The Mammoth Book of King Arthur
Read The Mammoth Book of King Arthur Online
Authors: Mike Ashley
Mike Ashley
is an author and editor of over seventy books, including many Mammoth titles. He worked for over thirty years in local government but
is now a full-time writer and researcher specializing in ancient history, historical fiction and fantasy, crime and science fiction. He lives in Kent with his wife and over 20,000 books.
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Constable & Robinson Ltd
3 The Lanchesters
162 Fulham Palace Road
London W6 9ER
www.constablerobinson.com
First published in the UK by Robinson,
an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd 2005
Copyright © Mike Ashley 2005
The right of Mike Ashley to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any
form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-84119-249-9
eISBN 978-1-78033-355-7
Printed and bound in the EU
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
CONTENTS
Preface: Peeling Back the Layers
Section 1: The Historical Arthur
1 An Introduction to Arthur – What’s in a Name?
2 Before Arthur – The Roman Background
5 Gildas – The Man Who Knew Arthur
7 Arthur’s Battles – Seeking the Sites
8 The Welsh Tradition – The Other Arthurs
9 The Creation of Arthur – Geoffrey’s Version
10 The Real King Arthur – The Twenty Claimants
12 From Monmouth to Malory – The Crusader Dimension
13 Tristan and Iseult – The Romance Begins
15 Merlin – The Magic and the Madness
17 Lancelot and Guenevere – The Romance Ends
19 Malory – Camelot in a Prison Cell
21 Scribes of the Round Table – Modern Arthurian Novels
22 Visions of Camelot – Arthurian Cinema
23 Friend or Foe? – An Arthurian Who’s Who
24 Lost Worlds – An Arthurian Gazetteer
25 Further Quests – Arthurian Societies and Websites
TABLES AND CHARTS
3.2 The ancestors of Cunedda and Coel
3.4 The descendants of Ceretic of Strathclyde
3.5 The rulers of Dál Riata and the Picts
3.7 The rulers of Gwent and Glywysing
3.8 The rulers of Gwynedd and other descendants of Cunedda
3.9 The rulers of Powys, Gwrtheyrnion and Brycheiniog
3.10 The rulers of Dumnonia and Armorica [Brittany]
3.11 The ancestors of the Saxons
6.2 Chronology from Roman withdrawal to Badon
7.2 British Pendragons and Wledigs
9.1 An Arthurian chronology according to Geoffrey
12.1 Arthurian Literature and Events from Monmouth to Malory
12.3 Constantinople and Jerusalem
The Angevin connection
19.1 The sources for Malory’s
Morte Darthur
23.1 Malory’s Knights of the Round Table from
Le Morte Darthur
Maps
1 British Kingdoms of the Fifth Century
4 Suggested sites for Vortimer’s Battle Campaign
5 Possible sites for Cerdic’s battles
6 Suggested Sites for Arthur’s battles in Armorica
7 Suggested Sites for Arthur’s battles
9 Arthur’s Hunt for Twrch Trwyth
10 The Saxon Campaigns adapted from Geoffrey of Monmouth
PREFACE: PEELING BACK THE LAYERS
What’s it all about?
You may ask: why do we need another book on King Arthur? Aren’t there enough already?
It’s the very fact that there
are
so many that makes this book necessary. There is such a profusion of material that it’s all become a little confusing, and anyone trying to
understand the Arthurian world has problems knowing where to start and what it all means. Add to that books about the Arthurian legend, Merlin, Lancelot, Guenevere and the Holy Grail, and you have
a library of books, articles and academic studies vast enough to daunt even the most dedicated enthusiast.
In this book I will bring everything together – the facts, the theories, the legend – and try and make some sense of them all. I’ll even present a few theories of my own, and
provide maps, family trees and a chronology. That way not only can you see how I arrive at my conclusions but it will allow you to draw your own.
The book is divided into three main parts. The first covers the historical Arthur. It looks at the world in which Arthur lived (roughly between 400 and 600
AD
), and
explores what evidence has survived to prove or disprove his existence. It also looks at the many theories that have been put forward to identify Arthur and sets them against the historical
background in the hope that the real Arthur will stand out. You might think it ought to be straightforward. If Arthur existed, if he was as famous as he’s supposed to have been, whether under
that name or another, then
he’ll appear in the historical record, just like Alfred the Great or Canute or Macbeth, other great kings from a thousand years ago whose
existence is easily provable and not in doubt and whose exploits have become as much a part of legend as Arthur’s. But it’s far from straightforward and there’s a lot of work
needed to peel back the layers and reveal Arthur in all his glory.
The original Arthur dates back to those Dark Ages in the fifth and sixth centuries when the people of Britain were fighting for their lives against invaders, famine, plague and civil war. No one
had much time to keep written records, and those that may have been kept have not survived the centuries. The single sobering fact is that there is not one single piece of genuine historical
evidence to support the existence of someone called King Arthur.
Ironically, it is this lack of evidence that makes the search for the real Arthur so compelling, because there is a fair amount of circumstantial evidence to show that someone who was a great
leader must have existed. That someone was the man who defeated the Saxons at the Battle of Badon so decisively that the Saxon invasion was held at bay for at least a generation. Whoever did that
– and for simplicity’s sake I shall call him Arthur of Badon – had to exist because his victory at Badon is a certain historical fact.
I believe that the original stories about Arthur are based on several historical people, at least three of whom were also called Arthur. Their lives, which only show dimly through the veils of
history, soon became submerged into the oral tradition that created the Arthur of legend, a whole amalgam of historical and legendary characters spread across a wide period of history. That is one
of the reasons why there are so many theories about the real Arthur and why he is so difficult to pin down.
The second part of this book, therefore, takes us into the legend, the Matter of Britain as it’s become known. We follow the story of Arthur as it was created by the poets and bards
through the Welsh and Breton tales, into the Norman world, culminating in Thomas Malory’s famous
Morte d’Arthur.
This section looks at each of the legends in turn and sifts the
facts from the fiction. It will help us identify not just further aspects of King Arthur, but the world of the Round Table, of Merlin and of the Holy Grail. The Arthur of legend has been constantly
recreated
and reborn, a multiple personality composed of a myriad of historical Arthurs. This section retells his story, and those of his companions, allowing us to identify the
originals.
The final section looks at the modern interpretation of the Arthurian legend in both fiction and cinema. Although these works are pure fiction, many authors have brought their own interpretation
to the legend, advancing theories every bit as intriguing as those of the historical scholar. The twentieth century passion for fantasy fiction has seen a remarkable growth in the number of books
about the Arthurian world, from the pioneering works of T.H. White and Mary Stewart, to the blockbusters of Marion Zimmer Bradley, Bernard Cornwell and Rosalind Miles. This section includes a
“Who’s Who” and a Gazetteer to the Arthurian world to provide you with a complete picture.
Fifteen hundred years of legend is a lot to cover in one book, but before launching into the hunt we need to ponder for a moment the problems and pitfalls ahead.