King Arthur
From Medieval Wiki
By: Jemma and Leah
"In a few years there will only be 5 kings left in the world- the King of England and the four kings in a pack of cards."
-King Farouk, Eygptian king.
"The banners of the king advance, the mystery of the cross shines bright; where his life went through with death, and from death brought forth life."
- Venantius Fortunatus in Analecta Hymnica
"Justice is the constant and perpetual wish to render every one his due."
-- Emperor Justinian in Institutes
"War is the trade of kings."
-John Dryden, British poet, dramatist and critic
Contents |
Arthur's Family, Childhood, and Crowning
King Arthur was the son of Uther Pendragon and Igraine of Cornwall where they lived in post-Roman Britain (Britain after the Romans). Legend says that Merlin changed Uther into looking like Igraine's husband so that Uther and Igraine could have Arthur and Anna (Arthur's sister, some sources say). Uther had promised Merlin that when Uther's and Igraine's first son was born, that they would give him to Merlin. Merlin gave Arthur to a Uther's trusted friend, Sir Hector Anton (or Sir Ector) so that Arthur would be raised in secret.
One legend says, that when Uther died, Merlin put the sword Excalibur in a stone and on the sword was written, "Whosoever pulleth out this sword of this stone is the rightwise born king of all England". Arthur went back to fetch his brother's sword so that his brother, Sir Kay, could compete in a tournament and came upon Excalibur. He pulled it out easily and brought it to his brother. When he told his foster father and brother they were amazed and went back to the stone to see if this event that Arthur told them about really happened. They put Excalibur back in the stone and Kay tried to pull it out, but could not. Again Arthur pulled the jeweled hilt out. Merlin announced to everyone that Arthur was Uther's son and their new king! There was a lot of confusion and a lot of complaints, but in the end Hector Anton gave the young boy knighthood and Merlin crowned him as King.
Merlin the Wizard
Merlin was the most trusted and influential advisors to Prince Pendragon, Uther Pendragon and King Arthur, and he played a big part in Arthur's life.
As legend says, if it wasn't for Merlin, the Wizard who lives deep in a cave, King Arthur would never been born. Here is what happened; Saxons had overrun half of Britain and they conquered all the major cities. Merlin was a young teenager in Carmarthen in South Wales. His grandfather was the king of Carmarthen and his mother, was a princess, but she left the day he was born and he never met her. One day, Merlin was playing with his friends when Vortigern the British king's men came to town. Merlin did not know that they were looking for him but after a few minutes one of the king's men came over and told him that the King needed his help. He was surprised and went back to his house to gather a few of his belongings. Some legends say that he was magical and others say he never existed. One says that after they took him away, he met his mother where they had kept her all his life and then got tested to see if he was magical by closing his eyes and see if he saw any dragons. As time passed by he grew into a man, and he was ordered to make a monument, something that would be magical and last forever. He went out searching for something, enormous boulders. He shipped them back to Britain where he levered them onto the land on Salisbury Plain. He made a ring out of it, some boulders on top of the others, some standing, some on it's side. It was and still is a magical place and to some people known as Stonehenge. Some say that Stonehenge was built to house Prince Pendragon's tomb.
Merlin helped Uther wed Igraine so that Arthur could be born (See above section, Arthur's Family, Childhood, and Crowning). He also had an affair with the Lady of the Lake and taught her all his magical sorcerer powers. The Lady of the Lake soon realized that she was getting stronger then Merlin and because she did not want to be his prisoner for the rest of her life, so she sealed him in a cave for many years.
The Legendary Arthur
A lot of people say that King Arthur is a mythical character so no one knows when he lived. If he was a real person he would have lived somewhere during the 5th or 6th century.
Some legends say that King Arthur was a real person, but was not a king. Others say that he was not human, but that he was a god. Then there are people who think that Chretien de Troyes in 1170 C.E. made up most of the Arthurian tales, making King Arthur magical and romantic, by adding Camelot, Lancelot and the Holy Grail. And because that is one of the main stories in the Arthurian tales, people like to believe he exsisted and that he did all these great things that people said he did.
One of the more popular legends about King Arthur was the search for the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail (Definition of grail: a cup, plate or chalice) was supposedly the cup Jesus used at the Last Supper and the cup that was used to collect the blood and sweat that came from Jesus when he was dying on the cross. There is 2 main legends about the Holy Grail and who found it (or if they found it at all). One of the more recent ones was the tale of Sir Galahad. Sir Galahad was the son of Sir Lancelot and his ancestor was the first Grail King or first person to guard the Grail in a castle called Corbenic. When Galahad was just a young knight, he was able to pull a sword out of a stone and on the sword it said, "Whoever could pull this sword out of this stone was the best knight of the Round Table". Arthur suggested that Lancelot try to pull it out, but he couldn't. Other knights also tried, but when Galahad tried it came out easily into his hand. Sir Galahad got his shield from the White Knight who was guarding it and who had let it get stolen by a greedy king. The White Knight got it back and gave it to Galahad and Galahad's ancestor's (Joseph of Arimathea's son's) blood was used to make a cross on the shield. After getting the shield, Galahad set off to find the Holy Grail. Lancelot could not complete the Quest of the Holy Grail because of his adultery (definition of adultery: sexual intercourse with someone you are not married to while you are married to someone else) with Queen Guinivere and how that is a mortal sin. It is a shame that Lancelot could not find the Grail because the Grail supposedly healed the sick, granted worthy people youthfulness, and provided luxury foods of many kinds to anyone who was brave enough. Sir Galahad went with 2 companions, Perceval and Bors and found the castle Corbenic. There it is said that Galahad had a vision of Jesus giving him the Holy Grail and telling him to take it out of Britain because the Britains had not been faithful to God. Galahad did as his vision said and some say that caused good luck to go out of Britain and leave Arthur to his death. More information here on the Holy Grail.
There are many different legends about King Arthur as you can see but a lot of legends say he lived in a castle called Camelot with his wife Guinivere and his Knights of the Round Table. More about Castles here.
Guinivere and the Knights of the Round Table
The Round Table was basically a round table with about 25 seats (some say more) and usually the knights sat there, and the leader sat in the middle to talk to all of them. Guinivere, Arthur's wife brought it with her when she got married to him so that everyone would be seated in a equal way. All of the knights had their achievements, but some of the more well-known knights are Sir Lancelot, Sir Gawain, Sir Galahad, Sir Kay, and Sir Mordred.
Guinivere was a beautiful woman, queen of Camelot and wife of Arthur, but she was in love with Arthur's best friend and most trusted knight, Lancelot and he was in love with her. Arthur's illegitimate son and nephew, Mordred, saw Guinivere and Lancelot together and told his father. Lancelot found out and ran far away from Camelot. Guinivere was to be burned at stake, but Lancelot came back and rescued her from being killed. Arthur really did not want Guinivere to die, because he still loved her. But the rules are rules. They tied her up to a stake. One of his knights started to burn her and just as her feet were about to be burn, 6 knights came in, 5 knights held the Royal Guard while the 6th got to Guinivere and cut her off the stake. It was Lancelot that had saved her and they were off to Benwick, Lancelot's home. More information on Knights.
His Last Battle
King Arthur defeated many enemies and the Knights of the Round Table that had betrayed him. One legend says, in his last battle known as the Battle of Camlann he was fighting against Mordred whose father was the king of the Picts. Mordred was a good friend of Arthur's and turned against him. There in no certain evidence of how this happened or wether Mordred was really fighting against or with Arthur. Some people believe that they fought by a river and when Mordred killed Arthur he placed a giant stone in the ground and left.
Another legend says that Mordred was Arthur's nephew and son. Some say that Mordred's mother was Arthur's half-sister Morgawse, who was married to King Lot of Orkney. Arthur fell in love with Morgawse when he went to make peace with King Lot. Late at night, Arthur snuck into Morgawse's room and since Morgawse thought it was her husband, concieved Mordred with Arthur. To avoid rumors, Morgawse came back to Camelot with Arthur and Mordred grew up in Camelot and grew very mischievous. This legend says that Arthur found out that Guinivere had gotten away with Lancelot, he told Mordred to go after them. They were able to catch up with Lancelot and Guinivere and captured Guinivere, but let Lancelot get away. Arthur was happy and sad to hear this news, but there was a uprising in another part of the kingdom so Arthur went to put a stop to it. While Arthur was away, Mordred forged a letter saying that Arthur wanted him to be king and bribed noblemen into crowning him. Mordred told Guinivere that she must marry him, but since Guinivere was clever she sent a note to Arthur saying that Mordred had committed high treason (definition of treson: criminal disloyalty to one's country) and begging her husband to come home right away. Arthur had to came back to fight against Mordred, but was given a fatal head wound by Mordred. Some say that Merlin prophecized that the great King Arthur would be killed by Mordred.
Many years after Arthur died, Lancelot returned to England and spent the last few years of his life as a monk, now as a knight of God at Glastonbury. The last battle caused a lot of destruction, but the country was slowly recovering. Many kings came to rule, and many kings left. Merlin slowly went back to his cave, and slept a long time dreaming about Arthur, King of Britain and Camelot. Arthur was carried to Avalon by Morgan le Fay, a queen and the Lady of the Lake where Arthur is said to not have died at all, but still rests in Avalon to this very day.
Fun External Links
Fun games to apply Merlins magic to defeat creatures that are trying to kill the blacksmith, and save Arthur's life! Click Here!
Test your knowledge on the Medieval Times! Take the quiz here!
Search for some Medieval words in this crossword puzzle here!
Still interested in who King Arthur was? Go to this website! or this website!
Bibliography
Books:
Emma, Gelders Sterne, and Barbara Lindsay. King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. New York: Golden Books, 2002.
Lister, Robin. The Legend Of King Arthur. New York : Delacorte Press, 1988.
Websites:
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/1614/Story/Arthur/arth01.htm
http://www.britannia.com/history/biographies/guinever.html
http://www.britannia.com/history/h12
http://www.kingarthursknights.com
http://students.mountainstate.edu/students/rsarver/index.html
http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/kids/arthur_life.html
http://www.legendofkingarthur.com
http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0311785/id18.htm
http://www.britannia.com/history/arthur/rtable.html
http://www.timelessmyths.com/arthurian/grail.html
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06719a.htm
http://www.castles.me.uk/merlin-the-wizard.htm
http://www.mystical-www.co.uk/grail
http://www.timelessmyths.com/arthurian/quest2.html
Articles:
"Arthurian Literature." Dictionary of the Middle Ages. 13 vols. American Council of Learned Societies. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1989. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale.
