THE National published a piece of research by Niall Robertson last month claiming the legendary King Arthur was no myth but a genuine Scottish war leader.
Arthwys ap Mar is credited with raising an army from across north and west Britain to defeat the invading Anglo-Saxons at the Battle of Badon or Mons Badonicus early in the sixth century.
Now an English-born expert has published more research that not only backs Robertson’s claim that Arthur was Scottish but takes it much further, claiming Arthur was a Pictish king, Garthnach son of Girom, who may have had his capital at Rhynie in Aberdeenshire,
Damian Bullen is originally from Burnley but has lived in Edinburgh and East Lothian since 2003. He specialises in historical languages and the interpretation of ancient manuscripts. Bullen has published a paper on the Academia website which examines the clues for Arthur’s existence in the names of places across Britain.
He states: “In the early 12th century, a French historian called Lambert of Saint-Omer wrote ‘Arthur, Dux Pictorum, ruling realms of the interior of Britain, resolute in his strength, a very fierce warrior, seeing that England was being assaulted from all sides, and that property was being stolen away, and many people taken hostage and redeemed, and expelled from their inherited lands, attacks the Saxons in a ferocious onslaught along with the kings of Britain, and rushing upon them, fought valiantly, coming forward as leader in twelve battles.”
READ MORE: This is how history proves King Arthur was really from Scotland
Bullen also cites a medieval Welsh triad which states: “Three Tribal Thrones of the Island of Prydai: Arthur the Chief Lord at Menevia, and David the chief bishop, and Maelgwn Gwynedd the chief elder. Arthur the chief lord at Kelliwic in Cornwall, and Bishop Betwini the chief bishop, and Caradawg Vreichvras the chief elder. Arthur the chief lord in Penrhionyd in the north, and Cyndeyrn Garthwys the chief bishop, and Gurthmwl Guledic the chief elder.”
Going back to Lambert of St Omer, Bullen cites his reference to a palace of Arthur the warrior “in the land of the Picts”. Bullen explained to The National: “The name ‘Penrhionyd in the north,’ easily converts to Rhynie
“Rhynie is simply littered with Pictish remains, with recent archaeology showing how the site was a significant elite-level Pictish settlement in the Arthurian period. In the Welsh language, ‘Pen’ means ‘summit or peak,’ which renders Penrhionyd as meaning ‘Peak of Rhionyd’.
“Above Rhynie towers the far-seen Tap o’ Noth, Scotland’s second highest hillfort, complete with impressive triple-ringed defence-works.
“It is well worth a trip to Rhynie, a remarkably compact and pretty village whose residents go about their business quite unaware they are breathing the same pure and mountain air as Arthur did during his seven-year stint as King of the Picts.”
Though they have not linked Rhynie to Arthur, archaeologists have uncovered the post-holes and plank slots of a possible timber feasting hall at Rhynie.
The Pictish King List in the Scalacronica version held at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge University contains evidence of Arthur’s ancestry.
It all leads Bullen to claim a “more than convincing argument that places Arthur in Aberdeenshire as King of the Picts”.
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