I’ve long been interested in the subject of King Arthur (in Welsh, Y Brenin Arthur). I’ve read or seen most of the poetry, novels, non-fiction treatises, and films relating to Arthur and have visited all the Arthurian sites in Great Britain. I can recommend climbing Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, admiring the magnificent ‘round table’ on the wall of Winchester Castle, and gazing from the cliffs at Land’s End over the sea beneath which lies the lost kingdom of Lyonesse.
Much of that material is myth-making. But it’s my belief that there really was an historical person called Arthur, and that he was a British war leader based in the west of what is now England, who fought against the Saxons in the period following the withdrawal of the Roman legions.
The church annals
The Annales Cambriae (Latin for ‘Annals of Wales’) is the title given to a collection of Latin chronicles compiled or derived from sources at St David’s in Dyfed, covering the years 447–954. The earliest extant document is a 12th-century presumed copy of a mid-10th century original. They were primarily used to calculate the dates of Easter, but the entries for several years include side notes reporting important historical events. Two entries are of interest to Arthurian scholars.
“Year 72 (c. AD 516) The Battle of Badon, in which Arthur carried the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ on his shoulders for three days and three nights and the Britons were victors.” The site of Badon has been much debated but Welsh tradition aligns it with modern-day Bath. Baddon is, after all, the Welsh word for ‘bath’, and the city of Bath is called Caerfaddon in Welsh (Caer + baddon; the ‘b’ undergoes a soft mutation).
As for the unlikelihood of Arthur carrying a cross on his shoulders while fighting, and bearing in mind that this manuscript is a copy, the most likely explanation is that this is a mistranslation of the Old Welsh word ‘scuit’ (shield) for ‘scuid’ (shoulder) and that the cross was an armorial design.
“Year 93 (c. AD 537) The Strife of Camlann in which Arthur and Medraut [Mordred] fell.” The location of Camlann is even more obscure than that of Badon and has not been identified to my satisfaction. But all characters included elsewhere in these annals appear to have been real historical people, so there is no reason to suppose that Arthur and Mordred were not.
Gildas
The next contemporary Arthurian reference is in the monk Gildas’ De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae (Latin for ‘On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain’), which dates from the mid-sixth century. This was intended as a diatribe against the acts of his contemporaries rather than a historical record, but is valuable because it’s one of the few surviving records of the time.
The references to Arthur are suggestive rather than specific. Gildas refers to the ‘siege’ of Badon, which he said occurred in the year of his birth, and apparently inflicted a significant (if temporary) defeat upon the Saxon invaders. This is further evidence for the historicity of this event.
Unfortunately, Gildas doesn’t mention the names of any leaders involved in the battle, either British or Saxon. Elsewhere in his treatise Gildas refers to a British king as “thou Bear” (the Welsh for bear is ‘Arth’) but names him as Cuneglasse (Cynglas) and not Arthur.
Y Gododdin
Y Gododdin is a poem by the Welsh poet Aneurin. It describes a battle that took place at Catraeth (possibly modern-day Catterick in North Yorkshire) around the year 600 between the Northern British and the invading Angles. Aneurin is reputed to have been one of the few survivors of that battle, and was probably a bard at the court of one of the northern British kings.
The poem contains a reference to the warrior Gwawrddur, who “fed black ravens on the wall of the fortress, although he was not Arthur”. This may be evidence of the early spread of Arthur’s fame as a great warrior.
Aneurin also mentions the names of two warriors – Peredur (Perceval) and Owain (Yvain) – who appear as knights of King Arthur’s court in later mythology, as well as the name of his fellow bard Taliesin.
Nennius
By the time of Nennius’ Historia Brittonium (Latin for ‘History of the Britons’) dating from the early ninth century, we are straying from historical records into the realm of mythology.
The work describes Arthur as “Dux Bellorum” (Latin for ‘War Leader’), so he is not yet mythologised into a king. It describes a list of 12 battles in which he is supposed to have fought. Most are supported by little historical evidence, so may be entirely mythical, or may have been fought by other warriors and attributed by Nennius to Arthur because of his fame.
The final one, however, agrees with the historical record of the Welsh annals. “The twelfth battle was on Badon Hill and in it nine hundred and sixty men fell in one day, from a single charge of Arthur’s, and no-one lay them low save he alone.” The strangely specific number probably comes from the old Welsh system of counting: ‘three three-hundreds and three twenties’, indicating simply ‘a large number’.
Another says: “The eighth battle was in Guinnion fort, and in it Arthur carried the image of the holy Mary, the everlasting Virgin, on his shoulders, and the heathen were put to flight on that day, and there was great slaughter upon them.” This seems to be a garbled version of the Welsh annals’ report of the Battle of Badon. The Battle (or ‘Strife’) of Camlann isn’t mentioned.
Geoffrey of Monmouth
The last historical document I want to mention is Geoffrey of Monmouth’s De Gestis Britonum, better known as Historia Regum Britanniae, (Latin for ‘On the Deeds of the Britons’ and ‘The History of the Kings of Britain’ respectively). It was written around AD 1136 and he claims in his dedication that the book is a translation of an “ancient book written in the British language” given to him by Walter, Archdeacon of Oxford. Although accepted as a genuine history at least into the 16th century, it’s no longer considered reliable.
It’s a curious mixture of historical fact – such as the Roman occupation of Britain – and outright mythology like the founding of Britain by Brutus, great-grandson of the Trojan Aeneas. Its relevance to this article is that it pulls together the basic elements of the Arthurian story which later writers developed.
Here we first hear of Arthur’s father, Uther Pendragon, seducing his mother Igerna (Igraine) and the assistance and prophecies of the wizard Merlin. We also learn of Mordred and Guinevere, and of Arthur being carried off to Avalon after being mortally wounded at the Battle of Camlann (still remembered, if inaccurately). Interestingly, Geoffrey calls Arthur’s kingdom Leogria, and the Welsh word for England is ‘Lloegr’ to this day.
The once and future king
By the end of the 12th century the story of King Arthur, often referred to as ‘The Matter of Britain’, had clearly gripped the public imagination. The Norman poet Robert Wace added the ‘round table’ to Geoffrey’s tales. The French poet Chrétien de Troyes wrote his own series of Arthurian romances, which seemed to derive partly from sources (now lost) in addition to those of Geoffrey of Monmouth and Wace, and added the legend of the quest for the holy Grail.
And let us not forget the Arthurian tales in our own Mabinogion, a collection of medieval Welsh stories dating from around the 11th and 12th centuries.
In 1485 Sir Thomas Malory produced his famous Le Morte d’Arthur (Norman French for ‘The Death of Arthur’) derived from both English and French sources. Malory intended it to be a complete story of King Arthur’s life from conception to death. Although it has a French title it was written in Middle English. It gave us the famous phrase “Rex Quondam, Rexque Futurus”, which TH White eloquently translated in his 1958 masterpiece as The Once and Future King.
So for those who still doubt the historicity of the noble Arthur, beware. For one day he might return to rule over this island.
