This content explores the historical basis of the King Arthur legend, suggesting he was a Dark Age British leader who united his people against Saxon invaders, rather than a medieval fictional character.
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this
is does report where according to legend
king arthur received the sword excalibur
from the lady of the lake
in this program we look at the man
behind the myth
and put together a picture of who he
king arthur has a very colorful legend
most of the stories about king arthur
came from medieval fiction writers
who are eager to write a romance about
arthur and sell many copies of their works
works
they present arthur as a great christian
warrior king
who crusaded in jerusalem quested for
the holy grail
and took control of western europe
however there is evidence to suggest
that arthur's period was much
earlier than medieval times and was in
fact in the dark ages
the easter annals are our best and most
reliable resource for finding out who
arthur was
they are historical records from the
dark ages until of arthur leading the
britons in battle against the saxons
and emerging victorious we know in the
years before
arthur the british celtic tribes were
being united against the saxons
by ambrosius aurelius who held the title
ducks belorum meaning duke of battles
ambrosius began a campaign to drive the
barbarians from the east
back but by 517 there was a new king of
the britons
arthur if arthur was ducks belorum
around 517
as the easter anal suggest that it is
extremely likely that his home base was here
here
arthur was most likely to have come from
damnonia with tintagel as its royal capital
capital
he would have had his apprenticeship
under ambrosius and learned kingship
from him
domnonia was still by far the richest
kingdom when arthur took the crown
as the romans left britain so too did
the use of currency for trade
following this a barter system was
revived and instead
of money high status was commonly expressed
expressed
through the possession of luxury goods
imported mediterranean pottery became
one of the predominant icons of royalty
and wealth
and through archaeological studies the
places of power and affluence in dark
age britain can be traced
at tintagel more expensive mediterranean pottery
pottery
was found at the one site than the rest
geoffrey of monmouth writing in 1132
described tintagel as where arthur was
the description of the dark age
settlement of tin tattle provided by jeffrey
jeffrey
was shown by recent excavations to be
unusually accurate
jeffrey visited tintagel in 1120 and
none of these buildings would be
invisible at the time
if jeffrey was right about tintagil was
recent excavations on tintagel island
have discovered
further evidence for arthur's kingship
in 1998 a sixth century stone was uncovered
uncovered
bearing the inscription of the name autognu
autognu
a possible reference to arthur
the latin inscription artognov can be
translated into the british form
arthnu the beginning of which means the bear
bear
in welsh could this be a connection with
the bear that the monk gildas mentions
in his book of the dark age british kings
this evidence comes from the right
kingdom the right royal stronghold
the right social class and the right
time for arthur
the discovery of the earth new stone
brought further attention to the fact
that in the 6th century tintangel was a
very high status royal household
from which a dynasty of literate kings
although tintagel may not have been
camelot it is possible that the story of
the round table had its origins here
arthur would invite his celtic
chieftains to tintagel
to offer them luxury goods in exchange
for help in fighting battles
the round table became a metaphor for
fair trade
it may be clear that arthur's base was
in west amnonia
however there is no evidence to suggest
that he held permanent residence here
the search for camelot takes us to
kylian was described by sir thomas
mallory as camelot
in his book le mot de arthur however the
medieval writers had got the wrong idea
as to what camelot was
camelot was not a many spired capital
city built on the riches of crusade and conquest
conquest
rather it was a mobile royal court of
if camelot was mobile then it would
explain how difficult it is to pin down
some critics argue that camelot never existed
existed
the word camelot may have come from the
old british war god camulus
may have survived from iron age times
meaning little more
after his early career in damnonia king
arthur was crowned
leader of the britons here at kyleon by
bishop dubricus
this is what geoffrey of monmouth tells
us but is
corroborated by local tradition and
archaeological evidence
it was this coronation that marked the
beginning of the campaign
the saxons were still moving westwards
into britain unchecked
ambrosius work in unifying the britons
was carried forward by arthur
for the first time the british rode
forth to meet the saxons in full strength
the dark age site of south cadbury is
thought to have been of great importance
this is south cadbury castle we know it
was occupied during the time of king arthur
arthur
what's interesting about south cadbury
is that it was five
times larger than any other dark age
fortress this
gave it the capacity to hold huge
this is exactly what arthur needed as
leader of the britons
a safe gathering point near to the saxon
territory was critical
it was likely that tribes would muster
here before march into battle alongside
king arthur
there would be food and music provided
archaeological evidence has shown that
these defenses were re-fortified around 470.
470.
this suggests that ambrosius knew the
importance of this site in his campaign
against the saxons
under the leadership of king arthur
south cadbury was used as a rally point
for the british armies
the journey from south cadbury to mount
baden was about three days ride
this was a relatively short journey by
battles in the dark ages were usually
fought at the ford or cross end of a river
river
this is salisbury hill where the river
avon is crossed by the roman road foss way
way
it is at this location which is the most
it is very difficult to say exactly how
the battle of baden was fought
perhaps the celtic heroes faced the
saxons in single combat
king arthur with his great sword
single-handedly slaying the finest saxon
warriors of the age
perhaps an infantry force and celts
marched in formation down mount baden
whilst cavalry units terrorized the
arthur became the most renowned hero of
his age after winning this great conflict
conflict
and the change came over britain as a
result the saxons were now confined to
baron was the biggest victory the
british had against the invaders
according to the right to gildas there
was a period of peace with the saxons
that lasted 20 years
afterwards now arthur's role would
change to that of peacekeeper
itself
britain was rich in kings each had their
own ideas for how britain should be led
and few could come to any agreements
for 22 years there was a golden age of peace
peace
stability and justice arthur and his court
court
visited the 17 known kingdoms of britain
solving border disputes bringing justice
to brigands
and attempting to cement the alliance
that had been formed
but alas this period of peace was not to last
the ruthless milegwin having murdered
his uncle to become king
seized the throne of the kingdom of
gwyneth in north wales
and started a rebellion against the high king
king arthur receiving word in the south
assembled his army and rode north to
gwyneth to end this threat
and quell yet another uprising but
it was not to be treachery was afoot
the easter annals described in 537
the battle of kamlan in which arthur and
madrid perished
milegwinn the arch-traitor sent his
ordovician warriors to ambush arthur
in one of the steep-sided valleys that
as arthur's army rode north to gwyneth
milgwin's men were waiting for them
this is the most likely location for the
battle of kamlan
where the river gamlan flows into the
river mautheck
milgrin would have waited in the forests
above the valley
and as arthur's troops and cavalry were
bottlenecked at the ford
the eastern animals tell us that arthur
was either killed or mortally wounded in
the battle with milgren
this is likely because in the following
years civil war broke out again in britain
britain
and chaos reigned as milgan took the
according to legend arthur was taken by
boat to the isle of avalon
where his wounds would be tended until
the time of his return in the hour of
britain's greatest need
in the dark ages glastonbury was
surrounded by marshes which would flood
and freeze in the winter this would have
given it the appearance of an island
some believe that arthur's body was
buried in glass debris
the name comes from celtic mythology
which refers to glastonbury as an island
surrounded by shallow waters accessible
only by boat
this would have been like this in
arthur's time
celts like to bury their dead on islands
because they believed that islands had a
it is not likely that this is the real
king arthur's grave
glass debris is too far from kamlan for
it to be feasible that arthur was
carried here
however at glastonbury abbey there is a
after a fire in may 1184 the abbey was
in desperate need of funding
so they began digging conveniently they
discovered an
iron cross bearing the inscription here
lies the renowned king arthur
this find was good for the british
monarchy at the time
arthur's prophecy of returning in the
hour of britain's need
struck great fear into the hearts of its enemies
enemies
it was also good for glastonbury abbey
raising his profile on the pilgrimage map
map
these all too convenient facts would
make us suspicious
about the authenticity of glastonbury as
avalon the discovery
was too well timed
the most promising candidate for the
real avalon is
with torn in galloway on the northern
shore of the irish sea
a church had been established there for
over a hundred years
and has been found to have had a very
unusual graveyard
this was likely to have been arthur's
refuge after his defeat
a short sea voyage from north wales this
special graveyard was found by
archaeologists on the isle of witthorn
to be from the time of arthur's death a
few years after kamlan
it is probable that this really was the
the evidence for the existence of king
arthur is ultimately inconclusive
yet from what we have seen it is certain
a dark age figure
united the britons against the invading saxons
saxons
and brought about a period of peace
after they were turned back
the strength of the celtic resistance to
the invaders
created a legend that has lasted for
many centuries
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