Astronomy Translated: Caput Draconis and the Pendragon Star in Geoffrey of Monmouth, Wace, and LaƷamon

Geoffrey of Monmouth encodes into the Historia Regum Britanniae different astronomical and astrological meanings and uses of caput draconis. A concept introduced into twelfth-century England from Arabic science, it informs his naming of Uther’s (and Arthur’s) dynasty as ‘Pendragon’ and influences how his translators Wace and LaƷamon treat this significant astronomical/astrological phenomenon.