Socyberty » Knights of the Round Table

King Arthur in Legends and Literature, Evolution of The Story

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 10:12:56 +0000

This is part 3 of my series “King Arthur in Legends and Literature”, please see part 1 and 2 here for your reference:

Wace completed his poem „Romance of Brutus” in 1155, twenty years after the “Historia Regum Brittanniae” was written by Geoffrey of Monmouth. We know already from the development of the Round Table that the “Historia” was meant to be a historical report. But what was the “Romance of Brutus” meant to be?

To find answers on these questions it is important to investigate the life of Wace and the political and social situation which he lived in. The following subchapters will give information about Wace and explain the circumstances of the 12th century.

About Wace

The English poet Robert Wace was born about 1100 at Jersey, a British island, into a noble family. Due to the position of his grandfather who was a chamberlain to the Duke Robert of Normandy he was well informed about the political problems of the 12th century. In his teens it was already clear that Robert was destined for the church. So he was sent to Caen and later to Paris to study.

Between 1130 and 1135 he worked for King Henry I as clerc lisant at his court in Caen. Because of his bad living conditions, as he got just the bare necessities from the king, he tried to improve his situation by starting to write for lords, who wanted to have Latin books translated for their understanding.

His most popular works are “The life of St. Margaret”, “The life of St. Nicholas” and the “Romance of Brutus”. As to the “Romance of Brutus” historians are not sure who it was written for, but Wace presented it to the Queen of England.

1174, Robert Wace died at Bayeux.

Britain at the time of Wace’s “Romance of Brutus”

The 11th and the 12th century in Britain were full of agitating events that changed nearly every aspect of live in medieval Britain. Beginning with the call for the first crusade in 1095 there were several social, structural and political alterations.

After the death of the English king Henry I in 1135 and already in 1134, his daughter Mathilda who was to be his successor in the Normandy had to fight armed riots against the King because the Normans did not want to accept neither her nor her husband Gottfried as their new king and queen. When Henry I died Stephen of Blois, a nephew of Henry I, took the absence of the heir of the throne as chance and rushed to England where he was crowned by the citizens of London.

He was protected against Mathilda by the English bishops whom he won because of his kind character, which is described as knightly, generous and good-natured – the extreme opposite of the deceased Henry I.

Stephen reformed several matters of public interest during his regency. For instance, he draw up a document promising the pope freedom for the church, and the end of the appropriation of the property of deceased bishops, which was a bad abuse that came up under the regency of former kings.

For the unity of Britain Stephen saw the necessity of a good relationship towards the high noblemen of Britain, therefore he made contracts with them to strengthen his position.

In 1137, he thought himself powerful enough to enforce his claim towards the Normandy which was by that time already under the control of Mathilda. The operation failed because Stephen was not able to convince the army of the legitimacy of his claims, so he made armistices with his enemies. As the result of Stephen’s weakness, the Earl Robert of Gloucester invaded northern England together with the Scottish King and an army of different groups of soldiers. In addition to this Mathilda invaded England from the south-west. Although Stephen was able to defend England from the Scots, he had big effort to prevent a Norman invasion. The powerlessness of the English king ended in an anarchy: The noblemen and high churchmen were the only ones who profited from this situation. While Stephen was in conflict with Mathilda the noblemen changed their loyalty depending on who was the best choice for the pursuit of their interests. They used the absence of the royal authority to circumvent the royal fortification-monopole, building their own castles from which they fought their private disputes. Stephen himself did also contribute to his fall by blaming his biggest allies, the bishops of England. At the end of his regency after he was for a short time held prisoner by Mathilda’s allies Stephen gave in to Henry II who forced Stephen to adopt him as his true heir of the throne but respected the regency of Stephen till the end of his life.

Feudal system

After the Norman Conquest that took place in 1066 class differences increased, leading to the development of the feudal system to which the whole medieval society adapted in the 12th century.

The feudal system was built on mutual service and obligation between Lord and vassal: The landlord lent land to the vassal and assured him and his family protection. On countermove the vassal had to work on the land of his landlord, to serve him and to go to war with his landlord.

Usually the landlords had several vassals who each of them, depending on the size of their land may have had their vassals either, whom they had to protect and who on their part had to serve them. Accordingly the landlords had often more power and were able to build up stronger armies than the king himself. On account of the distribution of power in the feudal system the king was also called chief feudal lord.

As a result of the feudal system the social structure arranged pyramidal: While the chief feudal lord/ king built the top of it, there were the poorest smallholders on the bottom. They were the biggest group, but had no power in medieval Britain, and were exposed to the despotism of the high noblemen. The middle of the social pyramid was the class of landlords/crown vassals, vassals and under vassals.

Knighthood

The Middle Ages were also the time where knighthood and chivalry emerged in Britain: Roughly speaking knighthood was the child of the feudal system. Since the system of mutual service and obligation included also support in event of war, a new social class formed. For that reason knighthood began in the 11th century as a class of professional warriors. Its members were vassals and came out of each social layer, but since knights needed big amounts of money to afford their special training and equipment they were, as a rule, just vassals of the upper layers, who were in the possession of a certain wealth. The vassals of the lower layers could usually not bring up the money to buy armour and weapons and rise to the status of knights.

During the 12th century knights started to organize in so called knight orders and knighthood came to its height: While the number of knight orders, like the order of the Knights of Templar, which was the first such military order increased, another aspect of knighthood namely “chivalry” developed. Whereas the term “knighthood” names the structure of knight orders, “chivalry” describes the ideals and the strict system of values that these orders were based on. Being a knight meant honesty as well as religiousness.

The religiousness of knighthood can be traced back to the monks of the cloister Cluny, who were strong believers and tried to live as religious as possible. The cloister Cluny perhaps had also strong influence on the crusades.

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Supernatural Subconscious

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 14:34:35 +0000

Magic and mysticism are important aspects of the legends of Arthur. Merlin and Morgan Le Fay are key characters in the myths and possess incredible and unexplainable powers. But not every magical occurrence is a direct result of human thought and will. Dreams play an important role in the legends. The subconscious workings of the minds of the characters reveal information about the future and sometimes prompt them in decision-making.

Geoffrey of Monmouth tells of Arthur’s battle with the Roman Empire as they try to reestablish Britain as a territory for themselves. As he marches into battle, he has a dream in which a dragon defeats a bear. He tells it to his followers and they interpret it “saying that the dragon represented [Arthur], but the bear represented some giant he was going to encounter” (Wilhelm 80). Later Arthur does indeed encounter a giant that has abducted the niece of one of his allies. As foretold in the dream, Arthur over comes the giant: “[Arthur] drove the whole blade against the skull-cover that protected the brain. Then the detestable one cried out and, like an oak uprooted by the force of winds, collapsed with a great crash” (Wilhelm 81). In this way, the dream was a prediction of the future.

Arthur’s dream of the dragon predicts the future through representations, but his queen, Gwendoloena has a more conclusive divination predicting the future in The Rise of Gawain: Nephew of Arthur. The queen says, “‘[T]here is at this very hour…a knight from Rome who is…on his way here. Have no doubt that you will find him pre-eminent in courage and prowess….His armor is impenetrable and no one withstands the blow of his right arm” (Wilhelm 392). No interpretation is needed here. The knight in question, Gawain, does indeed arrive the next day. Though Arthur challenged him in combat, he bested the king, and verifies the queen’s comment about his prowess and strength.

In addition to predicting the future, dreams also offer clarity to the present; they reveal the truth of situations. In “The Coming of Arthur” from Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, Guinever’s father, Leodogran has doubts as to Arthur’s lineage and so hesitates to wed his daughter to him. This hesitation disappears after a dream in which “…the King stood out in heaven, / Crowned” (Tennyson 17). This nighttime image of Arthur crowned in Heaven assures Leodogran that he is indeed the true king, and Guinevere is sent to Arthur. The dream does not answer his question about whether or not Arthur is the true son of Uther, but it indicates that he has Heaven’s blessing as king. This is enough of a commendation for Leodogran.

Dreams in the legends of Arthur are a source of mysticism that is just as important as the conscious acts of magical characters. Dreams offer predictions and prescience. They reveal the truth. In many ways, dreams represent the innate subconscious mystical qualities of the characters without supernatural abilities; the dreams give every character the potential to become a mystical figure. The legends are enhanced because more characters seem to be more than human in their abilities.

Arthur and Camelot Part One

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 16:04:53 +0000

Camelot, Idylls of the King: Image via Wikipedia

Having seen the first episode of Camelot, I could not help but ask what historical period they were attempting to recreate. The visual clues of clothing and places veered from the immediate post-Roman to the Anglo-Saxon (for the men) to perhaps the Middle Ages (for the ladies). Aside from that I got to wondering. Now I have seen the “Round Table” in Winchester (dated to 1275), but the current thinking is that the origin of the legend of Arthur is that of a Romano-Celtic leader.

The 9th century legend of King Arthur has long been held to be set in the southwest of England. However, for over the past decade, the Roman premise has led people to look elsewhere (and also to interesting department student common room discussions of my recollection). Academics, like Christopher Snyder, believe that from the Roman army leaving to the re-arrival of Christianity (5th and 6th centuries), there existed a sub-Roman (Romano-British) culture that resisted the Anglo-Saxon entrance in western Britain, an age known as the “Time of Arthur”. So far there are three Roman contenders: Colchester (Camulodunum,) Caerleon (Isca), and Chester (Caestra). It is said the location of Camelot needs to have three things in particular to be Camelot – a shrine to a Christian martyr, a “round table” large enough for 1600 knights and a place large enough for the Green Knight to ride.

Colchester:

The city of Colchester is one of the locations for Camelot. This is partially based on the name of the Roman town, Camulodunum, from the Celtic Camulodunon, “fortress of the war god Camulos”. Colchester is England’s oldest recorded town and has many Roman ruins both from its days as a 1st century fort and as a 2nd century “colonia”, a town for discharged legionnaires. It was first mentioned in print by Pliny the Elder in 77 yet it had already been sacked by Boudicea 17 years prior. Its Norman castle was constructed over the colonia’s temple of the Roman Emperor Claudius. In 2004, the city’s Archaeological Trust found the remains of a Roman circus (oval racing track). Colchester is also famous for the remains of its Roman gate. An engraved 6th century stone found in Tintagael, in Cornwall, says “PATER / COLI AVI FICIT / ARTOGNOV” – “Artognou, father of a descendant of Coll, has had [this] constructed”. Could this be a reference to the god Camulos? (Tintagel was the alleged site of Arthur’s conception and many artefacts from the site not only date to 500 but also demonstrate great wealth as a port town.)However, Colchester may have fallen to the Saxons in the early 5th century, a time when Arthur was said to be defeating the Saxons in battle.

Caerleon:

Caerleon is a suburban village of Newport, situated on the River Usk. It has in its history an Iron Age fort and a Roman fort, which has an amphitheatre and barracks, and was once known as the “City of the Legions”. Its Welsh name means “fortress of the legions”. Mallory says that Arthur was crowned by Dubricius, Archbishop of Caerleon and Geoffrey of Monmouth says Caerleon was Arthur’s capital.

Caerleon, or Isca Agusta, is second known port of Roman Britain. For a year, archaeologists have been excavating the area around Caerleon and have found a full port under land along the Usk that had been used for grazing, hence the finds were well-preserved. They found a quay wall, landing stages, wharves and dockside tracks. Leader of the Cardiff University team Peter Guest said: “It is extremely exciting. What we have found exceeds all expectations. It now seems clear that we’re looking at a new addition to our knowledge of Roman Britain. It seems to be a deliberately founded and made port structure that goes with the legionary fortress in Caerleon.”

The fortress of Isca Augusta was built around 74 for the Second Augustan Legion. It was named for the legion and for the River Isca (Welsh Wysg).The legions posted here spent 30 years subduing the native Celtic tribes. The fort had a civilian settlement that contained bath houses, marketplace and temples. Caerleon, was one of the three known permanent Roman forts in their colony of Britain, along with Chester and York (Eboracum). The army left Isca around the year 300 although there appears to have been Roman occupation for another 80 years. According to the ancient historian Gildas, the shrines of Julius and Aaron were at this Roman camp. In Medieval Caerleon, two chapels to Julius and Aaron, who were probably executed around 304, are recorded as being in existence. In the past, the locals called the amphitheatre, “King Arthur’s Round Table”.

Chester:

Chester was once Deva Vitrix, a Roman “castrum” (camp/fort) around which grew a “canabae legionus” (civilian settlement). The largest fort in Britain it had barracks, granaries, military headquarters, military baths, an elliptical building that may have been the governor of Britain’s headquarters, an amphitheatre that could seat 80,000 and a shrine to the goddess Minerva. In addition, it had access to the sea via the River Dee. It may have been named after the goddess of the river, deva meaning goddess, or the legion, Legio XX Valeria Victrix, who completed its construction (or it means “victorious goddess”?). Sometime between 383 and 410, the camp was abandoned by the military. After the Anglo-Saxon period began, c. 550, what remained of the town was known as “Legacaestir”, “City of the Legions”, in Old English.

The newest thinking on the subject on Camelot places the legendary kingdom in Chester. Chester, the “City of Legions” has an amphitheatre that is now thought to be either the “round table” or the area the Green Knight rode around. There is also an execution stone and shrines to Christian martyrs in this amphitheatre, which was fortified around the year 500. To scholars, the current hypothesis is that the post-Roman Romano-British leaders met in the ruins of Roman cities. The men under Arthur’s warlord leadership would have met in the ruins of the amphitheatre with the more prominent ones in the lower tiers and the lesser nobles in the higher tiers, so the theory goes. Besides, one of Arthur’s 12 battles over his 40 years as king was at Chester and Dark Age weapons have been excavated at nearby Heronbridge.

According to historian Chris Gidlow, author of Revealing King Arthur, “The first accounts of the Round Table show that it was nothing like a dining table but was a venue for upwards of 1,000 people at a time. We know that one of Arthur’s two main battles was fought at a town referred to as the City of Legions. There were only two places with this title. One was St Albans but the location of the other has remained a mystery. In the 6th Century, a monk named Gildas, who wrote the earliest account of Arthur’s life, referred to both the City of Legions and to a martyr’s shrine within it. That is the clincher. The discovery of the shrine within the amphitheatre means that Chester was the site of Arthur’s court and his legendary Round Table.”

In response to a doubt posted online, Gidlow has said: “… investigate what happened to the building after the Christians ended the games and the Roman Legions left. In fact archaeology shows it was then fortified by a British or Romano-British Warlord in the late fifth century, centring on a Christian Shrine. The martyrs Julius and Aaron were from the City of the Legion, the Dark Age name for Chester. The only fifth century British or Romano-British warlord connected to the area whose name we know was King Arthur. He was said to have beaten the Saxons at the City of the Legion. We raise the question whether these facts are connected, while looking at the total picture of the fascinating period when Celtic and Roman Britain gave way to modern England.”

In conclusion we have three Roman places that all have a track or amphitheatre that the Green Knight could have sued however only two have a shrine to a Christian martyr. As to Gidlow’s theories on the Round Table, an amphitheatre could be a plausible correlation – and two cities have amphitheatres.

http://www.the-orb.net/encyclop/early/origins/rom_celt/romessay.html

http://www.badarchaeology.com/?page_id=779

Colchester:

http://www.colchestermuseums.org.uk/castle/castle_vr.html

Caerleon:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/23/archaeologists-discover-roman-port-wales?INTCMP=SRCH

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/aug/12/caerleon-roman-archaeology-students-geophysics-buildings?INTCMP=SRCH

www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/roman

http://www.caerleon.net/mynde/

Chester:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1293657/King-Arthurs-Round-Table–table-Roman-amphitheatre-Chester.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7883874/Historians-locate-King-Arthurs-Round-Table.html

Colchester Roman wall: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Camulodunum_Roman_Wall,_Colchester.jpg

Isca (Caerleon) amphitheatre: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Caerleon_Amphitheatre.jpg

Diorama of the Roman castrum Deva Victirx that became Chester: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DevaMinervaPlan(bq).jpg

Chester’s Minerva shrine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Deva_minerva.jpg

Chester’s amphitheatre: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Romanamphitheatre.jpg

Arthur’s Childhood Name (King Arthur’s Nickname)

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 01:08:19 +0000

Arthur’s childhood name can be found in many tales and lore of the exploits of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. One such book is “Sword in the Stone,” which helpfully tells the life story of King Arthur as a boy. The shortened version of Arthur is Art, which rhymed with Wart, which became his childhood name.

So, I’ll state it clearly. King Arthur’s childhood name is Wart.