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Origin of the Legend of King Arthur The King Arthur of the legend is not that historical Arthur who possibly existed in reality. Some historians consider that the now-famous Arthurian legend should be traced back to an almost unknown figure called Riothamus who lived in post-Roman Britain of the 5 th century AD, he may as well have been called Arturius. A well known opponent to this is Geoffrey Ashe who disputes that Riothamus, a 5 th-century Britons king who battled on the continent, is the real historical protoplast of Arthur (Ashe 12). Others believe a historical Arthur may have been of early Welsh origin.
The development of the King Arthurs story is interesting. As any decent story, it gets better in the telling over the centuries. We can't answer with certainty the question, whether Arthur was a real man or not, . But we can consider that Arthur is a mixture of fantasy and fact. Written references to figures of Arthurian-type start with the work of Gildas, a monk of the 6 th century who wrote De Excidio Britanniae (in translation "Concerning the Ruin of Britain"). Gildas' drear description of fight against the Saxon tribes culminates with the part where the British "remnants" reunite behind a person called Ambrosius Aurelian us.
A Welsh monk Nennius who wrote around the year 800, was the first to refer to the King Arthur. In his Historia Brittonum, he lists Arthur's twelve great battles and victories respectively over the Saxons, concluding with the triumph at Mount Saxon. It was an only paragraph written in Latin and was considered to have been borrowed from an even older Welsh tale. This story may have been some centuries old and would have been verbally handed down within generations. Mordred's role in the legend of Arthur may also begin with Nennius, who makes mention of an Arthurs son, killed by his own father. By the twelfth century, the legend of Arthur had become rather popular.
William of Malmesbury wrote in Get Regum Anglorum of Arthur's prowess and bravery as a warrior. It is an embellished version of the Nennius and Gildas stories with one essential variation: in this story, Arthur's part appears to be not that of a sovereign, but of a general. Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae emerged about the same time as work of Malmesbury. Geoffrey asserted that his tale came from some ancient book handed to him by the Oxford Archdeacon. Such books existence cannot be disproved, but it is completely likely that the fantastic story of Geoffrey came from a collection of contemporary romantic narrations and his inventive fantasy. Short after Geoffrey of Monmouth's book came to light the Norman chronicler Wace translated the work into Norman French.
A set of Welsh manuscripts dated to this time period also reckon with the Arthurian legend. The tales themselves, at the same time, may be even older. Towards the end of the 12 th century, a writer named Walter Map took the book of Wace and of some others and romanticized them into French fiction. It was his remaking of the old tales that were mostly responsible for the legend we have nowadays. Just at the beginning of the thirteenth century, the parish priest of Worcestershire wrote the poem called "Brut." It was written in Old English, not as early in Anglo Saxon, he again generated the story making the King Arthur the hero we like to read about today. A single fact that didnt seem to get corrupted was the source origin of Arthur.
In every translation Arthurs Welsh and Celtic origin was generally recognized. Many different theories are available as to the Arthurs identity. Many articles, books, web-sites make the notional assumption that there must be a historical figure behind the Arthurian legends. Some historians attempted to make use of all the sources, as historical texts, which made mentions about Arthur including the Saints' Lives and some late poetry. But this theory can be criticized as these sources cannot be considered as in any case historically trustworthy. The add absence of Arthur from the early Welsh genealogies that has often been marked by Thomas does not contribute to the vision that there has to be a historical character behind the Arthurian legends (Thomas 389).
Works Cited Ashe, G. 1995, The Origins of the Arthurian Legend. Arthurian 5. 3 (Fall 1995): 1 - 24. Thomas, N. Arthurian Evidences: The Historicity and Historicisation of King Arthur. Durham University Journal 87. 2 (July 1995): 385 - 392.
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Research essay sample on Origin Of The Legend King Arthur
