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.