The Mammoth Book of King Arthur Page 14

  The next section takes us into the legend of how Vortigern first met the young Ambrosius. Vortigern seeks the counsel of his wise men who tell him to retire to the “remotest boundaries of your kingdom,” and there build a city to defend himself from the Saxons who, they say, intend to slay him. Vortigern sets off, and, reaching the province of “Guined” (clearly Gwynedd), finds a suitable site on the summit of Hereri, or Snowdon.

  Building work commences, but each morning the previous day’s work is found to have vanished over night. Vortigern again consults his counsellors, who tell him he must find a “child born without a father”, who can be sacrificed to satisfy the gods. Despite Vortigern’s professed Christianity, certain pagan rituals had clearly resurfaced. Excavations at several hill forts have found evidence of human sacrifice.

  Vortigern’s men search the land and we learn that:

  41. [. . .] they came to the field of Elleti, in the district of Glevissing, where a party of boys were playing at ball. And two of them quarrelling, one said to the other, “O boy without a father, no good will ever happen to you.” Upon this, the messengers diligently inquired of the mother and the other boys, whether he had had a father. Which his mother denied, saying, “In what manner he was conceived I know not, for I have never had intercourse with any man;” and then she solemnly affirmed that he had no mortal father. The boy was, therefore, led away, and taken before King Vortigern.

  The next day the boy asks Vortigern why he has been taken. Vortigern reveals the problem with his citadel and the boy, as if by inspiration, reveals the reason for the problem.

  42. [. . .] “There is,” said he, “a pool; come, dig and you will find.” They did so, and found a pool. “Now,” he continued, “tell me what is in it”, but they were ashamed, and made no reply. “I,” said the boy, “will show you. There are two vases in the pool.” They looked, and found it so. Continuing his questions the boy said, “What is in the vases?” They did not know. “There is a tent in them,” said the boy. “Separate them, and you shall find it so.” This being done by the king’s command, there was found in them a folded tent. The boy, going on with his questions, asked the wise men what was in it. But they did not know what to reply. “There are,” said he, “two serpents, one white and the other red; unfold the tent.” They obeyed, and two sleeping serpents were discovered. “Consider attentively what they are doing,” said the boy. The serpents began to struggle with each other; and the white one, raising himself up, threw down the other into the middle of the tent, and sometimes drove him to the edge of it; and this was repeated thrice. At length the red one, apparently the weaker of the two, recovering his strength, expelled the white one from the tent; and the latter being pursued through the pool by the red one, disappeared.

  Then the boy, asking the wise men what was signified by this wonderful omen, and they expressing their ignorance, said to the king, “I will now reveal to you the meaning of this mystery. The pool is the emblem of this world, and the tent that of your kingdom: the two serpents are two dragons; the red serpent is your dragon, but the white serpent is the dragon of the people who have seized many lands in Britain, almost from sea to sea. At length, however, our people shall rise and drive away the Saxon race across the sea, whence they originally came. But you must depart from this place, where you are not permitted to erect a citadel. I, to whom fate has allotted this mansion, shall remain here; whilst to you it is incumbent to seek other provinces, where you may build a fortress.”

  “What is your name?” asked the king: “I am called Ambrosius (in British Embreis Guletic),” returned the boy; and in answer to the king’s question, “What is your family?” he replied, “A Roman consul is my father.”

  Then the king gave him that city, with all the western provinces of Britain; and departing with his wise men to the sinistral district, he arrived in the region named Guunnessi, where he built a city which, according to his name, was called Cair Guorthegirn.

  This story is best remembered in the version retold by Geoffrey of Monmouth, in which he transforms Ambrosius into Merlin. The important matter here is that despite being called a boy without a father, Ambrosius reveals he is the son of a consul. Perhaps by now the elder Ambrosius was dead, killed, as Gildas wrote, in the Saxon wars or in the battle of Guoloph in 437. If the younger Ambrosius was at his height in the 460s, he was perhaps born in the 430s, and therefore still a child at the time of the Saxon settlement.

  The fortress is usually taken to be Dinas Emrys, in Snowdonia, one of the major hill forts of North Wales. The name has obvious associations with Ambrosius, who was also called Emrys Wledig. Though it is unlikely that he lived here, it is possible that he (or his father) ordered that it be rebuilt as a safe retreat from Segontium during the raids by the Irish and Picts.

  It is interesting that Ambrosius is found in Glevissing (Glywysing), one of the early Welsh kingdoms in Gwent, the territory of the Silures. This area was heavily Romanised, but also clung steadfastly to its British roots. Glywys, the traditional founder of Glywysing, was the great-grandson of Owain, son of Maximus. We do not know the precise dates of Glywys but, as shown in Table 3.7, they were probably around 445–515. This means he was active throughout the Arthurian period.

  The name Glywys means “a man of Glevum”, the Roman name for Gloucester. Vortigern was descended from one of four brothers attributed with founding Gloucester. Though Gloucester is not in Glywysing, it is close to the borders of Gwent, in the territory of the Gewisse. Glywysing itself was not established until around 470, so although Nennius records Ambrosius as having been found there, the chronicler was simply using a later name for a traditional site. This ties in with the theory that the Ambrosius family was connected with Gloucester.

  Glywys is sometimes called Glewys Kerniw, or Glywys Cernyw, and some commentators have connected him to Cornwall (Cernow). However, Cernyw is also the name of a place in south Wales, a strip of territory along the coast between Chepstow and Cardiff. Glywys founded a church here towards the end of his life and the name lives on in the present-day Coedkernew, four miles south-west of Newport.

  Finally, Nennius tells us that, unable to build his original fortress, Vortigern sets off to the “sinistral” part of Wales, where he establishes his citadel at Caer Gwrthegirn. “Sinistral” means “left”, and Vortigern evidently moved west from Snowdonia towards the Lleyn Peninsula. There is still today a Nant Gwrtheyrn on Lleyn, in the extreme west of Gwynedd, and Lleyn Peninsula has several sites of Arthurian interest (see Chapter 24). However, Vortigern is also associated with Gwrtheyrnion, which later formed part of Brycheiniog and southern Powys, whilst Geoffrey places his final fortress at Ganarew in Gwent.

  After this detour about Vortigern and the young Ambrosius, Nennius returns to the main story about the Saxons, and for once we may have some real history.

  43. Meanwhile Vortimer, the son of Vortigern, valiantly fought against Hengist, Horsa, and his people; drove them back to the Isle of Thanet, and thrice enclosed them within it, and besieged, attacked, threatened and frightened them on the western side. The Saxons despatched envoys to Germany to summon reinforcements, with an additional number of ships with many men: and after he obtained these, they fought against the kings of our peoples and princes of Britain, and sometimes extended their boundaries by victory, and sometimes were conquered and driven back.

  44. Four times did Vortimer valorously encounter the enemy; the first has been mentioned, the second was upon the river Derguentid, the third at the Ford, in their language called Episford, though in ours Rithergabail, there Horsa fell, and Categirn, the son of Vortigern; the fourth battle he fought was near the Inscribed Stone on the shore of the Gallic sea, where the Saxons, being defeated, fled to their ships and were drowned.

  Soon after Vortimer died; before his decease, anxious for the prosperity of his country, he charged his friends to bury his body at the entrance of the Saxon port, viz. upon the rock where the Saxons first landed. “For though,” said he, “they may
inhabit other parts of Britain, yet if you follow my commands, they will never live again in this island.” They imprudently disobeyed this last injunction, and neglected to bury him where he had appointed [for he is buried in Lincoln].

  This episode of Vortimer’s battles against the Saxons sounds like the precursor to the campaign of Ambrosius as told by Gildas, and could explain Gildas’s account that the Saxons had returned home. It also echoes the ASC’s description of the battles between Vortigern and the Saxons, although only one seems to be specifically cited in both accounts. Nennius records that Horsa was killed in the battle of Episford, which would seem to equate with the ASC entry under the year 455, which notes that Horsa was killed at Ægælesþrep. The name Ægælesþrep has long been translated as Aylesford on the river Medway in Kent, though a proper translation would be Aylesthorp. Because it has long been believed that all these battles were fought in Kent, antiquarians have looked for likely Kentish names. In fact Ægælesþrep would more likely evolve into Addlethorpe or Althorp, both villages in Lincolnshire. The first is near Skegness, but Althorp is on the Trent, almost within site of Bonby, where I suggested the Saxons may have first settled (see Map 4).

  Nennius, who calls this battle Episford, says its British name is Rithergabail, or Rhyd-yr-ceffyl in modern Welsh, the “ford of horses”. As epi means horse, Nennius may have believed that the name Episford commemorated the death of Horsa, rather than simply signifying a ford where horses gathered. However, in the Brut Tysilio (see Chapter 9), Episford is treated as Fishford, which is apparently a literal translation of the original Welsh version, Rhyd y pyscod. Pyscod is sufficiently similar to Episford to suggest an error in translation or copying. But the translator of Tysilio, Peter Roberts, maintains that Nennius’s source did not state Rithergabail but Sathnegabail, more properly Syddyn-y-ceubal, “the station of the ferryboat”. This is still reflected in the towns of North and South Ferriby, on either side of the Humber, just north of Bonby.

  4. Suggested sites for Vortimer’s Battle Campaign

  The river Derguentid is usually translated as the Darent in Kent, and is therefore equated with the battle at Crecganford in 456. Crecganford itself is usually translated as Crayford, in northwest Kent, though this is not on the Darent, but the neighbouring river Cray. Though Darent is an accurate translation of Derguentid, which means “river where oak trees grow”, that name must once have applied to scores of rivers, and is still plentiful in such modern names as Derwent, Darwen, Dart or Derwen. Of these the Yorkshire Derwent joins the Ouse just at its estuary with the Humber, only 25km (16m) from Althorp. As for Crecganford, whilst it might conceivably be Crayford, there may be another explanation. The name may be derived from the original Celtic word chrecwen, meaning laughter and revelry. The same word in Saxon is gleam, as reflected in Glanford Bridge, now known as Brigg, in the Ancholme Valley, just 10km (6m) from Bonby in Lincolnshire. Gleamford was where people gathered for games. It could be that this is also the location of Arthur’s first battle in Nennius’s battle list (see Chapter 7).

  The ASC entry says that after their defeat the British fled to Lundenbyrg from Centlond, usually treated as London and Kent. However if this battle was at Brigg or along the Derwent the British must have fled elsewhere. 10km east of the Derwent is Londesborough (Lodenesbyrg in the Domesday Book). Near here was the Roman town of Delgovitia, an ideal haven. Kent was usually rendered as Cantwara not Centlond, but just east of Doncaster is Cantley and though its name is Saxon (Canteleia) that may be how Nennius knew it.

  Finally, the Gallic Sea was the standard name for the sea between Gaul and Britain, which continued round the coast of Essex and East Anglia until it merged with the Germanic Sea somewhere around Lincoln. No inscribed stones survive in this area. In fact, they are extremely uncommon in eastern England and are found mostly in the west, but this is because so many of these stones were destroyed and plundered by generations of farmers and settlers. However, at the point where the Humber enters the sea is a town called Humberston where there used to be a boundary stone.

  Vortimer’s victory over the Saxons was short-lived because, as Nennius tells us, they did not bury him where he requested. Nennius recounts the consequences in §45 and §46. With Vortimer dead, Hengist regathers his strength. He knows he now has Vortigern under his thumb, and asks Vortigern and his nobles to come to a meeting to ratify a treaty. When they have been wined and dined, Hengist’s men draw their knives and murder all 300 of Vortigern’s noblemen. Only Vortigern is spared, and, in return for his life, grants the Saxons the territories of Essex, Sussex and Middlesex, as well as others of their choosing.

  The story of how Hengist killed Vortigern’s men is the stuff of legend, and similar tales appear in other countries’ myths. It may well have a basis in fact, but the nub of it suggests that the Saxons had overrun south-east Britain by this time, probably in the 460s before Ambrosius’s counterattack.

  According to Nennius (§47), Vortigern flees to his fortress in Gwrtheyrnion, where Germanus prays for his sins. Curiously, it is at this point that Nennius recounts the story of the Alleluia battle, with Germanus leading the army and driving the “enemies” back into the sea.

  Vortigern now flees to his castle of Caer Gwrthegirn in Demetia, followed by Germanus. But after three days and nights the castle is destroyed by fire from heaven, killing Vortigern, his wives and all the inhabitants. This sounds like a repetition of the Benli episode, in reverse. It could have been Vortigern and not Benli who died by fire and allowed Cadell to succeed to the throne of Powys.

  After providing a summary of Vortigern’s wickedness, Nennius tells us that Vortigern:

  48. [Vortigern] had three sons: the eldest was Vortimer, who, as we have seen, fought four times against the Saxons, and put them to flight; the second was Categirn who was slain in the same battle with Horsa; the third was Pascent, who reigned in the two provinces Builth and Guorthegirnaim, after the death of his father. These were granted him by Ambrosius, who was the great king among the kings of Britain. The fourth was Faustus, born of an incestuous marriage with his daughter, who was brought up and educated by St. Germanus. He built a large monastery on the banks of the river Renis, called after his name, and which remains to the present period.

  Categirn is a variant of Catotigirn which, according to Peter Bartrum, means “war-lord” or “battle-king”. This Categirn is recorded as being the father of Cadell. With their deaths it is the third son Pascent, who becomes king, ruling the territories of Builth and Gwrtheyrnion as vassal to Ambroisus.

  Table 6.1 The Family of Vortigern

  The final reference is to the fourth, incestuous son, who was educated by Germanus and established a monastery at Renis. This sounds very similar to Faustus, bishop of Riez, who is usually accorded the dates 405–490, though if he really were a later son of Vortigern he must have been born in the early 410s and would have been an adolescent when Germanus visited Britain in 429. Faustus was known as “the Briton”, and accounts of his life make much reference to his mother but none to his father. If Nennius’s account is true, then we may believe that Faustus and his mother were sent by Vortigern to Armorica, where he was taken into the care of Germanus.

  Faustus was probably sent to Armorica when he was a young child, perhaps soon after the end of Roman administration in 410. Germanus was then the governor of Armorica. Faustus trained as a lawyer but entered the monastery at Lérins in the 420s, becoming head of the monastery in 433, and bishop of Riez around 462. What is intriguing about Faustus is that in a surviving letter his friend, the Roman aristocrat Sidonius, refers both to “your Britons” and to a friend of Faustus called Riocatus, who is returning some of Faustus’s books to Britain. Riocatus appears in the genealogy of Vortigern given by Nennius in his final paragraph on the king:

  49. This is the genealogy of Vortigern, which goes back to Fernvail, who reigned in the kingdom of Guorthegirnaim, and was the son of Teudor; Teudor was the son of Pascent; Pascent of Guoidcant; Guoidcant of Moriud;
Moriud of Eltat; Eltat of Eldoc; Eldoc of Paul; Paul of Mepurit; Mepurit of Briacat; Briacat of Pascent; Pascent of Guorthegirn (Vortigern); Guorthegirn Guortheneu of Guitaul; Guitaul of Guitolion; Guitolion of Gloui. Bonus, Paul, Mauron, Guotelin, were four brothers, who built Gloiuda, a great city upon the banks of the river Severn, and in British is called Cair Gloui, in Saxon, Gloucester.

  Riocatus is the name copied in error as Briacat, from the original map Riacat (“son of Riocatus”). This makes Riocatus the son of Pascent, and thus nephew of Faustus. Riocatus possibly succeeded Ambrosius as commander of the British forces and probably succeeded Pascent in the territories of Builth and Gwythernion. The name Riocatus means “king of battles” which strikes a chord with Arthur’s title as “duke of battles”. Table 3.9 gives Riocatus the dates 460–530 making him an exact contemporary of Arthur of Badon. It makes a convincing connection and suggests there may be some truth to the legend. It also raises the tempting idea that Faustus could have been the anonymous compiler of the Gallic Chronicles. He certainly would have had knowledge of events in Britain at that time and a clearer understanding of their import than his contemporaries.

  Since we have touched on Armorica and mentioned the like-sounding Riocatus, it is appropriate here to consider Riothamus and his Arthurian connections.

  2. Riothamus

  In 1019, a Breton monk called William wrote a life of St. Goeznovius, Legenda Sancti Goeznovii, in which he refers to Vortigern and Arthur, “King of the Britons”. William stated that his information came from a now lost book called Ystoria Britanica, the only known reference to this source:

  In due course the usurper, Vortigern, to strengthen the defence of Britain, which he held unrighteously, summoned warriors from the land of Saxony and made them his allies. Since they were pagans and possessed by Satan, lusting to shed human blood, they brought much evil upon the Britons.