A STARTLING DISCOVERY BRINGS BACK THE SAWYL-UTHER IDENTIFICATION

I had only just decided on "keeping" the Northern battles for Arthur, but in dispensing with Sawyl Benisel of Ribchester as Uther.  See my logic behind this conclusion here:

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-arthurian-battles-where-arthur-was.html

But before I put away Arthur forever, I decided to check over one more thing that continued to bother me: why does the name Arthur first appear in the royal line of the Irish-founded kingdom of Dalriada, and then later in the Irish-founded kingdom of Dyfed?  When I had proposed Sawyl as Arthur's father, the problem went away, as Sawyl had married a daughter of Muiredach Muinderg of the Dal Fiatach.

So, I combed through what is known about the British connections of Aedan of Dalriada, purportedly the father of an Arthur.  While re-reading Bannerman (STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF DALRIADA), I chanced to bother to consult the footnotes.  The text on p. 89 read:

"... it is said that [Maith] Gemma [from Irish mathgamain, 'a bear'], the saint's mother, was a daughter of Aedan and a niece of a British king which implies that Aedan's wife was of British extraction."

And the footnote:

"This is probably the Maithgemm of Monad [the Dalriadan capital], daughter of Aedan... It seems she married a certain Cairell, grandson of Muredach Munderg, of the Dal Fiatach."

However, I've learned that the information supplied by Dr. John Bannerman pertaining to Cairell of the Dal Fiatach is incorrect.  Cairell was not grandson of Muiredach Muinderg, but his son.  

To quote from private correspondence on the issue from Prof. Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, MRIA, FSA, Department of History, School of Humanities, National University of Ireland, Galway,

Editor, Peritia, Journal of the Medieval Academy of Ireland,

Chair, Royal Irish Academy Dictionary of Medieval Latin from Celtic Sources,

Chair, RIA/IBA/Brepols Scriptores Celtigenae [CCSL] series,

Member of the Irish Manuscripts Commission,

Dir. Foundations of Irish Culture [PRTLI] Project:

"My first response to your question is to agree with you that the Cairell you asked about was son of Muiredach Muinderg. That's what my teacher & mentor, Francis John Byrne, has in his Irish Kings & High-Kings, p. 285, in his genealogy of the Dál Fiatach & again in the New History of Ireland, vol. IX ('Maps, Genealogies, Lists') p. 132. The genealogies in Michael O'Brien's Corpus are no different (see index, p. 529). There's nothing at all unlikely about Áedán mac Gabráin's mother having been a British woman, but that's a different matter altogether.

   Somewhere here at home I have the 1st fascicule of the German Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages published by the Artemis Verlag in Munich back in the 70s & for which Francis John & others (myself included) wrote numerous articles, which might have a different take on those details about Áedán, but I somehow doubt that the story is any different there.

   I'm afraid I don't have a copy of Ben Hudson' s ed. of Berchán's Prophecy, so cannot help you with that. Generally speaking, however, I always found John Bannerman's stuff very sound, so the detail that you referred to may be a simple slip on his part. It happens to us all!"

What this means (for those who don't see it immediately!), is that Muiredach marries a daughter to Sawyl Benisel, and then, later, a son to Aedan's daughter.

I will note that there is a problem in the Irish sources regarding the Dalriadan Arthur's father.  He is called both Conaing (an Irish version of the English word cyning, 'king') and Aedan, with Conaing being said to be a son of Aedan.  Bannerman discusses this conflict as follows:

"There remains the problem of whether Artur was Adan's son or grandson.  The combined evidence of Adomnan and AT is strong.  However, it should be remembered that the original compilation of the Senchus, if it is to be accepted as an historically authenticated document, should be dated to c. 650, some fifty years earlier than Adomnan or the Scottish annals underlying AT.  Furthermore, Aedan was in his seventies when he died and it would be strange indeed, considering that he had seven sons, if, towards the end of his life, none of his grandsons was of an age to take a part in the political activities of his time.  Artur, grandson of Aedan, might easily have been twenty years of age, or more, by 590. It is at least possible that Adamnan and the compiler of the Iona Chronicles, when referring to those of Aedan's descendents who died before him, assumed that they were all his sons, especially as some were so in fact." 

Allowing, for the sake of argument, Conaing as the Dalriadan Arthur's father, we can draw out the following comparative genealogies for the two Arthurs:

Muiredach - X  Aedan   -     British wife

       l                          l                          l

Dechtire-Sawyl Gemma-Cairell     Con.

             I                                                l

       Arthur                                      Arthur

       

Allowing for Dechtire to be sufficiently younger than Cairell, or for her bearing of Arthur to have come well before Conaing's begetting of the Dalriadan Arthur, we can say that this is how the name Arthur came into the Dalriadan royal line.

We can only assume that the later Arthur son of Pedr was introduced to the Dyfed royal line because this dynasty, like that of Dalriada, was of Irish descent.  We should note that the Dessi genealogy of those who came over to Dyfed from Ireland includes an Artchorp, 'Bear-body.'  That bear-name may have facilitated the use of the name Arthur for Pedr's son.