by Mike Ashley
Nevertheless, someone who was alive at the time of Badon, who was called “king of battles” but was not himself a king, has much in common with Nennius’s meagre description of Arthur. And Riocatus, like Cadell, was in the right place to have been able to fight a sequence of battles along the southern or western frontier.
6. Owain Danwyn (450–530) or Cynlas (480–560)
Owain Danwyn or “White Tooth” is put forward as a contender for Arthur by Keatman and Phillips in King Arthur – The True Story. I have already discussed their basic premise in Chapter 7 and have little to add here. Owain was contemporary with Badon and may well have fought there, but he was a minor ruler at Rhos. Although he lived at the right time, there are no other factors that would make him a likely candidate for Arthur.
On his website,
From Gildas’s tirade against Cynlas, it is apparent that he was a vicious despot who would not have been remembered as the heroic Arthur of Badon, or as a hero of any kind.
7. The Pendragons: Brychan (430–500) and Dyfnwal (455–525)
If we accept the date for Badon as being in the mid-490s, then according to Table 7.2 the Pendragon was probably Brychan of Brycheiniog. Dyfnwal Hen would have been Pendragon at the time of the Welsh Annals date for Badon in 518. Neither Uther nor Arthur appears in the list of Pendragons as detailed by Laurence Gardner.
Most of Brychan’s children entered the church; indeed, he is included in the Welsh Triad of the “Three Saintly Families” of Britain. According to legend, Gwynllyw of Gwent abducted one of Brychan’s daughters, Gwladys, and Brychan pursued him in a violent fury. It needed Arthur, Cei and Bedwyr to stop the bloodshed. Although Arthur was probably added to this story later, it shows that there is no tradition suggesting that Brychan and Arthur are one and the same. Brychan did have a son called Arthen (460–530), the first example of an Arth- named child of a Pendragon. But he too entered the church. Cefn Arthur is on an old drovers’ road near Llandovery.
As we have seen, Dyfnwal was a warrior who was a constant threat to those tribes south of the Wall. There is a pattern of battles related to Nennius’s list that could represent an offensive against the Gododdin and Angles, and could place Badon in the north at Bowden Hill, near Linlithgow. Though this clearly had been the site of an ancient battle, nothing has yet suggested one as old as Badon, and the debris found there by the eighteenth-century antiquarian Sir Robert Sibbald is doubtless related to one of any number of battles in this area during Scotland’s conflicts with England. Dyfnwal was obviously a powerful warrior, and he must have left behind significant memories, some of which may later have attached themselves to the Arthurian legend.
8. Vortipor (470–540) or Agricola (440–510)
Vortipor of Dyfed was a contemporary of Dyfnwal and may have operated in the same role in Wales as Dyfnwal did in the north. Vortipor was known as the “Protector”. The title was not unique in Britain – Coel Hen had also used it, but probably with direct authority from Rome. With Vortipor, whilst he may have been pro-Roman, the title seems more one of conceit than of rank.
Vortipor is one of the kings singled out for criticism by Gildas who calls him the “bad son of a good king” and “spotted with wickedness”. He may have been a better ruler in his youth but in his old age, when Gildas was writing, he was “defiled by various murders and adulteries.” This included “the rape of a shameless daughter.” Gildas does not say whether this was Vortipor’s own daughter or “daughter” in a symbolic sense, such as a “daughter of Eve” or “daughter of the church”. Others have interpreted it as a step-daughter. We know that later legends give Arthur an incestuous relationship with his sister, of which Mordred was the offspring. Arthur is not always the hero we like to imagine. Geoffrey of Monmouth portrays him as proud and vain in later years, defying Rome. In the later legends, as we shall see, he has moments of unprovoked violence and an adulterous relationship.
Since Gildas thought so ill of Vortipor, yet wrote of Badon as such a victory, does that mean that Vortipor could not have been the victor of Badon? Perhaps, but the opposite is as likely. If Gildas were going to castigate Vortipor then he would hardly want to name him as the victor of such an important battle. It would be surprising if Vortipor, as Protector, did not fight at Badon, which was the decisive battle against the Saxons. Perhaps Vortipor had not called himself the Protector at that stage. After all, if his father were still alive, and in his mid fifties, he probably also held the title – or at least the role – of Protector, and Gildas did at least praise him as a “good king.”
We can almost certainly determine the coalition of kings. If the battle were in the south, then it probably involved Cadwallon Lawhir, Cadell, Riocatus, Rhain ap Brychan and perhaps Cynfor of Dumnonia. Agricola (Aircol) would have been the senior king though, because of his age, he may not have been involved in the majority of the fighting. That could well have been left to Vortipor as the dux bellorum.
Nennius tells us that Arthur fought “along with the kings”. Gildas also calls Vortipor’s father a king, but if Agricola also held the rank of Protector, he may have been regarded by later generations as over and above the kings.
In fact something like that may well have been felt by his son. Vortipor is, after all, a title, very similar in derivation to Vortimer – both names are rendered as Gwerthefyr in Welsh – and means “Over King”. We do not know Vortipor’s given name. His great-grandson was called Artúir, so we cannot dismiss the possibility that the name recurred in other generations, especially as his 4 x great grandfather also bore the prefix in Artchorp. Vortipor’s title in Irish was Gartbuir, and it may just be possible that the Gaelic b was misread as an h, when written as Gartbuir.
Vortipor has perhaps one other surprise in store. In Bloodline of the Holy Grail Laurence Gardner makes several points about Artuir of Dyfed. I treat these separately below, but one is more relevant here. Gardner suggests that it is Artúir of Dyfed who died at Camlann in 537 or 538. Artúir lived too late for this, but Vortipor could well have died at around that time, and he is quite likely to have died in battle, despite his age. Our revised date for Camlann is 520, but this is based on its relationship to Badon. Supposing the Camlann entry in the Welsh Annals is correct at 538, Vortipor would then be in his mid sixties. There is some suggestion that Vortipor was in battle against his neighbour Ceredigion. That territory was between Demetia and Gwynedd, and Vortipor may have invaded Ceredigion many times in conflict against Gwynedd.
One of the likely locations for Camlann is in northern Ceredigion on the border with Gwynedd. Vortipor would have passed through here on his way to Gwynedd and that may be where he was ambushed and killed. We do not know Vortipor’s fate but it was always more likely to have been in battle than peace. We do not know if he was killed by a nephew, but a family rivalry may well have been involved, if Vortipor had disposed of his wife and raped her daughter.
9. Cerdic (480–550) or Caradog (445–515)
This case is put forward by John C. Rudmin in “Arthur, Cerdic and the Formation of Wessex” available on the Camelot
rs (such as Cador) were thrown into the melting pot of legend. There may be more of a case to argue that Cerdic and Caradog are the same, or at least related, as we have explored, but it requires some manipulation to bring Arthur into that equation.
Caradog Vreichfras may well have fought at Badon, which is probably why he features so strongly in the later tales. Cerdic is unlikely to have been involved, on either side. If anything, Cerdic benefited from the collapse of Arthur after Camlann which, if it was in 538, saw Cerdic establish the West Saxon kingdom.
10. Urien of Rheged (c535-591)
There is a strong likelihood that Urien’s battles against the Angles became fused in the folk memory with some of Arthur’s battles. Urien is known to have scored a sequence of victories against the Saxons in a well-known battle list. Even though Badon was a victory for Arthur, Camlann was a defeat and betrayal, and Urien’s death at Lindisfarne, betrayed by Morcant, would have echoed down the years. The Northern Chronicle, probably kept by his son Rhun, would have honoured Urien’s victories along with others of the north (especially Arthwys, Eliffer and Peredur).
11. Athelstan (895–939)
The unsung hero of English history. While Alfred’s greatness is rightly celebrated, that of his grandson, who ruled the English from 924 to 939, is often overlooked. Yet it was Athelstan who united Britain as none had previously. The main parallel with Arthur is that Athelstan had to conduct a campaign in the North to suppress both Welsh hostilities and the Norse in York. He also quelled a Cornish revolt under their king Hoel. He achieved a period of peace and prosperity in England never previously experienced. Although this is not the same as the post-Badon Pax Arthuriana, it does have parallels with Geoffrey’s portrayal of how Arthur achieved peace. Also, after the Scots broke the treaty arrangement in 934, hostilities broke out which caused Athelstan first to devastate Scotland, just as Geoffrey described Arthur doing in his campaign, and then to meet a combined army of Scots and Vikings at Brunanburh in 937. All agree that this battle was the most decisive of all Saxon victories, and yet, like Badon, no one is really sure when Brunanburh was fought. All this happened two hundred years before Geoffrey wrote his History, but considering his ability to confuse facts from any period, he may well have encountered a document about Athelstan’s northern battles and, not knowing its origin, incorporated elements of it into his tale.
I shall now work through all of the individuals with any likely Arth- prefixed name, including some we have not yet discussed who I feel need to be mentioned if only to be dismissed. These are also presented in date order for the fifth and sixth centuries.
12. Arthwys ap Mar (450–520)
The number of sites in the north that could relate to Nennius’s battle list is sufficiently tempting to suggest that there was an Arthur of the North, probably resident in Elmet, whose exploits against the Angles were long remembered.
Arthwys is the best situated to fight a campaign along the eastern frontier which, because of its association with Gildas’s “partition”, is the one most likely to be connected with Badon. Though it cannot be wholly discounted, Arthwys is unlikely to have fought as far south as Liddington, but if his territory were in Elmet, it would have been possible for him to bring reinforcements to a siege around the Breidden Hills or the Wrekin in Powys. In fact, if the Saxons had advanced that far west by the 490s, it would have been a certainty that the British in Powys would have looked to their northern cousins for aid. Just possibly, despite the other great and powerful at Badon, it was the northern prince who saved the day and entered legend. It may even be just as Geoffrey described it, with Arthwys pursuing the Saxons from Lichfield to a last-ditch battle in Powys.
13. Arthfael ap Einudd (480–550)
Arthfael appears in the Life of St. Cadog, who lived in the early sixth century. He is identified as a king of Glamorgan who granted Cadog land at what is probably modern-day Cadoxton, near Neath. His son Gwrgan the Freckled is also mentioned in Cadog’s Life, when Cadog gives Gwrgan a sword given to him by Rhun ap Maelgwyn. Arthfael ruled close to Mynydd Baidan, where Blackett and Wilson identify Mount Badon, and he was almost certainly alive at the time of the battle. Arthfael is a contemporary of Arthmael (St Arthmel), and their names are ostensibly the same, but there is no record that Arthmael ever ruled, even as a sub-king. The genealogy in which Arthfael appears is clearly corrupt and has probably picked up more than one pedigree. Unfortunately, no more is known.
14. Saint Arthmael (482–552)
Proposed by Chris Barber and David Pykitt in Journey to Avalon. Their idea is not so much who Arthur was but whom he became. The chronology only works if the dates in the Welsh Annals are correct for Badon and Camlann. It is also surprising that someone allegedly so well known could change identity so successfully and not be remembered by so many other notable holy men in Brittany, not least Gildas himself. Brittany had its own memories of Arthur, and centuries later his name evolved into Arzor. If the Bretons knew Arzor was really Arthmael, that would surely have found its way into the later legends.
15. Arthfoddw ap Boddw (540–610)
Suddenly there is a time leap. Despite the admitted roughness of our chronology, we have had a cluster of Arth- names in the mid-to-late fifth century, though no true Arthurs; but now there are none until the mid-to-late sixth century. Curiously, it is a gap that exactly encompasses the time of Arthur of Badon who, based on the limited evidence we have, must have lived from about 470 to 520, or to 540 if the later Camlann date is correct. The first new Arth- name seems to occur within a year or two of Arthur’s death. Even more curiously, the first known is Arthfoddw, a name that means Arth the lucky or Arth the fortunate. Could Boddw of Ceredigion have named his son after Arthur in the hope that he would be fortunate? If so, then there must be another Arthur that we are missing or one whose real name we do not know. This is the gap filled precisely by Vortipor, Cadell and Riocatus.
We know nothing else about Arthfoddw. He is a name in the pedigrees of the rulers of Ceredigion. It may be pertinent that he chose to pass a similar name on to his son Arthlwys, of whom more below. That is the only example we have of successive generations with an Arth- name. It suggests to me that we have already passed the Arthur of Badon and that his name had left an impression.
16. Artúir ap Pedr (550-620)
We have at last reached the first individual whose name is genuinely “Arthur”. The grandson of Vortipor, Artúir ruled Dyfed at the end of the sixth century. We are thus clearly a whole century after Badon so this Arthur can have no direct connection with the original historical Arthur.
Yet stories may have attached to him that later became grafted on to the composite Arthur of legend. We have already encountered several, most notably the hunt for the boar Trwyth. Stripping the story brings us back to a probable historical event, a series of battles against a brigand and his men who came from Ireland and first laid waste to parts of Dyfed before moving on to Gwent. The Gwent episode may relate to an entirely different historical event. The rulers of Dyfed were of Irish descent and they must have spent much of their time defending their lands from further Irish raiders. Also present in Arthur’s court, in the tale of Culhwch and Olwen, are several survivors from lost lands, such as Gwenwynwyn, recorded as Arthur’s champion, and Teithi the Old. The lost lands are believed to have been off the coast of Dyfed or Ceredigion, and perhaps to the north in Morecambe Bay. These locations could all be plausibly associated with the court of Artuir of Dyfed. Neither of them is of great significance in the later story of Arthur, and it is hard to imagine that Artuir of Dyfed played much part in fighting against the Saxons who, by his reign, were becoming firmly established in “England” and were enclosing the British into Wales.
In Bloodline of the Holy Grail Laurence Gardner tells us some unusual facts not recorded elsewhere. He tells us that Artúir of Dyfed was installed by Dubricius in 506. Dubricius was alive then but Artúir of Dyfed was not even a gleam in his father’s eye. No matter how we play around with the dates i
n the Dyfed pedigree – probably the most reliable of all of them – it would be impossible to have Artuir of Dyfed alive earlier than 530. Also Dubricius is most unlikely to have installed a king in Dyfed since, as we have seen, his territory was soundly in Ergyng. The bishop of Dyfed was Dewi (St. David), whose dates are even more fluid than Dubricius’s. In fact, opinion is shifting towards there having been two holy men called Dewi in Wales during the sixth century. The lesser known Dewi of Ergyng (who gave his name to Dewchurch, Dewsall and others), lived from perhaps 480 to 550 and was the companion of Dubricius and Gildas. The second, more famous St David of Dyfed lived from around 520 to 590 could quite possibly have inaugurated Artúir of Dyfed as king, perhaps in the 580s. Whether the earlier Dewi or even Dubricius enthroned a previous king of Dyfed, I have no idea, but 506AD would be a perfectly acceptable date for the accession of Vortipor, or Gartbuir as he may be remembered.
Gardner also tells us that Artúir of Dyfed’s sister Niniane had married Ambrosius as part of a treaty to stop Dyfed’s incursions into Powys. We know Niniane, also known as Nimue or Vivien, from the later legends as the lover of Merlin, as she has also been equated with the Lady of the Lake. Gardner makes her the mother of Merlin. If these elements are true they would again apply to an earlier ruler, such as Vortipor, as might Arthur’s involvement at Camlann, which I have already discussed under Vortipor.
Nevertheless, with Artúir of Dyfed we start to see how some of the exploits of a real Arthur come together with the Arthur of legend and also show how both could be linked to a possible earlier “Arthur” in the form of Vortipor/Gartbuir.
