A NEW IDENTIFICATION FOR 'VICTOR' OF THE ARTHURIAN NORTH

UPDATE October 3, 2019:

Buadach, 'the Victorious', was an epithet often applied to St. Brigit of Kildare.  See http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gaeilge/corpus/danta/brigit_buadach.html and other sources.  As the story of Creiddylad seems to have to do with Brigit of Kildare, it may well be that 'Victor' is just a ghost character created from the saint's epithet.  

NOTE: Since writing this piece, I've become aware of another tradition which may have something to do with Nwython the Pictish king and 'Victor.'

Nechtan was associated with a place called Kirkbuddo, supposedly named for a saint Buite.  This Buite was called  búadaig, 'the Victorious.'  See

https://saintsplaces.gla.ac.uk/saint.php?id=32

For the story of this saint and Nechtan, see

https://books.google.com/books?id=xNcKzZwHmnYC&pg=PA10&lpg=PA10&dq=%22Nechtan%22%2B%22Kirkbuddo%22&source=bl&ots=Gw30GVVuzI&sig=ACfU3U2RuFjyjNbttrMYBOKFmObesP8Ehg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj2wOrSxufjAhUpjlQKHXe_DJwQ6AEwB3oECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22Nechtan%22%2B%22Kirkbuddo%22&f=false

There is a Roman camp at Kirkbuddo near Dunnichen, the Fort of Nechtan.  In going back to my earlier idea for Victor, could it be that 'the Victorious' saint next to this Roman fort is a folk memory of the Roman camp of Victoria?

Roman Camp and Buddo Place-Names Just South of Dunnichen

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In the following article -

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/07/gwythyrvictor-nwythonnechton-and-pen.html

- I tried to make a case for the Gwythur of Arthurian story being a dim recollection of the Roman period Victoria fort in Highland Scotland.  I remained unsatisfied with this identification, however, and have since had an idea that may be vastly preferable.  For it is incredibly unlikely that the fort in question would have been remembered this way in heroic legend, must less personified.

In Welsh, budd- with various terminals came to mean 'victorious.'  The Irish cognate is buiad.  What Welsh does not possess, however, is anything akin to Irish buide, 'yellow.'

Here is the breakdown of these words from the Proto-Celtic:

victory *boudi-, SEMANTIC CLASS: action, OBrit.; Galatian Boudicca; Boudo-ris ‘victorious; victorious king’, Gaulish boudi-, Boudi- ‘profit, advantage, victory’, Early Irish búaid ‘victory’, Scottish Gaelic buaidh ‘victory, virtue’, Welsh budd ‘profit, gain, booty, riches, wealth; blessing, favour, advantage, emolument, benefit, usefulness’, Breton bud (Old Breton) ‘gl. bradium i.e. bravium ‘gain, profit’

yellow *badjo-, SEMANTIC CLASS: sensation, Gaulish Bodio-casses ‘yellow-haired people (?)’, Early Irish buide ‘yellow’, Scottish Gaelic buidhe ‘yellow’

Now, as it happens, Artur son of the Dalriadan king Aedan had two brothers named Eochaid Buide and Eochaid Find.  Find here is the exact Irish cognate of Welsh gwyn, which we find in the person of Gwyn son of Nudd in the CULHWCH AND OLWEN story about Gwythur and Arthur.  What I propose happened in this literary context is that Buide was confused for buaid and the latter "translated" into Victor/Gwythur.

As it happens, Artur and his brother Eochaid Find died in battle together.

https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T201040/text008.html

https://celt.ucc.ie//published/T100002A/index.html

The Irish sources vary as to where this happened.  One places the fateful battle in the territory of the Miathi/Maeatae, while another says they perished in Circenn.  The different accounts have been discussed by scholars such as John Bannerman (in STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF DALRIADA).  See https://www.heroicage.org/issues/1/haaad.htm for a brief discussion of the problem.

Artur's brother Domangart is also present in the CULHWCH AND OLWEN story as Dyfnarth (there wrongly made son of Fergus Mor/Gwrwst).    From the Life of St. Columba:

"For Artur and Eochoid Find were not long after killed in the above-mentioned battle of the Miathi; Domingart was also defeated and slain in battle in Saxonia; while Eochoid Buide succeeded his father on the throne."

And from the Annals of Tigernach:

"The killing of the sns of Aedán i.e. Bran and Domangort and Eochaid Fionn and Artur, in the battle of Circhenn, in which Aodhán was overcome..."

I'm fairly certain that this new theory is valid.  If it is, then the idea that Penn son of Nethawc should be identified with Uther Pen[dragon] is simply an imaginary linking of the two personages in the fiction of the MABINOGION and the "Marwnat Vthyr Pen".  And the story in no way has any bearing on the historical nature of the 6th century British Arthur.  Instead, it represents an incorporation of material derived from the traditions of Scottish Dalriada.

Still, there could be some relatively unknown Buadach or similar in the region.  A few of these names are attested in the later medieval period near St. Andrews in Fife.  See https://books.google.com/books?id=L7Q4DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA166&lpg=PA166&dq=St.+Buadach%2BScotland&source=bl&ots=5ZVKJ6bind&sig=ACfU3U23VZQk3FeH9QuCigIhS5D1ua2CGw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiz6-aMvezkAhXRo54KHUNSDk0Q6AEwC3oECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=St.%20Buadach%2BScotland&f=false.

We should also not forget that Uther is linked in Welsh tradition (at least subsequent to Geoffrey of Monmouth) to Budic I of Brittany, whos name is the Breton equivalent of Gaelic Buadach.  For Budic, see  

https://www.wales.ac.uk/Resources/Documents/Research/BretonPatronymsBritishHeroicAge.pdf.  The Emyr Llydaw or 'Emperor of Brittany' is given a son Madog, as is Uther Pendragon.  The Welsh identified Emyr with Budic.

A similar name is found on the Margam Stone in Wales.  I wrote an article on this quite some time ago, which can be found here: https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-hiberno-british-vortigern-or.html.  We also have Bodvoc on coins of the Dobunni tribe.  

CREIDDYLAD

I've shown that the Cyledyr [1] of the CULHWCH AND OLWEN story is Kildare as found in the Irish sources.  The Pictish king Nechton is said to have established a St. Brigid religious house at Abernethy.  If we may derive Creiddylad from craidd, 'heart', which accounts for Cyledyr being forced to eat his father Nwython's heart, then might not this goddess be Brigid herself?[2]

Her friendship with Saint Patrick is noted in the following paragraph from the Book of Armagh:

"inter sanctum Patricium Brigitanque Hibernesium columpnas amicitia caritatis inerat tanta, ut unum cor consiliumque haberent unum. Christus per illum illamque virtutes multas peregit" (Between St Patrick and St Brigid, the pillars of the Irish people, there was so great a friendship of charity that they had but one heart and one mind. Through him and through her Christ performed many great works.)

In other words, Creiddylad is merely a designation for Brigid.

According to Scottish tradition, Brigid's relics were installed at Abernethy.  As relics can be composed of the physical remains of a saint, the story of Nwython/Nechton and Cyledyr/Kildare may be a confused account of a supposed translation of Brigid's heart from one institution to the other. 

[1] Cyledyr is said to be from *Culidorix < *Con-slii-o-riks 'seizing king' or something, if not from *Culo-dor- 'postern-gate' (figuratively 'defender' vel sim). See Sims-Williams, Celtic Inscriptions of Britain, pp. 46-47, with further references.  However, I don't believe the context of the story supports this etymology.  This is a rare case of my disagreeing with the linguists.

[2] As the story is set in the extreme North, Creiddylad could be a Welsh version of an Irish heroine whose name was spelled Creid, Crede, Credh, Credhe, Creidhe, Creide.  A Cred features in the Battle of Fionntragha or Ventry, the 'White Strand.' Another is the mistress of Cano son of Gartnain, a King of Scotland.