Forty years after the Romans had abandoned Britain, the remaining nobles of the country decided to bring the wars with the Picts and the Scots to an end and they sent Cuhelyn, the Archbishop of Llundain to Kernow to look for a ruler of British royal blood to lead them against their enemies. Aldwr, the fourth king in descent from Cynan Meiriadoc, was ruler of Kernow at that time and Cuhelyn informed him of the state of Dumnonia since Macren Wledig and Cynan Meiriadoc had taken their armies from the kingdom and left it weakened. Aldwr declined to go to Dumnonia himself as he had a peaceful kingdom, but gave Cuhelyn two thousand men with his brother Custennin as prince over them to return to Dumnonia.
When Custennin arrived in Britain with his army the Britons came to meet him where he landed. He also encountered Vortigern’s young nephews, Gorlois and Melwas, who in trying to take over Kernow had joined with the Picts. At an unspecified battle sight Custennin and the British army slaughtered the Picts, but Vortigern’s nephews survived. Following his victory, Custennin was made king of Britain and his coronation took place at Caer Fuddai.
After taking the throne of Britain, Custennin was given a wife. Her name was Lucinia and she was the daughter of a Roman noble and had been brought up by Cuhelyn the Archbishop. Together Custennin and his wife had four sons, Constantine, Uther, Ector and Emrys (Ambrosius). Uther was the one who would gain the title of the Pendragon.Uther, Emrys and Ector were given to Archbishop Cuhelyn to be fostered, while Constantine was brought up in the monastery of St Amphibalus in Caer Wynt.
After Custennin’s marriage the remainder of his rule passed quietly for twelve years until he was poisoned by a Pict and died. This was when the Warlord, Vortigern made his play for the kingdom. He was married to Severa, the daughter of a Roman Emperor, Maximus.
With Custennin dead an heir had to be found for the throne of Britain, and the rightful heirs were his four sons, Constantine, Uther, Ector and Emrys. Constantine was a monk and therefore unable to rule, while the other three were not considered old enough to rule. If any of them were made king, their foster father Archbishop Cuhelyn would be required to rule in their place. While the nobles argued over who should succeed, Vortigern saw an opportunity to gain an influence over the throne of Britain and went to visit Constantine in the monastery of Amphibalus in Caer Wynt to tell him of his plan. This was that if Vortigern could persuade the nobles to make Constantine the King of Britain, in return Constantine would make Vortigern high steward of the kingdom. Despite protest from the abbot, Constantine accepted Vortigern’s plan. Vortigern took Constantine to the monastery to Llundain and placed the crown on his head, in spite of the fact that not one bishop would perform the ceremony and few approved of the appointment.Vortigern received the title of high steward from Constantine as arranged and then, unbeknown to Constantine, travelled around the kingdom placing the various tribes under his rule and making strong the castles. Vortigern informed Constantine that the Picts were about to stage an uprising and suggested that some of the sons of the leaders of the Picts should be brought to the court at Llundain to act as liaisons with the Pictish race, explaining that if their sons were at court the Picts of Powys and the other northern areas would be less likely to pose a threat.
Once Vortigern had the Picts at the royal court under his influence he arranged a feast for them, his real motive being to involve them in a plot to kill Constantine and gain the throne for himself. When the Picts had become sufficiently drunk, Vortigern told them that he did not have a right to much land and was intending to leave southern Britain to seek greater wealth. The Picts were surprised to hear that their friend had such meagre powers and in their drunken state decided that, if they killed Constantine, Vortigern would become king and therefore become a useful ally. With that, the Picts entered Constantine’s chamber, cut off his head and took it to Vortigern, who pretended to be upset at the sight of the dead king. Vortigern’s plan had worked because by provoking the Picts in a drunken state to kill the king he had opened up an opportunity to claim the throne for himself.
In a ruse to deflect suspicion for Constantine’s murder, Vortigern ordered the imprisonment of all the Picts involved, but this was not enough to allay the suspicions of the nobles of Britain, nor of Archbishop Cuhelyn.
Taking with him his three foster sons, Constantine’s brothers Uther, Ector and Emrys, Cuhelyn fled for the safety of Kernow, where Mark was now king. Meanwhile the nobles of Britain gathered at Llundain and condemned the Picts to be hung for their crime. The nobles also decided to entrust the realm to Vortigern, in his role as high steward, until such time as a rightful king could be found to rule over them.
Enraged by the deaths of their sons, the Pictish nobles decided to make war on Vortigern with the intention of killing him. Meanwhile, Vortigern who was convinced that he would beat the Picts, took the crown and placed it on his own head, thus making himself king. He called upon the nobles of Britain to help him fight the Picts, but they were angry with him for causing the uprising in the first place and so refused, telling him, quite literally, to fight his own battle. Having schemed his way to the throne, Vortigern now watched powerless as the northern half of his kingdom degenerated into a state of unrest. Fearing for his safety, he made his way to the southern part of the kingdom, to Dumnonia and Caer Cadarn. It was here that Vortigern met the Saxons.
The Saxons had been led to Britain by Hengest and Horsa and were eager to gain more land. In exchange for their military support, Vortigern gave them land in the east, which became part of Lloegyr (The Lost Lands).
With the help of the Saxons Vortigern soon defeated the Picts and in return for their help gave them even more land, which became known as the Canti Lands. At a feast to celebrate this victory over the Picts, Vortigern got drunk and fell in love with Rowena, Hengest’s daughter, and asked for her hand in marriage. Hengest agreed to this on the understanding that he would receive control over more of Lloegyr. Vortigern accepted Hengest’s terms and spent the night with Rowena. But this outcome did not please everyone, least of all Gwrangon, who ruled over most of the east. The two sons of Vortigern, by his previous wife were also unhappy at the situation and the nobles of Britain decided that Vortigern should be replaced by his eldest son Vortimer as their king. However, Vortimer declined to take the role from his father.
Now Uther, the oldest remaining son of Custennin decided he should have the throne. From Kernow he launched an attack on Cornwall (North west Kernow) where the stronghold of Vortigern’s nephew, Gorlois stood. After a long battle there was no clear victory between Uther and Gorlois, and so Merlin, the Druid, advised Uther to get a truce. Merlin hoped that with Vortigern’s unpopularity, Gorlois could be persuaded to fight with Uther. A truce was called but at a feast in Gorlois’s hall afterwards, Uther fell in love with Gorlois’s wife, Igrayne. He was so in love that with Merlin’s help he declared war on Gorlois and attacked the Caer. Uther kidnapped Igrayne and Gorlois was killed during the struggle. Uther them impregnated Igrayne and took her as his wife.
When Vortigern found out what had happened he got together an army and went to Kernow to destroy Uther. Uther’s own force had been debilitated by the struggle with Gorlois and with Vortigern’s numbers swelled by Hengest’s Saxons he was forced to surrender after very little fighting. Vortigern wanted to get back support among the British nobles and so was lenient with Uther, who he exiled to the Pendragon’s lands in lesser Britain.