Announcement of Publication: THE BEAR KING Revision is Now Available

Aberarth Promontory Fort, Ceredigion, Wales

https://www.amazon.com/Bear-King-Arthur-Southern-England/dp/1548982954

Here is the revised edition of my book THE BEAR KING: ARTHUR AND THE IRISH IN WALES AND SOUTHERN ENGLAND.  The title is available in both ebook and paperback formats via Amazon.

The decision to go with a Hiberno-British Arthur was not an easy one to make.  While I had long known that Ceredig son of Cunedda and Cerdic of Wessex were one and the same historical figure, and that Ceredig himself seemed to be Arthur, I had consistently failed to firmly identify Uther Pendragon, the 'Terrible Chief-warrior (or Chief of warriors) with Cunedda Maqui-coline/Ceawlin. The crux of the problem was always Line 6 of the Uther elegy MARWNAT VTHYR PEN, which contained the troublesome phrase 'pen kawell.'  Taken literally, this was to be translated as 'Chief Basket' (or, perhaps, Chief of the Basket or, even, Chief One of the Basket) - which made no sense at all.  So I spent an undue amount of time trying to emend the phrase.  

It was only when I bothered - on a whim - to wonder what the Ceawl- portion of the name Ceawlin might have been thought to mean by the Welsh that something marvelous occurred.  When I entered ceawl and variants into the Bosworth and Toller Anglo-Saxon dictionary, I discovered that it meant exactly the same thing as Welsh cawell, i.e. 'basket.' It was at that point I realized I finally had a "fix" on Uther Pendragon.  He was, indeed, Cunedda, a chieftain who was based at Dinas Emrys/Caer Dathal in Gwynedd.

It was easy to discount the MARWNAT CUNEDDA, a fictitious piece created to support the false tradition that Cunedda came from Manau Gododdin in the far north of Britain.  He actually had come, as was easily demonstrable, from Drumanagh in Ireland.  

By finally establishing the pedigree for Arthur/Ceredig, I was able to satisfy two further conditions I had insisted be present in my argument.  First, as an Irishman or part-Irishman, we could now account for the fact that the subsequent Arthurs all belonged to Irish-descended dynasties in Britain.  And, second, I could show that Arthur from Roman/Latin Artorius was a decknamen assumed by a man who originally bore a 'Bear-king' title or name in either the Welsh or the Irish.  Evidence in support of this contention exists in the name of the Afon Arth ('Bear Water') in Ceredig's kingdom of Ceredigion, as well as in the three Arto- names found in the list of his immediate descendants.  There was no longer any need to attempt to derive the name Arthur from Lucius Artorius Castus, a 2nd century Roman officer stationed at York.  We have good examples of decknamen use.  For our purposes, the best parallel would be the inscription from Trier (CIL XIII/1.1, no. 3909): HIC QUIESCIT IN PACE URSULA . . . ARTULA MATER TIT(ULUM) POSUIT. Mother and daughter bear the same name, the mother still in Celtic, the daughter already in an equivalent name in the Roman tongue.  

Years ago my Ceredig = Arthur theory included a reasonable comparative treatment of the battles of both men.  This approach allowed me to identify the battles of Arthur, as found in the HISTORIA BRITTONUM, as partly those of Ceredig and partly those of other Gewessei.  I have checked those over and was able to confirm my earlier findings.

This particular Arthurian candidate will not, I fear, be a popular one - except, perhaps, among the Welsh!  For what we have (given the Cunorix son of Maquicoline memorial stone at Wroxeter) is a mercenary or, rather, "federate" (in the old Roman sense) fighting for the high king at Viroconium in alliance with Saxons against that king's British enemies in the south.  It is a confusing picture and not an attractive one.  But it is a realistic depiction of what happened to Britain once the Romans were gone.  

THE BEAR KING represents my last work on King Arthur.  Hopefully, the theory it contains will resonate with some, even as it disappoints or infuriates others.  Once again, I appreciate very much the interest of my regular readers.  

UTHER AND THE DRAGONS OF GWYNEDD

Segontium insignia from the Notitia Dignitatum

Instances in which dragons/serpents/snakes are associated with Gwynedd in the early sources can be summarized as follows:

1) Dragons of Dinas Emrys – with Emrys and Vortigern

2) Crossed serpent standard of Segontium military unit in Notitia Dignitatum.  Segontium has strong associations with a Constantine. 

3) Maglocunus/Maelgwn as the ‘dragon of the isle’ (draco insularis)

4) The Pharoah’s (i.e. Vortigern’s) Red Dragon (standard? Metaphor for the Britons?) in the Gwarchan Maeldderw

5) In the Gorchan of Tudfwlch, the hero – from Eifionydd in Gwynedd, an area in north-west Wales covering the south-eastern part of the Llŷn Peninsula from Porthmadog to just east of Pwllheli  – is called the serpent with a terrible sting, and his place of origin is alluded to as the snakes’ lair.  Eifionydd, named for Ebiaun son of Dunod son of Cunedda, is the northern half of the kingdom of Dunoding and is hard by Dinas Emrys in Arfon.  

6) Owen Gwynedd is referred to by the poet Gwalchmai as the 'dragon of Mona' 

So all of these ‘dragons’ cluster in Gwynedd.  And that means that Gwynedd is of potential interest in our search for a valid candidate for Uther Pendragon.  Uther is, of course, associated with Dinas Emrys. even though the place was confused/conflated by Geoffrey of Monmouth with Amesbury and Stonehenge in Wiltshire.

Long ago, I discussed several different facets of the serpents/dragons motif associated with Di-nas Emrys.  While the story is complex, there are three primary elements that appear to have come together in the folktale.  First, funeral urns con-taining chieftains, i.e. 'dragons', were discovered in a pool within the fort (a feature confirmed by archaeology).  Second, the cloth with which these urns were sealed (or which wrapped the cremated bones of the said dragons) were deco-rated with the crossed serpents of the nearby Segontium/Caernarfon garrison.  [These were perhaps symbolic of the two serpents of the Herakles birth myth - a birth myth which also includes the transformation of the father into the guise of another man's wife, as in the tales of the begetting of Mongan by Manannan Mac Lir and Arthur by Uther.  The Hercules Saegon- or Hercules 'the Strong' of Silchester bears a Celtic name or epithet which contains the same root as that of Segontium.] And, three, the dragons "morphed" into the respective genii of the Britons and the Saxons.

Cremation urns

Complicating all of this is the storyteller's misunderstanding of the significance of red and white animals in Welsh tradition.  The mix of colors designated creatures whose origin lay in the Celtic Otherworld.  As far as snakes in Gwynedd are concerned, I provided a naturalist's explanation in an earlier article (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2018/01/red-and-white-otherworld-animals-in.html).  The differentiation of a white snake and a red snake into the genii of the Saxons and Britons would, therefore, have been an invention of the story-teller.

[For those interested in watching a combat be-tween two male adders, watch the last portion of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TF7d4jvays.]

Geoffrey of Monmouth does something a little different with the dragon.  As we have seen already, he drew upon the MARWNAT VTHYR PEN elegy's transferred sense of the word cannwyll to conjure Uther’s dragon-star.  He then engages in a false etymology, interpreting Pendragon as ‘the Dragon’s Head’, rather than as ‘Chief Warror’ or ‘Chief of Warriors.’  

What is most important to notice in his account is that he has Uther fashion two dragon standards. While it is fashionable to accept the idea that the dragon standards represent a memory of the Roman draco, as only one fiery dragon is seen in the sky.  From the Lewis Thorpe translation of THE HISTORY OF THE KINGS OF BRITAIN:

"On his way to the battle, Uther saw a most re-markable spectacle in the skies. There appeared a star of such magnitude and brilliance that it was seen both day and night. The star emitted a single ray of light that created a fiery mass resembling the body and head of a dragon. Shining from the mouth of the dragon came two rays of light. One extended out across the skies of Britain and over Gaul. The other extended out over the Irish Sea culminating in seven lesser beams of light. Such was its magnitude, it could be seen all across Britain and beyond, and filled the people with fear and dread not knowing what it might portend."

Merlin tells the king this about the star:

"For the star, and the fiery dragon under it, sig-nifies yourself, and the ray extending towards the Gallic coast, portends that you shall have a most potent son, to whose power all those kingdoms shall be subject over which the ray reaches. But the other ray signifies a daughter, whose sons and grandsons shall successively enjoy the kingdom of Britain.”

Uther carries one of his dragons around with him in his wars, but the other he leaves in the cathedral at Winchester.  

So, why two dragons?

There is only one possible explanation: because Geoffrey’s tale has been influenced by the two dragons of Dinas Emrys. Amesbury and Stonehenge, conflated with Dinas Emrys by Geoffrey, are only 30 miles or so from Winchester.  Winchester had been made the capital of Wessex by Alfred the Great in the 9th century.

Given that Uther undoubtedly was envisioned as carrying the red dragon in his wars, we might postulate that it was the white dragon that was left at Winchester.  And, indeed, many early spellings of Winchester lack the /t/ of the original British Venta (inherited from the Roman name Venta Belgarum), yielding Wincestre or the like, while Latin texts have forms such as Wintonia.  It is probable that Geoffrey interpreted Win- in this context as the Welsh word for white (gwyn, gwen) and so felt justified in installing the white dragon standard in this city.  

It is plain, then, that Uther’s dragon standards do not descend from the Roman draco, but instead from the Dinas Emrys genii of the British and English peoples.  

A Note on Uther's Pen Mynydd

A 'pen mynydd' occurs in the Uther Pendragon elegy.  It's probable location may be important.  Here is the note on the place-name from Marged Haycock, editor and translator of the poem:

"Pen mynydd simply ‘on the mountain top’; although a reference to

Penmynydd, Anglesey, a house of the Tudur family in the 14c (see GGM I, 14-

15) cannot be ruled out. Cynddelw refers to Penmynydd in his praise-poem to St

Tysilio who had connections with Anglesey as well as with Meifod in Powys

(CBT III 3.196)."

Henry Tudor is known to have used the red dragon in battle.  When we look on a modern map of Penmynydd, we note a curious adjacent place-name: DRAGON.  Earlier maps show a cluster of dragon names at the site, including a Dragon-wen and Dragon-goch - a relocation of the red and white dragons of Dinas Emrys.  

A folktale on a dragon exists for this place, one that clearly sounds a lot like the one that much earlier became attached to Dinas Emrys.

https://www.anglesey-today.com/the-giant-snake-of-penhesgyn-an-old-anglesey-legend.html

There are Norse and Russian parallels to this folktale. But the elegy's pen mynyd must certainly be this place on Anglesey.  If so, we are again assured that Uther belongs to Gwynedd. 

Coming Soon: A REVISION OF 'THE BEAR KING: ARTHUR AND THE IRISH IN WALES AND SOUTHERN ENGLAND'

Cunedda/Uther of the Ciannachta and the Hill of Cerna: The Origin of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Ygerna?

The Siteof Cnoc Cerna or the Hill of Cerna, Some 15 Miles from Cunedda's Drumanagh

I have pasted below a portion of an article I wrote not long ago that suggested Geoffrey of Monmouth's Ygerna was a personified place-name, specifically Carne Hill at Domellick.  This was a major disappointment, as we all hold out for Arthur's mother being an actual human being!  But the evidence rather forced me in the direction of accepting yet more fictional material in the HISTORY OF THE KINGS OF BRITAIN.  

Just the other day I clinched an identification of Uther Pendragon with the great Cunedda.  (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2021/10/a-proof-for-uther-pendragongorlassar-as.html). This dovetailed nicely with an earlier book I had written, THE BEAR KING.  But the "discovery" also allowed me for the first time to make sense of Geoffrey's reason for presenting Ygerna as Arthur's mother.

I long ago demonstrated convincingly that Cunedda hailed from Drumanagh in Ireland.  This was a part of Brega in Meath.  About 15 miles NW of Drumanagh in Brega in the parish of Carnes is the Hill of Cerna, Cnoc Cerna.

From https://www.academia.edu/2927370/St_Patrick_Skerries_and_the_earliest_evidence_for_local_church_organisation:

There are three possible candidates for the modern location of this

site. Working from Irish language sources of all periods, Eugene O'Curry

suggested that Cerna is probably preserved in the townlands of Carnes

East and West in the parish of Duleek. Alternatively, there is a church.

site listed in a fourteenth-century charter as 'Donaghkerny' which today

is the modern townland of Donacarney in the parish of Culp. There is

also a reference in the martyrologies to Domnach Ceirne, which is

recorded as the fifteenth-century estate of 'Donagh Kerny' near Dublin

in the Register of All Hallows. Today this estate is known as

Donnycarney, located beteen Artane and Drumcondra in north

Dublin. These last two examples incorporate an early word for church,

domnach, and both show the initial 'e' which perhaps, makes them

stronger candidates than O'Curry's 'Carnes'. On the other hand, the 'ey'

ending of the Anglicized name does not appear to accord with our 'a' in

Cerna and moreover both the Colp and Dublin sites are low-lying rather

than on a hill. In addition, the Dublin site, in particular, is a long way

from Slane and the heartland of the kingdom of Aed Slane's descendants.

I would suggest that on the whole, the evidence supports O'Curry and

Cerna should be seen as being located at the western end of Bellewstown

ridge and to the south of Duleek.

The following listing on cerna is drawn from Hogan (https://research.ucc.ie/doi/locus/C):

cerne

gsf.; ¶  Ecclessia Cerne in Campo Breg, A. 10 a a; ¶  Síd Cerna i tír Breg, Au. i. 378; ¶  in Bregia (and seems nr the coast), Lu. 83 a; ¶  chief burial-place of the men of Bregia and E. Meath, Rc. xvi. 67, Lec. 518, Bd. 46, Ll. 168; ¶  "cloenmíla Cernai," mentioned in connection with Bregia and Tara, Bdd. 18, Lu. 83 a; ¶  Cernniam ainm toisigh in tSidal fil ann, unde Cernoi nominatur, al. Cernai .i. coernia daigh is ann atá primreilec Airthir Midhi ocus Breagh, H. 3, 3, T.C.D. 15, 1; ¶  ón tsídaighe fil isuidiu dianad ainm Cernan ro hainmnighead Cearna, Sa. 70 b; ¶  fir Breaghmhaighe 7 Cherna, 7 Columna Temrach were Cairpre Lifechair's faction in the hurling match against the Fianna, Dg. 9; ¶  dorat se dóibh Aenach Taillten 7 Cerna 7 Raith Cennaigh i Midhi, Sa. 46 a 1, 2; ¶  Enna won 12 battles "for tuathmaig na Temra, for sluag Cerna," Mm. 492; ¶  the K. of Tara is styled K. of Cearna, Fen. 362; ¶  C. seems nr Tara (v. Rc. xxii. 26, 391); ¶  Conn collects the men of (Meath, Breag, Odba, Cnodba, Cearna, Cleitech and Tailltiu), Ml. 66; ¶  Cellach, tigerna Breg is called Cellach Cerna, and in connection with C. are given Odba, Colt, Cnodba, Fm. i. 544; ¶  thou shalt not go righthandwise round Tara and lefthandwise round Bregia; ¶  the evil beasts of C. must not be hunted by thee, thou shalt not go out any night beyond Tara, Bdd. p. 27; ¶  Conaire went past Uisnech towards Tara, righthandwise round Tara, and lefthandwise round Bregia, and hunted the clóenmíla Cernai, then S. on Slige Cualann to Dub. and Bruden Da Derga, Bdd. pp. 33, 41; ¶  Crimthand cend Cerna 7 Cuilt, Ll. 139 b; ¶  Ráith Gniad in Cernae, al. Cerno, Teh. 242, Zc. iii. 242; ¶  Sidh Cirine a ainm ochen; ¶  no ó Cerna Chas mac Cairpri mic Edaine ro hadhnacht ann, Sa. 70 b; ¶  Mullach Cerna, Ll. 185 b; ¶  cath Cerna, Ll. 194 a; ¶  Cernna, Collamair, Cnogba, Pd. viii. 40; ¶  I have not tasted a juice preferable to the ale of Cerna, Lbl. col. 786; ¶  these texts help to identify to some extent this interesting word; ¶  O'Curry, in Ml. 66, says: "C. was a hill in Meath, and according to the Dinnsenchus was a place of noble sepulture in pagan and Christian times; ¶  it lay in a straight line between Slane in Meath and Lusk in c. Dub.; ¶  the name is prob. preserved in the tls. of Carnes, E. and W., in p. Duleek, Meath"; ¶  in Mm. 259 he says: "Conaire drove by the hill of C., Lusk, and the Great Road of Cualann to Dub., and crossing the Liffey above Dub. went on to Bruden Da Derga"; ¶  O'C. must have found Lusk in some version of the tale, or found that it lay on or by Slige Cualann; ¶  the crossing above Dub. would be at the ford, afterwards called the Ford of Cell Moshamoc at Island Bridge; ¶  in support of O'Curry's view, I add that there were Ath Carne and Dona Kernie .i. Domnach Cerne .i. Ecclesia Cerne, in b. Duleek (my "Description of Ireland in Year 1598," p. 93); ¶  but I identify Ecclesia Cerne with Celcarne Castle and Kilcarne in b. of Skreen (cf. my "Description of Ireland in 1598," p. 92), and also the Cerna by which Conaire passed; ¶  this C. is a tl. and p. 3 m. SSE. of Navan, and 5 m. N. of Tara, where there are also Templecarne and Kilcarne bridge over the Boyne, and an ancient "fort," mound or rath (the Síd prímreilec); ¶  this suits the statement in Bdd. that Conaire went NE. of Tara, leaving it on his right, hunted the Clóenmila Cernai, then went on the road to Midluachair and on the Road of Cualu southwards.

The site is mentioned in the DINDSENCHAS. From https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T106500D/text051.html:

The Metrical Dindshenchas (Author: [unknown])

CERNA

Though here we sit a while on the hill of Cerna, where troops find quarters, yonder in stern Cerna lie a multitude whose heart was set on pride.

There is nimble Cerna, a lad that bore off victory across the battle-breach, whose true father was Cairpre that won many a match in smooth poesy.

There is Femen the fair, and Gemen from the dark Glen, and Artan, that lofty chieftain, and Marcan son of Donngaile.

There is Fingen—attend! one that shaped aright each keen judgement; and Guaire, pure-handed, skilful and polished, and Baesach son of Tollchend.

There till the final doom rest a pair free from stain, free from word of blame, Find that scattered gifts in famous wise, unflinching, and Derg, his brother.

There is the champion Neide, and Geide and Garb and Gartnia: there till now is the host-attended warrior Aldui Lamb-head, son of Iarlaithe.

There is Cian, the unwearied, and broad-backed Casan, Dub Da Chonn, that walked not blindly, and Bresal of the land of Brega.

There are the three Aeds, Aed ua Temna, no tender minion, Aed ua Huaine, beloved staff, and Aed donn, the hard-travailing.

There is sweet-spoken Bennan, and bright Loingthe of the merry-lays, and the traveller Berr son of Erc, and wry Conan the hundred-slayer.

There is Detla next and Cetna, proud in battle, Aldui that dealt no man a second stroke, and Cathgen, battle-enriched.

There are the four Garbs, Garb of the Glen and Garb son of Scarb, Garb rige of the bold raids, and crooked Garb from old Sliab Crot.

There is Guala the white-skinned, and Goll son of Da Gemned, and Fiach—a shield guarding Falga—and Slanga son of Dubthach.

There is Tuathal from of old, and Tipraite Broad-foot, and Bruach of Brega—sweet name—and Trena son of Loiscend.

There is the seer Fuatach and Sithchend, fortune's favourite, and Faidech head of the family, and worthy Laidech, accomplished poet.

Loingsech son of Oengus is there with Eochaid of Lemain, wielder of blades, and comely Niall, Cernach's son, who caused sore grief in the plain of Brega.

There is noble Aed Slaine and Conall, slim-flanked Calf of Brega, and young Oengus of Odba and worshipful Congal, fair pillar.

There is splendid Ailill, Diarmait, Blathmac that never paled, Sechnasach, ever affable, and Conaing son of Congaile.

There is Irgalach—set on! and the two Amalgaids and sweet-spoken Cendfaelad of Brega and Finnachta fledach, lavish and merry.

Cinaed son of Irgalach is there, and Flaithbertach of the shoutings, and Cernach, continually, and shapely Dunchad of the Dael.

Too many to number in full are the joyous yellow-haired host that lie beneath Cerna, stooping home of hundreds, men of Conn's line that made it great by war.

His wife lies under the cloak of each man of the host I have enumerated thus far, on Cerna's hill, hundred-strong, in splendour and in beauty.

I pledge a word that is no small boast, that for every goodly man we name, in sooth, there are a hundred as good in Cerna—were there any one that could call them to mind.

Cerna, famous foeman, 'tis he is first among them in his home; his right appellation, by noble conjunction, is Cerniam.

From him comes for utterance in the north the appellation of Cerua, with its hundred gifts, best of all pledges for fulfilment of prayer, though here we sit continually.

O King of unfailing loving-kindness, by thy holiness and mighty power may we reach Heaven of the clear promises, though here a while we sit.

It will be remembered that according to the HISTORIA BRITTONUM, Cunedda's son Ceredig was born in Manau Gododdin.  As that minor kingdom in extreme northern Britain is a mistake (or substitute) for Drumanagh in Ireland, I would offer the possibility that Geoffrey's Ygerna, while localized at Carne Hill in Cornwall, is actually a reference to Cerna Hill in Brega.  

***

A NEW IDENTIFICATION OF ARTHUR'S MOTHER, YGERNA (AND ARTHUR'S REAL BIRTHPLACE)

Carne and Carne Hill with St. Denys Church

Geoffrey of Monmouth claims that Arthur's mother's name was Igerna.  Welsh scholars insist that Eigr is the earlier form of the name, yet Eigr is not found in any Welsh source prior to the HISTORY OF THE KINGS OF BRITAIN.[1]  Her being made the daughter of Anblaud/Amlawdd of Erging doesn't help vouch for her veracity, as Brynley Roberts demonstrated Anblaud was a created character used to hang famous women on who otherwise lacked known pedigrees. 

 

I've recently decided to favor Geoffrey's form because of the presence at Gorlois' fort of Dimilioc or Domellick of Carne.  This is simply the Cornish word for a rock or a rock outcrop.  Front it with a Welsh 'Y-", the definite article, and you have Igraine, Igerna, Ygerne, Ygraine.   In Welsh, carn often appears as garn.  There are many Y Garns in Wales. We also find carn or carne appearing in Cornish as cerne or kerne.

St. Denys Parish Church stands at the top of Carne Hill on the site of the Iron Age hill fort. There was another St. Denys chapel at Tintagel, where Gorlois moved Igerna for safekeeping when he fought Uther Pendragon. 

We actually know that the place was called Carn Hill from early on.  The following is excerpted from 

"The Hill-Fort at St. Dennis" by Charles Thomas M.A., F.S.A. (https://cornisharchaeology.org.uk/journals/No.4_1965.pdf):

 "The Site 

The isolated hill crowned by the parish church was formerly called 'Carn Hill' (so MacLauchlan, 1849). The tenement which included this appears in the Exeter Domesday as Dimelihoc (f.254b), a small manor with a single plough team, '1 acre'(perhaps a little over a hundred modern acres) of potential arable, pasture half-a-league by half-a-league, and no animals recorded. This probably refers to the northern slopes of the hill, and the rough ground on the moor below, since the ground south of the hill appears as Karsalan, the modern Carsella.

'Dimelihoc', found in 1145 as Dimilioc, 1284,1334 Dynmyliek, and thence to Domelioc, Domeliock (pronounced 'damel'ak'), clearly comprises OCo. din (-as), 'fortress', and a personal name *Milioc that may ultimately come from Lat. Aemiliacus rather than, as the name Mailoc seems to do, from Brit. *Maglacos. If this name, originally that of the hill-summit, had been extended to a wider tenement by Domesday times, it must be presumed that the hill-top itself was then locally called \an) dinas'; for the ascription to the un-Celtic and non-local saint Denis or Dionysius (of Paris) almost certainly resulted from verbal confusion. Whether this took place under a Norman master, or conceivably under some such English landlord as the Ailmer who held Dimelihoc in the time of Edward the Confessor, rather depends upon the date assigned to the churchyard cross standing south of the present church; but it is most unlikely that it occurred before the 11th century.  

The dinas in question surrounds the church and churchyard. Apart from the strong evidence afforded by the place-names, its fortified nature was apparently recognised in some lost medieval tradition encountered by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the 1130's. The Galfridian version of the Arthur story refers (Historia Regum Britanniae, viii. 19) to 'Dimilioc' as the castle of Gorlois, duke of Cornwall. (This is implied to be hard by 'Tintagel', where Gorlois' wife Igerna is immured: Jenner and Henderson have variously demonstrated that Geoffrey's 'Tintagel', the actual medieval castle of which was not commenced until a few years after Geoffrey wrote, is far more likely to represent Castlean-Dinas, the massive Iron Age hill-fort a few miles north of St. Dennis.) 31 The evidence therefore permits the assumption that the St. Dennis hill-top was recognised as an ancient fortification, in some tale contemporary with Geoffrey of Monmouth's writing (early 12th century), at the time of the ascription to 'St. Denis' (11th century), and at the time when the name *Din Milioc was applied to it (unknown, but one would suppose well pre-Domesday)."

In THE SUFFIX -ÄKO IN CONTINENTAL CELTIC by Paul RUSSELL   

(https://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/ecelt_0373-1928_1988_num_25_1_1877.pdf), the author shows how the Roman name Aemilius could be made into a place-name designator by using the -ako suffix:

"It seems, then, that LN function of -äcus can be explained as a semantic specialisation of its general adjectival function in Gaulish and early Gallo-Latin. The shift from adjective to substantive seems in most cases to be a feature of Gallo-Latin.94 We still, however, have to face the question of why -äcus was more productive than the native Latin suffix -änus. The answer, I would suggest, lies within the complex sociolinguistic patterns of Roman Gaul and, as such, can only be framed in the most general and tentative terms. The practice of naming a fundus after the owner seems to have been widespread in Gaul but who did the naming? For a number of reasons it appears that it was not be owner himself but the people who lived in the area. By far the majority of these LNN are based on Roman gentilicia ; now, while it does not necessarily imply that they were Roman, it certainly implies a degree of Romanisation to the extent that, if the owners were naming their fundi, they might have used Latin -änus. Support for this view comes from the high proportion of -änus to -äcus LNN in Gallia Narbonensis, the area with the highest degree of Romanisation.95 On      the other hand, the native inhabitants of a particular area would have tended towards the Gaulish/Latinised Gaulish end of the continuum for whom the natural pattern of forming an adjective from a PN would have been with -äko-. If, then, the native inhabitants provided the name, we would expect precisely the type we find, namely owner’s name + äko thus, for example, the land owned by Aemilius would have been termed * (fundus) Aemiliacus = modern Amalhac, Amilly, Amillis, etc.96 This suggestion seems to be the only way to explain the conjunction of a Roman PN with a native Celtic suffix within the complex linguistic system which probably operated in Roman Gaul."

It might be worth our while to take a look at the etymology of Aemilius.  According to the best authorities, the name is to be linked to L. aemulus.  Here is the listing for that word from Chartlon T. Lewis' and Charles Short's A LATIN DICTIONARY:

aemŭlus , a, um, adj. cf. ἁμιλλάομαι and ἅμα, imitor, imago, Germ. ahmen (Eng. aim) in nachahmen = to imitate,

I.striving after another earnestly, emulating, rivalling, emulous (cf. aemulatio and aemulor), in a good and bad sense; constr. with dat. or as subst. with gen.

I. In a good sense, Att. ap. Auct. Her, 2, 26, 42: “laudum,” Cic. Phil. 2, 12: “laudis,” id. Cael. 14: “aemulus atque imitator studiorum ac laborum,” id. Marc. 1: “Timagenis aemula lingua,” Hor. Ep. 1, 19, 15: “itinerum Herculis,” Liv. 21, 41.—With ne and subj.: milites aemuli, ne dissimiles viderentur, Aur. Vict Caes. 8, 3.—

II. In a bad sense, both of one who, with a hostile feeling, strives after the possessions of another, and of one who, on account of his strong desire for a thing, envies him who possesses it; envious, jealous, grudging.— With gen.: Karthago aemula imperii Romani, Sall C. 10; Vell. 2, 1: “Triton,” Verg. A. 6, 173: “quem remoto aemulo aequiorem sibi sperabat,” Tac. A. 3, 8: “Britannici,” Suet. Ner. 6.—

III. Subst., a rival = rivalis: mihi es aemula, you are my rival (i. e. you have the same desire as I), Plaut. Rud. 1, 4, 20; Ter. Eun. 4, 1, 9; cf. id. ib. 2, 1, 8; “si non tamquam virum, at tamquam aemulum removisset,” Cic. Verr 2, 5, 31: et si nulla subest aemula, languet amor, Ov A. A. 2, 436.—By meton. (eccl.), an enemy: “videbis aemulum tuum in templo,” Vulg. 1 Reg. 2, 32; “affligebat eam aemula,” ib. 1, 6.— In gen., mostly of things without life, vying with, rivalling a thing, i. e. comparable to, similar to, with dat., v. Rudd. II. p. 70 (poet., and in prose after the Aug. per.): “tibia tubae Aemula,” Hor. A. P. 203: “labra rosis,” Mart. 4, 42: “Tuscis vina cadis,” id. 13, 118; Plin. 9, 17, 29, § 63; id. 15, 18, 19, § 68 al.: “Dictator Caesar summis oratoribus aemulus, i. e. aequiparandus,” Tac. A. 13, 3.!*? Facta dictaque ejus aemulus for aemulans, Sall. Fragm. Hist. 3 (cf. celatum indagator for indagans in Plaut. Trin. 2, 1, 15, unless celatum be here a gen.).

From this word we get our word emulate. The dictionary authors cite imitor, to imitate, act like, copy after, seek to resemble, counterfeit, mimic; resembles; assume the form of, and imago, an imitation, copy, image, representation, likeness, etc., as deriving from the same root.

On the surface, the story of Uther assuming the form of Gorlois would seem to be tied up in the meaning of Aemilius.  But we would have to believe that Goeffrey somehow knew not only the personal name underlying his Dimilioc, but that the personal name was the be related to L. aemulus.  And that seems more than a little too far for us to go.

In addition, the contortions Charles Thomas goes through on this name do not seem to be necessary.  As has been pointed out to me by Dr. Simon Rodway of The University of Wales, 

"What is wrong with Meliog as a personal name (cf. Welsh Maelog, and note the suffix *-iak- beside *-ak-)?  *Magl-iakos > *Meiliog."

Now, the real question is this:  if I'm right and Geoffrey of Monmouth is claiming a personified place-name as Arthur's mother, does it follow that we should interpret this story as Arthur being born at The Carn?

Significantly, there is no carn place-name at Tintagel or Tintagel Head.  Many reasons have been given for why Geoffrey chose Tintagel.  He could have done so for political reasons, or to please a patron, for example.  Some have even pointed to the Artognou inscription found there, not as a serious claim for identifying Artognou with Arthur, but to suggest that Geoffrey had knowledge of someone having lived there or worked there who had an Arto- name.  I have already suggested above that may have used the presence at both places of shrines to St. Denys to justify the transferrence.  According to Nicholas Orme in his THE SAINTS OF CORNWALL, besides the chapel at Trevena/Tintagel at the church at Domellick, St. Dennis may have had establishments at Otterham and North Tamerton.  In Devon, there were St. Dennis churches at Bradninch and Walkhampton.  We might also note that there is a Mena place-name at the hillfort, and Tintagel's original name was Trevena, Cornish Tre + the lenited form of menith, viz. mena. 

But if Arthur's "mother" The Carn was never at Tintagel, does it follow that there was a tradition at one time promoting Domellick's hillfort as the hero's birthplace?  Carn names are exceedingly common in Cornwall,. And, indeed, there are many forts or other ancient monuments in Cornwall (and Wales, for that matter) that bear carn names. Yet we are hardly justified in assuming that The Carn at St. Dennis was itself a relocation of a prior site.  

A PROOF FOR UTHER PENDRAGON/GORLASSAR AS CUNEDDA OF THE CIANNACHTA

 

Cunedda

Uther Pendragon has always been a problem for me.  Not content with what appears to be a Galfridian origin for his pedigree, I have sought to identify him with various known historical personages.  Two such candidates were Sawyl Benisel of the North and Geraint son of Erbin in the South.  Both held some promise of actually being Arthur's father, but the arguments falter across the board for anything that does not relate however tenuously to a supposed genealogical trace. 

A few years ago I wrote a little book called THE BEAR KING: ARTHUR AND THE IRISH IN WALES AND SOUTHERN ENGLAND.  While initially very excited about the theory I presented in that volume, I eventually abandoned it.  Why?  Because while everything else worked, I could not form a cohesive link between Cunedda Maquicoline/Ceawlin, father of Cerdic of Wessex, and Uther Pendragon/gorlassar.

Well, I have now succeeded in doing that - and in a way that, frankly, exceeds my wildest dreams.

I began by looking at the Ciannachta, the tribe Cunedda descended from.  The tribal name derives from the personal name Cian, from the adjective found only in Irish.  As it did not occur in Welsh*, it occurred to me that someone may have sought to link it with the following Greek and Latin words:

GREEK

κύα^νος [υ^], ὁ (later ἡ, v. infr. 1.3, 7),

A.dark-blue enamel, esp. used to adorn armour, “δέκα οἶμοι μέλανος κυάνοιο” Il.11.24, cf. 35; “πτύχες κυάνου” Hes.Sc.143; also θριγκὸς κυάνοιο, of a cornice, Od.7.87; so perh. in IG12.367.7, 42(1).102.244 (Epid.).

2. lapis lazuli, κ. αὐτοφυής (opp. σκευαστός) Thphr.Lap.39, al., Dsc.5.91, etc. (perh. also in Pl.Phd.113c); κ. ἄρρην, θῆλυς, Thphr.Lap.31: also an imitation made in Egypt, ib.55.

3. blue copper carbonate, Hp.Cord.2, Gal.12.233 (ὁ and ἡ), Luc.Lex.22; “βαπτὴ κ.” AP6.229 (Crin.).

4. blue cornflower, Plin.HN21.68.

5. a bird, perh. blue thrush, Turdus cyanus, Arist.HA617a23, Ael.NA4.59.

6. sea-water, Hsch.

7. fem., the colour blue, Alex.Aphr.in Mete.162.4.

II. as Adj., = κυάνεος, Nic.Th.438 (unless κυανός as in Phlp.in GC23.11, codd. Pl.l.c.): Comp. -ώτερος Anacreont.16.11: Sup. -ώτατος Philostr. Im.1.6. [υ_ in dactylic verses, metri gr., cf. κυάνεος, etc.]

LATIN

cȳănĕus , a, um, adj., = κυάνεος.

I. Dark-blue, sea-blue: “cyaneo colore avis,” Plin. 10, 32, 47, § 89: “stagna,” Prud. Psych. 858.—

II. Cȳănĕae , ārum, f., = Κυάνεαι, the two small rocky islands at the entrance of the Pontus Euxinus, called also Symplegades, q. v., Ov. Tr. 1, 10, 34; Mel. 2, 7, 3: “errantes,” Val. Fl. 4, 561.—Hence,

B. Cȳă-nĕus , a, um, adj., of or belonging to the Cyaneæ: “cautes,” Luc. 2, 716: “montes,” Val. Fl. 2, 381: “rupes,” id. 4, 637: “ruinae,” Mart. 7, 19, 3: “insulae,” Mel. 2, 7, 3; Plin. 4, 13, 27, § 92 al.—

2. Transf., like the Cyaneæ: “nates,” Mart. 11, 99, 6.

cyănŏs or -us , i, m., = κύανος.

I. The blue corn-flower, blue-bottle: Centaurea cyanus, Linn.; Plin. 21, 8, 24, § 48; 21, 11, 39, § 68.—

II. A precious stone, a species of lapis lazuli, Plin. 37, 9, 38, § 119.

While I have not done a significant search, there are instances of cyan- being spelled cian- and kian- in Latin sources.  

Professor Francesco Stella, Professor of Medieval Latin Literature at the University of Siena-Arezzo, as assured me that

"i and y in medieval manuscripts are completely interchangeable, so no inference can be deduced from the presence of one form or another. Lexica of medieval Latin usually don't report allographs, just because every word can have many." 

Jan M. Ziolkowski, Arthur Kingsley Porter Professor of Medieval Latin at Harvard University, told me the same thing:

"The letters y and i were often interchanged in Medieval Latin. That means that the words cyanos, along with its rarer relatives cyaneus and cyanenus, could all be spelled ci- or ki- instead of cy-.  P. 727 of the Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, which gives evidence of the i for that word."

Other Medieval Latin specialists have responded along similar lines:

"Interchange between “y” and “i” occurs frequently in medieval Latin MSS. Hence you are likely to find the spelling ciane-. You are also generally likely to find confused spellings of Latin words derived from Greek."

- Marek Thue Kretschmer

“The alternation y/i in medieval manuscripts, especially for words derived from Greek (but also for all words that were perceived as rare or exotic) is very common. It is normal to find in the same manuscript, in the hand of the same copyist, forms like 'martyr/martir', 'ystoria/historia' and even 'Italia/Ytalia'. Precisely because it is a very frequent phenomenon, this alternation is not recorded in dictionaries, which generally put the 'classical' form as the headword. However, I can point out an occurrence of the word as cianus (with -i-) in the Latinitatis italicae medii aevi lexicon (saec. V ex.-saec. XII in.), edd. F. Arnaldi - P. Smiraglia et alii.”

- Paolo Chiesa

"I can say in general that the spelling of [i] for [y] occurs many times in medieval Latin mss., as does the reverse, often hypercorrectly."

- H.G.E. Rose

I note cianeus in the 10th century Pictish Chronicle (https://www.jassa.org/?p=8086).  The following study cites the spelling cianus in multiple early medieval MSS.:

https://aic-color.org/resources/Documents/jaic_v16_03_GdC2015.pdf

And see

http://www.mlat.uzh.ch/MLS/info_frame.php?tabelle=Anonymus_cps16&w=CYANEAS&tree=cyaneus%20ADJ&lang=0&inframe=1

CYANEAS

Wordlist from Comphistsem Frankfurt, Jan. 2016:

f GEN sg | f ACC pl cyanea

f ACC pl Cyanee

f ACC pl pos cyaneus

Helmut Schmid's TreeTagger with Latin data by Gabriele Brandolini: cyaneus ADJ

Lewis & Short, A latin dictionary (1879)

Cyanee, Cȳănĕē, ēs, f., = Κυανέη, a nymph, daughter of Mæander, mother of Caunus and of Byblis, Ov. M. 9, 452.

cyaneus, cȳănĕus, a, um, adj., = κυάνεος . Dark-blue, sea-blue: cyaneo colore avis, Plin. 10, 32, 47, § 89: stagna, Prud. Psych. 858. Cȳănĕae, ārum, f., = Κυάνεαι, the two small rocky islands at the entrance of the Pontus Euxinus, called also Symplegades, q. v., (show full text)

Gaffiot, Dictionnaire latin-français (2016, ex 1934), merci à G. Gréco, M. De Wilde, B. Maréchal, K. Ôkubo!

Cyanee Cyănĕē (et poét. Cȳ-) ēs, f. (Κυανέη), nymphe, fille du fleuve Méandre : Ov. M. 9, 452.

cyaneus,¹ 1 cȳănĕus, a, um (κυάνεος), bleu foncé, bleu azuré : Plin. 10, 89.

Cyaneus,² 2 Cȳănĕus, v. Cyaneæ.

Дворецкий И.Х., Отличный латинско-русский словарь (1976)

Cyanee Cyanee, es f Кианея, нимфа, дочь Меандра, возлюбленная Милета, мать Кавна и Библиды O.

DuCange, Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis (1883-7)

CYANEA, Scythiae gemma caeruleo coruscans nitore, purpura interdum et punctulis intermicantibus auratis pulvisculis varians, Isidoro lib. 16. Origin. cap. 9. Perperam in Glossario San-German. MS. Cianea; est enim a Graeco ϰυάνειος, vel ϰυάνεος, coeruleus, pro quo Plinius dixit Cyaneus.

Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum (thanks to the Centre for Classical Studies at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences (www.ics.cas.cz/en)) (2017)

cyaneus cyaneus 3. form.: kyanos |KNM XI A 27 f.1v|; kianos |CodVodn f.251v|; quianos |CapPr P 1342 f.177ra|; quianus, quiamas v. infra; tyamos |KNM X E 5 f.308v|; kyranos v. infra; kirianos |CapPr P 1468 f.34v in mg.| (show full text)

NOTE THAT THE MEANING ' DARK-BLUE ENAMEL, ESP. USED TO ADORN ARMOUR' EXACTLY MATCHES THE MEANING WELSH SCHOLARS ASSIGN TO UTHER'S EPITHET GORLASSAR.  HE IS THE 'BLUE-ENAMELLED ONE' OR THE 'ONE WEARING BLUE ENAMELLED ARMS' OR THE 'ONE BEARING BLUE ENAMELLED WEAPONS.' Alternately, gorlassar can be read as simply “the very blue one.”

GPC: 

llasar

[bnth. o ryw ff. sy’n tarddu yn y pen draw o’r Pers. lāzhward ‘lapis lazuli, lliw glas’; anodd gwybod beth oedd ffynhonnell uniongyrchol y bnth. i’r Gym.; cf. Arab. (al-)lazward, Llad. C. lazur, lazurius, lazulum (cf. lapis lazuli), Ffr. azur, S. azure; ond nid amhosibl bnth. H. Wydd. lasar ‘fflam, tân’, gyda’r ystyron ‘tanbaid, disglair, gloyw; peth gloyw (e.e. tarian)’]

eg. a hefyd fel a.

Sylwedd (?owmal (glas)) at addurno tariannau, &c.; yn dros. rhywbeth (e.e. tarian) wedi ei addurno â’r sylwedd hwn; glas, asur:

•  substance (?(blue) enamel) used to decorate shields, &c.; transf. something (e.g. shield) decorated with this substance; blue, azure. 

gorlasar

[gor-+glasar, H. Wydd. for-las(s)ar ‘tanllwyth mawr, tanbeidrwydd mawr’ ac fel a. ‘disglair, tanbaid’]

a.

Gloywlas, disgleirlas ei arfau:

bright-blue, having glinting weapons. 

While this was rather promising, my follow-up research on the 'pen kawell' in Line 6 of the MARWNAT VTHYR PEN elegy cinched the matter.  

I had tried to make my case for kawell being for kafell, 'sanctuary', as both W. kawell, 'basket', and kafell had come from the same Latin word.  But if taken literally, kawell meant just that - basket.  Welsh grammar rules prohibited me from seeing pen kawell as a place-name. We were looking at a line that read thusly - and seemingly nonsensically:

'Our Lord transforms me, the Chief Basket'

So I decided to look up ceawl in Bosworth and Toller's ANGLO-SAXON DICTIONARY.  Cunedda Maqui-coline appears in English sources as Ceawlin, the son, not the father of Cerdic (the entire Gewisse genealogy, in fact, runs backwards in the English sources).  And what did I find for ceawl?

ceawl

Noun [ masculine ]

ceawl, ceaul

a basket; cophinus,

[Variants cewl, cawl, ceol, ceaol, ceaul, ceowl.]

In other words, when Uther says he is transformed by God into the Chief Basket, we are looking at a Welsh translation of ceawl, the first part of Ceawlin's name!

We, therefore, appear to have some 'ciphers' in the Uther elegy.  Both gorlassar and kawell point to the Ciannachtan chieftain Ceawlin, i.e. Cunedda, as Arthur's father.  And that would mean, of course, that Arthur is Cerdic after all.  My exhaustive treatment of the Arthur name as a decknamen for an Irish or Welsh 'bear-king' name would be correct.  The original would have derived from the divine bear river in Cerdic's/Ceredig's Kingdom of Ceredigion, the Afon Arth.  The appearance of three Arto- names in Ceredig's royal line further suggest that an arth name or title may have belonged to him.  Lastly, there is the apparent oblique mention of Arthur as the crippled boy, son of Elafius, which I have shown to be an attempt by the St. Germanus hagiographer to interpret Arthur's name according to the usual fanciful etymological process.

Arthur was an Irish or Hiberno-British mercenary (or 'federate') who was fighting for the Welsh high king based at Wroxeter against his English enemies to the south.  He was NOT in alliance with the Saxons, as has been thought in the past.  For details on this revised view of Cerdic of Wessex, see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2021/11/why-gewissei-may-have-been-on-right.html.

For those who wish to review my case for Cunedda as an Irishman and not a Britain from Manau Goddodin, I recommend my book THE BEAR KING, which I will soon be making available again in both ebook and print formats:

https://www.amazon.com/Bear-King-Arthur-Southern-England/dp/1548982954

*

According to P. C. Bartrum in his A CLASSICAL WELSH DICTIONARY, "As a common noun cïan means ‘puppy, whelp’, and is so translated by Thomas Jones in SG (No.41 p.125)." But a cognate for Irish cian is not present in Welsh.  

Coming Soon: I HAVE BEYOND ANY DOUBT DISCOVERED THE TRUE IDENTITY OF UTHER PENDRAGON - AND IT IS A SHOCKER!

ERBIN FATHER OF GEREINT: A PROPOSED ETYMOLOGY

Geraint and Enid by Gustave Dore

When I began looking around for an etymology for the early Cornish name Erbin, I found that there were none to be had!  Attempts had been made to derive it from the Celtic, and also from the Classical languages.  All have been dismissed as deficient.

Part of the problem, undoubtedly, is that the form Erbin, as we have it, derives from Welsh sources.  Thus we have a Cornish name that has been taken into Welsh and quite possibly "Cymracized" to one degree or another over a considerable period of time.  

As the Welsh linguists proved unhelpful, I decided to write to Professor Jurgen Uhlich, one of the premiere experts in the early Irish language.  He had often been able to provide me with a less restrictive view of etymological problems that had led to new place and personal name derivations. 

I had asked the professor about a word similar to the Middle Welsh arbenn proposed by Professor Ranko Matasovic in his AN ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF PROTO-CELTIC.  While arbenn is not directly attested in Welsh, a word that could only have developed from it - arbennig - does exist.  The cognate of arbennig in Irish is airchinnech and it is regarding this last word that Uhlich was most interested in:

"Both the composite ‘preposition’ ar chiunn (literally ‘before the head/endpoint’) and the proper compounds archinnech involve ar ‘before’ and cenn ‘head < ‘endpoint’, so airchinnech = ‘before-head’ = ‘superior’. The equivalent of ar chiunn in Welsh is erbyn such as in the more composite phrase yn erbyn, with a historically secondary stress now on er-, and this is where I think offhand that your Cornish name comes in (which I had never come across). But neither ar chiunn nor erbyn can be described as ‘derivatives’ of airchinnech etc., they merely share the same two elements in different usages."

For arbennig in the GPC:

arbennig 

[H. Wydd. airchinnech: < *are-ku̯enn-īko-, cf. ar-, pen1, -ig2; petrus yw dosbarthiad rhai o’r enghrau. isod] 

a. ll. arbenigion, a hefyd fel eg. ll. arbenigion.

a  Prif, pennaf, pwysicaf, blaenaf, goruchaf, dihafal, rhagorol, gwych, rhyfeddol, ysblennydd:

principal, chief, main, foremost, supreme, matchless, excellent, wonderful, marvellous, splendid. 

And for airchinnech in the eDIL:

airchinnech

Forms: oirchinneach

n o, m. (airchinn?). oirchinneach m. IGT Decl. § 22 . head, leader, superior

If Erbin is, then, for Arben(n), the meaning would be something like "supreme leader."

The Danger of Thinking We Know Better: A Parting Statement on the Value of Tradition and its Ongoing War with the Researcher's Ego

Castle Dore, Cornwall

Finding myself after many years at the end of my Arthurian quest, some thoughts occur to me.

Foremost among these is "What took me so long?"  The answer to that question leads, inevitably, to a follow-up: simply put, "Why?"

Well, what took me so long, if I'm perfectly honest, is that like all other amateur sleuths (note there are no truly professional ones: real academics wisely eschew any attempt to identify a historical Arthur) I was intent on discovering not THE Arthur, but MY Arthur.  Very few of us are actually looking for the former.  And that is obvious not only in the displaying of an almost universal, stubborn refusal to accept the potential value of tradition, but also in the cantankerous, rancorous nature of the Arthurian debate.  I am constantly reminded of one of my favorite sayings of Montaigne:

"Nothing is so firmly believed as what we least know."

Like pretty much everyone else, I entered into the fray to try and prove that I could come up with the "right answer", the "best solution" to the Arthurian mystery.  I didn't realize at the time that there really wasn't much of a mystery there to begin with!  Tradition had always been pretty plain on where Arthur properly belonged and who he actually was.  It was we researchers who kept insisting on complicating matters, contenting ourselves with forever chasing the dragon's tail.

At one time or another in my Arthurian "career", I managed to fit the hero pretty much everywhere.  That was something I became quite adept at.  And each time I felt that I had managed to pin him down, I patted myself on the back in private celebration.  Yet there was always a nagging something in my argument or a missing piece of evidence that would eventually cause me to throw off a theory and embark on the formation of a newer and more valid or convincing one.  

The Arthurian adventure, undertaken in this way, becomes more than an adventure.  It becomes an obsession, a sort of addiction.  One returns to it over and over, much as people do now to the social media they cannot detach from without exhibiting withdrawal symptoms.  If permitted to do so, the pursuit of the Questing Beast can take over one's life, directing it, at times, to places one should not go.  

As for the "Why?" I alluded to above... I am speaking about ego, pure and simple.  In order to satisfy the demands of ego, a person must come up with a unique Arthurian theory that, no matter how bad, they can convince other people to subscribe to.  We can't do this if we "fall back on" tradition, for tradition already has it all figured out.  There is precious little opportunity for us to make a name for ourselves if we choose to defend a view of Arthur that is considered old and outmoded.  There is nothing exciting or glamorous about taking that route.  We will never be remembered as the "discover of Arthur".  We will, instead, have merely added our faint whisper to the canon of established literature and folklore.

What eventually brought me around to an appreciation of Arthurian tradition?  

Firstly, I became more and more convinced that Uther Pendragon as a title stood for the magister utriusque militiae rank of the British general of the Western Roman Empire, Gerontius.  That, in turn, led me to do something I had skillfully avoided doing in the past: I dared take a look at Gereint and related place-names in Cornwall.  That single action forced me to accept the very real possibility that Arthur did belong to Dumnonia after all and that, indeed, were we to try and propose a different origin, we would have to make a conscious decision to ignore the preponderance of the evidence.  It is with some measure of shame that I must to confess to occasionally being tempted to do down that path.  To my credit, I avoided the detour of denial and self-deception.  Barely.  Ego is a single-minded driver with a mighty whip-hand.  

Over the decades I have made and lost friends and colleagues for no other reason than we could not agree on this or that point.  And why couldn't we agree?  Because in the so-called Arthurian "community" nothing is more precious than one own's personal theory.  Never mind if the majority of such theories are poorly constructed, naive, betray a lack of training in any number of vital disciplines, are without rational foundation or even utterly deranged. Preconcieved bias rules all.  Nationalistic or ethnic "pride" or even religious/spiritual convictions are often present in the mix.  Any vestige of objectivity is drowned in a sea of informed ignorance.  I am reminded of what Isaac Asimov said when referring to the thread of anti-intellectualism running through American political and cultural life:

"my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."

I can't say I have any regrets about bowing out of the Arthurian field: by and large the experience has not been a pleasant one.  It has been a dirty war - with not even a Pyrrhic victory at the end of it all. Aside from whatever small contributions I may have made (most, if not all of which will soon be forgotten), when I think back on my many negative interactions with members of the community, it is with relief that I embrace an end to such folly.  Over the decades I have made a handful of true friends, but most associates and colleagues have either deserted me or were by necessity cut off whenever they exhibited a fanatical close-mindedness, insisted of refusing offered evidence and endlessly pushed inferior - and infuriating - quasi-arguments.  Arguments they would not alter under any conditions and had decided to take to their graves, presumably because they had staked their career reputations upon them. Arguments supporting baseless theories that served only to bolster deeply-entrenched personal beliefs, often of a wholly irrational nature. 

Maybe someday the tendency to put ego first and the genuine search for the truth last will be replaced by a more forthright and decent approach to Arthurian research.  If that ever happens, I will be here, perhaps ready to emerge from protection afforded by the "Shadows in the Mist." 

 

  

 

CASTLE DORE AS THE FORT OF UTHER PENDRAGON (A SELECTION FROM https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-forts-or-settlements-of-gorlois.html)

[https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-forts-or-settlements-of-gorlois.html]

A 'Caer Gwrlais' is right next to Castle Dore, a fort near where the famous Cunomorus/Cynfawr stone was found.  Cynfawr or Cunomorus was traditionally an ancestor of Geraint son of Erbin.  On the place-name Castle Dore from The Arthur of the Welsh: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval Welsh Literature (University of Wales Press, 2020):

The 'water' etymology is incorrect, in my opinion.  The word is plainly OE dor-weard (see the relevant entry in Bosworth and Toller), 'doorkeeper, porter.'  The word continued into Middle English (see https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/middle-english-dictionary/dictionary/MED12396) where it meant the same thing, a gatekeeper or porter.  We are immediately reminded of the Arthurian poem, PA GUR, which begins with the famous line 'Pa gur yv y porthaur?' or 'What man is the gatekeeper?'

The following selection from https://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/collins-arthurian-court-list-in-culhwch-and-olwen tells us about Arthur's gatekeeper:

"Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr: Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr serves as Arthur's gatekeeper in Culhwch where he (in typical gatekeeper fashion) protects convention by denying Culhwch entry into Arthur's hall until Arthur requests to see him. He also accompanies Arthur in the hunt for the boar Twrch Trwyth where he loses all of his servants save Llaesgymyn.

Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr appears in Pa Gur the eleventh century text from The Black Book of Carmarthen in which he refuses Arthur and his retinue entry into a castle, thereby compelling Arthur to provide a list of his companions and their exploits. Although the poem is cut off after 90 lines it contains many of the same characters invoked in Culhwch's list and many have argued that Culhwch derives from Pa Gur. This is possible although the gatekeeper/retinue motif is relatively common in Celtic literature (cf. The Battle of Mag Tuired from the Ulster cycle and Preiddeu Annwn.

Glewlwyd appears also in the Triads (88) as one of the "Three Irresistible Knights" of Arthur's court, and in the Gereint where he serves once again as Arthur's gatekeeper—an office which, according to this text, he fills only during three festivals per year. Not surprisingly, Glewlwyd functions similarly in Owein: Chwedl Iarlles y Ffynnon (Owein: the Tale of The Countess at the Fountain) where he is the gatekeeper at Arthur's court in Caerleon. Here, his role as an upholder of courtly convention remains, although he is not portrayed in opposition to the heroes entrance to the fort as he was in both Pa Gur and Culhwch. The text reads: "Glewlwyd Strong Grip was there acting as gatekeeper, greeting guests and foreigners, beginning to honor them, telling them habits and customs of the court, and informing those who had a right to go to the hall or the chamber, or who merited lodging" (Gantz, p. 193)."

The idea for 'Doorkeeper' or 'Gatekeeper' for the name of the fort may have come about, ultimately, from the constructed form of the fortification.  Here is the plan from Radford, C.A.R., 1951. Report on the Excavations at Castle Dore. Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall (ns), 1, pp.1-119, showing the specially designed inturned gate:

Note that near Castle Dore is a Treverbyn, that is the 'Settlement of Erbin.'  Erbin was the name of the father of Geraint (or son in the Life of Cybi).  

I feel fairly confident about this etymology.  If it is correct, I would propose that the original name of Castle Dore was Caer Gwrlais.  As Geoffrey of Monmouth created his separate charactere Gorlois from the gorlassar epithet Uther gives himself in the MARWNAT VTHYR PEN, we can state authoritatively that if Castle Dore is, in fact, Caer Gwrlais, then it is also the fort of Uther.  

In https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-forts-or-settlements-of-gorlois.html, I demonstrated that another Gwrlais/Gorlois place-name is in the midst of several Geraint place-names, and is especially close to Dingerein, the Fort of Geraint.  I believe this lends support to the notion that Uther Pendragon is a Welsh folk attempt at the magister utriusque militiae rank belonging to the early fifth century Gerontius, general of the Western Roman Empire.  This particular Gerontius was conflated with a later namesake, Arthur's father.

The 'Forts or Settlements of Gorlois' Next to Known Geraint and Cynfawr Sites (plus a Note on Penkevel and Uther's Pen Kawell)

Treworlas or Tref Gwrlais near Dingerein

Carne Beacon and the Carne Names on Gerrans Bay

Carhurles or Caer Gwrlais near Castle Dore

Penkevel Near Treworlas/Tref Gwrlais

In the past, I had not bothered to take a look at the Gorlois (Grwlais) place-names in Cornwall - and, as it turns out, that is to my great detriment.  

One of the 'Tref Gwrlais' sites* is right in the middle of known Geraint places, including Gerrans, Dingerein (Geraint's Fort), Gerrans Bay and the Carne Beacon where Geraint was supposedly buried (https://thejournalofantiquities.com/2013/09/05/carne-beacon-veryan-cornwall/).  The cluster of Carne names near the Beacon remind us of Gorlois's wife Ygerna, whom I have shown (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2021/06/a-new-identification-of-arthurs-mother.html) to be a name based on the Carne Hill of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Domellick/St. Dennis. 

Near Carne Beacon is Veryan Castle, an ancient hillfort (https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1019746?section=official-list-entry).

A 'Caer Gwrlais' is right next to Castle Dore, a fort near where the famous Cunomorus/Cynfawr stone was found.  Cynfawr or Cunomorus was traditionally an ancestor of Geraint son of Erbin.  On the place-name Castle Dore from The Arthur of the Welsh: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval Welsh Literature (University of Wales Press, 2020):

The 'water' etymology is incorrect, in my opinion.  The word is plainly OE dor-weard (see the relevant entry in Bosworth and Toller), 'doorkeeper, porter.'  The word continued into Middle English (see https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/middle-english-dictionary/dictionary/MED12396) where it meant the same thing, a gatekeeper or porter.  We are immediately reminded of the Arthurian poem, PA GUR, which begins with the famous line 'Pa gur yv y porthaur?' or 'What man is the gatekeeper?'

The following selection from https://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/collins-arthurian-court-list-in-culhwch-and-olwen tells us about Arthur's gatekeeper:

"Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr: Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr serves as Arthur's gatekeeper in Culhwch where he (in typical gatekeeper fashion) protects convention by denying Culhwch entry into Arthur's hall until Arthur requests to see him. He also accompanies Arthur in the hunt for the boar Twrch Trwyth where he loses all of his servants save Llaesgymyn.

Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr appears in Pa Gur the eleventh century text from The Black Book of Carmarthen in which he refuses Arthur and his retinue entry into a castle, thereby compelling Arthur to provide a list of his companions and their exploits. Although the poem is cut off after 90 lines it contains many of the same characters invoked in Culhwch's list and many have argued that Culhwch derives from Pa Gur. This is possible although the gatekeeper/retinue motif is relatively common in Celtic literature (cf. The Battle of Mag Tuired from the Ulster cycle and Preiddeu Annwn.

Glewlwyd appears also in the Triads (88) as one of the "Three Irresistible Knights" of Arthur's court, and in the Gereint where he serves once again as Arthur's gatekeeper—an office which, according to this text, he fills only during three festivals per year. Not surprisingly, Glewlwyd functions similarly in Owein: Chwedl Iarlles y Ffynnon (Owein: the Tale of The Countess at the Fountain) where he is the gatekeeper at Arthur's court in Caerleon. Here, his role as an upholder of courtly convention remains, although he is not portrayed in opposition to the heroes entrance to the fort as he was in both Pa Gur and Culhwch. The text reads: "Glewlwyd Strong Grip was there acting as gatekeeper, greeting guests and foreigners, beginning to honor them, telling them habits and customs of the court, and informing those who had a right to go to the hall or the chamber, or who merited lodging" (Gantz, p. 193)."

The idea for 'Doorkeeper' or 'Gatekeeper' for the name of the fort may have come about, ultimately, from the constructed form of the fortification.  Here is the plan from Radford, C.A.R., 1951. Report on the Excavations at Castle Dore. Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall (ns), 1, pp.1-119, showing the specially designed inturned gate:

Note that near Castle Dore is a Treverbyn, that is the 'Settlement of Erbin.'  Erbin was the name of the father of Geraint (or son in the Life of Cybi).  

I feel fairly confident about this etymology.  If it is correct, I would propose that the original name of Castle Dore was Caer Gwrlais.  

Finally, just across the Fal from the Geraint places, including Treworlas, is Penkevel and Penkevel Wood and, a little further towards the Truro River, St. Michael Penkivel.  Penkevel is only 3 kilometers from Treworlas. I had been told by a top Celtic and Welsh specialist that the Pen Kawell found in the Uther Pendragon elegy poem could not be for Penkevel/-kivel (earliest spelling in 1261 is Penkevel).  And this despite the fact that Uther in that very poem describes himself as 'gorlassar' and that God transforms him in the same same difficult line where the pen kawell phrase occurs.   [The transformation alluded to in the poem is Uther referring to himself as a 'candle in the gloom'; W. cannwyll or 'candle' also have the meaning of 'star'.] 

Important to notice is that there are no Gwrlais place-names anywhere near either Dimilioc or Tintagel, which were claimed as Gorlois sites by Geoffrey of Monmouth.  

What I'm sensing here is a relocation in the Galfridian tradition.  Given the Tintagel is a headland (see Tintagel Head), we might expect an original Pen- place-name.  If Pen Kawell is for Penkevel, then Ygerna (Y carne/cerne, 'The carn') may belong originally to the Carne Beacon neighborhood.  

Whether any of this holds true pretty much depends on how much weight we decide to place on Penkevel as Pen Kawell. 

http://cornish-place-names.wikidot.com/st-michael-penkivel

Sancti Michaelis de Penkevel, 1261; Penkevel, 1291; Sancti Michaelis de Penkevel, 1349; Penkevel, 1359; St Michael Penkevil, 1767; St Michael Penkivell, 1884; St Michael Penkevil, 1899

http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Cornwall/St.%20Michael%20Penkevil

The parish is distinguished by the name of the manor Penkevil, perhaps, 'horse head'. The exact reference is unknown, possibly a feature thought to resemble a horse's head or to a promontory of land.

Elements and their meanings

kevyl (Middle Cornish) Possibly horse or horses.

penn (Primitive Welsh) Head, end, top, height, a hill.

While we may not be able to properly derive kawell from the Cornish word for horse, at least not by following strict linguistic rules, it is not at all impossible - and, indeed, fairly plausible - that a Welshman either mistook kevyl for his own word kawell (cawell) or that a simple copying error is to blame.  It is also possible that the original word was the Cornish equivalent of W. cawell, but later was corrupted in its present form. 

[NOTE: Pen Kawell may be better placed at the River Cale, anciently Cawel, or even at the Camels near Cadbury Castle.  See https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2021/06/is-uthers-kawell-cale-river-in-somerset.html.]

Now, if I am right and Uther Pendragon is a Welsh attempt to render the magister utriusque militiae rank of the early fifth century Gerontius, Constantine III's general, and that this man was conflated with a later Geraint who was Arthur's father, then we must ask the obvious question: was Arthur born not at Tintagel, as Geoffrey of Monmouth would have it, but at the Dingerein Castle (https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1019742) fort between the Carne place-names and that of Penkevel?

It would appear that an earlier tradition for these places is still extant, although nearly obliterated by Geoffrey of Monmouth, who seems to have moved what happened there to Domellick/St. Dennis and Tintagel. 

In any case, it is plain that the Gwrlais name, brought into such close connection with Geraint locations, adds some support to my theory that Uther/Gorlassar = a Geraint.

*Treworlis Barton north of Breage in Cornwall appears to be more recent, perhaps named after one or both of the other sites.  Certainly, as a location it does not seem to have anything to do with Gorlois or Geraint.  For details, see https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1158210, where it is described as a circa early-mid 19th century farmhouse. 

I would also add the obvious here: Gwrlais or Gorlois is not a person, but an epithet for Uther.  There is always the possibility - a very real one - that the reason the name Gwrlais was used in these Cornish place-names is precisely because they post-date Geoffrey of Monmouth's development of the separate personage Gorlois from the gorlassar epithet from the MARWNAT VTHYR PEN.  If that is the case, then we can place no weight whatsover on such place-names in extreme southern Cornwall.