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.
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.
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