Arthur: King of the Britons: Part I

The once and future king. These words still have the ability, even in the twenty-first century to conjure up visions of a bygone age. A king who wielded an enchanted sword; who had a round table with knights whose names still resonate in our minds; and who rallied the people to defend their country against the invading Saxons. But who was Arthur? Was he a King who tried to create a civilized society in a time history calls the Dark Ages? Was his name even Arthur? Perhaps it is impossible to answer all of these questions, particularly as the concept of Arthur as this heroic figure has embedded itself into the public consciousness in such a way that to suggest he was not as Thomas Malory wrote him often upsets those people who believe in the medieval King who tried to bring civilization to a Dark Age. In fact, Malory was not the first author to mention someone named Arthur, that distinction falls to a poem called the Gododdin which commemorates the Battle of Cartraeth where a warrior is praised for leaving his enemies for the ravens; “although he was no Arthur” which suggests that, in the oral tradition, legends of Arthur were already circulating. Other Arthurian chroniclers include Gildas, Bede and Nennius. Neither Gildas nor Bede actually mention anyone called Arthur by name although both mention Badon ascribing the victory to Ambrosius Aurelianus – Nennius, while concentrating on Merlin, does mention Arthur and credits Badon as Arthur’s victory.

However, Thomas Malory was drawing on other stories as well, mostly from a collection of stories known as the Vulgate Cycle, this drew on the work of Chrétien de Troyes and Chrétien himself drew on local legends from France and Brittany; as well as some tales from The Mabinogion. It was Chrétien who invented the name Camelot as well as the most famous of the knights of the Round Table, Lancelot. Malory’s Arthur comes from the stories that Chrétien told and is recognizable as such. But if we go back to the Welsh Legends, these portray a different Arthur, an Arthur of legend who bears little resemblance to the world of Plantagenet chivalry that Malory envisages. The Celtic Arthur has a sense of history and feels as though he really belongs in his world.

However there is one other writer whose influence on the Arthur Legend has possibly been the most profound and this is Geoffrey of Monmouth who wrote three hundred years before Malory. Geoffrey set out to write, or according to him to translate, a history of Britain from a mysterious book. Geoffrey entitled his book The History of the Kings of Britain which included a large section on Arthur and this was so popular that it was an instant bestseller. It was Geoffrey who created the fascination with Arthur and most of the myth.

But who was Arthur if Arthur existed? There are a number of contenders for the role. These we will be exploring in the next article.