THE GALFRIDIAN UTHER IN NORTHERN BRITAIN

King Uther's Military Career

Map Courtesy https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/histories/women-in-history/cartimandua/

I have remarked in the past that there was one strange thing about the martial activities of Uther from the moment he becomes king to the day he dies:  all events are found in the North.  

In Geoffrey of Monmouth's HISTORY OF THE KINGS OF BRITAIN, we first encounter the king battling Saxons at York.  Retreating from there, he then faces them at Mount Damen, which I have shown to be The Roaches at the River Dane (https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-discovery-of-uther-pendragons-mount.html).  Mount Damen marks the appearance of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, and this battle site is within what was the ancient kingdom of the Cornovii.  Welsh Cernyw for Cornwall transparently reveals its linguistic relationship to the tribal name.  We know from the MARWNAT VTHYR PEN that Gorlois is to be derived from the gorlassar epithet Uther applies to himself.

Uther next field of operations is Alclud in Scotland, although there may have been another Alclud at Bishop Auckland (https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2020/08/eil-mehyn-of-urien-rheged-and-eildon.html).  The Eledenius made bishop of Alclud is actually St. Elidan of the Vale of Clwyd.  This shows either a confusion of Clyde for Clwyd or that Alclud is in Geoffrey's tale an error for Clwyd.  

The whole Ygerna episode, situated in Cornwall, then intrudes into the story.

Lastly, he goes to aid Loth of Lothian (the medieval version of the old Votadini kingdom centered on Edinburgh).  Oddly, the battle takes place at St. Alban's.  Clearly, this last place is an error for Albany, i.e. Scotland (north of the Antonine Wall).  It is while he is at 'St. Albans'/Albany that he is killed by poison.  

Other than celebrating Easter in London and in Cornwall (Cornovia?) stealing Ygerna, Uther during this entire period is said to be in only one other place: Winchester, the ancient Venta Belgarum.  He leaves in the city one of the two dracos he has constructed in memory of the dragon-star he witnessed upon the death of Ambrosius. Venta occurs in a couple of other Roman era names, viz. Venta Icenorum and Venta Silurum.  Otherwise, we find it only in St. Patrick's Banna Venta Bernia, which I have identified with the Banna Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall at Birdoswald.  This fort was garrisoned by Dacians, who are famous for their draco standard.  Of course, Wessex had its own dragon, and Winchester was the original capital of England. 

As a final note, I would point out that gorlassar is otherwise found used only for Urien of Rheged (see 

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2022/06/urien-of-rheged-as-uther-pendragon-was_24.html).  Also, Uther is killed via a pool that is filled with poison, while Urien perishes at Ross Low (in Welsh Aber Lleu) opposite Lindisfarne.  'Low' is (see Watts) from OE luh, a Celtic loan-word cognate with Welsh lluch, 'lake, loch', which survives in N. dial. low, 'a shallow pool left in the sand by the retiring tide.'

Urien is said to have fought at a ford of Alclud, and at Bremenium/Brewyn/High Rochester as well.  Bremenium was a polis of the Votadini, according to Ptolemy.  Thus two of the locations where Uther fought in the North appear to match locations where Urien fought.

Then again, all these apparent correspondences rely upon Geoffrey of Monmouth's pseudo-history.  While they may be quite interesting, we can't trust the narrative.  And as such, its value is much diminished.