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King Arthur is an important figure in
the mythology of Great Britain, where he appears as the ideal of kingship in
both war and peace. He is the central character in the cycle of legends known
as the Matter of Britain. There is disagreement about whether Arthur, or a
model for him, ever actually existed. In the earliest mentions and in Welsh
texts, he is never given the title "King." Early texts refer to him as a dux
bellorum ("war leader"), and High Medieval Welsh texts often call him an
ameraudur ("emperor"; the word is borrowed from the Latin imperator, which
could also mean "war leader"). The possible historicity of the Arthur of legend has long been debated by scholars. One school of thought believes Arthur to have lived sometime in the late 5th century to early 6th century, to have been of Romano-British origin, and to have fought against the pagan Saxons. His power base was probably in either Wales, Cornwall, or the west of what would become England. However, controversy over the centre of his power and the extent and kind of power he wielded continues to this day. Some members of this school, most notably Geoffrey Ashe and Leon Fleuriot, have argued for identifying Arthur with a certain Riothamus, "King of the Brettones," who was active during the reign of the Roman Emperor, Anthemius. Unfortunately, Riothamus is a shadowy figure of whom we know little, and scholars are not certain whether the "Brettones" he led were Britons or Bretons. Other members of this school have argued for identifying Arthur with Ambrosius Aurelianus, a Romano-British war leader who won important battles against the Anglo-Saxons probably including the Battle of Mons Badonicus. Other writers suggest that King Arthur should be identified as one Lucius Artorius Castus, a Roman dux of the 2nd century, whose military exploits in Britain may have been remembered for centuries afterwards. This is linked to a theory by C. Scott Littleton and Linda Malcor suggesting a Sarmatian Arthur, which was the basis of the film King Arthur. The obscurity surrounding Artorius makes this identification unlikely, as there seems to be little reason for him to have become a major legendary figure. Less usual theories include one identifying Arthur with Owain Ddantgwyn ap Yrthr, King of Rhôs, and that of John Darrah and Arthur Cummins, who propose an Early Bronze Age Arthur, circa 2300 BC. They argue that pulling a sword from a stone and an anvil is a metaphor for making a sword from ore and hammering it into shape on an anvil. Another theory proposes that the real Arthur was Artur Mac Aidan, a war leader of the Scots and Britons. By this theory, Artur was predominantly active in the region between the Roman walls—the Gododdin. Artur was never "king" per se, but rather the son of the Scottish king Aidan Mac Gabran, who ruled from about 574 AD. As claims this website ([1]), Artur led a loose coalition of the Christian Celts against their pagan invaders—effectively holding them off for about one hundred more years. However, his generation also included other people named Artur or some variant of the name, suggesting that it was first popularized by another—namely, our Arthur. In modern times, Mac Aidan's name is spelled Artuir. The late historian John Morris made the alleged reign of Arthur at the turn of the 5th century the organising principle of his history of sub-Roman Britain and Ireland under the rubric The Age of Arthur: A History of the British Isles from 350–650' (1974), even though he found little to say of a historic Arthur, save as an example of the idea of kingship, one among such contemporaries as Vortigen and Cunedda, Hengest and Coel. Another school of thought believes that Arthur had no historical existence, explaining that he originally was a half-forgotten Celtic deity that devolved into a personage (citing sometimes a supposed change of the sea-god Lir into King Lear) or a possibly fictive person like Beowulf. However, the Arthur of legend may simply be a composite of these figures; at the least, tales of the real Arthur's exploits may have been confused and merged with that of other war leaders of the time. Also, all these theories fail to mention that artur, arturus and arcturos, which mean "bear-man" in Welsh and Latin respectively (according to some) and "bear" in Greek (ancient and modern), could have been a nom de guerre used by the leader who fought against the Saxons, whose true name is lost to us (if he wasn't any of the above). Arthur first appears in Welsh literature. In a surviving early Welsh poem, The Gododdin (ca. 594 AD), the poet Aneirin (ca. 535-600 AD) writes of one of his subjects that "he fed black ravens on the ramparts, although he was no Arthur." However, this poem (as it currently exists) is full of interpolations, and it is not possible to decide if this passage is an interpolation from a later period. The following poems attributed to Taliesin are possibly from a similarly early date: The Chair of the Sovereign, which refers to "Arthur the Blessed"; Preiddeu Annwn ("The Treasures of Annwn"), mentions "the valour of Arthur" and states "we went with Arthur in his splendid labours"; and the poem Journey to Deganwy, which contains the passage "as at the battle of Badon with Arthur, chief giver of feasts, with his tall blades red from the battle which all men remember." Another early reference to Arthur is in the Historia Britonum, attributed to the Welsh monk Nennius, who is said to have written this compilation of early Welsh history around the year 830 AD. In this work, Arthur is referred to as a "leader of battles" rather than as a king. Two separate sources within this compilation list twelve battles that he fought, culminating in the battle of Mons Badonicus, where he is said to have single-handedly killed 960 men. According to the Annales Cambriae, Arthur was killed at the Battle of Camlann in 537 AD. Arthur makes an appearance in a number of well-known Welsh vitae ("Lives") of 6th century saints. For example, in the Life of Saint Illtud, from internal evidence apparently written around 1140 AD, Arthur is said to be a cousin of that churchman. Many of these appearances portray Arthur as a fierce warrior, and not necessarily as morally impeccable as in later Romances. According to the Life of Saint Gildas (died ca. 570 AD), written in the 11th century by Caradoc of Llancarfan, Arthur killed Gildas' brother Hueil, a pirate on the Isle of Man. In around 1100 AD, Lifris of Llancarfan writes in his Life of Saint Cadoc that Arthur was bettered by Cadoc. Cadoc gave protection to a man who killed three of Arthur's soldiers, and Arthur was awarded a herd of cattle from Cadoc as wergeld for his men. Cadoc delivered them as demanded, but when Arthur took possession of the animals, they were transformed into bundles of ferns. The likely original purpose of this story would be to promote popular acceptance of the new Christian faith by "demonstrating" that Cadoc, the Christian leader, had magical powers traditionally ascribed to Druids and of sufficient intensity to outsmart the temporal ruler, Arthur. Similar incidents are described in the late medieval biographies of Carannog, Padern, and Goeznovius. Arthur also appears in the Welsh tale Culhwch and Olwen, a narrative that is usually associated with the Mabinogion. In that work, Culhwch visits Arthur's court to seek his help in winning the hand of Olwen. Arthur, who is described as his kinsman, agrees to the request and fulfils the demands of Olwen's giant father Ysbaddaden, which includes his hunt for the great boar Twrch Trwyth described at length by the author. This may be related to legends where Arthur is depicted as the leader of the Wild Hunt, a folk motif that is also recorded in Brittany, France; Galicia, Spain; and Germany. Roger S. Loomis has listed a number of these instances (Loomis 1972). Gervase of Tilbury in the 13th century and two 15th century writers assign this role to Arthur. Gervase states that Arthur and his knights regularly hunt along an ancient trackway between Cadbury Castle and Glastonbury (which is still known as King Arthur's Causeway [2]), and that he with his company of riders may be seen by moonlight in the forests of Britain or Brittany or Savoy. Loomis alludes to a Scottish mention in the 16th century, and that many of these beliefs were still current in the 19th century at Cadbury Castle, and in several parts of France. Later parts of the Trioedd Ynys Prydein, or Welsh Triads, mention Arthur and locate his court in Celliwig, which is in Cornwall. Celliwig was identified by older Cornish antiquaries with Callington, but Rachel Bromwich, the latest editor of the Welsh Triads, matched it to Kelly Rounds, a hill fort in the Cornish parish of Egloshayle. |