THE TRANSFORMATION OF UTHER PENDRAGON: 'GORLASSAR' AND GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH'S COMET

A "Two-Tailed' Comet

A little while ago I presented a new reading for some key lines in the Elegy of Uther Pendragon.  Here I wish to somewhat revise that material, including what I feel to be a significant discovery when it comes to interpreting this difficult poem.

***

Below I have given the Welsh text and English, as well as relevant notes from Haycock's commentary.  The two lines I will be dealing with here are highlighted.

Neu vi luossawc yn trydar:

It is I who commands hosts in battle:

ny pheidwn rwg deu lu heb wyar.

I’d not give up between two forces without bloodshed.

Neu vi a elwir gorlassar:

It’s I who’s styled ‘Armed in Blue’:

vy gwrys bu enuys y’m hescar.

my ferocity snared my enemy.

5 Neu vi tywyssawc yn tywyll:

It is I who’s a leader in darkness:

a’m rithwy am dwy pen kawell.

. . . . .

Neu vi eil Sawyl yn ardu:

It’s I who’s a second Sawyl in the gloom:

ny pheidwn heb wyar rwg deu lu.

I’d not give up without bloodshed [the fight] between two forces.

6 a’m rithwy am dwy pen kawell G emends am dwy > an Dwy(w) ‘our Lord’,

understood as the subject of 3sg. subjunct. rithwy ‘transform’ etc., but yn adwy

‘in the breach’ or yn ardwy ‘as a defence’ would give a more regular three

syllables in the central section. Kawell ‘basket, pannier; cradle; fish-trap; creel,

cage; quiver; belly, breast’ (GPC) seems unlikely, as do cowyll ‘maidenhood-fee;

clothing, covering’ (with G s.v. coŵyll), sawell ‘chimney, kiln’ (see on §4.246),

or nawell ‘nine times better’. Cannwyll is sometimes a rhyme partner for tywyll

(e.g. AP line 88 cannwyll yn tywyll; CC 18.13; R1056.15), and would yield full

rhyme. ‘May our Lord, the guiding/chief light, transform me’ is a possibility; or

(with yn adwy) ‘May the guiding/chief light (i.e. God) transform me in the

breach’. Or is pen kawell a basket to collect up the heads he cuts off (line 18)? If

Uthr is the speaker, is vb rithaw to be connected with his transformation through

disguise (see introduction)? Obscure.

7 eil kawyl yn ardu G emends kawyl > Sawyl, the personal name (from Samuelis

via *Safwyl). Sawyl Ben Uchel is named with Pasgen and Rhun as one of the

Three Arrogant Men, Triad 23, as a combative tyrant in Vita Cadoci (VSB 58);

and in CO 344-5. Samuil Pennissel in genealogies, EWGT 12 (later Benuchel),

Irish sources, and in Geoffrey of Monmouth. Other Sawyls include a son of

Llywarch, and the saint commemorated in Llansawel: see further TYP3 496,

WCD 581 and CO 104. Ardu ‘darkness, gloom; dark, dreadful (GPC), sometimes

collocated with afyrdwl ‘sad; sadness’ (see G, GPC).

The first line in question seems, to me, to be fairly straight-forward - if we allow for kawell (cawell), 'basket', being for cafell, 'sanctuary, temple, chancel, choir, cell, chamber.'  As it happens cawell and cafell are related, both being derivatives of Latin cauella. 

"Our Lord, chief of the sanctuary, transforms me."

The second line is probably

"It's I who's a second light (cannwyll - often found in its earliest attestations with one /n/) in the darkness."  I have no doubt this is correct, because cannwyll also has a figurative sense of 'leader', which would match Line 6's 'leader in darkness.'

This motif of transformation apparently provided Geoffrey of Monmouth with his excuse to have Merlin turn Uther into Gorlois (Gorlois = Uther himself as gorlassar).  In reality, Uther is transformed into the second light (or 'candle, luminary, transf. of star, sun, moon, lamp').  We are reminded immediately of Geoffrey of Monmouth's star, which Uther witnesses:

"On his way to the battle, Uther saw a most remarkable spectacle in the skies. There appeared a star of such magnitude and brilliance that it was seen both day and night. The star emitted a single ray of light that created a fiery mass resembling the body and head of a dragon. Shining from the mouth of the dragon came two rays of light. One extended out across the skies of Britain and over Gaul. The other extended out over the Irish Sea culminating in seven lesser beams of light. Such was its magnitude, it could be seen all across Britain and beyond, and filled the people with fear and dread not knowing what it might portend."

Merlin tells the king this about the star:

"For the star, and the fiery dragon under it, signifies yourself, and the ray extending towards the Gallic coast, portends that you shall have a most potent son, to whose power all those kingdoms shall be subject over which the ray reaches. But the other ray signifies a daughter, whose sons and grandsons shall successively enjoy the kingdom of Britain.”

Thus the transformation in the poem refers to Uther's becoming, metaphorically speaking, like a star lighting up the night.  Geoffrey of Monmouth or his source took this motif and ran with it.

Even more importantly, I now can explain why Uther calls himself Gorlassar, the 'very green/blue.'  This has mystified scholars, and I myself have been guilty of making several rather implausible guesses as to its meaning.  Now, though, I would propose that Gorlassar is a description of the color of a comet - which, as it happens, often appear with a distinct bluish-green hue.  Simply put, Uther is referring to himself as a bright blue-green comet lighting up the night sky, a true symbol of a leader of his people.