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Vortigern Studies > Faces of Arthur > Arthurian Articles > August Hunt (5) | |||||||||||||
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The story of Uther's defeat of Gorlois of Cornwall and the former's taking of the latter's queen, Ygerna, tells us that Ygerna is here, in typically Celtic fashion, being considered the Goddess of Sovereignty, whom the king must possess if he is to have the land. The Ygerna episode informs us that the Terrible Head-dragon (the usual translation of Uther Pendragon's name) had conquered the kingdom of Gorlois. Is Arthur's association with Cornwall correct? Was he indeed born at Tintagel? Or are the Cornish sites merely fictions? Only in the past few years, excavations carried out at Tintagel by Kevin Brady of Glasgow University have uncovered evidence which provides a very good reason why Arthur was linked to this site. A broken piece of Cornish slate was uncovered bearing the 6th century inscription "Pater Coliavificit Artognov", which Professor Charles Thomas of Exeter University has rendered "Artognov, father of a descendent of Coll." While the name Arthur cannot be identified with that of Artognov, it is quite possible that Geoffrey of Monmouth or his source knew that Tintagel was once owned by someone whose name began with Arto-. The mention of Coll in connection with a ruler found residing in Dumnonia is interesting, in that a famous Cole Hen or Coel the Old is placed at the head of genealogies for the British Strathclyde kings. Strathclyde was anciently inhabited by a Dumnonii tribe - a tribe whose name matches exactly that of the Dumnonii who inhabited Cornwall and Devon. If Arthur was placed at Tintagel because an Artognov ruled from there (although see an alternative possibility below), can we now do anything with the other characters of the play: Uther Pendragon, Ygerna and Gorlois? Uther Ample evidence exists
(see P.C. Bartrums A Classical Welsh Dictionary)
for Uther Pendragon, the Terrible
Chief-Warrior, in early Welsh tradition antecedant
to Geoffrey of Monmouths Historia Regum
Britanniae. However, there is
good reason for believing that Geoffrey fleshed out the
life of Uther, a fifth century Briton, buy making use of
episodes in the life of a 10th century Viking. While this claim may
seem outlandish, we need only go to the year entry 915 in
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. There we are told of the Jarls
Ohtor and Hroald or Hraold, who come from Brittany to
raid the Welsh coast along the Severn Estuary. They
concentrate their initial attacks on Archenfield, the
Ercing where Aurelius and Uther are first placed when
they come to England from Brittany. Hroald is slain by
the men of Hereford and Gloucester, but Ohtor goes on to
land "east of Watchet". The Willet or
Guellit River, adjacent to Carhampton, the
ancient Carrum, is east of Watchet. Both the Willet
and Carhampton feature in the tale of Arthur and the
terrible dragon (serpentem ualidissimum, ingentem,
terribilem) in the 11th century Life
of St. Carannog. I would propose that this
terrible dragon owes its existence to the dragon-ship of
Ohtor, i.e. a typical Viking ship with a dragons
head at its prow and a dragons tail at its stern,
and that Geoffrey of Monmouth made use of the terrible
dragons presence at Carrum to associate Uther with
Ohtor. After an unpleasant stay on an island
(Steepholme or Flatholme), Ohtor and what remains of his
host go to Dyfed, where Uther is said to fight Pascent
and the Irish king Gillomanius. Ohtor then proceeds to
Ireland, where Uther had previously fought Gillomanius
over the stones of Uisneach/Mount Killaraus. We have, then, the
following startling correspondences:
This
Viking jarl is found in the Welsh Annals under the year
913, where the concise entry reads "Otter
came". This reference to Ottar is also found in the
Welsh Brut t tywysogion, "Chronicle of the
Princes" (information courtesy Huw Pryce, School of
History and Welsh History, University of Wales, Bangor). Gorlois Geoffrey got his Gorlois
from The Book of Taliesin, poem XLVIII. In this
poem, Uther appears to call himself Gorlassar. So far as
I know, no one has proposed a link between Geoffrey's
Gorlois and Gorlasar, despite their obvious resemblance
to each other and the fact that both are associated with
Uther. The poems of The Book of Taliesin were not written
down until the 13th or 14th centuries and thus post-date
Geoffrey's History by a good century or more. However,
some scholars believe that a few of the Taliesin poems
are genuine and may be traced back to oral poems composed
in the 6th century. Even the later poems of unknown
authorship may embody earlier oral poems. It is,
therefore, quite possible that Gorlasar was originally a
title for Uther. Geoffrey of Monmouth could have taken
this title and converted it into a separate person whose
form Uther assumes. The full stanza
containing the name Gorlasar (from "Death Song of
Uther Pendragon", translation courtesy Dr. Graham
Thomas, Senior Assistant Archivist, Department of
Manuscripts and Records, The National Library of Wales)
runs like this: I was called Gorlasar ['bright
blue'], According to the
Geiriadur Prifsygol Cymru (cited by Dafydd Price Jones
and Andrew Hawke), gorlasar is from gor + glassar, in Old
Irish forlas(s)ar, "fire, conflagration" or, as
an adjective, "shining, fiery". In Welsh the
meaning is "bright blue, having glinting
weapons". Gorlas (gor + glas), in OI forglas, means
"with a blue face, very blue" or, as an
adjective in Welsh, "bright or deep blue,
verdant". The truth is, Gorlasar
may actually be a name the poet Taliesin gave himself. I
say this because of line 4 of the quoted strophe, which
has Gorlasar placed in a basket. This sounds suspiciously
like what was done to Taliesin, who was placed in a
"coracle or hide-covered basket" by the goddess
Ceridwen. Taliesin's name is said to mean "radiant
forehead" (tal iesin). Ygerna And what of Ygerna, the
wife of Gorlois and then of Uther? Conventional theory
derives Ygerna's name from the Welsh form Eigr or Eigyr.
Christopher Gwinn proposed (via private correspondence)
that this Welsh name may be derived from Indo-Euorpean
*pek-1, to make pretty, to make joyful.
Dr. Graham Isaac of The University of Wales, Aberystywyth
agreed that this derivation was possible, and tentatively
suggested *pek-1 + rih2, for a meaning of something like
the beautiful one. He was quick to
remind me, however, that this was speculative only, and
that there might be other possible derivations for her
name. In addition, he cautioned against applying
this derivation to the definition given for the noun eigr
in modern Welsh (see the Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru):
a beauty, a fair maiden. This noun
derives from the name of Arthurs mother because
Geoffrey of Monmouth insisted she was the most beautiful
woman in all of Britain. To quote Gareth Bevan of
the Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru at Aberystywyth, the form
Eigyr "does not occur... before the Welsh version of
Geoffrey of Monmouth". Is Eigyr, then, merely an
attempt to render Geoffrey's Ygerna into Welsh, just as
Gwrlais is an attempt to render Geoffrey's Gorlois
(itself, ironically, derived from the earlier Welsh
gorlassar epithet applied to Uther)? Or could
Geoffreys Ygerna be a substitute for a genuine
Eigr, mother of Arthur? Welsh tradition gives
her a father named Anblaud who, through his sons Gwrfoddw
and Llygadrudd Emys (this last being a corruption of the
name of the grave of Arthurs son at Llygad Amr; see
P.C. Bartrum), has been shown to be a king of Ercing.
Ercing as a regional name evolved from the Roman name of
the town of Ariconium at Weston-Under-Penyard and now
forms part of Herefordshire. Because the Geiriadur
Prifysgol Cymru says that the Welsh ing suffix
denotes descendents of (information counrtesy
Lona Jones, The National Library of Wales), it is
tempting to assume that Ercings origin in the Roman
period Ariconium place-name was forgotten and that this
region came to be thought of as the kingdom of the
desendents of Erc. This would be in keeping
with Glywysing, the later Glamorgan, a kingdom
designation which means descendents of
Glywys. This is especially true as Glywys
himself is a eponym stemming from Glevensis, a man
of Glevum, the Roman name for Gloucester. The
name of Glywyss father, Solor, points to the
Silures tribe of southern Wales. Eigr as one of the
descendents of Erc could suggest that she
actually belonged to the descendents of Erc (or Eirc, or
Earca) in Kintyre. Kintyre was the home of the 6th-7th
century Arthurs. We will see below that the story
of Arthurs conception can be linked indirectly to
Kintyre. If Eigr did belong to Kintyre, her
becoming Uthers wife would certainly help account
for the appearance of the Arthur names in Dalriada.
However, I will not press this argument, as Arthurs
presence in Ercing in a source as early as the Mirabilia
of the Historia Brittonum probably explains why
the Welsh sought a pedigree for Eigr in this particular
kingdom. To find out who Igerna
really is, we have to take a closer look at the story of
Arthurs conception. The Conception of
Arthur It is well known that
the story of Arthurs conception has a clear
parallel in that of the Irish Mongan, a 7th
century king of the Dal nAraide in Co. Antrim. Instead
of Merlin transforming Uther into a semblance of Gorlais
so that the king may sleep with Igerna, in the Mongan
tale it is the sea god Mannanan mac Lir who transforms
himself into Fiachna, the husband of Mongans mother
Caintigern. There are two versions
of the story, and I will supply both here: Fiachna Lurga, the
father of Mongan, was sole king of the province. He had a
friend in Scotland, to wit, Aedan, the son of Gabran. A
message went from him to Aedan. A message went from Aedan
asking him to come to his aid. He was in warfare against
the Saxons. A terrible warrior was brought by them to
accomplish the death of Aedan in the battle. Then Fiachna
went across, leaving his queen at home. (http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/ctexts/mongan.html) 3. Then Fiachna
assembled the nobles of Ulster until he had ten equally
large battalions, and went and announced battle to the
men of Lochlann. And they were three days a-gathering
unto the battle. And combat was made by the king of
Lochlann on the men of Ireland. And three hundred
warriors fell by Fiachna in the fight. And venomous sheep
were let out of the king of Lochlanns tent against
them, and on that day three hundred warriors fell by the
sheep, and three hundred warriors fell on the second day,
and three hundred on the third day. That was grievous to
Fiachna, and he said: Sad is the journey on which
we have come, for the purpose of having our people killed
by the sheep. For if they had fallen in battle or in
combat by the host of Lochlann, we should not deem their
fall a disgrace, for they would avenge themselves. Give
me, saith he, my arms and my dress that I may
myself go to fight against the sheep. Do not
say that, O King, said they, for it is not
meet that thou shouldst go to fight against them.
By my word, said Fiachna, no more of
the men of Ireland shall fall by them, till I myself go
to fight against the sheep; and if I am destined to find
death there, I shall find it, for it is impossible to
avoid fate; and if not, the sheep will fall by me. (http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/mongan2.html) The most important
detail to notice is in the first account of Mongans
conception. This is the mention of the
terrible warrior or terrible man
sent against Fiachna and Aedan (variously father or
grandather of an Arthur) in battle. The word
used in the Gaelic text is h-uathmar. The
uath is the root of this word, and is cognate with the
Welsh root of Uther. The name of
Fiachnas wife, Caintigern, is given in The
Voyage of Bran (Imram Brain): 49. 'This shape, he on
whom thou lookest, (http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/branvoyage.html) Arthurian scholar John Matthews
independently came up with the idea that the name
Caintigern, which is from Old Irish cain (cf. Welsh
cain/cein), beautiful, and tigern,
lady, may help account for the name Igerna.
I had also considered this possibility, and have decided
that it makes a great deal of sense especially
given Geoffrey of Monmouths first mention of Igerna
is as the most beautiful woman in all Britain. To
quote from the Latin text of his Historia Regum
Britanniae: From Octavus para 13 text C: Among these others there
was present Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, with his wife
Igerna, who was the most beautiful woman in
Britain. (Lewis Thorpe translation,
Penguin Books) What Mr. Matthews and I would
propose is that Caintigern could have been wrongly
divided into caoin Tigern, beautiful Lady,
with the later loss of the T- of Tigern yielding Igerna. Additional support for this
idea comes from the names of two of Mongans wives:
Breotigern, Flame Lady, and Findtigern,
Fair/White/Bright Lady. The presence of
three women with tigern names in the story of
Fiachna and Mongan suggests a fairly typical triplicated
Celtic goddess. Can we determine which triple
goddess this might be? Possibly. Fiachnas
and Mongans Dal n-Araidhe was a part of Ulter, the
ancient kingdom of the Ulaidh. Dennis Walshs Irelands
History in Maps Website
(http://www.rootsweb.com/~irlkik/ihm/ulster.htm) lists
the goddess Macha as one of the legendary chieftains of
the Dal n-Araidhe: Cermna -- Sobuirche -- Sétna
Artt -- Fiachu Findscothach -- Ollam Fótla -- Fínnachta
-- Slánoll -- Géde Ollgothach -- Berngal m. Géide --
Ailill -- Find m. Blátha -- Sírlám -- Argatmár --
Áed Ruad -- Díthorba -- Cimbáeth -- Macha (queen)
-- Rudraige -- Bressal Bódíbad -- Congal Cláringnech
-- Fachtna Fáthach -- Éllim m. Conrach -- Mál m.
Rochride -- Cóelbad m. Cruind. It is also true that some of the
Dal n-Araidhe kings became over-kings of Ulster (see
Francis J. Byrnes Irish Kings and High-Kings).
Macha was the Ulster goddess of
sovereignty whose name has been preserved in Emhain Macha
and Ard Macha. Like Caintigern, Breotigern and
Findtigern, she had three aspects, embodied in Macha wife
of Nemed, Macha wife of Cimbaeth and Macha wife of
Crunniuc. As the latter, she appears as a horse
goddess in a story that parallels that of the Welsh
goddess Rhiannon or Epona Regina. Rhiannons
second husband in Welsh tradition is none other than
Manawydan mab Llyr, the British counterpart of the Irish
Manannan mac Lir who engenders Mongan on Caintigern.
In passing, I should mention that an Arthur was placed in
the Dyfed of Rhiannon. Mongan (see Donnchadh
OCorrain and Fidelma Maguires Irish Names)
derives from mong, mane. The same word
is present in the epithet given to the second Macha,
Mongruiadh, Red-mane. Mong can also be
rendered head of long, abundant hair, but as
Macha was a horse goddess, mane is surely to
be preferred in this context. Finally, we have Mongan being
slain in Kintyre, in Gaelic Aird Echde, Point of
Echde, a modern version of the ancient name for the
peninsula, the Promontory of the Epidii or Horse-people.
I believe, therefore, that it is
appropriate to put forward Caintigern as a manifestation
of Macha. Mongan, a legendary character himself,
would be the son of Macha by the sea god Manannan. In
adopting this birth story for the 5th-6th
century Arthur, Geoffrey of Monmouth perhaps unwittingly
made the great heros mother the horse goddess
Epona. Another reason why Merlin/Myrddin
may have been associated with Caintigern is the marked
similarity of this name with a recorded form of the name
of St. Kentigern. In The Life of Kentigern,
that saint is twice brought into connection with Myrddin.
As Henry Gough-Cooper has shown (Kentigern and
Gonothigernus: A Scottish Saint and a Gaulish Bishop
Identified, The Heroic Age: A Journal of Early
Medieval Northwestern Europe, Issue 6, Spring 2003),
the name Kentigern appears in at least one source as
Caintigernd. There may yet be another aspect
to the Igerna story that should briefly be explored.
Just a little NNE of Igernas Tintagel is Hartland
Point, which is believed to be the Herakleous akron or
Promontory of Hercules of Ptolemys Geography.
The proximity of this headland to Tintagel is
astonishing, given the story of the conception of
Hercules. I quote the account presented in Robert
Graves The Greek Myths: Meanwhile, Zeus, taking
advantage of Amphitryons absence [in battle],
impersonated him and, assuring Alcmene [Amphitryons
wife] that her brothers were now avenged since
Amphitryon had indeed gained the required victory that
very morning lay with her all one night, to which
he gave the length of three
Alcmene, wholly
deceived, listened delightedly to Zeuss account of
the crushing defeat inflicted on Pteralaus at Oechalia,
and sported innocently with her supposed husband for the
whole thirty-six hours. One the next day, when
Amphitryon returned, eloquent of victory and of his
passion for her, Alcmene did not welcome him to the
marriage couch so rapturously as he had hoped. Amphitryon
consulted the seer Teiresias, who told him that he had
been cuckolded by Zeus
Arthurs 12 battles have
often been compared to the 12 labors of Hercules and the
Hercules birth story has been cited as a parallel to that
of Arthurs. Rivet and Smith (in their The
Place-Names of Roman Britain, p. 135) remark that The promontory of Heracles
should probably be Hartland Point, as the most notable
feature on the coast, but any of the headlands between
Porlock and Braunton (Foreland Point, Highveer Point,
Bull Point, Morte Point, Baggy Point) is a possibility:
unless the cape was simply christened by sailors from the
sea, the discovery of a shrine might settle the
question. We have already seen above that
there was a terrible warrior/terrible man
present in the conception of Mongan story. But just
as good, we have Mongan himself referred to as a dragon
(Gaelic drauc) and being killed by a dragon stone (ail
dracoin). On the nature of the dragon
stone, I have this from Christopher Gwinn (private
communication): "Dragon stone"
was a name for a precious stone in Irish - it is
derived from Latin dracontia (also called draconite,
dentrites draconius, or obsianus - it is girn-rodor in
Old English), a mystical black gem with special powers
that was believed in the middle ages to have been found
in the heads of dragons. In the Middle Ages, ammonites (a
type of horn-shaped fossil) were frequently called
draconites, but the name obsianus seems to imply that it
is the volcanic glass obsidian (there were allegedly nine
different types of dragon stones, so maybe both of these
stones could be dragon stones). It was a jewel that
adorned a cup in Fled Bricrend - Cu Chulainn is
given a cup of red-gold by Ailill and Medb which had
embedded on its bottom a decoration of a bird made out of
"dragon stone, the size of his two eyes".
The stone must have had some sort of special significance
to the Irish, because its presence on Cu Chulainn's cup
helps mark him as the champion deserving of the
Champion's Portion - if the dragon stone was obsidian, it
was a very hard stone that, when it fractured, had
extremely sharp edges, thus making a deadly weapon when
used as a sling-stone (obsidian was used for arrow and
spear tips in the Stone Age). Dragon-stones (dracoin) are
mentioned elsewhere in Imram Brain (sect. 12), where they
are paired with glain "crystals": *a kenning for the spray
of a wave Even more important than
the presence of the terrible warrior, the dragon and the
dragon-stones in the story of Mongans conception
for showing its relationship to Geoffreys story of
Arthurs conception is the identity of the slayer of
Mongan, i.e. the warrior who uses the dragon-stone to
slay the king. His name is revealed in the Irish Annals
of Tigernach (Year Entry 625): Mongan son of Fiachna Lurgan was
struck with a stone by Artuir son of
(Irish text from
http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G100002/index.html,
English translation from Richard Barbers The
Figure of Arthur, 1972) There are thus several
reasons why a storyteller such as Geoffrey of Monmouth
(or his ultimate source) would have borrowed the Mongan
conception story and grafted it onto that of Arthur: 1) A
terrible warrior is present, which reminds us of Uther
Chief-warrior 2) Dragons
are present, in the form of Mongan and dragon-stones 3) Mongan is slain by an Arthur with a
dragon-stone Vikings & Saxons is Copyright © 2000, August Hunt. All rights reserved. Used with permission. Comments to: August Hunt |
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