NOTE: Since writing this piece, it has occurred to me that the Cysceint (= L. Constantius) of the Elei in the PA GUR poem may also point to Uther as Ambrosius. This is because in the Galfridian tradition Uther's brother was one Constans (a vague approximation of Constans II), and the historical Constans I had a brother, Constantius II.
While it is true that Cysceint's mother, Banon, was associated with a river of that name in Preseli, it is unlikely that the Constantius name was chosen for Uther's Elei for any other reason than someone, at some point, decided that the former should be associated with the latter because of the latter's relationship with Constans.
It may well be, therefore, that all of my long searching for a historical figure represented by Uther is for naught. If Uther = Ambrosius, then to retain an Ambrosius as Arthur's father we would have to propose a man possessing the same name of the more famous Ambrosii of the Continent who originated in southern Wales at a later period.
Alternately, we may very tentatively suggest that Ambrosius as a name was confused with something like the *Ambirix name I have offered for Amesbury's etymology.
Lastly, we have the quite unsatisfactory possibility that Mabon the Sun God was referred to as ambrosios in the sense of the 'Divine/Immortal One'. In which case Arthur has been given a divine origin. Mabon as Maponus, of course, was a god of the North, first and foremost, and at least his placement there would allow us to retain a Northern Arthur.
Lastly, we have the quite unsatisfactory possibility that Mabon the Sun God was referred to as ambrosios in the sense of the 'Divine/Immortal One'. In which case Arthur has been given a divine origin. Mabon as Maponus, of course, was a god of the North, first and foremost, and at least his placement there would allow us to retain a Northern Arthur.
The solution to this dilemma is to finally determine where and what Campus (or Palud) Elleti really was. And I will be turning to that question in my next blog piece.
The Book of Llandaf puts Palud Elleti, thought to be related
to Campus Elleti of Ambrosius fame, between Penmark and the
River Thaw. That location, as it happens, lies directly between
the two forts of the River Ely and Gileston, formerly Llanfabon-
y-fro, the Church of Mabon in the Vale [of Glamorgan].
While considering the presence of Illtud, a possible Uther Pendragon, both at Llantwit Major and either Dinas Powys hillfort or that at Caerau, with a Mabon site directly in between, I had totally forgotten about the Campus Elleti of Ambrosius Aurelianus - which itself was supposedly only a very short distance from Gileston/Llanfabon-y-fro.
Granted, no one (including myself) has been able to find the field/plain of Elleti, or the marsh of Elleti. The word Elleti itself has proven notoriously difficult to etymologize. The best still comes from Dr. Graham Isaac, which he provided to me decades ago now:
"The form of the name is corroborated by the instance of 'palude [Latin for “marsh” or “swamp”] Elleti' in Book of Llan Dav (148). But since both that and HB’s campum Elleti are in Latin contexts, we cannot see whether the name is OW Elleti (= Elledi) or OW Ellet (= Elled) with a Latin genitive ending. Both are possible. My guess would be that OW Elleti is right. As the W suffix -i would motivate affection, so allowing the base to be posited as all-, the same as in W ar-all 'other', all-tud 'exile', Gaulish allo-, etc. Elleti would be 'other-place, place of the other side (of something)'."
Professor Peter Schrijver has recently said of this proposed etymology that it "Makes sense."
All we can say is that the Book of Llandaf puts the place somewhere between Penmark and the River Thaw, and the most likely location is the Kenson River Valley
(https://www.ggat.org.uk/cadw/historic_landscape/llancarfan/english/llancarfan_003.htm). Kenson is an English name, and doubtless replaced an earlier Welsh name. As it happens, there appears to have been a fort on the Kenson:
https://vogonline.planning-register.co.uk/Document/Download?module=PLA&recordNumber=75634&planId=1030074&imageId=54&isPlan=False&fileName=2.4%20East%20Aberthaw%20Solar%20Archeological%20Impact%20Assessment.pdf
GGAT02404s Concentric
ditched fort,
Kenson
Wood,
Llancarfan
Squared concentric-ditched fort c61m x 84m, with up to
five circuits. Well defined inner enclosure c57m x 38m
with simple entrance to E.
ST04686876 ROMAN,Iron Age
FORTLET,
Defended
enclosure
monument
(by
form),
defence
NEAR
DESTROYED
This is elsewhere described as an inland promontory fort
Such a site would seem to be the best possible candidate for Campus Elleti.
What is the possible significance of Ambrosius's home being near both the Ely and a Llanfabon, given that Uther Pendragon in the PA GUR is said to be the master of Mabon of Elei?
Well, I discussed a great many years ago a simple and straight-forward theory for the name Uther Pendragon. This theory had to do with identifying Arthur's father with Ambrosius. Here is some of the relevant text from that treatment of the idea:
"What all of this tells me is that I might well have been right, all those years ago, when I proposed, only half-seriously, that Uther Pendragon was merely a title for Ambrosius Aurelianus. This latter "fictional" chieftain of Dinas Emrys was said to be (HB Chapter 48) rex magnus or the 'great king' among the Britains. His fort was that of the Red Dragon, symbolic of the British, so he was the de facto pen or "chief" of that particular beast. Also, Vortigern was said to have 'timore Ambrosii', dread of Ambrosius. One of the meanings of Uther (see GPC) is 'dreadful'. It was not difficult to see in this combination of facts the title Uther Pendragon.
To quote from Bruce's THE ARTHURIAN NAME DICTIONARY:
"After Geoffrey's chronicle, Ambrosius disappears from legend and romance for some time. The authors of the Prose Merlin and the Vulgate Cycle renamed him Pendragon [emphasis mine]. He resurfaces in the seventeenth century..."
Now, partly this can be explained by the Galfridian fusion of Ambrosius and Merlin at Dinas Emrys. As Merlin now played a prominent role, that of Ambrosius would naturally have been downplayed or even to have disappeared. However, it does not account for why the Pendragon epithet continued to be used as a separate character, and one plainly based on Ambrosius. Instead, this would seem to be confirmation of my idea that Ambrosius IS Uther Pendragon.
I also once pointed out that in medieval tradition, a comet marked the death of a king. That is was, therefore, extremely odd that Geoffrey of Monmouth has the comet appear heralding Ambrosius's death, but say the dragon-star represents Uther.
For the Red Dragon of Vortigern, I have this old article available:
So, is Uther Pendragon = Ambrosius of the Red Dragon?
This could be true in legend, but there are major problems with the chronology of such an argument. My own research has indicated that Ambrosius is a reflection either of St. Ambrose or his Gallic father of the same name or perhaps a conflation of both men. I also demonstrated
(see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2020/05/why-ambrosius-aurelianus-was-put-in.html) that if Ambrosius was ever in Britain, it happened in the 4th century under the Emperor Constans. The statement in the HISTORIA BRITTONUM that has Ambrosius fight the grandfather of Vortigern supports this view.
If Arthur was thought to be the son of Ambrosius of the 4th century, then plainly Arthur could not have been fighting in the 5th-6th centuries. And while it is tempting to suggest a later Ambrosius, the placement of this man at Campus Elleti, in Welsh Maes Elleti, is highly suspicious, as St. Ambrose was born at Trier on the Moselle.
Mŏsella , ae, m. and f.,
I.a river of Belgic Gaul, now the Moselle, Tac. A. 13, 53; id. H. 4, 71; 77: “largus Mosella,” Aus. de Clar. Urb. 4: “placida Mosella,” id. Idyll. 10, 73.—Also called Mŏsŭla , ae, f., Flor. 3, 10, 14.—Hence, Mŏsellēus , a, um, adj., of or belonging to the Moselle: “ortus,” Symm. Ep. 1, 8.
Some articles on Ambrosius that are helpful in tracing this folklore nature of this figure can be found here:
Notable among my first observations is that Ambrosius, whose name means 'the divine or immortal one', is found playing a ballgame and is accused by the other boys of not having a father. This motif parallels exactly the Irish story of the youthful god Mac Og, the counterpart of Welsh Mabon. The ballgame in the Irish story happens at the fairy hill of Bri Leith. Thus there is the very real possibility that Ambrosius was merely an honorific for the god, or that the Gallic Ambrosius came to be wrongly associated with the god at some point. Mabon is found in Welsh tradition in Gwynedd (Nantlle) not far from Dinas Emrys.
The name Ambrosius also seems to have been wrongly applied to Amesbury near Stonehenge, which
gave its name in the form Dinas Emrys to the fort in Arfon, Gwynedd, Wales. The Ambri of Amesbury (see Watts) is generally thought to be an Old English personal name akin to OG Ambri. But I once proposed a different idea that was found acceptable by the Celticists, at least:
Ambrosius is said to fight Vitalinus at Wallop in Hampshire, which is a short distance from Amesbury. Even Vitalinus in this context is problematic, as Fittledean just a tiny bit north of Amesbury comes from an OE personal name Fitela, found in the form Viteletone, and as Fitelan slaedes (valley) at nearby Enford. Vitalinus's father was supposedly Vitalis.
I will "put on my thinking cap" over the next few weeks or months and try to decide if what we are looking at with Uther Pendragon is, indeed, Ambrosius. Should that be the case, any hope of assigning Arthur to a real historical father would seem quite hopeless.
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