ARTHUR'S BASE OF OPERATIONS?

Gewessei Battles from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

I've been asked where I thought Arthur's actual "base of operations" might be located.  As my regular readers probably know, I've flirted with different sites in the past.  A favorite has been Barbury Castle, the 'Bear's Fort', near the Liddington Badbury and Nythe Farm/Durocornovium.

However, knowing as I do now that Arthur - Ceredig son of Cunedda, whose own kingdom was in western Wales and who was quite probably buried at Viroconium/Wroxeter in central Wales, I don't really find it necessary to "chase" after another court or capital.  

This is especially true given the layout of the Arthurian battles.  When we read the account if these battles in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, it is plainly stated - and otherwise fairly evident - that the three directions of attack followed major river systems.  Cerdic and his son Cynric (= Cunorix son of Cunedda/Maquicoline) are said to have landed in ships.  

As we re dealing with the actions of mercenaries or foederati, all of whom originated elsewhere, the search for a "headquarters" seems unwarranted.  While battlefield logistics are a major concern to any military force, if supplies are ship-born there is no need for a local or proximate depot.  

Certainly, pre-existing or refortified camps that offered at least temporary protection or positions of power may well have been secured.  And we are told that cities were taken as a result of decisive victories.  But it does not follow that Ceredig could be said to "rule" from any of these, nor that he held "court" there.  His home lay in western Wales and if we must have an Arthurian center, it can only have been the headland fort at Aberarth on the Afon Arth in his kingdom of Ceredigion.  

The precise relationship of the Gewissei with Viroconium is difficult to determine.  I've discussed some possibilities in my new book THE BEAR KING: ARTHUR AND THE IRISH IN WALES AND SOUTHERN ENGLAND.  To draw a rather simplistic parallel, we might consider Ceredigion's association with Viroconium to be much like that of the Roman period socii with Rome.