Search results
Nov 9, 2024 · King Arthur, legendary British king who appears in a cycle of medieval romances (known as the Matter of Britain) as the sovereign of a knightly fellowship of the Round Table. It is not certain how these legends originated or whether the figure of Arthur was based on a historical person.
- Brythonic
Brythonic languages, one of two groups of the modern Celtic...
- Kids
King Arthur married Guinevere and held court at Camelot. He...
- Students
It is not certain how these stories originated or whether...
- Excalibur
Excalibur, in Arthurian legend, King Arthur’s sword.As a...
- Historia Brittonum
Learn about this topic in these articles: Assorted...
- Round Table
Round Table, in Arthurian legend, the table of Arthur,...
- Guinevere
Guinevere, wife of Arthur, legendary king of Britain, best...
- Historia Regum Britanniae
Historia regum Britanniae, fictional history of Britain...
- Brythonic
One school of thought, citing entries in the Historia Brittonum (History of the Britons) and Annales Cambriae (Welsh Annals), saw Arthur as a genuine historical figure, a Romano-British leader who fought against the invading Anglo-Saxons some time in the late 5th to early 6th century.
- Overview
- HISTORY Vault: King Arthur: His Life and Legends
We’ve all heard stories about King Arthur of Camelot, who according to medieval legend led British forces (including his trusted Knights of the Round Table) in battle against Saxon invaders in the early sixth century. But was King Arthur actually a real person, or simply a hero of Celtic mythology?
Though debate has gone on for centuries, historians have been unable to confirm that Arthur really existed. He doesn’t appear in the only surviving contemporary source about the Saxon invasion, in which the Celtic monk Gildas wrote of a real-life battle at Mons Badonicus (Badon Hills) around 500 A.D. 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.
The Myth of King Arthur
Later Welsh writers drew on Nennius’ work, and Arthur’s fame spread beyond Wales and the Celtic world, particularly after the Norman conquest of 1066 connected England to northern France. In the popular 12th-century book History of the Kings of Britain, Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote the first life story of Arthur, describing his magic sword Caliburn (later known as Excalibur), his trusted knight Lancelot, Queen Guinevere and the wizard Merlin. An irresistible blend of myth and fact, the book was supposedly based on a lost Celtic manuscript that only Geoffrey was able to examine.
He pulled Excalibur out of the stone, gathered knights at the Round Table and was trained by Merlin the Magician. Trace the myth and the legend of Camelot's King Arthur, who has inspired art and politics from medieval times to the age of Kennedy.
WATCH NOW
- 3 min
The historicity of King Arthur has been debated both by academics and popular writers. While there have been many claims that King Arthur was a real historical person, the current consensus among specialists on the period holds him to be a mythological or folkloric figure. [1] [2]
May 16, 2017 · There have been many suggestions over the years as to the best candidate for the 'historical Arthur,' but the most reasonable response is that he was based on a British leader of the 5th or 6th century CE. Early sources either name Arthur as the hero of the Battle of Badon Hill or describe a warrior with some similar attributes.
- Joshua J. Mark
A sixth-century historical account of Britain by a Welsh monk named Gildas is the only surviving source from Arthur’s time that references a powerful British leader who could plausibly be the hero of legend.
People also ask
Was King Arthur based on a historical person?
Where did King Arthur come from?
Who was the 'historical Arthur'?
Was King Arthur a real person?
Did King Arthur ever exist?
Was Arthur a great king?
The timeless popularity of the Arthur legend has overshadowed a central, unresolved question: Was there really a King Arthur, or at least a historical prototype upon whom Geoffrey’s hero is...
