MABON SON OF MODRON 'GWAS' OF UTHER PENDRAGON

Lochmaben Stone

I've long felt (in my bones, as it were) that Uther Pendragon or Uther Pen is actually the head of Urien, cut from his body when he was treacherously slain while fighting the English near Lindisfsarne.  Yet I've continued to resist the temptation to settle on this identification, as Urien's date is too late for our Arthur.  For new readers who haven't been privy to my past discussion on the Uther = Urien hypothesis, kindly review the following blog posts:

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-text-of-pen-urien-from-canu.html

http://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2017/09/ben-dragon-and-rwyf-dragon.html

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2018/11/urien-pen-and-dragon-repost-of-udd.html

Only just this week I decided I needed to take a closer look at the important phrase 'Mabon son of Modron "gwas" Uther Pendragon', found in the PA GUR poem.  When translating this phrase, scholars had always assumed gwas here stood for 'servant'.  But the word early on has a much broader range of meanings.  Here is the listing for gwas from the GPC:

gwas1

[Crn. guas, H. Lyd. guos, gl. stipulationes, Llyd. C. goas, H. Wydd. foss, Gal. -uassos (fel yn yr e.p. Dagouas-sus): < Clt. *u̯o-sto- < IE. *upo-stho- o’r gwr. *stā-: stə- ‘sefyll’, cf. Sans. upa-sthāna-m ‘gwasanaeth’]

eg. ll. gweision, gweison, gweis (ff. sy’n digwydd hefyd mewn Cym. C. mewn geiriau cfns., e.e. deunawweis, teyrnweis, ac yn dra chyff. mewn barddoniaeth yn y 19g.), gwais, ll. dwbl gweisionach, gweisionain, ?gweisionau (mewn Cym. C. yn unig, a’r ff. flaenaf gydag ystyr fach.).

1.  Mab neu blentyn gwryw (mewn graddau gwahanol o oedran), bachgen, hogyn, glaslanc, gŵr ifanc, weithiau’n ffig.; digwydd hefyd fel cyfarchiad, gan gyfleu bygythiad, tosturi, anwyldeb, &c., yn ôl y cyd-destun:

boy, lad, stripling, youngster, young man, sometimes fig.; also used vocatively as a familiar term implying a threat, pity, endearment, &c., according to the context (cf. the corresponding use of ‘(my) boy’, ‘(my) son’, ‘(poor) chap’, ‘(my dear) fellow’, ‘(my) lad’, &c., in English). 

2.  a  Person a gyflogir gan arall wrth gytundeb i gyflawni dyletswyddau neilltuol yn unol â’i orchmynion, gwasanaethwr (mewn gwrthgyferbyniad i feistr), swyddog; deiliad ffiwdal, gŵr; caethwas:

servant, attendant, employee, officer; vassal; slave. 

b  Un a weinyddai ar sant neu santes, e.e. Dewi, Padrig, cf. Gwydd. Giolla Pádraig:

attendant or servant of a saint, &c. 

Suppose 'gwas' on the PA GUR line means not "servant", but instead '(my) son' or the like?  This casts of whole new light on the phrase and should cause us to more closely investigate Urien's relationship with the god Mabon.  I've pointed out before that the center of Rheged was Annandale, where we find the cult center of this youthful sun god (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-nucleus-of-uriens-kingdom-of-rheged.html).

In Marged Haycock's text and translation of marwnat vythyr pen, she states in the
notes how the death-song

"stands somewhat apart from the group of elegies, sandwiched between two prophetic poems, Dygogan awen and Kein gyfedwch.1 The first poem prophesies the coming of a series of promised deliverers, a llyminawc who will overcome Anglesey and devastate Gwynedd (lines 14-22), a ‘man from hiding’ (gwr o gud) who will wage war on the foreigners (lines 24-6), and another ‘with far-ranging forces’ (pellennawc y luyd) who will bring joy to the Britons (lines 27-9). The second prophecy, patently late, mentions the oppression by foreigners, including Norman rulers. Neither of these prophecies mentions Uthr Bendragon, or his son, Arthur, although he could conceivably be one of the unnamed saviours of the poem Dygogan awen."

Of Urien's son Owain it had been recently remarked that

"Owain, son of Urien of Rheged, is present in praise poetry and eschatology, hagiography and, Arthuriana. His historical roots are in post‐Roman northern Britain (the Welsh “Old North”), his grandfather being Cynfarch, founder of the Cynferching Dynasty. He moves into the Arthurian literature of Wales and beyond, becoming equal – or even superior – to Arthur in the Welsh tradition. “Owain” is common in the manuscripts as name of the prophesied deliverer, and Owain ap Urien may shade into Owain Lawgoch and Owain Glyndŵr."

 [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/9781118396957.wbemlb167]

The following selections are from the notes of Rachel Bromwich's TRIADS.  They concern the apparent symbolic identificaiton of Owain son of Urien with Mabon, the Divine Son.  Urien's wife is actually said to have born the name Modron, i.e. Matrona, the Divine Mother.  She is the daughter of Afallach, here an eponym for Aballava/Avalana/"Avalon"/Burgh-By-Sands across the Solway Firth from Annandale.

If Owain represented the youthful god of his people, and 'gwas' in the PA GUR may be allowed - quite plausibly - to mean '(my) son' as a term of endearment, then Uther Pendragon is almost certainly the Terrible Head/Urien.  Of course, Arthur was himself one of the 'mab darogan', so his presence in the Uther elegy might have been enough to cause it to be placed between the two prophetic poems. Although, as Uther is the subject of the poem, this position would be hard to maintain.    

What would all this mean in an Arthurian context?

According to Bartram, Urien was born c. 510 A.D.  He was still living between 572-9, with the earliest date for his death being 585 or 586.  Arthur's most commonly accepted dates (from the WELSH ANNALS) are c. 516 (Badon) and c. 537 (Camlann).  Thus while the two men were in a sense contemporaries, Arthur could not have been Urien's son.  Owain son of Urien was born c. 530.

Besides Owain, Urien is said to have had other sons: Rhun, Elffin, Cadell, Rhiwallon, Pasgen and perhaps Deifyr.  Cadell here might be from Celtic *catu- ‘battle’ plus the diminutive suffix –ell (information courtesy Dr. Simon Roday, although he admits that it is "eminently possible" the name is from L. catellus, 'puppy'). 

Urien's sister Efrddyl married Eliffer of York, and I've mentioned the presence of Arthur Penuchel ('Overlord') son of Efrddyl and Eliffer as this name occurs in a corrupt TRIAD.  The connection with York reminds us, of course, of the 2nd century Lucius Artorius Castus, who was headquartered at that city.  In addition, the 6th legion of York has left us a couple dedicatory inscriptions in the North to Maponus/Mabon.  Three Maponus inscriptions come from Corbridge near Arthur's Devil's Water/Linnels battle site, one from near Brampton (across the River Irthing from Camboglanna/Castlesteads) and one at the Ribchester "Sarmatian" fort.  

Ceidio son of Arthwys, brother of Eliffer, bears a hypocoristic name that in its original form would have been something like Cadwaladr, (“Catu-walatros) ‘Battle-leader’, Caderyn (Catu-tigernos), ‘Battle-lord’, Cadfael (Catu-maglos), ‘Battle-prince’ or Caturix (a Gaulish god), ‘Battle-king’. Such a name would easily have produced the 'dux erat bellorum' title assigned to Arthur.  Ceidio was likely born at Banna/Birdoswald in the Irthing Valley, a fort garrisoned by Dacians with their draco standard.  Irthing is either from erthin, 'little bear', or is merely the Cumbric word for bear with an English terminal -ing designating a river.  Arthwys, father of Ceidio, is an eponym meaning "man of the Arth." Other personal research has allowed me to prove conclusively that St. Patrick was born at the Banna fort (Banna Venta Berniae, 'the market-town of Banna in the Tyne Gap').

My conclusion?  Well, the best I can do is to say this:  Arthur was closely associated with Uther Pen/Urien of Rheged.  Urien was linked through his sister to York, where the Arthur name may well have been preserved. If 'dux erat bellorum' is a translation of a name like Cadwaladr, it can only refer to Ceidio.  Ceidio, in turn, was father to Gwenddolau (probably an eponym for the Carwinley region), lord of Myrddin/Merlin.  While Ceidio might belong to Banna or Camlann/Castlesteads (this last fort also being in the Irthing Valley), the tradition of an Arthur's burg at Stanwix suggests he belonged at the Uxellodunum Roman fort, the command center of the Wall garrisoned by the only 1,000 man strong cavalry force in the entire country.  Stanwix is approximately between the Irthing and Carwinley.  

As I've stressed before, the absence of the name Arthur in the genealogies of the Men of the North need not discourage us, for if the full form of the name Ceidio had been recorded we would immediately zero in on him as an excellent candidate for the 'dux erat bellorum.'

NOTE:

Another Mabon (?) is found in the North associated with Rheged and its rulers.  This is Mabon son of Idno.  Here is the listing on this chieftain from Bartram's A CLASSICAL WELSH DICTIONARY:

MABON ap IDNO. (520) Mabon ab Idno ap Meirchion was evidently one of the Men of the North, being mentioned in the ‘Hanesyn Hen’ tract (ByA §13 in EWGT p.88). In the probably genuine Talisin poem on Gwallog (CT XI) there is a line (l.26): kat ynracuydawl a mabon, ‘A battle near Gwydawl with Mabon’(?), which suggests that there was a Mabon who fought with (for or against?) Gwallog ap Lleenog. Another poem in the Book of Taliesin, Kychwedyl am dodyw (BT 38-39), but probably not Taliesin's genuine work, describes the battles of Owain ab Urien. It mentions Mabon four times and 'mab Idno' occurs in the same poem. We learn that Mabon was a fierce warrior, but it is not clear whether he was for or against Owain: Unless they were to fly with wings they could not escape from Mabon without slaughter. (BT 39.3). See John Morris-Jones in Cy. 28 (1918) pp.198-9; TYP p.434. The mention of 'mab Idno' suggests that we have here Mabon ab Idno of the ‘Hanesyn Hen’ tract. Mabon's name seems to have survived in Lochmaben and Lochmaben Stone (Clochmabenstane) in Dumfreisshire, grid refs. NY 0882 and NY 3166. Compare CO(2) p.132.

This Meirchion was father of Cynfarch, father of Urien.  I wrote the following about Idno's son Meurig and Meirchion in my book THE ARTHUR OF HISTORY:

"Guasmoric must be Gwas Meurig, the “Abode of Meurig or Mauricius.”  This is clearly an attempt at rendering the Gabrosentum Roman fort in Cumbria at Moresby.  According to both Ekwall and Mills, Moresby (Moriceby, Moresceby) is Maurice’s By, Maurice being a Norman name and -by being Old Scandinavian for “farmstead, village, settlement”.  Whether we can propose an original Welsh Meurig underlying Maurice is questionable.  In all likelihood, the interpolation is late and Guasmoric represents Maurice’s By.  If originally a Meurig place-name, this may commemorate the 6th century Meurig son of Idno son of Meirchion, who married a daughter of Gwallog of Elmet. Cynfarch son of Meirchion may have left his name at the Mote of Mark in Dumfries.

Meirchiaun Gul of the North may belong to the area of Maughanby (earlier ‘Meirchiaun’s By’) in Cumbria, hard by the great Long Meg and Her Daughters stone circle, and only a few miles from the Voreda Roman fort at Old Penrith.  This is in the heartland of the ancient Carvetii kingdom. Voreda can be compared with Welsh gorwydd, ‘horse’, and according to philologist Kenneth Jackson means ‘Horse stream’. While Meirchiaun is a Welsh form of the Roman name Marcianus, it may well have been linked to the Welsh plural for horse, viz. meirch."

In passing I would mention that the poetic phrase 'fly with wings' in Kychwedyl amn dodyw is interesting.  For Mabon in the PA GUR is described as a 'predatory bird' and ravens were strongly associated with Owain son of Urien.