The Reign of Arthur

by Christopher Gidlow

  Glewlwyt’s catalogue is interesting because it credits Arthur with overseas victories. He mentions Greater and Lesser India, ‘Lychlyn’ (Norway), Europe and Africa, Greece and other locations such as Sach and Salach – unknown to us and probably to the author, too. They give us no confidence that they are anything other than legendary encounters spread throughout the world. Actual locations where Dark Age Britons were active, such as Brittany or the Loire Valley, are not mentioned. The one slight Breton connection is that Arthur is said to have killed Mil Du, son of Ducum, a giant in an early life of St Malo.

  The next catalogue is of Arthur’s possessions. He lists his ship, his mantle, his sword Caletvwlch, spear Rongomynyat, his shield Wyneb Gwrthucher, knife Carnwenhan and wife Gwenhwyvar. The ship is later named as Prytwen. This catalogue seems to be of some antiquity. We know this because Geoffrey of Monmouth preserves it in an earlier form. Bromwich and Evans point out that Geoffrey’s version, Caliburnus (from whence our form ‘Excalibur’ derives) comes from a much older form than Caletvwlch.

  Geoffrey knows Arthur’s spear simply as ron, an old word meaning spear. It is not used in Culhwch and Olwen. Gomyniad means striker/slayer and is used in the Gododdin. It seems that the writer has mistaken this description as part of the name.

  For the reasons covered above, it seems likely that Geoffrey’s naming the shield Prydwen is an earlier tradition. The name Wyneb Gwrthucher means ‘face – evening’, suggesting a dark colour rather than the universal white in the early poems.

  This list sees the first appearance of Arthur’s wife – ‘The first lady of the island’ – Gwenhwyvar. Geoffrey gave her name, too, and her appearance in Culhwch and Olwen is evidence of a common tradition older than the tenth century. She plays no part in the action. We cannot say what stories were told about her, whether, for instance, she is the mother of Gwydre, son of Arthur, killed later in the story.

  Gwenhwyvar is listed as one of the ‘gentle gold-torqued women of the island’ alongside her sister Gwenhwyach. The Triads connect the two with the battle of Camlan, but Culhwch and Olwen does not. Instead, it gives Arthur’s man, Gwynn Hyvar, ‘Mayor’ of Devon and Cornwall, as one of the nine men who ‘threaded out’ the battle of Camlan. This shows that the name Gwenhwyvar/Gwynn Hyvar was given to the causer of the battle of Camlan, but that different stories have been spun from that meagre tradition. For the author, Camlan is a battle featuring three larger-than-life characters, presumably derived from a triad on the survivors of Camlan. The three men who were not struck by weapons at the battle were Morvran, descendant of Tegit – ‘because of his ugliness everyone thought he was a devil helping’, Sande Angel-Face – ‘because of his beauty everyone thought he was an angel helping’, and St Cynwyl, ‘the last to leave Arthur’, possibly implying that this was the battle where Arthur died. Medraut is not mentioned in the story, nor Badon, nor any of the other battles in Historia Brittonum, another indication that the Historia and Annales have different sources from Culhwch and Olwen.

  The men who escaped Camlan, and the gold-torqued ladies, are part of the catalogue of Arthur’s companions. Some have feats attached to them, others short descriptions, the majority are just names. From Pa gur come Kei, Bedwyr, Anwas Edeinawc, Glewlwyt Gavaelvawr, Llwch Windy-hand, Manawydan son of Llyr, and Gwynn Gotyvron. Mabon, son of Modron and Mabon, son of Mellt turn up later, although they are not in the catalogue. Only Llacheu and Bridlau are unaccounted for.

  Gwair, the prisoner of Preideu Annwfyn, could be one of four warriors of that name, ‘all uncles of Arthur, his mother’s brothers, all sons of Llwch Windy-hand from beyond the fierce/Tyrrhene sea’. Presumably the author intends that Llwch is Arthur’s grandfather. Taliessin the chief bard is also among Arthur’s men, as is Gildas!

  One warrior mentioned is Gwawrdur, the man compared to Arthur in the Gododdin. His three sons Duach, Brathach and Nerthach ‘sprung from the highlands of Hell’ and his daughter Gwenwledyr are named in the catalogue. Gwawrdur himself is called ‘the hunchback’. If the author knows the Gododdin, which is quite likely, he may construe the verse differently from the way we have interpreted it. If Gwawrdur is a hunchback, it could be read that his feats were comparable to Arthur’s although physically ‘he was no Arthur’. The poet may intend to invoke surprise that, in extremity at Catraeth, the physically unfit Gwawrdur fought as well as even the famous Arthur, a more flattering and dramatic comparison.

  Culhwch and Olwen is the first source to present a comprehensive picture of who ‘King Arthur’ is. The six sons of Iaen, ‘all men from Caer Tathal’, are related to Arthur on his (unnamed) father’s side. Llwch Windy-hand has already been mentioned. Culhwch himself is Arthur’s first cousin and therefore shares one of his grandfathers, Kyledon Wledig or Anlawd Wledig. Gormant, son of Ricca, chief elder of Cornwall, is described as Arthur’s half-brother, sharing the same mother.

  Gereint, son of Erbin, and his son Cadwy are in the catalogue. A Custenhin and his son Goreu (often interpreted as Gorneu – of Cornwall) figure in the story. There may be some connection between this Custenhin, a gigantic shepherd, and Custenhin Gorneu (Constantine of Dumnonia) given in genealogies as Erbin’s father.

  Although Arthur has jurisdiction over all Britain and beyond, his home base is at Celli Wic in Cornwall. Both these concepts are novelties.

  The catalogue has scoured many sources of legend and history. Saints rub shoulders with heroes from Irish legend. Some warriors, like Kei and Bedwyr, were already associated with Arthur while others, such as Gwenhwyvar and Gwalchmei, son of Gwyar, become so intermeshed with the Arthurian legends that it is impossible to believe their association with Arthur began here. Between the extremes of association and independence lie most of the named characters. Stories are embedded in the catalogue, such as that Gwydawc, son of Menester, killed Kei and was killed by Arthur in revenge. If the author wanted to show what his predecessors had meant by ‘the brave men of Arthur’, he rests his case here.

  The next section is the Anoethiau, strange, impossible to achieve and often interconnected wonders. Culhwch, accompanied by Arthur’s men Kei, Bedwyr, Cyndelic the guide, Gwrhyr interpreter of languages, Gwalchmei, son of Gwyar and the enchanter Menw, son of Teirgwaed, asks the Chief Giant Yspadaden for the hand of Olwen, and is set these seemingly impossible tasks. The tale expands the descriptions of the Arthurian heroes. Kei could hold his breath for nine days and nights under water. He could also be as tall as the tallest tree in the forest if he wanted to be. Bedwyr, though he has only one hand, is one of the three handsomest men of the island of Britain (clearly a triad) along with Arthur and Drych, descendant of Kibdar.

  Arthur’s companions in Historia Brittonum, the kings of the Britons, are more or less absent. The king does not lead Britons in wars against the Saxons, nor does he feature in most of the adventures. Soon his men advise him ‘Lord, go back, for you ought not to accompany the host on this sort of petty errand’ and he returns home.

  The fulfilment stories contain the major set piece, the hunt for the boar Twrch Trwyth and a doublet adventure, the hunt for chief boar Yskithrwyn. The author prefaces this with the search for Mabon, son of Modron. This Mabon assists the hunt for Twrch Trwyth while the other (?) Mabon, son of Mellt, hunts Yskithrwyn.

  Another short but apparently independent episode about Arthur and Gwynn mab Nud precedes the hunts. Two stories feature Kei and Bedwyr tricking powerful warriors, Wrnach the Giant and Dillus the Bearded. A similar story forms the denouement of the tale: tricking the unbeatable Giant is a common folk-tale motif. Arthur plays a small but vital part in the adventure of killing the black hag. He also goes with his men to capture the pups of the bitch Rymhi. This is a rather short and inconsequential episode, as the pups were neither requested by the Giant nor used to fulfil the tasks, and had previously been listed among Arthur’s men!

  The seizure of the cauldron of Diwrnach is a story with which we are already familiar, from Preideu Annwfyn and the Mabinogi. Diwrnach is the steward of Odgar, son of
Aed, king of Ireland. The cauldron is intended to boil the meat for the wedding feast, perhaps an echo of the poem’s ‘it will not boil the meat of a coward’. The cauldron has to be taken by force from Ireland (Mabinogi). Arthur sets off with a small force in his ship Prydwen (Preideu Annwfyn). The cauldron is seized by Bedwyr and Arthur’s servant Hygwydd, while Llenlleawc the Irishman uses Caletvwlch to kill Diwrnach and his retinue. Finally, the heroes load up the cauldron with the booty of Ireland and return to Britain. This episode of the booty of Ireland features Arthur only as the owner of Prytwen, an inference drawn from Preideu Annwfyn. The use of his inviolate sword Caletvwlch is not remarked on. Llenlleawc appears twice in the catalogue, the second time after the sons of Llwch Windy-hand. It could be that there is a confusion here – in Preideu Annwfyn, Llwch plays a similar role.

  Diwrnach has a name similar to Wrnach the Giant, whose sword is another of the Anoethiau, fulfilled by Kei and Bedwyr. The episode opens in a pastiche of Pa gur, but this time the heroes conceal their identity, claiming to be furbishers of swords and scabbards. This trick allows Kei to get hold of Wrnach’s sword, the only weapon which can kill the giant, and chop off his head. Goreu, son of Custenhin, plays a minor role. After an argument over precedence, he crosses over the walls of the fortress and is acknowledged the best (‘Goreu’). He and the men with whom he is arguing have been given separate lodgings. This is so that they can kill the giant’s lodge-keepers without him knowing. What actually happens is that Goreu defeats and beheads Chief Giant Yspadaden before, at the end of the story, seizing his land. Goreu’s prominence in the story, coupled with the low profile of Culhwch, suggests that the author is using two ‘Giant’s Daughter’-type stories to create a larger whole. The giant’s name recalls the Hall of Awarnach in Pa gur.

  The Historia names Cair Urnach as one of the twenty-eight cities of Britain, with no indication of an Arthurian connection. The story in Culhwch and Olwen does not feature Arthur, it does not have even the loosest chronological placing, there are no Saxons, kings of the Britons, Christian imagery or anti-pagan content. In short there is nothing in it to warrant the idea that Nennius drew his Arthur from such tales. At the very least, he could have made Cair Urnach the site of one of Arthur’s battles. All indications are that Nennius did not extrapolate his historical Arthur from sources such as this.

  Kei and Bedwyr later take on Dillus the Bearded, ‘the greatest warrior who ever avoided Arthur’. After Kei has returned to Celli Wic, Arthur composes an englyn (a type of three-line poem):

  A leash from a beard made Kei,

  Ripped from Dillus son of Eurei.

  If Dillus were well, Kei’d die.

  This enrages Kei, who thereafter would have nothing to do with Arthur, even when Arthur was weak or his men were being killed.

  In the mass of such material, there is only one element reminiscent of the Arthur of Historia Brittonum: the hunt for the boar Troynt. There are actually two boar hunts in Culhwch and Olwen. The first, and much shorter, is the most similar to the Historia. Arthur hunts the chief boar Yskithrwyn with his dog Cavall. The context is that Yspadaden will be shaved with the boar’s tusk, taken from it while still alive. Though there is much confusion over this episode, it appears in origin to be the same as the story of Twrch Trwyth and could easily form the background to the Historia’s wonder of Carn Cabal.

  There is little conformity between the tasks relating to the boar in the Anoethiau and the episode of its hunting. In the hunt, Arthur retrieves some dogs from Brittany and a huntsman from western Ireland, neither specified by Yspadaden. Odgar, son of Aed, King of Ireland, helps hunt the superfluous huntsman, rather than pluck the tusk from the living boar as he was supposed to. Caw of Pictland kills the boar while mounted on Arthur’s mare Llamrei, rather than look after the living boar’s tusk. Finally, the boar is hunted using Drutwyn, the pup of Greid, son of Eri, specified as necessary for hunting Twrch Trwyth, and with the assistance of Mabon, son of Mellt, who may or may not be the same as the Mabon, son of Modron that Arthur’s men have just spent several pages searching for, again to hunt the other boar. No location is given for the boar-hunt.

  The second hunt is for Twrch Trwyth, the boar Troynt of the Historia. How much of the later story was known by the author of the Historia is a difficult question. In Culhwch and Olwen, the hunt never specifically runs through the country of Builth. Neither do Arthur and Cabal play a particularly important part. The author was, doubtless, responsible for the many embellishments of the tradition. One example of this is the incorporation of William of France and the men of Normandy, who clearly demonstrate their post-1066 origin. If we can acknowledge that they are later additions, not present in whatever story Nennius knew in the early ninth century, why not the other fantastic ‘best men in the world’?

  While the hunt for Yskithrwyn is little more than a huntsman’s tall tale, the hunt for Twrch Trwyth is positively baroque, with absurd hyperbole and shifts in scale. This time, Yspadaden requires the comb and the shears which lie between the ears of Twrch Trwyth in order to straighten his hair. The boar can only be hunted by the pup Drutwyn, held by special leash, collar and chain, managed by Mabon, son of Modron (who disappeared aged three days and can only be found with the help of his cousin) mounted on the horse Gwynn Dun-Mane. The giant also specifies the arrangements for another pair of unnamed hounds, who may be the two from Brittany used to hunt Yskithrwyn. These pups must be held by the leash made from Dillus’s beard, managed by Kynedyr the Wild, son of Hettwn the Leper, who is ‘nine times wilder than the wildest beast on the mountain’. In an extra twist, the boar must be hunted by Gwynn, son of Nud ‘in whom God has set the energy of the demons of Annwfyn, in order to prevent the destruction of this world, and Gwynn cannot be turned loose’. Gwynn, we learn, has sent a character called Kyledyr the Wild mad by feeding him his own father’s heart. Although this Kyledyr is the son of Nwython, and is used to hunt Yskithrwyn, he is obviously supposed to be the victim of Gwynn, and getting them to cooperate on the hunt an impossibility. Yspadaden stipulates that Gwynn must be mounted on a particular horse, and that Gwilenhin, king of France (William the Conqueror or William Rufus) and Alun Dyvet, two unspecified animals Anet and Aethlem, Arthur and his companions, and the three sons of Kilyd Kyvwlch, whose fantastical array of attributes and property includes the dog Cavall, must also join the hunt.

  If the Anoethiau were complex, this is nothing to the hunt. A fifth of the section covering the fulfilment of all the tasks is devoted to the search for Mabon, son of Modron alone, another fifth to other pre-tasks and fully a third to hunting the boar. Twrch Trwyth is the son of the ruler Tared, a king turned by God into a pig for his sins. He exudes poison and is accompanied by seven young pigs, equally monstrous and enchanted.

  The enchanter Menw, son of Teirgwaed and Gwrhyr the Interpreter fail to get the comb, shears and razor by stealth or persuasion. They each try in the form of birds, and have previously been encountered talking to the most ancient animals in the search for Mabon, son of Modron. Arthur tries to defeat the boars by the combined might of the warriors of Britain with its three offshore islands, France, Brittany, Normandy and the Summer Country. The beasts are first encountered ravaging Ireland, where Arthur’s protection is sought by all the saints. Arthur fights the boars for nine days and nights, but only succeeds in killing one piglet.

  Twrch and his boars then cross the Irish sea, pursued by Arthur in Prytwen, and devastates south-west Wales and the Prescelly mountains. ‘Arthur went after him with all the forces in the world . . . Bedwyr with Arthur’s dog Cavall at his side.’ They fight at the Nevern valley, where Arthur’s son Gwydre is killed. Twrch is tracked across Wales, losing two breakaway pigs before he arrives between Tawy and Ewyas, heading for the Severn and a chance to break out of Wales.

  Arthur summons the men of Devon and Cornwall to meet him on the Severn. At the river, the main champions try to stop Twrch Trwyth, including Mabon, son of Modron, Goreu, son of Custenhin, Keledyr the Wild and Ma
nawydan, son of Llyr. Although they seize the shears and the razor, the boar escapes into Cornwall, bearing the comb. Two characters who are killed by the boars at around this time are sometimes suggested as possibly remembered Saxons. Osla Big-Knife could be Octha of the Historia. Echel Pierced-Thigh could be Icel of the Historia genealogies. If so, nothing remains of their Saxon heritage or, at least in Osla’s case, of his role as adversary to Arthur.

  Arthur eventually drives Twrch Trwyth out of Cornwall and into the sea, without fulfilling the quest, and retires to Celli Wic in Cornwall to bathe and rest, as he did after the hunt for Yskithrwyn. Celli Wic, which seems to be the enclosure Kelly Rounds in North Cornwall, is the only headquarters assigned to Arthur. If this is the same Kelli referred to in Pa gur, then its fall was presumably when it was taken by Arthur.

  Is this the ‘truth’ about Arthur? Was he merely a mythical figure, surrounded by bizarre superhumans? Were his adversaries always enchanted pigs, hags and giants, scattered all over the British Isles for no more than dramatic effect? This is the argument central to Arthur’s detractors. They charge Historia Brittonum with taking this mythical image and giving it spurious legitimacy by setting it in an arbitrary historical period, replacing supermen with ‘kings of the Britons’ and boars with Saxons. It is time to gather these allegations to show how unlikely it is that the legends developed in this way.

  First, there is the simple matter of chronology. The historical versions of Arthur in Y Gododdin and Historia Brittonum pre-date the legendary ones. This is true even if we take the most extreme dates possible, that the Gododdin reference is only as old as the ninth-century North Welsh phase, and that the Arthurian battle-list originates with Nennius in the 830s, with Culhwch and Olwen a survival of the tenth century.

  Second, there is no evidence at all that Nennius was given to rationalising mythical sources. He could produce them without noticeable alteration from Irish works; he set the Arthurian battle-list in a context of prophetic worms and city-destroying saints. It is only a modern view that he would have wanted to make his history more ‘plausible’ by editing out gigantic boars and supermen. Bede and the Mirabilia both show a contemporary world characterised by expanding tombs, miraculous relics and supernatural apparitions. It seemed as reasonable to a Dark Age audience that a hunting dog should leave an indelible footprint on a stone as that a king’s hand which had once given alms to the poor should never decay. Both wonders were visible to contemporaries to verify the stories attached to them.