GOD AS 'PEN KAWELL (CAFELL)' IN THE UTHER ELEGY: A REASON FOR ADOPTING SAWYL AS ARTHUR'S FATHER

Site of the Shiloh Sanctuary

My past few blog posts have focused on the problems inherent in identifying Uther Pendragon with Sawyl Benisel of Ribchester.  Conclusions reached in those articles can be summarized thusly:

1) Eliwlad son of Madog son of Uther could be etymologized in a way that did not rely upon the Eli- of the name being a metathesis for Eil-. An Eilwlad, meaning 'other land' in Welsh, would have been a perfect semantic match for the Ailithir epithet applied to Madog son of Sawyl.  My theory, therefore, was that Eilwlad son of Madog was a dim folk memory of Madog Ailithir.  But because an early use of (g)wlad as 'lord, prince' might be present in Welsh, a second derivation presented itself in the form of e(i)liw-(g)wlad or 'lord of pain/grief/sadness.'  Granted, the second etymology did not further our quest for Uther's true identity. Eilwlad, in addition, seemed to have a great deal of supportive material in favor of it - all of which I had discussed on great detail elsewhere.  The major factor in my "gut feeling" for an Arthur originating from Sawyl's Ribchester was the new reading of the Lucius Artorius Castus memorial stone by Dr. Linda Malcor and colleagues.  This reading demonstrated conclusively that 'LAC' had been involved in the transportation of 5,500 Sarmatians to Britain.  He also made use of these heavy 'shock troops' when he served as prefect of the Sixth Legion and de facto governor.  Thus, if the name Arthur had survived anywhere in the North, it was logical to look to either York (where LAC was headquartered) or to Ribchester, the settlement of the Sarmatian veterans.

2) To account for Geoffrey of Monmouth's story of Uther's star and his transformation into Gorlois, I had more or less settled on the kawyl word of an important, though ambiguous line of the elegy poem as being an error for cannwyll.  Canwyll, in a tranfs. sense, could mean 'star.'  Cannwyll also seemed to fit the context of the poem.  Although Welsh expert Dr. Simon Rodway of The University of Wales favored an emendation to sawyl for several very good reasons, I realized that if I adopted the personal name over that of cannwyll I would lose a possible literary origin point for Geoffrey's 'star.'  A reading of Sawyl, on the other hand, tied in very nicely with my Eilwlad etymology for Eliwlad and all the other circumstantial evidence in support of Sawyl = Uther.

I found myself in a dilemma and, in an attempt  to break the stalemate, began to look elsewhere for Uther.  I happened to notice that the Alclud king Coroticus/Ceredig was called credulisque tyrannus in the Life of St. Patrick by Muirchu.  This seemed to work well for a Welsh rendering of the Latin as Uther Pendragon.  That Coroticus was magically transformed by his own men into a little fox (vulpecula) seemed to point to Madog son of Uther, as Madog means "fox."  I could also use an Arthur of Alclud to explain why the hero was later relocated to Dumnonia in SW Britain and, perhaps, to Domnonee in Brittany as well.  He also worked well as a way to account for the presence of Arthur as a son of Aedan of Dalriada a generation later, as this Irish-founded kingdom in Britain was adjacent to Strathclyde.  Of course, I had also shown that an Arthur son of Sawyl probably had as his mother an Irish princess, and if he were half-Irish that would be sufficient for both the Dalriadans and the Deisi-descended dynasty of Dyfed in Wales to have named royal sons after him.

In considerable mental turmoil, and finding myself frozen in indecisiveness, I realized I needed a 'tie-breaker.'  Something that would enable me to finally commit, after much irritating vacillation, to one specific theory on a historical Arthur.

And I believe I was vaguely aware of just that for some time now.  It was not until I fully explored the potential 'tie-breaker' that I realized what was in my possession already.

'Marwnat Vthyr Pen', Showing 'pen kawell' and 'eil kawyl'

As I've made clear before, an argument in favor of Sawyl for kawyl would involve seeing line 6's pen kawell or 'chieftain (or lord, ruler, etc.) of the sanctuary' as a Biblical reference.  Welsh cafell was not only used in a general sense for temple or sanctuary, but more specifically for God's inner sanctuary or holy of holies. It is well known that Samuel ( = Welsh Sawyl) received his calling while sleeping at night inside the Shiloh sanctuary, where the lamp was still burning (1 Samuel 3). He went on to become a great military leader who freed Israel from the Philistines (1 Samuel 7).

According to Winifred Vogel (THE CULTIC MOTIF IN THE BOOK OF DANIEL, p. 61. n. 205), the “expression hekal Yahweh [sanctuary of the Lord] is used for the first time in the OT in 1 Samuel… in direct reference to the God of the sanctuary in Shiloh.” The Vulgate Latin text of the Bible renders this templo Domini.

Hekal yahweh is used in 1 Samuel 1:9 when Hannah, Samuel's mother, pledges him (as yet unconceived) to God at the Sanctuary of the Lord.  The next occurrence of the phrase is in 1 Samuel 3:3, when we learn of Samuel sleeping in the Sanctuary of the Lord.

1 Samuel 3:3 (Latin Vulgate) lucerna Dei antequam extingueretur, Samuel dormiebat in templo Domini, ubi erat arca Dei.

If kawyl is not an error for sawyl, calling God the 'lord of the sanctuary' makes no sense.  Not in the context of the poem, at any rate.  This is clearly a reference to a Biblical title with which the author of the poem was familiar.  And that this title is used first in the story of Samuel, whose name conforms to Sawyl in the Welsh, can hardly be a coincidence.

It is for this reason that I'm finally committing to an Arthur who was born at Ribchester to Sawyl Benisel.