THE STANZAS OF GERAINT SON OF ERBIN (from Nerys Ann Jones' ARTHUR IN EARLY WELSH POETRY)

Geraint and Enid by Gustave Gore

The early Welsh poem 'Geraint son of Erbin' has always been an important source for the field of Arthurian study.  The problem for scholars is what to make of Arthur's apparent presence in the company of a Geraint, presumably King of Dumnonia.  While the Llongporth mentioned in the poem as the scene of the fateful battle against the English has been variously identified, the best location is Langport on the River Parrett in Somerset.  If so, this could well be a reference to a battle found in the ANGL0-SAXON CHRONICLE under the year entry 658:

"In this year Cenwalh fought at Penselwood [Peonnum] against the Welsh, and drove them in flight as far as the Parrett."

The problem with the dating is obvious: our Arthur was of the 5th-6th centuries, not of the mid-7th.

A King Geraint of Dumnonia is mentioned fighting the Saxons Ine and Nunna under the year entry for 710.

What we have to bear in mind is there appear to have been several Geraints of Dumnonia.  All may have derived their names, ultimately, from the famous British general Gerontius of the early 5th century.  At least one of them may have been made into a saint.  It is quite conceivable that they tended to become confused with one another in the heroic tradition.  Thus if Arthur was associated in some way with an earlier Geraint, he may well have been wrongly attached to a later one.  Such might well be the case in "Geraint son of Erbin."

I have recently made the case for Uther Pendragon being a Cymricized version of the magister utriusque militiae rank of the Gerontius who belonged to the Late Roman Empire.  If I am correct about this, the presence of Arthur with a Geraint is easy to account for, as one of Geraints would have been his father.  

Because my readers may find the elegy to be of interest, I am here posting page images of the excellent treatment of the poem as found in Nerys Ann Jones' ARTHUR IN EARLY WELSH POETRY.  All of the images are "clickable" for enlarging.