EARLIER PIECES ON ARTHUR PENUCHEL SON OF ELIFFER OF YORK

I'm pasting below two older blog entries on Arthur Penuchel, a name substituted for Arddun Penasgell in a corrupt Welsh TRIAD.  The point I made before is still relevant, i.e. that even though the name is a corruption, it is an amazing coincidence that the only Arthur to be found inserted into a genealogy for the Men of the North happens to have been placed at the York of the 2nd century Lucius Artorius Castus.  I had once proposed that this was not so much an error as a correction.  Alas, the chronology for Arthur Penuchel is off by a generation.  Instead of settling for this Arthur, I have opted to pass over Eliffer's supposed son in favor of Eliffer's brother, Ceidio.  My reasons for doing this have been detailed in several blog posts as well as in the revision of my book THE ARTHUR OF HISTORY. 

However, I felt it was important to offer this older material one more time.  Given that Arthur fought at the City of the Legion that was York, there is no doubt he had a close connection with the place - even if he were Ceidio, headquartered at Stanwix/Uxellodunum, the command base on Hadrian's Wall. 

*** 

ELEUTHERIUS AND HIS SON GWRCI OF YORK: A REFLECTION OF ROMAN PERIOD NAMES IN THE DARK AGE NORTH?

Roman York

In the past, I suggested that the Dark Age Eliffer of York, from an original Greek name Eleutherius, was likely derived from a title given to Constantine the Great.  This was actually quite a good idea, but here I would like to offer another possibility.

Dr. Linda Malcor and colleagues have recently proposed a new reading for the memorial stone of Lucius Artorius Castus.  The claim is made by these scholars that Artorius was actually the acting governor from the period 187-191 A.D.  As it happens, an Eleutherius at Rome was pope from 174 to 189 A.D.  In other words, Artorius and Eleutherius were exact contemporaries.

Another suggestion I once made was that Gwrci, literally 'Man-dog', a son of Eliffer, was a Welsh attempt at the name Virius Lupus, Roman governor of Britain from 197 to c. 200  Eliffer's other son, Peredur, is simply 'Praetor.'

The corrupt TRIAD which makes an Arthur Penuchel the son of Eliffer immediately comes to mind.  While we cannot trust this corrupt reading - and it is chronologically impossible, in any case - I've often observed that it can scarcely be a coincidence that the one Dark Age Arthur of the North that we have a record of in the Welsh sources just happens to have been placed at York.  If nothing else, this may indicate a folk memory of the presence of Lucius Artorius Castus/LAC at that city during the Roman period.

So, what do we make of these apparent correspondences?  Do we assume that the 2nd century names have merely been brought forward several centuries to fill gaps in the historical or genealogical knowledge of the writers who themselves were composing works several centuries after the supposed reign of a Dark Age Arthur?  Or do we instead allow for the continued use of names in places where those names had been made famous?

Well, we cannot answer that question directly.  I think it quite possible that a 6th century Arthur was based at Ribchester, and have made my argument for that in previous posts.  We also know, thanks to archaeology, that someone in the sub-Roman and Dark Age North was trying his best to replicate the rule of the Roman period Dux Britanniarum.  And the effort paid off, for the North kept itself free of Germanic invaders for a considerable time, while the South, by comparison, did not fare at all well.

***

NOTE: Eleuthereos was also a title of the god Zeus, the Roman Jupiter.  This is interesting, given that the Arthur birth story is paralleled in that of Herakles, son of Zeus.

"ELEUTHEREUS (Eleuthereus), the form Eleutherius is certainly used in the sense of the deliverer, and occurs also as the surname of Zeus. (Plut. Sympos. vii. in fin.; Pind. Ol. xii. 1; Strab. ix. p. 412; Tacit. Ann. xv. 64.)" [https://www.theoi.com/Cult/ZeusTitles.html]

***

Some might wonder if the story of Eleutherius and Lucius of Britain should be given any currency.  In other words, might Lucius have been LAC?

Unfortunately, this does not seem at all likely.  According to WIKIPEDIA:

"In 1904 Adolf von Harnack proposed that there had been a scribal error in Liber Pontificalis with ‘Britanio' Britannia being written as an erroneous expansion for 'Britio' Birtha or Britium in what is now Turkey. The full name was 'Britio Edessenorum,' the citadel of Edessa, present day Şanlıurfa in Turkey. The name of the King of Edessa was Lucius Aelius Abgar.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abgar_IX.

***

A DARK AGE/SUB-ROMAN ARTHUR FROM YORK: A RECONSIDERATION

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I wrote the following:

http://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2017/10/julian-dragon-and-his-draco-standard.html

While I felt this piece important, it didn't really help me pin down a Dark Age/Sub-Roman Arthur who originated in some sense from York.

But I did later write another piece that concentrated on other details of an Arthur who owed his existence to the earlier, famous Roman commander in North Britain.  What follows is an account of my treatment of Arthur Penuchel.

***

In the traditional genealogies for Arthur, Cynfawr (= Cunomorus) or Cynfarch is made the father of Custenin/Constantine the father of Uther. Urien is son of Cynfarch son of Meirchiaun.

In the Welsh genealogies we encounter a chieftain of the North named Eliffer Gosgorddfawr (Eleutherius of the Great Retinue). Eliffer’s epithet is significant. This ‘great retinue’ may be a memory either of the Sixth Legion, which was stationed at York, or of a comitatensis.

Eliffer’s real father is thought to have been one ARTHWYS (although see Chapter 5 and Appendix II for this personal name as a possible territorial designation) and he had a son named Peredur, the Welsh form of the Roman rank of Praetor (hence the later Peredur son of Ebrauc, the latter being an eponym for the city of Eboracum/York, headquarters of the Roman praetor).

During the Roman period, the governor of Northern Britain at York was a Praetor, or to be more specific, a Praetorian Prefect. I do not hold to the idea that Peredur is instead from *Pritorix, the handsome king, fair-shaped king (see Rachel Bromwich’s Triads of the Island of Britain, p. 561).

Eleutherius is a Greek name, and these were popular in northern Europe in the 5th century. It means "Liberator", and this is certainly significant.

Why? Because York is famous for its association with Constantine the Great, who not only declared himself emperor while at the city, but went out of his way to present himself as the Liberator of Rome and, indeed, of the world (see https://www.academia.edu/2489952/Constantine_and_Slavery_Libertas_and_the_Fusion_of_Roman_and_Christian_Values

). Greek writers, of course, when speaking of him as the Liberator used words derived from eleutheros/ eleutheria.

I would surmise that a sort of "cult" of Constantine the Great might have existed in 5th century York and that Eleutherius as a name was actually originally derived from Constantine's Liberator title. [The ‘The Twenty-Four Mightiest Kings’, Custennin Fendigaid, i.e. the Welsh version of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Constantine III, is called Waredwr, ‘the Deliverer’. This suggests that Constantine III was here confused with the earlier Constantine the Liberator.]

Eliffer's sons Peredur and Gwrgi are recorded as fighting at a place called Caer Greu (‘Fort Greu’) and at Arfderydd/Arthuret just NW of Carlisle. Greu has been tentatively related to W. creu, ‘blood’. I would propose that Caer Greu/Creu is Carrawburgh, i.e. the Roman fort of Brocolitia, on Hadrian’s Wall. English 'Carrawburgh' could easily reflect something like very early Old Welsh *'Cair Carrou'. The extant form of 'Caer Greu' could be the regular Middle Welsh reflex of this. Carrawburgh is not far from Corbridge, where Arthur's Dubglas River battles were fought (see Chapter 3).

Their presence at Arthuret shows that they were active in the same area as Arthur, who died in battle at Castlesteads/Camboglanna on the Wall not far to the east (see again Chapter 3).

Eliffer’s wife Efrddyl, daughter of Cynfarch son of Merchiaun, is said to have had three children: Gwrgi, Peredur and either Ceindrech or Arddun Benasgell (sometimes called 'Wing-head'; however, as asgell can also mean 'spear' or even 'wing of an army', her epithet may mean instead either 'Spear-head', a reference to her weapon, or 'Spear-chieftain', or even 'Chieftain of the Army Wing'). Arddun is elsewhere said to be the daughter of Pabo Post Prydyn. But in the slightly corrupt Jesus College MS. 20, Arddun’s name is replaced by ARTHUR PENUCHEL.

Rachel Bromwich discussed this supposed corruption in her revised edition of ‘The Triads of the Island of Britain”, and I am quoting her here in full:

“Ardun Pen Askell is probably the correct form of the name of the sister of Gwrgi and Peredur… But if is likely that it is this name which has been corrupted to arthur penuchel in Jes. Gens. 20… The manuscript is of the turn of the 14th/15th century, but with indications of having been copied from an earlier exemplar… These points suggest that the triad may be as old as any that hav been preserved in the earlier collections… And in fact the context in which the triad is cited in Jes. Gens. 20 points to the probable source which inspired its composition This is the allusion to the progeny of Nefyn daughter of Brychan which is contained in the tract De Situ Brecheniauc, preserved in a thirteenth century manuscript, which has been copied from one of perhaps the eleventh century.”

We should pay a bit more attention to this alteration.

Why? Firstly, although it has been customary to view the alteration as a corruption, we cannot be sure that this is so in this particular context. It could represent, in fact, a CORRECTION or even a SUBSTITUTION.

Or an ADDITION: in 'The Dialogue of Myrddin and Taliesin", we are told of the "seven sons of Eliffer.”  While this may be mere poetic rhetoric, the possibility that Eliffer had sons in addition to Peredur and Gwrgi leaves for an Arthur among them.

The truly remarkable thing about this “corruption” of Arthur Penuchel is that it is found attached to the royal house of York – the one place we know of that had seen a Roman period camp prefect named Artorius, and the one place where the name may have been remembered by Britons claiming Romano-British descent. This is simply too big of a coincidence, in this author’s opinion. Of all the other lines of descent for the Men of the North the name could have been attached to, it was attached only to the family of Eliffer/Eleutherius.

What we may have then, is this: a southern pedigree running Cynfarch-Constantine-Uther-Arthur and a northern one that is very similar, but relies upon the maternal line, i.e.

                                                                        Cynfarch

                                                     Efrddyl - Eleutherius/”Constantine”

                                                                         [Uther?]

                                                                         Arthur

The Arthwys preferred as the father of Eliffer displays the Celtic arth, 'bear', component and the Welsh interpreted the Arth- of Arthur in the same way. Recently, the Roman name Artorius as been etymologized as deriving ultimately from the Celtic, meaning "Bear-king" (see Stefan Zimmer’s “The Name of Arthur – A New Etymology”, Journal of Celtic Linguistics, 13, 2009, 131- 6; there, Artorius is shown to be from Celtic *Arto-rig-ios, ‘Bear-king’). If the arth/’bear’ component was already in Arthwys’s family, then it is not unreasonable to suppose that his grandson also bore this component as part of his own name. The name Arthur is indisputably from the Roman Artorius.

Penuchel, the epithet assigned to this Arthur, is given a couple different meanings. Patrick K. Ford of Harvard, translator of the Mabinogion, rendered Penuchel (in the context of Sawyl Penuchel of Samlesbury hard by Ribchester) as ‘Overlord’. The GPC dictionary, on the other hand, reading it as ‘high-head’, gives it a transferred sense of ‘haughty, arrogant’. 'Overlord' would fit the context better, as this would be a good description of the role Arthur is said to have played in the 'Historia Brittonum' of Nennius. When I wrote to Professor Ford and asked him why he had chosen the rendering 'Overlord', he replied:

"The answer is a choice based on context and the semantic fields of penn and uchel."

Granted, the established chronology for the Eliffer dynasty does not exactly support my contention that Arthur of the North was a son of Eliffer. Obviously, Arthur was not a contemporary of Urien! But Arthur may have been born to Eliffer and Efrddyl very early on, while their sons Gwrci and Peredur were produced years later.

Finally, the chronologies that have been worked out for these early Men of the North are rough approximations and thus cannot be relied upon for any kind of precise dating. 

I'm going to put forward something rather outlandish here: we assume (and, yes, I know the immense dangers implicit in the use of this word) that Eliffer/Eleutherius had among his several sons one named Julian - a possibility not at all unreasonable if we accept the presence at York of a cult of Constantine passed down through the ruling generations - and we then also assume that such a son, being identified with the earlier Julian the Emperor, was either in reality or in posterity granted pronounced associations with the draco standard/dragon (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2017/10/julian-dragon-and-his-draco-standard.html). Following this, we propose that our (admittedly) hypothetical Julian son of Eleutherius/Eliffer sired a champion named Artorius.  It was this Artorius, named for LAC, who went on to fight significant battles in the North, only to perish at Camboglanna.  This Artorius/Arthur was buried at Avalana/Avalon/Burgh By Sands.  

Yes, way too much speculation to satisfy even the most open-minded of academicians.  While it was still tempting to look for an Arthur in Ceidio (a hypocoristic name derived from a full name which may have matched perfectly the "leader of battles" rank assigned to Arthur by Nennius), this earlier identification of mine relies upon the Artorius name, presumed to contain a British *arto- or 'bear' element, being linked directly to Irthing, the name of a river where we find both Camboglanna and the Banna/Birdoswald Dark Age hall. I judge it considerably less likely that Artorius was given to a son of Arthwys ('man of Arth/Bear river or valley') than to a direct descendant of a king of York. While the genealogies make Eliffer either the son of Arthwys of the Irthing or of Gwrwst Ledlwm/Mar (= Fergus Mor/Mar of Dalriada? [1]), these connections are rather transparently manufactured. A ruler of Dark Age York would not have been descended through either a ruler at the Wall or through the Irish founder of Scottish Dalriada.  Simply on the basis of geography, if nothing else, we must ignore these supposed ancestral links and consign them to an imaginative (and probably propagandist) construction of the lines of descent for the legendary Men of the North. 

My best "proof" for a Dark Age Arthur who belongs to York comes from the activities of Gwrci and Peredur, sons of Eliffer.  As shown above, these princes fought along the Wall from Carrowburgh to Arthuret. Arthur is said to have perished at Camlann, i.e. Camboglanna, and this Roman fort at Castlesteads is exactly between those two locations where Gwrci and Peredur fought.

At this stage, we must ask ourselves a very important question: as the only known Artorius we know of who seems to have been quite a famous man (at least in Britain) was stationed at York, can we in good conscience postulate a Dark Age/Sub-Roman Arthur whose origins belong someplace/anyplace else?

My answer, after 20+ years of research?  No, we cannot.  Arthur was of the North, and he must have belonged to York or its environs, or at least to a region that was still under the control of the king at York.

***

ARTHUR PENUCHEL AND MEDRAUT SON OF LLEU (WITH AN ETYMOLOGY FOR MEDRAUT)

A Hypothetical Family Tree

              Cynfarch                             Arthwys

Urien       Lleu      Efrddyl       Eliffer Gosgorddfawr

             Medraut                         Arthur Penuchel     

In my book THE ARTHUR OF HISTORY, I suggested that the name of Medraut's father (the Loth of Geoffrey of Monmouth, properly rendered as Lleu in the Welsh sources; Lothian is derived from Middle Welsh Lleudinyawn, Brittonic *Lugudunianon, land of ‘Lugh's/Lleu's Fortress’) should perhaps be attached to Carlisle, the Romano-British Luguvalium,  This was principally because the latter, whether interpreted as a place-name or a description of the fort, meant 'Lleu-strong.'  

However, in going back over the Triads I realized that I'd missed something: Triad 70 lists as a son of Cynfarch, and thus brother of Urien and Efrddyl, a certain Lleu.  As it happens, the Welsh version of Geoffrey of Monmouth's tale makes this Lleu son of Cynfarch the father of Medraut. For the fun of it, I drew up the family tree presented above, as the various family relationships placed Medraut and Arthur Penuchel in the same generation.  Furthermore, in this scheme Arthur and Medraut are first cousins.

Lleu son of Cynfarch's mother was Nefyn - a name universally held to be cognate with the Irish goddess name Nemhain.  Nemhain, in turn, often appears as the trio of battle goddesses which includes the Morrigan.  In my THE MYSTERIES OF AVALON I made my case for the Welsh Morgan being a substitute for the Morrigan in Arthurian story.  If I'm right, then Nemhain wife of Cynfarch could also be seen as the Morrigan/Morgan, grandmother of Medraut.

In Geoffrey's story, Medraut's mother is Anna, Arthur's sister.  This points once again to the Annan River (from a British form of the Irish goddess name Anu, or at least from the same root).  According to the "Gorhoffedd" of Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd, Caerliwelydd, i.e. Carlisle in Cumbria, was in Rheged (see John Koch's CELTIC CULTURE: A CULTURAL ENCYCLOPEDIA).  I've recently shown that the heartland of Rheged was, in fact, Annandale, just across the Solway Firth from Carlisle.   But it is not impossible that at some point Rheged did hold Carlisle, and that it was Cynfarch's son Lleu whose name may serve as a sort of partial eponym for that city.  Medraut, then, would be from Luguvalium.

The Welsh name Gwyar as Medraut's mother, as she was the mother of Medraut's supposed brother Gawain.  But I've shown in my THE ARTHUR OF HISTORY that Gwyar's people belonged at the pre-Saxon Bamburgh. 

Now, once again, accepting Arthur Penuchel as the son of Eliffer poses a rather grave problem chronologically - even though the connection with York (which is where the Artorius name came from to begin with!) is most attractive. It also relies upon a corruption of Triad 70 - although in the past I have been willing to entertain the notion that perhaps, at least as far as Arthur Penuchel is concerned, the corruption in question may represent a correction.

From the standpoint of chronology, there is some "wriggle room", as any reigns for these various Men of the North are conventional approximations.  While it is true that Medraut son of Lleu son of Cynfarch and Nemhain-Morrigan/Morgan looks very promising, we are still stuck with the c. 537 date for his passing with Arthur at Camboglanna.  According to Bartram, 585 or 586 are the most likely years to have seen the death of Urien, Medraut's uncle.  

Urien is thought to have been born about 510 (again, see Bartram).  Arthur fought at Badon c. 516.  While such a date for Badon fits Ceidio son of Arthwys (who was born around 490), my candidate for Arthur 'dux erat bellorum' (as Ceidio is a hypocorism for something like Cadwaladr, Cadwal, etc.), it cannot be reconciled with an Arthur Penuchel son of Eliffer.  Eliffer's sons Gwrgi and Peredur fought at Arderydd in 573 and perished at Carrawburgh on the Wall in 580 (see my book THE ARTHUR OF HISTORY).  

But let's consider for a moment that Ceidio the Battle-leader, son of Arthwys, and Arthur are, indeed, the same man.  If we do, something marvelous happens.  We can retain the Morrigan/Morgan as Medraut's grandmother, but as Ceidio (because Efrddyl was Eliffer's wife) was Lleu's brother-in-law, Medraut would be Arthur's nephew by marriage.   The kernel of the Arthur and Medraut story as found in both Geoffrey of Monmouth and the later romances would be present in this very early genealogical relationship.

Yet Medraut as son of Lleu son of Cynfarch suffers from the same chronological problem as Arthur Penuchel son of Eliffer.  It would be impossible to place this Medraut at a Camlann in 537. 

A NOTE ON THE NAME MEDRAWT (FROM MY BOOK "THE ARTHUR OF HISTORY"):

On February 26, 1996, I received a letter from Professor Oliver Padel of Cambridge. This was in response to a query I had sent him some time earlier in which I proposed that the name Medrawt – born by the personage who died with Arthur at Camlann – may represent the Roman name Moderatus. What Padel had to say on this possibility is important enough for Arthurian studies to be reprinted in full below:

“Not much has been done on the name of Medrawt or Mordred… In an article on various words in Welsh with the root med, Medr-, Ifor Williams suggested that the name might be connected with the Welsh verb medru ‘to be able, to hit’; but he did not develop the idea, only mentioned it in passing.

Middle Welsh Medrawt cannot formally be identical with Old Cornish Modred, Old Breton Mo-drot (both of which are recorded, indicating an original Old Co.Br. *Modrod), since the Welsh e in the first syllable should not be equivalent to a Co.Br. o there.

What people do not seem to have asked is what this discrepancy means: we can hardly say that Welsh Medrawt is a different name, since it clearly belongs to the same character as  Geoffrey’s [Geoffrey of Monmouth] Modredus < Co.Br. Modrod.

Which is ‘right’? I would suggest that the Co.Br. form is the ancient one, and that the Welsh form has been altered, perhaps indeed by association with the verb medru.

That was already my conclusion, but I did not have a derivation for Modrod. However, Modrod would be the exact derivative of Latin Moderatus, as you suggest. Your suggestion is most attractive, and neither I nor (so far as I know) anyone else has previously thought of it.

Like you, I should be relucatant to say that Modrod couldn’t have a Celtic derivation; but it fits so well with Moderatus that I personally don’t feel the need to look further.”

If Medrawt or, rather, Modrod, is Moderatus, this may be significant for a Medraut at Cambloglanna on Hadrian’s Wall, for we know of a Trajanic period prefect named C. Rufius Moderatus, who left inscriptions at Greatchesters on the Wall and Brough-under-Stainmore in Cumbria (CIL iii. 5202, RIB 1737, 166-9, 2411, 147-51). The name of this prefect could have become popular in the region and might even have still been in use among Northern British noble families in the 6th century CE.

***

ARTHUR PENUCHEL, SON OF ELIFFER OF YORK

Uxellodunum/Stanwix Roman Fort

Years ago, I looked at the Arthur Penuchel of a corrupt version of one of the Welsh Triads.  While it is easy to dispense with such a personage - precisely because his name and title do seem to be corruptions of the original - what I found to be of profound interest was that in this particular corruption the Arthur in question was made a son of Eliffer/Eleutherius of York.

Why of profound interest?  Because the only Roman period Artorius we know of was the camp prefect of York.  This is the well-known Lucius Artorius Castus, whom Dr. Linda Malcor has made much of.  While Dr. Malcor and I disagree quite strongly on LAC, as he is called, in so far as I believe he merely supplied his name to the North Britons and she subscribes to the notion (strictly from the standpoint of her expertise in the field of folklore) that much of the Arthurian legend should be traced to LAC and not to a 6th century personage), I cannot shake the feeling that Arthur must somehow belong to the North.

At one point, I had dared suggest that the reference to Arthur Penuchel was not, in fact, actually a corruption, but instead a correction of the original text. Not even a substitution, but an acknowledgement of the fact that there was a Northern Arthur of the 6th century who was somehow connected to the royal sub-Roman house of York.

My reasoning was pretty simple, even if it was based on a paucity of data.  Any legitimate Arthur candidate should have some stated association with York.  Otherwise, we were forced to try and explain why the rare name Artorius would have been given to a man who had no connection, no matter how distant, with LAC.  I could not at the time - and still cannot - adequately apply the name Arthur to someone in the south or extreme west.  Someone had to have family descent or presumed or desired family descent from LAC in order to bear the name.  This much was plain to me.  When I'm honest with myself, I still cannot account for an Artorius in the South.  I can imagine a sub-Roman Artorius in the North - but only with some caveats.

Before I go further, I'm pasting here all of Rachel Bromwich's relevant passages on Arthur Penuchel. This should be read carefully, and considered as authoritative.  Following her analysis of the corruption problem, I will delve more deeply in the genealogies of the Men of the North and try to come to some conclusion that might further our search for a legitimate Northern Arthur candidate.  Also provided here are some entries from P.C. Bartram's A CLASSICAL WELSH DICTIONARY.

ARDDUN BENASGELL ferch PABO POST PRYDYN. (480)

 She is mentioned in Bonedd y Saint as the wife of Brochwel Ysgithrog and mother of St.Tysilio (§33 in EWGT p.59). The cognomen, Penasgell, ‘wing-headed’, occurs only in a minority of manuscripts. Compare Ceindrech ferch Eliffer Gosgorddfawr. It is said that Dolarddun, a former township in the parish of Castell Caereinion (WATU) was named after her. (MA2 417, LBS I.168).

CEINDRECH BENASGELL ferch ELIFFER GOSGORDDFAWR. (530)

She and her two brothers, Gwrgi and Peredur, constituted one of the 'Three Fair Womb Burdens’

of Ynys Prydain according to a triad (TYP no.70, Pen.50 version). The Pen.45 version

substitutes Arddun. Compare Arddun Benasgell.

PABO POST PRYDYN. (450) [of Papcastle/Deventio Roman fort in Cumbria; note that an attempt was made to connect him to Arthwys as well]

‘P. Pillar of Pictland’. He seems to have been a famous hero of North Britain though little is

now recorded of him, and he is mentioned chiefly as the father of Dunod Fwr, Sawyl Benisel, Cerwydd and Arddun Benasgell, the wife of Brochwel Ysgithrog. See the names. The earliest genealogical sources make him son of Ceneu ap Coel Hen (HG 11, 19, JC 38 in EWGT pp.11, 12, 48). However ‘Bonedd Gwŷr y Gogledd’ makes him son of Arthwys ap Mar ap Ceneu ap Coel (§4 in EWGT p.73). This longer version was copied in late versions of the ‘Hanesyn Hen’ tract (ByA §12 in EWGT p.88). There is little doubt that the earlier version is more correct, being chronologically more satisfactory. Compare Pabo, St.

I wish to now present what might be termed the "genealogical evidence" for Arthur Penuchel - although, I should hasten to add that the scholarly consensus regarding the early Welsh genealogies is that they are probably manufactured and thus utterly unreliable.  Yet in some cases they may preserve accurate historical traditions.  Whether these traditions are themselves of true historical value is debatable.

The following snippets from family trees (see P.C. Bartram for confirmation of details) are arranged vertically.  I have elsewhere proven that 'Mar' is a known variant of 'Mor', and so when we encounter Mar in the genealogies we know this is, in fact, Fergus Mor, the founder of Irish Dalriada in Scotland.[1]

Gwrwst Ledlum (Fergus Mor)                Mar (=Mor, Fergus? [1])                Mar (=Mor, Fergus?)

                 Eliffer                                               Arthwys                                   Arthwys

          Arthur Penuchel                                       Ceidio                                       Eliffer

                                                                                                                    Arthur Penuchel

It will be noticed immediately that one ancestry trace makes Arthur Penuchel of the same generation as Ceidio.  In my book THE ARTHUR OF HISTORY (only now posted here to this blog site in its entirety), I made my case for Ceidio being Arthur, as his name is a shortened form of what would almost certainly translate into the 'dux erat bellorum' of Nennius's HISTORIA BRITTONUM [1].  An Arthur Penuchel son of Eliffer son of Arthwys places Arthur a generation too late to make the chronology work. Ceidio is fascinating in another respect, as he is father to Gwenddolau ('white dales', probably a place-name recorded at Carwinley).  Gwenddolau is the lord of Myrddin/Merlin.

Arthwys is 'man of the Arth', an eponym similar to Glywys ('man of Glevensis', i.e. of Glevum/Gloucester).  I had made a case for this place being the valley of the Irthing, where we find Banna and Camboglanna.  However, Dr. Andrew Breeze's etymology for Irthing derives it from a Cumbric word meaning 'little bear.'  This involves i-affection, as a diminutive suffix -yn (Old Welsh -inn) allows arth- to become erth-.  It is hard to hold to the idea that the man of the Arth/Bear had left his name in a river called the Little Bear.

Instead, I now propose a somewhat different etymology for the Irthing.  Could this not, I asked Brythonic place-name expert Alan James, be simply an Arth river to which English -ing (often added to river-names; see Ekwall) has been added?  His response:

"As far as English is concerned, note that a rather similar sound-change, generally called i-mutation or (as in German) umlaut, would have made *arthing > *ærthing, which would normally have reverted to *arthing in ME, but I think could possibly emerge as *erthing."

If this happened, then we could have had an original arth at the Irthing, rather than erthinn/erthyn.  Arthwys would belong to the valley of the Irthing.[2]

Arthwys, of course, can simply be a territorial designation.  He need not be a real man.  A son of his - or merely a chieftain originating from the valley of the Arth River - might well take on a name that was believed to contain an arth- element.  One like Arthur/Artorius, for example.  I've several times pointed out that noted Celticist Stefan Zimmer has provided an excellent treatment of Artorius was itself deriving from an ancient Celtic 'Bear-king' name.  Given the connection York had with Hadrian's Wall (the former was the headquarters of the governor of Northern Britain, and there was a unique relationship between York and Stanwix/Uxellodunum [3] at the west end of the Wall), it would not be surprising for the name of a famous camp prefect at York, passed along through generations of Britons who like to claim descent from the Romans, to be given to a man born on the Wall at the Bear River.  

In THE ARTHUR OF HISTORY, I suggested that Arthur's base of operations might have been Stanwix, the site of the largest Roman cavalry unit in all of Britain.  This was based on a number of factors.  First, a tradition that the place was called 'Arthur's burg.'  Second, I had wondered if there could be a connection between the Uxellodunum name and Arthur's Penuchel title (as Welsh uchel derives from British Uxello-).  Finally, the Petriana unit of the fort reminded me of the Dyfed Arthur, whose father was one Petrus.  Admittedly, these could all simply be coincidental resemblances.  Yet if Arthur really was as famous as he is made out to be in later tradition, there would be no better place for him to have ruled from that a location which in the Roman period, at least, was the headquarters of the Wall.  Uxellodunum was also pretty much exactly between Camboglanna and Aballava (Avalan/"Avalon"), with the Carwinley of Gwenddolau son of Ceidio just a little to the north.  Finally, there is the known strong link between York of the Roman governor and Stanwix - and it is from York that the name Arthur seems to have come.

I don't really have anything to add to this outline of a possible Northern Arthur.  It is at least as good as declaring Cerdic of Wessex/Ceredig son of Cunedda to be a Southern Arthur.

[1] “Ceidiaw is a 'pet' form of a name in *katu- 'battle' with the common hypocoristic ending -iaw (> Mod. Welsh -(i)o) found in Teilo (Old Welsh Teliau) etc., and still productive today (Jaco, Ianto etc.). And yes, it's not possible to say what the second element would have been. But the forms you suggest [Cadwaladr, (“Catu-walatros) ‘Battle-leader’, Caderyn (Catu-tigernos), ‘Battle-lord’, Cadfael (Catu-maglos), ‘Battle-prince’, Caturix (a Gaulish god), ‘Battle-king’] are among the candidates, especially as this man was a chieftain of Y Gogledd [the North] at the head of some of the royal genealogies. ” - Dr. Simon Rodway, The University of Wales

[2] The River Irt in Cumbria could have a "bear" etymology as well.  According to Alan James: "...a minority of early records do have Ert(h)(e), but I don't think a plural eirth, 'bears', is likely in a river-name. A fossilised genitive - *avon eirth - might be more plausible, though this would require rather special pleading."  Note there are other proposed etymologies for the Irt.  None are very satisfactory.  Once again from James:

"Ekwall (ERN 211) points out that irt happens to be a Middle Irish word for 'death'. I hadn't noticed that before, it would presumably be related to Welsh aer < eCelt *agrā < IE *Haeĝ-reHa-, probably present in the r-n Aeron Ceredigion < *Agronā (but not, in spite of never-ending speculation about Aeron in CA, Ayr) Watson CPNS 97 derives Hiort/ Hirta (St Kilda) from irt, though I - and others - would reserve judgement. It's an interesting idea, there's some evidence of Gaelic influence (presumably 10th - 11th ct, maybe - following David Parsons' recent argument - Gall Ghaidheil) in this part of Cumbria. But I'm dubious as to the idea of Gaelic speakers at that date giving such a name.

Watson, discussing Hirta, refers to the opinions of some (unspecified) antiquaries who associated it with the ‘isles of the blessed’ etc., and it would be possible to weave some Celtic-mythological notions around such a name for a river. But I tend to steer clear of such notions (and Watson thought St Kilda was more of a hell on earth!).

PNCmb 18 (followed by Watts CamDEPN) misrepresents Ekwall as giving Welsh ir 'fresh, green' as the origin, though actually he doubts that as the second vowel never occurs in records for Irt or Irthing. All the same, it can't be ruled out,  the suffix -et is reasonably common.

I think *ir-et ‘fresh, green’ or even Gaelic irt ‘death’ (though a bit far-fetched) are possible, but wouldn’t rule out *(avon) eirth."

Irthing and Irt Rivers in Cumbria with Roman Roads

[3] I have this information on the significance of Uxellodunum via a personal communication from Professor Anthony Birley:

Dear Mr Hunt,

That the praef. alae Petrianae at Stanwix was the "senior officer" of the Wall garrison is simply a statement of fact: he was the only prefect of an ala milliaria in the entire province and thus was in the quarta militia, the elite highest grade for equestrian officers, probably only created in the early 2nd century. For the regiment see e.g. M.G. Jarrett in the journal Britannia for 1994. Whether this officer ex officio "controlled" the Wall is another matter; but he no doubt at least had the authority to give orders in an emergency without having to wait for authorization from the legionary legate at York (from Caracalla = at the same time the governor of Britannia Inferior) or the consular governor of undivided Britain further south.

The place-name: this is a conjecture by Mark W.C. Hassall, in Aspects of the Notitia (1976), 112f., edd. R. Goodburn and P. Bartholomew, who convincingly restores [Banna] after tribunus cohortis primae Aeliae Dacorum in line 44 in the Duke's list and inserts [tribunus cohortis secundae Tungrorum] before [C]amboglanna, making Banna the name of Birdoswald and Camboglanna that of Castlesteads; and replacing Petrianis after alae Petrianae in line 45 with Uxel(l)oduno, and Axeloduno in line 49 with Mais. This is now generally accepted, see e.g. A.L.F. Rivet & C. Smith, The Place-Names of Roman Britain (179) 220f. Cf. also in Britannia for 2004 on the Staffordshire pan, with another list of place-names from the western sector of the Wall.

Best wishes,

Anthony Birley

I discuss the archaeological evidence for sub-Roman continuation at Stanwix in my book THE ARTHUR OF HISTORY.

[1]

Arthwy's father Mar (or Mor) may instead be another territorial designation in the form of an eponym: he could stand for the founder of the Moringas of Westmorland.