Well, today we have the answers. Arthur was a legendary British King who was said to have led the defense of Britain against Saxon invaders in around the 5th Century BC. There are countless stories that surround his name, from tales of pulling the sword Excalibur from a stone to his dealings with the wizard Merlin and his Knights of the Roundtable. Most of these tales are pure myth and, though there is some dispute amongst historians, many agree that the King himself most likely did not exist.
Some believe that he may have been based on a real King that ruled England long ago. In a final battle, Mordred dies and Arthur receives a mortal wound, after which he is transported by barge to the Vale of Avalon. Following the battle, Sir Bedivere reluctantly returns Arthur's sword Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake, while both Lancelot and Guinevere enter holy orders and live out their lives in peace.
The British Isles abound with landmarks linked to the Arthurian legend. To try to unravel the mystery surrounding him, I visited some of these places. The solid oak tabletop measures 18 feet in diameter and weighs approximately one and a quarter tons.
It hangs on the wall, looking like an enormous dartboard with green and white segments painted onto it to indicate the places where the king and his knights once sat. In Malory's day, many considered it to be the genuine article, and historians believed Winchester Castle to be the site of Arthur's fortress, Camelot. Read more: Queen's remains found in Winchester Cathedral.
Unfortunately, the existing castle isn't nearly old enough to have been Arthur's. Tests prove Edward III constructed the table, probably in , when he conceived the notion of an order of chivalry based on the knights of the Round Table, as depicted in the popular romances.
It was possibly used for celebrating the popular Arthurian festivals in which noblemen indulged. A Tudor rose marks its centre. Legend says that Merlin, the magician, conjured the table for Uther Pendragon, Arthur's father. On Uther's death, Merlin gave the table to Arthur. The idea of a table where all were equal, where no man sat in state above his peers appealed to the romantic idealism which, especially in Victorian times, surrounded the knightly legend.
In reality, any leader of Arthur's time would have had to impose a fierce discipline or risk being deposed. Local folklore says it was Colchester. The Romans, after all, called the town Camulodunum. In both cases, there's little to support the claim. The most likely site of Camelot, backed by some archaeological evidence gathered in the s, is Cadbury Castle, an Iron Age hillfort near Yeovil, high above the plains of Somerset, near the village of Queen Camel. Excavations conducted by archaeologist Leslie Alcock revealed wattle and daub huts within an acre enclosure on top of the hill.
Two shrines, a metalworkers' area, furnaces, smiths' tools, and finished weapons were also unearthed. Evidence shows that the entrance to Camelot was by way of a cobbled roadway, ten feet across, which passed through a timber-lined passage beneath a gate tower raised on posts and tied in with the rampart and sentry walkway on either side.
Massive pairs of doors closed off either end of this passage. Large quantities of dressed masonry from derelict Roman buildings formed the rampart itself. From findings near the site of Arthur's Palace, it became clear that Cadbury had been at one time a stronghold of great importance, revamped from its original pre-Roman state and turned into a Dark-Age fortress. The lane leading up to the hilltop winds gently upwards through an avenue of majestic trees.
At the summit, a grassy plateau affords a view to rival any in England. There have been many ghostly sightings around Cadbury, and indeed, I felt the coldness of spirits as I climbed around on the hill. Below me, I saw the remains of an ancient track that leads towards Glastonbury may have been used by Arthur and his knights travelling to and from Camelot. Locals say that on winter evenings the knights still ride along this causeway, bridles and harness jangling, to go hunting.
Those who claim to have witnessed this fearsome sight talk of seeing lances that glow in the dark and hearing the spine-tingling baying of hounds. Farmworkers once unearthed a large number of skeletons in a mass grave west of the castle, suggesting a mighty battle took place. Standing on the spot, I could only dream of knights in armour, the clash of their swords sounding the spirit of defiance and justice.
A mile in circumference, Dozmary Pool is a place of changing mood and beauty, a place of mystery and magic. Standing on its rim as the early morning mist began to rise, I could imagine Sir Bedivere throwing Excalibur into the lake, from which a hand rose and caught the magical sword, as King Arthur lay dying.
King Arthur is a medieval, mythological figure who was the head of the kingdom Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table. It is not known if there was a real Arthur, though it is believed he may have been a Roman-affiliated military leader who successfully staved off a Saxon invasion during the 5th to 6th centuries.
His legend has been popularized by many writers, including Geoffrey of Monmouth. Little is known about the possible figure who inspired the story of King Arthur, a heroic monarch who has been a popular mythological and literary character for some time. In contrast, the 6th-century bard Aneirin crafted the Welsh collection of poems The Gododdin in which a heroic Arthur is spoken of. Yet with the work originally shared orally as opposed to being written down, it is impossible to ascertain if Arthur was part of the original story.
Another poet, Teliesin, mentions a valiant Arthur in his work as well. There has also been another suggestion circulated that references to Arthur were actually a way of honoring via myth a Celtic bear deity with a similar name. During the s, Nennius of Wales wrote History of the Britons , which became a core Arthurian text in that it listed a dozen battles in which the warrior fought, though it would have been logistically impossible for him to have done so.
Though debate has gone on for centuries, historians have been unable to confirm that Arthur really existed. Several hundred years later, Arthur appears for the first time in the writings of a Welsh historian named Nennius, who gave a list of 12 battles the warrior king supposedly fought.
All drawn from Welsh poetry, the battles took place in so many different times and places that it would have been impossible for one man to have participated in all of them. An irresistible blend of myth and fact, the book was supposedly based on a lost Celtic manuscript that only Geoffrey was able to examine.
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