[A PIECE I'VE HAD RATTLING AROUND FOR AWHILE... IT REPRESENTS AN ATTEMPT TO 'HAVE OUR CAKE AND EAT IT, TOO' IN TERMS OF IDENTIFYING A HISTORICAL ARTHUR. WHAT I MEAN BY THIS IS THAT IT POSITS A THEORY ALLOWING US TO RETAIN THE TRADITIONAL ARTHUR OF DUMNONIA IN SW ENGLAND. TO SOME THIS MAY SEEM DESIRABLE, DESPITE THE BUILT-IN CHRONOLOGICAL PROBLEM. OBVIOUSLY, IF ARTHUR IS FROM CORNWALL, HIS FAMOUS BATTLES MUST BE LOOKED FOR IN THE SOUTH AND NOT THE NORTH.
THERE ARE SOME OTHER UNRESOLVABLE ISSUES WITH A CORNISH ARTHUR THAT ARE NOT PRESENT IN MY NORTHERN CANDIDATE. SO WHILE IT IS TEMPTING TO SEE GERONTIUS/GERAINT IN UTHER PENDRAGON, I FEEL WE MUST CONTINUE TO HOLD GEOFFREY'S PLACEMENT OF THE HERO IN THE SOUTH AS BEING HIGHLY SUSPECT.]
THERE ARE SOME OTHER UNRESOLVABLE ISSUES WITH A CORNISH ARTHUR THAT ARE NOT PRESENT IN MY NORTHERN CANDIDATE. SO WHILE IT IS TEMPTING TO SEE GERONTIUS/GERAINT IN UTHER PENDRAGON, I FEEL WE MUST CONTINUE TO HOLD GEOFFREY'S PLACEMENT OF THE HERO IN THE SOUTH AS BEING HIGHLY SUSPECT.]
Uther Pendragon suddenly appears, without prior warning, in Geoffrey of Monmouth's HISTORY OF THE KINGS OF BRITAIN - centuries after the HISTORIA BRITTONUM of Nennius, which does not mention him at all. While we have a few snippets in Welsh poetry alluding to Uther which may pre-date Geoffrey's work, it's really quite impossible to prove that this is, indeed, the case.
As I believe in offering all possible candidates when searching for a historical prototype for an otherwise purely legendary figure, it behooves me to put forward yet another possible Uther. This one provides us with an ancestor who allows for the placement of Arthur in Cornwall and Devon (the ancient Dumnonian kingdom). Not a popular idea right now, as pretty much everyone (myself included!) is fairly well convinced in a Northern Arthur.
The name or, rather, title Uther Pendragon may have been derived, ultimately, from the following source:
[Zosimus New History 6.2.5] "Constantine then conferred the command [magister militum], vacant by the death of Justinian and Nebiogast, on Edobinch, a Frank by extraction, but a native of Britain[1], and on Gerontius, a Briton. Sarus, being in dread of the courage and the military experience of these two, raised the siege of Valentia after he had continued in it seven days."
We all know that Geoffrey of Monmouth has three chieftains come from Brittany to help the Britons in their time of need. One, Ambrosius, I've shown to be a temporally and geographically displaced version of St. Ambrose conflated with his namesake father, the Governor of Gaul in the 4th century. The governor was a contemporary of Constans I (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2020/05/why-ambrosius-aurelianus-was-put-in.html). The other person in THE HISTORY OF THE KINGS OF BRITAIN is Constantine who, because he has a son named Constans (II) who is a monk, must be based on the Roman Emperor Constantine III. This Constantine was declared Emperor in the West while he was in Britain.
And then there is Uther Pendragon. Who has given everyone, myself included, conniption fits.
Well, all of us seem to have forgotten someone. Someone very important: Gerontius, the British-born magister militum of Constantine. Pendragon was 'Foremost leader' or 'Chief of warriors' (Bromwich) or "Chief of Chieftains' (Koch), a perfect rendering of the Roman rank of magister militum. My problem had always been the 'Uther' name.
But having gone through all the sources on Gerontius, I came up with something rather surprising. In Book 6 of Zosimus (see above), we are told that Sarus was so in dread of him and his co-general that he abandons a siege. The word used in this context is deioas. See -
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dde%2Fos2&highlight=dread
which is the root of
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dde%2Fos2&highlight=dread
which is the root of
fearful, terrible, awful, dread, wondrous, marvellous, strange, mighty, powerful, strong
This last definition perfectly matches the range of meanings supplied by the GPC for 'uthr.'
uthr
[?cf. Crn. C. vth ‘arswyd’, Llyd. C. euz, Llyd. Diw. euzh ‘arswyd’, Gwydd. C. úath ‘arswyd’]
a.
Arswydus, brawychus, enbyd, ofnadwy, aruthrol, nerthol, gormesol, creulon; rhyfedd(ol), syfrdanol, rhagorol:
fearful, dreadful, awful, terrible, tremendous, mighty, overbearing, cruel; wonderful, wondrous, astonishing, excellent.
In other words, in Gerontius we have a man who becomes terrifying to his enemy the moment he is made magister militum!
Why are these two motifs so important? Because HISTORICALLY SPEAKING, Constans was killed by Gerontius, the British Magister Militum of Constantine III. Furthermore, Gerontius was burnt to death in his house by his own mutinous Spanish troops.
While someone at some point must have noticed this direct correlation, I have not been privy to such a treatment of the Vortigern story.
Now, the problem with Gerontius is that he died c. 411. And that makes him way too early for Arthur. But could he have been a filler character used precisely because Arthur's father was unknown or had been forgotten?
Perhaps. But there is another possibility. There are a couple of early Geraints placed in British Dumnonia. One of them, Geraint son of Erbin, is said by Bartram to have been born c. 470 A.D. There is a later king as well, whose poem on the Battle of Llongborth (fought 710)[2] contains a reference to Arthur. And there is another Geraint who is a saint in Cornwall, who may or may not be one of these men. Note that the father of Erbin was named Custennin (= Constantine).
From Nicholas Orme's THE SAINTS OF CORNWALL:
Near the Gerrans of this saint there is a hillfort called Dingerein, the Fort of Geraint (see https://www.pastscape.
These accounts of the three Geraints of Cornwall/Dumnonia are drawn from P.C. Bartram's A CLASSICAL WELSH DICTIONARY:
GERAINT (GERENNIUS), of Cornwall.A king of Cornwall mentioned in the Life of St.Teilo in the Book of Llandaf. It tells that duringthe ravages of the Yellow Plague in Britain (see Y Fad Felen) Teilo was advised by an angel to go toArmorica. He came first to Cornubia [Cornwall] and was well received by Gerennius, king of thatcountry. At the king's request Teilo received his confession and promised that the king ‘would not seedeath until he had received the Body of the Lord which he [Teilo] himself would have consecrated.’Teilo then proceeded to Armorica (BLD 108).While in Armorica Teilo became aware that Gerennius was very sick and about to die. In orderto keep his promise to Gerennius, he returned to Britain, having completed seven years and sevenmonths in Armorica. He and his party arrived at the harbour of Din Gerein and found the king still alive.The king received the sacrament and ‘joyfully departed to the Lord.’ His body was buried in a vastsarcophagus which had been miraculously transported across the sea from Armorica (BLD 113-4).If we accept the story the date of death of Gerennius must be put about seven years after thebeginning of the Yellow Plague in Britain, [547], i.e. about 554.There is a church and parish of Gerrans near Falmouth in Cornwall, the dedication beingpresumably to this Gerennius. The date of celebration being August 10 (LBS III.52). It is called Ecclesiade Sancto Gerendo (1294) and Seynt Gerent (1360) (G.H.Doble, The Saints of Cornwall, III.81). Thereis a Kill-Gerran in St.Anthony in Roseland (LBS III.51), Killagerran (Doble p.81). Sancte Geronte(vocative) is mentioned with SS.Petrocus and Kyeranus [Piran] and Cadocus in the Exeter Litany(Harleian MS.863) printed by the Henry Bradshaw Society at the end of the Leofric Collectar. Seefacs.XVI (Doble p.80).According to the Martyrology of Exeter S.Buriana (q.v.) cured a son of king Gerentius ofparalysis. It is evidently this king who is referred to (Doble p.80).The following is from Popular Romances of the West of England, collected and edited by RobertHunt, F.R.S., Third edition, London, 1881, p.459:SAINT GERENNIUS.The beacon at Veryan stands on the highest ground in Roseland, at a short distance from thecliff which overlooks Pendower and Gerrans Bay. ... The present height of this tumulus above thelevel of the field in which it stands is 28 feet, and its circumference at the base 350 ft. ...A tradition has been preserved in the neighbourhood that Gerennius, an old Cornish saint andking, whose palace stood on the other side of Gerrans Bay, between Trewithian and the sea, wasburied in this mound many centuries ago, and that a golden boat with silver oars were used inconveying his corpse across the bay, and were interred with him.The name Din Gerein, found in the Life of Teilo, was given to a mound in the Parish of Gerransby Dr. John Whitaker in 1804. There is no earlier authority for the identification. Dr.Whitaker is alsoresponsible for the story of the burial of Gerennius at Carne Beacon (Ancient Cathedral of Cornwall,I.302; G.H.Doble, S. Gerent, Cornish Saints Series No.41, p.18). Carne Beacon is a mile south ofVeryan. GERAINT (GERUNTIUS), king of Dumnonia.The last independent king of Dumnonia. He appears to have been an able prince and to havewielded considerable power, as we learn from a letter addressed to him in the year 705, by bishopAldhelm, a relation of Ina, king of Wessex. Aldhelm calls him Geruntius. For the text of the letter see A WELSH CLASSICAL DICTIONARY311Migne, Patr. Lat., lxxxix p.87; Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, III.268. See also WCO 282-3. He is calledGerent, Weala cyning, in a twelfth century addition to the Parker Chronicle and in the later manuscriptsof the Saxon Chronicle under the year 710. (G.H.Doble, The Saints of Cornwall, III.85). The entry is‘Ina also, and Nun his relative, fought with Gerent, king of the Welsh’.There is a poem in the Black Book of Carmarthen (BBC 71.11) and in the Red Book of Hergest(RBP col.1042) which tells of a battle fought at a place called Llongborth by a chieftain named Gereint.It is very tempting to suppose that Llongborth is Langport in Somerset, twelve miles east of Taunton,and that Gereint is the Geruntius of Aldhelm and the Gerent of the ASC. But there are two difficulties:(1) the title of the poem is Gereint fil' Erbin, and (2) the mention of Arthur in stanza 8. Both of thesewould suggest that the poem refers to an Arthurian context, because Geraint ab Erbin is well known as acharacter in Arthurian legend. As regards (1) it may be pointed out that the name Erbin does not appearin the text of the poem, so that it could have been added by a scribe under a misapprehension. Withrespect to (2) Arthur and his men may be regarded as appearing from the Otherworld like the Greek godsin the Iliad, to fight on the side of this Geraint. Similarly the Welsh poet Cynddelw mentions thepresence of St.Tysilio at the battle of Cogwy or Maserfelth in the year 642. See s.n. Tysilio. Thisinterpretation was suggested by John Rhys (CB pp.234-5) and approved by E.K.Chambers (Arthur ofBritain, 1927, p.66), and Thomas Jones (BBCS 58 p.247 (1958)). See further s.n. Llongborth.The poem is discussed by Brynley F. Roberts in Astudiaethau ar yr Hengerdd, ed. by RachelBromwich and R. Brinley Jones, 1978, chapter 12.For modern translations of the poem see Gwyn Williams, The Burning Tree, 1956, pp.43-45,Joseph P. Clancy, The Earliest Welsh Poetry, 1970, pp.103-5. The following stanzas nos.1 and 4 aretypical while the two crucial stanzas are nos.8 and 9:1 Before Gereint, the enemy's punisher,I saw white stallions with red shins,and after the war-cry a bitter grave.4 At Llongborth I saw vulturesand more than many a bierand men red before Gereint's onrush.8 At Llongborth I saw Arthur,brave men hewed with steel;[He was] emperor, ruler of battle.9 At Llongborth Gereint was slain,[and] brave men from the border of Diwneint [Dyfnaint = Devon];And ere they were slain they slew.It may be noted that a stanza in the above poem, missing in the BBC text and no.2 in the RBPtext, is without the last line. This last line appears as Gelyn i Seis, câr i seint, ‘Foe to the English, friendof the saints’ in Peniarth MS.111 (c.1600). (Jenny Rowland, Early Welsh Saga Poetry, 1990, p.242; E.Phillimore in Cy. 7 (1886) p.122). Compare Geraint ab Erbin.A king Geren is mentioned in the newly discovered (1912) Life of St.Turiau of Dol. Here we aretold (Ch.9) that Geren was a friend of Turiau, beyond the sea. When Geren died Turiau saw his soulbeing carried away by angels but surrounded by malignant spirits. He bade the clergy and people aroundhim to pray for his friend, whereat the demons were driven away (G.H.Doble, The Saints of Cornwall,III.78-9). The Life is said to have been written c.850 (ibid. p.80). Turiau seems to have lived c.700, andas Geren is given as his contemporary, he may be the Geraint of this article (ibid., pp.83-4). Turiau wassixth bishop of Dol. G.H.Doble thought that parts of the story about Gerennius in the Book of Llandaf[see s.n. Geraint (Gerennius)] are based on what is said about Geren in the Life of St.Turiau (G.H.Doble,St.Teilo, Welsh Saints Series No.3, pp.22-3).
GERAINT ab ERBIN. (Legendary). (470)In the Life of St.Cybi it is said that Cybi was ex regione Cornubiorum, being born between therivers Tamar and Limar, cuius pater Salomon fuit, Erbin filius, filius Gereint, filius Lud (§1 in VSBp.234, EWGT p.27).This is the only authority which makes Erbin son, rather than father, of Geraint. On the otherhand it is the earliest authority to mention Geraint and Erbin. In view of the persistence of laterauthorities in representing Geraint as the son of Erbin, it seems that we must suppose an error in theabove pedigree. We may, however, accept that Selyf [Salomon], the father of Cybi, was the son of Erbinand not the son of Geraint as later authorities state. See Selyf ab Erbin.There is a poem in the Black Book of Carmarthen and in the Red Book of Hergest whichmentions Geraint at a battle at Llongborth. The title, which may be a later addition, calls him Gereint fil'Erbin. But it seems probable that he was a later Geraint. See s.n. Geraint (Geruntius) king of Dumnonia.Gereint mab Erbin is mentioned in the tale of ‘Culhwch and Olwen’ as one of the warriors ofArthur's Court (WM 462, RM 107) and as the father of Cadwy (WM 460, RM 106). He is alsomentioned in the tale ‘Rhonabwy's Dream’ as Gereint the father of [C]Adwy (RM 159). He is againmentioned in a triad (TYP no.14) as one of the ‘Three Seafarers’ of Ynys Prydain. He appears as thefather of Cado [Cadwy] and the son of Erbin in a pedigree in Jesus College MS.20 (JC §10 in EWGTp.45). In Bonedd y Saint he is mentioned as the father of Selyf [see remarks above], Iestyn, Cyngar andCadwy (§§26, 76) and in §76 his wife is said to have been Gwyar ferch Amlawdd Wledig.The tale of ‘Geraint and Enid’ in WM and RM is based on the French romance of Erec et Enideby Chrétien de Troyes. The Welsh redactor substituted the name Geraint ab Erbin for Erec son of kingLac, and directly took over the name Enid for his wife. We cannot accept what is said of Geraint in thisstory as genuine Welsh tradition. On the other hand the Welsh redactor departed from his source attimes, and evidently made use of his knowledge of Welsh lore. In such cases we may therefore take afew hints as to certain Welsh traditions concerning Geraint. We may, for example, suppose that Geraintleft Arthur's Court at the request of his father Erbin, in order to rule the dominions of his father who wasgetting old (WM 409-10, RM 263-4); and that these dominions bordered on the left bank of the Severn(WM 412, RM 266). This agrees with the fact that we find Geraint's son Cadwy ruling in Somerset. Alsothat Geraint was cousin to Arthur (WM 438, RM 285), Erbin being Arthur's uncle (WM 409, RM 263).This is in agreement with the usual pedigree of Erbin (q.v.).Gereint ab Erbin is credited with a proverb in ‘Englynion y Clyweid’ in Llanstephan MS.27(No.21, ed. BBCS 3 p.11): ‘Short-lived is the hater of the Saints’. This is reminiscent of a line in a lateversion of the ‘Llongborth’ poem where Geraint is described as ‘Friend of the Saints’. See s.n. Geraint(Geruntius), king of Dumnonia.GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTHHRB speaks of Guerinus Carnotensis (G. of Chartres) as being present at Arthur's specialcoronation and bringing with him twelve peers of Gaul (IX.12). This becomes Gereint Carnwys, or thelike in ByB. The twelve peers who came with Guerinus Carnotensis are again mentioned in IX.19. Thereis nothing corresponding in Brut Dingestow, but the ‘Cleopatra’ version here calls him Gereint vabErbin. Guerinus Carnotensis took part in Arthur's wars against the Romans Lucius and Leo (X.4, 6, 9).In all these cases ByB in ‘Dingestow’ and ‘Cleopatra’ has Gereint Carnwys.
If Uther Pendragon is the fearful magister militum Gerontius, as seems quite possible, and a Geraint was really the father of the Arthur whose dates are 516 and 537, then we are plainly talking about a later Geraint.
Scholars believe that a Dumnonian Geraint may well have held sway over not only Cornwall and Devon, but over the Domnonee in Brittany as well. If he did, this would remind us that Geoffrey of Monmouth has Uther come to Britain from Brittany.
We would also be able to finally put to rest the question of the identity of Gwythur or 'Victor', who appears in the "Marwnat Vthyr Pen' as someone Uther has either fought alongside or against. For we know of a Dark Age Withur of Leon in Brittany. Leon was in the westernmost part of Domnonee (see John Koch in CELTIC CULTURE: A HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA).
Needless to say, an Arthur who was actually born in Dumnonia - as tradition claims he was - would radically change the thrust of most current Arthurian research. As Uther Pendragon is Gorlois ( = the gorlassar of the elegy poem [3]), Arthur's father would really be, in a sense, the 'Duke of Cornwall.'
One important point to mention before closing: my guess of cannwyll for kawyl of the elegy poem would have to be favored over an emendation to Sawyl. The cannwyll, transf. 'star', would be what gave Geoffrey of Monmouth his comet.
Also, an association with a draco standard would not be surprising were Arthur's father to have been confused with the earlier magister militum. As a Roman general, Gerontius would certainly have employed draco standards in his army. This is especially true given his relationship to the usurping emperor Constantine.
The real question we must answer is this: where did Gerontius hail from? Constantine patterned himself after the earlier British emperors of that name. Constantine the Great had been proclaimed at York. York was also the headquarters of the 2nd century Roman prefect and governor Lucius Artorius Castus. It is the most likely place for the name Arthur to have survived. But if Arthur were a son of a Geraint, it would seem as if the latter must also hail from York. Unless, of course, only the original Gerontius had come from that legionary city and the Dumnonian father of Arthur had himself been named for the terrible magister militum.
If we do, in fact, have a Dumnonian father for Arthur, it is hard to ignore the testimony of Geoffrey of Monmouth, which assigns Domellick and Tintagel to Gorlois.
From http://christophergwinn.
We can see that in some lines of descent, Uther if the son of Constantine, as per Geoffrey of Monmouth. In others, Geraint is made the grandson of Constantine.
[1]
If this man is a Frank, but residing in Britain, could it be that Britain is here an error for Brittany, Little Britain? The Frankish domains bordered on Brittany/Armorica. As for Gerontius or later Geraints, I've already suggested that such chieftains could hold sway over lands in both SW England and Brittany.
[2]
If this man is a Frank, but residing in Britain, could it be that Britain is here an error for Brittany, Little Britain? The Frankish domains bordered on Brittany/Armorica. As for Gerontius or later Geraints, I've already suggested that such chieftains could hold sway over lands in both SW England and Brittany.
[2]
For the best recent discussion of Arthur in this poem , see pp. 18-28 of Nerys Ann Jones' ARTHUR IN EARLY WELSH POETRY. The difficult lines of the Geraint poem that mention Arthur have been, after careful analysis and of the text, rendered thusly:
In Llongborth were slain brave warriors belonging to Arthur; they hewed with steel...
In Llongborth were slain brave warriors belonging to Geraint from the region of Dyfnaint...
On Llongborth, I offer this from John Koch's CELTIC CULTURE: A HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA:
In Llongborth were slain brave warriors belonging to Arthur; they hewed with steel...
In Llongborth were slain brave warriors belonging to Geraint from the region of Dyfnaint...
On Llongborth, I offer this from John Koch's CELTIC CULTURE: A HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA:
The Portchester battle of the ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE was fought c. 501. A.D. It falls directly between the first and second battles of Cerdic of Wessex. The ASC battle featuring Geraint and Ine (possibly at Langport) took place c. 710. The presence of Arthur at the latter may have resulted from a confusion with a previous battle belonging to an earlier Geraint - perhaps the father of Arthur.
[3]
Given the context of the "Marwnat Vthyr Pen", where Uther as gorlassar is 'a leader in darkness' and a 'star in the gloom', it is hard not to interpret this epithet as related to fire and brightness, rather than to blue-enameled arms and weapons.
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