THE SNOWDONIAN ARTHUR: THE ONLY TRULY EXTANT TRADITION SEEMS TO PLACE OUR HERO'S ORIGIN IN GWYNEDD

Dinas Emrys Camp

If I'm right about Geoffrey of Monmouth's Tintagel being a relocation of Caer Dathal (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2021/01/dinas-emrys-as-caer-dathal-late.html), what are we to make of an apparently buried Welsh tradition that seems to support an origin for the famous Arthur in Snowdonia?

This is an incredibly difficult question - especially for me.  I have spent more than a year now solidifying my theory that Arthur belongs towards the center of Hadrian's Wall (see https://www.amazon.com/Arthur-History-Revised-August-Hunt/dp/1092772839/ref=sr_1_1?crid=IAZ40S4QXIJQ&dchild=1&keywords=the+arthur+of+history+august+hunt&qid=1610563966&sprefix=the+arthur+ofg+his%2Caps%2C232&sr=8-1). Yet no matter how good the Northern Arthur candidate may seem, we can only place him there with cogent argument.  No genealogical record for an Arthur from the Irthing Valley exists, unless we can attach Ceidio son of Arthwys to the 'dux erat bellorum' title.  And we can not relate Uther Pendragon to anyone on the Wall, unless we associate his epithet and comet with the draco of the Dacians at Birdoswald/Banna.

What we do have is the Welsh insistence that Uther had relatives at Caer Dathal, and that Arthur even took a wife (Eleirch, 'Swan') from that fort.[1]  This is in sharp contradistinction to the Cornish/Dumonian Arthur, who might well be nothing more than an reflection of Galfridian fiction.

Taken all together, this looks rather far-fetched.  One might even say imaginative (although, hopefully not delusory!).  Nonetheless, I am "putting it out there" for my readers to consider as a possible rival theory.  It will take me some time to absorb the very real possibility that Caer Dathal of Uther is either Dinas Emrys or Garn Boduan and whether or not we should seek to place Arthur at one of those forts.  Some will say that instead of Dinas Emrys we should look to Amesbury in Wiltshire.  Others will say (as I have myself said in the past) that the Welsh at some point simply wanted to make Arthur "theirs" and that he does, in fact, belong elsewhere (perhaps on Hadrian's Wall). This would have been a natural reaction to Arthur's real territory have long been under the control of the English and/or the Normans as well as an expected result of nascent nationalistic propaganda.  It is also conceivable, I suppose, that it is the Welsh who are guilty of moving Arthur's point of origin from Tintagel to Caer Dathal!

So before we can say with any certainly that Arthur came from Gwynedd, we must explain how it was possible that a prince from northwestern Wales could have become as famous as he became.  If we can't do that, then the Welsh tradition will have to be viewed as being as spurious as that produced by Geoffrey of Monmouth. And we have to bear in mind, additionally, that Arthur appears to have been first made into a British hero by the account of his battles in the HISTORIA BRITTONUM, which was probably written in Gwynedd.  In other words, an author with pro-Gwynedd bias may have selected a purely local chieftain and exaggerated his greatness merely to enhance the reputation of the Gwynedd ruling house. 

I think a good point of departure for exploring a Gwynedd-based Arthur might be to compare such a figure with Cerdic of Wessex/Ceredig son of Cunedda (see https://www.amazon.com/Ceredig-son-Cunedda-Founding-Wessex/dp/1976431492/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=ceredig+son+of+cunedda+august+hunt&qid=1610637421&sr=8-1). I once thought it possible that Ceredig son of Cunedda was Arthur.  Although I abandoned the idea, the military career of Ceredig may help us understand that of his contemporary. 

Ceredig's father Cunedda was Irish (not British, as Welsh tradition contends). Ceredig himself carved out (or was granted in a de facto sense) a kingdom in western Wales - Ceredigion - perhaps as a sort of 'federate' of the High King of Wales, who was based at Viroconium/Wroxeter.  If we believe the account of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, he and the Gewissei fought against Britons in the south (the enemies of the High King?) while allied with the English. A son of Cunedda, the Cynric of the ASC, was buried with honors at Wroxeter (see CUNORIX at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/cisp/database/). 

Welsh tradition records specific locations for the two most important Arthurian battles.  Badon is described as being Buxton (https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2020/05/osla-or-ossa-big-knife-and-caer-faddon.html), while Camlan is not Camboglanna on Hadrian's Wall, but one of the Camlans in NW Wales (https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2016/08/arthurs-thirteenth-battle-camlann.html). If Arthur did hail from Caer Dathal in Arfon, then a fatal battle with an enemy not far to the south of that fort is a perfectly reasonable proposition.  We need not adhere to Camboglanna on Hadrian's Wall, attractive though that site may be for those looking for some kind of Roman continuation in the sub-Roman period. 

Alas, only one of the other battles listed in Nennius is discussed in early Welsh tradition: that of the Tribruit.  Going by PA GUR poem, there is no doubt its author, at least, saw this 'trajectus' as being located at North Queensferry near Edinburgh. While it is possible to force some of the first battles of the Nennius list into a southern arena, by the time we reach the fourth battle - the Celidon Wood - we are most decided in the North.  And there is simply no way to dislodge the last several battles from their geography. 

It would seem, then, that if Arthur originated in NW Wales, like Ceredig son of Cunedda, that rather than serving with English against Britons in the South, he fought the English in the North.  We could account for this by assuming that Ceredig and Arthur belonged to two different groups.  Cunedda was of the Ciannachta. The Irish ancestry of Uther is unknown.  However, Welsh tradition does record that Cadwallon grandson of Cunedda extended "the dominions of the family in Arfon" and conquered "the greater part of Mon from the Irish inhabitants."  We know that the Laigin were present in Gwynedd, as Dinllaen and the Lleyn Peninsula is literally named for them.  We thus know of two rival tribes of Irish in northwestern Wales.  Might Arthur have descended from the Laigin?

Or can we nail down Uther's Irish descent more definitively?  I have found a very interesting pedigree in RAWLINSON B 502 (https://celt.ucc.ie//published/G105003/index.html:

GENELACH SÍL MOGA RUITH.

¶1508] Cú Allaid m. Laisre m. Fínáin Bic m. Laisre m. Dathail m. Suíre m. Saiglenn m. Dee m. Dere m. Labrada m. Caiss m. Buen m. Moga Ruith m. Fergusa nó ita Mug Roith m. Cuinisc m. Fir Thechet m. Fir Glain m. Loga m. Mathláin m. Mathrai m. Magdoin m. Matheirni m. Allóit m. Nóende &rl.

GENELACH FER MAIGE (FENE)

LL. 326 e 26 cf. Lec. 124 RA 20.

544 CGH, pp.318-9

545 CGH, pp.320-321

546 CGH, p.323

154

Domnall m. Aeda m. Conchobuir m. Mael-Declain m. Dirmata m. Aeda m. Dubacain m.

Limmanaig m. Muridaig m. Dailgaile m. Cellaig m. Con-can-gairm m. Dathail m.

Matnáin m. Síláin m. Lasri m. dathail m. Sairi m. Saiglend m. Dé m. Labrada m. Caes

m. Buain m. Moga-Ruith m. Cuinisc m. Fir-Decet m. Forgib m. Fírglain m. Fírfalid m.

Caer m. Fergusa m. Roig m. Rosa m. Rudraige.547  

The first thing to notice here is that the legendary Mog Ruith was the founder of the Fir Maige Fene of Fermoy. Fene (féni) here is from the same Celtic word that went into the formation of the Welsh regional name Gwynedd (see John Koch's CELTIC CULTURE: A HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA, p. 739).  

The Fir Maige Fene near the Deisi (some of whom settled in Dyfed) and the Ui Liathain (who were in southern Wales and Cornwall).  Map from Francis J. Byrne's IRISH KINGS AND HIGH-KINGS.

Dathail is here the same name as Dathal of Caer Dathal.  Lasri or Laisre is to be derived from Irish lassar, 'flame.'  The latter is found in the Irish compound forlassar, 'great fire', and I have made a case for this being present in the gorlassar epithet applied to Uther in the BOOK OF TALIESIN elegy poem.  

The Math- names in the Irish pedigree are important, too.  Dr. Jurgen Uhlich of the Department of Irish and Celtic languages at Trinity College has assured me these are "tabooistic" bear names.  He had this to say on two of them:

"Nom. Mathri and its gen. Mathrach (confirming ‘king’, so 'Bear-king') are found in ZcP 21 (1940), 313. Beyond that, the two forms are found mixed up (as happens also elsewhere especially with consonant stems), namely we find a nom. Mathrach on the one hand and a gen. Mathra(i) on the other, the former yielding a new o-stem (as if ending in productive adjectival -ach; no gen. Mathraig is attested, however) and the latter a new io-stem. Note in passing that there is also the variant Maithreach (once in Lec. as v.l. to Rawl. B 502, 147b40, sim. Mathreth, LL), reflecting the common pattern of palatal vs. neutral compound seam, with one being phonologically regular and the other due to reinterpretation/’reinstating’ the form of one of the simplex words involved. In the present case, math ‘bear’ is a u-stem, and before a palatal vowel in the second part this regularly yielded palatal syncope, i.e. > Maithri, gen. Maithrech, but then reinstating the simplex math yielded Mathrai, gen. Mathrach.

Now for your odd Mathlain after all: I find this attested at Rawl. B 502, 158.40, in the sequence gen. Mathlain m. Mathrai, but right there the corresponding passages in LL and Laud have the variant Mathrain, and the latter reoccurs at Rawl. 161a7. Thus Mathlán simply appears to be a corruption (e.g. by dissimilation against the second -r- in the sequence Mathráin maic Mathrai?) of a name Mathrán, which will then likely be a hypocoristic derivative from the father’s name Mathrai, which was already treated as a new io-stem.

Anyway, for all this evidence, check ZcP 21 (1940), 309, §1, 313; Ériu 3 (1907), 139, 141-2; Geneal. tracts [as per DIL] 170, no. 145; rest CGH (ed. O’Brien)."

Thus in the early genealogy of Lasri/Laisre son of Dathail we have not only a bear name, but a name meaning 'Bear King.'  We are reminded immediaely of Math son of Mathonwy of Caer Dathal in the Welsh MABINOGION.  This Math is not from Welsh, but from either Irish or a Celtic *matu- that did not survive in the Welsh language.  Welsh sources regularly associate the name Arthur with the bear, as arth in Welsh means 'bear.'  Some have claimed that Arthur, though from Roman/Latin Artorius, is a decknamen [2] for an Irish or Welsh name (Artri, Artr[h]i) meaning 'Bear-king.'

Now the real question is when did Lasri/Laisre live? 

Well, according to Immo Warntjes, Ussher Assistant Professor in Early Medieval Irish History, Department of History, Trinity College Dublin -

"The Cú Allaid heading the genealogy died in 709 according to the Annals of Ulster (https://celt.ucc.ie//published/T100001A/). From this you can work the generations backwards: Laisré was the great-grandfather of Cú Allaid, so I would guess he flourished in the early seventh century."

Dr. Keven Murray of Univeristy College Cork would opt for a slightly earlier date:

"This is a thorny question and one which I don't think is amenable to any quick answers (most of my book are inaccessible at work so I am not in a position to do any proper digging into this question). As you probably know, the oldest stratum of the genealogies was probably committed to writing in the mid-eight century, but is thought to contain some material which is accurate back to the mid-sixth century. In lineage societies (such as medieval Ireland), oral memory takes you back about seven generations in genealogies (with three generations usually reckoned per century). Mog Ruith (whence Síl Moga Ruith) as you probably know was the famous druid who was involved in the siege of Knocklong (Forbuis Droma Damhghaire https://iso.ucc.ie/Forbuis-droma/Forbuis-droma-sources.html) which is traditionally dated to the third century AD (there are other texts, however, which give different chronologies for Mog Ruith). If we could take this as a dating anchor (and that is very problematic to begin with), then Laisre m. Dathail may be a sixth-century figure."

On Cu Allaid, he added:

"The reference you mention (Bellum Dolo in Campo Eilni, AU2709.1 [= ATig. 708]) is very interesting as Cú Allaid occurs only in the Síl Moga Ruith genealogy and not in the Fir Maige Féne one (as Fir Maige Féne are from north Cork and it is very improbable that a king of Fir Maige Féne would be involved so far away from home). This reference would fit a Cú Allaid from the north of Ireland as Campus (= Mag) Eilne is in County Derry. 

Again, however, accepting this identification would place Laisre mac Dathail in the period c. 600AD, not very far away from the sixth-century approximation already suggested."

These estimations, however, are just that.  Murray informed me that, generally speaking, 3 generations are thought to cover approximately 100 years.   Professor Pádraig  Ó Riain told me to allow for 30 years per generation.  The problem with such a system of reckoning is that it cannot possibly take into account the actual reign durations or birth/death-dates of the princes listed in the genealogy.  Some of these chieftains may well have lived much longer than 30 years, and it is not impossible that at least one of them may have lived to be an old man.  

If we would permit just a little "stretching" in this particular pedigree, then we could make Laisre/Lasri a contemporary of Gorlassar/Gorlas, i.e. the Terrible Chief-dragon of Dinas Emrys/Caer Dathal. And if we can do that, we could naturally ask the next question:  was Uther Lasri/Laisre?

It goes without saying that I realize all too well this Irish genealogy may have nothing whatsoever to do with Arthur - that it may, in fact, merely betray a coincidence of names.  It may be as fictional as that created for Arthur by Geoffrey of Monmouth.  Still, I firmly believe in investigating everything and anything that may aid us in our quest for a historical Arthur - no matter how silly it may seem.   

[1]

Dr. Simon Rodway has helped with the conflicting accounts of Arthur's precise relationship with the men of Caer Dathal:

"As it stands, the Red Book text clearly means 'his father', whereas the White Book means 'their father'.  However, initial mutations are not always noted in either MS, so the White Book reading could also mean 'his father'."

[2]

The decknamen hypothesis is very hard to accept.  In the first place, all the leading Celticists and Welsh language experts have assured me Arthur cannot have come directly from something like *Arto-rix.  It has to come from Artorius.  As Dr. Simon Rodway has more than once told me:
 

 "The o in Artorius is long, and this regularly becomes u: in Brittonic.  The o in Artorix is short.  Bear-king in Welsh would be Erthyr (as per Koch)."

Similar sound explanations can be offered against other Celtic derivatives for Arthur, like the often proferred *Arto-viros or 'Bear-man.'  Schrijver, for example (see STUDIES IN BRITISH HISTORICAL PHONOLOGY, 1995, pp. 151-2) says that Archaic Welsh Art(u)ur from *Arto-viros ought to have developed into Old Welsh *Arthgur and Middle Welsh *Arthwr.  

There is no reason to consider Arcturus, even though it has been shown to be plausible linguistically (Jackson, "Language and History in Early Britain, 1953; Sims-Williams, "Dating the Transition to Neo-Brittonic: Phonology and History, 400-600").  Arthur was not a mythical figure based on a Classical star name.

For Arthur (from Artorius) to have been substituted at some point for an earlier Irish or British Bear-king name or the like, those making the substitution would need knowledge of, and indeed preference for, the Artorius name.  And this is difficult to account for in NW Wales.  I have shown in my book THE ARTHUR OF HISTORY that Artorius/Arthur may well have continued in use as a personal name on Hadrian's Wall at Carvoran, where a Dalmatian garrison was long in attendence and a woman from Salona was buried (Lucius Artorius Castus having been born in Salona, Dalmatia).  Carvoran is just a little to the east of the Irthing Valley, or Valley of the Bear River, where we find both Banna and the Camboglanna Roman forts.  

This problem of Artorius as a decknamen again makes me believe that the Welsh tradition is a spurious one.  I have before suggested that Arthur was associated with Caer Dathal merely because Math son of Mathonwy had been the ancient king there.  Had someone known that Irish math meant 'bear', then it would have been natural to place Arthur at that fort, as his name was linked to Welsh arth, 'bear.'  It has been noted before that Arthur's Breguoin/Brewyn battle was fought at Bremenium/High Rochester, where a bear god named Matunus was worshipped.

We should also bear in mind (pun strictly intended!) that Geoffrey of Monmouth claims Uther came from Brittany, in Welsh Llydaw, and that Llyn Llydaw is the source of the Glaslyn that flows past Dinas Emrys.  The lake's name, therefore, may well have contributed to Arthur's father being placed near/at Caer Dathal.