Historia Regum Britanniae Uther Pendragon

uther pendragon in crude illustration 15th-century welsh language version of historia regum britanniae

uther best known geoffrey s historia regum britanniae (1136) youngest son of king of britannia, constantine iii. eldest brother constans succeeds throne on father s death, murdered @ instigation of adviser vortigern, seizes throne. uther , other brother, aurelius ambrosius, still children, flee brittany. vortigern makes alliance saxons under hengist, goes disastrously wrong. aurelius , uther return, adults. aurelius burns vortigern in castle , becomes king.

with aurelius on throne, uther leads brother in arms ireland merlin bring stones of stonehenge there britain. later, while aurelius ill, uther leads army against vortigern s son paschent , saxon allies. on way battle, sees comet in shape of dragon, merlin interprets presaging aurelius s death , uther s glorious future. uther wins battle , takes epithet pendragon , , returns find aurelius has been poisoned assassin. becomes king , orders construction of 2 gold dragons, 1 of uses standard.

he secures britain s frontiers , quells saxon uprisings aids of retainers, 1 of whom gorlois, duke of cornwall. @ banquet celebrating victories, uther becomes obsessively enamoured of gorlois wife igerna (igraine), , war ensues between uther , vassal. gorlois sends igerna impregnable castle of tintagel protection while himself besieged uther in town. uther consults merlin uses magic transform king likeness of gorlois , gain access igerna @ tintagel. spends night , conceive arthur, next morning discovered gorlois had been killed. uther marries igerna , have daughter called anna (in later romances called morgause , igerna s daughter previous marriage). morgause later marries king lot , becomes mother of gawain , mordred.

uther later falls ill , wars begin go badly against saxons. insists on leading army himself, propped on horse. defeats hengist s son octa @ verulamium (st albans), despite saxons calling him half-dead king . however, saxons contrive death poisoning spring drinks near verulamium.

uther s family based on historical figures; constantine on historical usurper constantine iii, claimant roman throne 407–411, , constans on son. aurelius ambrosius ambrosius aurelianus, mentioned gildas, though connection constantine , constans unrecorded.