Pendragon, or (, ''pen dragon''; composed of Welsh , 'head, chief, top' and / ''

dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

'', 'dragon; warrior'; borrowed from the Greco-

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word , plural , 'dragon , ; ) literally means 'chief dragon' or 'head dragon', but in a figurative sense: 'chief leader', 'chief of warriors', 'commander-in-chief', , or 'chief governor'), is the epithet of Uther, father of

King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...

in the

Matter of Britain The Matter of Britain (; ; ; ) is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the list of legendary kings of Britain, legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Art ...

in medieval and modern era and occasionally applied to historical Welsh heroes in

medieval Welsh literature Medieval Welsh literature is the literature written in the Welsh language during the Middle Ages. This includes material starting from the 5th century AD, when Welsh was in the process of becoming distinct from Common Brittonic, and continuing t ...

such as

Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd ( 1147 – 1195) was prince of part of Gwynedd, one of the kingdoms of medieval Wales. He ruled from 1175 to 1195. On the death of Owain Gwynedd in 1170, fighting broke out among his nineteen sons over the division of hi ...

.Bromwich, Rachel, ''Trioedd Ynys Prydein'', University of Wales Press, 4th ed., 2014, p. 513 In the , one of the earliest texts of the Matter of Britain, only Uther is given the surname ''Pendragon'', which is explained by the author

Geoffrey of Monmouth Geoffrey of Monmouth (; ; ) was a Catholic cleric from Monmouth, Wales, and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur. He is best known for his chronicle '' The History of ...

as literally meaning ''dragon's head''. In the prose version of

Robert de Boron Robert de Boron (also spelled in the manuscripts "Roberz", "Borron", "Bouron", "Beron") was a French poet active around the late 12th and early 13th centuries, notable as the reputed author of the poems and ''Merlin''. Although little is known of ...

's ''Merlin'', the name of Uther's elder brother

Ambrosius Aurelianus Ambrosius Aurelianus (; Anglicised as Ambrose Aurelian and 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 c ...

is given as ''Pendragon'', while Uter (Uther) changes his name after his brother's death to ''Uterpendragon''. The use of "Pendragon" to refer to Arthur, rather than to Uther or his brother, is of much more recent vintage. In literature, one of its earliest uses to refer to Arthur is in

Alfred, Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of ...

's poem " Lancelot and Elaine", where, however, it appears as Arthur's title rather than his surname, following contemporary speculation that "pendragon" had been a term for an ancient Welsh war-chief. In

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...

's 1945 novel ''

That Hideous Strength ''That Hideous Strength: A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups'' (also released under the title ''The Tortured Planet'' in an abridged format) is a 1945 novel by C. S. Lewis, the final book in Lewis's theological science fiction Space Trilogy. Th ...

'', the Pendragon leads a national moral struggle through the centuries; bearers of the title include Cassibelaun, Uther, Arthur, and Elwin Ransom.

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...

in ''

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court ''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'' is an 1889 historical novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled ''A Yankee in King Arthur's Court''. Some early editions are titled ''A Yankee at the Court ...

'' makes various satirical and scathing remarks about "The Pendragon Dynasty" which are in fact aimed at ridiculing much later British dynasties. The story of '' The Pendragon Legend'' by

Antal Szerb Antal Szerb (1 May 1901, Budapest – 27 January 1945, Balf, Hungary, Balf) was a noted Hungary, Hungarian scholar and writer. He is generally considered to be one of the most important Hungarian writers of the 20th century. Life and career Sz ...

revolves around a Welsh noble family called Pendragon.

On television

A movie was released in 2008 entitled ''Pendragon: Sword of His Father'' by Burns Family Studios about a young Artos (Arthur) Pendragon.

References

External links

* {{Wiktionary inline Arthurian characters King Arthur Legendary British kings