The legendary King Arthur, who is the standard of Western European chivalry, was a Russian prince who arrived in England with his retinue by agreement with the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. This sensational statement was made by the famous British historian Howard Reed.
In the course of lengthy research in Great Britain, France and Russia, Reed came to the conclusion that King Arthur was one of the representatives of the tribes who lived in the Sarmatian steppes of southern Russia. Famous for their tall and blond horsemen, these tribes came out at the beginning of the second century to the Danube and met with the Roman legionnaires.
During lengthy negotiations, Rome managed to find a common language with them and the core of the "barbarian" army was taken into imperial service. In 175 A.D. N.H.L. about six thousand Russian soldiers arrived in Albion. While working in the archives of the St. Petersburg Hermitage, Howard Reed discovered numerous symbols from burials in Russia, which coincided with the samples on the banners under which the soldiers of the legendary King Arthur fought.
The fact that the popular character of chivalric novels had a historical prototype has been written for a long time. The figure of the king is too charismatic to be completely invented. And researchers are trying to find at least some evidence of its real existence.
In 2009, in Staffordshire, in the west of England, amateur archaeologists Terry Herbert and Andrew Hay, while exploring the local fields with a metal detector, accidentally stumbled upon a burial site of the 7th century AD. This treasure surprised scientists, because all these jewels were buried along with the human body. Some experts immediately decided that these were the remains of King Arthur. After all, 92 swords were found in the burial, one of which resembled Excalibur, the famous sword of the legendary king. However, this hypothesis was soon abandoned, the examination showed that the bone fragments found belonged to a woman. Some researchers generally believe that the remains of the legendary King Arthur cannot be found, because the real king with that name never existed, and Arthur is a collective image of several military leaders.
But many do not agree with this opinion. They believe: King Arthur is a real historical person. And in the 6th century AD, he really could rule on the territory of Britain ... This is because the stories about King Arthur are based on real historical events. About how at the beginning of the 5th century the Roman troops left Britain, and these lands were attacked by the conquerors from the banks of the Elbe and the Rhine - the Germanic tribes of the Saxons, Angles and Jutes. But the indigenous population of the Celts - they are Britons - offered fierce resistance to the invaders. According to some written sources, the man who led the war of liberation was King Arthur.
According to the chronicles, King Arthur appears as a real hero - he won 12 major victories over the conquerors - the Saxons. And finally defeated them in the battle of Badon Hill. The battle took place between 490 and 517. Some experts consider this further evidence that King Arthur really existed. After all, the place where the battle took place still exists.
Bath has been famous for its healing springs since ancient times. And this place is considered by many historians as the main evidence of the existence of King Arthur. It is mentioned in many stories about Arthur. This is the birthplace of the legendary king - Tintagel Castle. He really exists.
Many of the stories about Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table are considered fiction. For example, stories about how they searched for the Holy Grail. A bowl in which, according to legend, the blood of Christ is collected. For a long time, the Grail itself was also considered a myth, but in 1399 the King of Spain Alfonso V found the bowl. And he transferred it to the Cathedral of Valencia.
Even the Vatican recognized the authenticity of this artifact. But if the Grail, which was considered fiction, exists, then many of the legends about King Arthur are true. After all, they are based on real historical events and tell about a real person. The most amazing thing is that, most likely, the wizard Merlin is not an invention, he really could exist. His prototype was probably the poet - the bard Myrdlin, or Merlin the Mad. According to the chronicles, the poet lost his mind during one of the battles with the Anglo-Saxons ...
And yet, at least one inaccuracy in the stories about Arthur, historians have found. Many written sources mention that King Arthur's wife Queen Guinevere fell in love with his closest friend, the knight Lancelot. In fact, in reality it was not so. Arthur most likely died in 537 at the Battle of Camlann, fighting the conqueror Mordred. And Queen Guinevere remained faithful to Arthur and died with him. In 1190, the monks of Glastonbury Abbey discovered a grave with 2 persons of royal blood - presumably they were Arthur and his queen Guinevere. For centuries, pilgrims went to this grave, until a terrible fire broke out in the abbey in 1532. However, many experts question this hypothesis. And they think there are no remains of King Arthur in Glastonbury.
The most likely burial place of King Arthur, if he, of course, existed, archaeologists consider Sutton Hoo Hill. It is located in the English county of Suffolk. It was here in 1939 that one of the richest treasures ever found on British soil was found. As well as the remains of an unknown king. Here are just a few exhibits, they are now stored in the British Museum. Precious crockery. Swedish type gilded bronze helmet, ornamented shield. Purse with gold coins of the Merovingian era. But the main sensation was a funeral ship dating from the 6th-7th century. No traces of the deceased were found in the boat. Scientists have suggested that over the years, the body simply decayed in the watery soils of Britain. However, some researchers have made a sensational hypothesis - perhaps this is the burial place of the legendary King Arthur.
However, while most researchers agree that the found burial rather belongs not to King Arthur, but to the enemies of the Saxons, with whom he fought and in battle with whom he died heroically.
According to legend, King Arthur was the leader of the Britons during the 5th or 6th century. But, as far as researchers know, he is a character that combines several real and fictional personalities. Since its inception, the legend has been overgrown with new episodes all the time. Scientists have tried to identify one or more individuals, but almost all attempts have been inconclusive. Some of these led to claims that the "real Arthur" had been found, but few of these studies were related to serious science.
Birth of a legend
Valor in battle made Arthur the main figure in the victorious battle against the Saxons, the enemies of the Britons, who invaded Britain after the departure of the Romans in 410 AD. In the 6th century, a monk named Gilda the Wise wrote a book in which he chronicled the wars between the Saxons and the Britons. The monk did not mention Arthur, but described the Battle of Badon Hill, which later became associated with him.
In the book History of the Britons, supposedly written in the 9th century by the monk Nennius, additional details appeared, but there was still little information about Arthur himself. Nennius described Arthur as dux bellorum, that is, a military leader. Especially vividly Nennius listed the twelve battles of Arthur, the last of which was the Battle of Badon Hill. In this battle, Arthur killed 960 enemies. But this book said nothing about Arthur's life.
The first relatively complete, though fictional, biography of Arthur appeared three centuries after Nennius. This is the History of the Kings of Britain, written in Latin by Geoffrey of Monmouth about 1137. Many of the details of this story are familiar to readers who know Arthurian stories by contemporary writers. Galfrid's version tells the story of the conception and birth of King Arthur as a result of love between Uther Pendragon and a married woman, Igraine. According to legend, Uther assumed the form of Igraine's husband through sorcery and spent the night with her.
// Merlin carries away the newborn Arthur. N. C. Wyeth. 1922 / wikipedia.org
Young Arthur became king and with the help of the magic sword Excalibur won the battle with the Saxons. Then came twelve years of peace, during which Arthur founded the famous code of chivalry and married Guinevere. Geoffrey also wrote about Mordred's betrayal and his battle with Arthur, who then retired to the Isle of Avalon. But Geoffrey wrote nothing about Arthur's return.
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
A writer named Vass translated part of the text of Geoffrey of Monmouth into French and added many details to it that caused new discussions. He also added one of the main details of the Arthurian legend - the Round Table. From the second half of the 12th century, French authors took inspiration from the Arthurian stories and offered original additions.
“Chrétien de Troyes, in his five Arthurian novels, developed a code of chivalry and love, coined the name Camelot, the story of the betrayal of Lancelot and Guinevere, and the legend of the Holy Grail. However, instead of biographical details, Chrétien and other authors concentrated on episodes from the life of one or more knights. According to these legends, the glory of the king and the prestige of his royal court attracted knights from distant lands."
French writers of later centuries combined the early works into long and detailed novels, many of which became voluminous cycles. One of them - the Lancelot - Grail cycle - is a universal story that begins with the crucifixion of Christ, but concentrates on the life of Arthur and the adventures of his knights. This cycle brings together previously familiar characters and motifs. For example, it tells about the brotherhood of the Round Table, Merlin, the fatal love of Lancelot and Guinevere, and the betrayal of Mordred. A significant part of the cycle focuses on the search for the Holy Grail, in which only Galahad succeeded as the purest of all knights.
// The Holy Grail is the Knights of the Round Table / wikipedia.org
This cycle was one of a number of sources used by Sir Thomas Malory, whose Le Morte d'Arthur, written in 1470, became the most influential of all histories. Malory used material from other stories and modified the content of the episodes, offering a chronology from Arthur's conception and birth to the adventures of his knights. He also did not write anything about Arthur's return from Avalon, but wrote that many people predicted him.
Arthur's life
Records of Arthur's life vary widely, but some biographical elements remain the same in most texts and are considered canonical. According to legend, Arthur was conceived when Merlin changed Uther Pendragon's appearance, making him look like the husband of Igraine, whom Uther longed for. When Arthur was young, a large stone appeared in front of the church, from which a sword protruded. It was engraved on the stone that the person who could draw the sword from the stone would become the king of England. And only Arthur could do it.
As king, Arthur created the Brotherhood of the Round Table, and his knights sought adventure throughout the country. Arthur married Guinevere and she later entered into a relationship with Lancelot. The quest for the Holy Grail began when Galahad, the ordained Grail Knight and son of Lancelot, came to court. Most of the knights set about searching for the Grail, but only Galahad was able to find it. Lancelot did not succeed because of his sinful love for the queen. He swore that he would end this relationship, but as soon as he returned to court, his resolve weakened, and the lovers continued their relationship.
// Accolade (Guinevere and Lancelot), Edmund Leighton, 1901 / wikipedia.org
The novel of Lancelot and Guinevere soon became known. Guinevere went to jail. Lancelot escaped and then returned to rescue her. In this attempt, he killed Gawain's brothers without recognizing them. Gawain, Arthur's nephew, vowed to avenge the brothers' deaths, and as a result, the armies of Lancelot and Gawain met on the battlefield. Arthur reluctantly sided with Gawain.
Because of this war, Arthur left the kingdom and left it to his bastard Mordred, but Mordred planned to seize the throne and marry Guinevere (and in some texts married her), but she fled. Mordred and Arthur soon met on the battlefield. Arthur killed his son, but he himself was severely wounded.
Scientific studies of Arthur's life
King Arthur never really existed. It's pretty clear. It is less clear whether Arthur existed as the person who became the center of the legend. Early Celtic legends were based on folk beliefs about Arthur, and early 12th-century authors only wrote about Arthur's life after his apparent death. Serious historical research into the Arthurian legends forced scholars to separate beliefs from real events in the 5th and 6th centuries. The earliest references to Arthur consist of descriptions of his battles, short anecdotes, and extended notes such as those compiled by Geoffrey of Monmouth. They are most often a mixture of history, folk traditions and author's fiction.
Academic research into Arthur's life began in the early 20th century and initially focused on Arthur's battles with the Saxon conquerors. Robin George Collingwood suggested that this Arthur was the leader of the cavalry. Kenneth Jackson studied some of the battlefields and stated that Arthur may have been a warrior named Artorius who traveled the country for military purposes but lived in the southwest. Other scholars believed that he was a northerner. Geoffrey Ash found a certain Riothamus (meaning "High King"), who was referred to as King Arthur in early 11th-century texts. Riothamus led an army across the strait and fought the Gauls in France.
These and other studies have not stopped academics and non-academics alike from trying to prove that the real Arthur and the Grail really existed. In fact, Arthur as we know him may be a character that included multiple personalities. Or there could be one person with whom many famous legends were associated. But it could also be just someone's invention.
Serious scholarship on the legend often focuses on places like Glastonbury, Tintagel and Cadbury Castle. The latter has been of particular interest since the 16th century. The term "castle" is associated with the early history of Britain. Cadbury is on a fortified hill. Excavations in these places have not provided information about King Arthur, but they have told a lot about the life that he could have lived if he existed.
The real King Arthur
Characters that may have actually existed were Mordred and Bedivere, mentioned in early Arthurian texts, and Merlin, who may have been a mixture of the two earlier figures. Lancelot, Guinevere and all the rest are completely fictional characters. Arthur is a special case. The fact that we cannot determine with certainty whether Arthur existed inspires people to constantly try to prove it. Books, articles, and investigative journalism from time to time assure us that someone has found the trail of the real King Arthur. Only a few of them are worth attention, but these attempts still continue. There never was a King Arthur, but at least we can talk about a simple man named Arthur. Scientists have proposed different models. In 1924, Kemp Malone suggested that there was a Roman soldier named Lucius Artorius Castus. As a leader of the army, he lived in the 2nd century AD and was a famous military figure. Little is known about him, but many events of this era seem to be connected with him.
Geoffrey Ash has proposed an alternative theory. His argument concerns Riotamus, who led the army through the channel. Riothamus is a prominent candidate for the role of Arthur because the last mention of him comes when he approaches a Burgundian village with the very Arthurian name of Avalon. However, regardless of whether a certain person was behind all the legends, they grew and multiplied, acquiring new fictional stories.
// Avalon / Jim Forest (flickr.com)
The evolution of the Arthurian legends
The popularity of Arthurian legends gradually waned in the 16th and 18th centuries, but never died out. Legends became very popular again in the 19th century, especially in English-speaking countries. There are certain elements of Arthurian legend that have resonated with society since the Middle Ages: Camelot, the sword in the stone, the adultery of Lancelot and Guinevere, and the Round Table. The eventual rescue and return of Arthur are motives that early writers shied away from. Malory wrote that "some people" said that Arthur would return. Belief in Arthur's return has grown stronger over the centuries, and some novelists have taken this plot as the basis of their stories.
The quest for the Holy Grail is an exception because the meaning of this motif has remained the same for centuries. In medieval legends, Galahad, the noblest of all knights, found the Holy Grail, and the rest of the knights returned to court with bad luck. Most of the knights of Camelot perished, and the superiority of chivalry was incompatible with the spirituality of the Grail. But in many films and novels, Arthur himself is looking for the Grail.
// Vision of the Grail to Galahad, Persifal and Bors. Edward Burne-Jones / wikipedia.org
The Grail became a flexible motif. At Chrétien de Troyes, it was a miraculous holy tray, and then became the dish or bowl of the Last Supper. In Germany, Wolfram von Eschenbach presented him as a stone that had fallen from heaven. Authors of the 20th and 21st centuries have greatly modified this story. In The King by Donald Barthelm, the Grail is a destructive bomb that is best left untouched. In some works, it is made of paper or does not exist at all.
Modern interpretations
A major addition to the legend in the 19th century was Tennyson's Idyll of the King, a poetic masterpiece that inspired writers and artists for two centuries. Quite different in spirit was the novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, which showed the humorous potential of the legend. In England, the Pre-Raphaelites William Morris, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Edward Burne-Jones created works dedicated to Arthur. Another monument to Arthurianism is the opera "Parsifal" by Richard Wagner. In the 20th century, about a thousand works on the subject of Arthur were published, and it is difficult to single out a few. Arthurian legends have become the subject of many works of science fiction, detective stories, feminist novels, teen literature, and fantasy. Notable novels on this subject were Mary Stewart's The Last Magic, Rosemary Sutcliffe's Sword at Sunset, Thomas Berger's Arthur Rex, and Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon, which is considered a feminist novel.
Modern works on the theme of Arthur appear not only in English. The French writer René Barzhavel wrote the novel The Enchanter, and the German Tancred Dorst wrote the drama Merlin, or the Desert Land. In film, the legend was developed in Excalibur by John Boorman and Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
A huge number of interpretations that appeared in the twentieth century make one wonder: what explains the popularity of the legend not only in English culture, but also in France, Germany, Italy and around the world? There is no clear answer to this question. Some readers may be interested in the post-Roman history of Britain, in which new good people are being replaced by a dark past. Others are attracted to notions of honor and social responsibility, despite the fact that early recordings featured wars, betrayals, violence, incest, and unfaithfulness to people and ideals. Whatever the reasons, the Arthurian legends inspire us, despite the fact that we see human imperfections in them.
King Arthur, the hero of the British epic, in the 20th century became one of the most popular characters in world mass culture.
Writers from different countries devote their works to his adventures, classical and modern. King Arthur is the main character of many movies and computer games. In 1982, the International Astronomical Union named a crater on one of Saturn's moons after King Arthur.
The more the popularity of the king, who gathered around him the knights of the Round Table, grew, the more often the question sounded - what is the historical basis of this epic? Who was the real King Arthur?
The first mention of Arthur's name dates back to around 600 AD. Welsh bard Aneirin, describing the battle of Katraet between the Anglo-Saxons and the kings of the "Old North" from the clan Koil Old, compares the leader of the Britons with Arthur.
Bard Taliesin at about the same time he dedicates a poem to Arthur's journey to Annun, the Welsh underworld. It should be noted that the biography of both bards is not very well known, which makes them themselves legendary characters.
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. reproduction
He wrote Arthur
The first historical chronicle in which Arthur is mentioned is the History of the Britons, written around the year 800 by a Welsh monk named Nennius. It tells of Arthur that he won twelve victories over the Saxons, finally defeating them at the Battle of Mount Badon.
In the 12th century, a priest and writer Geoffrey of Monmouth created the work "History of the Kings of Britain", in which the first consistent account of the life of King Arthur appears.
Geoffrey of Monmouth is considered the founder of the Arthurian tradition in its current form.
I must say that even a number of contemporaries of Geoffrey of Monmouth considered his works to be pseudo-historical. William of Newburgh, the author of the History of England, which describes the history of this state in the period from 1066 to 1198, spoke of Geoffrey of Monmouth as follows: “It is quite clear that everything written by this man about Arthur and his heirs, and even his predecessors from Vortigern, was invented partly by himself, partly by others - either out of an irrepressible love of lies, or to amuse the Britons.
Nevertheless, the work of Geoffrey of Monmouth became well known in Europe, and new transcriptions of the history of King Arthur began to appear on its basis. Thus, the folk legends collected and processed by Geoffrey of Monmouth became the basis for the creation of new legends.
Arthur receives the sword Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake. Drawing by N.C. Wyeth, 1922. reproduction
Leader against the Saxons
In the 15th century Thomas Malory created the epic "The Death of Arthur", which united all the most common legends about Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
To historians who, centuries later, tried to find a real basis, shaded later Merlin, Lancelot and Excalibur, it was very difficult.
According to most researchers, Arthur could be the leader or commander of the Celtic tribe of the Britons, who inhabited the territory of England and Wales at the beginning of the 6th century.
Celtic Britain during this period faced the invasion of the Saxon barbarians. The real Arthur, according to this hypothesis, during his life managed to successfully resist the Saxons, which made him a popular hero of folk legends. However, later, after the death or at the end of Arthur's life, the invasion continued and led to the capture by the barbarians of the southern part of the British Isles.
There are several specific historical figures who were "tried out" for the role of Arthur.
Death of King Arthur. James Archer. reproduction
Contenders for the "role" of the legend
Roman military leader Lucius Artorius Kast commanded auxiliary cavalry units Legion VI Victorious in the 2nd century AD. The Legion was based in Britain, on Andrian's Wall. Researchers, however, note that Lucius Artorius Castus lived three hundred years earlier than the supposed "Age of Arthur".
Ambrose Aurelian. reproduction
The Roman-British commander, who lived in the 5th century, like Arthur, was able to give a serious rebuff to the Saxon invaders. This allows some to consider him the prototype of King Arthur himself. However, Geoffrey of Monmouth also mentions Ambrose Aurelian as Arthur's uncle, brother and predecessor on the royal throne. Uther Pendragon, father of the legendary king.
Another candidate for Arthur's prototypes - Artuis ap More, King of the Pennins, Ebruk and Calhvined, who lived in the 5th - 6th centuries in Britain. Artuis, having inherited part of his father's possessions, successfully expanded the territory of the state and repelled the attacks of enemies, including the Saxons.
Researchers have noted similarities in the biography of the legendary Arthur with a number of real historical characters who acted both in the "Age of Arthur" and a little earlier. As a result, most historians come to the conclusion that Arthur is a collective character, whose story arose both from real stories that took place in the life of the leaders and military leaders of Britain, and from the fiction of obscure and famous writers, such as Geoffrey of Monmouth.
The legendary king of the Britons of the 5th-6th centuries, the hero of historical novels and the chief assessor of the "round table" - Arthur inspires awe and respect. However, despite the popularity, it is still not known for certain whether this Arthur really was?
The name of the brave and fearless king does not appear in any state document, and there is also no evidence of his coronation and life in general. But still, modern researchers consider it quite likely that King Arthur had a historical prototype, but perhaps under a different name. Some historians suggest that the hero of Celtic folk tales could hide under the nicknames "Vortigern" - "high king" or "Ryothamus" - "superstitious king". After all, it was Vortigern who extended the golden age of Roman Britain for 30 years, and Riotamus was indeed the head of the army. But this is just speculation. The name of Arthur is shrouded in many legends, and the king himself has become the most important secret of Britain. Vadim Erlikhman, the author of the 10th volume of the Mystery Man collection, tells about what this character hides behind him.
The Legend of Arthur and the Sword
According to a famous belief, Arthur is the son of King Uther Pendragor of Britain. His father, Uther, fell passionately in love with Igraine, the wife of the old Duke of Tintagel. He desired her so much that he decided to be cunning. He went to the wizard Merlin and asked to give him the appearance of a duke for one night to spend it with Igraine. Merlin complied with the request, but as a payment he asked to give him the baby when he was born. And so it happened. Born Arthur came to Merlin and he gave him strength, courage and other positive qualities. Twenty years later, Merlin and the Bishop of Canterbury in London presented the assembled knights with a sword stuck in a stone, on which was the inscription: "Whoever pulls this sword out of the stone, that is by right the king of Britain." At the tournament, Sir Kay, who was several years older than Arthur, broke his sword, and he sent Arthur, his squire, for a spare. Arthur could not find a spare and then pulled the sword out of the stone, thus becoming the king of Britain.
Interesting Facts
Round table
Arthur established a court where all the important people gathered to decide the vital affairs of the kingdom. But during the meetings between the knights constantly arose. All the kings and barons wanted to sit at the head of the table or next to Arthur, as if presiding over an assembly. The barons envied those who were able to take the best places. Therefore, King Arthur ordered a large round table to be made and ordered the servants to serve everyone sitting at it at the same time. Thus, Arthur equalized everyone and founded the famous "round table".
Number
1190 - it was in that year that archaeologists in Glastonbury Abbey found a grave with human remains and a cross with an inscription that indicates that this is the burial place of King Arthur and his wife. However, there are speculations that in this way the English abbey decided to make money on tourists.
Who was the real King Arthur? A legendary ruler who led the Knights of the Round Table in search of the Holy Grail, and whose wife Guinevere fell in love with Lancelot. According to legend, King Arthur never died - he slept on the magical island of Avalon, waiting for the day when Britain would again need to be saved.
But did King Arthur really exist? And if so, when did he live and die? Historians have put forward a number of theories about the real King Arthur, who probably lived around the year 500 when Britain was fighting off the Saxon invasion. Although there is no written record of King Arthur, all the legends were written down several centuries after his death. A mysterious stone with the inscription “Artognu” discovered by archaeologists hints that a real story may be hidden behind the myth. But it's hard to separate fact from fiction.
After the fall of Roman power in Britain in 410, the island was plunged into chaos and violence. Beginning in the 5th century, the Anglo-Saxons began to invade from what is now Germany in an attempt to establish new kingdoms. Wars raged all over Britain. Medieval historian and specialist Norris D. Lacey writes in his books that the rulers fought for every hill that was easy to defend. The people needed a good king who sought to bring peace, and out of that chaos a legend was born.
The real Arthur was probably the military leader who defended Great Britain from the Anglo-Saxon invasion. Historians believe that Tintagel Castle flourished in the 5th century and was the home of King Arthur. This place, most likely, was the economic and political stronghold of the rulers of Devon and Cornwall. It was associated with the Mediterranean world. Fragments of pottery and glass from Greece, North Africa and Spain have been found at Tintagel. But although the region flourished in the 5th and 6th centuries, it was mysteriously abandoned after the middle of the 7th century and remained forgotten for the next 500 years.
In 1138, Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote the first detailed account of King Arthur, called The History of the Kings of Britain. This text made the Arthurian legend world-famous. The author mentioned Tintagel as the place where Arthur was born. Archaeological excavations show that Geoffrey's theory can be supported by historical data.
Tintagel Castle In 1998, archaeologists working on Tintagel Island found a stone known as the Artognu Stone, or Arthur's Stone. It bore the inscription "Pater Coiavificit Artognov", or "Artognu, the father of Kol's descendant, built it". Nearby was Mediterranean pottery from the same period. According to Dr Geoffrey Wainwright, English Heritage's chief archaeologist, the stone is clear evidence that a 6th-century king living in Tintagel really existed and was named Arthur. "This is where myth meets history," Wainwright said.
King Arthur Stone
In 70 AD The Romans, who ruled Britain, built an amphitheater in the city of Caer-Legion, known today as Chester. The Chester amphitheater was the largest in Britain and was used for military training. Excavations have shown that it was fortified in the 5th or 6th century, just in the era of King Arthur. The round amphitheater may have been transformed into the legendary Round Table. It could accommodate 1600 soldiers.
In 544, a British monk named Gilda the Wise wrote of a major battle that had taken place just a few decades earlier, in the year 500. According to Gilda, the Britons were led by a strong leader named Ambrose Aurelian, who helped them rebuild their strength. At the Battle of Badon Hill, Aurelian repulsed the Saxon invaders and won a major battle.
Around 800 AD. another monk named Nennius changed Ambrose Aurelian's name to Arthur and wrote that at the Battle of Badon Hill "nine hundred and sixty men fell in one day at one blow from Arthur". We add that the legendary king "won victory in all his campaigns." Historian Peter Correl has argued that Ambrose Aurelian and King Arthur are the same person, consistent with the legend that Arthur won a major battle against the Saxons.
The Roman city of Silchester, known as Calleva Atrebatum, was supposedly the site of King Arthur's coronation. During the Saxon invasion of Great Britain in the 5th century, it became an important strategic city with a well-defended perimeter. The Saxons after the invasion of Britain bypassed the city and ritually cursed it.
Perhaps Kalleva is associated with the magic sword of King Arthur - Excalibur. In fact, the name of the sword, which originally sounded like Caliburn, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, came from the word Callev.
Historian John Morris argued in the 1970s that the name Arthur suddenly became popular in Britain around the start of the 6th century—for Morris, this is evidence that the real Arthur existed and may have been the ruler of Britain. The historian points to archaeological evidence that the Saxon advance in Britain in the early 6th century was suspended and only resumed in the 570s AD. Was the short period of peace due to King Arthur?
King Arthur's Round Table There are historians who believe that King Arthur was not a real person, and his legend goes back to the Celtic myth of the divine bear. Perhaps the name itself Arthur could be derived from a Celtic word meaning "bear". Thus, the legendary King Arthur may be the personification of the god of wild animals. This was common among the Celts. They often spoke of powerful creatures in their mythology.
The first mention of King Arthur in the sources is in the history of the Britons, written in the early 9th century by the monk Nennius. He described Arthur as a heroic Christian warrior who led his troops to victory against invading Anglo-Saxon tribes. Nennius listed 12 battles in which Arthur fought, but most historians argue that one person could not fight most of them at the same time.
In the 12th century, Geoffrey of Monmouth gave birth to the legend of King Arthur, telling the story of his life and describing amazing deeds. Geoffrey mixed history and myth in his wonderful book The History of the Kings of Britain. The legend was then expanded upon by the 12th-century author Chrétien de Troyes, who added Lancelot and the Holy Grail, turning Arthur into a romantic chivalric hero.
