THE CREATION OF UTHER PENDRAGON: A TWO-STEP PROCESS

Merlin, Vortigern and the Two Dragons

After a great deal of soul-searching, I'm finally having to accept what I've long feared: Uther Pendragon is a literally creation.  Or, more precisely, a "rebranding" of another well-known hero who was later wrongly associated with the mil uathmar of the Irish COMPERT MONGAN.

The following selection from an old blog is a good departure point for the current confession...

<Years ago I proposed that Uther Pendragon, the 'Terrible/Horrible Chief-warrior', was merely a title for Ambrosius Aurelianus.  The idea came from the later Arthurian romances, where Ambrosius disappears entirely, being replaced by 'Pendragon.'

I resisted the identification.  Why?  Because I did not want to admit that Uther was merely a "filler" character, conjured out of a man who was actually of the 4th century. 

Here is my "evidence" for Uther as Ambrosius from a very old post:

***

Having covered the sources dealing with a supposed pre-Galfridian Uther, we must now treat of the epithet itself.  In Geoffrey of Monmouth’s account of the comet that appears on the death of Aurelius Ambrosius (the Ambrosius Aurelianus of Gildas), Merlin tells Uther that the dragon star signifies himself.  This is NOT in accord with the prevailing medieval view.  Simply expressed, a comet heralded the death of the king – something that Geoffrey does start out saying in his account.  But such a star DID NOT represent, in any way, the dead king’s successor.

Uther had nothing to do with the dragons of Dinas Emrys (a relocation of the Vespasian’s Fort at Amesbury and nearby Stonehenge; see my book “The Mysteries of Avalon”). Beginning with the account of Emrys Guletic (Ambrosius the Prince) in Nennius, it is ONLY Aurelius who has to do with the dragons.  In Geoffrey’s History, Merlin is intruded and here wrongly identified with Ambrosius.  Uther is placed in charge of obtaining the stones from Ireland with Merlin Ambrosius’s help, but all this is done by order by Aurelius.  In the original Dinas Emrys story it was Emrys/Ambrosius who revealed the dragons under the fort and who was then given the site to rule from by Vortigern.  In fact, we are told Vortigern “gave him [Emrys] the fortress, with all the kingdoms of the western part of Britain.”  This is omitted, of course, when Geoffrey divides the Dinas Emrys episode from the Amesbury/Stonehenge one.

I wrote extensively on Dinas Emrys and its dragons, but one of the more important pieces is here:

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-dragon-of-emrais-and-dragon-of.html?m=1

There I spoke about the "dragon of Emrys" as a title for the ruler of Gwynedd. Elsewhere I had delved into the nature of the red dragon as emblematic of the draco standard (Red Dragon = purple draco of the Emperor Julian, for example; see http://www.fectio.org.uk/articles/draco.htm), the genius of the British people, cremated remains of a chieftain/warrior placed in an urn and even as a folk memory of the crossed snakes (?) standard of the Segontium/Caernarvon Roman fort garrison.  

Needless to say, this was a complicated subject and there were many interweaving strands present in the tradition.  

But one more point is important in the context of Uther as Ambrosius. According to Nennius (Chapter 31), Vortigern was in FEAR or DREAD (timore in the Latin text) of Ambrosius, who is called the “great king” (rex magnus) “among all the kings of the British nation”.  This title is a Latin rendering for his Welsh rank of guletic.  In Welsh, uthr is an adjective and has the meanings of ‘FEARFUL, DREADFUL’ (see the Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru).  Thus the great king who was the terror of Vortigern could have become, quite naturally, the Terrible Dragon/Pen.  Uther Dragon/Pen would then merely be a doublet for Ambrosius. This possibility may gain support from the fact that the late French Vulgate refers to Ambrosius as Pendragon.

Welsh tradition associates Uther with Caer Dathal, which I've identified with Ambrosius' Dinas Emrys (see

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2021/01/dinas-emrys-as-caer-dathal-late.html?m=1). Geoffrey of Monmouth has both Ambrosius and Uther buried at Stonehenge near Amesbury, an echo of the dragons in the urns at Dinas Emrys.

Ambrosius at Campus Elleti in Glamorgan points to an identification of the "Immortal One" with the god Mabon at Gileston (see

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2024/11/campus-elleti-and-arelate-how-ambrosius.html?m=1). And Mabon, in the Pa Gur poem, is made into the servant of Uther of Elei/Ely near Elleti and Gileston.

Before anyone gets too excited about the notion that Uther Dragon, Arthur’s father, is actually Ambrosius Aurelianus, I would remind everyone of the fact that Ambrosius himself has been anachronistically placed in the 5th century when he actually belongs in the 4th.  He is the Roman governor of Gaul of this name.  While a contemporary of the Constans who went to Britain to deal with troubles there in 343 (a Constans confused with Constans II, who is the Constans of Geoffrey's account), it is unlikely he ever set foot in Britain.  His name was wrongly attached to Amesbury by Stonehenge, and Gaulish place-names associated with Ambrosius and his son. St. Ambrose (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-ghost-ambrosius-or-why-arthurs.html and https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2020/05/why-ambrosius-aurelianus-was-put-in.html) may have been fancifully related to ones in Britain.>

Once Uther Pendragon was substituted fo Ambrosius, Geoffrey of Monmouth or his source could get to work linking this poetic name/epithet with the mil uathmar brought forward (chend; cf. W. pen) by the English in the Degsastan battle in the COMPERT MONGAN (https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2017/10/degsastan-and-origin-of-mil-uathmarfer.html).

CONCLUSION:

I no longer feel compelled to continue "chasing the dragon's tail" - something I have done with Uther for decades.

What I think happened is that the father of the Arthur of the HB and AC wasn't known.  And so it became necessary to give him one.  Ambrosius, made famous by Gildas and Welsh folklore, fit the bill perfectly.  Not only because of his legendary status, but because he had been chronologically shifted to the 5th century.  His being mentioned in the context of the Badon battle didn't hurt, either.  

In my opinion, therefore, Uther Pendragon is Ambrosius, and he was not Arthur's father.