THE CASE FOR KEEPING SAWYL AS ARTHUR'S FATHER

Since writing this blog post -

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2024/08/campus-elleti-and-home-for-ambrosius-on.html?m=1

- I've had to consider whether I've been wrong about my Illtud > Sawyl = Uther theory.

Here is why I don't think I am...

1) Campus Elleti, no matter where it is located, is not the River/Valley of Ely. From a presumed W. Maes Elleti, the site was probably associated with Ambrosius because the Gallic prefect Ambrosius and his son belonged on the River Moselle/Mosella. The story of the fatherless boy playing ball at Elleti is a borrowing of the Irish story of Mac Og the fatherless god playing ball at Bri Leith. As Mabon, the W. counterpart of Mac Og, was at Gileston near Elleti, Ambrosius as the "Divine/Immortal One" looks to be a mythological and not a historical figure.  Emrys was placed at Dinas Emrys because the mountainous region of Eryri, interpreted as being related to the W. word for eagle, was linked to St. Ambrose's presence at Aquileia. According to legend, Ambrosius rules from Dinas Emrys. We would not find him as the Terrible Chief-dragon at Campus Elleti, which he was removed from as a child.

2) Converting Ambrosius into Arthur's father requires the adoption of a grossly anachronistic timeline - or the creation of a purely hypothetical man of that name living a number of generations after his namesake.

3) Dragon in the context of Pendragon meant 'warrior' or 'warriors.' There is no need to associate the term with the red dragon of Dinas Emrys. Geoffrey of Monmouth's dragon-star and draco standard's are fictions which grew out of his misinterpretation of Pendragon as meaning 'Dragon's head.'

4) The court of Pawl Penychen, where Illtud the terrible (= uthr) soldier, knight and magister militum/princeps militum (= pendragon) served, is either Dinas Powis hillfort or the great Caerau hillfort.

5) Uther is transformed into a second Sawyl in his elegy poem. Illtud is confused with Sawyl in sants' lives, and metaphorically compared to Samuel in the Galfridian tradition. It is quite conceivable that while Illtud as Uther Pendragon was taken for Arthur's father, the hero's real father was the Sawyl with whom Illtud had become confused.

6) With Sawyl as Arther's real father, we can nicely account for Madog and Eliwlad (son and grandson of Uther, respectively) as reflections of Sawyl's son Madog Ailithir. We can also explain, through Sawyl's Dal Fiatach marriage connection, how the subsequent Dalriadan and Dyfed Arthurs came to be.

7) Arthur's battles are in the North. Sawyl was a chieftain of the North based at Ribchester. 

For these reasons, I do not think it is profitable to continue looking at Ambrosius as a possible Uther Pendragon.

HOWEVER... several readers of my blog have urged me not to totally forsake the Ambrosius = Uther line of enquiry. They fear I may be missing something. I will bear their concerns in mind should I go forward with any additional research in that direction.

For now, in my mind, the only really serious question for the past few years has been whether I should settle on Illtud as Arthur's father or Sawyl. Illtud doesn't work on several levels, and I've discussed in detail the argument against him in past posts.