The Mammoth Book of King Arthur (34 page)

However, we have seen that the first Saxon “adventus”, perhaps at Vortigern’s request, was around the year 428. Their leader was more likely to have been someone like Gewis
than Hengist who, as we explore in the next chapter, comes later. If the Saxons became Vortigern’s personal army they may have been known as the Gewisse, and Vortigern as their
dux
.
The question arises as to whether there is a link between the
Gewisse and the Men of Llydaw, the “host” once commanded by Eudaf Hen. If there was confusion over
Eudaf as both leader of the Gewisse and the Men of Llydaw might there not have been later confusion between Caradog and Cerdic in the same roles? Perhaps the Men of Llydaw and the Gewisse
combined.

Either way at some stage Cerdic took command of the Gewisse, possibly the result of a conflict between Cerdic and his “uncle” Caradog, a conflict which would have been at about the
time of the battle of Camlann. Could it be that Camlann, which was an internal squabble, was really a battle for the control of an elite army (an early concept of the Round Table) which Cerdic was
able to wrest away from Arthur and Caradog, and out of which he created the kingdom of Wessex?

It is a shame to let facts get in the way of a good story, and all of this is entirely speculation based on nothing more than loose connections between names. However, let me throw in one
further thought to allow speculation to ferment further.

If the
ASC
story of Cerdic is correct, then his early conquests in the 530s were in Hampshire and Wiltshire, north of Southampton. However, such archaeological evidence as there is for
the early settlements of the West Saxon Gewisse places them in the upper Thames valley, between Dorchester and Swindon (close to two of the suggested sites for Badon). As the Gewisse became
established, their name evolved into the Hwicce, the name of the province mentioned by Nennius as the location for Badon. This territory was later lost to the Mercians, who continued to hold Hwicce
in high regard. Penda made Hwicce into a sub-kingdom, a bishopric was later established here, and Offa chose it as a site for one of his palaces. There was something special to the Saxons about the
Hwicce, something now forgotten, but which may have had its roots in the Gewisse, Caradog and Cerdic.

Arthur’s opponent at Badon in
The Dream of Rhonabwy
is given as Osla Gyllellvawr (“Big Knife”), usually interpreted as being Hengist’s son Oisc, or Oisc’s
son Octha. In fact,
Osla
is remarkably similar to
Esla
, the son of Gewis, and therefore Cerdic’s father or grandfather. If Esla and Osla were the same man, then Arthur’s
battle at Badon was against Cerdic’s father. It
has puzzled many authorities why, if Osla was Arthur’s enemy at Badon, his name occurs in the long list of
Arthur’s warriors in the story of
Culhwch and Olwen
. But this might be so if Osla was really Esla, commander of the Gewisse for Llydaw, turned rebel. It would explain why Cerdic was
believed to come from Llydaw (Armorica), when in fact he came from Llydaw (Ergyng), and how Eudaf, Vortigern and Cerdic could all be leaders of the Gewisse. And it might also explain the obvious
reverence the Mercians had for the Hwicce, the “spiritual” descendants of the original Gewisse.

Tenuous though all these connections may be, they provide food for thought both as to the location of Badon and about its participants. The Arthur portrayed in
The Dream of Rhonabwy
does
not seem to be either Arthur of Dyfed or Arthur of Gwent, despite the recurrence of several familiar names. The story has taken us into new territory, Powys, and thus made connections with its
rulers and history.

Let us now turn to other Welsh texts to see what they say about Arthur.

5. Llongborth

In the
Black Book of Carmarthen
is a long elegy to another hero, Geraint, titled (possibly years later)
Geraint fil Erbin
. It includes the following verses.

Because the poem mentions Arthur, many have assumed that he was present at the battle, and that therefore the poem must belong to the sixth century. However, other translations
interpret the key verse as follows:

Although the poem has been attributed variously to Taliesin and Llywarch Hen, there is no evidence as to its author and consequently we do not know when it was composed.
Therefore, we do not know which Geraint the poem refers to. The genealogies of Dumnonia list two Geraints, both sons of Erbin, although in the second case the Erbin connection may be an error on
the part of a copyist (
see
Table 3.10
). The second Geraint lived at the end of the seventh century, and the
ASC
records that in 710 the king of Wessex, Ine, fought against Geraint,
“king of the Welsh”. The Saxons referred to the British of Dumnonia as the “West Welsh”, and this Geraint was probably the last independent king of Dumnonia.

The reference to Arthur has caused many authorities to presume it is contemporary with the Arthurian period, and must therefore relate to Geraint ab Erbin who not only appears in
Culhwch and
Olwen
and
The Dream of Rhonabwy
, but also has his own
Mabinogion
story,
Geraint and Enid
(
see
Chapter 18).

The first Geraint is known as one of the “Three Seafarers of Ynys Prydein” in the Welsh Triads. He was the uncle of St Cybi who was born around the year 485 (according to Bartrum),
so Geraint may have been born in the 460s, and therefore have been a contemporary of Arthur of Badon.

The word
Llongborth
means “port of the warships”, rather pertinent if Geraint was one of the three seafarers. Some have suggested Portsmouth as a likely candidate for
Llongborth, with the battle taking place at Portchester, just at the head of the
natural harbour. This in turn has caused some to leap at the
ASC
entry for 501, which
states:

Could Geraint be this young nobleman? Unlikely, since as a major seafarer Geraint was not likely to be young, and he could well have been in his forties by 501. We cannot be
sure that the
ASC
entry is genuine. The name Port is probably a back formation from Portsmouth (called
Portus
by the Romans). This does not preclude a Saxon and two sons landing there
in 501 and doing battle or, indeed, a later scribe mistaking Llongborth for Portsmouth, so the date may be correct. However, there is no philological connection between Portsmouth and Llongborth.
Also, if Geraint is more closely associated with Devon or Somerset, then Portsmouth, in Hampshire, is some way out of his territory.

Another suggestion has been Langport, in Somerset. In Saxon times it was called Longport, meaning “long market”; the word
portus
meaning both a naval port and a market place.
Although now many miles inland, the river valleys of the Parrett and Cary were more navigable in Saxon times. Though it remains a credible site for a battle, as it is on the western limit of Saxon
expansion in the sixth century, there is no evidence of any settlement at Langport before the year 880, nor is there evidence of any port or market there in the early sixth century.

Of more interest is Llamporth, in Wales. It is on the south side of Cardigan Bay near the village of Penbryn, where, even more strikingly, are sites called
Beddgeraint
(“the grave
of Geraint”), and Maesglas, formerly
Maes Galanas
(“the field of the killing”). These sites have been identified both by Baram Blackett and Alan Wilson in
Artorius Rex
Discovered
, and by Steven Blake and Scott Lloyd in
Pendragon
. The site, promising because of the Geraint connection, is also a wonderful natural harbour at what is now Tresaith, and it
is in Dyfed, which ties in with the many previous Dyfed seafaring connections already explored in this chapter.

The major problem is that in referring to the death of Geraint, the poem says “Brave men from the region of Dyvnaint.”
Dyvnaint
, meaning “dwellers
in deep valleys”, was the Celtic name for
Dumnonia
, which also means “deep ones”, possibly linked to tin mining. Geraint seems inextricably linked to the West Country, even
to the point that his son, Cado, is recorded in the
Life
of St Carannog as ruling in Devon.

The answer is almost certainly that although Geraint was a man of Dumnonia, he served at Arthur’s court in Wales, probably in Dyfed. As a naval commander, he would have had no problem
sailing between Dyfed and Devon, and Geraint probably retained close links with his home. But his main service to Arthur was in Wales, and it was there that he met his death.

It still begs the question as to whether the poem relates to Geraint the seafarer or the Dumnonian Geraint of 710. There are two factors. Firstly, the
ASC
does not record Ine as killing
Geraint at that battle, and the
ASC
has never shied away from declaring such outcomes. Secondly, the battle of 710 was between Geraint and the Saxons, and if the site was Llamporth in Dyfed,
as the evidence suggests, then the Saxons would not have been involved. A battle at Llamporth would have to have involved Geraint the Seafarer.

Dating the battle is more problematic. For Arthur and his men to have earned a sufficient reputation, it would need to have followed on from Arthur’s campaign of the 480s and 490s, and is
therefore probably post-Badon. If the battle was not against the Saxons, then the
ASC
entry is no longer relevant. Rather tellingly, towards the start of the poem, Geraint is referred to as
the “enemy of tyranny”, suggesting that the battle may have been against a local “tyrant” – the same word used by Gildas to describe his usurper kings. One of these,
Vortipor, was the ruler of Dyfed and reigned from about 515 to 540. Geraint may have fought against Vortipor early in his reign, and lost. He would have been about 50 when Vortipor became king, and
about 55 at the time of the battle of Camlann. Llongborth could have happened during those five years, with Geraint supporting Arthur against the rising tyrant kings.

On this basis, conjectural though it is, the Llongborth poem does seem to support an historical Arthur of Badon.

6. What Man?

There is a poem, which survives in an incomplete form, which is usually called
Pa Gur
, after the first two words of the first line. They translate as “What man is
the gatekeeper?” The question seems to be asked by Arthur himself, because the gatekeeper, Glewlwyd Mighty Grasp, responds by saying “What man asks it?” and the response is
“Arthur and worthy Cei.”

We might at first seem to be back in
Culhwch and Olwen
, in which Culhwch also has an altercation with Arthur’s gatekeeper Glewlwyd, but in fact we are in more chilling realms.
Although it is not overtly stated, Arthur seems to be knocking on the door of the Other World, seeking admittance. Along with Arthur and Cei are “the best men in the world.” Glewlwyd
will not admit them unless Arthur states who they are, giving Arthur the opportunity to catalogue the names of his warriors and some of their heroic deeds.

The list has some telling names and even more revealing comments. The first name listed is Mabon ap Modron. Mabon appears in both
Culhwch and Olwen
and
The Dream of Rhonabwy
,
renowned as a great hunter. Here he is described as “Uther Pendragon’s servant.” This is one of the few Welsh texts to refer to Uther Pendragon, who is otherwise believed to be an
invention of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s. The name invites us to ask when
Pa Gur
was written. It appears in the thirteenth century
Black Book of Carmrathen
, but Patrick Sims-Williams
believes that the poem may date from around 1100 in its final form, possibly (but only just) predating Geoffrey’s
History
. The reference to Uther Pendragon may have been added later,
but it is a passing mention.

It’s just possible that the line “Mabon, son of Modron, Uther Pendragon’s servant”, is suggesting that it was Modron who was the servant. Modron was Mabon’s mother,
not his father, and is regarded as the original of Morgan le Fay. Mabon’s father is never named, and in
Culhwch and Olwen
, Mabon is taken from his mother as a baby and spirited away.
This sounds remarkably like the legend of Arthur’s birth. We could consider that Uther was really Mabon’s father, making Mabon a counterpart of Arthur.

Later the poem refers to Manawydan, son of Llyr: “Manawyd brought home a shattered shield from Tryfrwyd.”
Tryfrwyd
is the Welsh for Tribruit, a name
given in Nennius’s list of Arthur’s battles. The poem continues:

This seems to place Tryfrwyd in the north, near Edinburgh (
Eidyn
). This is confirmed by the following stanza, which also makes a further reference to Arthur.