Arthurian Tropes: Uther Pendragon

Who was the "Terrible Head-Dragon"

Vthyr Pen

As I have discussed in my article on “The Northern Arthur” It would seem that the historical Arthur’s father is indeed not Uther as attributed in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s De Gestis Britonum. If this theory of Arthur’s origins are correct, then why does Uther not appear here?

The Northern Arthur

Does Uther even appear in anything earlier than Geoffrey’s work DGB to even worry about finding him? Our first step is to look at what Geoffrey has to say about Uther.

Monmouth’s Fancies.

The earliest complete story of Uther is of course from Geoffrey. I will briefly summarize it.

Constans, Aurelius, and Uther are born to Constantine (Geoffrey’s Constantine is a strange amalgam of Constantine III and Constantine the Great), who is King of Britain. Constantine dies, and Constans succeeds him, and is murdered and usurped by Vortigern. Aurelius and Uther flee to Brittany, where they find shelter with King Budes (Budic I of Brittany), and are educated and raised there. When of age the brothers return to Britain and proceed to win a war against Vortigern leading to his death. Aurelius is made king, and Uther is tasked by Merlin to assist him in bring the “Giant’s Dance” (Or Giant’s Ring. This later becomes Stonehenge) to Britain from Ireland. Uther wins a battle against the Irish king Gillomanius, and with Merlin’s help magically transports the stones to build a monument to the Britons who have fallen against Hengist’s (one of the Saxon leaders) Treachery. Uther then leads a battle against Pascent, a son of Vortigern and his Saxon allies. A dragon shaped comet is seen, and Merlin interprets this as being the death of Aurelius.

For the star, and the fiery dragon under it, signifies yourself, and the ray extending towards the Gallic coast portends that you shall have a most potent son, to whose power all those kingdoms shall be subject over which the ray reaches. But the other ray signifies a daughter, whose sons and grandsons shall successively enjoy the kingdom of Britain.

Uther becomes King of Britain upon his return from defeating Pascent, taking his epithet of Pendragon after the comet that was seen. Uther defeats Octa of Kent in a great battle, then repairs Alt Clut, and “tames the fierceness of that rebellious people” the Scots. When peace was established he headed south to London. He then calls a festival, and all the nobles attended. Gorlois, and his wife Igerna were amongst the many attendees, and Uther was struck at once by Igerna’s beauty. After the festival he summoned Gorlois once again, but was refused. Uther makes war upon Gorlois, and while the Duke is fighting, Uther has Merlin transform him into the Duke’s likeness “With Medical Applications” “unherd of in your time”, They then walk into the castle, and Uther lay with Igerna. Arthur is conceived. Gorlois dies in battle, and Uther marries Igerna. Time passes, and an older Uther attacks the Angles in the North. He wins against them, but after drinking from a poisoned spring he dies, the same as his brother years before as Merlin prophesied.

Are there pre-Galfridian references to Uther?

The only surefire earlier reference to Uther exists in one manuscript of Nennius’ Historia Brittonum. This particular manuscript speaking of Arthur, says that he was called “in British mab Uter, that is in Latin terrible son, because from his youth he was cruel”, and most have taken this to imply a less chivalrous youthful Arthur than most are used to. Other sources such as, The Life of St. Gildas, and Life of St. Padarn describe Arthur quite negatively as well. This once again brings to mind Geoffrey's account of Arthgallo.

Arthgallo, Arthwys ap Mar, and Arthur

Arthgallo being of course Geoffrey’s version of Arthuis ap Mar, who also mentions him as initially a bad king, "He... endeavoured to depress the nobility... He plundered the rich, and by those means amassed vast treasures." before being deposed, and once restored to the throne is as good a king as ever was. Could Geoffrey, who was certainly drawing from Nennius have had a manuscript with the ‘mab Uter’ line, and taking it as literally being his father’s name used it in his History?

There are other possible pre-Galfridian sources however. Pa Gur, a fragmentary Old Welsh poem of unknown date, and Marwnat Vthyr Pen, a poem from the Book of Taliesin. Both of these are of course, as always, extremely difficult to date, with the earliest estimates for Pa Gur being 8th century, with a more readily accepted date of the 12th century. While Marwnat Vthyr Pen is even harder to date, though pre-Galfridian is likely with it. So what do they say of Uther?

Within Marwnat Vthyr Pen or, in English “The Death-song of Uther Ben (Awesome Head-Chief)” We are given an elegy to this “Awesome (or Terrible in the older sense of the word) Head-Chief. (Translation by John Koch)

I AM THE ONE mighty in hosts in furore. 
I would not yield between war-bands without bloodshed. 
I am the one who is called [steely] lustrous blue. 
My battle-belt was a [captive's] collar to my enemy. 

It is I who am a prince in the gloom, 
causing my appearance . . . 

I am like a second ?cawyl in the gloom. 
I would not yield without bloodshed whilst amongst the war-band of the court. 
It is I whose heroic deed contended, 
seeking to annihilate the kinsmen of Casnur.
It is I who poured blood for victory. 
I am the one whose champion's feats partook in 
a ninth part of Arthur's valour. 

It is I who broke a hundred fortified towns. 
It is I who killed a hundred mayors of strongholds. 
It is I who gave out a hundred cloaks. 
It is I who cut off a hundred heads. 
It is I who gave the ancient leader 
enormous sword strokes in protection. 
It is I who have made the [?]thundering 
of the [?]fiery iron door of the mountaintop. 
• • • • • • • (missing part)
I am a bard, my talent praiseworthy. 
Let it be by means of crows and eagles and the rage of battle, 
[ as when] perfect darkness descended so broadly, 
when the four men plied weapons between two hosts. 
Climbing to heaven was my desire, 
against eagles and fear of injury.

Many have taken the title alone to not be depicting a proper name, but instead to be an epithet or title of some kind. Whoever this Terrible Chief of Chiefs was, he was a splendid general, winning 100 sieges, killing 100 leaders, and even an acclaimed warrior, giving sword strokes to defend, and cutting off a hundred heads. However we once again, like with Gwawrddur get a comparison to Arthur. Some have taken the line here to imply that Arthur and Uther are related here, but that really doesn’t seem to be present in any possible translation. What this does imply though, and this is especially important if this is a pre-Galfridian poem that Uther was a known figure prior to Geoffrey. Within Pa Gur Uther is mentioned as well. Pa Gur is a conversation between the Gateman of a castle and Arthur, in which Arthur recounts his men’s deeds for the Gateman. One of the men is mentioned as

Mabon son of Madron, 
the man of Uthi:r Pendragon,

This once again reinforcing the idea of Uther as a man not a title, even having the full Pendragon epithet. This does give me pause however, and in my opinion makes the likely hood of Pa Gur being a later poem high. That doesn’t mean that all of Pa Gur was composed later, but that Uther Pendragon may be a later interpolation.

There is a third poem that muddies things even further, and is the only one to link Arthur and Uther directly as family. This poem is known from a 16th century manuscript, although some scholars believe it is much older. Whether it is pre-Galfridian is unclear however. In Ymddiddan Arthur a’r Eryr’ (the Conversation between Arthur and the Eagle) Arthur converses with his dead nephew Eliwlod in the form of an eagle. Here Eliwlod says that he is the son of Madoc ap Uthyr. This makes Madoc and Arthur brothers, and if pre-Galfridian may be the first text to link the two as father and son.

The unfortunate thing with this that since almost nothing of this can be dated for sure prior to Geoffrey of Monmouth (although I do believe that The Death-Song of Vthyr Pen is likely quite old) we can’t draw any major conclusions from this other than the slight possibility that Arthur and the Eagle pre-dates Geoffrey. As Eliwlod does not appear in DGB it may be possible that this predates it and that Geoffrey may not have even known about the poem, though this is wild conjecture.

Another Angle, and possibly a historical Identification.

There is a triad listing the triplets of Eliffer Gosgorddfawr, the son of Arthuis ap Mar. “The three fair womb-burdens of Britain”

The third was Gwrgi and Peredur sons of Eliffer of the Great Warband, and Arddun their sister.

In the translation available at Jesus College, Oxford, Arddun instead is called Arthur. What does this have to do with Uther though? Eliffer’s name is latinized as Elutherius, and I would chance to say that this mistranslation of the triad may have been the root, or reinforcement of the idea of (El)Uther(ius) as the father of Arthur. This combined with the bit from Nennius, and possibly Marwnat Vthyr Pen may have been enough for Geoffrey of Monmouth to cement Uther as Arthur's father in future versions of the legends.

This does beg the question though, could Eliffer actually be the Uther of Marwnat Vyther Pen? Let’s look at an alternate translation of the two lines mentioning Arthur.

Have I not been accustomed to blood about the wrathful,
A sword-stroke daring against the sons of Cawrnur?
I shared my shelter,
a ninth share of Arthur's valour.

This almost recurring idea of a comparison to Arthur is interesting. I would not expect in an elegy that one would want to demean a father so, implying that he was only a ninth as bold as his son. Would it instead not make potentially more sense the other way around? That Uther was instead a ninth part of Arthur’s success, as a son? Eliffer certainly fits that bill, commanding his “great host” or “great warband” Likely acting as a preeminent warlord for his father Arthuis during Arthuis’ own life.

Even Geoffrey’s Uther has echoes of both Mar and Eliffer. Mar likely fought both the Angles and the Scots multiple times, eventually even dying in battle against the Scots under Fergus Mor. He was most likely the one to drive Octa from Ebrauc after his time operating as a foederati chieftain there. While Mar does not have a son named Madoc, as in Arthur and the Eagle, he does have a son named Morydd, who in turn has a son named Madoc. This Madoc is the father of the famed Myrddin Wyllt. Maybe further confusion muddying the waters, as Madoc was quite the common name at the time. There might be a connection between Uther and Mar though that could have led to the confusion as well, in that Ebrauc comes from the same root as Yew, and in Ogham is written the same, Iuber, which appears sometimes in Irish sources as Uther's name. So Mar of Ebrauc becomes Mar of Iuber, becomes Uther? This is however a very shaky connection and I am unsure of the veracity of this link myself, and would not stake my reputation on it, though I include it here for posterity’s sake.

Eliffer likely fought against the Scots, Picts and Angles all the same as his father and grandfather, likely dying fighting against Ida of Bernicia. With a name and an epithet that is not dissimilar from some interpretations of “Uther Pendragon” “Elutherius of the Great Warband” vs. “Uther Chief of Warriors” . I am reaching borderline uncomfortable levels of conjecture here, and playing the name-game quite heavily, but I do find it compelling all the same. “It is I who am a prince in the gloom” twilight of Arthuis perhaps? A memory of a son in the shadow of his father at the end of Pax Arthuriana?

While I cannot say for sure that Eliffer was the inspiration for this later figure of Uther, I do believe that at least the triad about his children and the reference in Nennius was likely the start of the concept of Uther as the father of Arthur.