Untitled Essay Research Paper By the ninth

Untitled Essay, Research Paper

By the ninth century people all over were telling the fabulous tales and

romances about Arthur and his kingdom. The common people heard them sung

by bards, while in the court poets wrote different versions. In each retelling

the speaker would select certain details for emphasis and introduce new elements,

so that the story could be adapted to the particular time and audience. Although

most historians believe that there actually did exist an Arthur, they differ

on how major his role was on influencing society during his time.

To understand the most widely accepted view on when and

how Arthur gained fame, one must be aware of the historical time period

surrounding Arthur. The unity that the Roman government imposed on Britain

disappeared around 410 AD. In its place arose small villages whose rulers

struggled for political and military supremacy. Around 540, a Welsh monk

and historian named Gildas wrote in his book Concerning the Ruin and Conquest

of Britain that “The disasters that the British people suffered at the

hands of the Anglo-Saxons after the Roman withdrawal were clear evidence

that god was punishing them for their sins.” It was during these disasters

that the monk was referring to that Arthur held up resistance for the Britons

against the Saxons, at a time when Britain was constantly being threatened

by invaders. Through being the commander who routed the battles against the

enemy and thereby saving the south of Britain from distruction of the Saxons,

“Arthur became the image of the hero and savior whose death people refused

to believe in and whose return was yearned for.”

The opinion that Arthur was a genuine figure in history,

though not the glorious King Arthur that most people know him to be, is largely

based on the writings of Nennius, a Welsh historian, who gave the first and

only historical account of Arthur’s military career in Chapter 56. The

passage starts with a date.

“After the death of Hengist, his son Octha came from

northern

Britain and settled in Kent, whence come the kings of Kent.

Then Arthur fought against them in those days, with the

Kings of the Britons, but he himself was the leader of the battles.”Here Nennius implies that Arthur was not a king but a general of some sort,

who helped the rulers of small British kingdoms organize themselves, combining

forces to fight against the Saxons. In another section entitled The Marvels

of Britain, Nennius calls Arthur a soldier: Here he tells of Cabal, the dog

of Arthur the Soldier, and of the grave of Anwr, the son of Arthur the

Soldier.

The passage then continues describing the twelve battles

that Arthur fought and won. The last battle, the greatest in the history

of the country, was at Badon Hill. It resulted in a total massacre of the

Saxons, establishing fifty years of peace from the Saxon’s horrible

brutality of slaughtering, burning and senseless vandalism (Jenkins 30-31).

Nennius’s historical account is backed up by a set

of Easter Tables. They were calculating tables as to when Easter would fall

out for the next given number of years and in them were noted events of

outstanding importance. In the annals were two dates regarding Arthur. The

first date is disputed: It is put as either 499 or 518 A.D. The first entry

reads:

“Battle of Badon, in which Arthur carried the cross

of our Lord Jesus Christ on his shoulders for three

days and three nights and the Britons were victors (Jenkins 28).” The second entry dated 539 reads:

The Battle of Camlann, in which Arthur and

Modred perished. And there was plague in

Britain and Ireland (Jenkins 28).”

These accounts of Arthur are not only the basis for his fame, but they also

show us the broad terrain of Arthur’s military activity. While the Battle

of Mount Badon was fought in Southern England, the battle of Cat Coit Celidon,

mentioned in the Historia Brittonum, was fought in Scotland. The implications

of Arthur’s widespread battles lead to two conclusions of him. One is

his political position as agent of a number of kingdoms, and the other is

his easy mobility of his forces (Alcock 18).

The mobility of Arthur’s army makes it nearly impossible

to pin Arthur down to a set region. However, there was an archeological search

for Arthur’s castle Camelot in southern Cadbury, Somerset, England attempted

by The Camelot Research Committee in 1966 to 1972. They discovered

“markings denoting the existence of an elaborate hill- fort. Enormous

concentric rings of earthen embankments covering over 18 acres outlined a

fortification that only a powerful warlord would have maintained (Schlesinger

107).” Unearthed artifacts enabled the searchers

to determine that the “castle” was active in the sixth century.

The architectural style resembled the style of Roman forts prio

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