MY DETAILED ANALYSIS OF THE MILITARY CAREER OF UTHER PENDRAGON, AS DRAWN FROM GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH

I've cobbled together my various pieces on Uther's career as it is preserved in the Galfridian tradition.  It is important that we understand how the life of Arthur's father was crafted.  Why?  So we can dispense with it as purely fiction, and thus free ourselves from the strictures imposed by its glamour.  

Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Life of Uther

Geoffrey of Monmouth fleshed out the life of Uther, primarily by making use of episodes in the life of a 10th century Viking.

While this claim may seem outlandish, we need only go to the year entry 915 in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. There we are told of the Jarls Ohtor and Hroald or Hraold, who come from Brittany to raid the Welsh coast along the Severn Estuary. They concentrate their initial attacks on Archenfield, the Ercing where Aurelius and Uther are first placed when they come to England from Brittany. Hroald is slain by the men of Hereford and Gloucester, but Ohtor goes on to land ‘east of Watchet’. The Willet or ‘Guellit’ River, adjacent to Carhampton, the ancient Carrum, is east of Watchet. Both the Willet and Carhampton feature in the tale of Arthur and the terrible dragon (‘serpentem ualidissimum, ingentem, terribilem’) in the 11th century Life of St. Carannog or Carantog. I would propose that this terrible dragon owes its existence to the dragon-ship of Ohtor, i.e. a typical Viking ship with a dragon’s head at its prow and a dragon’s tail at its stern, and that Geoffrey of Monmouth made use of the terrible dragon’s presence at Carrum to associate Uther with Ohtor. After an unpleasant stay on an island (Steepholme or Flatholme), Ohtor and what remains of his host go to Dyfed, where Uther is said to fight Pascent and the Irish king Gillomanius. Ohtor then proceeds to Ireland, where Uther had previously fought Gillomanius over the stones of Uisneach/Mount Killaraus.

We have, then, the following startling correspondences:

Uther in Brittany                    Ohtor in Brittany

Ercing                                     Archenfield

Carrum (terrible dragon)        East of Watchet

Menevia in Dyfed                   Dyfed

Ireland                                    Ireland

This Viking jarl is found in the Welsh Annals under the year 913, where the concise entry reads ‘Otter came’. This reference to Ottar is also found in the Welsh Brut t tywysogion (Chronicle of the Princes).

Geoffrey tells us that Uther appointed as bishop of Alclud one Eledenius.  As P.C. Bartrum noted, this is the St. Elidan that is known from churches in the Vale of Clwyd.  So Geoffrey has confused the two locations. 

Tintagel and Dimilioc/Domellick at St. Dennis are well-known sites and do not require additional discussion here.

I once identified Geoffrey of Monmouth's Uther battle of Mount Damen with The Roaches:

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-galfridian-uther-in-northern-britain.html?m=1

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-discovery-of-uther-pendragons-mount.html?m=1

While exploring the whereabouts of this battle, I noticed the context was purely northern, i.e. all of Uther's battles were confined to northern England and Scotland.

Mt. Damen was particularly important as it was at this site that Gorlois made his first appearance. Gorlois is a character Geoffrey conjured from Uther's gorlassar epithet.

One of the primary reasons for choosing The Roaches for Mt. Damen was Geoffrey's description of the place as being very steep, with jagged rocks well suited to be the lairs of wild animals.

But in looking over the Galfridian account of Mt. Damen again, I think I might have missed something very important: it is followed immediately by military action at Alclud.

Alclud is, of course, the Rock of Clyde or Dumbarton Rock. We find Alclud in the Irish account of Ceredig Wledig called 'Aloo' or, simply, 'the Rock.'

Could it possibly be that Damen is a distant echo of the Damnonii of Strathclyde? Ancient forms for the tribal names of both the northern and southern Dumnonii tribes can be found here:

http://marikavel.org/personnes/damnonii/accueil.htm

http://marikavel.org/personnes/dumnonii/accueil.htm

If so, the "rock" of Alclud would nicely correspond to Geoffrey's rocks at Mt. Damen. 

Gorlois as Duke of Cornwall at Mt. Damen would then make eminent sense, as Cornwall was part of southern Dumnonia, which could be a mistake for northern Dumnonia. 

The whole story of Igerna and Arthur's birth is copied from that of the begetting of Mongan (an Irish chieftain ultimately killed by Arthur son of Bicoir the Briton). Mongan's mother was Caintigerna, a name mistakenly or intentionally truncated as Igerna. The begetting of Mongan happens in the context of Aedan of Dalriada's Degsastan battle. Yes, the same Aedan who had a son or grandson named Artur.

Uther starts out at York, goes to the hill of the Damnonii, i.e. Alclud, then later goes to Lothian.  His death at St. Albans is an error for Albany, where he was said to have been just before going to St. Albans to die. We know this because Picts are involved and it is safe to say there were no Picts in St. Albans.  

Geoffrey's northern campaign for Uther may at least in part have been inspired by the northern British war of the Emperor Septimius Severus.  See https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2025/05/uthers-and-severuss-two-campaigns-in.html.