Legend of Camelot

[Thadius]

Anyone recommend books/links to read to check up on the Legend of Arthur and his Knights?

 

[cHodAX]

If you want fiction then read the Arthur trilogy by Bernard Cornwell, they are 3 of the finest books you will ever read. The trilogy starts with 'The Winter King' and is then followed by 'Enemy of God' and 'Excalibur'. Honestly if you like fiction you can not go wrong with these books.

 

[Aferin]

Cornwell is good at the quasi-historical stuff. If can handle a classical(archaic) style of writing- Thomas Malory. of course a 'Google' will get you lots of bits

 

[Thadius]

I meant more of fact based stuff, like was there a Camelot etc?

 

[fenrisan]

The legend of King Arthur was invented by Geoffrey on Monmouth around the turn of the 12th Century, the book: History of the Kings of England is still available to read here and has formed the basis of the Arthurian and Camelot legends.

Many people believe that the legend was invented to provide a noble basis for the Britons following the withdrawal of the Romans and that the actual historical figure behind the legends was actually Aurileus Ambrosius, a roman nobleman or officer who came to Britain and established a base. Although not historically factual Valerio Massimo Manfredi's book The Last Legion provides a good read and an interesting look at Excalibur.

All this is not to say that the legend is not true, it is a history that people now believe in, just as the Midgard and Hibernian mythologies are. I personally think that this particular legend has endured for so long because it portrays values that people feel have been lost since; chivalry, honour and fraternity.

But then again it maybe because people like hacking up one another with swords

 

[cHodAX]

The legend of King Arthur was invented by Geoffrey on Monmouth around the turn of the 12th Century, the book: History of the Kings of England is still available to read here and has formed the basis of the Arthurian and Camelot legends.

Many people believe that the legend was invented to provide a noble basis for the Britons following the withdrawal of the Romans and that the actual historical figure behind the legends was actually Aurileus Ambrosius, a roman nobleman or officer who came to Britain and established a base. Although not historically factual Valerio Massimo Manfredi's book The Last Legion provides a good read and an interesting look at Excalibur.

All this is not to say that the legend is not true, it is a history that people now believe in, just as the Midgard and Hibernian mythologies are. I personally think that this particular legend has endured for so long because it portrays values that people feel have been lost since; chivalry, honour and fraternity.

But then again it maybe because people like hacking up one another with swords

That is pure speculation as is most of the information surrounding Arthur but Geoffrey of Monmouth did not invent Arthur, he did however greatly embelish the legend to ridiculous levels. There are texts that date back to the 9th century that mention a warlord who's name was Arthur or some version of the name Arthur and of course that was 3 centurys before Geoffrey of Monmouth was born. Cornwell actually mentions this in his books and lists texts that were wrote towards the end of the dark ages which greatly pre-date Geoffrey of Monmouth. All that said though it is certain that Camelot was a myth and there were no such thing as knights in Britain during the dark ages and also seems that the whole story surrounding Mordred/Guinevere/Morgana/Lancelot etc was made or borrowed and altered from other legends as well.

The only thing we know with some degree of certainty is that there probably was a warlord named Arthur or something close to that that who lived around 550 A.D. and held back the Saxon horde from western England and wales for about a decade, he wasn't a king and at most was some sort of military leader.

 

[Thadius]

http://www.electricscotland.com/HISTORY/avalon.htm
Quite interesting really

 

[Danhyr]

i have a book written in olde English by some monk....
found it in some 2nd handbook shop somwhere

Read the Lawheads Set....

fantasy fiction called the pendragon cycle... 5 books in all i think

Taliesin
Merlin
Arthur
Pendragon
Grail

I like these not a bad series..

Dan

 

[Merino]

http://www.electricscotland.com/HISTORY/avalon.htm
Quite interesting really

Interesting yes, but it were a lot more credible if they had done some basic research.
Quote: "Bard Taliesin gave a description of Avalon as 'insula pororum Fortunata' which in Old French translates to island of apples. The Bard spoke Celtic which is a form of Old German therefore the description he offered means island by the sea that has profuse vegetation and the inhabitants lived very long lives, in German."
Insula Pororum Fortunata is Latin, not French imo. And Celtic is not an indogerman language, and the Celts lived in Europe before the Germanc tribes came.

For an entertaining read try Marion Zimmer Bradley "The mists of Avalon". There is not much scientifically sound litertature concerning the Arthur saga, there seem to be a lot of different sources for parts of the myth, like the Parcival song from an unknown German knight. Maybe the myth is so powerful because there is not much historic evidence.

Merino/Yeyi

 

[Jupiter]

Arthur & Camelot are both myths. Celts & Romans were a far more advanced culture and civilisation than saxons. Indeed Celts had Kings and ruled most of Europe & Britain centuries before the first monarch in England. The arthur myth was developed to try and add some substance to the "bloodline" rather than the notion that the english monarchy developed from a band of peasants/slaves. That is why today if u mention the word celt people immediatley associate it with a red haired barbarian/caveman and if u mention Arthur...... u get the picture.... even they had a rupert murdoch back then

 

[Ezteq]

tbh i might look in to some english mythology books when i go to library this weekend its about time i started learning about my own history and stuff like that i find really interesting, good thread chaps thanks for sparking my imagination.

 

[Thadius]

It is nice to know about your countries past

Whats funny now is that there is a divide between different races even though in the not so distant past, every man and his dog lived and worked in Britain

French, Germans, Italians, Irish, Welsh, Scottish, Scandinavian, Danish

 

[mirieth!]

those cromwell books are ace. read the series like 4 times now. another one i really enjoyed (fiction again) is: the mist of avalon by marion zimmer bradley.

 

[Belomar]

Whats funny now is that there is a divide between different races even though in the not so distant past, every man and his dog lived and worked in Britain

...ok.