IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THE PSEUDO-HISTORY OF GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH: OR WHY UTHER PENDRAGON MAY NOT HAVE BEEN ARTHUR'S FATHER

Arthur (left; courtesy Andrei Negin in POST-ROMAN KINGDOMS: 'Dark Ages' Gaul and Britain, AD 450-800, Osprey Publishing, 2023)

Was Sawyl merely brought into Arthur's father Illtud's orbit because Illtud was poetically compared to the Biblical Samuel?

OR

 was Illtud wrongly identified with and thus substituted for Sawyl, Arthur's father, because the former was poetically linked to the Biblical Samuel?

Okay... where to begin - or, rather, end?

My analysis of some early Welsh poetry and Welsh hagiography has led me to a crux.  For any readers wishing to learn how I got here, I urge them to please check out the last several blog posts.

In essence, there is no doubt in my mind that Uther Pendragon is a periphrasis for Illtud the warrior monk.  The problem is that in THE BOOK OF TALIESIN elegy poem, more poetic metaphor is employed for this chieftain.  He calls himself gorlassar, i.e. he whose weapons and/or armor are blue enameled. He also, after alluding to his transformation by God 'the chief luminary (or sun, moon, star, leader, etc., all possible uses of the word cannwyll) in the midst of battle, claims to either be like the Biblical Samuel or actually a second Samuel.  In Geoffrey of Monmouth, Eldad (= Illtud) likens himself to the Biblical Samuel.  Mabon is said to be the servant Uther/Illtud, but we know that Maponus was worshipped at Sawyl's Ribchester in Roman times, and there was a giant Mabon whose castle was in the parish of Llansawel/'Church of Sawyl' in Carmarthenshire. 

This use of Samuel spawned some confusion between Illtud as Uther and an actual historical Dark Age king in the North, Sawyl Benisel.  This Sawyl had a son named Madog - as was said to be true of Uther.  Yet Illtud had no children and, indeed, had put away his wife when he became a religious.  In the Life of Illtud, the saint is in charge of the soldiers who raid Cadoc's monastery at Llancarfan.  But in the Life of Cadoc, the leader of the soldiers is Sawyl.  I think it quite likely Sawyl is placed at Llancarfan because the place was thought to be named for stags, and Sawyl Benisel's brother was Cerwyd[d], an eponym for the Carvetii or stag-people of Cumbria.  Sawyl's kingdom had once been the territory of the Setantii, which bordered on Carvetii lands.

I have just pointed out another strange correlation.  The Welsh Camlan was the Afon Gamlan near Llanelltyd, the Church of Illtud, and an Avalon was situated just a little west of these sites at Dyffryn Ardudwy.  But if we go to the North, we find the Camboglanna Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall, with Aballava/Avalana Roman fort not too far to the West.  The Ribchester Roman fort was listed with the Wall forts in the NOTITIA DIGNITATUM.  An Arthur originating from Ribchester could easily have fought at Camboglanna. We know that warriors from York (Peredur and Gwrci) fought at Carrawburgh and Arthuret. 

The Welsh "Dream of Rhonabwy" identifies Badon with Buxton, and this place is within easy striking range of Ribchester.  It would be a logical place to stem the tide of invasion into the Peak District, which shielded southern Lancashire from the Saxons. 

Other battles - most notably that of the Tribruit/Tryfrwyd - are hard to displace from the North.  The PA GUR firmly fixes the location of the Tribruit at Queensferry near Edinburgh.  

All of this might be enough to sway us in favor of Sawyl as Arthur's original father.  However, there are two overwhelming reasons to do so:

1) No where, in any source prior to Geoffrey of Monmouth, is Uther/Illtud referred to as Arthur's father

2) Gorlois, as a separate personage, is an outright invention of Geoffrey of Monmouth

If Geoffrey can create Gorlois, why not switch out Arthur's father?  If this were something that happened intentionally, we might presume that Geoffrey wanted Arthur's father to be Illtud precisely because the latter had strong connections with the Monmouth area.  If this substitution of Uther/Illtud as Sawyl for Sawyl Benisel were an accident, then the author can be forgiven for being inauthentic is this instance.  Yet no matter how it came about, not one writer subsequent to Geoffrey sought to correct the error.  From his time onwards the father of Arthur was always Uther.