The Mammoth Book of King Arthur (32 page)

Barber and Pykett also suggest that Caerwent was Arthur’s capital, not nearby Caerleon, and that Geoffrey of Monmouth mistook the two. Caerwent, the Roman town of Venta Silurum, was the
former capital of the Silures, and thus more likely as the court for a post-Roman king of Gwent. The final link in the chain is that the Welsh Triads name Caradog Vreichfras as the chief elder of
Celliwig, and Caradog was ruler of Ergyng in the sixth century.

The case for Llanmelin as Arthur’s court sounds convincing on philological grounds. As yet, however, there is no archeological evidence to support it. An excavation in the 1930s showed it
to have originated as a hill fort in the third century
BC
, with a progressive series of occupations and growth, particularly around 50
BC
. But it
seems to have been abandoned around 75
AD
, and there is no evidence of post-Roman occupation. This is perhaps not surprising as from 75
AD
onwards the
people would have come under Roman control and settled within Caerwent. The name Gelliwig survived amongst the Silures, and doubtless the location became a revered
place, and
thus a more suitable name in the tales for Arthur’s court.

The other Gelliwig is in North Wales, on the Lleyn Peninsula. The name still survives as Gelliwig, with no corruption or revision. Its case is made by Steve Blake and Scott Lloyd in
The Keys
to Avalon.
The name Gelliwig is still found in Gelliwig Farm, near Botwnnog, Pwllheli. There has long been a manor house on the site and it has never been excavated, so it is not known whether
a Dark Age hall once stood there. The location seems remote for Arthur’s main castle. We have already seen the Lleyn Peninsula associated with Vortigern, and his stronghold at Nant Gwrtheyrn
was some ten miles northeast. We have also seen that Arthur had kindred at Caer Dathyl, which Guest connected to the village of Llanrwst, though it has also been linked to Caer Engan, near
Penygroes, both of which are on the outskirts of Snowdonia.

Caer Dathyl was the stronghold of Math, son of Mathonwy, lord of Gwynedd, who is the eponymous protagonist in the fourth branch of the
Mabinogion.
This is a dark story of death, rape and
rebirth. Central to it is Math’s nephew Gwydion, whose brother Gilfaethwy lusts after Math’s maidservant, Goewin. Gwydion contrives for Gilfaethwy to see Gowein, but the meeting ends in
rape and Math punishes the brothers by turning them into different animals each year, in which guise they have to father young. In later mythology, the role of Gwydion was replaced by that of
Artaius, a god of the air, who was worshiped in Gaul. Gwydion was a shape-changer and can be seen as a form of proto-Merlin. Artaius was originally a pastoral deity but, at the time of the great
barbarian and Celtic post-Roman migrations, it seems that Artaius superseded Gwydion, coming to Britain possibly via Brittany. Between them Gwydion-Artaius became the god of rebirth, a Celtic
sun-god who was worshipped at the time of the winter solstice.

Some have argued that the character of Arthur may have been a manifestation of Artaius. However, it is more likely that the original Arthur later became associated with Artaius, rather than the
other way round. The association with Artaius doubtless also brought forth the shape-changing Gwydion aspect in the form of Merlin and his prototype Menw. There may have been a cult that
worshipped Artaius on the Lleyn Peninsula, encouraging the association with King Arthur.

The Artaius connection may also have a link with the origin of Arthur’s name. Firstly, and most mundanely, he may have been named after the god Artaius at birth. Secondly, his name may not
have been Arthur, but he may have been dubbed that after his death by his followers because of the Artaius connection. Thirdly, he may not have been Arthur by birth but assumed the name during his
lifetime in order to make the connection to the idea of re-birth, effectively being born again and giving new life to the British nation. This option gives significance to the idea of the once and
future king, who had not died but would return. It also suggests a possible identity change. Perhaps Cadell or Riocatus, or even Ambrosius, could have taken on that epithet as symbolic of the
change in fortune after Badon.

Since the name Gelliwig/Celliwic appears so prominently in
Culhwch and Olwen
it is a little surprising that Geoffrey did not use it in his
History,
preferring instead Caerleon.
Surprising, because Geoffrey was aware of other items associated with Arthur, which he lifted directly from the story. When Culhwch first arrives at Arthur’s Hall and before he invokes the
roll call of names for his boon, Arthur refers to:

We have become used to the name of Arthur’s sword being Excalibur, but in his
History
Geoffrey calls it Caliburn. The Welsh
caledvwlch
means “hard
cut”, and was almost certainly derived from the Irish sword
Caledbolg,
which belonged to Fergus mac Roich and which means “hard lightning”.
Caliburn
itself is
believed to be derived from the Latin
chalbys
for “steel.” Geoffrey also calls Arthur’s lance “Ron”, describing it as “fit for slaughter;” the Welsh
Rhongomyant
means “slaying spear”. Geoffrey did not pay too close attention, however, because he calls Arthur’s shield Pridwen, whereas originally it was
Wynebgwrthucher,
meaning “face of evening”. Pridwenn, or Pryt
wenn, as revealed later in
Culhwch and Olwen,
was the name of Arthur’s ship,
meaning “white form” or “fair shape”.

(e)
The Cauldron of Dwrnach

One of the impossible tasks set by Ysbaddaden involves the theft of the cauldron of Dwrnach. Like all cauldrons in Celtic folklore, it has special properties. In this case, the
cauldron will not boil the food of cowards. A similar quest for a cauldron arises in the poem
The Spoils of Annwvyn,
and has many similarities to the episode in
Culhwch and Olwen,
suggesting that both came from the same source. These stories represent an early prototype for the story of the Quest for the Grail (
see
Chapter 16).

(f)
The Hunt of the Giant Boar

Another of the forty tasks that Ysbaddaden set Culhwch was the hunt for the wild boar, Twrch Trwyth (
twrch
meaning “hog”, and
trwyth,
or
triath,
“chief”). I suspect there was a deliberate pun here, as Trwyth can also mean “urine”, so that the boar was known colloquially as “pig’s piss”.

Legend makes Trwyth the son of a king, Taredd Wledig, but because of his wickedness he had been turned into a boar, along with seven of his men, who are referred to as his piglets. The imagery
is clearly allegorical for a prince who had become a violent and vile outlaw. Unfortunately, the name Taredd is not known outside the legend, and we cannot identify either him or his son.

Trwyth begins by terrorising Ireland, then crosses the sea to Dyfed and lays waste South Wales. Arthur and his heroes pursue the boar and drive him into the Severn estuary and eventually out
into the open sea, but no more is heard of him. Thanks to Lady Charlotte Guest’s original translation, the hunt seems to have taken place in Cornwall, but as discussed previously, Cernyw was
along the southern shores of Gwent, west of Chepstow. That location makes far more sense than Cornwall, and provides a consistent route for the pursuit of Trwyth (
see map below).

The pursuit falls into two distinct halves, the first confined to the territory of Dyfed, whilst the second takes place wholly in Gwent. Trwyth lands near St David’s at Porth Clais, and is
pursued around the coast to present-day Milford Haven, before
heading inland and up into the Preseli Mountains where, at Cwm Cerwyn, he slaughters many of Arthur’s men,
including Arthur’s son Gwydre.

The pursuit of Trwyth then zig-zags out of the Preseli Mountains through Cardigan, and then the boar is lost to the east. Trwyth reappears in the Loughour Valley near Ammanford, where the hunt
continues through the Black Mountains and Brecon Beacons, into the Vale of Ergyng and along the valleys of the Monnow and Wye, until the boar is driven into the Severn near Chepstow. Trwyth
resurfaces along the Cernyw coast near Caerwent, but is soon driven out into the Severn estuary.

These two halves seem to represent two campaigns, perhaps even against different enemies and fought by two different Arthurs, the first by Arthur of Dyfed, the second by Arthur of Gwent. The
first part of the hunt is very specific in its naming of sites and suggests a series of battles well known at the time. The second sequence is more vague, and, though it may have represented a
separate campaign, by the time it was added to the whole story, its precise location was no longer so well known.

It begs the question as to who the real villain was behind Trwyth. The battles in Dyfed may relate to Irish raiders who were defeated but at a high cost, including the death of Arthur of
Dyfed’s son. The Gwent battles probably relate to another enemy. The implication is that it was a prince who was once of noble Welsh blood but turned renegade. This once again raises the name
of Cerdic, who was British, yet founded the West Saxon dynasty. In
Journey to Avalon,
Barber and Pykitt suggest that the pursuit of the boar Trwyth was a battle against the Gewisse, and that
Cerdic was their leader.

If Barber and Pykitt are correct, then whoever expelled Cerdic cannot have been Arthur of Gwent, who lived a full century after Cerdic. If we accept that Cerdic rose to power in the 530s, then
his contemporary in Gwent was Nynnio, whilst Ergyng was ruled by Nynnio’s brother Peibio. Both rulers are referred to in
Culhwch and Olwen
as the Ychen Bannawc, the “Horned
Oxen”, because God transformed them into oxen for their wickedness. Evidently they are not the heroes most likely to have expelled
Cerdic. Those would have been Riocatus
or Cadell, who ruled the lands just to the north.

There is, in fact, a third boar hunt in the story. Culhwch is set the task of obtaining the tusks of the Chief Boar, Ysgithyrwyn.
Ysgithyr
means “tusk”, so
the name is really only an exaggeration for the Mighty Tusked Boar. Although at the start Arthur goes to the “west of Ireland” to seek the huntsman, Gwrgi Seferi, we are next told that
Arthur “went into the North” to find Cyledyr the Wild, recorded as the son of Nwython (or Neithon, a Pictish name). The hunt for Ysgithyrwyn is conducted mainly by Caw, the father of
Gildas, identified in the tale as being from Pictland. The records show a Caw ruling in the north at the time of Arthur of Badon, though he is usually associated with Strathclyde or Galloway.
Galloway takes its name from the Gaels, or Irish, and thus Arthur’s venture to the “west of Ireland” may not have been to Ireland at all, but to the islands off the west coast of
Scotland which were then occupied primarily by Irish. Thus this hunt probably took place in Galloway, and may once have been an adventure relating to Caw and nothing to do with Arthur at all. In
The Figure of Arthur,
Richard Barber suggests that this boar hunt may have once been attributed to Arthur of Dál Riata, even though he lived a century later.

The likelihood is that by the time
Culhwch and Olwen
came to be written down, it had become a compendium, a grand epic tale of the adventures of all past heroes about whom the bards knew,
linked together by the might and authority of Arthur. One example is the quest to obtain the blood of the Black Witch Orddu, at Pennant Gofud (the Valley of Grief) in the Uplands of Uffern
(“Hell”). The brothers Cacamwri and Hygwydd at first try to seize Orddu, but are cast to the ground. Two more, Amren and Eiddyl, venture into her cave, but they suffer even worse. Now
Arthur takes control, casting his knife into the cave and cutting Orddu in two. But it is Caw who takes the witch’s blood, and thus probably Caw who was the original hero. In fact, during the
course of this adventure Arthur is advised by his warriors that it is “unseemly” for them to see him fighting with the hag, as if this was an excuse for having Arthur present but not
directly
involved. Arthur has clearly been incorporated into this tale at a later stage and, in all likelihood, has been written into many of the other ones.

Culhwch and Olwen
has raised a number of issues. The story seems to be set mid-way through Arthur’s reign, in the 510s, and some of the characters do fit into that
time scale. However, others, such as Taliesin, belong to the late sixth century, and their lives fit more comfortably with either Arthur of Dyfed or Arthur of Gwent. Arthur of Dyfed seems connected
to legends about flooded lands, but Arthur of Gwent is more suited to one of the likely locations for King Arthur’s fortress, Gelliwig or Caerwent. It has also opened up the possibility that
Arthur’s name may be related to Artaius, the Gaulish pastoral god. Finally, it may be that Arthur’s name became a catch-all for the exploits of other heroes who preceded him, in
particular Caw of Pictland and Cadell of Powys.