The Arthurian battles, as found in the earliest souces, belong in the North. Of that, I am finally reasonably certain. For a brief explanation as to why seeking them in the South is fraught with problems, please see the following blog post:
So, if my arrangement of the battles is essentially correct, where was Arthur based?
Well, in the past I've presented two different arguments. Interestingly, both utilized exactly the same battle list/map. In one theory, I opted for Ribchester, with Sawyl Benisel being Arthur's father. This idea relied upon a couple of rather "ify" propositions, and one that is probably wrong.
First, I had proposed that Sawyl had been wrongly identified with Uther Pendragon, a Cymracized form of some of St. Illtud's military titles/descriptors. Everything surrounding this theory depended upon L. Artorius Castus being in Britain when the Sarmatians were there. And that meant Castus had gone with British force in the latter part of the 2nd century A.D. to Armorica.
Unfortunately, the evidence as we have it, coupled with a good, logical extrapolation of that evidence, suggests strongly that Castus did not go to Armorica, but instead to Armenia. If we went to Armenia, then he was in Britain before the Sarmatians were there, and it makes no sense to associated him with the Ribchester fort of the Sarmatian veterans.
The other Northern Arthur theory is simpler and better, but is deficient in the sense that we have no genealogical link for Uther. Basically, this second idea presents us with an Arthur whose name was not preserved among the Sarmato-British population around Ribchester, but instead among Dalmatian-descended peoples at one of two possible locations in Britain. Castus as Prefect of the Sixth Legion was based at York, and we know there was a Dalmatian unit either stationed there or nearby (Professor Roger Tomlin prefers the York post). A corrupt Welsh TRIAD makes an Arthur Penuchel the son of Eliffer of York.
But there was also a Dalmatian unit posted on Hadrian's Wall, at Magnis/Carvoran, very close to the famous Banna/Birdoswald fort of the Dacians with its Dark Age royal hall complex. A woman of Salona in Dalmatia was actually buried at Magnis, and we have attestations of Artorii from Salona. Castus himself retired to his estate just a bit south of Salona in Dalmatia, and there are proponents (including Tomlin) who think it is possible or even likely that Castus had himself been born in Dalmatia. We do know that important men in his orbit did, in fact, either have a Dalmatian origin or could easily have had such.
The Magnis Roman fort guarded the road junction between the Maiden Way and the Stanegate Roman roads.
We all know by now that Arthur's Camlann was probably Camboglanna, a Hadrian's Wall Roman fort found in the same river valley as Banna. We also know about the Hadrian Wall's fort of Aballava, 'the Apple orchard' or 'Apple place' (variant Avalana, from which Avalon could have been derived), only a few miles to the west of the Irthing valley forts. A Dea Latis or 'Lake Goddess' belonged to the marsh at Aballava. The river-name Irthing may well derive from a Cumbric term meaning 'Little Bear', and I have tentatively placed the *Artenses or 'Bear-people' (a name preserved in the Welsh eponym Arthwys) in the Irthing Valley. It is well known that the Welsh associated the name Arthur with their word for bear, 'arth'.
Had a famouis Dalmatian-oriented officer, who ended up the first procurator of the newly formed province of Liburnia, a part of Dalmatia, led a British force to Armenia in the 2nd century, his name may well have been preserved among Dalmatians in Britain. This name could have found its way to a later generation of Dalmato-British peoples at Magnis, only to crop up as that belonging to our syb-Roman/early Medieval Arthur.
Uther remains a problem. It is true that the Dacians of Banna had anciently possessed their own wolf-headed 'draco' standard. I have shown that this standard did have scalation on its windsock body, and Romanian scholars have agreed it was a hybrid monster. Such an affinity for their own draco may well have caused them to hold the later Roman draco in special veneration. I have theorized (and had some success convincing scholars of the notion's validity) that Banna on the Ilam/Staffordshire Moor Cup is referred to by its Dacian garrison as the 'Aelian Dragon.'
While it is true that in Welsh medieval poetic usage dragon meant 'warrior' or the like, it is reasonable to hypothesize that the dragon itself as a symbol of military might derived from the draco of the Roman army. And, of course, we know there was a late Roman military rank of magister draconum, a person who was the commander of the draco standard bearers. Such a title could, conceivably, have been applied as an honorific to the leader at Banna during the Dark Ages.
Banna appears to have been a very important spot, for I have also identified it pretty firmly as the birthplace of St. Patrick:
The account of Arthur in the HISTORIA BRITTONUM comes on the heels of that of St. Patrick.
My "feeling", then, for that is really what it all comes down to, is that Arthur belongs at Banna/Birdoswald. Possibly his mother was from neighboring Magnis/Carvoran.
I've pasted below a few additional helpful links that pertain to what I have discussed above.
For those who wish to read my detailed treatment of the Arthurian battles, please see my book:
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