DINAS EMRYS: JUST WHOSE FORT WAS IT, ANYWAY?

Dinas Emrys

In the past I showed how the Emrys or Ambrosius at Dinas Emrys was, originally, at least, an import of a strange sort of folklore fusion of St. Ambrose and his namesake father, a 4th century Governor of Gaul.  Because the name means 'the Divine or Immortal One', the Emrys of Dinas Emrys in Gwynedd came to be identified with the god Lleu, Lord of Gwynedd in Welsh tradition.  Geoffrey of Monmouth identified Emrys with Merlin (Myrddin) because this character was either Lleu himself or a Lleu-avatar.  

At the same time, I went over the complicated evolution of the story of the 'dragons' of Dinas Emrys.  While these creatures came to be so much more, they seem to owe their existence ultimately to two chieftains (metaphorically dragons) whose remains were found in urns at the fort.  However, the double-snake insignium of the Segontium Roman fort may also have influenced the tale.

I pointed out the coincidence (?) that had St. Ambrose discover the buried remains of two saints, one of whom was named Celsus.  Uther Pendragon was supposedly buried at Stonehenge hard by Amesbury, the latter town being fancifully derived from "Ambrosius' burg."  Uther is believed to be from a British cognate of Irish uachtar, meaning 'high, lofty' - a meaning identical to that of Latin celsus.

Given that Llydaw lake is near Dinas Emrys, and Uther is said to have come from Llydaw (a Welsh name for Brittany), we could postulate that he was one of the dragons who had been buried at the Gwynedd hillfort in a cremation urn.  We could go further (since there is attested Roman period use of the hillfort) and say that the Segontium insignium was present at the fort in Uther's time or that he himself bore the insignium.  And, lastly, the Uther may have been the original "owner" of the hillfort, rather than Ambrosius/Emrys.

Vortigern is said to have given Dinas Emrys and all of Gwynedd to Ambrosius.  However, this is certainly not what happened.  Instead, we know that Cunedda and his sons took over in Northwest Wales.  From what we know of Segontium of the twin snakes, this would have been the logical headquarters for Cunedda. The tradition which has his court on Anglesey is flawed, as that island was not secured until the time of Cunedda's grandson, Cadwallon Lawhir.  

Thus if Ambrosius himself is not the Terrible Chief-dragon 

(see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/11/and-winner-of-uther-pendragon-contest-is.html), Cunedda is in all likelihood this ruler.

And if Cunedda = Uther, then I was right about Arthur being Ceredig son of Cunedda (a theory I first put forward in my book THE BEAR KING: ARTHUR AND THE IRISH IN WALES AND SOUTHERN ENGLAND).  

I will continue working on this problem until I can reach a satisfactory resolution. 

P.S. An earlier post on Uther Pendragon as Cunedda:

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2016/12/cerdic-of-wessex-and-arthur-one-more.html