Uther Pendragon is a legendary king of
sub-Roman BritainSub-Roman Britain is a term derived from archaeologists' label for the material culture of Britain in Late Antiquity. "Sub-Roman" was invented to describe the potsherds in sites of the 5th century and the 6th century, initially with an implication of decay of locally-made wares from a higher...
and the father of
King ArthurKing Arthur is a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defense of Britain against the Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and his historical existence is debated...
.
A few minor references to Uther appear in
Old WelshOld Welsh is the label attached to the Welsh language from about 800 AD until the early 12th century when it developed into Middle Welsh. The preceding period, from the time Welsh became distinct from the British language around 550, has been called "Primitive Welsh".Many poems and some prose has...
poemsMediaeval Welsh literature is the literature written in the Welsh language during the Middle Ages. This includes material from the time of the tongue's formation between the 5th and 8th centuries to the works of the 16th century....
, but his biography was first written down by
Geoffrey of MonmouthGeoffrey of Monmouth was a British clergyman and one of the major figures in the development of British history and the popularity of tales of King Arthur...
in his
Historia Regum BritanniaeThe Historia Regum Britanniae is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written c. 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the kings of the Britons in a chronological narrative spanning a time of two thousand years, beginning with the Trojans founding the British nation...
(
History of the Kings of Britain), and Geoffrey's account of the character was used in most later versions. He is a fairly ambiguous individual throughout the literature; he is described as a strong king and a defender of the people. According to Arthurian Legend, Uther, through circumstances and
MerlinMerlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...
's help, tricks the wife of his enemy
GorloisGorlois was a Duke of Cornwall and Igraine's first husband before her marriage to Uther Pendragon, according to the Arthurian legend. Later versions give him a number of children, the most famous of which are Elaine, Morgause or Anna, and Morgan le Fay....
, Lady
IgraineIn Arthurian legend, Igraine is the mother of King Arthur. She becomes the wife of Uther Pendragon, but her first husband was Gorlois; her daughters...
, and sleeps with her. Thus Arthur, "the once and future king," is an illegitimate child. This act of conception occurs the very night Uther's troops dispatch Gorlois. This theme of illegitimate conception is repeated in Arthur's siring of
MordredMordred or Modred is a character in the Arthurian legend, known as a notorious traitor who fought King Arthur at the Battle of Camlann, where he was killed and Arthur fatally wounded. Tradition varies on his relationship to Arthur, but he is best known today as Arthur's illegitimate son by his...
on his own sister
MorgauseMorgause, known in earlier works as Anna, is the sister or half-sister of King Arthur in the Arthurian legend. In her earliest appearance she is Arthur's full sister by Uther Pendragon and Igraine; and is the mother of the heroic Gawain and the villainous Mordred...
in the later prose romances. It is Mordred who will eventually mortally wound
King ArthurKing Arthur is a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defense of Britain against the Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and his historical existence is debated...
in the
Battle of CamlannThe Battle of Camlann is best known as the final battle of King Arthur, where he either died in battle, or was fatally wounded fighting his enemy and relative Mordred...
.
Epithet
Uther's epithet
Pendragon means "Chief Dragon" in a figurative sense, referring to his status as "foremost leader" or "chief of warriors". The name was misinterpreted by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the
Historia to mean "dragon's head". According to Geoffrey and works based on his version, Uther acquires the epithet when he witnesses a portentous
dragonDragons are legendary creatures, typically with serpentine or otherwise reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of worldwide cultures.The two most familiar interpretations of dragons are European dragons, derived from various European folk traditions, and the unrelated Oriental dragons, such as...
-shaped comet, which inspires him to use dragons on his
standardsA flag is a piece of fabric, often flown from a pole or mast, generally used symbolically for signaling or identification. It is most commonly used to symbolize a country...
. According to the Grail cycle, it was Uther's older brother (elsewhere called
Ambrosius AurelianusAmbrosius Aurelianus, ; called Aurelius Ambrosius in the Historia Regum Britanniae and elsewhere, was a war leader of the Romano-British who won an important battle against the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century, according to Gildas...
) who sees the comet and receives the name "Pendragon"; Uther takes his epithet in his honor after his death.
Early Welsh poetry
Uther is known from earlier Welsh tradition, where he is associated with Arthur and, in some cases, even appears as his father. He is mentioned in the 10th century Arthurian poem
Pa gur yv y porthaur ("What man is the gatekeeper?"), and is memorialized with "The Death-song of Uther Pen" from the
Book of TaliesinThe Book of Taliesin is one of the most famous of Middle Welsh manuscripts, dating from the first half of the 14th century though many of the fifty-seven poems it preserves are taken to originate in the 10th century...
. The latter includes a reference to Arthur, so the marginal addition of "dragon" to Uther's name is probably justified. "The Colloquy of Arthur and the Eagle," a poem contemporary with but independent of Geoffrey, mentions another son of Uther named Madoc, the father of Arthur's nephew
EliwlodIn some old Welsh texts, Eliwlod is a nephew of King Arthur. His father is Madoc, son of Uther Pendragon, an obscure brother of Arthur's mentioned a very few times in Welsh literature. Eliwlod appears in the Welsh Triads, where he is called one of the three "Golden-Tongued Knights of Britain,"...
. The
Welsh TriadsThe Welsh Triads are a group of related texts in medieval manuscripts which preserve fragments of Welsh folklore, mythology and traditional history in groups of three....
name Uther as the creator of one of the Three Great Enchantments of the Island of Britain, which he taught to the wizard
MenwMenw, son of Teirgwaedd, is a magician in King Arthur's court in early Welsh Arthurian legend. He appears in the Middle Welsh tales Culhwch and Olwen, where he accompanies Arthur on his quest and has the ability to turn people invisible, and The Dream of Rhonabwy, where he is one of Arthur's...
.
History of the Kings of Britain
Uther is best known from Geoffrey of Monmouth's
History of the Kings of Britain (1136) where he is the youngest son of King of Britannia Constantine II. His eldest brother
ConstansConstans was the eldest son of the Roman usurper Constantine III and was appointed co-emperor by him from 409 to 411.Constans lived in a monastery for the younger years of his life until he was elevated to the title of Caesar. His father then sent him with the general Gerontius to Hispania...
succeeds to the throne on their father's death, but is murdered at the instigation of his adviser
VortigernVortigern , also spelled Vortiger and Vortigen, was a 5th-century warlord in Britain, a leading ruler among the Britons. His existence is considered likely, though information about him is shrouded in legend. He is said to have invited the Saxons to settle in Britain as mercenaries, only to see...
, who seizes the throne. Uther and his other brother
Aurelius AmbrosiusAmbrosius Aurelianus, ; called Aurelius Ambrosius in the Historia Regum Britanniae and elsewhere, was a war leader of the Romano-British who won an important battle against the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century, according to Gildas...
, still children, flee to
BrittanyBrittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Brittany was previously a kingdom and then as a duchy it was a fief of the Kingdom of France. It was at one time called Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
. After Vortigern's alliance with the
SaxonsAnglo-Saxons is the term usually used to describe the invading Germanic tribes in the south and east of Great Britain from the early 5th century AD, and their creation of the English nation, to the Norman conquest of 1066...
under
HengistHengist and Horsa are figures of British legend, which records them as the two Germanic brothers who led the Angle, Saxon, and Jutish armies that conquered the first territories of England in the 5th century AD...
goes disastrously wrong, Aurelius and Uther, now adults, return. Aurelius burns Vortigern in his castle and becomes king.
With Aurelius on the throne, Uther leads his brother's army to
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
to help Merlin bring the stones of
StonehengeStonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of earthworks surrounding a circular setting of large standing stones and sits at the centre of the...
from there to Britain. Later, while Aurelius is ill, Uther leads his army against Vortigern's son Paschent and his Saxon allies. On the way to the battle, he sees a
cometA comet is a Small Solar System Body that has coma and is bigger than a meteoroid. When close enough to the Sun, a comet exhibits a visible coma , and sometimes a tail, both because of the effects of solar radiation upon the comet's nucleus...
in the shape of a dragon, which Merlin interprets as presaging Aurelius's death and Uther's glorious future. Uther wins the battle and takes the epithet "Pendragon", and returns to find that Aurelius has been poisoned by an assassin. He becomes king and orders the construction of two gold dragons, one of which he uses as his standard. He secures Britain's frontiers and quells Saxon uprisings with the aid of his retainers, one of which is
GorloisGorlois was a Duke of Cornwall and Igraine's first husband before her marriage to Uther Pendragon, according to the Arthurian legend. Later versions give him a number of children, the most famous of which are Elaine, Morgause or Anna, and Morgan le Fay....
,
Duke of CornwallThe Dukedom of Cornwall was the first dukedom created in the peerage of England.The present Duke of Cornwall is The Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II, the reigning British monarch .-History:...
. At a banquet celebrating their victories, Uther becomes obsessively enamoured of Gorlois' wife, Igerna (Igraine), and a war ensues between Uther and his vassal. Gorlois sends Igerna to the impregnable castle of
TintagelTintagel Tintagel ( with the stress on the second syllable; ) Tintagel ( with the stress on the second syllable; ) (originally Trevena is a village situated on the Atlantic coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom. The population of the parish is 1,820 people, and the area of the parish is 4,885 acres....
for protection, while he himself is besieged by Uther in another town. Uther consults with Merlin, who uses his magic to transform the king into the likeness of Gorlois and thus gain access to Igerna at Tintagel. He spends the night with her, and they conceive a son, Arthur; but the next morning it is discovered that Gorlois had been killed. Uther marries Igerna, and they have another child, a daughter called Anna. She later marries
King LotLot or Loth is king of Lothian, Orkney, and sometimes Norway in the Arthurian legend. He is King Arthur's brother-in-law and early enemy. The character is possibly derived from a historical personage....
and becomes the mother of
GawainGawain is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table who appears very early in the Arthurian legend's development. He is one of a select number of Round Table members to be referred to as the greatest knight, most notably in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight...
and
MordredMordred or Modred is a character in the Arthurian legend, known as a notorious traitor who fought King Arthur at the Battle of Camlann, where he was killed and Arthur fatally wounded. Tradition varies on his relationship to Arthur, but he is best known today as Arthur's illegitimate son by his...
(in later romances she is called
MorgauseMorgause, known in earlier works as Anna, is the sister or half-sister of King Arthur in the Arthurian legend. In her earliest appearance she is Arthur's full sister by Uther Pendragon and Igraine; and is the mother of the heroic Gawain and the villainous Mordred...
, and is usually Igerna's daughter by her previous marriage).
Uther later falls ill, but when the wars against the Saxons go badly he insists on leading his army himself, propped up on his horse. He defeats Hengist's son
OctaOcta or Octha was an Anglo-Saxon King of Kent during the 6th century. Sources disagree on his relationship to the other kings in his line; he may have been the son of Hengist or Oisc, and may have been the father of Oisc or Eormenric. The dates of his reign are unclear, but he may have ruled from...
at
VerulamiumVerulamium was an ancient town in Roman Britain. It was sited in the southwest of the modern city of St Albans in Hertfordshire, Great Britain. A large portion of the Roman city remains unexcavated, being now park and agricultural land, though much has been built upon...
(
St AlbansSt Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It was a settlement of pre-Roman origin named Verlamion by the Ancient British, Catuvellauni tribe...
), despite the Saxons calling him the "Half-Dead King." However, the Saxons soon contrive his death by poisoning a spring he drinks from near Verulamium.
Geoffrey based some members of Uther's family on historical figures. Constantine is based on the historical
usurperUsurpers are individuals or groups of individuals who obtain and maintain the power or rights of another by force and without legal authority. Usurpers were a common feature of the late Roman Empire, especially from the crisis of the third century onwards, when political instability became the...
Constantine IIIFlavius Claudius Constantinus, known in English as Constantine III was a Roman general who declared himself Western Roman Emperor in 407, abdicated in 411, and was captured and executed shortly afterwards.-Background:...
, a claimant to the Roman throne from 407–411; Constans is based on his son. Aurelius Ambrosius is based on the legendary Welsh figure Ambrosius Aurelianus, though his connection to Constantine and Constans is an invention. It is less likely, however, that Uther ever existed outside of Britain's mythical history.
Other medieval literature
In
Robert de BoronRobert de Boron was a French poet of the late 12th and early 13th centuries, originally from the village of Boron, in the present arrondissement of Montbéliard...
's
Merlin, Uther Pendragon personally kills Hengest after an assassination attempt by the Saxon leader, and Merlin creates the
Round TableThe Round Table is King Arthur's famed table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his Knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status. The table was first described in 1155 by Wace, who relied on previous depictions of...
for him. In
Prose LancelotThe Lancelot-Grail, also known as the Prose Lancelot, the Vulgate Cycle, or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is a major source of Arthurian legend written in French. It is a series of five prose volumes that tell the story of the quest for the Holy Grail and the romance of Lancelot and Guinevere...
, Uther Pendragon claims to have been born in
BourgesBourges is a commune in central France on the Yèvre river. It is the capital of the department of Cher and also was the capital of the former province of Berry.-History:...
. He takes an army to
BrittanyBrittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Brittany was previously a kingdom and then as a duchy it was a fief of the Kingdom of France. It was at one time called Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
to fight against King
ClaudasKing Claudas is a fictional Frankish king and an opponent to King Arthur, Lancelot, and Bors in Arthurian literature. His kingdom is named "Terre Deserte", or "Land Laid Waste", so called because of the destruction Uther Pendragon had wrought there. Claudas appears as the Round Table's adversary in...
of Bourges, a situation resembling that of the historical ruler,
RiothamusRiothamus , was a Romano-British military leader, who was active circa 470. He fought against the Goths in alliance with the declining Roman Empire. He is called "King of the Britons" by the chronicler Jordanes, but the extent of his realm is unclear...
, who went to Brittany to fight ravagers based in Bourges. There is an alternate account of Uther Pendragon's background in
Wolfram von EschenbachWolfram von Eschenbach was a German knight and poet, regarded as one of the greatest epic poets of his time. As a Minnesinger, he also wrote lyric poetry.-Life:...
's
ParzivalParzival is a major medieval German epic poem attributed to the poet Wolfram von Eschenbach, written in the Middle High German language. The poem is commonly dated circa the first quarter of the 13th century...
. A certain Mazadân went with a Fay named Terdelaschoye to the land of Feimurgân. (This looks like a garbling of some source that told of Mazadân's alliance with the Fay Morgan in Terre de la Joye; the "Land of Joy"). Mazadân becomes father of two sons, Lazaliez and Brickus. Brickus becomes father of Utepandragûn father of Arthur while the elder son Lazaliez becomes father of Gandin of
AnjouAnjou is a former county , duchy and province centred on the city of Angers in the lower Loire Valley of western France. It corresponds largely to the present-day département of Maine-et-Loire...
father of Gahmuret father of Parzival/Perceval. Uther Pendragon and Arthur here appear as the scions of the junior branch of an imagined 5th/6th century House of
AnjouAnjou is a former county , duchy and province centred on the city of Angers in the lower Loire Valley of western France. It corresponds largely to the present-day département of Maine-et-Loire...
.
Modern literature
Uther Pendragon remains a widely used character in modern
Arthurian literature. In T.H. White's
The Once and Future KingThe Once and Future King is an Arthurian fantasy novel written by T. H. White. It was first published in 1958 and is mostly a composite of earlier works....
, Uther the Conqueror is the Norman King of England from 1066 to 1216.
Mary StewartMary Florence Elinor Stewart is a popular English novelist, best known for her series about Merlin, which straddles the boundary between the historical novel and the fantasy genre.-Career:...
's first two books in her Arthurian saga,
The Crystal CaveThe Crystal Cave is a 1970 fantasy novel by Mary Stewart. The first in a quintet of novels covering the Arthurian legend, it is followed by The Hollow Hills.-Plot introduction:...
,
The Hollow HillsThe Hollow Hills is a novel by Mary Stewart. It is the second in a quintet of novels covering the Arthurian Legends. This book is preceded by The Crystal Cave and succeeded by The Last Enchantment...
, feature Uther Pendragon. Notably, he is
MerlinMerlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...
's uncle, since in this version the latter is his brother
AmbrosiusAmbrosius Aurelianus, ; called Aurelius Ambrosius in the Historia Regum Britanniae and elsewhere, was a war leader of the Romano-British who won an important battle against the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century, according to Gildas...
' illegitimate son. In
Bernard CornwellBernard Cornwell OBE is an English author of historical novels. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe which were adapted into a series of Sharpe television films.-Biography:...
's
The Warlord ChroniclesThe Warlord Chronicles is a trilogy of books about Arthurian Britain written by Bernard Cornwell...
, Uther is the King of
DumnoniaDumnonia is the Latinised name for a Brythonic kingdom, or group of sub-kingdoms, in sub-Roman Britain between the late 4th and late 8th centuries, located in the farther parts of the south-west peninsula of Great Britain...
as well as the High King of Britain. In
Jack WhyteJack Whyte is a Scottish-Canadian novelist of historical fiction. Born and raised in Scotland, Whyte has been living in Canada since 1967. He resides in Kelowna, British Columbia....
's
The Camulod Chronicles, Uther is King of the Pendragon, the Celtic people of South Cambria, cousin to Caius Merlyn Britannicus and Ambrose Ambrosianus Britannicus. In contrast to traditional versions,
Stephen R. LawheadStephen R. Lawhead, born , is a best-selling American writer known for his works of fantasy, science fiction, and more recently, historical fiction, particularly Celtic historical fiction...
's
Pendragon CycleThe Pendragon Cycle is a series of fantasy or semi-historical books based on the Arthurian legend, written by Stephen R. Lawhead. They are:*Taliesin *Merlin *Arthur *Pendragon *Grail *Avalon...
makes Uther's brother
AureliusAmbrosius Aurelianus, ; called Aurelius Ambrosius in the Historia Regum Britanniae and elsewhere, was a war leader of the Romano-British who won an important battle against the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century, according to Gildas...
, whose widow (
YgernaIn Arthurian legend, Igraine is the mother of King Arthur. She becomes the wife of Uther Pendragon, but her first husband was Gorlois; her daughters...
) he marries, Arthur's true father. In
Marion Zimmer BradleyMarion Eleanor Zimmer Bradley was an American author of fantasy novels such as The Mists of Avalon and the Darkover series, often with a feminist outlook. Her first child, David R...
's
Mists of Avalon, Uther is the nephew of
AurelianusAmbrosius Aurelianus, ; called Aurelius Ambrosius in the Historia Regum Britanniae and elsewhere, was a war leader of the Romano-British who won an important battle against the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century, according to Gildas...
instead of his brother; while Aurelianus is the son of a
Roman Emperor, Uther has no Roman blood. In
Valerio Massimo ManfrediValerio Massimo Manfredi is an Italian historian, writer, archaeologist and journalist. He was born in Piumazzo di Castelfranco Emilia, province of Modena and is married to Christine Fedderson Manfredi, who translates his published works from Italian to English...
's
The Last LegionThe Last Legion is a 2007 film directed by Doug Lefler. Produced by Dino De Laurentiis and others, it is based on a 2003 Italian novel of the same name written by Valerio Massimo Manfredi...
, Uther is himself a Roman Emperor - the last,
Romulus AugustusRomulus Augustus , more known by his nickname Romulus Augustulus , was the last Western Roman Emperor reigning from the 31 October 475 until his deposition on the 4 September 476...
. While the real Romulus Augustus disappeared from history after being deposed by
GothsThe Goths were a heterogeneous East Germanic tribe. The historian Jordanes claimed that the Goths arrived from semi-legendary Scandza, believed to be somewhere in modern Götaland , and that a Gothic population had crossed the Baltic Sea before the 2nd century, lending their name to the region of...
, in the novel he escapes to Britain, where he adopts the name Pendragon and eventually sires Arthur. In the 2000 book by Jack Whyte "Uther" the novel revolves around a fictionalized version of Uther's life.
Trivia
- Uther Pendragon is the source for Warcraft's Uther the Lightbringer, one of the first Paladins and huge protester of arcane magics.
- In the 2008 TV series Merlin
Merlin is a British television drama series that began in 2008. It is based on the Arthurian legends of the mythical wizard Merlin and his relationship with Prince Arthur, but differs significantly from traditional versions of the myth...
, Uther is portrayed by Anthony HeadAnthony Stewart Head , usually credited as Anthony Head, is a Saturn Award nominated English actor and musician.-Early life:...
. In the series, Uther has outlawed the practise of magic after it's involvement in the death of his wife, Igraine.
External links
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