Whoart thou
FOR years, historians have questioned whether legendary
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monarch King Arthur was Cornish or Welsh. But as we reported yesterday, the hero could have been Scottish.
Expert Damien Bullen has claimed that he was in fact a Pictish king from Aberdeenshire, saying a newly published manuscript backs up his theory.
But what do you know about King Arthur?
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WYNARCZYK presents 10 regal facts…
Whether he was mythical or
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real has been debated for centuries, but it’s thought the legend may have started with a man named Arthur who headed up the resistance of Britons against Saxons during the 5th or 6th century.
The legend spread with the
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publication of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae in 1130. It told the story of a valiant king who was betrayed before being killed in battle.
Writings then began to include
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additional details of the legend, such as the Knights of the Round Table, pulling the sword Excalibur out of a stone, and the Holy Grail.
In 1191, monks claimed they
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had discovered the bones of Arthur and Queen Guinevere in Glastonbury Abbey, Somerset. The pair were reburied in 1278 in the Abbey’s church.
Some historians say
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Arthur’s Camelot kingdom was in Devon, but others say it was Caerleon, south Wales. More have claimed it is in Winchester, Somerset or Cornwall’s
Tintagel Castle.
The knight Lancelot, who was
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King Arthur’s best friend until his affair with Guinevere, is a major character of Arthurian tales.
Merlin the magician was added
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to the legend by Geoffrey of Monmouth, who was inspired by the stories of a prophet known as Merlinus Caledonensis.
King Arthur was believed to
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have died in the early 6th century while fighting in the Battle of Camlann. But one tale says he was taken to the island of Avalon by three fairy queens and he now lies there sleeping until the country needs him to defend it.
In the 1980s, John Timothy
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Rothwell read a book about King Arthur and concluded that he was his reincarnation. He then changed his name by deed poll to Arthur Uther Pendragon and is now well known as a druid leader and eco-campaigner.
10 King Arthur has been the subject of many films and TV series. Actors who have played him include Clive Owen, Pierce Brosnan and Graham Chapman, who took the role in 1975 comedy classic Monty Python And The Holy Grail.