THE BIRTHPLACE AND FATHER OF ARTHUR

Dumbarton Rock

For the explanation as to why I feel the following pertains to the famous Arthur, please see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2020/04/chapter-2-arthurs-ancestry-restoring.html.

Artist's Reconstruction of the Dark Age Fortress of Alclud

(Courtesy Konstam and Dennis' STRONGHOLDS OF THE PICTS)

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From https://canmore.org.uk/site/43376/dumbarton-castle:

The twin peaks of Dumbarton Rock (a volcanic plug similar in origin to Edinburgh and Stirling Castle Hills) rise dramatically from the north shore of the Clyde at its confluence with the River Leven to form a site of great natural strength, which is reputed to have the longest recorded history of any fortification in Britain. From at least the 5th century AD it served as the principal stronghold of the Britons of Strathclyde, thereafter it was a royal castle, and during the postmedieval period the castle was used as an artillery fortress guarding the approaches to Glasgow.

Little now survives of the early historic fortifications or of the urbs (town) mentioned by Bede, but excavations carried out by Professor Alcock in 1974-5 revealed the remains of a rampart on the east peak, as well as finds of imported Mediterranean pottery and Merovingian glass. These, and the radiocarbon dates obtained from the rampart, tie in with the early documentary references to the site in the period AD 400-1000, when it was known to the Britons as Alcluith (Clyde Rock) and to the Irish annalists as Dun Breatann (Fort of the Britons). It is clear from the early references that the site was frequently attacked, and it owed its strategic significance to its proximity to the ford across the Clyde at Dumbuck (2km to the east), which, until the channel was artificially deepened in recent times, was the lowest crossing point of the river.

Map Showing the Northern and Southern Dumnonii Kingdoms

with Alclud

From P.C. Bartram's A CLASSICAL WELSH DICTIONARY:

CEREDIG WLEDIG. (born 410) He appears in the unique pedigree of the kings of Strathclyde in the ‘Harleian Genealogies’ (HG 5 in EWGT p.10), as Ceritic guletic map Cynloyp map Cinhil map Cluim map Cursalem, and grandfather of Dyfnwal Hen ap Cynwyd ap Ceredig Wledig. It is probably this king to whom St.Patrick addressed his famous letter which still survives. In his Life of St.Patrick Muirchú moccu Machthéni, of the seventh century, describes Patrick's letter as Epistola ad milites Corotici regis Aloo. Aloo appears to be an abbreviation or corruption of Alclud [Dumbarton], the capital of the kingdom of Strathclyde. This was first suggested by Sir Samuel Ferguson, ‘On the Patrician Documents’ in Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, xxvii, (1877-86), pp.67 ff., especially pp.116 ff. See Molly Miller in BBCS 26 (1975) p.260 n.1. This is now generally accepted. Earlier, Coroticus had been identified with Ceredig ap Cunedda, e.g. by John Rhys in CB p.257. See HW 126 n.8. From the letter we gather that while Patrick was in Ireland some of his Irish converts were carried off into slavery by a British prince called Coroticus. In the letter the saint deems it an exceptionally outrageous thing that Coroticus should have joined with heathen Scots and apostate Picts to make a raid on Patrick's baptized converts, not only because Coroticus was a Christian, but also because he was a fellow Roman citizen (WCO pp.12, 95; Oman pp.189-191). In his Life of Patrick Muirchú also mentions Coroticus as Coirthech regem Aloo. In the Brussels MS. we are told that he refused to listen to the saint's pleading, whereupon Patrick cursed him, and as a result he was turned into a fox in the presence of his retainers, and never seen again. See The Tripartite Life of St.Patrick,, ed. Whitley Stokes, pp.271, 498, cf.p.249; Oman p.191 n.1; HW 126 n.8. In the genealogy of Ceredig Wledig quoted above, his father's name may be modernised as Cynllwyb (WCO p.197), while Cinhil map Cluim is equated by H.M.Chadwick with Quintilus (or Quintilius) son of Clemens. Here we meet the Roman element as in the contemporary ancestors of Cunedda Wledig, namnely Padarn [Paternus] son of Tegid [Tacitus]. (Early Scotland, p.150). See also E.W.B.Nicholson in Cy. 21 (1908) p.84, who suggested Quintillus. The date of the raid by Coroticus was put by J.B.Bury in 458 (Life of St.Patrick, pp.195, 303). This assumed the traditional date of 432 for Patrick's mission to Ireland. But James Carney, putting Patrick's mission in 456, has suggested 471 for the date of the raid. See s.n. Patrick.