It is composed of Old Welsh prefix pen- "a tall hill headlands great heights", which is still used for place names in Wales and Cornwall (as in the famous Cornish town Penzance, or "holy headland" ) combined with Old English dragoun "dragon" which was borrowed from Old French dragon (originally Latin accusative noun draconem "a massive serpent or sea creature," which was itself based on ancient Greek mythological dragons ). The title Pendragon was borrowed into Middle English from Welsh, where it originally indicated a literal dragon of great power or size but was eventually used figuratively to mean "a great leader the highest commander". An alternative possibility is it stems from adopting the use of the draco military standard of the Roman cavalry, but this is likely ahistorical conjecture. According to Robert de Boron and the cycles based on his work, it was Uther's older brother (elsewhere called Aurelius Ambrosius and likely based on Ambrosius Aurelianus) who saw the comet and received the name "Pendragon", Uther taking his epithet after his death. Uther's epithet Pendragon literally means "head dragon" in its original Welsh, though it was used figuratively to mean "highest commander head leader top of the command chain." Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae misinterpreted it as "the head of a dragon" and invented an origin to explain it away: Uther acquired the epithet when he witnessed a portentous dragon-shaped comet, which inspired him to use dragons on his standards. The theme of illegitimate conception is repeated in Arthur's siring of Mordred by his own half-sister Morgause in the 13th century French prose cycles, which was invented by them it is Mordred who mortally wounds King Arthur in the Battle of Camlann. This act of conception occurs the very night that Uther's troops dispatch Gorlois. Thus Arthur, "the once and future king", is an illegitimate child (though later legend, as found in Malory, emphasises that the conception occurred after Gorlois's death and that he was legitimated by Uther's subsequent marriage to Igraine ). He is a fairly ambiguous individual throughout the literature, but is described as a strong king and a defender of his people.Īccording to Arthurian legend, Merlin magically disguises Uther to look like his enemy Gorlois, enabling Uther to sleep with Gorlois' wife Lady Igraine. A few minor references to Uther appear in Old Welsh poems, but his biography was first written down by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae ( History of the Kings of Britain), and Geoffrey's account of the character was used in most later versions. Uther Pendragon ( / ˈ j uː θ ər p ɛ n ˈ d r æ ɡ ən, ˈ uː θ ər/ Welsh: Uthyr Pendragon, Uthyr Bendragon), also known as King Uther, is a legendary king of sub-Roman Britain and the father of King Arthur. Uther Pendragon, by Howard Pyle from The Story of King Arthur and His Knights (1903)Ĭonstantine III (father), Aurelius Ambrosius (older brother), Constans II (older brother)