THE "LLYDAW" OF ARTHUR'S FATHER, UTHER PENDRAGON/ILLTUD

Brecon Beacons, Wales

In past blog posts and in my book THE BEAR KING: ARTHUR AND THE IRISH IN WALES AND SOUTHERN ENGLAND, I explored the possible location of St. Illtud's/Uther Pendragon's homeland of Llydaw.  This place was decidedly not Brittany, as has been known for some time by Welsh scholars (see P.C. Bartram's entry for the name).  There were, essentially, two primary candidates for the Llydaw of Illtud: 1) the Vale of Leadon in Herefordshire and 2) the broad valley of the River Usk in what had been the ancient Irish-founded kingdom of Brycheiniog.  A couple of my articles on the subject may be found here:

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2018/05/illtud-father-of-arthur-and.html

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-solution-to-llydaw-problem.html 

Since doing this research, I found and dispensed with another possible reason for "Llydaw" being found in Breconshire.  This is the presence at the headwaters of the Usk of a stream issuing from Mynydd Wysg (Usk Mountain) called Dwr Llydan, the 'Broad Water.'  I thought that perhaps the Llydan name here had been borrowed as a sort of nickname for the valley of the Usk in its lower course west and east of Brecon, where the Illtud sites are located.

This is clever, but not very convincing.  I still think that the best solution has to do with the probable founding of Brycheiniog by the Irish Ui Liathain[1].  Here again is the relevant passage from Eoin MacNeil "The Native Place of St. Patrick" in Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 1926. pp. 118–40:

I had discussed in some detail the possibility that Liathain, in some of its early recorded spellings/forms, could well have been mistaken by the Latin writer of the VITA of St. Illtud for the Welsh word llydan (Crn. C. ledan, H. Lyd. litan, Llyd. C. a Diw. ledan, H. Wydd. lethan, Gwydd. Diw. leathan, e. lleoedd Gal. Litana [silua], Litano[briga]: < *pl̥tano-, est. o’r IE. *pl̥tu- ‘llydan’, o’r gwr. *plat-, est. o’r gwr. *pelə- ‘fflat; estyn’; gw. hefyd henllydan).  Although the two words are not etymologically related, they are similar enough to have been rather easily substituted for one another.  Thus "Llydaw" as a designation for the Brycheiniog of Illtud is a confused attempt at saying this kingdom was of Ui Liathain foundation.

Illtud Sites in the Usk Valley Near Brecon

If we accept Brycheiniog as Illtud's homeland, then the vitally important condition of seeing Arthur as Hiberno-British is fulfilled.  As all subsequent Arthurs belong to Irish-descended dynasties in Britain, it is necessary that the descent of the original Arthur be of the same nature.

I personally am now convinced that the tradition which places Illtud's birthplace in Brycheiniog is correct.  If so, this would mean that the Arthur who is said to have fought in battles the ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE assign to Cerdic of Wessex (= Ceredig of Ceredigion) was of the Ui Liathain and thus was, according to the HISTORIA BRITTONUM, in conflict with the sons/teulu of Cunedda.  It may be that Arthur was put forward as a great champion precisely to counter the English claims regarding Cerdic.

[1] According to SANAS CORMAIC (see https://www.asnc.cam.ac.uk/irishglossaries/texts.php?versionID=9&page=89&perPage=10&ref=&readingID=), the Ui Liathain were not only in southern Wales, but also in Cornwall.  The Welsh from early on often associated Arthur with Cornwall.  Later tradition, like that recorded in the pseudo-history of Geoffrey of Monmouth, even places the hero's birth there (at Tintagel).  His chief fortress was said to be Kelliwic, which I have firmly identified as Castle Canyke (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-location-of-kelliwic.html).  So whether Arthur really was in Cornwall or not we can say with some certainty that his kinsmen the Ui Liathain appear to have been there.