Fall Asleep While Learning About King Arthur

In this episode of the I Can't Sleep Podcast, fall asleep while learning about King Arthur. Was he a real historical figure, or was he made up? Will you find interesting facts about Arthur in this episode before falling asleep, or will you drift off before anything is revealed? I guess you'll find out soon enough. Happy sleeping!

Transcript

Welcome back,

Or welcome to the I Can't Sleep podcast,

Where I read random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice.

I'm your host,

Benjamin Boster.

Today's episode is from a Wikipedia article titled,

King Arthur.

King Arthur,

According to legends,

Was a king of Britain.

He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.

In Welsh sources,

Arthur is portrayed as a leader of the post-Roman Britons in battles against the Anglo-Saxons in the late 5th and early 6th centuries.

He first appears in two early medieval historical sources,

The Annals of Cambry and the Historia Brittonum,

But these date to 300 years after he is supposed to have lived,

And most historians who study the period do not consider him a historical figure.

His name also occurs in early Welsh poetic sources,

Such as I Godethan.

The character develops through Welsh mythology,

Appearing either as a great warrior defending Britain from human and supernatural enemies,

Or as a magical figure of folklore,

Sometimes associated with the Welsh Otherworld Anwen.

The legendary Arthur developed as a figure of international interest largely through the popularity of Geoffrey of Monmouth's fanciful and imaginative 12th-century Historia Regium Britannii,

History of the Kings of Britain.

Geoffrey depicted Arthur as a king of Britain who defeated the Saxons and established a vast empire.

Many elements and incidents that are now an integral part of the Arthurian story appear in Geoffrey's Historia,

Including Arthur's father Uther Pendragon,

The magician Merlin,

Arthur's wife Guinevere,

The sword Excalibur,

Arthur's conception at Tintagel,

His final battle against Mordred at Camelon,

And final rest in Avalon.

The 12th-century French writer Trétien de Troyes,

Who added Lancelot and the Holy Grail to the story,

Began the genre of Arthurian romance that became a significant strand of medieval literature.

In these French stories,

The narrative focus often shifts from King Arthur himself to other characters,

Such as various knights of the round table.

The themes,

Events,

And characters of the Arthurian legend vary widely from text to text,

And there is no one canonical version.

Arthurian literature thrived during the Middle Ages,

But waned in the centuries that followed,

Until it experienced a major resurgence in the 19th century.

In the 21st century,

The legend continues to have prominence,

Not only in literature,

But also in adaptations for theatre,

Film,

Television,

Comics,

And other media.

The historical basis for King Arthur has been long debated by scholars.

One school of thought,

Citing entries in the Historia Brittonum,

History of the Britons,

And Annals Cambry,

Welsh Annals,

Saw Arthur as a genuine historical figure,

A Romano-British leader who fought against the invading Anglo-Saxons sometime in the late 5th to early 6th century.

The Historia Brittonum,

A 9th-century Latin historical compilation attributed in some late manuscripts to a Welsh cleric named Nennius,

Contains the first dateable mentions of King Arthur,

Listing twelve battles that Arthur fought.

These culminate in the Battle of Badon,

Where he is said to have single-handedly killed 960 men.

Recent studies question the reliability of the Historia Brittonum.

Archaeological evidence in the Low Countries and what was to become England shows early Anglo-Saxon migration to Great Britain,

Reversed between 500 and 550,

Which concurs with Frankish chronicles.

John Davies notes this as consistent with the British victory at Badon Hill,

Attributed to Arthur by the Nennius.

The monks of Glastonbury are also said to have discovered the grave of Arthur in 1180.

The other text that seems to support the case for Arthur's historical existence is the 10th-century Annals Cambry,

Which also link Arthur with the Battle of Badon.

The annals date this battle to 516-518,

And also mention the Battle of Camlyn,

In which Arthur and Medro,

Mordred,

Were both killed,

Dated to 537-539.

These details have often been used to bolster confidence in the Historia's account,

And to confirm that Arthur really did fight at Badon.

Problems have been identified,

However,

With using the source to support the Historia Brittonum's account.

The latest research shows that the Annals Cambry was based on a chronicle begun in the late 8th century in Wales.

Additionally,

The complex textual history of the Annals Cambry precludes any certainty that the Arthurian Annals were added to it even that early.

They were more likely added at some point in the 10th century,

And may never have existed in any early set of annals.

The Badon entry properly derived from Historia Brittonum.

This lack of convincing early evidence is the reason many recent historians exclude Arthur from their accounts of sub-Roman Britain.

In the view of historian Thomas Charles Edwards,

At this stage of the inquiry,

One can only say that there may well have been a historical Arthur,

But the historian can as yet say nothing of value about him.

These modern admissions of ignorance are a relatively recent trend.

Earlier generations of historians were less skeptical.

The historian John Morris made the putative reign of Arthur the organizing principle of his history of sub-Roman Britain in Ireland,

The Age of Arthur,

1973.

Even so,

He found little to say about historical Arthur.

Partly in reaction to such theories,

Another school of thought emerged which argued that Arthur had no historical existence at all.

Morris's Age of Arthur prompted the archaeologist Noel Myers to observe that no figure on the borderline of history and mythology has wasted more of the historian's time.

Gildas's 6th century polemic De Exido et Conquestu Britannii on the Ruin of Conquest of Britain,

Written with living memory of Badon,

Mentions the battle does not mention Arthur.

Arthur is not mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon chronicle or named in any surviving manuscript written between 400 and 820.

He is absent from Bede's early 8th century ecclesiastical History of the English People,

Another major early source for post-Roman history that mentions Badon.

The historian David D'Umville wrote,

I think we can dispose of him,

Arthur,

Quite briefly.

He owes his place in our history books to a no-smoke-without-fire school of thought.

The fact of the matter is that there is no historical evidence about Arthur.

We must reject him from our histories and,

Above all,

From the titles of our books.

Some scholars argue that Arthur was originally a fictional hero of folklore,

Or even a half-forgotten Celtic deity who became credited with real deeds in the distant past.

They cite parallels with the figures such as the Kentish Hengist and Horsa,

Who may be totemic horse gods that later become historicized.

Bede described these legendary figures a historical role in the 5th century Anglo-Saxon conquest of eastern Britain.

It is not even certain that Arthur was considered a king in the early texts.

Neither the Historia nor the Annals calls him Rex.

The former calls him instead Ducs Bellorum,

Leader of wars,

And Miles,

Soldier.

Details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of Welsh mythology,

English folklore,

And literary invention,

And most historians of the period do not think that he was a historical figure.

Because historical documents for the post-Roman period are scarce,

A definitive answer to the question of Arthur's historical existence is unlikely.

Sites and places have been identified as Arthurian since the 12th century,

But archaeology can confidently reveal names only through inscriptions found in secure contexts.

The so-called Arthur's Stone,

Discovered in 1998 among the ruins at Tantagile Castle in Cornwall in securely dated 6th century contexts,

Created a brief stir but proved irrelevant.

Other inscriptional evidence for Arthur,

Including the Glastonbury Cross,

Is tainted with the suggestion of forgery.

Andrew Breeze argues that Arthur was a historical character who fought other Britons in the area of the future border between England and Scotland,

And claims to have identified the locations of his battles as well as the place and date of his death,

In the context of the extreme weather events of 535-536.

But his conclusions are disputed.

Other scholars have questioned his findings,

Which they consider are based on coincidental resemblances between place names.

Nicholas Hyman comments that it is difficult to justify identifying Arthur as the leader in northern battles,

Listed in the Historia Brittonum,

While rejecting the implication in the same work that they were fought against Anglo-Saxons,

And that there is no textual justification for separating Baden from other battles.

Several historical figures have been proposed as the basis for Arthur,

Ranging from Lucius Artorius Castus,

A Roman officer who served in Britain in the 2nd or 3rd century,

To sub-Roman British rulers such as Reotimus,

Ambrosius Aurelianus,

And the Welsh kings Owein D'Anquin,

Anwen Gerd,

And Arthuus Abmurug.

However,

No convincing evidence of these identifications has emerged.

The origin of the Welsh name Arthur remains a matter of debate.

The most widely accepted etymology derives it from the Roman nomen gentile,

Family name,

Artorius.

Artorius itself is of obscure and contested etymology.

Linguist Stephen Zimmer suggests Artorius possibly had a Celtic origin,

Being a Latinization of a hypothetical name Artorius,

In turn derived from an older patronym Artorigius,

Meaning son of the bear warrior king.

This patronym is unattested,

But the root Artorig,

Bear warrior king,

Is the source of the old Irish personal name Artree.

Some scholars have suggested it is relevant to this debate,

That the legendary king Arthur's name only appears as Arthur or Arturus in early Latin Arthurian texts,

Never as Artorius,

Though classical Latin Artorius became Arturius in some vulgar Latin dialects.

However,

This may not say anything about the origin of the name Arthur,

As Arturius would regularly become Artur when borrowed into Welsh.

Another commonly proposed derivation of Arthur from Welsh,

Arth-bear,

Plus Gyr-man,

Earlier Arto-urus and Brydnig,

Is not accepted by modern scholars for phonological and orthographic reasons.

Notably,

A Brydnig compound named Arto-urus should produce Old Welsh Artgur,

Where U represents the short vowel U,

And Middle Modern Welsh Arthur rather than Arthur,

Where U is a long vowel U.

In Welsh poetry,

The name is always spelled Arthur and is exclusively rhymed with words ending in ur,

Never words ending in ur,

Which confirms that the second element cannot be Gyr-man.

An alternative theory,

Which has gained only limited acceptance among professional scholars,

Derives the name Arthur from Arcturus,

The brightest star in the constellation Boötes near Ursa Major or the Great Bear.

Classical Latin Arcturus would also have become Artur when borrowed into Welsh,

And its brightness and position in the sky led people to regard it as the guardian of the bear,

Which is the meaning of the name in ancient Greek,

And the leader of the other stars in Boötes.

Many other theories exist,

For example,

That the name has Masapian or Etruscan origins.

The familiar literary persona of Arthur began with Geoffrey of Monmouth's pseudo-historical Historia Regum Britanni,

History of the Kings of Britain,

Written in the 1130s.

The textual sources for Arthur are usually divided into those written before Geoffrey's Historia,

Known as pre-Galfridian texts,

From the Latin form of Geoffrey,

Galfridus,

And those written afterwards,

Which could not avoid his influence,

Galfridian or post-Galfridian texts.

The earliest literary references to Arthur come from Welsh and Breton sources.

There have been few attempts to define the nature and character of Arthur in the pre-Galfridian tradition as a whole,

Rather than in a single text or text story type.

A 2007 academic survey led by Caitlin Green has identified three key strands to the portrayal of Arthur in this earliest material.

The first is that he was a peerless warrior who functioned as the monster-hunting protector of Britain from all internal and external threats.

Some of these are human threats,

Such as the Saxons he fights in the Historia Bretonum,

But the majority are supernatural,

Including giant cat monsters,

Destructive divine boars,

Dragons,

Dogheads,

Giants,

And witches.

The second is that the pre-Galfridian Arthur was a figure of folklore,

Particularly topographic or onomastic folklore,

And localized magical wonder tales,

The leader of a band of superhuman heroes who live in the wilds of the landscape.

A third and final strand is that the early Welsh Arthur had a close connection with the Welsh otherworld,

Enwen.

On the one hand,

He launches assaults on otherworldly fortresses in search of treasure and frees their prisoners.

On the other,

His war band in the earliest sources includes former pagan gods,

And his wife and his possessions are clearly otherworldly in origin.

One of the most famous Welsh poetic references to Arthur comes in the collection of heroic death songs,

Known as the Gadaðin,

Attributed to the 6th-century poet Aneirin.

One stanza praises the bravery of a warrior who slew 300 enemies,

But says that despite this,

He was no Arthur,

That is,

His feats cannot compare to the valor of Arthur.

A Gadaðin is known only from a 13th-century manuscript,

So it is impossible to determine whether this passage is original or a later interpolation,

But John Cox's view that the passage dates from a 7th-century or earlier version is regarded as unproven.

9th- or 10th-century dates are often proposed for it.

Several poems attributed to Teleusin,

A poet said to have lived in the 6th century,

Also refer to Arthur,

Although these all probably date from between the 8th and 12th centuries.

They include Cædur Tirnan,

The chair of the prince,

Which refers to Arthur the blessed,

Prudhoe Annwyn,

The spoils of Annwyn,

Which recounts an expedition of Arthur to the other world,

And Marnad Vithyr Pendragon,

The elegy of Uthyr Pendragon,

Which refers to Arthur's valor and is suggestive of a father-son relationship for Arthur and Uthyr that predates Geoffrey of Monmouth.

Other early Welsh Arthurian texts include a poem found in the Black Book of Carmarthen.

Agirf a pothar,

What man is the gatekeeper?

This takes the form of a dialogue between Arthur and the gatekeeper of a fortress he wishes to enter,

In which Arthur recounts the names and deeds of himself and his men,

Notably Cædur Tirnan and Agirf a pothar.

The Welsh prose tale Colwhwc and Olwen,

Circa 1100,

Included in the modern Mabinidion collection,

Has a much longer list of more than 200 of Arthur's men,

Though Cædur Tirnan and Agirf a pothar again take a central place.

The story as a whole tells of Arthur helping his kinsmen Colwhwcs win the hand of Olwen,

Daughter of his Bathedon,

Chief giant,

By completing a series of apparently impossible tasks,

Including the hunt for the great semi-divine boar,

Turcs Twyth.

The 9th century Historia Britannum also refers to his tale,

With the boar here named Troind.

Finally,

Arthur is mentioned numerous times in the Welsh triads,

A collection of short summaries of Welsh tradition and legend,

Which are classified into groups of three linked characters or episodes to assist recall.

The later manuscripts of the triads are partly derivative from Geoffrey of Monmouth and later continental traditions,

But the earliest ones show no such influence and are usually agreed to refer to pre-existing Welsh traditions.

Even in these,

However,

Arthur's court has started to embody legendary Britain as a whole,

With Arthur's court sometimes substituted for the Island of Britain in the formula 3XXX of the Island of Britain.

While it is not clear from the Historia Britannum and the Annals Cambri that Arthur was even considered a king,

By the time Colwix and Olwen and the triads were written,

He had become chief of the lords of this land,

The overlord of Wales,

Cornwall and the north.

In addition to these pre-Gelfridian Welsh poems and tales,

Arthur appears in some other early Latin texts besides the Historia Britannum and the Annals Cambri.

In particular,

Arthur features in a number of well-known vitae,

Lives,

Of post-Roman saints,

None of which are now generally considered to be reliable historical sources the earliest probably dates from the eleventh century.

According to the Life of Saint Gildas,

Written in the early twelfth century by Caradoc of Lancrofen,

Arthur is said to have killed Gildas's brother,

Gwael,

And to have rescued his wife Gwynefyr from Glastonbury.

In the Life of Saint Caradoc,

Written around 1100 or a little before by Llyfrus of Llancarfan,

The saint gives protection to a man who killed three of Arthur's soldiers,

And Arthur demands a herd of cattle as weargild for his men.

Caradoc delivers them as demanded,

But when Arthur takes possession of the animals,

They turn into bundles of ferns.

Similar incidents are described in the medieval biographies of Carnog,

Padarn,

And Elflarm,

Probably written around the twelfth century.

A less obviously legendary account of Arthur appears in the Legenda Sancti Gesnovi,

Which is often claimed to date from the early eleventh century,

Although the earliest manuscript of this text dates from the fifteenth century,

And the text is now dated to the late twelfth to early thirteenth century.

Also important are the references to Arthur and William of Malmesbury's De gestis regium anglorum and Hermann's De miraculis sanctae mariae laudinensis,

Which together provide the first certain evidence for a belief that Arthur was not actually dead and would at some point return,

A theme that is often revisited in post-Calfridian folklore.

Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regium Britanni,

Completed circa 1138,

Contains a first narrative account of Arthur's life.

This work is an imaginative and fanciful account of British kings from the legendary Trojan exile Brutus to the seventh-century Welsh king Cadwallader.

Geoffrey places Arthur in the same post-Roman period as do Historia Britannum and Annals Cambri.

According to Geoffrey's tale,

Arthur was a descendant of Constantine the Great.

He incorporates Arthur's father Uther Pendragon,

His magician advisor Merlin,

And the story of Arthur's conception,

In which Uther,

Disguised as his enemy Corlois by Merlin's magic,

Sleeps with Corlois's wife Agirne at Titangel,

And she conceives Arthur.

On Uther's death,

The fifteen-year-old Arthur succeeds him as king of Britain and fights a series of battles,

Similar to those in the Historia Britannum,

Culminating in the Battle of Bath.

He then defeats the Picts and Scots before creating an Arthurian empire through his conquests of Ireland,

Iceland,

And the Orkney Islands.

After twelve years of peace,

Arthur sets out to expand his empire once more,

Taking control of Norway,

Denmark,

And Gaul.

Gaul is still held by the Roman Empire when it is conquered,

And Arthur's victory leads to a further confrontation with Rome.

Arthur and his warriors,

Including Kay,

Bedivere,

And Gawain,

Defeat the Roman emperor,

Lucius Tiberius,

In Gaul.

But as he prepares to march on Rome,

Arthur hears that his nephew,

Mordred,

Whom he had left in charge of Britain,

Has married his wife,

Guinevere,

And seized the throne.

Arthur returns to Britain and defeats and kills Mordred on the river Camblym in Cornwall,

But he is mortally wounded.

He hands the crown to his kinsman Constantine and is taken to the Isle of Avalon to be healed of his wounds,

Never to be seen again.

How much of this narrative was Geoffrey's own invention is open to debate.

He seems to have made use of the list of Arthur's twelve battles against the Saxons found in the 9th century Historia Britannum,

Along with the Battle of Camlin from the Annals Cambry,

And the idea that Arthur was still alive.

Arthur's status as the king of all Britain seems to be borrowed from pre-Galfridian tradition,

Being found in Colwix and Olwen,

The Welsh Triads,

And the Saints' Lives.

Finally,

Geoffrey borrowed many of the names for Arthur's possessions,

Close family,

And companions from the pre-Galfridian Welsh tradition,

Including Kay,

Bedwyr,

Guinevere,

Uther,

And perhaps also Caliburnus,

The latter becoming Excalibur in subsequent Arthurian tales.

While names,

Key events,

And titles may have been borrowed,

Brinley Roberts has argued that the Arthurian section is Geoffrey's literary creation,

And it owes nothing to prior narrative.

Geoffrey makes the Welsh Madrid into the villainous Madridus,

But there is no trace of such a negative character for this figure in Welsh sources until the 16th century.

There have been relatively few modern attempts to challenge the notion that the Historia Regum Britanni is primarily Geoffrey's own work,

With scholarly opinion often echoing William of Newburgh's late 12th century comment that Geoffrey made up his narrative,

Perhaps through an inordinate love of lying.

Geoffrey Ashe is one to center from this view,

Believing that Geoffrey's narrative is partially derived from a lost source,

Telling of the deeds of a 5th century British king named Rhyotamus,

This figure being the original Arthur,

Although historians and Celticists have been reluctant to follow Ashe in his conclusions.

Reviews

I wanted to believe in King Arthur but I fell asleep doubting his existence. His is a great story, a bedtime tale, perfect to put one to sleep!