#affalach

Modron is not a personal name, and probably not even an individual; it literally means Mother, and can be applied to a mother goddess(worshipped mostly in Celtic France) and any legendary woman. Mabon, her son, is also means just "son", Mabinogion – stories about legendary sons. W.J Gruffydd stated that in the Welsh mythology any goddess mating with a male god and birthing a son was Madron mother of Mabon; the same worked for any pair of legendary king and queen and their prince.

The Son is taken away from the Mother, risen elsewhere, finds out about his true heritage, gets to know his uncle. Modron is first and foremost a Great Mother known by her Son/s.

But Morgan Le Fay, Feimurgan, a free water fairy of the misty magical island of apples, an otherworldly figure, not Arthur's sister in the early texts, not bonded to courts and mortal families in the early texts(even in the later texts she lives away of the Arthur's court and her husband), what does she have in common with a figure and role such as mother of heroic son? Fairy ≠ mother goddess. Mother goddess ≠ Annwn. Arthur's sister from the chronicles Anna(Gwyar in Welsh texts, Morgause in literature) has much more likeness to the divine/legendary motherhood than Morgan, especially since she is a mother of Gawaine who bears some traits of Mabon(risen elsewhere, close relationship with his uncle)

"Morgan is Modron" stands on two pillars: Owain/Ywain and Affalach.

The Welsh Triad of Ynys Prydien "Three Blessed Womb-Burdens of the Island of Britain" from the 15th century manuscript says that Owain is a "son of Urien Rheged and Modron daughter of Affalach" meaning [his] Mother [is] daughter of Affalach.

Urien was a real historical person, the historical accounts say nothing about his wife/mother of his son Owain who really existed as well. In Arthurian romances, Urien wasn't married into Arthur's family up to the later period, being only Sir Ywain's father; and even when he became Arthur's brother-in-law it wasn't through Morgan until Suite du Merlin and Malory. Urien married a certain Brimesent, daughter of Ygraine.

Rachel Bromwich in The Triads of the Isle of Britain:

The early historical poems contain allusions in which the name Mabon appears to denote either a member of Urien’s family, or else is employed as a pseudonym for Owein fab Urien himself. On the other hand there is no reference to Modron as the name of Urien’s wife in the corpus of early poetry concerning Urien and Owein.

But the Triad text(thought manuscript is older than many of Arthurian romances it inherits the old tradition) says that Mother of his children was some Affalach's daughter, and that's probably why the later authors conflated her with Morgan, because of the word "Affalach" that sounds similar to Avalon.

Britain's history knew two real men named Afallach. One is the grandson of the legendary King Beli Mawr. Beli Mawr is said to be a great ancestor of many royal lines. His grandson Affalach ap Llud(Amalech) ap Beli Mawr was probably born circa 68 BC. It means Arthurian characters and both real and literary Urien Rheged couldn't have any personal relationships with kings and princes so ancient(though Uther's line was said to come from Beli's Affalach's royal line)

But there's another Affalach, mentioned in the times known as "Arthurian". King Maelgwn of Gwynedd(a real Welsh Kingdom) who lived in the first half of the 6th century married lady Gwallwen ferch (daughter of) Afallach. Their son was Rhun Hir. This prince really existed, and also appears in the Welsh Arthurian poem The Dream of Rhonabwy, which also features Owain. So it seems very plausible that a highborn 6th century lord Affalach had two daughters, Gwallwen and a nameless one(or named in a roman manner Matrona). He married them to the kings of Gwynedd and Rheged respectively. Thus princes Rhun and Owein are cousins, not related to Arthur though. (As a side note, when Rhun became Gwynedd's king after his father, he named his son Beli to honour the great king ancestor)

What all this dynastic coupling have in common with Mothers Goddesses? Nothing. This daughter of Affalach is Modron in the sense that she is queen mother of prince, but she is not a goddess. And with Morgain La Fee and otherworldly Avalon? Nothing aside the word "apple". Morgan is neither mother goddess nor mortal queen (in the early texts)

Avalon, Emain Ablach, Uí Bhreasail, Isle of women, all these Blessed enchanted Islands are legendary otherworldly fay places of magic. They had no lords or kings, but a Lady. They are part of the grand Celtic Otherworld, in the Welsh tradition Annwn. Annwn had three kings, none of them was "Affalach".

But the word Affalach contains the root "apple". Morgan was an elfin lady of the magical isle of apples, Inis Avallon, the apple-bearing island. All descriptions of this isle follow the tradition: apple orchards, blissful nature, abundance, peace, water of either fountains, river, lake or sea. None mentions any lord whose daughters Morgan and her maidens are.

None, aside William of Mamlesbury, in The Antiquities of Glastonbury and William of Rennes in 1254. Mamlesbury says it may be "named after a certain Avalloc who is said to have lived there (in Glastonbury) with his daughters on account of it being a solitary place." Rennes speaks of "the court of king of Avallon". This confusion might have been a result of an antique tradition of that a land is always named after its ruler; Romulus and Rome, Christine de Pizan thought that England was named after a certain lady Anne. Obviously, it's nonsense. Mamlesbury probably was thinking in the same manner, that if there's some land it had to be named after its ruler who had to be a man. Avallon – Avalloc. They were historians and tried to rationalize the events in their chronicles, make them more realistic. William clearly was guessing in the Antiquities, not stating:

"It is also frequently called the island of Avalon, a name of which this is the origin. It was mentioned above that Glasteing found his sow under an apple tree near the church. Because he discovered on his arrival that apples were very rare in that region he named the island Avallonie in his own language, that is Apple Island, for avalla in British is the same as ponia in Latin. Or it was named after a certain Avalloc who is said to have lived there with his daughters because of the solitude of the spot."

Affalach the grandson of Beli Mawr, and the father of Gwynedd's queen Gwallwen mixed with the isle of Avalon.

Authors of Suite and Malory who probably read/heard about William's work or his source/s and the Triad's sources knew the isle of Apples and its Queen, knew the old Welsh "apple" lord whose daughter gave a son to Urien and thought that Morgan "of apples" could have been that daughter. They saw that Urien's was somehow connected to Affalach and thought that it was equal to Avalon and its Lady. Or they simply wanted to make the famous and beloved Ywain Arthur's nephew. Making heroic knights the royal nephews was a common practice in the romances.

But it was just a mistake. The place ≠ the person. Morgan le Fay only had an otherworldly land of apples of the ancient mystical tradition we can find in the Irish Emain Ablach, not the Welsh father with the "apple" name, she had no sister Gwallwen. She could have had an otherworldly father, in Annwn(some think it was its king himself or maybe she had no parents) but it's not Affalach since there's no fay king with this name, and the early Morgan is a fay only. No Ygraine, Gorlois, Uther. No Gwynedd's dynasty.

Rachel Bromwich in The Triads of the Isle of Britain book writes:

The implication is that the meaning in both cases is ‘the island of apples’ in allusion to the abundant apple-trees which characterize the Celtic Otherworld scene, rather than meaning ‘the Island of a (man called) Avallo or Avallach.

Emain Ablach – Ynys Avallach – Insula Avallonis – Ile d’Avalo

There's another point, the story of the fairy washerwoman. The 16th-17th century Peniarth manuscript tells about a folk tale according to which King Urien of Rheged raped the daughter of Annwn's king and a year later she gave birth to son Owain and daughter Morfudd. This tale contradicts Suite and Malory's narratives where Arthur "gives his sister Morgain in marriage to King Urien". The mythical narrative of meeting with the fairy washer was known before, and is told of Morrigan and King Dagda, for instance. Urien's woman is not a daughter of Affalach and is not Modron, and the whole quite late story bears the pattern of Welsh's myth such as return after a year, well known in the Green Knight, for instance. King Urien was famous back them, one of the best documented ruler, so it seems plausible that the people's fantasy mixed the otherworldly fairytale narrative with him and his famous children. The historical mother of his children (and her sister queen of Gwynedd) wasn't otherworldly.

Rachel Bromwich:

It is relevant also to compare the recurrent Irish conception of the rightful ruler of the land as mated to a goddess who represents Ireland herself

Since the real Urien was assassinated during a military campaign around AD 585, if Morgan was his wife, her traditional position as an elder half-sister of King Arthur who fought at Mount Badon around AD 500 cannot be accepted.

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