King arthur book

The Legend of King Arthur was made popular by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his History of the Kings of Britain written in 1135 AD. Chretien de Troyes and Malory later embellished Geoffrey of Monouth's story. These authors drew upon earlier histories including History of the Britons by Nennius, the Annales Cambriae, and the Complaining Book of Gildas, a Welsh monk from the 6th century, as well as local histories, poetry, Celtic mythology and traditions.

There are many versions of the Arthur legend. The following is a brief overview of some of the common elements of the legend. The bolded words are discussed below and go with the slides.

The Romans pulled their troops out of Britain in AD 410. With the loss of the Roman authority, local chieftans and kings competed for land. In 449 AD King Vortigern invited the Angles and Saxons to settle in Kent to help him to fight the Picts and the Scots. But the Angles and Saxons betrayed Vortigern at a peace council where they drew their knives and killed 460 British chiefs. The massacre was called the Night of the Long Knives and

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Rough Castle Roman Fort: Site of Camelot?

 

King Arthur probably lived, if he lived at all, in the century either side of the year 500. In popular legend he was a Romano-British military leader who fought against Anglo-Saxon invaders; met with his knights around a round table at a place called Camelot; proved his worth by pulling a sword from a stone; and invented chivalry. The wider picture in Scotland at the time is set out in our Historical Timeline.

Let's start with the obvious question: why does a web site about Scotland carry a biography of a possibly mythical person who everyone knows was associated with Tintagel in Cornwall? The answer is that there are scholars who believe that the story of King Arthur, and just possibly the real man or men whose lives formed the basis of the story, originated in what is now Scotland. To be fair, many others believe that King Arthur was British, or Welsh, or Roman. Some even believe that he was Persian: that he was the leader of a Roman auxiliary cavalry unit

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History

Arthur was the first born son of King Uther Pendragon and heir to the throne. However these were very troubled times and Merlin, a wise magician, advised that the baby Arthur should be raised in a secret place and that none should know his true identity.

As Merlin feared, when King Uther died there was great conflict over who should be the next king. Merlin used his magic to set a sword in a stone. Written on the sword, in letters of gold,  were these words: "Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone is the rightwise born king of all England." Of course all the contenders for the throne took their turn at trying to draw the sword, but none could succeed. Arthur, quite by chance, withdrew the sword for another to use in a tournament. Following this he became King.

He gathered Knights around him and fought back against the Saxons who, since the Romans left Britain, were slowly but surely taking the country over. After many great battles and a huge victory at Mount Badon the Saxons' advance was halted.

Arthur's base was at a place called Camelot. Here