King Arthur
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A bronze Arthur in plate armour with visor raised and with jousting shield is one of the chivalrous mourners at the tomb of Emperor Maximilian I (died 1519), in Innsbruck |
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 refer 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').
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Artist Britton LaRoche. In Welsh legend, Arthur's sword is known as Caledfwlch. |
The historicity of the Arthur of legend has long been debated by scholars.One school of thought believes that Arthur had no historical existence. [
1] 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 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 a real person. Though some theories suggest he was a
Roman 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 350â€"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.
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.
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 C. Griffen, 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 â€" 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 Arturus 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. [
2]
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". 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.
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 [
3]), 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 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.
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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 Kingâ€"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 Monmouth, that Arthur's grave was inscribed
''Hic jacet Arthurus, Rex quondam, rexque futurus — "Here lies Arthur, Former king, and future king"
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Artist Britton LaRoche, Excalibur in the stone |
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 taken from a hand rising from a lake and 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." ([
4]).
*
List of Arthurian characters*
List of legendary kings of Britain*
Nine Worthies, of which Arthur was one
*
Sites and places associated with Arthurian legend* Asteroids
2597 Arthur and
2598 Merlin, named after the Arthurian figures
*
Arthur Tudor, named after Arthur with a hope that he would restore English greatness
*Leslie Alcock.
Arthur's Britain: History and Archaeology AD 367 - 634. Allen Lane, The Penguin Press. London. 1971. ISBN 0713902450
*Chris Barber & David Pykitt.
Journey to Avalon. 1993.
*Richard Barber,
King Arthur in Legend and History, Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2004, ISBN 0851152546 [
5]
*Rachel Bromwich, "Concepts of Arthur",
Studia Celtica, 9/10 (1976), pp.163-81.
*Ronan Coghlan,
Encyclopaedia of Arthurian Legends, Element, Shaftesbury, 1991.
*David N. Dumville, "Sub-Roman Britain: History and Legend",
History 62 (1977), pp. 173-92.
*Adrian Gilbert, Baram Blackett & Alan Wilson.
The Holy Kingdom. 1998.
*Norma Lorre Goodrich: "King Arthur", 1986 New York/London: Franklin Watts ISBN 0531097013
*Phyllis Ann Karr: "The Arthurian Companion", 2001 Oakland: Green Knight Publishing ISBN 1928999131
*Longford, Elizabeth (Editor) "Arthur" chapter in
The Oxford Book of Royal Anecdotes. 1989. Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York
*Roger S. Loomis, "The Arthurian Legend before 1139",
The Romanic Review, 32 (1941), 3-38.
*Daniel Mersey.
Arthur King of the Britons: From Celtic Hero To Cinema Icon. Summersdale. Chichester. 2004. ISBN 1840244038
*John Morris. "The Age of Arthur." New York: Scribner, 1973. SBN 684 13313 X
*Thomas Jones, "The Early Evolution of the Legend of Arthur",
Nottingham Medieval Studies, 8 (1964), pp. 3-21.
*Derek Pearsall,
Arthurian Romance: a short introduction, Blackwell, Oxford 2005 ISBN 0631233199
*Graham Phillips & Martin Keatman.
King Arthur: The True Story. 1992.
*Robert Rouse and Cory Rushton,
The Medieval Quest for Arthur, Tempus, Stroud, 2005 ISBN 0752433431
*
Arthurian Resources Articles on (and bibliographic guides to) the early Arthurian tradition and the origins of the legend, utilising the latest scholarship. Provided by Thomas Green of Exeter College, Oxford University.
*
Timeless Myths - King Arthur*
A Collection on Britannia.com of brief sketches of personages and writers associated with the legend of King Arthur*A Guide to King Arthur's Forgotten Realm http://panther.bsc.edu/~arthur A detailed but digestible site containing the research materials and experiences of two college students' experiences while travelling Britain's sites associated with the Aurthurian legend.
*
Timelines of British history on Britannia.com*
A site devoted to the history and legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table*
Merrie Haskell's King Arthur Website Has a number of interesting scanned images.
*The
h2g2 encyclopedia article on
The Medieval Development of Arthurian Literature*Camelot in Four Colors : A Survey of the Arthurian Legend in Comics [
6]
*The Taliesin Foundation: Understanding Celtic tradition in relation to today, in particular the Anglo-Celtic Inheritance of what Winston Churchill called "The English Speaking Peoples", inspired and informed by the mythos of King Arthur, the Round Table, the Quest for the Holy Grail.[
7]
*
A profile of the Marvel Comics version of him*
Griffen, Toby G. 1994. "Arthur's Name". Written for the Celtic Studies Assiociation of North America.*
King Arthur and the Doorway to Avalon*
Some Possible Arthurian Place-Names in West Penwith, 1911
