[77] Where, apart from “the British book,” Geoffrey derived the name and history of Uther, still remains an unsolved problem. It is worth noting, however, that “Uther Pendragon” is mentioned in a poem in The Black Book of Carmarthen noticed in the previous chapter (see p. 42).
[78] Dubricius, or Dyfrig, is a well-known early Welsh saint, but the archbishopric of the City of Legions is entirely a creation of Geoffrey’s fancy.
[79] I have italicised the words “noble Roman family” here, because this “Roman” descent of Guinevere would seem not to have been derived from a Welsh source. In the Triads we read of a Guinevere who is described as “the daughter of Ogrvan the Giant” (see ante, p. 53). She is, apparently, the one among “the three Guineveres” who is best known to Welsh tradition as the wife of Arthur. She is mentioned both in a poem by the famous Welsh poet of the fourteenth century, Dafydd ap Gwilym—referring to her adventure with Melwas—and in an old Welsh rhyme, which gives her a somewhat disreputable character (see Rhys, Arthurian Legend, Chap. III.).
[80] It is interesting to note, incidentally, that after the “solemnity” at Caerleon, Dubricius is reported to have resigned his archbishopric, and “David, the King’s uncle, was consecrated in his place, whose life was an ensample of all goodness unto them whom he had instructed in his doctrine.”
[81] This statement appears to indicate quite explicitly that Geoffrey was indebted to Walter for oral information as well as for the British book.
[82] The best-known account of the affair is given by Giraldus Cambrensis (De Principis Instructione, viii. 126-9).
[83] There are, for example, thirty-five in the British Museum and sixteen in the Bodleian.
[84] No copies of Gaimar’s version are known to exist, but his rhymed chronicle of Anglo-Saxon and Norman kings has been edited and translated by Duffus Hardy in the Rolls Series.
[85] Polyolbion, Song x.
[86] Hueil, and the cause of his quarrel with Arthur, are incidentally mentioned in Kulhwch and Olwen. Hueil, we there read, had stabbed his sister’s son Gwydre, “and hatred was between Hueil and Arthur because of the wound.”