King Arthur Legend

The legend of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table is the most powerful and enduring in the western world. King Arthur, Guinevere, and Sir Lancelot , their names conjure up a romantic image of gallant knights in shining armour, elegant ladies in medieval castles, heroic quests for the Holy Grail in a world of honour and romance, and the court of Camelot at the centre of a royal and mystical Britain.

Geoffrey completed his History sometime in the 1130's, using earlier sources such as Gildas,Nennius, The Annales Cambriae and Bede. Only the work of Gildas, who did not mention Arthur by name, dates as far back as the sixth century, when Arthur supposedly lived; and none of these chronicles provides the extensive details concerning Arthur's life that Geoffrey gives us. So where did he get his facts? Geoffrey claimed to have had in his possession a "certain very ancient book written in the British language." Unfortunately, this book has never been found, and as the centuries progressed its very existence was called into question. But would Geoffrey make any of his History up? And if so, why?

That's exactly what King Arthur is: legendary.Over the cenAlas, thturies, an extraordinary corpus of art and literature has grown up around this mythic figure--hundreds of books, poems, films and comics have told his story. It might be reasonable to assume that these tales are based on at least a kernel of fact. But the truth is that, as yet, no one has been able to offer any conclusive proof that a real, historical, human King Arthur ever existed in any incarnation or by any name.

The idea that Arthur was not a historical king has not always been prevalent. For several hundred years, particularly among late medieval British leaders, King Arthur enjoyed a respected, even exalted place in history. But that place rested on the shaky foundation of The History of the Kings of Britain, an ambitious chronicle by a monk of Welsh origins, Geoffrey of Monmouth. Although not the earliest existing source that mentions Arthur, it is the first to identify him as a high king from Britain's past.

In his History, Geoffrey sets forth Arthur's heritage, birth, childhood, ascension to the throne, military conquests, international relations, and death. He places Arthur's life in a span of time ranging from the late fifth century to 542, when the king was mortally wounded in his last, tragic battle. He names Arthur's family and associates and relates their deeds and backgrounds. It is the story set forth in this work that became the basis of the Arthurian legend as expounded upon by such literary greats as Chrétien de Troyes and Thomas Malory.