SAMPLE CHAPTER TWO FROM MY BOOK THE ARTHUR OF HISTORY

Coin of Constantine III

CHAPTER 2

 

ARTHUR’S ANCESTRY:

RESTORING A GENEALOGY

 

Suffice it to say that no one today seriously considers Geoffrey of Monmouth’s claim that Arthur’s father Uther Pendragon was a son of a Constantine who had been modelled upon the usurping Roman emperor of that name.  Yet any non-Galfridian tradition offering a different pedigree for Arthur seems to be absent. 

 

Might Uther Pendragon really have been Arthur’s father, yet also have been a famous historical figure in disguise? 

 

In Gildas's THE RUIN OF BRITAIN, the Britons, after being left to their own devices by the Romans, ask for help one last time.  The person they address their plea to is called Agitius. Most scholars believe this Agitius to be Aetius (391-454 A.D.), and not Aegidius.  However, the latter died in (probably) 465.

 

For some reason, the Roman title of magister utriusque militiae ("master of both services, i.e. horse and foot") flashed across my mind's eye.  Both Aetius and Aegidius had held this rank.  I would refer my readers to The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume 2, AD 395-527 by Arnold Hugh Martin Jones and J. R. Martindale for confirmation of this statement.

 

What I'm proposing for consideration is simply this:  Uthr is not from the Welsh word uthr/uthyr, but is instead a substitution for Latin uter, the root of utriusque, itself from the genitive masc./fem./neut. uterque (uter + -que).  Pendragon (= "chief leader/warrior" or chief of warriors; see Marged Haycock's note to the epithet in her version of MARWNAT VTHYR PEN) would then be for the magister...militiae (cf. magister militum).  Linguistically, we cannot derive Uther from uter.  But, the utriusque title at some point may have been mistakenly related to the Welsh word uthr. This would have been a simple process of folk etymology.  Note that in early Latin writings (e.g. in the gloss on Arthur's name in the HISTORIA BRITTONUM) uth(e)r is spelled uter. 

 

magister      utriusque      militiae

pen              uther             dragon

 

I have had this from Professor Doctor Peter Schrijver, Departementshoofd Talen, Literatuur & Communicatie, Keltische Talen en Cultuur,  Departement Talen, Literatuur en Communicatie, Universiteit Utrecht, on my idea:

 

"That’s very inventive. Strictly linguistically, I would have expected utrius to have become W *Ydr, not Uthr, so that does not work. The alternative would be that this is early folk etymology: utrius(que) simply looks like British *üthr, so they were identified."

 

Agitius - whoever he was - is asked for help by the Britons, but no help is received.  In Geoffrey of Monmouth's "history", the Britons seek the same aid and also have it refused.  Then they try asking for assistance from their brethren in Brittany (a part of the Gaul over which Aegidius was MVM).  The king of Brittany sends Constantine, father of Uther.

 

Note that Aegidius may have died of poison - as did Uther, according to the Galfridian tradition.

So there it is - the idea that Uther Pendragon may, in fact, derive from an important Roman rank/title, viz. MVM or magister utriusque militiae.

 

The problem at the time was that I was unaware of an important fact: there was a famous British general of the time of Constantine III and Constans named Gerontius.  And he, too, was a MVM or 'magister utriusque militiae!'  This is confirmed by numerous scholarly sources, including the ultimate source on such things, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume 2, AD 395-527:

 

https://books.google.com/books?id=G5W6vCO_pYUC&pg=PA508&lpg=PA508&dq=gerontius+MVM&source=bl&ots=8l-FeeiwuG&sig=ACfU3U1Wu1Ee5nxLFuaHgzCndCRlq6UkPg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiw29O0j9DrAhUvHzQIHasVDW0Q6AEwA3oECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=gerontius%20MVM&f=false

 

See also https://books.google.com/books?id=Ho7mDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA111&lpg=PA111&dq=%22Gerontius%22%2B%22utriusque%22&source=bl&ots=8x9BQZB9TZ&sig=ACfU3U3AzpeMJ_N6mXzZ-IATIOH2V2md_Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiG4bye34rtAhWEu54KHZe0B0kQ6AEwAnoECAIQAg#v=onepage&q=%22Gerontius%22%2B%22utriusque%22&f=false

 

The Fragmentary Latin Histories of Late Antiquity (AD 300-620): Edition, Translation and Commentary, Cambridge University Press, May 31, 2020

 

And Gerontius, Magister utriusque

militiae of Constantine III

and Maximus.

407-411 Brit. Seeck, RE 7.1270 s.v.

Gerontius (6); PLRE II

(5)

 

from

 

http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/zpe/downloads/1994/100pdf/100145.pdf

 

It makes some sense to see in Uther Pendragon the MVM Gerontius.  For in Geoffrey of Monmouth's THE HISTORY OF THE KINGS OF BRITAIN, Uther, Constans and Ambrosius are all made sons of Constantine.  I have elsewhere shown that Ambrosius was a contemporary of Constans I (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2020/05/why-ambrosius-aurelianus-was-put-in.html). Constans II was named after the first Constans and so the two could easily have become confused in the folk tradition. 

 

The name Gerontius occurs in the early Dumnonian pedigree as Geraint.  Scholars think there may have been a few such men in the region.  In the Arthurian pedigree, a Geraint is found either as a brother of Uther and son of Constantine (see https://www.ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/ctexts/cybi1.html and https://www.ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/ctexts/cybi2.html) or as a cousin of Arthur.  Here is the section of Erbin, variously son or father of Geraint, from P. C. Bartrum's A CLASSICAL WELSH DICTIONARY:

 

"ERBIN ap CUSTENNIN GORNEU. (440) He is frequently mentioned as the father of Geraint, but little is said of Erbin himself. In the Life of St.Cybi he is mentioned as the father of Selyf the father of Cybi, but is made the son, instead of the father, of Geraint (§1 in VSB p.234, EWGT p.27). A.W.Wade-Evans accepted the version of the Life of St.Cybi (WCO pp.103, 183, VSB p.xii) but “the evidence of all other early and medieval sources is in favour of Gereint mab Erbin as the correct order of the names” (TYP p.358 n.1). According to Bonedd y Saint he was the son of Custennin Gorneu and father of Geraint (§§ 26, 27, 76) Erbin, and his family are fundamentally associated with Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. In the tale of ‘Geraint and Enid’ the father of Geraint is called Erbin ap Custennin (WM 409, 412, RM 263, 266). The tale was based by a Welsh redactor on the romance, Erec et Enide, by Chrétien de Troyes, but in order to adapt to Welsh taste he substituted Geraint ab Erbin for Erec son of king Lac, and Erbin ap Custennin for king Lac. We cannot, therefore, accept what the Welsh version says of Geraint ab Erbin as genuine tradition, except perhaps insofar as it departs from the version of Chrétien. On these grounds we may suppose that there is some basis in the statement that when Geraint returned to the kingdom of his father, Erbin ap Custennin, ‘they went [from Caerleon-on-Usk] towards the Severn, and on the far side of the Severn were the best men of Erbin ap Custennin’ (WM 412, RM 266). This implies that the dominions of Erbin were in Somerset. In ‘Erec et Enide’ king Lac was residing in a town named Carnant, ‘four long days' journey over hills and slopes, through forests, plains and streams’ from Cardigan. The change is significant. We are further told that Erbin was uncle to Arthur (WM 409,RM 263) implying that Erbin ap Custennin was brother to Uthr ap Custennin. In Bonedd y Saint §73 (EWGT p.65) Erbin is listed as a saint and brother of Digain the saint of Llangernyw in Rhos, Gwynedd. Erbin is said to be the saint of Erbistock on the Dee in Maelor (PW 105, WCO 203). These two places are about 35 miles apart although they are far enough from the native land of their patrons. The Welsh Calendars give January 13 and May 29 as Erbin's festival, many of them giving both dates (LBS I.70, 72, II 459). There is a place called Treverbyn about three miles north of St.Austell in Cornwall, also a Treverven. St.Ervan, three miles south-south-west of Padstow, may be named from Erbin, but see s.n. Erme. St.Erven is honoured in three places in the Morbihan in Brittany (G.H.Doble, Saint Hermes, Cornish Saints Series No.35, pp.19-20). Eruen is one of the four saints of Llangwm, Gwent (BLD 274, PW 81)." 

 

Wade-Evans' discussion of Erbin as son, not father, of Geraint may be found here:

 

https://books.google.com/books?id=gZxFAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA99&lpg=PA99&dq=%22erbin+son+of+geraint%22&source=bl&ots=TvrnJwmc25&sig=ACfU3U2PKlv8UHGlDSXQQqanus_JGOaXGg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiVx4-O0bzrAhUVHjQIHaolD-MQ6AEwA3oECAYQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22erbin%20son%20of%20geraint%22&f=false

 

Now, if the St. Cybi VITA is right and Geraint was a son of Constantine, this would pair well with Uther as the son of the same man.  We might reasonably wonder if Geraint and Uther were not, originally, the same personage.  Can we make a case for Geraint = Uther Pendragon/magister utriusque militiae?

 

Well, nothing can be proven, of course.  And we have to ask ourselves which Geraint is intended as Arthur's father.  The famous general is too early (d. 411).  So we would be looking at a later Geraint in Dumnonia.  There is some slight evidence for such.  The following entries on the Geraints is again drawn from Bartrum:

 

"GERAINT (GERENNIUS), of Cornwall.A king of Cornwall mentioned in the Life of St.Teilo in the Book of Llandaf. It tells that duringthe ravages of the Yellow Plague in Britain (see Y Fad Felen) Teilo was advised by an angel to go toArmorica. He came first to Cornubia [Cornwall] and was well received by Gerennius, king of thatcountry. At the king's request Teilo received his confession and promised that the king ‘would not seedeath until he had received the Body of the Lord which he [Teilo] himself would have consecrated.’Teilo then proceeded to Armorica (BLD 108).While in Armorica Teilo became aware that Gerennius was very sick and about to die. In orderto keep his promise to Gerennius, he returned to Britain, having completed seven years and sevenmonths in Armorica. He and his party arrived at the harbour of Din Gerein and found the king still alive.The king received the sacrament and ‘joyfully departed to the Lord.’ His body was buried in a vastsarcophagus which had been miraculously transported across the sea from Armorica (BLD 113-4).If we accept the story the date of death of Gerennius must be put about seven years after thebeginning of the Yellow Plague in Britain, [547], i.e. about 554.There is a church and parish of Gerrans near Falmouth in Cornwall, the dedication beingpresumably to this Gerennius. The date of celebration being August 10 (LBS III.52). It is called Ecclesiade Sancto Gerendo (1294) and Seynt Gerent (1360) (G.H.Doble, The Saints of Cornwall, III.81). Thereis a Kill-Gerran in St.Anthony in Roseland (LBS III.51), Killagerran (Doble p.81). Sancte Geronte(vocative) is mentioned with SS.Petrocus and Kyeranus [Piran] and Cadocus in the Exeter Litany(Harleian MS.863) printed by the Henry Bradshaw Society at the end of the Leofric Collectar. Seefacs.XVI (Doble p.80).According to the Martyrology of Exeter S.Buriana (q.v.) cured a son of king Gerentius ofparalysis. It is evidently this king who is referred to (Doble p.80).The following is from Popular Romances of the West of England, collected and edited by RobertHunt, F.R.S., Third edition, London, 1881, p.459:SAINT GERENNIUS.The beacon at Veryan stands on the highest ground in Roseland, at a short distance from thecliff which overlooks Pendower and Gerrans Bay. ... The present height of this tumulus above thelevel of the field in which it stands is 28 feet, and its circumference at the base 350 ft. ...A tradition has been preserved in the neighbourhood that Gerennius, an old Cornish saint andking, whose palace stood on the other side of Gerrans Bay, between Trewithian and the sea, wasburied in this mound many centuries ago, and that a golden boat with silver oars were used inconveying his corpse across the bay, and were interred with him.The name Din Gerein, found in the Life of Teilo, was given to a mound in the Parish of Gerransby Dr. John Whitaker in 1804. There is no earlier authority for the identification. Dr.Whitaker is alsoresponsible for the story of the burial of Gerennius at Carne Beacon (Ancient Cathedral of Cornwall,I.302; G.H.Doble, S. Gerent, Cornish Saints Series No.41, p.18). Carne Beacon is a mile south of Veryan."

 

 

"GERAINT (GERUNTIUS), king of Dumnonia.The last independent king of Dumnonia. He appears to have been an able prince and to havewielded considerable power, as we learn from a letter addressed to him in the year 705, by bishopAldhelm, a relation of Ina, king of Wessex. Aldhelm calls him Geruntius. For the text of the letter see A WELSH CLASSICAL DICTIONARY311Migne, Patr. Lat., lxxxix p.87; Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, III.268. See also WCO 282-3. He is calledGerent, Weala cyning, in a twelfth century addition to the Parker Chronicle and in the later manuscriptsof the Saxon Chronicle under the year 710. (G.H.Doble, The Saints of Cornwall, III.85). The entry is‘Ina also, and Nun his relative, fought with Gerent, king of the Welsh’.There is a poem in the Black Book of Carmarthen (BBC 71.11) and in the Red Book of Hergest(RBP col.1042) which tells of a battle fought at a place called Llongborth by a chieftain named Gereint.It is very tempting to suppose that Llongborth is Langport in Somerset, twelve miles east of Taunton,and that Gereint is the Geruntius of Aldhelm and the Gerent of the ASC. But there are two difficulties:(1) the title of the poem is Gereint fil' Erbin, and (2) the mention of Arthur in stanza 8. Both of thesewould suggest that the poem refers to an Arthurian context, because Geraint ab Erbin is well known as acharacter in Arthurian legend. As regards (1) it may be pointed out that the name Erbin does not appearin the text of the poem, so that it could have been added by a scribe under a misapprehension. Withrespect to (2) Arthur and his men may be regarded as appearing from the Otherworld like the Greek godsin the Iliad, to fight on the side of this Geraint. Similarly the Welsh poet Cynddelw mentions thepresence of St.Tysilio at the battle of Cogwy or Maserfelth in the year 642. See s.n. Tysilio. Thisinterpretation was suggested by John Rhys (CB pp.234-5) and approved by E.K.Chambers (Arthur ofBritain, 1927, p.66), and Thomas Jones (BBCS 58 p.247 (1958)). See further s.n. Llongborth.The poem is discussed by Brynley F. Roberts in Astudiaethau ar yr Hengerdd, ed. by RachelBromwich and R. Brinley Jones, 1978, chapter 12.For modern translations of the poem see Gwyn Williams, The Burning Tree, 1956, pp.43-45,Joseph P. Clancy, The Earliest Welsh Poetry, 1970, pp.103-5. The following stanzas nos.1 and 4 aretypical while the two crucial stanzas are nos.8 and 9:1 Before Gereint, the enemy's punisher,I saw white stallions with red shins,and after the war-cry a bitter grave.4 At Llongborth I saw vulturesand more than many a bierand men red before Gereint's onrush.8 At Llongborth I saw Arthur,brave men hewed with steel;[He was] emperor, ruler of battle.9 At Llongborth Gereint was slain,[and] brave men from the border of Diwneint [Dyfnaint = Devon];And ere they were slain they slew.It may be noted that a stanza in the above poem, missing in the BBC text and no.2 in the RBPtext, is without the last line. This last line appears as Gelyn i Seis, câr i seint, ‘Foe to the English, friendof the saints’ in Peniarth MS.111 (c.1600). (Jenny Rowland, Early Welsh Saga Poetry, 1990, p.242; E.Phillimore in Cy. 7 (1886) p.122). Compare Geraint ab Erbin.A king Geren is mentioned in the newly discovered (1912) Life of St.Turiau of Dol. Here we aretold (Ch.9) that Geren was a friend of Turiau, beyond the sea. When Geren died Turiau saw his soulbeing carried away by angels but surrounded by malignant spirits. He bade the clergy and people aroundhim to pray for his friend, whereat the demons were driven away (G.H.Doble, The Saints of Cornwall,III.78-9). The Life is said to have been written c.850 (ibid. p.80). Turiau seems to have lived c.700, andas Geren is given as his contemporary, he may be the Geraint of this article (ibid., pp.83-4). Turiau wassixth bishop of Dol. G.H.Doble thought that parts of the story about Gerennius in the Book of Llandaf[see s.n. Geraint (Gerennius)] are based on what is said about Geren in the Life of St.Turiau (G.H.Doble,St.Teilo, Welsh Saints Series No.3, pp.22-3)."

 

"GERAINT ab ERBIN. (Legendary). (470)In the Life of St.Cybi it is said that Cybi was ex regione Cornubiorum, being born between therivers Tamar and Limar, cuius pater Salomon fuit, Erbin filius, filius Gereint, filius Lud (§1 in VSBp.234, EWGT p.27).This is the only authority which makes Erbin son, rather than father, of Geraint. On the otherhand it is the earliest authority to mention Geraint and Erbin. In view of the persistence of laterauthorities in representing Geraint as the son of Erbin, it seems that we must suppose an error in theabove pedigree. We may, however, accept that Selyf [Salomon], the father of Cybi, was the son of Erbinand not the son of Geraint as later authorities state. See Selyf ab Erbin.There is a poem in the Black Book of Carmarthen and in the Red Book of Hergest whichmentions Geraint at a battle at Llongborth. The title, which may be a later addition, calls him Gereint fil'Erbin. But it seems probable that he was a later Geraint. See s.n. Geraint (Geruntius) king of Dumnonia.Gereint mab Erbin is mentioned in the tale of ‘Culhwch and Olwen’ as one of the warriors ofArthur's Court (WM 462, RM 107) and as the father of Cadwy (WM 460, RM 106). He is alsomentioned in the tale ‘Rhonabwy's Dream’ as Gereint the father of [C]Adwy (RM 159). He is againmentioned in a triad (TYP no.14) as one of the ‘Three Seafarers’ of Ynys Prydain. He appears as thefather of Cado [Cadwy] and the son of Erbin in a pedigree in Jesus College MS.20 (JC §10 in EWGTp.45). In Bonedd y Saint he is mentioned as the father of Selyf [see remarks above], Iestyn, Cyngar andCadwy (§§26, 76) and in §76 his wife is said to have been Gwyar ferch Amlawdd Wledig.The tale of ‘Geraint and Enid’ in WM and RM is based on the French romance of Erec et Enideby Chrétien de Troyes. The Welsh redactor substituted the name Geraint ab Erbin for Erec son of kingLac, and directly took over the name Enid for his wife. We cannot accept what is said of Geraint in thisstory as genuine Welsh tradition. On the other hand the Welsh redactor departed from his source attimes, and evidently made use of his knowledge of Welsh lore. In such cases we may therefore take afew hints as to certain Welsh traditions concerning Geraint. We may, for example, suppose that Geraintleft Arthur's Court at the request of his father Erbin, in order to rule the dominions of his father who wasgetting old (WM 409-10, RM 263-4); and that these dominions bordered on the left bank of the Severn(WM 412, RM 266). This agrees with the fact that we find Geraint's son Cadwy ruling in Somerset. Alsothat Geraint was cousin to Arthur (WM 438, RM 285), Erbin being Arthur's uncle (WM 409, RM 263).This is in agreement with the usual pedigree of Erbin (q.v.).Gereint ab Erbin is credited with a proverb in ‘Englynion y Clyweid’ in Llanstephan MS.27(No.21, ed. BBCS 3 p.11): ‘Short-lived is the hater of the Saints’. This is reminiscent of a line in a lateversion of the ‘Llongborth’ poem where Geraint is described as ‘Friend of the Saints’. See s.n. Geraint(Geruntius), king of Dumnonia.GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTHHRB speaks of Guerinus Carnotensis (G. of Chartres) as being present at Arthur's specialcoronation and bringing with him twelve peers of Gaul (IX.12). This becomes Gereint Carnwys, or thelike in ByB. The twelve peers who came with Guerinus Carnotensis are again mentioned in IX.19. Thereis nothing corresponding in Brut Dingestow, but the ‘Cleopatra’ version here calls him Gereint vabErbin. Guerinus Carnotensis took part in Arthur's wars against the Romans Lucius and Leo (X.4, 6, 9).In all these cases ByB in ‘Dingestow’ and ‘Cleopatra’ has Gereint Carnwys."

 

And a nice summary on these Dumnonian Geraints as drawn from John Koch's (ed.) CELTIC CULTURE: A HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA:

 

"Geraint fab Erbin was a Welsh legendary hero,

probably based on a historical figure, though the

identity of this source is uncertain and a composite possible. The best documented historical Geraints were (1) Gerontius, the British-born general of Constantine III who was declared emperor by the Romano-British garrison and ruled Britain, Gaul, and Spain from 407 to 411, and (2) the king Gerontius or Geruntius of Dumnonia, to whom a letter was written by Aldhelm in 705; (2) is called Gerent in later sources. If they have any historical basis, the Arthurian associations of the literary Geraint would better suit a period between these two (Sims-Williams, Arthur of the Welsh 46–7). There is a hero called ‘Geraint from

the southern region’ in the Gododdin, possibly

composed in the later 6th century. A King Gerennius of Cornubia (i.e. Cornwall/Kernow) is mentioned in the Welsh Latin Life of St Teilo, and he would belong notionally to the period c. 500. In the Life of St Cybi, Gereint is said to have been the great grandfather of the saint. However, the fact that Erbin figures there as Gereint’s son, not his father as usual, suggests that this was a sloppy mishandling of genealogies. Although Gerontius is attested in late Roman Britain and Gereint becomes common in genealogies of the Middle Welsh period (cf. Cunomor), and Geraint is very common in present-day Wales, the name is not common in Old Welsh, Old Breton, or Old Cornish sources."

 

Note that in the St. Cybi genealogy mentioned by Koch, Geraint’s father is not Constantine, but Lud (the god Lludd/Nudd/Nodens).  See https://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/cybi1.html

and https://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/cybi2.html.

 

Arthur is brought into close connection with a Geraint in the early Welsh elegy to that Dumnonian king.  While the reading of the text is difficult and still somewhat controversial, Nerys Ann Jones (ARTHUR IN EARLY WELSH POETRY) has presented the best possible interpretation of the problematic lines:

 

In Llongporth were slain brave warriors belonging to Arthur, they hewed with steel...

 

In Llongporth were slain brave warriors belonging to Geraint from the region of Dyfnaint...

 

In the same poem, Arthur is praised as "emperor, leader of battle."

 

Most scholars hold to the view that this Llongporth battle conforms to that found in the ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE under the year entry 710 A.D. John Koch in his CELTIC CULTURE: A HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA describes the probable location of this battle:

 

"The location of the battle of Llongborth and its historicity are also in doubt. Possibly Langport, Somerset, England, is meant, or some miscellaneous llongborth ‘ship harbour’; cf. Irish longphort used for Viking encampments. The late John Morris’s proposal that Llongborth was Portsmouth/Portchester [site of an ASC battle c. 501 A.D.] has found little subsequent support."

 

Clearly, if the 8th century battle is intended, Arthur's name is either a gross anachronism or Geraint is being referred to as 'the Arthur' in a metaphorical sense.  Part of the translation problem of the relevant stanzas is the /y/ fronting both Arthur's and Geraint's names.  In other words, it may be better to render the above lines as

 

In Llongporth were slain brave warriors of the Arthur, they hewed with steel...

 

In Llongporth were slain brave warriors of the Geraint from the region of Dyfnaint...

 

Geraint or Gerontius is from the Greek stem geron, meaning 'old man (see http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/zpe/downloads/1994/100pdf/100145.pdf).'

 

On the other hand, if Arthur really is to be paired with Geraint in this battle, the action would have to be moved back to the 5th-6th centuries.

 

There is yet another possible reason why Arthur is found in the Geraint poem on the Battle of Llongporth.  In 658 A.D., according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Cenwalh battled the Welsh at Penselwood in Somerset and drove them to the River Parrett. It cannot be a coincidence that Langport lies on the Parrett.  A Geraint is mentioned as fighting Ine and Nunna in 710, but the location is not given.

 

Note that directly between Penselwood and Langport lies South Cadbury, site of the famous Cadbury Castle hillfort that traditionally has been associated with Arthur (for more on Arthur and Cadbury Castle, see the last section of Chapter 5 below).  The River Cam at South Cadbury is a tributary of the Yeo and becomes the Parrett at Langport.

 

If a Geraint fought here, then we may have some evidence that his fortress was Cadbury Castle.  Geraint had a son named Cadwy and I've elsewhere written about this name and its connection to the various Cadbury forts (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/12/cadburys-and-personal-name-badda.html).

 

A NOTE ON UTHER AND VICTOR

 

In her addition of the Marwnat Vthyr Pen, Haycock has:

 

11 am Wythur On the personal name Gwythur, see §15.31. Am ‘for, around’,

perhaps here meaning that the speaker was in Gwythur’s entourage.

 

This note is for the line -

 

Neur ordyfneis-i waet am Wythur,

I was used to blood[shed] around Gwythur,

 

Gwythur (or Gwythyr) cannot be for anything other than the Latin/Roman name Victor (Dr. Simon Rodway, private correspondence).  This being so, it can't be Flavius Victor, the usurping British emperor of who died in 388 A.D.  But if we want a Victor who was 5th century, and who could have been associated with a Geraint of Dumnonia, we have a record of such a man.

 

Scholars believe that a Dumnonian Geraint may well have held sway over not only Cornwall and Devon, but over the Domnonee in Brittany as well.  If he did, this would remind us that Geoffrey of Monmouth has Uther come to Britain from Brittany. 

 

There was Dark Age Withur of Leon in Brittany.  Leon was in the westernmost part of Domnonee (see John Koch in CELTIC CULTURE: A HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA).  We learn of this 'Victor' from the VITA of St. Paul Aurelian of Leon.  Here is the relevant section from P.C. Bartrum's A CLASSICAL WELSH DICTIONARY:

 

15. Paul learnt that the lord of the land was Withur. He came to the city (oppidum) which is now called by his name [i.e. Saint-Pol-de-Léon].

16. Paul came to Battham insulam [Isle of Batz] where Withur often came for quietude.

17. Paul met Count Withur who was his cousin.

18. Paul spent the rest of his days in that island and in the oppidum [St.Pol-de-Léon].

19. Withur and the people wished to make Paul bishop, but knowing that he would object,

and perhaps leave, decided on the stratagem of sending Paul to king Philibert [Childebert, 511-558], secretly asking him to have him made bishop, even against his will. So he was consecrated by three bishops.

 

15. Withur was probably a very local ‘lord’ (PCB). The name = Victor (Doble p.49), Welsh Gwythur or Gwythyr.

 

Of course, we must be careful here; Geoffrey of Monmouth brings Uther into the orbit of the Breton chieftain Budicius.  This name has as its root Celtic *boudi-, 'victory', from*boudīko-, 'victorious.'  Thus, it is possible that Victor and Budicius were, initially, one and the same person.

 

Uther’s Dragon-Star in the MARWNAT VTHYR PEN

 

Some time ago I finished treating exhaustively of the first portion of the Elegy of Uther Pendragon (MARWNAT VTHYR PEN) from the Book of Taliesin.  The results were rather surprising.  Before I begin discussing my new reading for a couple key lines of the poem, here are editor Marged Haycock’s notes on the two most important, but very troublesome sections:

 

6 a’m rithwy am dwy pen kawell G emends am dwy > an Dwy(w) ‘our Lord’,

understood as the subject of 3sg. subjunct. rithwy ‘transform’ etc., but yn adwy

‘in the breach’ or yn ardwy ‘as a defence’ would give a more regular three

syllables in the central section. Kawell ‘basket, pannier; cradle; fish-trap; creel,

cage; quiver; belly, breast’ (GPC) seems unlikely, as do cowyll ‘maidenhood-fee;

clothing, covering’ (with G s.v. coŵyll), sawell ‘chimney, kiln’ (see on §4.246),

or nawell ‘nine times better’. Cannwyll is sometimes a rhyme partner for tywyll

(e.g. AP line 88 cannwyll yn tywyll; CC 18.13; R1056.15), and would yield full

rhyme. ‘May our Lord, the guiding/chief light, transform me’ is a possibility; or

(with yn adwy) ‘May the guiding/chief light (i.e. God) transform me in the

breach’. Or is pen kawell a basket to collect up the heads he cuts off (line 18)? If

Uthr is the speaker, is vb rithaw to be connected with his transformation through

disguise (see introduction)? Obscure.

 

7 eil kawyl yn ardu G emends kawyl > Sawyl, the personal name (from Samuelis

via *Safwyl). Sawyl Ben Uchel is named with Pasgen and Rhun as one of the

Three Arrogant Men, Triad 23, as a combative tyrant in Vita Cadoci (VSB 58);

and in CO 344-5. Samuil Pennissel in genealogies, EWGT 12 (later Benuchel),

Irish sources, and in Geoffrey of Monmouth. Other Sawyls include a son of

Llywarch, and the saint commemorated in Llansawel: see further TYP3 496,

WCD 581 and CO 104. Ardu ‘darkness, gloom; dark, dreadful (GPC), sometimes

collocated with afyrdwl ‘sad; sadness’ (see G, GPC).

 

And the lines under consideration follow…

 

Neu vi luossawc yn trydar:

It is I who commands hosts in battle:

 

ny pheidwn rwg deu lu heb wyar.

I’d not give up between two forces without bloodshed.

 

Neu vi a elwir gorlassar:

It’s I who’s styled ‘Armed in Blue’:

 

vy gwrys bu enuys y’m hescar.

my ferocity snared my enemy.

 

5 Neu vi tywyssawc yn tywyll:

It is I who’s a leader in darkness:

 

a’m rithwy am dwy pen kawell.

. . . . .

 

Neu vi eil Sawyl5 yn ardu:

It’s I who’s a second Sawyl in the gloom.

 

ny pheidwn heb wyar rwg deu lu:

I’d not give up without bloodshed [the fight] between two forces.

 

Kawell has remained nonsensical for some time.  I will treat of a new rendering of it in the section on Ygerna below.

 

Sawyl in Line 7 is an incorrect emendation. Instead, cannwyll works very nicely here, matching “the leader in darkness” of line 5.  Haycock had suggested can(n)wyl(l) for the Pen Kawell line, but just as kawell cannot come from the Welsh word for horse (cafal, ceffyl; information courtesy Dr. Simon Rodway of The University of Wales), nor can it represent cannwyll. Cannwyll can mean both luminary as well as (metaphorically) leader.  Presumably, Uther was a 'second luminary' in the sense that God was the first.  Or he is referring to himself as opposed to the dragon-star itself.

 

Dr. Simon Rodway has informed me that cawyl could represent an error for cannwyll: "Yes, that’s possible. A copyist might have missed an n-suspension over the a, and single n for double nn is quite common in Middle Welsh MSS."

 

From the GPC:

 

cannwyll

 

[bnth. Llad. Diw. cantēla < candēla, H. Grn. cantuil, Llyd. C. cantoell, Gwydd. coinneal]

 

eb. ll. canhwyllau.

 

a  Darn silindraidd o wêr neu gŵyr wedi ei weithio o gwmpas pabwyryn ac a ddefnyddir i roi golau, yn dros. am seren, haul, lloer, llusern, lamp, &c.; yn ffig. am oleuni, disgleirdeb, cyfarwyddyd, arweiniad, arweinydd, arwr, y pennaf, y rhagoraf, &c.:

 

candle, luminary, transf. of star, sun, moon, lamp; fig. of light, brightness, instruction, leader, hero, choicest or best of anything. 

 

The entire portion of the poem, if I’ve rendered it correctly, should then read as follows:

 

It is I who commands hosts in battle:

I’d not give up between two forces without bloodshed.

It’s I who’s called the very blue:

my ferocity snared my enemy.

It is I who’s a leader in darkness:

[Kawell line; see below]

It’s I who’s like ['eil' here means like/similar to, not 'second'] a candle/star in the gloom:

I’d not give up fighting without bloodshed between two forces.

 

If I have this right, what – if anything – does it tell us about Uther?

 

Well, the transformation would appear to be into the luminary in question.  As the word cannwyll can be used of a star, this may be a reference to the dragon-star in Geoffrey of Monmouth, as the latter is said to represent Uther himself: 

 

"On his way to the battle, Uther saw a most remarkable 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, signifies 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.”

 

Thus, the transformation in the poem refers to Uther's becoming, metaphorically speaking, like a star lighting up the night.  Geoffrey of Monmouth or his source took this motif and ran with it.

 

Having gone over pp. 250-257, including the notes, from "The Significance of the Name Llasar" in Patrick Sims-Williams IRISH INFLUENCE ON MEDIEVAL WELSH LITERATURE, I'm now certain that the Gorlassar title of Uther Pendragon in the 'Marwnat Vthyr Pen' elegy poem does refer to him as the 'great fire', and not the ‘very blue’.  I've always suspected this was the case, as we are told in the following lines that he is a 'leader in darkness' and a 'star in the gloom.' But both the GPC and Williams allows for Gorlassar to be the Welsh cognate of Irish forlas(s)ar, great blaze, great radiance.

 

Marged Haycock's note on gorlassar:

 

gorlassar Cf. PT V.28 Gorgoryawc gorlassawc gorlassar, rhyming with escar, as here; again PT VIII.17 goryawc gorlassawc gorlassar. Both passages are corrupt. PT 98 suggests ‘clad in blue-grey armour’ or ‘armed with blue-grey weapons’, following G and GPC who derive it from glassar ‘sward, turf, sod’ rather than llassar ‘azure’, etc. (see GPC s.v. llasar), presumably because one

would expect *gorllasar. That may indeed have been present, with l representing developed [ɬ]. Llassar is rhymed with casnar, Casnar (cf. line 10 casnur) in CBT III 16.55, VII 52.14-5. On the personal names Llasar Llaes Gygnwyd, OIr Lasa(i)r, calch llassar ‘lime of azure’, etc., see Patrick Sims-Williams, The Iron House in Ireland, H. M. Chadwick Memorial Lecture 16 (Cambridge 2005), 11- 16; IIMWL 250-7.

 

However, the Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru says -

gorlasar

 

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

 

Associated with Old Irish forlas(s)ar, great blaze, great radiance.

 

When I asked Dr. Simon Rodway of The University of Wales about forlassar, he replied:

 

"GPC is misleading here.  If gorlasar is in any way connected with OI forlassar, then it must contain llasar, not glasar (‘sward, turf, sod’ < glas ‘blue, green’ + ar ‘tilled land’).  However gor + llasar should give *gorllasar as ll does not mutate after r.  One could invoke Old Welsh orthography here in which ll is represented by l.  Alternatively, glasar could have developed as a hypercorrect variant of llasar due to a folk etymology connection with glas ‘blue’.

 

Llasar could be a borrowing of Irish lasair, as GPC says.  I suspect that we have a number of different items which have become mixed together here – Latin lazur, Irish lasar + perhaps Med. Latin lazarus ‘beggar, leper’ < the Biblical Lazarus.”

 

In terms of the context of the poem, with Uther presenting himself as a 'leader in darkness" and "a candle/star in the gloom", a word akin to Irish forlassar makes a great deal more sense that wearing blue-enameled weapons and/or armor.

 

In THE BOOK OF TALIESIN, there is a famous prophetic poem called 'Armes Prydein Vawr.'  Line 88 of that poem says of Cynan of the Prophecies:

 

canhwyll yn tywyll a gerd genhyn.

 

a candle in the darkness goes with us:

 

The editor and translator Sir Ifor Williams has in his 'Vocabulary' for the poem:

 

canhwyll nf. candle ( = hero) 88

 

This is a near perfect match for the Uther elegy's 'kawyl yn ardu.'

 

For this reason I'm settling once and for all on kawyl not as Sawyl, but as cannwyll, a word that could mean 'star' (transf.) and 'leader' or 'hero' (fig.).  We can thus conclude that it was here that Geoffrey of Monmouth got his idea for Uther's star, just as he got his idea for Gorlois from the gorlassar epithet applied to Uther.

 

Gorlassar as a Welsh Rendering of a Roman Honorific Title

 

As I continued to research the MVM Gerontius, I discovered that men of his station would have been given a honorific title that was separate from, but dependent upon, their military rank.  The title in question is ILLUSTRIS (or INLUSTRIS).

 

I am pasting here a good scholarly discussion of the title Illustris and to whom it was regularly applied, and when.  Below that I provide definitions for illustris, inlustris and the root of both words, as drawn from the Lewis and Short dictionary.

 

[https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/310606.pdf]

 

Illustris. -

 

We have seen that the Masters became illustres in 371, and as such they appear in a constitution of the following year. They also have this title in the Notitia. Frequently illustris was joined with clarissimus, which after this time was no longer used alone as a Master's title. Thus Stilicho is regularly entitled vir clarissimus et inlustris, and Constantinus had the same designation. This combination has bee explained by referring the clarissimus to the inherited senatorial, and the illustris to the acquired official, rank. As an alternate form for illustris, illustrissimus was sometimes employed, as in the cases of Stilicho in 398-399  and Sigisvuldus in 440. The former is also styled illustris et praeclarus vir.' In 372 the Prefects and the Masters of the Soldiers formed a class of illustres of equal rank." Upon retirement to a private station they took precedence according to the date at which they had received their appointments (codicilli). In 485 these Masters were classed below the Prefects  as they are in the Notitia. But another constitution of Zeno (474-491) gives a first class of illustres composed of the Prefects and the magistri militum, just as in 372. It cannot be determined exactly when these Masters ceased to be styled illustres. In 520 a Master called Romanus still held that title and an ex-Master appears as an illustris about 525. Further, an inscription dating from between 578 and 582, if restored correctly, reads Vita[lio] mag[nifico et] inl(ustri) m[agistro] m[ilitum] Africae. However, this is the only instance of a Master having the title illustris after the first quarter of the sixth century, and, since in 535 they were gloriosissimi, it is probable that the Masters were raised above the illustrissimate between 520 and the latter date.

 

inlūstris (ill-) e, adj. with comp.

 

LVC-, lighted, bright, light, lustrous, brilliant: domicilia: caput, O.: solis candor inlustrior est quam ullius ignis.—Fig., clear, plain, distinct, evident, manifest: ad cognoscendum omnia, S.: factum inlustre notumque omnibus: inlustriora furta, more conspicuous.—Distinguished, renowned, famous, honorable, noble, illustrious: homines maxime inlustres: adulescens, Cs.: famā fatisque, V.: inlustriore loco natus, Cs.: nomen quam Solonis inlustrius: vitae ratio inlustrior.—Memorable, noteworthy: maior atque inlustrior res, Cs.

 

illustris (inl- ), e (

I.nom. sing. masc. illuster. Val. Max. 4, 1, 5; 4, 3, 11), adj. inlustro, lighted up, clear, bright, light, lustrous (class.; esp. freq. in the trop. signif.).

 

lūstrō āvī, ātus, āre

 

2 lustrum, to light up, illuminate, make bright : lampade terras (Aurora), V.— To review, survey, observe, examine : lumine corpus, V.: tua vestigia, search for thee , V.: omnia eundo, O.: exercitum apud Iconium.— To go around, encircle : regem choreis, V.— To go round, wander over, traverse : (terrae) tuis victoriis lustra tae sunt: latitudinem orbis: navibus aequor, V.: pede barbaro Lustrata Rhodope, H.: fugā harenam, Iu.—Fig., in religion, to make bright, purify by a propitiatory offering : in lustrandā coloniā: exercitum suovetaurilibus, L.: senem flammā, O.: Lustramur, purify ourselves , V.: se centum ovis, Iu.— To review, consider : omnia ratione animoque.

 

Professor Roger Tomlin has assured me that Gerontius would have born the title of vir illustris:

 

"My impression is that Gerontius would certainly have enjoyed the title vir illustris."

 

What I am putting forward - again, very cautitiously, perhaps even timidly - is that Gorlasar is a Welsh rendering of the Roman title of Illustris. This title, which meant that Gerontius the MVM was the Shining One, contributed to him being the leader in darkness and candle/star in the gloom of the elegy poem.  And, ultimately, allowed for Geoffrey of Monmouth to create his story of the dragon-star.

 

Madog, Son of Uther Pendragon

 

I should note that the Welsh Emyr Llydaw or 'Emperor of Britain', who was identified by the Welsh with a Budic, a prince of Cornouaille of Brittany, in later genealogies is given a son named Madog.  As the various Geraints of Dumnonia may have held, at one time or another, both the British Cornwall and the Breton Cornouialle, it is quite conceivable that one or more or them were seen as “Emperors of Brittany.”  Thus, we should note that Uther had a son named Madog. 

 

The Correct Interpretation of Pendragon and Magister Militiae

 

There is another reason why I may be right about Uther Pendragon being a Welsh attempt to render the Latin military rank of magister utriusque militiae: the -dragon in the Pendragon epithet may well be a plural!  

 

From Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain, edited and translated by Rachel Bromwich pp. 512-513:

 

"Pen(n)dragon means 'chief dragon' in a figurative sense, either 'foremost leader' or 'chief of warriors.' Draig and dragon are doublets with equivalent meaning, and both occur in the early poetry as euphemisms for warriors... Dragon (< an oblique case of L drago-) is employed both as a singular and as a plural; hence in the epithet pen(n)dragon it may be either singular or a dependent genitive plural."

 

As this is so, Uther Pendragon as the Terrible (a mistake for L. uter, the root of utriusque; cf. uter for Welsh uther in the HISTORIA BRITTONUM) 'Chief of Warriors' works even better as a substitution for MVM, 'master of both military services (i.e. cavalry and infantry).'

 

MAGISTER    UTRIUSQUE    MILITIAE

 

      PEN             UTHER        DRAGON

 

The only candidate for a British MVM at the right time period is, of course, Gerontius.  Thus if this identification is correct, and a Geraint really was Arthur's father, he had to be a namesake of  the early 5th century general - perhaps even a descendent.  Tradition records a Geraint whose floruit matches what we would expect to find in an Arthurian context.  And such a Dumnonian king also works for the traditional placement of Arthur in southwestern England.  

 

All in all, I don't feel that I can improve on this theory.  It seems to fulfill all the necessary requirements for establishing an Arthurian genealogical trace, and helps account for the Welsh insistence that Arthur was somehow related to the Dumnonian royal house.  

 

Once again, we must remember that names in Brittany (like Domnonee and Cornouaille) are reflections of names found in SW England.  It is not difficult, therefore, to account for Uther's Breton origin in the story of Geoffrey of Monmouth. 

 

A New Identification for Arthur’s Mother, Ygerna

 

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."

 

Alas, 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?

 

Actually, no.  For it would appear that Geoffrey’s Tintagel and Dimilioc represent relocations of the Arthurian birth story.

 

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

 

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.  The cluster of Carne names near the Beacon remind us of Gorlois's wife Ygerna, whom I have shown above to be a name based on the Carne Hill of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Domellick/St. Dennis.

 

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.

 

Finally, just across the Fal from the Geraint places, including Treworlas, is Penkevel and, a little further towards the Truro River, St. Michael Penkivel.  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.  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'.]

 

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.

 

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.

 

GERAINT IN GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH: CONSPICUOUSLY ABSENT (AT LEAST BY NAME)

 

I have been asked a reasonable question by an interested reader: if you are going to push Uther Pendragon as a Dumonian Geraint given the rank of the earlier Gerontius magister utriusque militiae, what you can tell us about the apparent absence of Gerontius from Geoffrey of Monmouth's story?

 

My answer?  Not much!  Geoffrey includes two Geraints and before I briefly discuss these characters, here are their descriptions as drawn from entries in P.C. Bartrum's A CLASSICAL WELSH DICTIONARY:

 

"GERAINT ab ELIDIR WAR. (Fictitious). (179-159 B.C.) The name in Brut y Brenhinedd of a fictitious king of Britain called Gerontius or Gerennius son of Elidurus Pius by Geoffrey of Monmouth. He succeeded his cousin Runo son of Peredurus [Rhun ap Peredur] and was succeeded by his son Catellus [Cadell ap Geraint] (HRB III.19). Corresponding names in ByB are shown in [ ]."  

 

"HRB speaks of Guerinus Carnotensis (G. of Chartres) as being present at Arthur's special coronation and bringing with him twelve peers of Gaul (IX.12). This becomes Gereint Carnwys, or the like in ByB. The twelve peers who came with Guerinus Carnotensis are again mentioned in IX.19. There is nothing corresponding in Brut Dingestow, but the ‘Cleopatra’ version here calls him Gereint vab Erbin. Guerinus Carnotensis took part in Arthur's wars against the Romans Lucius and Leo (X.4, 6, 9). In all these cases ByB in ‘Dingestow’ and ‘Cleopatra’ has Gereint Carnwys."

 

The son of Elidir is just a name among the list of Geoffrey's ancient kings.  He can have nothing whatsoever to do with Britain or Brittany during the Later Roman Empire.

 

Guerinus Carnotensis (or Gerin/s, Geryn) is NOT Geraint.  That is a fictional identification made by the Welsh.  In reality, he is one of Charlemagne's Twelve Paladins.  

 

Consideration of these two Geraints leads us inevitably to a firm conclusion: Geoffrey appears to say nothing at all about any of the famous Dark Age Geraints we know were kings of Dumnonia.  He does not know of the Geraint of Llongporth, nor the one who fought the Saxons in 710 A.D.  Nor was he aware of the great Gerontius MVM. [Unaccountably, Gerontius is also missing from Nennius’ HISTORIA BRITTONUM.]

 

But we do have Uther Pendragon - quite prominently, in fact.  

 

In closing, I will remind my readers that Gorlois, a duke of Cornwall invented out of the poetic descriptor gorlassar Uther uses of himself in the MARWNAT VTHYR PEN elegy, makes his first appearance in Geoffrey of Monmouth's story at a site that had been in the kingdom of the ancient Midlands CORNOVII tribe (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-discovery-of-uther-pendragons-mount.html). The Cornovii have a name of the same nature as Kernyw. And Geraint was the king of Cornwall (as part of Dumnonia).

 

For those interested in the Gerontius name, I would urge you to consult the following excellent study on that subject:

 

WILLIAM J. CHERF, WHAT’S IN A NAME? THE GERONTII OF THE LATER ROMAN

EMPIRE, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 100 (1994) 145–174

 

http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/zpe/downloads/1994/100pdf/100145.pdf  

 

Why Uther Pendragon for Gerontius?

 

Gerontius, while undoubtedly famous to the British, has a very bad reputation on the Continent.  He was, after all, first the commander of an imperial usurper and then a traitor to that very usurper.  His end was decidedly inglorious.  We might thus see the logic in choosing an alias for him.

 

It is also possible that the poetic descriptor became unintentionally separated from the name at some point in the transmission of the story, and thereby took on an identity of its own. 

 

Less likely, I think, is that the descriptor was used -perhaps even invented - because people knew a Geraint wasn’t the real father of Arthur and it was believed they would not recognize Geraint under a nom de plume.

 

More than One Maximus

 

Gerontius raised up as emperor one Maximus.  The sources are unclear as to whether this man was a son of the British chieftain or merely a "domesticus".  But we do know that this Maximus, probably the same as the one called Maximus Tyrannus around 420 A.D., was based in Spain.  His imperial name was doubtless chosen to copy that of the Spaniard Magnus Maximus, a previous usurper (d. c. 388) who was hailed by British troops.  

 

This previous Maximus is known in Welsh tradition as Macsen Wledig or Maximus the Tyrant!

 

I've demonstrated before that the Ambrosius brought into connection with Vortigern (a name which means 'supreme king') was either the Prefect of Gaul father of St. Ambrose (who had the same name and might conceivably have gone to Britain with Constans I in 343) or a conflation of the father and the saint. We know that the historical St. Ambrose interacted with Magnus Maximus.  The true date of Ambrosius is preserved in the HISTORIA BRITTONUM, which has this warleader fight against the grandfather of Vortigern.  

 

Constans II (named for Constans I) was murdered by Gerontius, but at the time Maximus the Tyrant was emperor.  The general employed barbarian troops for the deed. In Geoffrey's tale, it is Vortigern who has Constans killed by Picts.

 

So what I'm suggesting is this: not only did Constantine III and Constans II become merged in popular tradition with their earlier namesakes, with Ambrosius being literally moved up in the chronology as a result, the same conflation occurred between Vortigern, Magnus Maximus and Maximus the Tyrant.  The only "big player" missing in this major distortion of fact is the British general Gerontius.

 

Should we, then, seriously entertain Gerontius magister utriusque militiae as Uther Pendragon?  And, if we do, what do we make of a man who died in 411 as the father of an Arthur who fights his two most famous battles in 516 and 537?

 

Well, as I've said before, there appear to have been later Gereints in Dumnonia.  If we can have a remarkable confusion of identical names with the other leading figures of the day, then we can very easily allow for the possibility that the Gerontius who died in 411 had a namesake whose floruit was more towards the last half of the 5th century.  

 

Needless to say, if we accept a mid-5th century Dumnonian Gereint as Arthur's father, the whole Arthurian arena shifts back to Devon, Cornwall and Somerset. Which is where tradition has pretty much always centered it.

 

THE NAME ARTHUR

 

The consensus among Celtic linguists is that the British name Arthur is to be derived from the Roman name Artorius.

 

However, some prominent Latin epigraphers are not similarly convinced. 

 

I have the following from Professor Roger Tomlin, in answer to some questions I posed to him about the oft-expressed belief that the 5^th-6^th centuries A.D. Arthur name must show survival from the Artorius of Lucius Artorius Castus.

 

He begins by stressing that he does not believe the name Artorius would have been preserved in the North from the 2nd century (the time of Lucius Artorius Castus) to the 5th-6th:

 

"I agree that Artorius Castus likely came from Salona, but his name is Italian and he would have been descended from a legionary veteran settled there. His name would not have been regarded as distinctively 'Dalmatian' – it occurs all over the West – and in any case it is far from certain that 'Arthur' is derived from it.

 

The Carvoran tombstone does indeed show a connection with Salona, but if the woman buried there was married to a serving soldier, she would be third-century. Trouble is, the Second Cohort of Dalmatians came to Britain at the Conquest, and it is most unlikely that it recruited from Dalmatia for centuries afterwards. The only member whose origin I know is the recipient of the diploma of AD 135, and he came from Trier. The bulk of the evidence shows that frontier units recruited locally – true, many recruits would have been descended from earlier members of the unit, so you may have some Dalmatian DNA, not that they would have known it – and I can't imagine that a 'Dalmatian' tradition lasted for centuries at Carvoran.

 

Likewise the equites Dalmatae at Praesidium. These units are thought to be originally detachments from Gallienus' field army when it was broken up. Centuries of continued recruitment from Dalmatia is most unlikely.

 

I am all for continuity, but I don't think I can accept this one."

 

He then discusses the possibility of transmission further, delving into better Celtic possibilities for the name Arthur:

 

"My difficulty is that Artorius is not an uncommon Roman name.  It occurs all over the western Empire. We just haven’t found it yet occurring in the epigraphy of Roman Britain.

 

I think it a big assumption that 'Arthur' derives from 'Artorius' when the Celtic name-element arto-s is so prevalent. A Latin nomen such as Artorius would be transmitted by descent, by manumission of slaves, as a compliment to the patron who gained one citizenship. None of these mechanisms seems likely with a mid-second century officer in Britain whose military distinction was only achieved after he had left Britain. We don't even know that he visited Carvoran, and the Dalmatae would not have come to Praesidium, even if it is near York, until the late third century.

 

As a case-study in the transmission of names from Roman Britain to sub-Roman Britain, I took a quick look at the Index of Names in Nash-Williams' Early Christian Monuments of Wales. Except for the oddly named Pumpeius Carantorius, I could not find a Roman nomen. But many cognomina such as Aeternus, Nobilis, Severus etc. At a guess, they come second to the Celtic names such as Artmail / Arthmail, who I imagine is really Artomaglos.

 

A very good example of a Roman decknamen being used in place of an original Celtic name was found at Trier (CIL XIII/1.1, no. 3909):

 

HIC QUIESCIT IN PACE URSULA . . . ARTULA MATER TIT(ULUM) POSUIT

 

Here the mother has a name meaning 'Little bear' in Celtic.  Her daughter's name shows the exact Latin equivalent."

 

I took this to Dr. Simon Rodway at The University of Wales.  I pointed out to Rodway that Tomlin is not at all convinced Arthur MUST derive from Artorius, but that he was willing to accept Artorius as a possible decknamen from an earlier Celtic name.  He responded thusly:

 

“Maybe: but that’s unprovable.  Other nomina than Pompeius (e.g.  Ambrosius and Antonius) were borrowed into Welsh, so I don't really see why thinking in terms of simple borrowing is a problem.  It's certainly much simpler.  There's no reason to link it with this particular Dalmatian chap [Lucius Artorius Castus].  At any rate, it doesn't really make any difference to the perfectly good derivation of Arthur from Artorius.”

 

While these opposing viewpoints from two top scholars in their respective fields would seem unhelpful, Tomlin and Rodway do share one important commonality: that we need not restrict ourselves to Lucius Artorius Castus as the source of the Arthur name in Britain.  Even if Arthur is from Artorius (which is the general consensus among linguists), we have no way of knowing how many Artorii may have been stationed in or otherwise had visited or resided in Britain. 

 

Ironically, I had once considered Cerdic of Wessex, aka Ceredig son of Cunedda, as Arthur himself.  Part of my reason for doing so was because we find no fewer than three Arto- or ‘Bear’ names in his successors (see the Harleian Genealogies). These names seemed to have to do with the Arth River in Ceredig’s kingdom of Ceredigion, perhaps a divine river associated with a bear god or goddess. Ceredig could have originally born a Welsh or Irish ‘bear-king’ name or title (Arthri or Artri, respectively), for which the decknamen Arthur was substituted when the Welsh decided to enhance their reputation by claiming royal ancestors with Roman names. I discarded the idea of Ceredig = Arthur only because it was unthinkable that a prince of this stature, son of the great Cunedda, who was so celebrated by the Welsh, would be pawned off onto the mysterious Uther Pendragon.  And this despite the fact that Cunedda’s Gwynedd was associated with dragons!  In short, I could not demonstrate that Uther = Cunedda.

 

Why would the Welsh, when they had plenty of potential Dark Age heroes to choose from, opt to convert Cerdic of Wessex, hero of the English, into Arthur?  And, by doing so, hide Cerdic’s true identity?

 

If, as I have outlined above, Arthur actually descends from a Dark Age Geraint in Dumnonia, it goes without saying that either the name Artorius was known and transmitted in that kingdom from the Roman period or it is a decknamen applied later to what had originally been a thoroughly Celtic bear-name.  We should remember that a Dark Age Artognou (British ‘Bear-knower’ or, perhaps, ‘Knowing Bear’) was present at Tintagel. We need only have a ‘Bear-king’ (in an original Welsh or Irish) present for such a name to be replaced early on with Artorius.

 

Of course, Gerontius is itself a Greek name.  All the other major players – Constantine, Constans, Ambrosius Aurelianus, Magnus Maximus – had good Latin names.  It should not surprise us, therefore, to find a Latin Artorius in the mix.