not allow us to forge a link between such a chieftain and the subsequent Arthurs.

So there you have it; the Arthur I would keep if only the argument as I have outlined it were to be allowed.

Needless to say, this portrait of a Dark Age "super-king" leaves open the question of how best to read the lacuna of the L. Artorius Castus memorial stone. To be honest, in the current context I don't think the question is even all that relevant. If the Arthur name came from Castus, then he may have done something notable in northern Britain. Or the name could have been preserved by other means that do not depend on his performing great deeds while stationed in the province.

[1]

Carduel is said to be in Wales (Gales). However, it has long been customary to identify this site with Carlisle, the Roman Luguvalium, in Cumbria. The "d" of Carduel is said to be due to dissimilation of the first "l" of Carlisle (Welsh Caerliwelydd). I have always thought this linguistic argument to be highly questionable.

Carduel is also hard by the Red Knight's Forest of Quinqueroy and not far from the castle of Gornemont of Goort. Goort is here definitely Gower. Quinqueroy is Welsh gwyn plus caer, a slight error for Caerwent.

While Kerduel in Brittany is derived from Caer + Tudwall (information courtesy Jean-Yves le Moing, personal correspondence; cf. Caer Dathyl in Arfon, from Irish Tuathal = Welsh Tudwall, possibly Caer-fawr or Caernarfon, information courtesy Brian Lile of The National Library of Wales, citing Ifor Williams' Pedair Keinc Ymabinogi, 1951), I think Carduel (Car-dyou-EL) probably derives from Caer +d'iwl, Iwl (pronounced similar to English 'yule', according to Dr. David Thorne of the Welsh Department at Lampeter) being the Welsh form of Julius, the name Geoffrey used for Aaron's partner, St. Julian.

When Perceval first comes to Arthur's court, it is at Carduel; but when Arthur sets off after Perceval when the latter sends the Haughty Knight of the Moor to the court, the king leaves Caerleon. In between the king's placement at Carduel and Caerleon, Anguingueron and Clamadeu find Arthur at Dinas d'Aaron, the Fort of Aaron/Caerleon. In other words, Caerleon and Carduel are the same. Indeed, Anguingueron and the Haughty Knight are sent to Arthur's court by Perceval, who knows only that Arthur is at Carduel. This means that Dinas d'Aaron and Carduel have to be Caerleon