Wednesday, November 20, 2024

THE NIEDERBIEBER DRACO: AN ANATOMICAL ANALYSIS



The Niederbieber Draco

Rather than attempt to compare the Niederbieber Draco with various mythological beasts known from other places and times, I thought it would be fun to address the anatomy of the standard in the context of real known animals.  

Three features strike me as being the most important in this regard.  First, the position of the crest (if interpreted literally, i.e. if we assume the maker had modelled that particular feature after an actual animal he was acquainted with) removes from our consideration both fishes and lizards.  This is because both of those classes of animals have crests or anterior dorsal fins that begin behind the head, and behind the eyes. Yes, there are plenty of crested lizards about, and there are even some that have a similar number of spiny projections beginning at the base of the skull and running towards the tail.  

Blue-Crested Lizard

Forest Dragon

But only birds have a crest that stands on the very tops of their heads and can begin either above the eye or just in front of the eye.  So, again, if we are looking for the crest of a existing versus an imaginary animal, we would have to identify that of the draco as being avian.  The ancient Greek basilisk (mythical) or "little king" may have contributed the idea of a crest-like crown and this snake was later associated with the cockatrice, which sported a cock's comb.  

Second, while the draco has sometimes been described as being earless, it most certainly is not.  The maker has included a lizard's tympanum or external eardrum in just the right location.  We can tell the feature in question is a tympanum, as the surrounding scales are not of the same perfect tear-drop shape, and have their more pointed ends on the opposite side.  More importantly, the scales are keeled. Reptiles are often described as having either keeled or unkeeled scales.  The lack of a keel on the isolated feature at the side of the head identifies it as a tympanum.  Everything from the brow ridge, eye and chin back is definitely saurian - with the exception of the crest, of course.  Snakes do not have tympani. Lizards do.  Finally, despite its shape, the feature is too small to be the pectoral fin of a fish.  

Green Lizard in Germany Showing Tympanum

Most interesting to me (as a person who has studied the Dacian wolf-headed draco in considerable detail) is the pronounced furrowing of the muzzle and the total lack of scalation present there.  The furrowed muzzle is clearly meant to portray a snarling beast, and the one whose muzzle most perfectly accords with this image is the wolf.  



In fact, the correspondence of the draco muzzle with that of a snarling wolf is so complete that the number of furrows on the former match those found on the canine.  Thus while the Niederbieber Draco is often said to be just that - a dragon - a major element of it retains an important component of the Dacian draco, i.e. the wolf.  

I would then conclude that the Niederbieber Draco is a composite (tripartite) beast, part lizard, part bird and part wolf. That is, if we ascribe to its maker a rudimentary knowledge of natural history!  











Tuesday, November 19, 2024

Coming Soon: MY ANATOMICAL ANALYSIS OF THE NIEDERBIEBER DRACO



A Wolf-head Insignia for the Dacians at Banna/Birdoswald?



In answer to critics who thought it impossible that the 5th-6th century people of Birdoswald could still have been using a Dacian-style draco in their wars, I put the following question to Professor Roger Tomlin.  Although we cannot necessarily extrapolate the survival of such a standard from the time of the Roman withdrawal to Uther's time, such ethnically significant, venerated objects tended to be retained for long periods.  

My rambling question:

"We don't know a lot about what devices Romans used on their shields, unit flags, etc. Apparently, legions had their eagle, cohorts their draco. The Notitia Dignitatum shows shields in  the later period, but the authenticity of these has been called into question.

I was thinking about the Dacian unit at Banna/Birdoswald, whose soldiers were permitted to retain their falx as a regimental symbol on carved stones.  Coulston says: 

"The Birdoswald falces may indicate a unique regimental badge or the carrying of falces, instead of spathae, by the Dacian auxiliarii. A jealously guarded regimental tradition such as is suggested would have a close modern parallel in the Gurkha soldiers with their kukris. A tentative comparison might be made with the ethnic dress of the Chester ‘Sarmatian’; and, according to Hyginus, irregular Dacian units were used in the later second century. The use of falces therefore bears consideration. It is certainly unusual for an auxiliary cohors to depict a regimental weapon or badge in sculpture."

BUT... Dacia is symbolized on Roman coins holding the wolf-headed draco.

As the Dacians had a wolf-headed draco, might we assume that any unit device might depict just that mythical beast?

Yes, I realize that by the 4th century the draco had become standardized (pun intended!) in the army. But would the Dacian unit have been allowed to retain their wolf-headed dragon as the unit's special insignum?

Reasonable? Or is this something the Romans would have forbidden them to use because of its ethnic significance?

Could the field signa militaria of a normal Roman auxiliary unit such as the cohors I Aelia Dacorum have been their wolf-headed draco? 

Unless it were outlawed, I find it hard to believe the Dacians would abandon their own draco?"

To which Professor Tomlin replied:

"I see no reason why the Dacian cohorts would not have been allowed to use a wolf flag. True, it was 'ethnic' like the falx, but it had been conquered by the Romans, since it is depicted among the Roman trophies on Trajan's Column. And the Dacian auxiiaries were now 'Romans'.  Note that I'm here using the term 'flag' loosely – I only meant a windsock, the animal's head attached to a cylinder of fabric which streamed out behind in the breeze.

I don't object to the idea that the Birdoswald cohort might have had a wolf's head windsock!"

Some articles I've done on the draco and its possible presence at Banna/Birdoswald:









C


Thursday, November 14, 2024

ARTHUR SON OF BICOIR OF KINTYRE DISCOVERED



T627.6
Mongan son of Fiachna Lurgan, stricken with a stone by Artur son of Bicoir Britone died. Whence Bec Boirche said:

Cold is the wind over Islay;
There are warriors in Cantyre,
They will commit a cruel deed therefor,
They will kill Mongan son of Fiachna.

Thanks to my discussion with Professor Patrick Sims-Williams about the etymology of the Bicoir name, and its possible relationship to the Irish word for 'beekeeper' [1], I feel fairly confident in allowing for Arthur son of Bicoir, who is said in Tigernach to be in Kintyre, to be a son of either the beekeeper Beachaire or a son of a British *Bikkorix or similar in Kintyre whose name was later replaced by the Gaelic beekeeper word.  

Note Beacharr is on the coast of Kintyre, facing Islay.  Hence the cold wind blowing over the latter island in the Annal entry.  

There is no need, therefore, to attempt to link this Arthur to the Beccurus name found on in stone in NW Wales.  Very difficult to account for a son from Gesail Cyfarch ending up in Kintyre.  

Instead, this son of Bicoir would be an Arthur named after the earlier Dalriadan one, son of Aedan or Conaing, as Kintyre was a part of Dalriada.  This Arthur may or may not have been a "Briton", but his name surely was.  

Bannerman (STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF DALRIADA, pp. 112-113) says the forts of the Cenel nGabrain (a dynasty that included the earlier Arthur) were Dunaverty in southern Kintyre and Tarbert in the north.  Beacharr is directly between these two strongholds. 

There is a dun at Beacharr, as well as a rather famous chambered cairn and standing stone.


Dun Beachaire

Standing Stone

Plan of Chambered Cairn

https://canmore.org.uk/site/38560/beacharr



Brittonic place-name expert Alan James was kind enough to send me this on the Dun Beachaire site:

"I see that Beacharr(a) is apparently the scotticised name for the chambered cairn, which is located on the Gaelic-named Dùn Beachaire, with Allt Beachaire flowing by. As I said, I think if the name was used specifically for the cairn, then it was likely to be *Am Beachair in the sense of ‘beehive’. But if Dùn Beachaire was the primary name, then it could have been ‘beekeeper’s fort’.
 
The neighbouring  Beachmenach and North and South Beachmore add complication. My best guess would be that Beach- might be a contracted *Beachach, ‘abounding in bees’ used nominally for a ‘bee-place’ . If so, Beachmennach would be *Beachach (nam) manach’, ‘monks’ bee-place, monastic apiary’, which seems quite plausible given that this was probably a possession of the Saddell Abbey across the peninsula. And, if so, the beachair may have been the Cistercian bee-keeper: I think of my friend Fr Benedict of Pluscarden Abbey taking his beehives in summer to a rather similar location in Moray.
 
As for Lann Becuir/Bechaire, it would have helped if you’d explained where this is – both in your email and in your blog! I’ve managed to track it down thanks to Google, to Col. White’s 1905 article quoting Joyce – it was at Bremore, Balrothery, near Balbriggan, on the Irish Sea coast about 20 miles N of Dublin? So in the same Irish Sea zone as Kintyre.
 
But I would be reluctant, at least on a matter like this, to disagree with Patrick S-W, and indeed come to the same conclusion, that Becuir is unlikely to be Bechaire, though both it and Bicoir might be a personal name with the *bekk- ‘little’ root plus a suffix, and such a name could have suggested the ‘beekeeper’.
 
And it’s certainly interesting that St Molaga acquired that epithet.  St Moluag, though pretty surely not the same in origin (both saints are obscure, and probably amalgams of several Mo-Lugs) was a very important figure in Argyll – especially associated with Lismore, where he was regarded as the founder of the church there, and venerated at two Kilmoluags, in Kintyre and Knapdale, as well as having dedications in several of the southern Hebrides and Mann. But again, the cult of Moluag was very much promoted by the Cistercians, especially from Mellifont, ‘honey-spring’, mother-house of Saddell , whose founding abbot St Malachy seems to have played a part in promoting Moluag - though there doesn’t seem to be any evidence for the bee-keeping connection in the Scottish sources for Moluag.
 
Still, I’d agree that it’s possible that Dùn Beachaire was associated with Moluag, and so with Molaga and with bees and honey . But I think the origin of that association is to be found among the 12th century Cistercians, not necessarily any earlier.

I'd agree that the dùn might have been associated with Bicor. In the 7th ct Islay and Kintyre would certainly have been Gaelic-speaking, so the name (whether Welsh, Clyde British or Pictish) would have been Gaelicised to something like *Biocoir, and - whether they knew anything of the story or not - the 12th ct Cistercian monks would have been happy to turn this obscure, and possibly pagan, warlord into their bee-keeping saint!"

St. Molaga is interesting in another way: his bees came from St. David's in Dyfed, Wales.  And he had, apparently visited St. David's.  See https://www.omniumsanctorumhiberniae.com/2014/01/saint-molagga-of-timoleague-january-20.html?m=1.  Arthur son of Petr of Dyfed has an estimated birthdate of 560.  

[1]

Patrick Sims-Williams in his “The Celtic Inscriptions of Britain: Phonology and Chronology, c. 400-1200″, provides a couple of etymologies for the name Beccurus.  His first is that the name comes from British *Bikkorix or “Little King”.  His alternate derivation would be a name from *bekko-, “beak”.  He does not, however, make the connection to an attested Irish noun, Becuir, found as a variant of Bechaire or “bee-keeper” in the church name Lann Becuir/Bechaire.  The “bee-keeper” references either St. Modomnoc or St. Molaga of this religious establishment.  The former brought his bees with him from Wales, where he had been educated under St. David (born c. 485?) at Mynyw/Menevia/St. David’s in Dyfed.  The latter had been to both Scotland and Wales (St. David’s again) and had obtained some bees from Modomnoc.

When I asked Professor Sims-Williams about the possiibility that Bicoir could be related to the Irish Becuir, he responded:

“I’m not sure that Becuir can be a variant of Bechaire. The place name Lann Bechaire could be a distortion/rationalisation of Lann Becuir, and the latter name may have nothing to do with bee-keeping, though it could be related to Bicoir.”


Wednesday, November 13, 2024

THE BATTLE-LEADER OF THE NORTH (Final Book)

Ironically, after many reiterations over the past several years, my final Arthur book ends up being a reinforced version of the argument I first offered at the Croatian Arthurian symposium in 2019.

https://www.amazon.com/Battle-Leader-North-Definitive-Identification-Legendary-ebook/dp/B0B5CG54RT/ref=sr_1_1?crid=13BGM4NFMXXTZ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Eq-AAIpUgOc7JPPNM39d1Q.9azT-jCV10f1QXiXMr3rC36OCJjehl755y3NdZ_ANm8&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+battle-leader+of+the+north+august+hunt&qid=1731541756&sprefix=the+battle-leader+of+the+north+august+hunt%2Caps%2C174&sr=8-1



Bicoir, Beccurus and Petuir/Petr: A Last Look at My Earlier Mistaken Identification of Two Arthurian Fathers

Gesail Cyfarch (under a dozen kilometers from Caer Dathal)

For quite a few years now, I have floated the idea that the Bicoir of the Irish Annals, father of an Arthur, may be the same as Petuir, a spelling for Petr, father of Arthur of Dyfed.

Alas, I have been freed of that delusion!

Dr. Simon Rodway of The University of Wales was kind enough to treat of my idea, and as it turns out, there is nothing to it:

"'P and B' do not 'often substitute for each other' and neither do c and t. /p/ mutates to /b/ in neo-Brittonic languages under very specific grammatical circumstances, e.g. Middle Welsh penn 'head', benn 'his head'. t is sometimes misread by scribes as c and vice versa. The two phenomena are completely different. The second could be relevant here, but the first certainly not - I know of no examples of a Brittonic / Latin word being adapted into Irish with B- instead of P-, neither do you find variation of P- ~ B- in Brittonic contexts. The mutation is irrelevant here.

At any rate, you do not account for the change e > i.

Therefore no."

Dr. Rodway is in agreement with the possibility that Bicoir could be the same name (although not necessarily the same person!) as the Beccurus found on the Gesail Cyfarch stone in NW Wales:


"Yes it could (with Irish raising of /e/ > /i/)."

In an article written years ago, I had the following for the etymology of Beccurus:

Patrick Sims-Williams in his “The Celtic Inscriptions of Britain: Phonology and Chronology, c. 400-1200″, provides a couple of etymologies for the name Beccurus.  His first is that the name comes from British *Bikkorix or “Little King”.  His alternate derivation would be a name from *bekko-, “beak”.  He does not, however, make the connection to an attested Irish noun, Becuir, found as a variant of Bechaire or “bee-keeper” in the church name Lann Becuir/Bechaire.  The “bee-keeper” references either St. Modomnoc or St. Molaga of this religious establishment.  The former brought his bees with him from Wales, where he had been educated under St. David (born c. 485?) at Mynyw/Menevia/St. David’s in Dyfed.  The latter had been to both Scotland and Wales (St. David’s again) and had obtained some bees from Modomnoc.

When I asked Professor Sims-Williams about the possiibility that Bicoir could be related to the Irish Becuir, he responded:

“I’m not sure that Becuir can be a variant of Bechaire. The place name Lann Bechaire could be a distortion/rationalisation of Lann Becuir, and the latter name may have nothing to do with bee-keeping, though it could be related to Bicoir.”

But whatever the etymology of the name, given that I've reestablished the connection in Welsh tradition of Uther and Arthur with Caer Dathal/Dinas Emrys, it is worth noting (see the map above) that the Beccurus stone and Dinas Emrys are under a dozen kilometers from each other.

Thus, there may be one of two things going on here.  In the first instance, a later Arthur son of Beccurus, whose origin lay at or near Gesail Cyfarch, may have been confused with the earlier, more famous Arthur, son of Uther.  Or... Beccurus = Uther Pendragon, despite the major problem of chronology when we take into account the chronology for Arthur son of Bicoir as found in the Irish Annals.  Arthur son of Bicoir is said to have killed Mongan (Annals of Tigernach) in 627.  Estimated birthdate for Arthur son of Petr is c. 560 (Bartrum), while that of Arthur son of Aedan (or Conaing) died c. 590.  The established dates for Arthur son of Uther are c. 516 and c. 537.

In the Gorchan of Tudfwlch, the hero – from Eifionydd in Gwynedd, an area in north-west Wales covering the south-eastern part of the Llŷn Peninsula from Porthmadog to just east of Pwllheli  – is called the serpent with a terrible sting, and his place of origin is alluded to as the snakes’ lair.  Eifionydd, named for Ebiaun son of Dunod son of Cunedda, is the northern half of the kingdom of Dunoding and is hard by Dinas Emrys in Arfon. In fact. Beddgelert the town was in Eifionydd, with Dinas Emrys is just on the other side of the border in Arfon.

As it happens, Gesail Cyfarch is in Eifionydd.

Arthur son of Bicoir is important, as he is claimed as the slayer of Mongan son of Fiachna. Mongan was begat on Caintigern (whose name in truncated form probably became Geoffrey of Monmouth's Igerna) by Manannan mac Lir, the sea god, in a transformation story that is exactly paralleled by that of the birth of Arthur son of Uther.

In my mind, none of this harms my theory that the earlier Arthur belonged in northern England, either at York or on the Wall.  These other Arthurs all post-date him.  However, if we allow for an Arthur son of Beccurus near Caer Dathal, then we may use that to explain the Welsh traditional association of Uther and Arthur with Caer Dathal. Or even if we merely allow for this Gwynedd Beccurus to have been misidentified with Bicoir father of Arthur we can still account for the Arthurian presence at Caer Dathal. The real Bicoir might well belong elsewhere.  After all, his son is said to be with warriors in Kintyre (Dalriada).

The Arthur who was in Gwynedd was not THE Arthur, but a subsequent one named, doubtless, like Arthur of Dyfed and Arthur of Dalriada, after the more famous one.  






Monday, November 11, 2024

Two Terrible Magister Militum Candidates and the Northern Battles: Or What is a Theorist to do?

Coin of the Usurper Constantine III

It is so easy to put oneself in a box when it comes to formulating Arthurian theory.

For some time now (years, actually - I'm ashamed to admit!), I've tried to decide on which terrible magister militum stood the best chance of being Uther Pendragon.  There are two candidates in the tradition for the latter.  In the first, as represented best by the Galfridian material, Uther Pendragon is the MM/MVM Gerontius of the early 5th century.  A Welsh tradition recorded in the PA GUR seems pretty specifically to identify Uther with Illtud, who is also a terrible soldier and a magister militum.



Neither man works.  The PA GUR equation almost certaintly was done simply because someone recognized an apparent or desired identification of Uther and Illtud.  Otherwise, the saint's life does not permit us to do anything with him that would suggest he actually was Uther.  Chronologically, he is better than our other alternative, Gerontius.

The latter is attractive because we can propose that the Uther Pendragon descriptor/rank that was originally applied to Gerontius came to be applied, either intentionally or accidentally, to a later Gereint.  We have some evidence that such a Gereint existed at the right time to be Arthur's father.

What is not to like about a Gereint whose forts are situated in the extremity of the Cornish peninsula?

Well, for starters, I'm quite sure the Arthurian battles belong in the North.  Decades of research has confirmed this, and I still offer the only good identifications for these battle-sites based on the best and more current place-name and language research.  If we opt for a Cornish Arthur who ends up fighting up and down Dere Street in the North, we would have to assume he was merely a mercenary being employed by rulers in that region.  Not an impossibility, but rather unlikely.  

In addition, we can easily account for the preservation of the name Artorius in the North, and in exactly the area where the battles are situated.  We cannot do so with an Arthur born in Cornwall.

So, this would seem to create an insoluable dilemma for us.  But does it, really?

To begin with, I think we can settle on Uther as Gerontius.  As I wrote once:

I have solved the Uther riddle once and for all.

My final clue came in the form of one of those nagging bits of place-name studies' results from Cornwall. I had noticed a couple of Gorlois names attached to Gereint sites. This made sense not within the body of any extant tradition, but only in my proposed identification of Uther Pendragon/gorlassar as the terrible MM/MVM Gerontius of the early 5th century. This famous, though ill-fated British general's military rank, so I had suggested, might have been assigned to a later Gereint, Arthur's actual father.

The whole idea came from the pseudo-history of Geoffrey of Monmouth. In that work, Vortigern the "superbus tyrannus" kills Constans, who was initially a monk. There's good reason for thinking that Vortigern was associated with Magnus Maximus "the tyrant". Hence the story of Vortigern and Ambrosius at Eryri - a reflection of Maximus and St. Ambrose at Aquileia.

This represents a strange conflation/confusion of history. For Constans I, who had actually gone to Britain, was killed by one Magnentius (a name based on the same root as Magnus). Magnentius is killed by a Constantius.

Constans II, the historical monk, is killed by Gerontius the magister militum and magister utriusque militiae. Gerontius is killed by another Constantius.

The vytheint elei Kysteint is Welsh for Constantius.

It has occurred to me that the problem has to do with the origin point of Gerontius.  I had become so fixated on the Cornish Gereints to the point where I neglected to consider that Gerontius probably came from Northern Britain.  

Anthony Birley had written the following about Constantine III:

"Sozomen gives no real explanation for the British soldiers’ action, except to
comment on Constantine, that they chose him, ‘thinking that as he had this
name, he would master the imperial power firmly [beba≤wß=constanter], since
it was for a reason such as this that they appear to have chosen the others for
usurpation as well’. The magic of the name of Constantine, in Britain above
all, needs no documentation. Orosius has a similar version: Constantine was
chosen ‘solely on account of the hope in his name’. Sozomen’s remark that
this applied to the others as well probably just means that the soldiers had
thought that Marcus and Gratian too ‘would master the imperial power
firmly’.¹³² Constantine’s appeal to the memory of Constantine the Great, who
had been proclaimed emperor in Britain almost exactly a century earlier, is
made even more obvious by his assumption of the names Flavius Claudius.
Further, his sons were called Constans, made Caesar in 408 and Augustus in
409 or 410, and Julian, who received the title nobilissimus.¹³³"

To address this problem, I approached Professor Roger Tomlin with the following query:

"Roger,

Your opinion on this idea...

We all know Constantius Chlorus died at York, and Constantine the Great was declared emperor there.

So, Constantine III was declared emperor in Britain in 407, and actually named sons after close relative of Constantine the Great. 

Is it reasonable, do you suppose, to assume that continuing with this line of propagandist presentation that the usurper in 407 would have had himself declared by the troops at York?"

And, furthermore, is it reasonable to assume Gerontius was drawn from the same region?"

His reply:

"I don't see that York would be chosen deliberately for the magic of its association with Constantine (if remembered!), but nonetheless it is likely to be where Constantine III was proclaimed, since it was capital of the northern province (Britannia Inferior and its successor(s)) and also a major military base, if not the military base. His army was probably based there, even if it was operating elsewhere at the time.

As for Gerontius, yes, York is quite credible."

Needless to say, this was a shocker to me.  It shouldn't have been, but it was. Any identification of Gerontius with a later supposed Cornish namesake would be mere spurious tradition,i.e. yet another instance of echoes of history being transferred away from areas long controlled by foreign powers to the Celtic Fringe.  

What this all means, of course, is that if we allow for Uther Pendragon (as depicted in the Galfridian tradition) to be Gerontius, while we can't float the latter as Arthur's father due to the chronology, we can allow for either the actual descent of Arthur from this Gerontius or a fanciful genealogy utilizing Gerontius being applied to Arthur's ancestry for the sake of added legitimacy.  There is nothing new about royal pedigrees being manipulated in our early British and Welsh sources.  We have evidence for such aplenty.

More importantly, the best place for the preservation of the Artorius name is York (or Carvoran and environs on Hadrian's Wall, where there was a Dalmatian garrison in the late Roman period).  L. Artorius Castus would have been fairly famous in certain circles.  A prefect of the Sixth at York who led legionary detachments to Armenia, one of the largest successful campaigns ever embarked on by Rome, who eventually became the procurator of the emergency-founded province of Liburnia with the right of the sword.  He may have been born in Dalmatia, but seems to have had other Dalmatian connections, in any case.  There were Artorii in Salona, Dalmatia, and we have a woman from Salona being buried at Carvoran.  As I've detailed before, there was also a Dalmatian unit in the late period at or hard by York.  

We can, then, suggest the following plausible portrait for an Arthur of the North:  a man born of the line of Gerontius (or who as assigned to that line for propgandist purposes) at York or on the Wall whose name could be traced back through a couple of centuries to Castus.

What I love about this idea, obviously, is that it allows us to retain a solid interpretation of tradition regarding Uther without sacrificing the Northern battles of Arthur.

I'm now offering a revised version of the following title, and this will represent my final work on a historical King Arthur: