Uther Pendragon
Uther Pendragon (French: Uter Pendragon; Welsh: Wthyr Bendragon, Uthyr Pendraeg) is a legendary king of Britain and the father of King Arthur. His epithet Pendragon means literally "head dragon" or "dragon's head", probably in a figurative sense of "chief warrior".[1]
History of the Kings of Britain
He is best known from Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain (1136) where he is the youngest son of king Constantine. His eldest brother Constans succeeded to the throne on their father's death, but was murdered at the instigation of his adviser Vortigern, who seized the throne. Uther and his other brother Aurelius Ambrosius, still children, fled to Britanny. After Vortigern's alliance with the Saxons under Hengist had gone disastrously wrong, Aurelius and Uther, now adults, returned. Aurelius burned Vortigern in his castle and became king.
Uther led his brother's army to Ireland to help Merlin bring the stones of Stonehenge from there to Britain. Later, while Aurelius was ill, Uther led his army against Vortigern's son Paschent and his Saxon allies. On the way to the battle, he saw a comet in the shape of a dragon, which Merlin interpreted as presaging Aurelius's death and Uther's glorious future. Uther won the battle and took the epithet "Pendragon", and returned to find Aurelius had indeed died. He became king and had two gold dragons made, one of which he used as his standard.
He fell in love with Igerna, wife of his ally Gorlois, duke of Cornwall, and after Gorlois took this as an insult and snubbed the king, declared war against him. Gorlois sent Igerna to the impregnable castle of Tintagel for protection, while he himself was besieged by Uther in another town. Uther consulted with Merlin, who used his magic to transform him into the likeness of Gorlois and thus gain access to Igerna at Tintagel. He spent the night with her, and they conceived a son, Arthur; but the next morning it was discovered that Gorlois had been killed at the siege. Uther married Igerna, and they had another child, a daughter called Anna. She later married King Lot and became the mother of Gawain and Mordred (in later romances she is called Morgause, and is usually Igerna's daughter by her previous marriage).
Uther later fell ill, but when the wars against the Saxons went badly he insisted on leading his army himself, propped up on his horse. He defeated Hengist's son Octa at Verulamium (St Albans), despite the Saxons calling him the "Half-Dead King". However, the Saxons soon contrived his death by poisoning a spring he drank from near Verulamium.[2]
Other versions
Uther is known from earlier Welsh tradition, where he is associated with Arthur, but does not appear to be Arthur's father. He is mentioned in the 9th century Arthurian poem Pa gur yv y porthaur ("What man is the gatekeeper?"[3] "The death-song of Uther Pendragon" is a poem in the Book of Taliesin.[4]
Welsh genealogies mention another son of Uther named Madoc, the father of Arthur's nephew Eliwlod, and another son of Anna, Hoel of Britanny. The Welsh Triads name Uther as the creator of one of the Three Great Echantments of the Island of Britain]], which he taught to the wizard Menw.[5]
In Robert de Boron's Merlin, Uther Pendragon personally kills Hengest after an assassination atempt by the Saxon leader. It is for Uther Pendragon that the Round Table is created by Merlin in this story.
There is an alternate account of Uther Pendragon's background in Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival. A certain Mazadân went with a Fay named Terdelaschoye to the land of Feimurgân. Mazadân becomes father of two sons, Lazaliez and Brickus. The latter fathers Utepandragûn, while the elder son Lazaliez becomes father of Gandin of Anjou father of Gahmuret, the father of Perceval.
In Prose Lancelot, Uther Pendragon claims to have been born in Bourges. He takes an army to Brittany to fight against King Claudas of Bourges, a situation resembling that of the historical ruler, Riothamus, who went to Brittany to fight ravagers based in Bourges.
Modern versions
In T.H. White's The Once and Future King, Uther Pendragon is the father of King Arthur and the King of England from 1066 to 1216. When he dies, a sword driven through an anvil and into stone appears in front of a church in London. It says that whoever pulls the stone from the anvil is the rightful King of England. At a tournament to decide the king, Arthur (not knowing that Pendragon was his father) pulls out the sword while on an errand for his knight.
The main character of Aleister Crowley's Diary of a Drug Fiend claims to be descended from Uther Pendragon.
Mary Stewart's first three books in the Arthurian Saga The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills and The Last Enchantment have Uther Pendragon as a character in them. Uther becomes king at the end of the first book and reigns throughout the second book, at the end of which, he dies and Arthur is acclaimed king.
Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon illustrates the disguise of Uther, along with his affair and marriage to Igraine, and his death by Saxon invaders.
References
- ^ Rachel Bromwich, Trioedd Ynys Prydein, third edition, 2006, pp. 512-513.
- ^ Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Regum Britanniae 6.5-9, 8.1-24
- ^ Pa gur yv y porthaur?; Bromwich, Trioedd Ynys Prydein pp. 512-513.
- ^ The death-son of Uther Pendragon
- ^ Bromwhich, Trioedd Ynys Prydein p. 61.