Arthur, the rightful king

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Arthur, the rightful king It was a dark and stormy night at Tintagel , so the old tales tell, the night that Ygerne gave birth to Arthur, and Merlin spirited him away.....read more

Bedivere Therefore," said Arthur unto Sir Bedivere, "take thou Excalibur, my good sword, and go with it to yonder waterside; and when thou comest there I charge thee throw my sword in that water, and come again and tell me what thou there seest." "My lord," said Sir Bedivere, "your commandment shall be done." So Sir Bedivere departed, and by the way he beheld that noble sword, that the pommel and the haft were all of precious stones; and then he said to himself, "If I throw this rich sword into the water no good shall come thereof, but only harm and loss." ....read more

Bors Bors is a Grail Knight. After undertaking the Grail quest, Bors achieves the Grail and returns to Arthur at Camelot with the story..... read more

Elaine, The Lady of Shalott

But Lancelot mused a little space; He said, 'She has a lovely face;

God in his mercy lend her grace,

The Lady of Shalott.'

...read more

......read the full poem here

Galahad Galahad is a Grail Knight. Galahad was the son of Lancelot and Elaine. "Like Perceval in Perlesvaus, Galaad after achieving the adventures of the Grail in the mainland castle sails out to sea to become the king of an island, whither the grail is transferred. There in the island city of Sarras, Galaad is first imprisoned then crowned." ... read more

Gawain Gawain was nephew to King Arthur, by his sister Morgana, married to Lot, king of Orkney, who was by Arthur made king of Norway. Sir Gawain was one of the most famous knights of the Round Table, and is characterized by the romancers as the sage and courteous Gawain. Gawain's brothers were Agravain, Gaharet, and Gareth..... read more

Geraint Historically, Geraint was a prince of Dumnonia in the time of Arthur ( Dyfeint in Welsh/ Devon in English )....read more

Guinevere Guinevere, Arthur's consort, is most famous for her love affair with Arthur's chief knight Lancelot, which first appears in Chrétien de Troyes' Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart. This motif was picked up in all the cyclical Arthurian literature, starting with the Lancelot-Grail Cycle of the early 13th century and carrying through the Post-Vulgate Cycle and Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. Their betrayal of Arthur leads to the downfall of the kingdom.... read more

Kay 'In medieval Welsh law the revenue officers were termed Cais. The word is formed from ceisio, to ask, seek, search for, and is the linguistic equivalent of the Latin erogator, 'a person who asks' for revenue on behalf of the state. Like the erogator, the cais visited each district in turn to collect it's stated tribute...The term cais was commonly Englished as Keys or was translated by serjeant; and the serjeant made similar circuits, collecting cornage, cowgeld and maintenance.' ... read more

Lady of the Lake From one perspective the Ladies of the Lake were a community of otherworldly women guarding the Sovereignty of the land, from another they were an early Christian monastic community ... read more

Lancelot The earliest written Arthurian romances are a series of 12th-century poems by Chrétien de Troyes. 'Lancelot, The Knight of the Cart' introduces Lancelot, Arthur's chief knight and his rival for Guinevere's love...read more

Merlin Merlin is a both a druidic figure of great power wielding a shamanistic magic of the land and a civilised Romano Briton. His names include Merlin / Myrddyn / Merlinus / Merlin Emrys ( Ambrosius) As Merlin he is the teacher of Arthur, religious leader of the people, as Ambrosius he is the High King, martial leader of the people.....read more

Merlin The Magician Staff Prop Replica

Mordred The son of Arthur and Morgan le Fay. Modred in Tennyson the Idylls of the King ....read more

Morgan le Fay Morgan ('Born of the Sea') le Fay is first mentioned, as Arthur's elder half sister by Cretien de Troyes. In the Romances she is the daughter of Ygerne (Igraine) and Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall. In Welsh tradition she is the daughter of Avallach or Avalloc, king in the Otherworld. Morgan is one of the Ladies of the Lake ... read more

Owain In Welsh bardic poetry Owain is given as 'Owain map Urien' - 'Owain son of Urien.' He appears in Chretien de Troyes earliest romance, 'Erec,' as 'Yvain li Fiz Urien' .... read more

Perceval Perceval is a Grail Knight "Sir Percivale, Whom Arthur and his knighthood called the Pure." ....read more

Theoderic In the late 5th century the Visigoth kingdom in what is now western France, had deployed a substantial fleet in the Bay of Biscay. When the kingdom was conquered by Clovis the Frank ( Claudas in Malory) in 507 AD the survivors were pushed into Mediterranean Spain. The fleet lost its Atlantic harbours.....read more

Tristram King Mark of Cornwall sends his nephew Tristram to Ireland to escort his (Mark's) intended bride Issolde to Cornwall. On the ship back the Tristram and Issolde fall in love under the influence of a potion prepared by Issolde's mother for her wedding night. King Mark and Issolde are married as planned but the passion of Tristram and Issolde for each other cannot be long concealed.....read more

Ygerne Ygerne, mother of Arthur and Morgan le Fay, was the archetypal Lady of the Lake. According to John of Glastonbury Arthur's mother, Ygerne, was descended from the nephew of Joseph of Arimathea, HELAINS. ....read more

Arthur's Army The armies of the Britons were mainly cavalry those of the Anglo - Saxons, whether seaborne or land based, were infantry. Early Welsh poets tell of resplendent well -mounted sword -armed warriors fighting spear equipped foot -soldiers. One early poem specifically tells of the defeat of Arthur's horsemen by Anglo -Saxon infantry. Not until the late 6th C. does horse furniture start to appear among excavated Anglo - Saxon grave goods in Britain and then only as that of a leader who rode while his men marched...... read more
Arthur's Battles In -'Historia Brittonum' written C.800 Nennius lists twelve battles fought by Arthur. None of the places named is easily recognizable but they can be interpreted as describing a series of invasions or raids by the English as they sailed around the South-western coast of Britain, from Exeter round Lands End to Barnstaple Bay, where the final battle, the siege of Mount Badon, took place....read more
Arthur's Navy Geoffrey of Monmouth tells us that Arthur built, or assembled, a fleet of ships. From earliest times, the peoples of the southwest of Britain have been dependant on the sea, for food, for trade and for defence. .....read more
Beacons The island of Lundy was the centre of a network of signal beacons covering the southwest of Britain; Devon and Cornwall and the south of Wales as from the Brecon Beacons and the Preseli mountains. The author of 'Lundy, the Tempestuous Isle' recorded seeing fourteen lighthouses from Tibbet's Hill on Lundy........ read more
Camlann Early texts refer to 'The Battle of Camlann' where 'Arthur and Medraut fell' The battle was fought somewhere in the southwest of Britain. ....read more
Camelot Welsh tradition names Arthur's capital as Kelliwic ( -wic = settlement; Latin -vicus) and places it in Cornwall. The first written mention of 'Camelot' appears to be in 'Lancelot' by Chretien de Troyes (c1170). ....read more
Clovelly Dykes The iron age hill fort of Clovelly Dykes or Ditchen Hills stands on the Hartland peninsula, North Devon, England. While it commands a panoramic sea view over the Severn estuary as far as the coast of Wales, the fort has a more restricted inland view. ....read more
Excalibur, Forged on the Isle of Avalon According to Geoffrey of Monmouth Excalibur was forged on the Isle of Avalon by Otherworldly craftsmen. ....read more
The Holy Grail 'The Grail may be described as the dish from which Christ ate the Passover Lamb at the Last Supper; or as the chalice of the first sacrament, in which later the saviour's blood was caught as it flowed from his wounded body; or as a stone with a miraculous feeding and youth preserving virtues; or as a salver containing a man's head, swimming in blood. It may be borne through a castle hall by a beautiful damsel; or it may float through the air in Arthur's castle, veiled in white samite, or it may be placed on a table in the East, together with a fresh caught fish, and serve as a talisman to distinguish the chaste from the unchaste. It's custodian may be called Bron or Ansfortas or Pelles or Joseph of Arimathea or simply called the Fisher King. He may be sound of wind and limb or wounded in the genitals. The hero who achieves the quest may be the notoriously amorous Gawain or the virgin Galahad....read more
Lundy, Isle of Avalon
Mount Badon 'The twelfth battle was on Mount Badon in which there fell in one day 960 men from one charge by Arthur; and no one struck them down except Arthur himself' ...read more
The Passing of Arthur to Lundy, Isle of Avalon After being seriously wounded, by Mordred, at the Battle of Camlann, Arthur was carried off to the Isle of Avalon for healing. Leaving his faithful companion, Bedivere, to mourn his passing.....see the picture
The Sword in the Stone The Sword in the Stone is not Excalibur. Arthur was twice gifted magical swords, first the sword in the stone from Merlin, then Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake. Arthur received Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake after the sword from the stone, Merlin's gift, broke in battle......read more
Tintagel - The site of Arthur's conception and birth. So many pieces of sixth c. Mediterranean pottery have been found at Tintagel that they are termed 'Tintagel Ware.' "no doubt that Tintagel was indeed central to the economic activity of western Britain." .....read more

Arthur, the rightful king

Arthurian Texts

THE RETURN OF ARTHUR cycle by Alan Fenton