The legend of King Arthur?

Question

I was wondering what information you could tell me everything you know about the legend of king arthur, excalibur, etc =)

Answer 1

Since I've taught a college course on that subject, it would take quite a while for me to tell you all I know on it! : ) There are hints in writings not long after the fall of Rome that Arthur was a Romano-British leader who led a resistance to the Anglo-Saxon invasions that began about A. D. 450. The legend developed over several centuries, as one medieval writer after another added to it, naming Arthur's companions (Bedivere and Kay are the first to be named), making him a king, and giving him accessories the included a capital city, a special sword, the Round Table, and of course a lovely but tragically unfaithful queen. Modred is mentioned very early (called "Medrawt"), but not until well into the Middle Ages does he become Arthur's incestuously-conceived son. Lancelot is the creation of a French poet, Chretien de Troyes, who lived in the late 12th century. In the mid-to-late 15th century, Sir Thomas Malory collected and retold many of the French Arthurian romances in his Le Morte D"Arthur, which since then has been essentially the official or canonical version of the legend. Tennyson retold parts of it from a Victorian perspective in his Idylls of the King, and of the many modern novels based on the legend, T. H. White"s The Once and Future King sticks most closely to Malory while at the same time using Arthur as an allegorical personification of medieval English culture. My own favorite Arthurian novel, however, is Rosemary Sutcliff's Sword at Sunset, which imaginatively recreates the original Arthur, the Romanized Celtic warrior struggling to preserve Roman civilization in the face of barbarian invasions.

Answer 2

Of course not.



There is too much to tell.



For the legends, you might start at http://www.celtic-twilight.com/camelot/bruce_dictionary/index.htm . Also check out http://www.timelessmyths.com/arthurian/camelot.html .



For the historical Arthur you might start at http://www.britannia.com/history/h12.html .



There is not the slightest bit of evidence that Kay and Bedwyr were not historical knights of Arthur, but also no evidence that they were. It is very doubtful that Chrétien de Troyes invented Lancelot or very many of the Arthurian knights whom he names. Scholars sometimes tend to wrongly assume that the first mention of any character in surviving texts also tells when that character was invented. That is a fallacy, an argument from silence.

Answer 3

There are probably hundreds of stories about King Arthur. Start by looking him up through Google or Wikipedia.

There are several books that collect many of his stories, so I would find those and start with those.

'Le Morte de Arthur' is one along with 'The Once and Future King' - these are probably the most famous.

Good luck on your search, it should keep you busy for years.

Answer 4

Excalibur is in the lake with the lady

and has become a battle axe

given by Merlin to Galahad

Answer 5

king arthur was born in secret, he grew in secret, pulled a sword out of pure stone... became king... no one knows if he died...



oh wait the last one was merlin.



i think merlin and king arthur still exist somewhere, somehow.

Answer 6

"Everything I know" would be too much to write here. There have been multiple books written on the subject, as well as movies, etc. Read one, or go to wikipedia or google and look him up.

Answer 7

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Arthur.

I hope it helps.