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150-513: The texts include references to King Arthur and other semi-historical characters from sub-Roman Britain , mythic figures such as Brân the Blessed , undeniably historical personages such as Alan IV, Duke of Brittany (who is called Alan Fyrgan ) and Iron Age characters such as Caswallawn ( Cassivellaunus ) and Caradoc ( Caratacus ). Some triads simply give a list of three characters with something in common (such as "the three frivolous bards of

300-684: A Romano-British resistance against the Saxons; Lucius Artorius Castus , a 2nd-century Roman commander of Sarmatian cavalry; and the British king Riothamus , who fought alongside the last Gallo-Roman commanders against the Visigoths in an expedition to Gaul in the 5th century. Others include the Welsh kings Owain Danwyn , Enniaun Girt, and Athrwys ap Meurig . Until the late 20th century, there

450-630: A centurion in the Roman army , he was promoted to prefect of Legio VI Victrix , a legion headquartered in Eboracum (present-day York, England). He later commanded two British legions on an expedition against either the Armoricans (in present-day Brittany) or the Armenians . He subsequently became civilian governor of Liburnia in modern Croatia, where he died. Kemp Malone first made

600-605: A "legendary warrior and supposed king of Britain". He was less dismissive in 2014, describing Arthur as "originally legendary or historical", but also cited the failure of the tenth century Welsh poem Armes Prydein , which prophesied the expulsion of the English from Britain, to mention Arthur among the ancient heroes who would return to lead the resistance. In a 2007 review, Howard Wiseman followed Sheppard Frere (1967), saying that "the evidence allows , not requires belief", and follows Christopher Snyder (2000) in emphasising

750-429: A 'no smoke without fire' school of thought ... The fact of the matter is that there is no historical evidence about Arthur; we must reject him from our histories and, above all, from the titles of our books." Some scholars argue that Arthur was originally a fictional hero of folklore—or even a half-forgotten Celtic deity—who became credited with real deeds in the distant past. They cite parallels with figures such as

900-752: A Celtic origin, being a Latinization of a hypothetical name *Artorījos , in turn derived from an older patronym *Arto-rīg-ios , meaning "son of the bear/warrior-king". This patronym is unattested, but the root, *arto-rīg , "bear/warrior-king", is the source of the Old Irish personal name Artrí . Some scholars have suggested it is relevant to this debate that the legendary King Arthur's name only appears as Arthur or Arturus in early Latin Arthurian texts, never as Artōrius (though Classical Latin Artōrius became Arturius in some Vulgar Latin dialects). Others believe

1050-663: A Chornillo, buỽch Llawuroded ỽarỽaỽc. Speckled, cow of Maelgwn Gwynedd , and Grey-Skin, cow of the sons of Eliffer of the Great Warband , and Cornillo, cow of Llawfrodedd the Bearded . The earliest surviving collection of the Welsh Triads is bound in the manuscript Peniarth 16 , now at the National Library of Wales , which has been dated to the third quarter of the 13th century and contains 46 of

1200-535: A French cleric and chronicler named Hériman of Tournai about 1145, but referring to events occurring in 1113, mentions the Breton and Cornish belief that Arthur still lived. In 1191 the alleged tomb of Arthur was identified in an obviously orchestrated discovery at Glastonbury Abbey . Whereas numerous scholars have argued that this could have been due to the Abbey wanting to stand out with an illustrious tomb, or to

1350-495: A battle at a port-settlement and mentions Arthur in passing. The work is a praise-poem and elegy for King Geraint , usually presumed to be a historical king of Dumnonia , and is significant in showing that he was associated with Arthur at a relatively early date. It also provides the earliest known reference to Arthur as "emperor". Geraint, son of Erbin is found in the Black Book of Carmarthen , compiled around 1250, though

1500-746: A central flaw in his otherwise ideal society". Arthur's role in these works is frequently that of a wise, dignified, even-tempered, somewhat bland, and occasionally feeble monarch. So, he simply turns pale and silent when he learns of Lancelot's affair with Guinevere in the Mort Artu , whilst in Yvain, the Knight of the Lion , he is unable to stay awake after a feast and has to retire for a nap. Nonetheless, as Norris J. Lacy has observed, whatever his faults and frailties may be in these Arthurian romances, "his prestige

1650-492: A collection of triads, which he claimed to have taken from his own collection of manuscripts. Some of his triads are similar to those found in the medieval manuscripts, but some are unique to Morganwg, and are widely believed to have been of his own invention. King Arthur King Arthur ( Welsh : Brenin Arthur , Cornish : Arthur Gernow , Breton : Roue Arzhur , French : Roi Arthur ), according to legends ,

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1800-561: A common subject in literature and art. The development of the medieval Arthurian cycle and the character of the "Arthur of romance" culminated in Le Morte d'Arthur , Thomas Malory 's retelling of the entire legend in a single work in English in the late 15th century. Malory based his book—originally titled The Whole Book of King Arthur and of His Noble Knights of the Round Table —on the various previous romance versions, in particular

1950-501: A desire of the Plantagenet regime to put an end to a legendary rival figure who inspired tenacious Celtic opposition to their rule, it may also have been motivated by how the Arthurian expectations were highly problematic to contemporary Christianity. The longing of the return of a mighty immortal figure returning before the end of time to re-establish his perfect rule, not only ran against basic Catholic tenets but could even threaten

2100-420: A few motifs and names, but there can be no doubt of the extent to which a legend born many centuries ago is profoundly embedded in modern culture at every level." Historicity of King Arthur The historicity of King Arthur has been debated both by academics and popular writers. While there have been many claims that King Arthur was a real historical person, the current consensus among specialists on

2250-567: A figure of international interest largely through the popularity of Geoffrey of Monmouth 's fanciful and imaginative 12th-century Historia Regum Britanniae ( History of the Kings of Britain ). Geoffrey depicted Arthur as a king of Britain who defeated the Saxons and established a vast empire. Many elements and incidents that are now an integral part of the Arthurian story appear in Geoffrey's Historia , including Arthur's father Uther Pendragon ,

2400-481: A fundamentally English character and hero. The completion of the conquest was one of the factors that shifted storytellers away from the Welsh roots of the original tales. The popularity of Geoffrey's Historia and its other derivative works (such as Wace 's Roman de Brut ) gave rise to a significant numbers of new Arthurian works in continental Europe during the 12th and 13th centuries, particularly in France. It

2550-410: A historical Arthur. Partly in reaction to such theories, another school of thought emerged which argued that Arthur had no historical existence at all. Morris's Age of Arthur prompted the archaeologist Nowell Myres to observe that "no figure on the borderline of history and mythology has wasted more of the historian's time". Gildas 's 6th-century polemic De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae ( On

2700-476: A king of Britain and an older brother of Uther Pendragon , father of Arthur, thus establishing a familial relationship between Aurelianus and Arthur. He identifies Aurelius Ambrosius as the son of Constantinus, a Breton ruler and brother of Aldroenus . Arthur is mentioned in several 12th- to 13th-century hagiographies of Welsh and Breton saints, including those of Cadoc , Carantoc , Gildas , Goeznovius , Illtud , and Paternus . The Legenda Sancti Goeznovii

2850-620: A landmark shift within the Arthurian tradition, leading directly to 'King' Arthur." The earliest version of the Annales Cambriae ( Welsh Annals ) was composed in the mid-10th century. It gives the date of Badon as 516 and lists Arthur's death as occurring in 537 at the Battle of Camlann . Like the Annals , all other sources that name Arthur were written at least 400 years after the events which they describe. Arthur appears briefly in

3000-458: A poem found in the Black Book of Carmarthen , " Pa gur yv y porthaur?" ("What man is the gatekeeper?"). This takes the form of a dialogue between Arthur and the gatekeeper of a fortress he wishes to enter, in which Arthur recounts the names and deeds of himself and his men, notably Cei (Kay) and Bedwyr (Bedivere). The Welsh prose tale Culhwch and Olwen ( c.  1100 ), included in

3150-636: A relatively minor character in these French prose romances; in the Vulgate itself he only figures significantly in the Estoire de Merlin and the Mort Artu . During this period, Arthur was made one of the Nine Worthies , a group of three pagan, three Jewish and three Christian exemplars of chivalry. The Worthies were first listed in Jacques de Longuyon 's Voeux du Paon in 1312, and subsequently became

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3300-505: A war leader when Áedán gave up his role and retired to monastic life, though Áedán was officially still king. Thus it was Artuir who led the Scoti of Dál Riata in a war against the Picts , separate from the later war with Northumbria . That Artuir is the historical basis of the mythical King Arthur has been proposed by both David F. Carroll and Michael Wood . Under this hypothesis, Artuir

3450-458: A warrior or a leader of warriors, whether ‘real’ or supernatural .... In the context of the central Middle Ages, it was a king's role to head the army, leading the forces of subaltern rulers. ‘Overkingship’ was well known, in Wales as elsewhere. It was a small step therefore from ‘commander of battles’ to a quasi-imperial figure commanding the Welsh kings as well as their forces. This was to prove

3600-719: A whole, with "Arthur's Court" sometimes substituted for "The Island of Britain" in the formula "Three XXX of the Island of Britain". While it is not clear from the Historia Brittonum and the Annales Cambriae that Arthur was even considered a king, by the time Culhwch and Olwen and the Triads were written he had become Penteyrnedd yr Ynys hon , "Chief of the Lords of this Island", the overlord of Wales, Cornwall and

3750-568: Is a hagiography of the Breton saint Goeznovius which was formerly dated to c. 1019 but is now dated to the late 12th to early 13th century. It includes a brief segment dealing with Arthur and a leader known as Vortigern . There are a number of mentions of a legendary hero called Arthur in early Welsh and Breton poetry. These sources are preserved in High Medieval manuscripts and cannot be dated with accuracy. They are mostly placed in

3900-460: Is acceptable historical evidence that Arthur was a genuine historical figure, not a mere figment of myth or romance". Also in 1971, while conceding that Gildas does not mention Arthur, Frank Stenton wrote that this "may suggest that the Arthur of history was a less imposing figure than the Arthur of legend" but then argued that "it should not be allowed to remove him from the sphere of history." In 1977, John Morris argued in favour, but his work

4050-473: Is also the main source of the material used in the Arthurian spoof Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975). Retellings and reimaginings of the romance tradition are not the only important aspect of the modern legend of King Arthur. Attempts to portray Arthur as a genuine historical figure of c.  500 , stripping away the "romance", have also emerged. As Taylor and Brewer have noted, this return to

4200-692: Is either marginalised or even missing entirely, with Wagner 's Arthurian opera Parsifal providing a notable instance of the latter. Furthermore, the revival of interest in Arthur and the Arthurian tales did not continue unabated. By the end of the 19th century, it was confined mainly to Pre-Raphaelite imitators, and it could not avoid being affected by World War I , which damaged the reputation of chivalry and thus interest in its medieval manifestations and Arthur as chivalric role model. The romance tradition did, however, remain sufficiently powerful to persuade Thomas Hardy , Laurence Binyon and John Masefield to compose Arthurian plays, and T. S. Eliot alludes to

4350-401: Is impossible to determine whether this passage is original or a later interpolation, but John Koch's view that the passage dates from a 7th-century or earlier version is regarded as unproven; 9th- or 10th-century dates are often proposed for it. Several poems attributed to Taliesin , a poet said to have lived in the 6th century, also refer to Arthur, although these all probably date from between

4500-484: Is in large part because he is so well suited to be a fulcrum of make-believe. But there is no historical 'fire' underlying the stories that congregated around him, just 'highland mist'." His book has been generally praised. In a 2018 review, Tom Shippey summarised the situation as "modern academic historians want nothing to do with King Arthur." In a 2019 review, Brian David reported that "Few topics in late antique and medieval history elicit scholarly groans quite like

4650-594: Is inconceivable that Gildas ... should not have mentioned Arthur's part ..." (that is, if he had existed) and complains that "No figure on the borderline of history and mythology has wasted more of the historian’s time." By 1991, the Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain stated that "historians are tending to take a minimal view of the historical value of even the earliest evidence for Arthur, but most probably still see him as an historical figure ..." while "the chivalric Arthur ...

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4800-593: Is never—or almost never—compromised by his personal weaknesses ... his authority and glory remain intact." Arthur and his retinue appear in some of the Lais of Marie de France , but it was the work of another French poet, Chrétien de Troyes , that had the greatest influence with regard to the development of Arthur's character and legend. Chrétien wrote five Arthurian romances between c.  1170 and 1190. Erec and Enide and Cligès are tales of courtly love with Arthur's court as their backdrop, demonstrating

4950-610: Is one dissenter from this view, believing that Geoffrey's narrative is partially derived from a lost source telling of the deeds of a 5th-century British king named Riotamus , this figure being the original Arthur, although historians and Celticists have been reluctant to follow Ashe in his conclusions. Whatever his sources may have been, the immense popularity of Geoffrey's Historia Regum Britanniae cannot be denied. Well over 200 manuscript copies of Geoffrey's Latin work are known to have survived, as well as translations into other languages. For example, 60 manuscripts are extant containing

5100-460: Is supposed to have lived, and most historians who study the period do not consider him a historical figure . His name also occurs in early Welsh poetic sources such as Y Gododdin . The character developed through Welsh mythology , appearing either as a great warrior defending Britain from human and supernatural enemies or as a magical figure of folklore, sometimes associated with the Welsh otherworld Annwn . The legendary Arthur developed as

5250-506: The Brut y Brenhinedd , Welsh-language versions of the Historia , the earliest of which were created in the 13th century. The old notion that some of these Welsh versions actually underlie Geoffrey's Historia , advanced by antiquarians such as the 18th-century Lewis Morris, has long since been discounted in academic circles. As a result of this popularity, Geoffrey's Historia Regum Britanniae

5400-474: The Gesta Regum Anglorum ("Deeds of the Kings of the English") by William of Malmesbury in 1124. Despite its name, the work attempted to reconstruct British history in general by drawing together the varying accounts of Gildas, Bede, Nennius, and various chroniclers. The work considered Arthur as historical and featured Ambrosius Aurelianus as his apparent employer. Malmesbury also mentioned

5550-534: The Historia Brittonum ( History of the Britons ) and Annales Cambriae ( Welsh Annals ), saw Arthur as a genuine historical figure, a Romano-British leader who fought against the invading Anglo-Saxons some time in the late 5th to early 6th century. The Historia Brittonum , a 9th-century Latin historical compilation attributed in some late manuscripts to a Welsh cleric called Nennius , contains

5700-511: The Historia Brittonum , attributed to a Welsh ecclesiastic called Nennius . The Historia says: "Then in those days Arthur fought with the kings of the Britons against them [the Saxons ] but he himself was the commander of battles ( dux bellorum ) ". Twelve battles fought by Arthur are listed. Commenting on Arthur's post- Conquest portrayal as a king, the historian Nicholas Higham observes "Earlier texts are uniform in depicting Arthur solely as

5850-464: The Battle of Déols . Riothamus was last seen retreating northwest to Burgundy . Geoffrey Ashe points out that Arthur is said by Geoffrey of Monmouth to have crossed into Gaul twice, once to help a Roman emperor and once to subdue a civil war. Riothamus did both, assuming that he was a king in Britain as well as Armorica. Arthur is also said to have been betrayed by one of his advisers, and Riothamus

6000-657: The British victory at Badon Hill, attributed to Arthur by Nennius. The monks of Glastonbury are also said to have discovered the grave of Arthur in 1180. The other text that seems to support the case for Arthur's historical existence is the 10th-century Annales Cambriae , which also link Arthur with the Battle of Badon. The Annales date this battle to 516–518, and also mention the Battle of Camlann , in which Arthur and Medraut (Mordred) were both killed, dated to 537–539. These details have often been used to bolster confidence in

6150-684: The Caucasus region. He suggested that the Sarmatians' descendants kept Castus' legacy alive over the centuries and mixed it with their ancestral myths involving magical cauldrons and swords. Independently of Nickel, C. Scott Littleton developed a more elaborate version of the Sarmatian connection. Littleton first wrote about the theory with Anne C. Thomas in 1978, and expanded on it in a 1994 book co-authored by Linda Malcor, From Scythia to Camelot . Littleton and Malcor argued that Artorius and

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6300-577: The Gothic Revival reawakened interest in Arthur and the medieval romances. A new code of ethics for 19th-century gentlemen was shaped around the chivalric ideals embodied in the "Arthur of romance". This renewed interest first made itself felt in 1816, when Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur was reprinted for the first time since 1634. Initially, the medieval Arthurian legends were of particular interest to poets, inspiring, for example, William Wordsworth to write "The Egyptian Maid" (1835), an allegory of

6450-418: The Historia ' s account and to confirm that Arthur really did fight at Badon. Problems have been identified, however, with using this source to support the Historia Brittonum ' s account. The latest research shows that the Annales Cambriae was based on a chronicle begun in the late 8th century in Wales. Additionally, the complex textual history of the Annales Cambriae precludes any certainty that

6600-462: The Historia Brittonum while rejecting the implication in the same work that they were fought against Anglo-Saxons, and that there is no textual justification for separating Badon from the other battles. Several historical figures have been proposed as the basis for Arthur, ranging from Lucius Artorius Castus , a Roman officer who served in Britain in the 2nd or 3rd century, to sub-Roman British rulers such as Riotamus , Ambrosius Aurelianus , and

6750-585: The Holy Grail . Pre-eminent among these was Alfred Tennyson , whose first Arthurian poem " The Lady of Shalott " was published in 1832. Arthur himself played a minor role in some of these works, following in the medieval romance tradition. Tennyson's Arthurian work reached its peak of popularity with Idylls of the King , however, which reworked the entire narrative of Arthur's life for the Victorian era . It

6900-719: The Kentish Hengist and Horsa , who may be totemic horse-gods that later became historicised. Bede ascribed to these legendary figures a historical role in the 5th-century Anglo-Saxon conquest of eastern Britain . It is not even certain that Arthur was considered a king in the early texts. Neither the Historia nor the Annales calls him " rex ": the former calls him instead " dux bellorum " (leader of wars) and " miles " (soldier). Details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of Welsh mythology , English folklore and literary invention, and most modern historians writing about

7050-559: The Life of Saint Gildas , written in the early 12th century by Caradoc of Llancarfan , Arthur is said to have killed Gildas's brother Hueil and to have rescued his wife Gwenhwyfar from Glastonbury. In the Life of Saint Cadoc , written around 1100 or a little before by Lifris of Llancarfan, the saint gives protection to a man who killed three of Arthur's soldiers, and Arthur demands a herd of cattle as wergeld for his men. Cadoc delivers them as demanded, but when Arthur takes possession of

7200-479: The Matter of Britain from the 12th century, following Geoffrey of Monmouth 's influential but largely fictional Historia Regum Britanniae . Historians propose a variety of possible sources for the myth of Arthur, perhaps as a composite character . Historical figures involved in such theories include Artuir mac Áedán , a son of the 6th-century king of Dál Riata in modern Scotland; Ambrosius Aurelianus , who led

7350-831: The Orkney Islands . After twelve years of peace, Arthur sets out to expand his empire once more, taking control of Norway, Denmark and Gaul . Gaul is still held by the Roman Empire when it is conquered, and Arthur's victory leads to a further confrontation with Rome. Arthur and his warriors, including Kaius (Kay), Beduerus (Bedivere) and Gualguanus (Gawain), defeat the Roman emperor Lucius Tiberius in Gaul but, as he prepares to march on Rome, Arthur hears that his nephew Modredus (Mordred)—whom he had left in charge of Britain—has married his wife Guenhuuara (Guinevere) and seized

7500-496: The Queste del Saint Graal and the Mort Artu , which combine to form the first coherent version of the entire Arthurian legend. The cycle continued the trend towards reducing the role played by Arthur in his own legend, partly through the introduction of the character of Galahad and an expansion of the role of Merlin. It also made Mordred the result of an incestuous relationship between Arthur and his sister Morgause , and established

7650-563: The Visigoths who were campaigning outside their territory in Gaul . Anthemius requested help from Riothamus, and Jordanes writes that he crossed the ocean into Gaul with 12,000 soldiers into the land of the Bituriges , likely to Avaricum ( Bourges ). The location of Riothamus' army was betrayed to the Visigoths by Arvandus , the jealous praetorian prefect of Gaul , and Euric defeated him in

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7800-464: The 12th century. Nonetheless, the Sarmatian connection continues to have popular appeal; it is the basis of the 2004 film King Arthur . Riothamus (also spelled Riotimus) was a historical figure whom ancient sources list as "a king of the Britons ". He lived in the late 5th century, and most of the stories about him were recorded in the Byzantine historian Jordanes ' The Origin and Deeds of

7950-399: The 19th century. Additionally, many of the strongest parallels to the Arthurian legend are not found in the earliest Brittonic materials, but only appear in the later Continental romances of the 12th century or later. As such, the traditions would have had to survive in Britain for at least a thousand years between the arrival of the Sarmatians in the 2nd century and the Arthurian romances of

8100-460: The 21st century, the legend continues to have prominence, not only in literature but also in adaptations for theatre, film, television, comics and other media. Traditionally, it was generally accepted that Arthur was an historic person, originally an ancient British war commander, and, at least, from the early twelfth century, a king. There was, however, much discussion regarding his various deeds, and contemporary scholars and clerics generally refuted

8250-591: The 8th and 12th centuries. They include "Kadeir Teyrnon" ("The Chair of the Prince"), which refers to "Arthur the Blessed"; " Preiddeu Annwn " ("The Spoils of Annwn"), which recounts an expedition of Arthur to the Otherworld; and "Marwnat vthyr pen[dragon]" ("The Elegy of Uther Pen[dragon]"), which refers to Arthur's valour and is suggestive of a father-son relationship for Arthur and Uther that pre-dates Geoffrey of Monmouth. Other early Welsh Arthurian texts include

8400-478: The 96 triads collated by Rachel Bromwich . Other important manuscripts include Peniarth 45 (written about 1275), and the pair White Book of Rhydderch (Welsh: Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch ) and Red Book of Hergest (Welsh: Llyfr Coch Hergest ), which share a common version clearly different from the version behind the collections in the Peniarth manuscripts. The 18th-century Welsh antiquarian Iolo Morganwg compiled

8550-456: The 9th to 10th century, although some authors have dated them to as early as the 7th century. The earliest of these would appear to be the Old Welsh poem Y Gododdin , preserved in a 13th-century manuscript. It refers to a warrior who "glutted black ravens [i.e., killed many men] on the rampart of the stronghold, although he was no Arthur." The Welsh poem Geraint, son of Erbin describes

8700-608: The Arthur myth (but not Arthur) in his poem The Waste Land , which mentions the Fisher King . In the latter half of the 20th century, the influence of the romance tradition of Arthur continued, through novels such as T. H. White 's The Once and Future King (1958), Mary Stewart 's The Crystal Cave (1970) and its four sequels, Thomas Berger 's tragicomic Arthur Rex and Marion Zimmer Bradley 's The Mists of Avalon (1982), in addition to comic strips such as Prince Valiant (from 1937 onward). Tennyson had reworked

8850-444: The Arthurian annals were added to it even that early. They were more likely added at some point in the 10th century and may never have existed in any earlier set of annals. The Badon entry probably derived from the Historia Brittonum . This lack of convincing early evidence is the reason many recent historians exclude Arthur from their accounts of sub-Roman Britain . In the view of historian Thomas Charles-Edwards , "at this stage of

9000-490: The Arthurian legend were not entirely abandoned, but until the early 19th century the material was taken less seriously and was often used simply as a vehicle for allegories of 17th- and 18th-century politics. Thus Richard Blackmore 's epics Prince Arthur (1695) and King Arthur (1697) feature Arthur as an allegory for the struggles of William III against James II . Similarly, the most popular Arthurian tale throughout this period seems to have been that of Tom Thumb , which

9150-660: The Caucasus, and connect Arthur and his knights to Batraz and his Narts , the heroes of the legends of the North Caucasus . Some Arthurian scholars have given credence to the Sarmatian connection, but others have found it based on conjecture and weak evidence. Few of the Caucasian traditions cited to support the theory can be traced specifically with the Sarmatians; many are known only from orally transmitted tales that are not datable before they were first recorded in

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9300-466: The Classical Latin Artōrius became Arturius in some Vulgar Latin dialects). However, it may not refer to the origin of the name Arthur , as Artōrius would regularly become Art(h)ur when borrowed into Welsh . According to linguist and Celticist Stephan Zimmer, it is possible that Artorius has a Celtic origin, being a Latinization of the hypothetical name *Artorījos derived from

9450-542: The Cor(y)aniaid, who came here in the time of Caswallawn son of Beli : and not one of them went back. And they came from Arabia. The second Oppression: the Gwyddyl Ffichti . And not one of them went back. The third Oppression: the Saxons , with Horsa and Hengist as their leaders. 46. Teir Pryf Uuch Enys Prydein: Brech, buwch ỽaelgỽn Gwyned, a Thonnllwyt, buwch meibyon Eliffer Godgordỽawr,

9600-625: The Germanic invaders. This trend towards placing Arthur in a historical setting is also apparent in historical and fantasy novels published during this period. Arthur has also been used as a model for modern-day behaviour. In the 1930s, the Order of the Fellowship of the Knights of the Round Table was formed in Britain to promote Christian ideals and Arthurian notions of medieval chivalry. In

9750-674: The Goths , written in the mid-6th century, only about 80 years after his presumed death. About 460, the Roman diplomat and bishop Sidonius Apollinaris sent a letter to Riothamus asking his help to quell unrest among the Brettones, a colony of Brittonic-speaking people living in Armorica ; this letter still survives . In the year 470, the Western Roman Emperor Anthemius began a campaign against Euric , king of

9900-449: The Kings of Britain ), written in the 1130s. The textual sources for Arthur are usually divided into those written before Geoffrey's Historia (known as pre-Galfridian texts, from the Latin form of Geoffrey, Galfridus ) and those written afterwards, which could not avoid his influence (Galfridian, or post-Galfridian, texts). The earliest literary references to Arthur come from Welsh and Breton sources. There have been few attempts to define

10050-425: The North. In addition to these pre-Galfridian Welsh poems and tales, Arthur appears in some other early Latin texts besides the Historia Brittonum and the Annales Cambriae . In particular, Arthur features in a number of well-known vitae (" Lives ") of post-Roman saints , none of which are now generally considered to be reliable historical sources (the earliest probably dates from the 11th century). According to

10200-550: The Ruin and Conquest of Britain ), written within living memory of Badon, mentions the battle but does not mention Arthur. Arthur is not mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle or named in any surviving manuscript written between 400 and 820. He is absent from Bede 's early-8th-century Ecclesiastical History of the English People , another major early source for post-Roman history that mentions Badon. The historian David Dumville wrote: "I think we can dispose of him [Arthur] quite briefly. He owes his place in our history books to

10350-408: The Sarmatian cavalry were the inspiration for King Arthur and his knights, but that many elements of Arthur's story derive from Caucasian mythology , ostensibly brought to Britain in the 2nd century by Sarmatians and Alans . They find parallels for key features of the Arthurian legend, including the Sword in the Stone , the Holy Grail , and the return of Arthur's sword to a lake, in the traditions of

10500-443: The Saxons found in the 9th-century Historia Brittonum , along with the battle of Camlann from the Annales Cambriae and the idea that Arthur was still alive . Arthur's status as the king of all Britain seems to be borrowed from pre-Galfridian tradition, being found in Culhwch and Olwen , the Welsh Triads, and the saints' lives. Finally, Geoffrey borrowed many of the names for Arthur's possessions, close family , and companions from

10650-400: The Saxons he fights in the Historia Brittonum , but the majority are supernatural, including giant cat-monsters , destructive divine boars , dragons, dogheads , giants, and witches. The second is that the pre-Galfridian Arthur was a figure of folklore (particularly topographic or onomastic folklore) and localised magical wonder-tales, the leader of a band of superhuman heroes who live in

10800-545: The United States, hundreds of thousands of boys and girls joined Arthurian youth groups, such as the Knights of King Arthur, in which Arthur and his legends were promoted as wholesome exemplars. However, Arthur's diffusion within modern culture goes beyond such obviously Arthurian endeavours, with Arthurian names being regularly attached to objects, buildings, and places. As Norris J. Lacy has observed, "The popular notion of Arthur appears to be limited, not surprisingly, to

10950-605: The United States, with such books as Sidney Lanier's The Boy's King Arthur (1880) reaching wide audiences and providing inspiration for Mark Twain 's satire A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889). Although the 'Arthur of romance' was sometimes central to these new Arthurian works (as he was in Burne-Jones's "The Sleep of Arthur in Avalon", 1881–1898), on other occasions he reverted to his medieval status and

11100-633: The Vulgate Cycle, and appears to have aimed at creating a comprehensive and authoritative collection of Arthurian stories. Perhaps as a result of this, and the fact that Le Morte D'Arthur was one of the earliest printed books in England, published by William Caxton in 1485, most later Arthurian works are derivative of Malory's. The end of the Middle Ages brought with it a waning of interest in King Arthur. Although Malory's English version of

11250-628: The Welsh Medraut into the villainous Modredus, but there is no trace of such a negative character for this figure in Welsh sources until the 16th century. There have been relatively few modern attempts to challenge the notion that the Historia Regum Britanniae is primarily Geoffrey's own work, with scholarly opinion often echoing William of Newburgh 's late-12th-century comment that Geoffrey "made up" his narrative, perhaps through an "inordinate love of lying". Geoffrey Ashe

11400-491: The Welsh kings Owain Ddantgwyn , Enniaun Girt, and Athrwys ap Meurig . However, no convincing evidence for these identifications has emerged. The origin of the Welsh name "Arthur" remains a matter of debate. The most widely accepted etymology derives it from the Roman nomen gentile (family name) Artorius . Artorius itself is of obscure and contested etymology. Linguist Stephan Zimmer suggests Artorius possibly had

11550-409: The Welsh triads are: 36. Teir Gormes a doeth y'r Enys Hon, ac nyt aeth vrun dracheuyn: Ỽn o nadunt Kywdaỽt y Corryanyeit, a doethant eman yn oes Caswallawn mab Beli, ac nyt aeth ỽn un onadunt dracheuyn. Ac or Auia pan hanoedynt. Eil, Goemes y Gwydyl Fychti. Ac nyt aeth ỽr un onadunt dracheuyn. Tryded, Gormes y Saesson, a Hors a Hengyst yn benaduryeit arnadunt. One of them (was) the people of

11700-489: The animals, they turn into bundles of ferns. Similar incidents are described in the medieval biographies of Carannog , Padarn , and Eufflam, probably written around the 12th century. A less obviously legendary account of Arthur appears in the Legenda Sancti Goeznovii , which is often claimed to date from the early 11th century (although the earliest manuscript of this text dates from the 15th century and

11850-427: The battle's location as Badon, such as in the Annales Cambriae , and this has been adopted by most modern scholars. Gildas' Latin is somewhat opaque; he does not name Arthur or any other leader of the battle. He does discuss Ambrosius Aurelianus as a great scourge of the Saxons immediately prior, but he seems to indicate that some time had passed between Ambrosius' victory and the Battle of Badon. The details of

12000-523: The battle, including its date and location, remain uncertain, with most scholars accepting a date around 500; numerous locations throughout Britain have been proposed over the years. Arthur is also not mentioned in Bede 's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum ( Ecclesiastical History of the English People ), which dates to c. 731, or any other surviving work until around 829, the date ascribed to

12150-621: The boar there named Troy(n)t. Finally, Arthur is mentioned numerous times in the Welsh Triads , a collection of short summaries of Welsh tradition and legend which are classified into groups of three linked characters or episodes to assist recall. The later manuscripts of the Triads are partly derivative from Geoffrey of Monmouth and later continental traditions, but the earliest ones show no such influence and are usually agreed to refer to pre-existing Welsh traditions. Even in these, however, Arthur's court has started to embody legendary Britain as

12300-515: The classic motifs of the Arthurian legend, although the Lancelot of the prose Lancelot ( c.  1225 ) and later texts was a combination of Chrétien's character and that of Ulrich von Zatzikhoven 's Lanzelet . Chrétien's work even appears to feed back into Welsh Arthurian literature, with the result that the romance Arthur began to replace the heroic, active Arthur in Welsh literary tradition. Particularly significant in this development were

12450-570: The connection between Artorius and King Arthur in 1924. Noting that the Welsh name Arthur plausibly derives from the Latin Artorius , Malone suggested that certain details of Castus' biography, in particular his possible campaign in Brittany and the fact that he was obliged to retire from the military (perhaps because of an injury), may have inspired elements of Geoffrey of Monmouth's depiction of King Arthur. Later scholars have challenged

12600-472: The end of the novel is, "in the tradition of magical hibernation when the king or mage leaves his people for some island or cave to return either at a more propitious or more dangerous time", (see King Arthur's messianic return ). Powys's earlier novel, A Glastonbury Romance (1932) is concerned with both the Holy Grail and the legend that Arthur is buried at Glastonbury . The romance Arthur has become popular in film and theatre as well. T. H. White's novel

12750-474: The enquiry, one can only say that there may well have been an historical Arthur [but ...] the historian can as yet say nothing of value about him". These modern admissions of ignorance are a relatively recent trend; earlier generations of historians were less sceptical. The historian John Morris made the putative reign of Arthur the organising principle of his history of sub-Roman Britain and Ireland, The Age of Arthur (1973). Even so, he found little to say about

12900-514: The finding of a tomb of a certain "Walwin" (a supposed nephew of Arthur) in the time of William the Conqueror . Arthur was first styled as a king of the Britons in Geoffrey of Monmouth 's pseudo-historical chronicle Historia Regum Britanniae ( History of the Kings of Britain ), which dates to c. 1136. Geoffrey also refers to Ambrosius Aurelianus (whom he calls Aurelius Ambrosius) as

13050-559: The first datable mention of King Arthur, listing twelve battles that Arthur fought. These culminate in the Battle of Badon , where he is said to have single-handedly killed 960 men. Recent studies question the reliability of the Historia Brittonum . Archaeological evidence in the Low Countries and what was to become England shows early Anglo-Saxon migration to Great Britain reversed between 500 and 550, which concurs with Frankish chronicles. John Davies notes this as consistent with

13200-448: The first modernisation of Malory's great compilation of Arthur's tales was published in 1862, shortly after Idylls appeared, and there were six further editions and five competitors before the century ended. This interest in the "Arthur of romance" and his associated stories continued through the 19th century and into the 20th, and influenced poets such as William Morris and Pre-Raphaelite artists including Edward Burne-Jones . Even

13350-527: The first narrative account of Arthur's life. This work is an imaginative and fanciful account of British kings from the legendary Trojan exile Brutus to the 7th-century Welsh king Cadwallader . Geoffrey places Arthur in the same post-Roman period as do Historia Brittonum and Annales Cambriae . According to Geoffrey's tale, Arthur was a descendant of Constantine the Great . He incorporates Arthur's father Uther Pendragon , his magician advisor Merlin , and

13500-441: The formation of the name (noun/adjective + superlative -tamo- suffix) follows a pattern found in numerous other Brittonic and Gaulish personal names. Cognates of the name Riothamus survive in Old Welsh ( Riatav / Riadaf ) and Old Breton ( Riatam ); all are derived from Common Brittonic *Rigotamos , meaning 'Most Kingly' or 'Kingliest'. According to Gildas, Ambrosius Aurelianus (also sometimes referred to as Aurelius Ambrosius)

13650-416: The great French romances was popular, there were increasing attacks upon the truthfulness of the historical framework of the Arthurian romances – established since Geoffrey of Monmouth's time – and thus the legitimacy of the whole Matter of Britain . So, for example, the 16th-century humanist scholar Polydore Vergil famously rejected the claim that Arthur was the ruler of a post-Roman empire, found throughout

13800-450: The humorous tale of Tom Thumb , which had been the primary manifestation of Arthur's legend in the 18th century, was rewritten after the publication of Idylls . While Tom maintained his small stature and remained a figure of comic relief, his story now included more elements from the medieval Arthurian romances and Arthur is treated more seriously and historically in these new versions. The revived Arthurian romance also proved influential in

13950-402: The idea of a supposedly 'factual' King Arthur. Yet historians and other scholars made cases for Arthur’s existence in historical and literary studies until the 1980s. For academics today, the question of the realism of King Arthur has been largely banished to popular books, video games, and movies." Andrew Breeze argued in 2015 and 2020 that Arthur was historical, and claims to have identified

14100-438: The idea, based on the fact that Artorius lived two to three centuries before the period typically associated with Arthur, and the fact that the parts of the inscriptions ostensibly similar to Arthur's story are open to interpretation. Malone's idea attracted little attention for decades, but it was revived in the 1970s as part of a theory known as the "Sarmatian connection". In a 1975 essay, Helmut Nickel suggested that Artorius

14250-451: The importance of another Arthur who may have ruled temporarily as Emperor of Britain, and suggested a period of Saxon advance was halted and turned back before resuming in the 570s. Arthur is not mentioned in Gildas ' 6th-century book De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae . Gildas does mention a British victory against the Saxons at the "Badonic mount" ( mons Badonicus ), which occurred in

14400-432: The island of Britain") while others include substantial narrative explanation. The triad form probably originated amongst the Welsh bards or poets as a mnemonic aid in composing their poems and stories, and later became a rhetorical device of Welsh literature. The Medieval Welsh tale Culhwch and Olwen has many triads embedded in its narrative. As edited and translated by Rachel Bromwich, two characteristic examples of

14550-417: The locations of his battles as well as the place and date of his death (in the context of the extreme weather events of 535–536 ), but his conclusions are disputed. Other scholars have questioned his findings, which they consider are based on coincidental resemblances between place-names. Nicholas Higham comments that it is difficult to justify identifying Arthur as the leader in northern battles listed in

14700-501: The locations of his battles as well as the place and date of his death. However, his conclusions were disputed. The origin of the name Arthur is unclear. One proposed etymology is from the Roman family name Artorius , itself of obscure and contested etymology, possibly of Messapic or Etruscan origin. Some scholars have noted that the legendary King Arthur's name only appears as Arthur , Arthurus , or Arturus in early Latin Arthurian texts, and never as Artōrius (although

14850-470: The magician Merlin , Arthur's wife Guinevere , the sword Excalibur , Arthur's conception at Tintagel , his final battle against Mordred at Camlann , and final rest in Avalon . The 12th-century French writer Chrétien de Troyes , who added Lancelot and the Holy Grail to the story, began the genre of Arthurian romance that became a significant strand of medieval literature . In these French stories,

15000-626: The medieval "chronicle tradition" of Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Historia Brittonum is a recent trend which became dominant in Arthurian literature in the years following the outbreak of the Second World War , when Arthur's legendary resistance to Germanic enemies struck a chord in Britain. Clemence Dane 's series of radio plays, The Saviours (1942), used a historical Arthur to embody the spirit of heroic resistance against desperate odds, and Robert Sherriff's play The Long Sunset (1955) saw Arthur rallying Romano-British resistance against

15150-463: The modern Mabinogion collection, has a much longer list of more than 200 of Arthur's men, though Cei and Bedwyr again take a central place. The story as a whole tells of Arthur helping his kinsman Culhwch win the hand of Olwen , daughter of Ysbaddaden Chief-Giant, by completing a series of apparently impossible tasks, including the hunt for the great semi-divine boar Twrch Trwyth . The 9th-century Historia Brittonum also refers to this tale, with

15300-423: The most famous Welsh poetic references to Arthur comes in the collection of heroic death-songs known as Y Gododdin ( The Gododdin ), attributed to the 6th-century poet Aneirin . One stanza praises the bravery of a warrior who slew 300 enemies, but says that despite this, "he was no Arthur" – that is, his feats cannot compare to the valour of Arthur. Y Gododdin is known only from a 13th-century manuscript, so it

15450-435: The most significant effect of this great outpouring of new Arthurian story was on the role of the king himself: much of this 12th-century and later Arthurian literature centres less on Arthur himself than on characters such as Lancelot and Guinevere , Percival , Galahad , Gawain , Ywain , and Tristan and Iseult . Whereas Arthur is very much at the centre of the pre-Galfridian material and Geoffrey's Historia itself, in

15600-680: The name Arthur from Arcturus , the brightest star in the constellation Boötes , near Ursa Major or the Great Bear. Classical Latin Arcturus would also have become Art(h)ur when borrowed into Welsh, and its brightness and position in the sky led people to regard it as the "guardian of the bear" (which is the meaning of the name in Ancient Greek) and the "leader" of the other stars in Boötes. Many other theories exist, for example that

15750-457: The name has Messapian or Etruscan origins. That Arthur never died but is awaiting his return in some remote spot, often sleeping, is a central motif connected to the Arthurian legends. Before the twelfth century there are, as in the Englynion y Beddau , reference to the absence of a grave for Arthur suggests that he was considered not dead and immortal, but there is no indication that he

15900-471: The narrative focus often shifts from King Arthur himself to other characters, such as various Knights of the Round Table . The themes, events and characters of the Arthurian legend vary widely from text to text, and there is no one canonical version. Arthurian literature thrived during the Middle Ages but waned in the centuries that followed, until it experienced a major resurgence in the 19th century. In

16050-626: The narratives of Arthur found in medieval materials. American authors often rework the story of Arthur to be more consistent with values such as equality and democracy. In John Cowper Powys 's Porius: A Romance of the Dark Ages (1951), set in Wales in 499, just prior to the Saxon invasion, Arthur, the Emperor of Britain, is only a minor character, whereas Myrddin (Merlin) and Nineue , Tennyson's Vivien, are major figures. Myrddin's disappearance at

16200-495: The nature and character of Arthur in the pre-Galfridian tradition as a whole, rather than in a single text or text/story-type. A 2007 academic survey led by Caitlin Green has identified three key strands to the portrayal of Arthur in this earliest material. The first is that he was a peerless warrior who functioned as the monster-hunting protector of Britain from all internal and external threats. Some of these are human threats, such as

16350-522: The need for a better understanding of the period, regardless of whether Arthur existed. In 2011, Robin Fleming 's history of the period did not mention Arthur at all. In 2013, Guy Halsall reported that "among the academic community, the sceptics have decisively carried the day". In 2018, Nicholas J. Higham refuted all the outstanding claims for a historical Arthur, summarising his position as: "That Arthur has produced extraordinary quantities of 'smoke'

16500-481: The origin of the name Arthur , as Artōrius would regularly become Art(h)ur when borrowed into Welsh. Another commonly proposed derivation of Arthur from Welsh arth "bear" + (g)wr "man" (earlier *Arto-uiros in Brittonic) is not accepted by modern scholars for phonological and orthographic reasons. Notably, a Brittonic compound name *Arto-uiros should produce Old Welsh *Artgur (where u represents

16650-454: The origins of the Arthurian legend. Others, such as Geoffrey Ashe, disagree, since Ambrosius is not called "king" until the somewhat-legendary Historia Brittonum . Artuir mac Áedán was the eldest son of Áedán mac Gabráin , an Irish king of Dál Riata (in present-day south-west Scotland) in the late 6th century. Artuir never himself became king of Dál Riata; his brother Eochaid Buide ruled after their father's death. However, Artuir became

16800-515: The patronym *Arto-rīg-ios , meaning "Son of the Bear" or "Warrior-King". *Arto-rīg-ios is unattested, but the root *arto-rīg is the source of the Old Irish personal name Artrí . John Morris argued that the appearance of the name Arthur among Scottish and Welsh figures suggests the name became popular in early 6th-century Britain for a short time. He proposed all such occurrences were due to

16950-444: The period do not think that he was a historical figure . Because historical documents for the post-Roman period are scarce, a definitive answer to the question of Arthur's historical existence is unlikely. Sites and places have been identified as "Arthurian" since the 12th century, but archaeology can confidently reveal names only through inscriptions found in secure contexts. The so-called " Arthur stone ", discovered in 1998 among

17100-405: The period holds him to be a mythological or folkloric figure. The first definite mention of Arthur appears circa 828 in the Historia Brittonum , where he is presented as a military leader fighting against the invading Saxons in 5th- to 6th-century Sub-Roman Britain at the Battle of Badon , written more than three centuries after the events depicted. He develops into a legendary figure in

17250-402: The poem itself may date to the 10th or 11th century. Y Gododdin was similarly copied around the same time. The two poems differ in the relative archaic quality of their language, that of Y Gododdin being the older in form. However, this could merely reflect differences in the date of the last revision of the language within the two poems, as the language would have had to have been revised for

17400-401: The poems to remain comprehensible. Some theories suggest that "Arthur" was a byname of attested historical individuals. One theory suggests that Lucius Artorius Castus , a Roman military commander who served in Britain in the late 2nd century or early 3rd century, was a prototype of Arthur. Artorius is known from two inscriptions that give details about his service. After a long career as

17550-415: The popular medieval belief in his extreme longevity and future return. From the eighteenth century onwards, there has been academic debate about the historicity of Arthur, the consensus today being that if there was any possible historic figure person behind the many Arthurian legends, he would have been completely different from the portrayal in any of these legends. One school of thought, citing entries in

17700-523: The portrayal of Arthur and his world built upon the foundations he had laid. Perceval , although unfinished, was particularly popular: four separate continuations of the poem appeared over the next half century, with the notion of the Grail and its quest being developed by other writers such as Robert de Boron , a fact that helped accelerate the decline of Arthur in continental romance. Similarly, Lancelot and his cuckolding of Arthur with Guinevere became one of

17850-516: The possibility of his return without overtly criticizing anyone's beliefs. After the 1191 discovery of his alleged tomb, Arthur became more of a figure of folk legends, found sleeping in various remove caves all over Britain and some other places, and at times, roaming the night as a spectre, like in the Wild Hunt . The familiar literary persona of Arthur began with Geoffrey of Monmouth 's pseudo-historical Historia Regum Britanniae ( History of

18000-481: The post-Galfridian medieval "chronicle tradition", to the horror of Welsh and English antiquarians. Social changes associated with the end of the medieval period and the Renaissance also conspired to rob the character of Arthur and his associated legend of some of their power to enthrall audiences, with the result that 1634 saw the last printing of Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur for nearly 200 years. King Arthur and

18150-435: The pre-Galfridian Welsh tradition, including Kaius (Cei), Beduerus (Bedwyr), Guenhuuara (Gwenhwyfar), Uther (Uthyr) and perhaps also Caliburnus (Caledfwlch), the latter becoming Excalibur in subsequent Arthurian tales. However, while names, key events, and titles may have been borrowed, Brynley Roberts has argued that "the Arthurian section is Geoffrey's literary creation and it owes nothing to prior narrative." Geoffrey makes

18300-424: The quintessential focus on the longing for the return of Jesus. This was further aggravated by how the stories about Arthur sometimes invoked more emotions than biblical tales. Decades of elite critique of the popular conviction among otherwise pious Catholic Celts in Britain and Brittany had done nothing in way of suppressing these beliefs, whereas the orchestration of Arthur's physical remains effectively eliminated

18450-455: The recurring theme of Arthur as a cuckold , and Perceval, the Story of the Grail , which introduces the Holy Grail and the Fisher King and which again sees Arthur having a much reduced role. Chrétien was thus "instrumental both in the elaboration of the Arthurian legend and in the establishment of the ideal form for the diffusion of that legend", and much of what came after him in terms of

18600-596: The role of Camelot , first mentioned in passing in Chrétien's Lancelot , as Arthur's primary court. This series of texts was quickly followed by the Post-Vulgate Cycle ( c.  1230–40 ), of which the Suite du Merlin is a part, which greatly reduced the importance of Lancelot's affair with Guinevere but continued to sideline Arthur, and to focus more on the Grail quest. As such, Arthur became even more of

18750-406: The romance tales of Arthur to suit and comment upon the issues of his day, and the same is often the case with modern treatments too. Mary Stewart's first three Arthurian novels present the wizard Merlin as the central character, rather than Arthur, and The Crystal Cave is narrated by Merlin in the first person, whereas Bradley's tale takes a feminist approach to Arthur and his legend, in contrast to

18900-408: The romances he is rapidly sidelined. His character also alters significantly. In both the earliest materials and Geoffrey he is a great and ferocious warrior, who laughs as he personally slaughters witches and giants and takes a leading role in all military campaigns, whereas in the continental romances he becomes the roi fainéant , the "do-nothing king", whose "inactivity and acquiescence constituted

19050-545: The ruins at Tintagel Castle in Cornwall in securely dated 6th-century contexts, created a brief stir but proved irrelevant. Other inscriptional evidence for Arthur, including the Glastonbury cross , is tainted with the suggestion of forgery. Andrew Breeze argues that Arthur was a historical character who fought other Britons in the area of the future border between England and Scotland, and claims to have identified

19200-506: The shift away from the heroic world of the Welsh and Galfridian Arthur, while Yvain, the Knight of the Lion , features Yvain and Gawain in a supernatural adventure, with Arthur very much on the sidelines and weakened. However, the most significant for the development of the Arthurian legend are Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart , which introduces Lancelot and his adulterous relationship with Arthur's queen Guinevere , extending and popularising

19350-411: The short vowel /u/) and Middle/Modern Welsh *Arthwr , rather than Arthur (where u is a long vowel /ʉː/). In Welsh poetry the name is always spelled Arthur and is exclusively rhymed with words ending in -ur —never words ending in -wr —which confirms that the second element cannot be [g]wr "man". An alternative theory, which has gained only limited acceptance among professional scholars, derives

19500-501: The story of Arthur's conception, in which Uther, disguised as his enemy Gorlois by Merlin's magic, sleeps with Gorlois's wife Igerna (Igraine) at Tintagel , and she conceives Arthur. On Uther's death, the fifteen-year-old Arthur succeeds him as King of Britain and fights a series of battles, similar to those in the Historia Brittonum , culminating in the Battle of Bath. He then defeats the Picts and Scots before creating an Arthurian empire through his conquests of Ireland, Iceland and

19650-610: The tales began to be told in prose. The most significant of these 13th-century prose romances was the Vulgate Cycle (also known as the Lancelot-Grail Cycle), a series of five Middle French prose works written in the first half of that century. These works were the Estoire del Saint Grail , the Estoire de Merlin , the Lancelot propre (or Prose Lancelot , which made up half the entire Vulgate Cycle on its own),

19800-560: The text is now dated to the late 12th to early 13th century). Also important are the references to Arthur in William of Malmesbury 's De Gestis Regum Anglorum and Herman's De Miraculis Sanctae Mariae Laudunensis , which together provide the first certain evidence for a belief that Arthur was not actually dead and would at some point return , a theme that is often revisited in post-Galfridian folklore. Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae , completed c.  1138 , contains

19950-508: The three Welsh Arthurian romances, which are closely similar to those of Chrétien, albeit with some significant differences: Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain is related to Chrétien's Yvain ; Geraint and Enid , to Erec and Enide ; and Peredur son of Efrawg , to Perceval . Up to c.  1210 , continental Arthurian romance was expressed primarily through poetry; after this date

20100-474: The throne. Arthur returns to Britain and defeats and kills Modredus on the river Camblam in Cornwall, but he is mortally wounded. He hands the crown to his kinsman Constantine and is taken to the isle of Avalon to be healed of his wounds, never to be seen again. How much of this narrative was Geoffrey's own invention is open to debate. He seems to have made use of the list of Arthur's twelve battles against

20250-483: The wilds of the landscape. The third and final strand is that the early Welsh Arthur had a close connection with the Welsh Otherworld, Annwn . On the one hand, he launches assaults on Otherworldly fortresses in search of treasure and frees their prisoners. On the other, his warband in the earliest sources includes former pagan gods, and his wife and his possessions are clearly Otherworldly in origin. One of

20400-416: The year of Gildas' birth and ushered in a generation of peace between the two warring peoples. This engagement is now referred to as the Battle of Badon . Gildas describes the battle as taking place "in our times" and being one of the "latest, if not the greatest" slaughter of the Saxons, and that a new generation born after Badon had come of age in Britain. Later Cambro-Latin sources give the Old Welsh form of

20550-507: Was a king of Britain . He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain . In Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a leader of the post-Roman Britons in battles against the Anglo-Saxons in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. He first appears in two early medieval historical sources, the Annales Cambriae and the Historia Brittonum , but these date to 300 years after he

20700-442: Was a powerful Romano-British leader in Britain. He was renowned for his campaigns against the Saxons, and there is some speculation that he may have commanded the British forces at the Battle of Badon Hill or that the battle was a continuation of his efforts. Scholars such as Léon Fleuriot identified Ambrosius Aurelianus with the aforementioned Riothamus figure from Jordanes, an idea which forms part of Fleuriot's hypothesis about

20850-480: Was academic debate about the historicity of Arthur among historians and archaeologists. In the 21st century, the academic consensus rejects it. In 1936, R. G. Collingwood and J. N. L. Myres treated Arthur as a Roman comes Britanniarum . They asserted that "the historicity of [Arthur] can hardly be called into question", though they were careful to separate the historical Arthur from the legendary Arthur. In 1971, Leslie Alcock claimed to "demonstrate that there

21000-632: Was adapted into the Lerner and Loewe stage musical Camelot (1960) and Walt Disney 's animated film The Sword in the Stone (1963); Camelot , with its focus on the love of Lancelot and Guinevere and the cuckolding of Arthur, was itself made into a film of the same name in 1967. The romance tradition of Arthur is particularly evident and in critically respected films like Robert Bresson 's Lancelot du Lac (1974), Éric Rohmer 's Perceval le Gallois (1978) and John Boorman 's Excalibur (1981); it

21150-497: Was betrayed by one of his supposed allies. Finally, the Arthurian romances traditionally recount that King Arthur was carried off to Avalon (called insula Auallonis by Geoffrey of Monmouth, the first author to mention the legendary isle) before he died; Riothamus, after his defeat at Déols, was last known to have fled to the kingdom of the Germanic Burgundians , perhaps passing through a town called Avallon (which

21300-458: Was enormously influential on the later medieval development of the Arthurian legend. While it was not the only creative force behind Arthurian romance, many of its elements were borrowed and developed (e.g., Merlin and the final fate of Arthur), and it provided the historical framework into which the romancers' tales of magical and wonderful adventures were inserted. During the ongoing conquest of Wales by Edward I , he attempted to make King Arthur

21450-505: Was essentially the creation of Geoffrey of Monmouth in the twelfth century." In 2003, Thomas Charles-Edwards ' book on the period only mentioned Arthur in the context of a later Welsh story. In 2004, Francis Pryor dismissed the evidence that Arthur existed but says that proving he did not exist is as impossible as proving that he did. In 2007, O. J. Padel in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography described Arthur as

21600-478: Was expected to return in this poem. From the early twelfth century onwards several sources report about a popular belief in the return of King Arthur, although most often critically and mockingly presented. His future return is first mentioned by William of Malmesbury in 1125: "But Arthur's grave is nowhere seen, whence antiquity of fables still claims that he will return." In the "Miracles of St. Mary of Laon" ( De miraculis sanctae Mariae Laudunensis ), written by

21750-475: Was first published in 1859 and sold 10,000 copies within the first week. In the Idylls , Arthur became a symbol of ideal manhood who ultimately failed, through human weakness, to establish a perfect kingdom on earth. Tennyson's works prompted a large number of imitators, generated considerable public interest in the legends of Arthur and the character himself, and brought Malory's tales to a wider audience. Indeed,

21900-527: Was not, however, the only Arthurian influence on the developing " Matter of Britain ". There is clear evidence that Arthur and Arthurian tales were familiar on the Continent before Geoffrey's work became widely known (see for example, the Modena Archivolt ), and "Celtic" names and stories not found in Geoffrey's Historia appear in the Arthurian romances . From the perspective of Arthur, perhaps

22050-461: Was the original Arthur, and that a group of Sarmatian cavalry serving under him in Britain inspired the Knights of the Round Table . Nickel wrote that Castus' Sarmatian unit fought under a red dragon banner and that their descendants were still in Britain in the 5th century; he also identified similarities between the Arthurian legend and traditions associated with the Sarmatians and other peoples of

22200-514: Was told first through chapbooks and later through the political plays of Henry Fielding ; although the action is clearly set in Arthurian Britain, the treatment is humorous and Arthur appears as a primarily comedic version of his romance character. John Dryden 's masque King Arthur is still performed, largely thanks to Henry Purcell 's music, though seldom unabridged. In the early 19th century, medievalism , Romanticism , and

22350-399: Was widely criticised at the time as having "grave methodological flaws". David Dumville took the opposite position in the same year: "The fact of the matter is that there is no historical evidence about Arthur; we must reject him from our histories and, above all, from the titles of our books." By 1986, Myres, who had written in 1936 (with Collingwood) that Arthur was historical, said "It

22500-506: Was within Burgundian territory and not far from Bourges). It is unknown whether Riothamus was a king in Britain or Armorica. Armorica was a Brittonic colony and Jordanes writes that Riothamus "crossed the ocean", so it is possible that both are correct. The name Riothamus is interpreted by Ashe and some other scholars as a title meaning "High King", though there is no evidence for such a title being used by ancient Britons or Gauls , and

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