   #copyright

King Arthur

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Ancient History,
Classical History and Mythology; British History 1500 and before (including
Roman Britain)

   A bronze Arthur in plate armour with visor raised and with jousting
   shield wearing Kastenbrust armour (early 15c) by Peter Vischer.
   A bronze Arthur in plate armour with visor raised and with jousting
   shield wearing Kastenbrust armour (early 15c) by Peter Vischer.

   King Arthur is an important figure in the mythology of Great Britain,
   where he appears as the ideal of kingship both in war and peace. He is
   the central character in the cycle of legends known as the Matter of
   Britain. There is disagreement about whether Arthur, or a model for
   him, ever actually existed. In the earliest mentions and in Welsh
   texts, he is never given the title 'King'. An early text refers to him
   as a dux bellorum ('war leader'), and medieval Welsh texts often call
   him ameraudur (" emperor"; the word is borrowed from the Latin
   imperator, which could also mean "war leader").

Historicity

   The historicity of the Arthur of legend has long been debated by
   scholars. One school of thought believes that Arthur had no historical
   existence. Some hold that he originally was a half-forgotten Celtic
   deity that devolved into a personage (citing sometimes a supposed
   change of the sea-god Lir into King Lear). Supporters of this theory
   often link it to the Welsh etymology of Arthur's name as derived from
   'bear', proposing bear gods named Artos or Artio (Proto-Celtic artos)
   as the precedent for the legend, but these particular deities are known
   to have been worshipped by the continental Celts, not the Britons.

   Another view holds that Arthur was real. Though some theories suggest
   he was a Roman Britain or pre-Roman character, by most theories, and in
   line with the traditional cycle of legends, he was a Romano-British
   leader fighting against the invading Anglo-Saxons sometime in the late
   5th century to early 6th century. The late historian John Morris made
   the alleged reign of Arthur at the turn of the 5th century the
   organising principle of his history of sub-Roman Britain and Ireland
   under the rubric The Age of Arthur: A History of the British Isles from
   350–650 (1973), even though he found little to say of an historic
   Arthur, save as an example of the idea of kingship, one among such
   contemporaries as Vortigern and Cunedda, Hengest and Coel. Recent
   archaeological studies show that during Arthur's alleged lifetime, the
   Anglo-Saxon expansions were halted until the next generation. If he
   existed, his power base would probably have been in the Celtic areas of
   Wales, Cornwall and the West Country, or the Brythonic ' Old North'
   which covered modern Northern England and Southern Scotland. However,
   controversy over the centre of his supposed power and the extent and
   kind of power he would have wielded continues to this day.

   Some people have noticed a pattern in Arthur's story that is echoed by
   historical kings, such as Alfred the Great. Both Arthur and Alfred are
   characterized as benevolent leaders who protect their local people from
   multiple invasions, similar to the way in which a sea wall resists a
   wave. The common idea, popularized by twentieth-century novelist Susan
   Cooper, is to the effect that invasions came one after another, to be
   beaten back by "Dukes of Battle" (Dux Bellorum) who could rally the
   people behind them.

Possible identity

   A number of identifiable historical figures have been suggested as the
   historical basis for Arthur, ranging from Lucius Artorius Castus, a
   Roman officer who served in Britain in the 2nd century; Roman usurper
   emperors like Magnus Maximus; and sub-Roman British rulers like
   Riothamus, Ambrosius Aurelianus, Owain Ddantgwyn and Athrwys ap Meurig.
   Read "The historical Arthur of Galloway" by J.E Russell. Or read
   "Arturius A Quest For Camelot" by David F.Caroll. Or go to "Clan
   Arthur.com" by Hugh McArthur. This information from these modern
   historians place Arthur to the north in Scottland in the kingdoms of
   Dalriata with allies from Strathclyde and Goddodin. Their enemy's the
   Picts, Saxons and the Druid Tribes or Kingdoms. Arthurs father is said
   to be Aidan MacGabran King of Dalriata.

Arthur's name

   The origin of the name Arthur is itself a matter of debate and is very
   much connected to the debates concerning his historicity. Some, like
   the above, see it as derived from the Latin ' Artorius', a Roman family
   name meaning 'plowman' which became 'Arturius', among other variants,
   in Roman inscriptions. The 5th to 6th century Welsh art (arth is a
   later form) means 'bear'. Thus, theories for the Welsh origin of the
   name Arthur have been proposed. One has art + ur, 'man of the bear' or
   'bear-man', thus giving us Artur. Also, the Latin form of Arthur
   appears as Arturus in the earliest writings, never Artorius. The
   supposition of the Latin '-us' could suggest the original name was the
   Welsh Artur. Yet "Artorius" in its later forms when pronounced in
   Celtic languages could have yielded "Arthur" as well as "Arturus", both
   of which forms do occur in the medieval literature.

   Toby D. Griffen, a scholar from the Southern Illinois University at
   Edwardsville, among others, links the name Arthur to Arcturus, the
   brightest star in the constellation Boötes, and the third brightest in
   the night sky. The word Arcturus is in Classical Latin, and would have
   been Arturus in the Late Latin of the 5th – 6th century. Griffen and
   others believe that Arthur might not be derived from a Latin original
   such as Artorius, as proponents of the above theories suspect, but
   could have been a nom de guerre used by or an epithet bestowed upon the
   leader who fought against the Saxons. Griffen goes on to state that the
   star Arcturus was associated with the Great Bear. Its position in the
   sky, near Ursa Major, led people to call it the 'guardian of the bear',
   and it was regarded as the leader of the other stars in Boötes. In
   Welsh, the conveniently similar Artur (or possibly Arturos) meant
   'bear-man'. If the man we call Arthur used Arturus (and Artur[os]) as
   his nom de guerre(s), its meaning(s) would have been easily understood
   by both the Romano-British and native British alike; a stout bear-like
   defender against the invaders. In similar manner, if a capable war
   leader exhibited astonishing ability, speakers of Saxon might have
   understood his nom de guerre to mean, "Ar Thur," or the Eagle of Thor,
   the god of war.

   Phillips and Keatman argue for their variant of the nom de guerre
   theory in their book, King Arthur: The True Story. For them, the name
   has two components. The first would be the Welsh art meaning bear, and
   the second a repetition in Latin, ursus, making the original name
   "Artursus". According to their theory this name was a title rather than
   the name of a person. In any case, the name Artur and its variants was
   used by at least four leaders who lived after the traditional dates of
   Arthur’s battles, suggesting to Griffen and others that it was not used
   as a personal name until “the” Arthur himself did so. This idea is
   reinforced by the fact that Arthur's father is named Uther,
   phonetically similar to Arthur.

Earliest traditions of Arthur

   Britain, c. 500 AD.
   Enlarge
   Britain, c. 500 AD.

   Arthur first appears in Welsh literature. In a surviving early Welsh
   poem, The Gododdin (ca. AD 594), the poet Aneirin (ca. AD 535-600)
   writes of one of his subjects that "he fed black ravens on the
   ramparts, although he was no Arthur." However, it is not possible to
   determine if this passage is a later interpolation based on current
   manuscripts of the poem. The following poems attributed to Taliesin are
   possibly from a similarly early date: The Chair of the Sovereign, which
   refers to "Arthur the Blessed"; Preiddeu Annwn ("The Treasures of
   Annwn"), mentions "the valour of Arthur" and states "we went with
   Arthur in his splendid labours"; and the poem Journey to Deganwy, which
   contains the passage "as at the battle of Badon with Arthur, chief
   giver of feasts, with his tall blades red from the battle which all men
   remember."

   Another early reference to Arthur is in the Historia Britonum,
   attributed to the Welsh monk Nennius, who is said to have written this
   compilation of early Welsh history around the year 830. In this work,
   Arthur is referred to as a "leader of battles" rather than as a king.
   Two separate sources within this compilation list twelve battles that
   he fought, culminating in the Battle of Mons Badonicus, where he is
   said to have single-handedly killed 960 men. According to the 10th
   century Annales Cambriae, Arthur was killed at the Battle of Camlann in
   AD 537.

   Arthur makes appearances in a number of well known vitae ("Lives") of
   6th century saints, most of them written at the monastery of Llancarfan
   in the 12th century. For example, in the Life of Saint Illtud, from
   internal evidence apparently written around 1140, Arthur is said to be
   a cousin of that churchman. Many of these appearances portray Arthur as
   a fierce warrior, and not necessarily as morally impeccable as in later
   romances. According to the Life of Saint Gildas (died ca. AD 570),
   written in the 11th century by Caradoc of Llancarfan, Arthur killed
   Gildas' brother Hueil, a pirate on the Isle of Man. Around 1100, Lifris
   of Llancarfan writes in his Life of Saint Cadoc that Arthur was
   bettered by Cadoc. Cadoc gave protection to a man who killed three of
   Arthur's soldiers, and Arthur was awarded a herd of cattle from Cadoc
   as wergeld for his men. Cadoc delivered them as demanded, but when
   Arthur took possession of the animals, they were transformed into
   bundles of ferns. Such episodes serve to portray a holy man besting a
   worldly leader. Similar incidents are described in the late medieval
   biographies of Carannog, Padern, Goeznovius, and Efflam.

   Arthur also appears in the Welsh tale Culhwch and Olwen, a narrative
   that is usually associated with the Mabinogion. In that work, Culhwch
   visits Arthur's court to seek his help in winning the hand of Olwen.
   Arthur, who is described as his kinsman, agrees to the request and
   fulfils the demands of Olwen's giant father Ysbaddaden, which includes
   his hunt for the great boar Twrch Trwyth described at length by the
   author.

   This may be related to legends where Arthur is depicted as the leader
   of the Wild Hunt, a folk motif that is also recorded in Brittany,
   France; Galicia, Spain; and Germany. Roger Sherman Loomis has listed a
   number of these instances (Loomis 1972). Gervase of Tilbury in the 13th
   century and two 15th century writers assign this role to Arthur.
   Gervase states that Arthur and his knights regularly hunt along an
   ancient trackway between Cadbury Castle and Glastonbury (which is still
   known as King Arthur's Causeway ), and that he with his company of
   riders may be seen by moonlight in the forests of Britain or Brittany
   or Savoy. Loomis alludes to a Scottish mention in the 16th century, and
   that many of these beliefs were still current in the 19th century at
   Cadbury Castle, and in several parts of France.

   Later parts of the Trioedd Ynys Prydein, or Welsh Triads, mention
   Arthur and locate his court in Celliwig in Cornwall. Celliwig was
   identified by older Cornish antiquaries with Callington, but Rachel
   Bromwich, the latest editor of the Welsh Triads, matched it to Kelly
   Rounds, a hill fort in the Cornish parish of Egloshayle.

   Bewnans Ke is the most recent Arthurian discovery, being a play in
   Middle Cornish held by the National Library of Wales.

The Arthurian romance

   The first major popularization of Arthurian legend was Geoffrey of
   Monmouth's fictional Historia Regum Britanniae, quite popular in
   medieval times, among those aristocrats wealthy enough to own books,
   which helped draw the attention of other writers, such as Robert Wace
   and Layamon, who expanded on the tales of Arthur. The date of the
   Historia is given as 1133 by a small proportion of experts; however,
   the date is more normally given as 1138, as the following quote
   indicates:

          Geoffrey stayed at Oxford at least until 1151 and during this
          period wrote his two extant works, Historia regum Britanniae
          (1136–1138; "History of the Kings of Britain") and Vita Merlini
          (ca. 1148; "The Life of Merlin").

   One theory as to why Arthurian legend bloomed in this period is that
   the Norman Conquest of Britain in 1066 stimulated a renewed interest in
   British history; Edward Gibbon describes this in The Decline and Fall
   of the Roman Empire:

          During a period of five hundred years the tradition of his
          exploits was preserved, and rudely embellished, by the obscure
          bards of Wales and Armorica (otherwise known as Brittany), who
          were odious to the Saxons, and unknown to the rest of mankind.
          The pride and curiosity of the Norman conquerors prompted them
          to inquire into the ancient history of Britain; they listened
          with fond credulity to the tale of Arthur, and eagerly applauded
          the merit of a prince who had triumphed over the Saxons, their
          common enemies. [Chapter 38, Footnote 138]

   Thus, according to Gibbon, the once obscure 500-year-old Welsh legend
   became more widely known (through the works of the Anglo-Norman poet
   Wace and others), creating a unified cultural icon under which the
   Norman rulers and the native Welsh could rally against their common
   enemy: the Saxons.

   One influencing factor may have been that William the Conqueror was
   one-quarter Breton, and the Bretons had kept alive the legends of King
   Arthur brought with them when they fled Britain during the Saxon
   invasions five centuries earlier. Geoffrey of Monmouth was also of
   Breton stock. The Bretons and other British émigrés had supported
   William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings, providing a large
   proportion of the knights in the battle. Since the ethnic British
   nobility fought against the Saxons at Hastings, it was inevitable that
   their mythology would experience a resurgence when the crown was won.

   While many scholars believe that Geoffrey of Monmouth is the source for
   medieval interest in Arthur, at least one scholar, Roger S. Loomis, has
   argued that many of the tales surrounding Arthur were independently
   adapted from Breton oral traditions, spread through the royal and noble
   courts of Europe by professional storytellers known as jongleurs. The
   French medieval writer Chrétien de Troyes recounted tales from the
   Matter of Britain during the mid 12th century, as did Marie de France
   in her narrative lais. In any case, the later stories told by these two
   writers and by many others appear to be independent of what Geoffrey of
   Monmouth wrote.

   In these Arthurian romances, which gained popularity in the 12th
   century, Arthur gathered the Knights of the Round Table ( Lancelot,
   Gawain, Galahad, and others). At his court, most often held at Camelot
   in the later prose romances, could sometimes be found the wizard
   Merlin. Arthur's knights engaged in fabulous quests, the quest for the
   Holy Grail being perhaps the best known. Other stories from the Celtic
   world came to be associated with Arthur, such as the tale of Tristan
   and Isolde. In the late prose romances the love affair between Arthur's
   champion, Sir Lancelot, and the Queen, Guinevere, becomes the central
   reason for the collapse of the Arthurian realm.
   King Arthur's tombsite at Glastonbury Abbey
   Enlarge
   King Arthur's tombsite at Glastonbury Abbey

   In the romances, Arthur is killed in his last battle, the Battle of
   Camlann, in which he fought against the forces of Mordred. The Prose
   Lancelot and the later prose cyclic romances state that Mordred was
   also a knight of the Round Table and the child of an incestuous union
   between Arthur and his sister Morgause. In almost all accounts Arthur
   is said to have been mortally wounded, but to have been taken after the
   battle to Avalon, where his wounds were healed or his body buried in a
   chapel. Some texts refer to a return of Arthur in the future.

   The Arthurian mythos spread far across the European continent. An image
   of Arthur and his knights attacking a castle was carved into an
   archivolt over the north doorway of Modena Cathedral in Italy sometime
   between 1099 and 1120. The surprising fact that these Italian images
   seem to have been carved more than a decade before the appearance of
   Geoffrey's "Historia" indicates how limited is our knowledge of the
   spread of Arthurian legend in the early Middle Ages. Also in Italy, a
   mosaic pavement in the cathedral of Otranto, near Bari, was made in
   1165 with the unexplained depiction of Arturus Rex bearing a sceptre
   and riding a goat. 15th century merchants set up an Arthurian hall in
   his honour in Gdańsk, Poland.

   Other medieval retellings of the Arthurian cycle include the works of
   Gottfried von Strassburg and Wolfram von Eschenbach, the anonymous Sir
   Gawain and the Green Knight, the anonymous stanzaic Morte Arthur, and
   Stricker's Daniel von Blumenthal. Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur,
   published in 1485, is perhaps the first modern Arthurian text. It is
   also the most important for the subsequent tradition in English.
   Malory's work is the source for Tennyson's Idylls of the King—the most
   popular version of the story during the 19th century. Malory is also
   the direct source for The Once and Future King (1958), by T.H. White,
   itself the source for the popular musical and film Camelot and nearly
   all versions of the story that have been produced since. For more about
   how versions of the story have influenced each other, see King Arthur
   in various media.

   In 1191, monks of Glastonbury Abbey announced that they had found the
   burial site of Arthur and Guinevere. Their grave was shown to many
   people, and the reputed remains were moved to a new tomb in 1278. The
   tomb was destroyed during the Reformation, and the bones lost. The
   antiquary John Leland reports that he saw the cross found with the
   remains, and transcribed its inscription as

          Hic iacet sepvltvs inclytvs rex artvrivs in insvla avalonia —
          "Here lies buried the famous King Arthur in the Island of
          Avalon".

   If Leland accurately reproduced the script of this inscription, then it
   can be dated to the 10th century. At least one scholar has suggested
   that the cross was added when Arthur's remains were transferred to the
   abbey. Almost all are skeptical of the discovery, as Glastonbury monks
   were notorious forgers.

   Historian Lady Elizabeth Longford adds, per Geoffrey of Monmouth, that
   Arthur's grave was inscribed

          Hic jacet Arthurus, Rex quondam, rexque futurus — "Here lies
          Arthur, Former king, and future king.

Arthur's swords

   In Robert de Boron's Merlin, Arthur obtained the throne by pulling a
   sword from a stone. In this account, this act could not be performed
   except by "the true king," meaning the divinely appointed king or true
   heir of Uther Pendragon. This sword is thought by many to be the famous
   Excalibur and the identity is made explicit in the later so-called
   Vulgate Merlin Continuation, part of the Lancelot-Grail cycle. However,
   in what is sometimes called the Post-Vulgate Merlin, Excalibur was
   given to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake sometime after he began to
   reign. According to many sources, Arthur broke the sword pulled from
   the stone while fighting King Pellinore, and thus Merlin took him to
   retrieve Excalibur from the lake (as cited in many novels including
   Howard Pyle's King Arthur and His Knights, King Arthur and the Legend
   of Camelot, and indeed most modern Arthurian literature). In this
   Post-Vulgate version, the sword's blade could slice through anything,
   including steel, and its sheath made the wearer invincible in that the
   wearer could not die so long as they bore the scabbard.

   Some stories say that Arthur did indeed pull the sword from the stone
   (Excalibur), giving him the right to be king, but accidentally killed a
   fellow knight with it and cast it away. Merlin told him to undertake a
   quest to find another blade, and it was then that Arthur received his
   sword from the hand in the water, and named it Excalibur, after his
   original sword. The first appearance of the sword named Caliburn is in
   Geoffrey of Monmouth, who asserted that in battle against Arthur
   "nought might armour avail, but that Caliburn would carve their souls
   from out them with their blood." ( ).

King Arthur today

   The legend of King Arthur has remained popular into the 21st century.
   Though the popularity of Arthurian literature waned somewhat after the
   end of the Middle Ages, it experienced a revival during the 19th
   century, especially after the publication of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's
   Idylls of the King. The subsequent period saw the creation of hundreds
   or thousands of books, poems, and films about King Arthur, both new
   works of fiction and analyses of the relevant historical and
   archaeological data.

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