A REEXAMINATION OF 'ARTHURIBURGUM' AT STANWIX IN LIGHT OF ARTHUR'S PLACEMENT ON THE WALL

[NOTE: I think the Arthurian story of Ettard and Pelleas caused Etterby to be associated with Arthur. I note that Malory's Ettard becomes Arcade in the Post-Cycle. It is possible Arcade was linked to the Greek root for bear, found in mythological names like Arcas. If so, there is nothing to the Etterby tradition as Arthur's fort.]

Now that I have finally decided to be satisfied with an Arthur based on Hadrian's Wall, with a prime candidate for his ruling center being Banna/Birdoswald, it is important that I once again discuss the other possible capital: Stanwix, where there was a Roman fort called Uxellodunum (nicknamed Petriana).

Many years ago I wrote a series of blog posts on the site, and it's apparent identification in sources heralding from the 1600-1700s as 'Arthur's Burg':

On Stanwix (Arthuriburgum?):

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2018/10/an-early-piece-on-arthur-and-stanwix.html

On the Ala Petriana the late period garrison of the fort:

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2017/09/more-on-ala-petriana-of-stanwix-roman.html

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2017/09/a-selection-from-mike-mccarthys-roman.html

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2017/10/a-nice-article-on-roman-cavalry-in.html

I never really took Stanwix as Arthur's Fort very seriously.  Why?  Well, the lateness of the reference to the tradition for one.  Still, there were a number of things I liked a lot about Uxellodunum/Petriana.  To begin, there was this from Roman scholar Shepherd Frere:

“The western sector of the Wall was the most dangerous… both on account of the nature of the ground and because of the hostile population beyond it. It is not surprising to find, then, that at Stanwix near Carlisle was stationed the Ala Petriana… Such regiments are always found on the post of danger; and the prefect of this Ala was the senior officer in the whole of the wall garrison. Here, then, lay Command headquarters, and it has been shown that a signaling system existed along the road from Carlisle to

York, which would enable the prefect at Stanwix to communicate with the legionary legate at York in a matter of minutes.”

I recently wrote to Professor Roger Tomlin about this, and he replied:

"I would agree with Frere on anything – and indeed, I often did. I even dug for him once, on an excavation. 

Stanwix was certainly the base of the ala Petriana, the only milliary ala in Britain, so its prefect would have been senior to the other prefects and tribunes on the Wall. Its geographical location also is significant, as Frere says."

That analysis by Tomlin made me realize that I should not so hastily dispense with the Arthuriburgum idea.

I suppose the question I should have asked myself, all those years ago, is this:

WHY WAS STANWIX (FOR ETTERBY IN STANWIX PARISH) THOUGHT BY SOMEONE IN THE REGION TO BE ARTHUR'S FORT?  

It's a reasonable line of inquiry.  I mean, presumably by the time of Joseph Nicolson and Richard Burn there were already no signs of the Stanwix fort hard by Etterby.  Given that it is hard to account for the place-name element Etter- (from Etardeby 1246, Etard being a French name from OHG Eidhart) having been somehow miscontrued as representing the name Arthur, we are left scratching our heads when seeking a plausible connection. 

Authorities in Stanwix and Carlisle, in response to my queries, have failed to produce any evidence of the Etterby = Arthur's Burg tradition prior to the time of Nicolson and Burn. Yet these same parties were insistent on defending the integrity of Nicolson's 2 volume compilation "The history and antiquities of the counties of Westmorland and Cumberland". 

In other words, this man is believed to have faithfully recorded traditions that were in his uncle's collection. He does not seem to have created or promulgated forgeries in the manner of Iolo Morganwg in Wales.

And then there was this... the Petriana cavalry group at Stanwix had been named for a Roman Titus Pomponius Petra.  When seeking to explain why Pedr (from L. Petrus) of Dyfed had named his son Arthur, I dared entertain the following notion:

Could Pedr had called his son Arthur because the famous Arthur, just a generation earlier, had hismelf descended from the Petriana at Stanwix?

As anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of Latin knows, the relationship of Petra and Petrus is extremely close.  Here are the relevant entries from the Lewis and Short Dictionary at Perseus:

pē^tra , ae, f., = πέτρα,

I.a rock, a crag, stone (pure Lat. saxum; cf.: rupes, scopulus): petrarum genera sunt duo, quorum alterum naturale saxum prominens in mare; “alterum manufactum ut docet Aelius Gallus: Petra est, qui locus dextrā ac sinistrā fornicem expletur usque ad libramentum summi fornicis,” Fest. p. 206 Müll. (of the latter signif. there is no other example known): petris ingentibus tecta, Enn. ap. Fest. 1. 1. (Ann. v. 366); Sen. Herc. Oet. 804: “aquam de petrā produxit,” Vulg. Isa. 48, 21 et saep.: “gaviae in petris nidificant,” Plin. 10, 32, 48, § 91: “alga, quae juxta terram in petris nascitur,” id. 32, 6, 22, § 66; 34, 12, 29, § 117; Curt. 7, 11, 1.

πέτρα , Ion. and Ep. πέτρη , ἡ,

A.rock; freq. of cliffs, ledges, etc. by the sea, “λισσὴ αἰπεῖά τε εἰς ἅλα πέτρη” Od.3.293, cf. 4.501, etc.; χῶρος λεῖος πετράων free from rocks, of a beach, 5.443 ; “π. ἠλίβατος . . ἁλὸς ἐγγὺς ἐοῦσα” Il.15.618, etc.; χοιρὰς π. Pi.P.10.52; also, rocky peak or ridge, αἰγίλιψ π. Il.9.15, etc.; “ἠλίβατος” 16.35, etc.; λιττὰς π. Corinn.Supp.1.30, cf.A.Supp.796 (lyr.); π. Λενκάς, ?ωλενίη, etc., Od.24.11, Il.11.757, etc.; π. σύνδρομοι, Συμπληγάδες, Pi.P.4.209, E.Med.1264(lyr.); πρὸς πέτραις ὑψηλοκρήμνοις, of Caucasus, A.Pr.4, cf. 31, 56, al.; π. Δελφίς, π. δίλοφος, of Parnassus, S.OT464(lyr.), Ant.1126(lyr.); “π. Κωρυκίς” A.Eu.22; π. Κεκροπία, of the Acropolis, E.Ion936.

2. π. γλαφυρή a hollow rock, i.e. a cave, Il.2.88, cf. 4.107; σπέος κοιλῇ ὑπὸ π. Hes. Th.301; δίστομος π. cave in the rock with a double entrance, S.Ph.16, cf. 937; κατηρεφεῖς αὐτῇ τῇ π. Pl.Criti.116b; “π. ἀντρώδης” X.An.4.3.11; “τόπος κύκλῳ πέτραις περιεχόμενος” IG42(1).122.21 (Epid.); ἕως τῆς π. down to virgin rock, PCair.Zen.172.14 (iii B.C.), OGI672 (Egypt, i A. D.), cf. Ev.Matt.16.18.

3. mass of rock or boulder, Od.9.243, 484, Hes.Th.675 ; “πέτρας κυλινδομένα φλόξ” Pi.P.1.23 ; “ἐκυλίνδουν πέτρας” X.An.4.2.20, cf. Plb.3.53.4.

4. stone as material, π. λαρτία, Τηΐα, SIG581.97 (Crete, iii/ii B. C.), 996.13 (Smyrna, i A. D.): distd. from πέτρος (q. v.), which is v.l. in X.l.c.; πέτρᾳ shd. be read in S.Ph.272 ; the distn. is minimized by Gal.12.194.

II. prov., οὐκ ἀπὸ δρυὸς οὐδ᾽ ἀπὸ πέτρης, etc. (v. δρῦς); as a symbol of firmness, “ὁ δ᾽ ἐστάθη ἠΰτε π. ἔμπεδον” Od.17.463; of hard-heartedness, “ἐκ πέτρας εἰργασμένος” A.Pr.244; “ἁλίαν π. ἢ κῦμα λιταῖς ὢς ἱκετεύων” E.Andr. 537 (anap.); cf. “πέτρος” 1.2 . (Written πε-τε-ρα in a text with musical accompaniment, Pae.Delph.5.)

πέτρος , ὁ (in later Poets ἡ, AP7.274 (Honest.), 479 (Theodorid.)),

A.stone (distd. from πέτρα, q. v.); in Hom., used by warriors, “λάζετο πέτρον μάρμαρον ὀκριόεντα” Il.16.734 ; “βαλὼν μυλοειδέϊ πέτρῳ” 7.270, cf. 20.288, E.Andr.1128 (never in Od.); “ἔδικε πέτρῳ” Pi.O.10(11).72; “ἄγαλμ᾽ Ἀΐδα ξεστὸν π. ἔμβαλον στέρνῳ” Id.N.10.67; “νιφάδι γογγύλων πέτρων” A.Fr.199.7; “ἐκ χερῶν πέτροισιν ἠράσσοντο” Id.Pers.460; “λευσθῆναι πέτροις” S.OC435; “πέτρους ἐπεκυλίνδουν” X.HG3.5.20, etc.; ἐν πέτροισι πέτρον ἐκτρίβων, to produce fire, S.Ph.296; of a boulder forming a landmark, Id.OC1595; “τόνδ᾽ ἀνέθηκα π. ἀειράμενος” IG42(1).125 (Epid., iii B. C.).

2. prov., πάντα κινῆσαι πέτρον 'leave no stone unturned', E.Heracl.1002, cf. Pl.Lg.843a; of imperturbability, “καὶ γὰρ ἂν πέτρου φύσιν σύ γ᾽ ὀργάνειας” S.OT334, cf. E.Med.28.

II. a kind of reed, Peripl.M.Rubr.65.—The usual Prose word is λίθος.

I even went beyond this at one point - probably foolishly - when I also sought to explain how the name Arthur had reached Scottish Dalriada.  As I knew the Cenel nGabrain had intermarried with the British, doubtless of Strathclyde, I reminded my readers of the Latin Petra Cloithe rendering of Al Clut, the name of the capital of Strathclyde at Dumbarton Rock.  I then went even more crazy by pointing out that Arthur son of Bicoir had killed Mongan with a stone (although it now seems that stone is a folklore remnant based on the monolith at Dun Beachaire in Kintyre; see 

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2024/11/arthur-son-of-bicoir-of-kintyre.html).  Although I don't recall, I may even have ventured to float the Irish art- 'stone (?)', a word of dubious existence. 

While it is certainly attractive to think of Arthur as a leader of cavalry based at Petriana, critics immediately pounced on that, citing the proximity of Stanwix to Carlisle, claiming (as one still finds in respectable Arthurian publications!) that Carlisle is the Carduel of Chretien de Troyes.  

Well, I can only say -

CARDUEL IS NOT CARLISLE!

Carduel is said to be in Wales (Gales). However, it has long been customary to identify this site with Carlisle, the Roman Luguvalium, in Cumbria. The "d" of Carduel is said to be due to dissimilation of the first "l" of Carlisle (Welsh Caerliwelydd). I have always thought this linguistic argument to be highly questionable.

Carduel is also hard by the Red Knight's Forest of Quinqueroy and not far from the castle of Gornemont of Goort. Goort is here definitely Gower. Quinqueroy is Welsh gwyn plus caer, a slight error for Caerwent.

While Kerduel in Brittany is derived from Caer + Tudwall (information courtesy Jean-Yves le Moing, personal correspondence; cf. Caer Dathyl in Arfon, from Irish Tuathal = Welsh Tudwall, possibly Caer-fawr or Caernarfon, information courtesy Brian Lile of The National Library of Wales, citing Ifor Williams' Pedair Keinc Ymabinogi, 1951), I think Carduel (Car-dyou-EL) probably derives from Caer +d'iwl, Iwl (pronounced similar to English 'yule', according to Dr. David Thorne of the Welsh Department at Lampeter) being the Welsh form of Julius, the name Geoffrey used for Aaron's partner, St. Julian.

When Perceval first comes to Arthur's court, it is at Carduel; but when Arthur sets off after Perceval when the latter sends the Haughty Knight of the Moor to the court, the king leaves Caerleon. In between the king's placement at Carduel and Caerleon, Anguingueron and Clamadeu find Arthur at Dinas d'Aaron, the Fort of Aaron/Caerleon. In other words, Caerleon and Carduel are the same. Indeed, Anguingueron and the Haughty Knight are sent to Arthur's court by Perceval, who knows only that Arthur is at Carduel. This means that Dinas d'Aaron and Carduel have to be Caerleon.

And Arthur's Quarrois? When Erec of Erec and Enide says he will not loiter anywhere until he has "come to the court of King Arthur, whom I wish to see either at Quarrois or Carduel", he seems to be implying that Carduel and Quarrois are near each other. Because Quarrois is mentioned only in conjunction with Carduel, it is more than likely the -queroy of Quinqueroy, i.e. Quarrois = the Caer that is Caerwent.

Carduel's relationship with Chrietien de Troyes' Camelot supplies us with additional reason for placing the former at Caerleon.

According to Chretien, Camelot is ‘in the region near Caerleon’. For some reason, most authorities have seen fit to ignore this statement, insisting that Camelot was placed near Caerleon simply because of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s glorified description of the latter site as a major Arthurian centre. If we do take

Chretien’s statement seriously, we can for the first time arrive at a satisfactory identification of this most magical of royal cities.

The second clue to the location of Camelot is from the later romance The Quest for the Holy Grail, wherein Arthur escorts the Grail questers from Camelot to a point just shy of Castle Vagan.

A third clue, from the prose Tristan, places Camelot either on or very near the sea. The last clue is from the Morte Artu; in this source, the castle of Camelot is on a river. It goes without saying that we need to look for a CASTLE or, at the very least, the site of an earlier hill-fort of some significance.

Castle Vagan is St. Fagan’s Castle (W. Ffagan) four or five miles west of Cardiff. 

According to the HB, Campus Elleti, the ‘Field or Plain of Elleti’, was said to be in Glywysing, the later Morgannwg/Glamorgan.  The same place-name is found in the Book of Llandaf as Palud Elleti (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-red-herring-of-llanilid-uther.html).

In my opinion, Campus Elleti, with Latin Campus rendered as French Champ (the p of which eventually became silent), became Camelot:

Cham(p) ellet(i) > Camelot

So, if I'm right about all that (am I'm pretty sure I am), then we cannot look at Etterby (Stanwix) as Arthur's Fort as being a near-miss for Carlisle.  Instead, we must still look at Petriana/Uxellodunum in isolation as Arthuriburgum.

Once upon a time I put out there that the Arthur Penuchel mentioned in a corrupt Welsh Triad may be an oblique reference to Arthur having ruled from Uxellodunum, the 'High Fort'.  Uxello- becomes in Welsh uchel.  Dr. Simon Rodway of The University of Wales, a noted expert in the Welsh language, recently informed me that Uxellodunum in Welsh would have become *Uchelddin.  However, Welsh place-names show a shift in the order of components, so that one would expect a Din Uchel or Dinas Uchel. 

Welsh Uther is cognate with Irish uachtar.  Its original meaning was (citing Professor John Koch here) 'high, lofty.'

Is all of this sufficient for us to seriously consider Stanwix as THE Arthurian center?

I'm not sure.  Need to think on it some more.