A few years ago (!), I first broached the following idea on my blog site. I later dispensed with the notion - so much so, in fact, that I deleted the entire piece. My readers may wish to read it here now, as long as they understand the reason I'm resurrecting it: this time around, there may be a way to actually make it work...
Flavius Aetius
In Gildas's THE RUIN OF BRITAIN, the Britons, after being left to their own devices by the Romans, ask for help one last time. The person they address their plea to is called Agitius. Most scholars believe this Agitius to be Aetius (391-454 A.D.), and not Aegidius. However, the latter died in (probably) 465.
For some reason, the Roman title of
magister utriusque militiae ("master of both services, i.e. horse and foot") flashed across my mind's eye. Both Aetius and Aegidius had held this rank. The following on Aegidius is from The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume 2, AD 395-527 by Arnold Hugh Martin Jones and J. R. Martindale:
What I'm proposing for consideration is simply this: Uthr is not from the Welsh word uthr/uthyr, but is instead a substitution for Latin uter, the root of utriusque, itself from the genitive masc./fem./neut. uterque (uter + -que). Pendragon (= "chief leader/warrior" or chief of warriors; see Marged Haycock's note to the epithet in her version of MARWNAT VTHYR PEN) would then be for the magister...militiae (cf. magister militum). Linguistically, we cannot derive Uther from uter. But, the utriusque title at some point may have been mistakenly related to the Welsh word uthr. This would have been a simple process of folk etymology. Note that in early Latin writings (e.g. in the gloss on Arthur's name in the HISTORIA BRITTONUM) uth(e)r is spelled uter.
magister utriusque militiae
pen uther dragon
The name Gerontius occurs in the early Dumnonian pedigree as Geraint. Scholars think there may have been a few such men in the region. In the Arthurian pedigree, a Geraint is found either as a brother of Uther and son of Constantine (see
https://www.ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/ctexts/cybi1.html and
https://www.ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/ctexts/cybi2.html) or as a cousin of Arthur. Here is the section of Erbin, variously son or father of Geraint, from P. C. Bartrum's A CLASSICAL WELSH DICTIONARY:"ERBIN ap CUSTENNIN GORNEU. (440) He is frequently mentioned as the father of Geraint, but little is said of Erbin himself. In the Life of St.Cybi he is mentioned as the father of Selyf the father of Cybi, but is made the son, instead of the father, of Geraint (§1 in VSB p.234, EWGT p.27). A.W.Wade-Evans accepted the version of the Life of St.Cybi (WCO pp.103, 183, VSB p.xii) but “the evidence of all other early and medieval sources is in favour of Gereint mab Erbin as the correct order of the names” (TYP p.358 n.1). According to Bonedd y Saint he was the son of Custennin Gorneu and father of Geraint (§§ 26, 27, 76) Erbin, and his family are fundamentally associated with Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. In the tale of ‘Geraint and Enid’ the father of Geraint is called Erbin ap Custennin (WM 409, 412, RM 263, 266). The tale was based by a Welsh redactor on the romance, Erec et Enide, by Chrétien de Troyes, but in order to adapt to Welsh taste he substituted Geraint ab Erbin for Erec son of king Lac, and Erbin ap Custennin for king Lac. We cannot, therefore, accept what the Welsh version says of Geraint ab Erbin as genuine tradition, except perhaps insofar as it departs from the version of Chrétien. On these grounds we may suppose that there is some basis in the statement that when Geraint returned to the kingdom of his father, Erbin ap Custennin, ‘they went [from Caerleon-on-Usk] towards the Severn, and on the far side of the Severn were the best men of Erbin ap Custennin’ (WM 412, RM 266). This implies that the dominions of Erbin were in Somerset. In ‘Erec et Enide’ king Lac was residing in a town named Carnant, ‘four long days' journey over hills and slopes, through forests, plains and streams’ from Cardigan. The change is significant. We are further told that Erbin was uncle to Arthur (WM 409,RM 263) implying that Erbin ap Custennin was brother to Uthr ap Custennin. In Bonedd y Saint §73 (EWGT p.65) Erbin is listed as a saint and brother of Digain the saint of Llangernyw in Rhos, Gwynedd. Erbin is said to be the saint of Erbistock on the Dee in Maelor (PW 105, WCO 203). These two places are about 35 miles apart although they are far enough from the native land of their patrons. The Welsh Calendars give January 13 and May 29 as Erbin's festival, many of them giving both dates (LBS I.70, 72, II 459). There is a place called Treverbyn about three miles north of St.Austell in Cornwall, also a Treverven. St.Ervan, three miles south-south-west of Padstow, may be named from Erbin, but see s.n. Erme. St.Erven is honoured in three places in the Morbihan in Brittany (G.H.Doble, Saint Hermes, Cornish Saints Series No.35, pp.19-20). Eruen is one of the four saints of Llangwm, Gwent (BLD 274, PW 81)."
Wade-Evans' discussion of Erbin as son, not father, of Geraint may be found here:
Now, if the St. Cybi VITA is right and Geraint was a son of Constantine, this would pair well with Uther as the son of the same man. We might reasonably wonder if Geraint and Uther were not, originally, the same personage. Can we make a case for Geraint = Uther Pendragon/magister utriusque militiae?
Well, nothing can be proven, of course. And we have to ask ourselves which Geraint is intended as Arthur's father. The famous general is too early (d. 411). So we would be looking at a later Geraint in Dumnonia. There is some slight evidence for such. The following entries on the Geraints is again drawn from Bartrum:
"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 of Veryan."
"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."
And a nice summary on these Dumnonian Geraints as drawn from John Koch's (ed.) CELTIC CULTURE: A HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA:
"Geraint fab Erbin was a Welsh legendary hero,
probably based on a historical figure, though the
identity of this source is uncertain and a composite
possible. The best documented historical Geraints were
(1) Gerontius, the British-born general of Constantine
III who was declared emperor by the Romano-
British garrison and ruled Britain, Gaul, and Spain
from 407 to 411, and (2) the king Gerontius or
Geruntius of Dumnonia, to whom a letter was written
by Aldhelm in 705; (2) is called Gerent in later
sources. If they have any historical basis, the Arthurian
associations of the literary Geraint would better suit a
period between these two (Sims-Williams, Arthur of
the Welsh 46–7). There is a hero called ‘Geraint from
the southern region’ in the Gododdin, possibly
composed in the later 6th century. A King Gerennius
of Cornubia (i.e. Cornwall/Kernow) is mentioned
in the Welsh Latin Life of St Teilo, and he would
belong notionally to the period c. 500. In the Life of
St Cybi, Gereint is said to have been the greatgrandfather
of the saint. However, the fact that Erbin
figures there as Gereint’s son, not his father as usual,
suggests that this was a sloppy mishandling of
genealogies. Although Gerontius is attested in late
Roman Britain and Gereint becomes common in genealogies
of the Middle Welsh period (cf. Cunomor),
and Geraint is very common in present-day Wales, the
name is not common in Old Welsh, Old Breton, or
Old Cornish sources."
Arthur is brought into close connection with a Geraint in the early Welsh elegy to that Dumnonian king. While the reading of the text is difficult and still somewhat controversial, Nerys Ann Jones (ARTHUR IN EARLY WELSH POETRY) has presented the best possible interpretation of the problematic lines:
In Llongporth were slain brave warriors belonging to Arthur, they hewed with steel...
In Llongporth were slain brave warriors belonging to Geraint from the region of Dyfnaint...
In the same poem, Arthur is praised as "emperor, leader of battle."
Most scholars hold to the view that this Llongporth battle conforms to that found in the ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE under the year entry 710 A.D. John Koch in his CELTIC CULTURE: A HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA describes the probable location of this battle:
"The location of the battle of Llongborth and its historicity are also in doubt. Possibly Langport, Somerset, England, is meant, or some miscellaneous llongborth ‘ship harbour’; cf. Irish longphort used for Viking encampments. The late John Morris’s proposal that Llongborth was Portsmouth/Portchester [site of an ASC battle c. 501 A.D.] has found little subsequent support."
Clearly, if the 8th century battle is intended, Arthur's name is either a gross anachronism or Geraint is being referred to as 'the Arthur' in a metaphorical sense. Part of the translation problem of the relevant stanzas is the /y/ fronting both Arthur's and Geraint's names. In other words, it may be better to render the above lines as
In Llongporth were slain brave warriors of the Arthur, they hewed with steel...
In Llongporth were slain brave warriors of the Geraint from the region of Dyfnaint...
Geraint or Gerontius is from the Greek stem geron, meaning 'old man (see
http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/zpe/downloads/1994/100pdf/100145.pdf).'
On the other hand, if Arthur really is to be paired with Geraint in this battle, the action would have to be moved back to the 5th-6th centuries.
There is yet another possible reason why Arthur is found in the Geraint poem on the Battle of Llongporth. In 658 A.D., according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Cenwalh battled the Welsh at Penselwood in Somerset and drove them to the River Parrett. It cannot be a coincidence that Langport lies on the Parrett. A Geraint is mentioned as fighting Ine and Nunna in 710, but the location is not given.
Notice that directly between Penselwood and Langport lies South Cadbury, site of the famous Cadbury Castle hillfort that traditionally has been associated with Arthur. The River Cam at South Cadbury is a tributary of the Yeo and becomes the Parrett at Langport.
If a Geraint fought here, then we may have some evidence that his fortress was Cadbury Castle. Geraint had a son named Cadwy and I've elsewhere written about this name and its connection to the various Cadbury forts (see
https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/12/cadburys-and-personal-name-badda.html).
Does any of this help us determine with any certainty whether a Geraint may have been the real father of Arthur? Alas, no. It is merely suggestive. We would have to be able to 1) prove that Uther Pendragon stands for magister utriusque militiae and 2) determine with certainty that a King Geraint existed at the right time in SW England. Then and only then might we be able to more or less confirm the traditional family descent of Arthur.
A NOTE ON UTHER AND VICTOR
In her addition of the Marwnat Vthyr Pen, Haycock has:
11 am Wythur On the personal name Gwythur, see §15.31. Am ‘for, around’,
perhaps here meaning that the speaker was in Gwythur’s entourage.
This not is for the line -
Neur ordyfneis-i waet am Wythur,
I was used to blood[shed] around Gwythur,
Gwythur (or Gwythyr) cannot be for anything other than the Latin/Roman name Victor (Dr. Simon Rodway, private correspondence). This being so, it can't be Flavius Victor, the usurping British emperor of who died in 388 A.D. But if we want a Victor who was 5th century, and who could have been associated with a Geraint of Dumnonia, we have a record of such a man.
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.
There was Dark Age Withur of Leon in Brittany. Leon was in the westernmost part of Domnonee (see John Koch in CELTIC CULTURE: A HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA). We learn of this 'Victor' from the VITA of St. Paul Aurelian of Leon. Here is the relevant section from P.C. Bartrum's A CLASSICAL WELSH DICTIONARY:
15. Paul learnt that the lord of the land was Withur. He came to the city (oppidum) which is now called by his name [i.e. Saint-Pol-de-Léon].
16. Paul came to Battham insulam [Isle of Batz] where Withur often came for quietude.
17. Paul met Count Withur who was his cousin.
18. Paul spent the rest of his days in that island and in the oppidum [St.Pol-de-Léon].
19. Withur and the people wished to make Paul bishop, but knowing that he would object,
and perhaps leave, decided on the stratagem of sending Paul to king Philibert [Childebert, 511-558], secretly asking him to have him made bishop, even against his will. So he was consecrated by three bishops.
15. Withur was probably a very local ‘lord’ (PCB). The name = Victor (Doble p.49), Welsh Gwythur or Gwythyr.
Of course, we must be careful here; Geoffrey of Monmouth brings Uther into the orbit of the Breton chieftain Budicius. This name has as its root Celtic *boudi-, 'victory', from*boudīko-, 'victorious.' Thus it is possible that Victor and Budicius were, initially, one and the same person.
THE DUMNONIAN GENEALOGY OF ARTHUR
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.
