Gerontius/Uther and an Arthur at York

The other day I reluctantly admitted that the best historical candidate for Uther Pendragon was a Dumnonian Geraint who had "inherited" the descriptors/ranks of the great British general Gerontius.

Gerontius was magister militum, a Latin title which perfectly translates into Pendragon.  I had toyed around with the idea of the later magister utriusque militiae title assigned to Gerontius as accounting for Uther as well, through folk etymology.  The root of utriusque is uter, 'both', in Latin, and we know Welsh uther was rendered uter in a Latin text.  This idea would be more attractive if the originator of Uther Pendragon had run into an abbreviated form of MVM, such as mag utr mil.  Militiae, of course, does not yield soldiers, but 'armies' or 'forces.'  A more likely origin for Uther, the Terrible, Dreadful and the like, is the the passage in Zosimus that tells us Sarus was fearful or in dread of Gerontius.  Professor Roger Tomlin discusses the word used in this context:

"The word is δεισας in line 10, which is the aorist participle of the verb δειδω, meaning 'I fear' – which means that 'being in dread of' is a correct translation, but rather heavy-weight. I think 'fearing' would be better."

The passage in question occurs just when Gerontius is made MM:

[Zosimus New History 6.2.5] "Constantine then conferred the command [magister militum], vacant by the death of Justinian and Nebiogast, on Edobinch, a Frank by extraction, but a native of Britain[1], and on Gerontius, a Briton. Sarus, being in dread of the courage and the military experience of these two, raised the siege of Valentia after he had continued in it seven days."

While I find myself unable to deny the idea, I still dislike immensely. 

Why? 

Because it does not permit me to retain the northern battles sites for Arthur. Or relate the name Arthur to L. Artorius Castus.

However, I may be getting myself stuck in a box again. 

How so?

Because we need not assume that a 5th-6th century Geraint in Dumnonia was necessarily descended from Gerontius. We can't even know if such a Geraint had been named for Gerontius (although it is reasonable speculation). It's not even known if there was a Geraint in Arthur's time. He may have been later (see the ongoing debate about the date of Gerant's Llongborth battle).

Now, hypothetically, suppose Gerontius hailed from the North, and the whole mess got shifted to the Celtic Fringe of Cornwall partly because there was a Geraint there?

To find out if such a relocation of tradition could allowed, I had to look into Constantine III himself in more detail. For it was this usurping emperor who had appointed Gerontius his MM and MVM.

From Anthony Birley's THE ROMAN GOVERNMENT OF BRITAIN:

Sozomen gives no real explanation for the British soldiers’ action, except to

comment on Constantine, that they chose him, ‘thinking that as he had this name, he would master the imperial power firmly, since it was for a reason such as this that they appear to have chosen the others for usurpation as well’. The magic of the name of Constantine, in Britain above

all, needs no documentation. Orosius has a similar version: Constantine was

chosen ‘solely on account of the hope in his name’. Sozomen’s remark that

this applied to the others as well probably just means that the soldiers had thought that Marcus and Gratian too ‘would master the imperial power

firmly’. Constantine’s appeal to the memory of Constantine the Great, who

had been proclaimed emperor in Britain almost exactly a century earlier, is made even more obvious by his assumption of the names Flavius Claudius. Further, his sons were called Constans, made Caesar in 408 and Augustus in 409 or 410, and Julian, who received the title nobilissimus.

When I asked Professor Roger Tomlin about the likelihood of Constantine III being raised to the purple at York, he replied:

"I don't see that York would be chosen deliberately for the magic of its association with Constantine (if remembered!), but nonetheless it is likely to be where Constantine III was proclaimed, since it was capital of the northern province (Britannia Inferior and its successor(s)) and also a major military base, if not the military base. His army was probably based there, even if it was operating elsewere at the time."

What that tells me is that Gerontius would have been at York as well. The same York where Castus had been prefect of the Sixth Legion. 

I put this to Prof. Tomlin thusly:

"Reasonable to assume Gerontius was drawn from the army at York? I realize we can't possibly know - but credible? If Constantine were there, etc.?"

To which he responded:

"Yes, York is quite credible."

Castus also had strong Dalmatian connections. I've written about his possible birth there. After following Statius Priscus, then Roman governor of Britain, to Armenia, Castus was made the first procurator of the new Dalmatian province of Liburnia. Members of his family show up in Salona, and we have a woman from that city being buried at the Dalmatian-garrisoned fort of Carvoran on Hadrian's Wall just a short distance from the Camboglanna fort at Castlesteads. 

Another Dalmatian unit appears to have been stationed at York in the late period:

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2020/12/carvoran-and-york-of-roman-dalmatian.html?m=1

Let us suppose an Arthur descended from Gerontius at York or at least an Arthur based at York or Carvoran who laid claim to such descent from Gerontius for the sake of legitimacy is our great hero. 

Does this work?

Well, the Welsh Eliffer or Eleutherius of the Great Retinue (a memory of the Sixth Legion) almost certainly belongs at York. His name, like Gerontius, derives from the Greek. Eleuthereos, meaning "the Liberator", was used of Constantine the Great, who had been proclaimed emperor at York. Given that in all likliehood Constantine III had been made emperor in that city as well, there may have been a sort of Dark Age relic of a cult of Constantine at York.

While Celticists have recently preferred *Pritorix for Eliffer's son Peredur, I think we are safe on still taking this name to represent Latin praetor.

Peredur died fighting at Caer Greu, which I've demonstrated to be tge Carrawburgh fort on Hadrian's Wall.

In Geoffrey of Monmouth, Uther's first battle as king occurs at York. Gorlois (a character created from Uther's epithet gorlassar) makes his first appearance after a York defeat at The Roaches, a site in the Staffordshire Peak District. 

I've elsewhere discussed the corrupt Welsh Triad which has a certain Arthur Penuchel be fathered by Eliffer of York.

In any case, Gerontius need not be confined to Dumnonia. And if I'm right and this man is being claimed as Arthur's father Uther, we should not feel forced to attach our hero to a Gereint who belongs in the remotest corner of Cornwall.

Of course, it is true that Gerontius the Terrible Chief of Warriors as Arthur's father may merely be another folklore or literary fiction, no different than the anachronistic Ambrosius or any number of other early legendary characters found embedded in the Arthurian tradition. A place-holder was needed for chronological reasons and Uther fit the bill.