Liddington Castle/Badbury
I've been asked to summarize my thoughts on Illtud as Arthur's father. Please find those (arranged as best I could on short notice) below.
ILLTUD THE TERRIBLE CHIEF OF WARRIORS
I still cannot do a better job of explaining Uther Pendragon than to suggest that the 'terribilis' applies to Illtud's vengeful spirit and the 'magister militum' and 'militum princeps' ranks attached to him in the saints' lives were easily combined. Bromwich herself explained in a note to her Triads that the dragon of the Pendragon epithet could refer to either to the word warrior in either the singular or plural.
The following selection is taken from the linked study:
"In meridiana autem hora, dum rex quiesceret in tentorio campestri in planicie affixo, diuidereturque
maxima predatio, uisum est regi quod quidam terribilis miles suum pectus lancea perforasset, atque
post perforationem nemini uisum. [...] Timoratus imperauit sacrilego exercitui reddere Deo et
sanctissimo Iltuto totam predationem, promittens deinceps emendationem, atque in honore eiusdem
sancti edificauit templum, et seruentibus in templo concessit in quo stetit territorium. Hec emendatio
tamen profuit suo spiritui, recessit enim ab hoc seculo .ix.no die propter nequitie uindictam.
At the hour of noon, while the king rested in a field-tent put up on a plain, and the immense booty was
being divided, it seemed to the king that some terrible soldier had pierced his breast with a spear,
and after the piercing he was seen of none. […] Full of dread he bade his sacrilegious army to restore to
God and to the most holy Illtud all the plunder, promising thereafter amendment, and in honour of the
same saint he built a church, and to those serving in the church he granted territory in which it stood.
This amendment, however, profited his spirit, for he departed from this life on the ninth day as
punishment for his wickedness (VI, §25) [my emphasis].
As a child, Illtud is instructed in the seven arts, but after the completion of his studies, he
dedicates himself to military training. Canon Doble suggested that the association of Illtud
with military terms might have arisen due to the presence of the Normans in Glamorgan (cf.
Doble 1971: 103). This suggestion was also followed byJohn Tatlock who argued that the use
of the terms “magister militum” and “militum princeps” to describe Illtud in the VI reflected
contemporary Norman military terms (cf. Tatlock 1939: 355). However, military prowess is
one of the most important traits of Welsh kings and heroes in texts which could date to before
the Norman Conquest of England and Wales.11"
terribilis (miles)
magister militum
Uther Pen dragon
WHERE ILLTUD SERVED AS A SOLDIER
Illtud served as captain of the soldiers under Paul of Penychen. The evidence, as such, strongly suggests that Paul resided in the Dark Age hillfort of Dinas Powis. The 'Nant Paul' of the fort, given Cadog's relationship with the same prince in the hagiography, is probably the modern Cadoxton Burn, which runs right by the fort. We can relate this hillfort to the River Ely - the Elai/Elei of the PA GUR poem - although it is still several miles away from the river.
One of the 'vytheint' of Elei (a difficult word; it probably means something like 'those furious in battle' and not 'birds of prey') of Mabon, servant of Uther. The implication is that Uther himself must be at Elei. Shifting Uther to Caer Dathal in Arfon (as suggested by the account in Culhwch and Olwen) is attractive, but as Dathal is almost certainly for Irish Tuathal, cognate of Welsh Tudwal, the link may have been established in folk belief or literary tale because there was a Tudwal in the Dumnonian pedigree for Uther. Math of Caer Dathal is probably from Irish math, 'bear'. If the Welsh knew that, then they might have associated Arthur with the place through his father simply because they saw in the name Arthur their own word for bear, 'arth.'
However, archaeologists have in the last few years succeeded in proving early medieval reuse of the great Silures oppidum of Caerau, which is most certainly on the Ely. I am posting below responses to my question on Dark Age use of Caerau from the two men responsible for the digs at the site.
"Our 2015 excavations revealed that there was some rebuilding of the ramparts in the early medieval period. This reported in our 2015 excavation report.
caerau-interim-36-web.pdf (cardiff.ac.uk)
We also discovered a small crafting axe in 2013, which following conservation may be post Roman or possibly late Roman. This has previously been on display at the CAER Heritage Centre.
My colleague Olly Davis the excavation director may be able to provide more details."
Dr David Wyatt
Reader in Civic Mission and Community Action
School of History, Archaeology and Religion
Cardiff University
"Dr Wyatt has provided you with a link to the interim report that details the stratigraphic sequence through the ramparts. The 'secondary' bank is built over a deposit containing Roman material and sealed by a deposit c14 dated to AD775-970 and so must therefore date to some point between the 5th and 10th centuries. Unfortunately that is all the precision available at the moment. The only certain Early Med occupation feature within the hillfort was a grain dryer c14 dated to AD430-640."
Dr Oliver Davis
Senior Lecturer in Archaeology and Civic Mission
Co-director, CAER Heritage Project
School of History, Archaeology and Religion
Cardiff University
Thus it is possible that Paul Penychen of Dinas Powis or a member of his family had something to do with the refortification of Caurau.
ILLTUD'S PLACE OF ORIGIN
The hagiography tells us that Illtud came from Llydaw/Brittany and that his father was one Bicanus. Llydaw, in this context (see P.C. Bartrum and others) is not actually Brittany, but a place in Britain with a similar name.
I suggested Welsh Bicknor and Lydbrook, places in the ancient kingdom of Ercing that could be associated with a Custennin/Constantine. These sites are next to the Little Doward/Ganarew hillfort, which has Arthurian associations. Several family connections of Arthur are placed in Ercing, including sons (although these are personified place-names) and even Eigr, his mother, who is made a daughter of Anblaud Wledig.
While it is true that Latin Bicanus could represent a W. Bychan name (although we only find bychan/fychan used as an epithat), the English Bican- preserved at Bicknor is also found right next to another Lydbrook in Wiltshire. I am talking here about the Bican Dike at Liddington Castle, one of the candidates for Arthur's Badbury. Liddington Badbury is an interesting fort, as it is near Durocornovia and Barbury, the 'Bear's Fort'. A great many years ago I suggested that Arthur, whose name was linked by the Welsh with their own word for bear, might have been remembered by the English at Barbury. -cornovia speaks of the Cornovii tribe, and the geographical term Cernyw in the Welsh is derived from this tribal name. Arthur is often said to be Cornish (or Dumnonian).
Now, all of that is rather nebulous, I admit. A more plausible 'Llydaw' for Illtud is the Leadon Vale. This river-name derives from a word that is related to that of Llydaw (see Watts). But, regardless, both the Leadon Vale and Ercing once belonged to the Roman period Dobunni kingdom. Badbury and Barbury, according to British tribal expert Barry Cunliffe, were on the southern fringes of that territory.
THE PROBLEM WITH ILLTUD AS UTHER PENDRAGON/ARTHUR'S FATHER
Illtud put away his wife to become a religious. He is not recorded as having had any children.
While we don't know much about his military career, if he were master of Paul's soldiers he must have been involved in martial actions somewhere, and against someone. Unfortunately, we lack those details of his life before he turned to Christ.
Now, it is possible, I suppose, that a few different things may have happened.
1) Once Illtud was given his nickname of Uther Pendragon, it was eventually forgotten that the two men were the same. We have seen how Geoffrey of Monmouth or his source converted gorlassar, an epithet for Uther in the elegy, into a separate personage, Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall. These things could happen in the course of legend-building.
2) Illtud as Uther Pendragon was never really Arthur's father. This was a fiction. Entirely possible. It may be that the father of Arthur was unknown and Uther was at hand. Some have suggested Uther simply rhymed nicely with Arthur, and others have pointed to the 'mab uter' gloss in a HISTORIA BRITTONUM MS. as the origin of Uther Pendragon.
3) There may have been a desire to separate out Illtud from Uther in order to transition the former more easily to sainthood. We might view this as a sort of cleansing operation. While it might be argued that to deprive Illtud of a famous son like Arthur makes no sense at all, we must remember that in clerical sources Arthur is presented in a very negative light. It might well have been seen as objectionable to link Arthur with his father and so the tie was intentionally severed.
Hagiography is NOT history!
I also shied away from Uther as Illtud, to be honest, because I was then faced with a Southern theater for Arthur's battles. But my doing so is really only personal bias. The battles are more neatly placed in the North, and seem to have more support in the Welsh tradition when placed there. If the battles are in the South, we must resort to using the Gewessei battles of the ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE.
There is also always the temptation to try and make the case that the name Arthur in the North is a relic of L. Artorius Castus, who was based at York. In other words, the Artorius name was made popular in the North among this group or that, and passed down through the generations to the famous war-leader of the 5th-5th centuries. But as Professor Roger Tomlin has pointed out to me more than once, Artorius was a common Roman name and there is no reason to restrict the source of the name Arthur to this one man. It is just as likely - if not more so - that Artorius was chosen as a decknamen for what was originally at thoroughly Celtic 'bear' name. And, of course, there may well have been other Artorii in Britain during the Roman period for whom we simply have no extant records.
WHAT IS GOOD ABOUT ILLTUD AS ARTHUR'S FATHER
The idea that Arthur may have been defending the southern and eastern parts of what had been Dobunni territory is not impossible - and, indeed, has some appeal. Long ago I wrote the following about what seemed evidence for the holding of Wiltshire during the expansion of a nascent Wessex. Remember, though, that the Gewessei dates are highly suspect and have been subject to considerable revision from time to time. My research shows that at least the first few generations of the Gewissei were reversed, they do not match what we find in the Welsh records.
"Let us look at the early battles in Wiltshire as these are found recorded in THE ANGLE-SAXON CHRONICLE. We begin with the defeat of the British by Cynric at Old Sarum in 552. Four years later a battle is fought at Barbury Castle further north.
Rather significantly, the Barbury battle of 556 is not said to be a victory. We are merely told there was a battle there. In 560, Ceawlin succeeds Cynric. After Barbury Castle there are no more battles against the Britons until 571 - 15 years later. And the theater of action has changed: the Gewissei are now coming up the Thames Valley. In 577, the war theater changes again, this time to the west and north of Wiltshire (including the capturing of Bath). In 584, there is a battle in Oxfordshire, well to the NE of Wiltshire. We do not return to Wiltshire until 592, when a great slaughter occurs at Adam's Grave near Alton Priors resulting in the expulsion of Ceawlin. In the next year, Ceawlin perishes.
From the Battle of Beranburh to that of Adam's Grave, 36 years had passed."
My interpretation of this major time-gap after Barbury, allowing for Arthur being present at the 'Bear's Fort', is to postulate a near immediate follow-up battle at the Liddington Badbury. There really is no other logical time frame for such a decisive battle, i.e. one that would have been a significant setback for the invading English."
The Liddington Badbury has long been a prime candidate for Badon, and the Welsh Annals themselves seem to make a case for the site as the location of Arthur's most famous victory. See
So, we could argue that Arthur was fighting against the Gewissei. The problem with that, of course, is that the Gewissei won the majority of their battles - including several we must ascribe to Arthur. It is true that the victors write the history, but this is still something we must grapple with when trying to determine what was going on during the Arthurian period in the South. The most that we could say is that someone seems to have held Wiltshire successfully for decades against the Saxon onslaught.
Could this have been Arthur?
Absolutely.
Assuming Uther Pendragon = Illtud.
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