THE GALFRIDIAN GENEALOGY FOR ARTHUR AND THE KINGDOM OF LLYDAW

Weston Under Penyard, Site of Roman Ariconium

A curious thing about the so-called Galfridian genealogy for King Arthur: no one will accept it, at least not at face-value, yet at the same time no one is willing to entertain another "manufactured", unrecorded pedigree.  This is one of the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" dilemmas facing the Arthurian researcher.  One can opt for a pedigree associated with one of the later Arthurs, of course, but that comes implicit with its own problems, especially the chronological one.

Because I've recently treated of some of the early Welsh traditions which seem to situate Arthur in SE Wales, I thought it might be interesting, even if ultimately futile, to delve once more into what Geoffrey of Monmouth gives us in terms of Arthur's immediate family.  The Welsh did not offer anything to counter Geoffrey's version, although the Welsh material does add details.  Whether these details are pre-Galfridian or mere embellishments  - well, who knows?  Arguments have been made from both camps, with none of their volleys being particularly effective.

Geoffrey claims that Aurelius Ambrosius, Constans and Uther Pendragon were sons of Constantine, himself a brother of Aldroenus, king of Brittany.  The presence of Constans has suggested to many that the Constantine in question is a legendary reflection of Constantine III, the early 5th century Roman usurper, who had a son of that name.  The chronology doesn't work, of course.  Aurelius Ambrosius or Ambrosius Aurelianus was Gaulish and of the 4th century.  Constantine III's other son, Julian, bore the name of Julian the Apostate, who was referred to as a dragon and thoroughly embraced the draco standard. But, alas, this Julian does not work for Uther, the 'Terrible Chief-dragon.'  

In Geoffrey's HISTORY OF THE KINGS OF BRITAIN, Constantine is sent into Britain from Brittany when the summons sent to Agitius (usually considered to be Aetius) for help from the Romans went unanswered.  Once Constantine was dead, Vortigern raised Constans (at that time a monk at Winchester or, rather, Caerwent, where Uther leaves his draco standard; see below) to the throne, causing Aurelius and Uther to flee back to Brittany. After Constans is murdered, and Vortigern's situation regarding the Saxon menace grows increasingly perilous, Uther and Aurelius return to Britain. Aurelius burns Vortigern in his tower on the Little Doward hillfort in Ercing.

The first thing I wish to do is to pin down Brittany in this tale.  First off, Brittany was referred to as Letavia or (in Welsh) Llydaw.  As we know there were at least two such places in Wales, the sources naturally show some confusion over which is which.  P.C. Bartram in his A CLASSICAL WELSH DICTIONARY nicely sets out the problem:

The evidence for Llydaw in Brycheiniog is actually quite poor.  St. Illtud was put there - near Llangorse Lake - because his name became attached in folklore to the Ty Elltud long barrow. If Llydaw were in the heartland of Wales, as many contend, we would expect some relic of the name there.

I would instead propose the river Leadon just east of the Wye. The name of this river is decidedly Celtic, from *litano, 'broad'.  The same Celtic root is now believed to lie behind that of Letavia/Llydaw.  Ledbury on the Leadon has the Wall Hills hillfort, which may once have been the center of the kingdom.  This hillfort is a sort of outlier of the Malvern Hills.

http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=111943

On the other side of Ledbury is the much more impressive Herefordshire Beacon or 'British Camp' hillfort:

https://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=113786&sort=4&search=all&criteria=Herefordshire%20Beacon&rational=q&recordsperpage=10

And yet a third major hillfort is near Ledbury, just a little south of British Camp:

http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=113497

In passing - and without meaning to make too much of it - I would note the presence of The Gullet [Pass], separating the narrow ridge of Swinyard Hill and Midsummer Hill with its camp.  The etymology of the word gullet is as follows:

"Passage from the mouth of an animal to the stomach," c. 1300 (as a surname), from Old French golet "neck (of a bottle); gutter; bay, creek," diminutive of gole "throat, neck" (Modern French gueule), from Latin gula "throat," also "appetite," from PIE root *gwele- (3) "to swallow" (source also of Latin gluttire "to gulp down, devour," glutto "a glutton;" Old English ceole "throat;" Old Church Slavonic glutu "gullet," Russian glot "draught, gulp;" Old Irish gelim "I devour").

This reminded me of Arthur's legendary birthplace Tintagel.  Professor Oliver Padel long ago derived the second element of this Cornish place-name from a word meaning "neck, throat, constriction, narrow."

The Gullet at Midsummer Hill Camp

[NOTE: Since writing this piece, I've learned that The Gullet was originally called Swine Gate.  See

 https://books.google.com/books?id=5soGrhJ665AC&pg=PA201&lpg=PA201&dq=%22the+gullet%22%2B%22swine+gate%22&source=bl&ots=4SitXMVwt5&sig=FE4rCzQPU07psWV8IjTrXE3YpKA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwie09LPwb7YAhUhHGMKHeTlBrMQ6AEIOTAG#v=onepage&q=%22the%20gullet%22%2B%22swine%20gate%22&f=false.

A HISTORY OF MALVERN by Brian Stanley Smith (Leicester University Press, 1965) confirms that the Swine Gate had come to be known as The Gullet in 1631.]

Ercing, which is a sort of focal point for things Arthurian in early Welsh tradition, lay principally between the Monnow and the Wye, so was just across the latter river from "Llydaw".  Gwent was just to the south. It was this Llydaw, I suspect,  that is referred to as Brittany in the "history" of Geoffrey of Monmouth.  If I'm right, then that means Uther's father Constantine was from the valley of the Leadon.  In Roman times, this area was most likely part of the Dobunni tribal territory.

To return now to our Arthurian pedigree.  I've discussed before the uncanny resemblance between the meaning of the name/title Anblaud Wledig and that of Uther Pendragon.  Anblaud was the father of Eigr, Arthur's mother.  But Anblaud also gave a daughter to Constantine, Uther's father.  Their son was Goreu. It has been thought that Anblaud's kingdom was Ercing, but that is nowhere stated.

Perhaps significantly, a Constantine (whom Bartram very tentatively suggests might have been a king of Ercing) gives a daughter to Peibio son of Erb.  Peibio was a king of Ercing and his father is styled king of Ercing and Gwent.  Llangustennin (church of St. Constantine) Garth Benni, now Bicknor on the Wye, was in Ercing. Anblaud's son Gwrfoddw was king in Ercing.  Another son, Llygatrudd Emys, is a corruption of Llygad Amr, the 'eye of Amr', source of Gamber Head in Ercing.  Elsewhere this Amr or Amhar is made the son of Arthur.   

Finally, Anblaud gives another daughter to Bicanus, king of Llydaw, i.e. of the Vale of Leadon.  Their issue is the famous St. Illtud.

Uther, the 'terrible/dreadful/fearful', was naturally associated with Anblaud, the 'very frightening/terrible.' But why was Anblaud so named?  Bear in mind that Brynley F. Roberts regarded Anblaud as fictitious, as someone who "seems to be a function rather than a person.  He is an 'empty' character... who exists merely so that his daughters may be the mothers of heroes who are all, therefore, cousins of Arthur."

Well, I do have an idea for the origin of the name Anblaud, although it relies upon a fanciful interpretation of the name Ercing (Latin form of Welsh Ergyng, from Ariconium, Ircingafeld in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Archenfeld in the Domesday Book).  Welsh has a word erch, from Proto-Celtic *φerko.  It means, according to the GPC, "horrible, dire, hideous, frightful, awful; dismal." If at some point the actual kingdom name had been related to erch, then it's reputed founder may well have been given a name such as Anblaud. I've given my own idea on the actual etymology of the Romano-British city of Ariconium elsewhere (http://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2016/10/a-new-etymology-for-roman-settlement.html).

This is the best I can do with Geoffrey of Monmouth's pedigree, and the Welsh application of it. What are we to make of it - if anything at all?

Well, I can say with a fair degree of certainty that the "other Llydaw" is, in fact, the Leadon Valley region.  That Constans is made a monk of Winchester (Venta Belgarum), a probable relocation for Caerwent (Venta Silurum), Ambrosius travels from 'Brittany' to Ercing to destroy Vortigern, Uther's supposed family connections are in Ercing and many Arthurian associations cling to the same kingdom or its environs, we can also surmise that Uther's father Constantine was thought to have hailed from the Leadon region and not from Brittany.  At least in so far as the Welsh tradition was concerned.  A tradition which may well have relied upon the fiction of Geoffrey of Monmouth.

[NOTE: Geoffrey of Monmouth's fictional Diwanius, Bishop of Winchester, is probably meant to be present at Llandevenny near Caerwent.  Interestingly, the Welsh version of Monmouth's HISTORY substitutes Julian for Diwanius, as Julian, along with Aaron, traditionally belonged at Caerwent. Diwanius has sometimes been associated with Merthyr Dyfan in Glamorgan and Llandyfan in Carmarthenshire.  Years ago I showed that Geoffrey placed Eledenius at Alclud because of Llanelidan in Clwyd, and Maugannius in Silchester/Calleva Atrebatum because of the Mawgan sites near Castle Killibury.]

It is possible that by Arthur's time, the eastern boundary of the Dobunni was the Severn.  In other words, Llydaw stretched from the Wye to the Severn.  This alone would account for why the kingdom was called after the River Leadon.

Hartpury Mill on the River Leadon

NOTE ON EMYR LLYDAW

Because in the 'Dialogue of Arthur and the Eagle' Uther is said to have a son Madog, I would point out that Emyr Llydaw was said to have a son of the same name.  Here is the relevant entry on Emyr from P.C. Bartram's A CLASSICAL WELSH DICTIONARY.  Bartram stresses in this entry that the real Llydaw may have been somewhere in SE Wales.

And here is my previous piece on Eliwlad:

http://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2016/09/a-second-preferred-etymology-for.html