A Dumnonian or Penychen Magister Militum for Uther?: PA GUR Vs. the Galfridian Tradition

[NOTE: Since writing this piece, I have gone over the Arthurian battles again, and the connection of the name Arthur with both L. Artorius and an Irish royal family (whose lineage accounts for the Arthur name cropping up in the Dalriadan kingdom).  I've decided that the argument for an Arthur of the North is simply to strong to discount, and I cannot find a way to maintain a counter-argument for an Arthur of the South.  My book THE BATTLE-LEADER OF RIBCHESTER will stands as is.]

After over 30 years of Arthurian research, I have come to recognize two possible contenders for Uther Pendragon as those are presented to us in the traditional material.

I have recently set out my final argument for Illtud being Uther (a personage himself confused with Arthur's real father, Sawyl of the North).  But there was another one, viz. a 5th century Geraint of Dumnonia who could have taken on (or been given) the magister militum title of the British magister militum Gerontius.  Gerontius may have been called Uther because he caused dread in Sarus, or because the utriusque portion of one of his ranks had been confused in folk belief with the Welsh word uthr, spelled uter in a Latin source.  Latin utriusque has as its root the word uter. 

An Uther of Dumnonia fits in well with the Galfridian tradition, but also with some early Welsh materials, like the poem "The Stanzas of Geraint Son of Erbin." There is little difficulty fitting a Geraint as Arthur's father into the Dumonian genealogy, and all of the long-treasured Cornish, Devon and Somerset sites may be retained.  We can leave Madog and his son Eliwlad in Cornwall.  Cadbury Castle remains attractive and Glastonbury once again looms out of the mist, etc.  We even have the name Gorlois present at sites that were associated with Geraints:

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-forts-or-settlements-of-gorlois.html

But we have a problem: the Arthurian battles, if their names are taken literally, are not to be found in the South.  And they certainly aren't to be found along the border of Dumnonia and an expanding Wessex.  It is always possible, of course, that at least some of the Arthurian battle names were replaced by English ones.  In that case, as has long been recognized, we will never find them.  Still, there are definitely names that are extant in the North and it is difficult to deny their presence there.

It is also possible that during the legend-building process a purely Southern Arthur was given battles all over Britain for no other reason than to magnify his importance.  This is also a possibility scholars have recognized in the past. 

Thus the PA GUR seems to point to Sawyl Benisel, whose son could easily have fought in the Northern battles, while the tradition recorded by Geoffrey of Monmouth and other Welsh sources (which may be dependent on Geoffrey) would have us look to Gerontius/Geraint.

Which do we opt for?  How are we to decide between the two?  Is the case for the northern battles strong enough to cause us to favor a Northern Uther?  Or is the PA GUR's apparent identification of Illtud as Uther an example of spurious tradition?  

I will be addressing this issue some time in the near future.