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Essential Wessex: The Age of Arthur

Arthurian legend is not unique to Wessex, of course. Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and Cumbria all have sites strongly associated with Arthur. However, Thomas Malory explicitly identified Camelot with Winchester, while a fortuitous “discovery” of Arthur’s tomb by the monks of Glastonbury Abbey brought pilgrims (and their money) to the supposed site of his burial.

In a way, this is ironic, as Arthur, if he existed, almost certainly fought to prevent Wessex – that is, the kingdom of the West Saxons – from ever being created. Historians will probably debate forever whether Arthur was a real person, an amalgamation of several people, or an entirely fictional character. Whichever is the case, he would have fought on the side of the native Romano-Britons against the incoming Saxons.

The earliest source for the figure of Arthur is Gildas’s The Ruin of Britain. This does not mention Arthur by name, but does talk about a figure called “the bear”, Arcturus in Latin. The later Arthurian tradition dates back to Geoffrey of Monmouth, writing in the 12th century.

Since then, Arthur has been subject to a number of reinterpretations, from the Victorian romanticism of Tennyson to the grimy realism of HTV’s Arthur of the Britons. Real or not, he is an infinitely fascinating and adaptable character.

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