King Author

The King with his Knights at the “Round Table”

King Arthur almost certainly is an idealized myth, a legend; not a historical fact. There was never a real “Round Table”, a knight named Lancelot, or even a beautiful queen named Guinevere, nor a magician named Merlin; at least not that were associated with an English king or knight.  Historical facts that point to a “genuine” Arthur may be few and far between, but it does not stop anyone from admiring “the knight and future king”.

A real King Arthur would probably have lived in post-Roman Britain. A time when there was a power vacuum which plagued Britain during the 5th and 6th centuries. In that era, the British had to defend themselves against several invading forces. The most troubling of these invaders were the Angles and Saxons from the north of Europe. It was during this period of fighting for control of Britain that the larger than life figure of King Arthur is said to have lived.

As a knight in shining armor on horseback or otherwise Arthur was and is a fantasy and creation of a French (not British) poet named Chretien de Troyes. He first wrote about Arthur sometime around 1170 AD.    In this way, de Troyes is guilty of creating the man (Arthur) who ultimately developed Camelot; he also created Lancelot as Arthur’s best and most trusted knight as well as establishing the need for finding a long lost religious artifact called the Holy Grail, which Arthur (as well as everyone else), supposedly thought was sure have some sort of magical power.   

I would bet that another of de Tories’ colorfully created characters in the story, Merlin the great magician who advised Arthur, had a hand in developing the Holy Grail yarn in the first place.  To my knowledge he never says as much but it would seem to fit the story line that Merlin's character might have been the one to recommend the search for the Holy Grail.  After all the Holy Grail was said to be magical.

Arthur's base was at a fortress or castle called Camelot.  His knights, including Lancelot, met their at a Round Table. They proceeded to carried out acts of chivalry such as rescuing damsels in distress and even fighting strange beasts. They also searched for the long lost treasure referenced above, which they believed would cure about anything; this endeavor naturally became known as the “Quest for the Holy Grail”, which can easily be a whole story of its own.

So as to sum things up, invading forces stopped attacking England, and peace eventually broke-out within the country and that’s when things turned sour for the kingdom that by then folks referred to as Camelot; civil war soon became a reality. In the final battle Arthur was fatally wounded. He was then set upon a boat and floated down river to the isle of Avalon where his wounds were said to be ‘treated’ (even though he was dead … may-be the wounds were just cleaned) by three mysterious maidens. His body was never found, yet many folks say that he rests in Avalon just below a hill top along with all his knights, ever-ready to ride forth and save Britain again.

Sources …

http://www.legendofkingarthur.co.uk/                                      http://www.caerleon.net/history/arthur/page2.htm        http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil:King_Arthur_and_the_Knights_of_the_Round_Table.jpg