I HAVE, ONCE AND FOR ALL, SOLVED THE MYSTERY OF UTHER PENDRAGON'S IDENTITY

NOTE: Since writing this piece, I went back and looked at a previous blog post -

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2018/11/i-am-he-who-is-called-gorlassar-uther.html

I also checked with the linguists on whether the 'kawell' of Uther's Pen Kawell could represent an attempt at Welsh cefyll (or Cornish kevyll).  Alas, Dr. Simon Rodway was quite adamant that "None of the horse-forms have -ell, so kawell cannot be for 'horse.'"  Thus Penkevel/St. Michael Penkevil in Cornwall is out, as is my proposed Pen Kefyll for the Ard Echde that is the Mull of Kintyre.

This brought me back to Kingscavil or Kincavel in what had been Manau Gododdin.  As Uther Pendragon seems to be Manannan mac Lir of the COMPERT MONGAIN (see below), and the name Manannan is related to that of the place-name Manau of Manau Gododdin, AND Manawydan son of Llyr is placed in Manau in the Welsh 'Pa Gur' poem, we must once again ask if Kingscavil = the PEN KAWELL where Uther is "transformed."

Assuming, of course, that Pen Kawell IS a place-name!  I will continue working on the problem... It may well be that my earlier translation of the line was correct and that it should read "Our Lord, chief of the sanctuary (pen cafell), transforms me."  The sanctuary (temple, etc.) might be a poetic reference to the sky, as the following line reads "It is I who's a second luminary (specifically the dragon comet?) in the gloom."  God, presumably, is the first luminary.  In this case, the transformation of Uther into Gorlois, i.e. Gorlassar the 'very green/blue', is a reference to his being symbolized by the intensely green/blue and would not have anything to do with Manannan's assuming the form of Fiachnae to beget Mongan.  

Castle Dunaverty, Kintyre, Scotland

Castle Tarbert, Kintyre

Many years ago, in essays that eventually came together in my book THE MYSTERIES OF AVALON, I showed that Arthur's mother, Eigr, was a personification of a headland.  In the same work I examined the parallel tales of Arthur's birth and that of the Irish king Mongan.  Lastly, I suggested that Uther Pendragon may, at least in part, owe his origin to the 'terrible warrior/terrible man' present in the COMPERT MONGAIN.  Fairly recently I proposed that this terrible man owed his designation to one of the variant spellings for Degastan, and that, therefore, the location of the battle in the COMPERT MONGAIN was Dawston in Liddesdale.

For those who would like more background details on these matters, please see

https://secretsavalon.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-mysteries-of-avalon-chapter-twelve.html

and

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2017/10/degsastan-and-origin-of-mil-uathmarfer.html

Unfortunately, I did not pursue these ideas any further.  Until now, that is.  I decided I needed to look more closely at the Irish sources, just in case I had missed something important that might pertain to the true identity of Uther Pendragon.   My readers are urged to consult the Irish texts and translations for the two versions of COMPERT MONGAIN.  These may be found in the following excellent edition by Kuno Meyers:

https://archive.org/stream/voyageofbransono01meye#page/44/mode/2up

The moment I re-read the longer tale of the conception of Mongan, I realized I had, indeed, failed to make obvious observation.  For in this last source, Manannan mac Lir, the magical, shapeshifting god and prototype for Merlin in Geoffrey of Monmouth's story, is described thusly:

aenoglach mor mileta

"a single tall [or great/big] warlike/martial young man/warrior"

This did not immediately excite me, although it was not far from the terrible warrior/terrible man of the shorter version of the COMPERT.  In the second, longer version, the terrible warrior is not present in the narrative.  It was the clothing worn by Manannan that set off alarm bells:

brat uaine aendatha

"a green cloak of one color"

We will recall that Uther calls hims "Gorlassar" in the Elegy of Uther Pen, a word that can mean either very blue or very green.  I'd offered various ideas to account for the epithet, and occasionally patted myself on the back for coming up with this or that ingenious solution to the riddle.  But here was a very prosaic and common-sense explanation for gorlassar.  Uther is very green because he is wrapped in a green cloak.

Everything then came down to the 'Pen Kawell' found in the Uther Elegy.  I now believe this to be an error for Pen Kafall/Keffyl, 'the Head/Headland of the Horse.'  If so, this is clearly a reference to Ard ("Promontory") Echde, a Gaelic rendering of Ptolemy's Epidion Akron, the Mull of Kintyre.  Kintyre, literally 'End of the Land', shows the Irish Q-Celtic cenn, cognate with the P-Celtic pen found in Welsh. The Epidii were the 'horse-people', inhabitants of the Kintyre peninsula prior to the arrival of the Irish Dalriadans.

Ard Echde is known from fairly early on, as is evinced by its presence in early Irish saga.  The following is from

https://books.google.com/books?id=j2QGAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA175&lpg=PA175&dq=Ard+echde%2BThe+Death+of+CuRoi&source=bl&ots=wM055tj0lv&sig=hXuCNn3NgBrg3ZlvbDM9M7EDYA8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjk5qKJ3PLeAhVrjlQKHbVtDbcQ6AEwCnoECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q=Ard%20echde%2BThe%20Death%20of%20CuRoi&f=false

Kintyre was also the home of Aedan son of Gabran, whose son was called Arthur. Aedan's son Conaing (an Irish borrowing of the English word cyning, 'king'), is also said to be the father of this particular Arthur, and I think what may have happened is that Aedan was the king/cyning/conaing in question, confused for a descendant in the genealogy.

Ultimately, then, Uther Pendragon/Gorlassar would be none other than Manannan Mac Lir.  His transformation, presumably into Fiachnae, is placed at Pen Kawell/Ard Echde/Epidion Akron/Mull of Kintyre.

The corollary to the Mongan birth story is that of his death at the hands of Arthur son of Bicoir the Briton.  I've elsewhere made my case for this being Arthur sonof Petuir/Petr/Pedr of Dyfed.  This Arthur is said to kill Mongan with a stone (identified as a 'dragon-stone' in one text).  I suspect this motif was introduced because Petr = Latin Petrus, 'stone, rock.'  Irish also has an obscure word art, 'stone.'

From the ANNALS OF TIGERNACH:

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.

And from THE VOYAGE OF BRAN:

58. 'He will be-his time will be short--
Fifty years in this world:
A dragonstone from the sea will kill him
In the fight at Senlabor.

I find myself, as a result of this "revelation", both satisfied and, curiously, dissatisfied.  It has always been my goal to find a real-life Uther Pendragon.  Alas, there is no such man.  We have had an Irish god made into the father of the Arthur of the HISTORIA BRITTONUM.  While it is true that Aedan of Dalriada was of Kintyre, we are nowhere told that the tall, green-cloaked, warlike man who was Manannan sired Aedan's son Arthur.

The Arthur made famous in Nennius and the Welsh Annals is still, regrettably, fatherless.

I can say one thing, though, with a fair degree of certainty: Geoffrey of Monmouth substituted his Tintagel headland for that of the Mull of Kintye/Pen Kawell.  And as he has Arthur born at Tintagel, and it is reasonable to assume that Arthur son of Aedan was born on Kintyre, we are more or less forced to concede that the prototype for Geoffrey's Arthur, at any rate, was Arthur of Dalriada.

The good news in all this is that I no longer feel bound to find an Arthur who is in any real, historical sense associated with an Uther Pendragon.