Vortiporius

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Vortiporius (Old Welsh Guortepir) was a 6th century king or ruler of Dyfed in south-west Wales, an area roughly corresponding to the modern Pembrokeshire. He is one of five kings castigated for their sins by Gildas in De Excidio Britanniae:

"Vortipore, thou foolish tyrant of the Demetians, why art thou so stiff? ... Why dost thou heavily clog thy miserable soul with the sin of lust, which is fouler than any other, by putting away thy wife, and after her honourable death, by the base practices of thy shameless daughter?"

A memorial stone found at Castell Dwyran in Carmarthenshire and bearing the Latin inscription Memoria Voteporigis Protictoris is almost certainly the gravestone of the same Vortiporius. The fact that the inscription refers to him as Protictoris (Protector) rather than as a king is of interest.

In Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia regum Britanniae, a fictional account of the rulers of Britain, Vortiporius is a mythical king of the Britons. After his rule, Saxons briefly take over the rule of the island.

Preceded by: Aurelius Conanus

Mythical British Kings

Succeeded by: Malgo

[edit] Source

• "Instances of literary forgery", in "Forgery." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2005. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Accessed 19 Dec 2005.