0:03 this
0:06 is does report where according to legend
0:08 king arthur received the sword excalibur
0:10 from the lady of the lake
0:12 in this program we look at the man
0:13 behind the myth
0:15 and put together a picture of who he
1:09 king arthur has a very colorful legend
1:11 most of the stories about king arthur
1:13 came from medieval fiction writers
1:15 who are eager to write a romance about
1:17 arthur and sell many copies of their works
1:18 works
1:20 they present arthur as a great christian
1:21 warrior king
1:24 who crusaded in jerusalem quested for
1:25 the holy grail
1:28 and took control of western europe
1:31 however there is evidence to suggest
1:32 that arthur's period was much
1:34 earlier than medieval times and was in
1:37 fact in the dark ages
1:39 the easter annals are our best and most
1:41 reliable resource for finding out who
1:42 arthur was
1:44 they are historical records from the
1:46 dark ages until of arthur leading the
1:48 britons in battle against the saxons
1:51 and emerging victorious we know in the
1:52 years before
1:54 arthur the british celtic tribes were
1:56 being united against the saxons
2:00 by ambrosius aurelius who held the title
2:03 ducks belorum meaning duke of battles
2:06 ambrosius began a campaign to drive the
2:07 barbarians from the east
2:10 back but by 517 there was a new king of
2:11 the britons
2:15 arthur if arthur was ducks belorum
2:17 around 517
2:19 as the easter anal suggest that it is
2:21 extremely likely that his home base was here
2:22 here
2:35 arthur was most likely to have come from
2:38 damnonia with tintagel as its royal capital
2:39 capital
2:41 he would have had his apprenticeship
2:43 under ambrosius and learned kingship
2:44 from him
2:46 domnonia was still by far the richest
2:50 kingdom when arthur took the crown
2:53 as the romans left britain so too did
2:56 the use of currency for trade
2:58 following this a barter system was
3:00 revived and instead
3:02 of money high status was commonly expressed
3:03 expressed
3:05 through the possession of luxury goods
3:16 imported mediterranean pottery became
3:18 one of the predominant icons of royalty
3:20 and wealth
3:22 and through archaeological studies the
3:24 places of power and affluence in dark
3:27 age britain can be traced
3:30 at tintagel more expensive mediterranean pottery
3:31 pottery
3:33 was found at the one site than the rest
3:41 geoffrey of monmouth writing in 1132
3:43 described tintagel as where arthur was
3:50 the description of the dark age
3:52 settlement of tin tattle provided by jeffrey
3:53 jeffrey
3:55 was shown by recent excavations to be
3:57 unusually accurate
4:00 jeffrey visited tintagel in 1120 and
4:01 none of these buildings would be
4:03 invisible at the time
4:06 if jeffrey was right about tintagil was
4:13 recent excavations on tintagel island
4:14 have discovered
4:17 further evidence for arthur's kingship
4:20 in 1998 a sixth century stone was uncovered
4:21 uncovered
4:23 bearing the inscription of the name autognu
4:24 autognu
4:27 a possible reference to arthur
4:30 the latin inscription artognov can be
4:32 translated into the british form
4:35 arthnu the beginning of which means the bear
4:35 bear
4:39 in welsh could this be a connection with
4:41 the bear that the monk gildas mentions
4:43 in his book of the dark age british kings
4:49 this evidence comes from the right
4:52 kingdom the right royal stronghold
4:54 the right social class and the right
4:56 time for arthur
4:58 the discovery of the earth new stone
5:00 brought further attention to the fact
5:02 that in the 6th century tintangel was a
5:05 very high status royal household
5:07 from which a dynasty of literate kings
5:22 although tintagel may not have been
5:24 camelot it is possible that the story of
5:27 the round table had its origins here
5:28 arthur would invite his celtic
5:30 chieftains to tintagel
5:32 to offer them luxury goods in exchange
5:34 for help in fighting battles
5:36 the round table became a metaphor for
5:38 fair trade
5:46 it may be clear that arthur's base was
5:48 in west amnonia
5:50 however there is no evidence to suggest
5:53 that he held permanent residence here
5:55 the search for camelot takes us to
6:03 kylian was described by sir thomas
6:05 mallory as camelot
6:08 in his book le mot de arthur however the
6:10 medieval writers had got the wrong idea
6:13 as to what camelot was
6:15 camelot was not a many spired capital
6:17 city built on the riches of crusade and conquest
6:19 conquest
6:21 rather it was a mobile royal court of
6:31 if camelot was mobile then it would
6:34 explain how difficult it is to pin down
6:36 some critics argue that camelot never existed
6:37 existed
6:39 the word camelot may have come from the
6:42 old british war god camulus
6:44 may have survived from iron age times
6:45 meaning little more
6:55 after his early career in damnonia king
6:56 arthur was crowned
6:58 leader of the britons here at kyleon by
7:00 bishop dubricus
7:02 this is what geoffrey of monmouth tells
7:03 us but is
7:06 corroborated by local tradition and
7:08 archaeological evidence
7:10 it was this coronation that marked the
7:11 beginning of the campaign
7:17 the saxons were still moving westwards
7:18 into britain unchecked
7:21 ambrosius work in unifying the britons
7:23 was carried forward by arthur
7:25 for the first time the british rode
7:28 forth to meet the saxons in full strength
7:38 the dark age site of south cadbury is
7:39 thought to have been of great importance
7:48 this is south cadbury castle we know it
7:50 was occupied during the time of king arthur
7:51 arthur
7:53 what's interesting about south cadbury
7:54 is that it was five
7:56 times larger than any other dark age
7:58 fortress this
7:59 gave it the capacity to hold huge
8:05 this is exactly what arthur needed as
8:06 leader of the britons
8:08 a safe gathering point near to the saxon
8:10 territory was critical
8:18 it was likely that tribes would muster
8:20 here before march into battle alongside
8:21 king arthur
8:23 there would be food and music provided
8:34 archaeological evidence has shown that
8:36 these defenses were re-fortified around 470.
8:38 470.
8:40 this suggests that ambrosius knew the
8:41 importance of this site in his campaign
8:43 against the saxons
8:45 under the leadership of king arthur
8:47 south cadbury was used as a rally point
8:48 for the british armies
8:55 the journey from south cadbury to mount
8:58 baden was about three days ride
9:00 this was a relatively short journey by
9:08 battles in the dark ages were usually
9:10 fought at the ford or cross end of a river
9:12 river
9:15 this is salisbury hill where the river
9:17 avon is crossed by the roman road foss way
9:18 way
9:20 it is at this location which is the most
9:26 it is very difficult to say exactly how
9:37 the battle of baden was fought
9:39 perhaps the celtic heroes faced the
9:41 saxons in single combat
9:42 king arthur with his great sword
9:45 single-handedly slaying the finest saxon
9:47 warriors of the age
9:48 perhaps an infantry force and celts
9:51 marched in formation down mount baden
9:53 whilst cavalry units terrorized the
10:00 arthur became the most renowned hero of
10:01 his age after winning this great conflict
10:02 conflict
10:04 and the change came over britain as a
10:07 result the saxons were now confined to
10:11 baron was the biggest victory the
10:14 british had against the invaders
10:16 according to the right to gildas there
10:17 was a period of peace with the saxons
10:19 that lasted 20 years
10:22 afterwards now arthur's role would
10:23 change to that of peacekeeper
10:32 itself
10:35 britain was rich in kings each had their
10:37 own ideas for how britain should be led
10:40 and few could come to any agreements
10:43 for 22 years there was a golden age of peace
10:44 peace
10:48 stability and justice arthur and his court
10:48 court
10:51 visited the 17 known kingdoms of britain
10:54 solving border disputes bringing justice
10:55 to brigands
10:57 and attempting to cement the alliance
10:58 that had been formed
11:05 but alas this period of peace was not to last
11:12 the ruthless milegwin having murdered
11:14 his uncle to become king
11:15 seized the throne of the kingdom of
11:17 gwyneth in north wales
11:19 and started a rebellion against the high king
11:24 king arthur receiving word in the south
11:26 assembled his army and rode north to
11:28 gwyneth to end this threat
11:31 and quell yet another uprising but
11:36 it was not to be treachery was afoot
11:39 the easter annals described in 537
11:41 the battle of kamlan in which arthur and
11:43 madrid perished
11:45 milegwinn the arch-traitor sent his
11:47 ordovician warriors to ambush arthur
11:49 in one of the steep-sided valleys that
11:55 as arthur's army rode north to gwyneth
11:58 milgwin's men were waiting for them
12:00 this is the most likely location for the
12:01 battle of kamlan
12:03 where the river gamlan flows into the
12:05 river mautheck
12:07 milgrin would have waited in the forests
12:08 above the valley
12:10 and as arthur's troops and cavalry were
12:12 bottlenecked at the ford
12:57 the eastern animals tell us that arthur
12:59 was either killed or mortally wounded in
13:01 the battle with milgren
13:03 this is likely because in the following
13:05 years civil war broke out again in britain
13:06 britain
13:08 and chaos reigned as milgan took the
13:19 according to legend arthur was taken by
13:21 boat to the isle of avalon
13:23 where his wounds would be tended until
13:25 the time of his return in the hour of
13:28 britain's greatest need
13:30 in the dark ages glastonbury was
13:32 surrounded by marshes which would flood
13:34 and freeze in the winter this would have
13:37 given it the appearance of an island
13:39 some believe that arthur's body was
13:40 buried in glass debris
14:08 the name comes from celtic mythology
14:10 which refers to glastonbury as an island
14:13 surrounded by shallow waters accessible
14:14 only by boat
14:15 this would have been like this in
14:17 arthur's time
14:19 celts like to bury their dead on islands
14:21 because they believed that islands had a
14:28 it is not likely that this is the real
14:30 king arthur's grave
14:32 glass debris is too far from kamlan for
14:34 it to be feasible that arthur was
14:35 carried here
14:46 however at glastonbury abbey there is a
15:07 after a fire in may 1184 the abbey was
15:10 in desperate need of funding
15:12 so they began digging conveniently they
15:13 discovered an
15:16 iron cross bearing the inscription here
15:17 lies the renowned king arthur
15:25 this find was good for the british
15:26 monarchy at the time
15:28 arthur's prophecy of returning in the
15:30 hour of britain's need
15:31 struck great fear into the hearts of its enemies
15:33 enemies
15:35 it was also good for glastonbury abbey
15:37 raising his profile on the pilgrimage map
15:38 map
15:40 these all too convenient facts would
15:41 make us suspicious
15:43 about the authenticity of glastonbury as
15:45 avalon the discovery
15:48 was too well timed
15:50 the most promising candidate for the
15:52 real avalon is
15:54 with torn in galloway on the northern
15:56 shore of the irish sea
15:58 a church had been established there for
15:59 over a hundred years
16:01 and has been found to have had a very
16:03 unusual graveyard
16:05 this was likely to have been arthur's
16:06 refuge after his defeat
16:10 a short sea voyage from north wales this
16:11 special graveyard was found by
16:13 archaeologists on the isle of witthorn
16:16 to be from the time of arthur's death a
16:18 few years after kamlan
16:20 it is probable that this really was the
16:33 the evidence for the existence of king
16:35 arthur is ultimately inconclusive
16:37 yet from what we have seen it is certain
16:39 a dark age figure
16:41 united the britons against the invading saxons
16:42 saxons
16:44 and brought about a period of peace
16:46 after they were turned back
16:48 the strength of the celtic resistance to
16:50 the invaders
16:52 created a legend that has lasted for
16:53 many centuries
