King Arthur, page 25
One generation of twenty-five years: 516 + 25 = 541.
520–30s
Genealogies: Urien, Taliesin, Myrddin Wylit born.
Saints Dubricious, Illtud, Gildas, David, Cadog, Carannog, Padarn all active in South Wales.
531
Saxon emigrants from Britain used by Franks in Thurungian war and given land.
537
Annale Cambriae: Battle of Camlann. Arthur and Mordred fall Geoffrey of Monmouth: dates Camlann to 542
534–47
Reign of Maelgwn.
c. 534
Gildas writes ‘De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae’ forty-four years after the first victory of Ambrosius. A generation after Badon (twenty years) and in the time of the grandchildren of Ambrosius.
547
Maelgwn dies
550
West Saxons expand territory in South. Angle kings emerge in Bernicia, Deira and East Anglia.
550–600
Emergence of known historical figures and reliable sources.
570
Annales Cambriae: Gildas dies.
573
Annales Cambriae: Battle of Arfderydd where ‘Myrddin Wylit went mad’.
597
St Augustine’s mission to Aethelbert of Kent.
c. 600
Possible original source of Y Gododdin with first reference: ‘he was no Arthur’.
731
Bede writes An Ecclesiastical History of the English People using Gildas but also other sources.
c. 830
Historia Brittonum written possibly by Nennius. First definite reference to Arthur and connection to Badon.
c. 954
Annales Cambriae written at St David’s, Dyfed. First recorded date for Badon and first reference to Camlann.
Tenth to fourteenth century
Welsh legends and poems start to be recorded. A more mythical Arthur portrayed. Uthr, Eigr, Mordred and Guinevere connected to early legends.
Genealogical records start to be written down but don’t refer to Arthur’s family until after Geoffrey of Monmouth in twelfth century.
Eleventh century
Lives of saints start to include Arthur.
1136
Geoffrey of Monmouth writes History of the Kings of Britain. Introduces Merlin, lays out traditional family tree.
Twelfth century
Vulgate and post Vulgate romances.
Introduction of concepts now connected to legend: Round table, sword in stone, Avalon, Camelot, Lady in Lake, Lancelot, Morgan Le Fey, Holy Grail.
1485
Le Morte D’Arthur written by Thomas Mallory.
Legend evolves into modern times.
The table would not pass any test of historical evidence, but it does create a best-fit of all the sources.
So in conclusion: it is quite possible Arthur didn’t exist. There is certainly no current evidence to prove the case. Much of the evidence used to support his existence is just not credible. The line from Y Gododdin provides no more proof than a few people called Arthur lived in the fifth and sixth centuries. We are thus left with two main arguments. The entry in the Historia Brittonum over 300 years later; and the fact the legend persisted over hundreds of years. The last of these is the ‘no smoke without fire’ argument which, aside from being technically inaccurate, can easily be shown to be not the case in other legends. So we are left with the whole edifice possibly resting on Nennius, or whoever was the original author. Do you believe it is likely someone writing in the early ninth century would have placed a fictional character into the narrative? Or is it possible a fictional character could become historicised within the intervening 300 years?
My guess, and it is a guess, is that there was an original figure who lived between 450–550. It is possible he lived outside this time and was misdated by Nennius. However there are no likely candidates and no evidence to support this, therefore I would say it is very unlikely. We are thus left with our three possibilities: an early, middle, or late Arthur. An early Arthur would follow from the timeline suggested by the Gallic Chronicle, but would mean Gildas and Bede are mistaken. A middle Arthur would fall into line with Gildas and Bede and also a rough consensus of modern historians around a date for Badon of c. 500. A later Arthur would tie in with with the Annales Cambriae and saints’ lives.
In order to create a credible timeline that provides a ‘best fit’ of the sources, I’ve made some judgements about the evidence which I hope the reader doesn’t find unreasonable:
• The audience of the Historia Brittonum were aware of a historical Arthur.
• The Gallic Chronicle entry for 440 is to be trusted.
• The Adventus Saxonum described by Bede and Gildas is a separate event from 440 and occurred in 449–56.
• St Germanus of Man has been mistaken for St Germanus of Auxerre leading to the misdating of Vortigern by Nennius.
• Gwrtheyrn Gortheneu or Vortigern’s floruit is 440s–470
• The dating of Ambrosius militarily active in 474–91 by Bede is to be trusted.
• The chronology of Historia Brittonum places Arthur after Hengist and St Patrick around 490 but before Ida around 547.
• The dating of Gildas, De Excidio and Badon are roughly correct although open to interpretation but place Badon at least one generation before Maelgwn’s reign.
While I found this a useful exercise, on balance I would go for a middle Arthur; born before 480, coming of fighting age in the mid 490s. Fighting ‘at that time’ or just after the Historia Brittonum records the deaths of Hengist and St Patrick, which elsewhere are unreliably recorded for 488 and 493 respectively. Conveniently placing Badon 493–500, forty-four years both after Bede’s Adventus Saxonum and before Gildas writing his tract during the reign of Maelgwn 534–47. The ‘last but not the least’ victory. If his reign extended up to the 520s, this would have enabled him to interact with many of the saints associated with him.
Arthur has a Roman name because he likely comes from a Romano-British/Armorican/Gaulish father, although with a British mother. He is not to be found in Welsh genealogies because he doesn’t belong there, at least in none of the paternal lines or king’s lists. If he was, his presence would have been lauded and used for political reasons. It is very telling that Ambrosius Aurelianus, someone who we can be confident is real, is not in the genealogies either. A Romano-British fight-back would likely have involved the remnants of the remaining military forces. With the south east already fallen ‘to the power of the saxons’, the last command was the northern forces and it is reasonable to suggest a military or administrative command for Ambrosius, and later Arthur, rather than a royal one. I thus find it unlikely that any of the figures identified from the genealogies are our man. The original legend retains Uthr, Eigr and Medrawt and Gwenhwyfar, but doesn’t rely on any of this. Even if all these characters and legends were early embellishments it still wouldn’t necessarily throw out the Arthur in the Historia Brittonum. However, many of the concepts associated with the legend are certainly later additions and we must imagine our warrior without Excalibur, Camelot, Avalon, Lancelot or Merlin.
The battles have a distinctly northern flavour with Lincoln, Northumberland and southern Scotland likely locations. Badon seems an outlier but I would retain its association with Bath for two reasons. First, in the ‘Wonders of Britain’ section of the Historia Brittonum, Nennius refers to Baths of Badon. Second, I think it is telling that it’s later Anglo-Saxon name is Badanceaster. If, as is suspected, the Belgae used some form of proto-Friesian language, the Gewisse were Germanic mercenaries, or Saxon mercenaries were already prevalent in the south then it may well be the name Badon was in common usage long before it fell to the West Saxons after Gildas. A Romano-British military command based at York and covering up to Hadrian’s wall would be a likely scenario. Especially with London, the Saxon Shore command and the south east lost. Perhaps also active in South Wales through family ties and saints’ lives and a court at Caerleon. Thus with a court in the north and links to Cornwall, he wasn’t just a localised petty ruler.
I hope I have demonstrated the ‘when’, and at the very least, who he was not. One cannot simply pluck an ‘Arth-’ type name from the genealogies, or construct a theory by selectively picking sources we like and dismissing other more inconvenient ones. I hope I have also clarified the issues for the layperson and separated the wheat from the chaff. We can dismiss at least the fanciful theories and later embellishments. If Arthur did exist, he is the Arthur of the Historia Brittonum, which means he fought the Saxons in twelve battles in the time of Octha around 490–520.
It is possible, of course, that somewhere in Britain, buried in the earth, are coins bearing the inscription ‘Ambrosius Rex’ or perhaps ‘Uthr Bendragon’. Or a letter from Sidonius Appollinaris to Arcturus, or vice-versa, lying untouched in an old manuscript. A letter from the Pope hidden in some vault. An engraving on a tablet, ‘Artorius, Dux Brittoniarum’ thrown into a pit. Perhaps a tomb will be uncovered with an engraved cross that can be dated to the early sixth century. Maybe a stone, embedded in an old church or castle, its face hidden from view. The Latin or Ogham inscription will read ‘Arthur, dux bellorum, fought here and won in the year of Christ…’
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www.vortigernstudies.org.uk
Endnotes
Chapter 1: Roman Britain
1. Wilson, 1980: 271
2. Goldsworthy, 2010: 340
3. Salway, 2001: 230
4. Storr, 2016: 56
5. Goldsworthy, 2010: 341
6. Goldsworthy, 2010: 337
7. Guy de la Bedoyere, 2001: 239
8. Charles-Edwards 2014: 31
9. Salway, 2001: 277
10. Goldsworthy, 2010: 344
11. Thomas, 1981: 198
12. Goldsworthy, 2010: 338, 345
13. Charles Thomas, 1981: 274
Chapter 2: The End of the West
1. Wallace-Hadrill, 1999: 26
2. Wallace-Hadrill, 1961:2
3. Wallace-Hadrill, 1999: 22
4. Wallace-Hadrill, 1961: 29
5. Stenton, 1989: 12
6. Wallace-Hadrill, 1999: 66
Chapter 3: Contemporary Sources
1. http://www.vortigernstudies.org.uk/artsou/artsou.htm
2. Wood in Dumville and Lapwood, 1984: 8
3. Wood in Dumville and Lapwood, 1984: 16
4. O Croinin, 2017: 47
5. Dumville, 1999
6. O Croinin, 2017: 46
7. Bury, 1998: 192
8. Bury, 1998: 193
Chapter 4: Gildas, going to hell in a handcart
1. Lapidge and Dumville, 1984: 59
2. Lapidge and Dumville, 1984: 52
3. Morris, 1978: 28
4. Halsall, 2014: 55
5. Morris, 1978: 19
6. Lapidge and Dumville, 1984: 104
7. Lapidge and Dumville, 1984: 47
8. Lapidge and Dumville, 1984: 50
9. Lapidge and Dumville, 1984: 67
10. Charles-Edwards, 2014: 57
11. Lapidge and Dumville, 1984: 53
12. Lapidge and Dumville, 1984: 59
