And even though the authors likely have exagerrated his deeds (killing 960 men single-handedly, for example), Arthur is likely to have been a bona fide war hero, a man who led his countrymen to victory time and again. It is certain that the Battle of Badon Hill, wherever and whenever it was, set the Saxon occupation back for a good many years. Whether Arthur fought at the battle is still not proved, but is generally believed.
Arthur was conceived amidst a war and was mortally wounded in a particularly bloody battle. His life was full of battle; it was the word of the times.
But was he a king in the traditional sense? The legends name him High King of Britain, a title held by his father, Uther Pendragon, and his uncle, Ambrosius Aurelianus. Noted historian Geoffrey Ashe identifies Arthur with Riothamus, who was called the King of the Britons even though he operated mostly in Gaul (Breton territory). A recent book by Graham Phillips and Martin Keatman identifies Arthur as the King of Powys and Gwynedd, two powerful kingdoms in Wales. The northern tradition has Arthur king of some or all of Scotland.
But these identifications would seem to point toward a man who held regional sway but not national advantage.
Beginning with Geoffrey of Monmouth, we see authors embellishing the tales to fit their own purposes. In Geoffrey, Arthur has a magical sword, Caliburn, and a powerful fortune-teller on his side, Merlin. Geoffrey tells us that Arthur conquers half the known world, including defeating a Roman emperor along the way. Much of Geoffrey has been proven to have been made up; is the rest fiction as well?
A conclusion can probably not be made on this subject because the evidence is just too sketchy. Arthur's being a battle commander is somewhat easier to prove, but again we suffer from too little reliable information.
Explorations in Arthurian Legends
The legends tell us that Arthur was a wise and powerful king, who ruled from a giant and glorious castle and who commanded the loyalty of hundreds of men.
First and foremost of these followers were the Knights of the Round Table. That the greatest knight in skill of arms, Lancelot, pledged his loyalty to Arthur is testament to the fact that the king was worthy of such admiration, both as a king and as a warrior.
For war was a way of life in Arthur's day. Just after he pulled the Sword from the Stone, he hurried to Bedegraine and defeated a rogue band of 11 powerful men who had rebelled against his leadership.
He faced constant pressure from the Saxons and the Picts and the Irish and (according to Malory, who got it from Geoffrey) the Romans; in the end, he faced a mortal threat from his own men.
He was also the backdrop against which many other advenures took place. Beginning with Chretien de Troyes, writers wrote adventures of Arthur's knights, telling us of their wonderful adventures and of courtly love. The court, of course, was Arthur's. In a sense, Arthur was moved above the day-to-day adventures his knights was having and put on a pedestal as the symbol of what a knight could hope to achieve.
He was also the one whom everyone looked up to and whom everyone trusted to pass judgment if they had a dispute. Important men bowed to his authority and his wisdom He held court and was the arbiter of justice. He made his own laws and enforced them himself, with the respect of his subjects. He fought in battles and sent his knights out to do battle. As such, he was both king and battle commander.
As the legend writers searched for deeper meanings, they found the Holy Grail; with it, they found it sin. Arthur was said to have conceived a son out of wedlock; Guinevere was said to have consummated her affair with Lancelot. Both of these acts were sins. With the Holy Grail the symbol of true knightly goodness, the picture of Arthur as all that is good and right was weakened; so, too, with Arthur's failure to eradicate the adultery in his midst. The idea, which had been building for a while, that his rule was intertwined with the fate of the country was shaken to its core.
As the legend writers tied a knight's goodness to piety, they tied Arthur's fate inextricably to a bad end. The king who was the symbol of the prosperity of the nation and the land was sick in his heart and his soul and had sinned against his God; the nation and the land would surely suffer as well.
And so Arthur died or was mortally wounded (take your pick) in a battle as a battle commander who was king of all the land.
Round Table:
l "Wace"Wace's Roman de Brut. The idea was that the table, being round, would have no head, or place of prominence. Arthur's strategy was to reinforce the idea that none of the barons or dukes or other nobles who sat there would be seen to occupy places of importance greater than any other. l "Robert"Robert de Boron's poem "Joseph dArimathie" talks of a table that Joseph was commanded to make in commemoration of the Last Supper; further, Joseph was to leave a place vacant, symbolizing the seat of Judas. This was the Siege Perilous, which could not be occupied except by the Grail hero. Anyone else who sat there, legend had it, would die. l "Galahad"Galahad, being the Grail hero of later legends, sat there and was unharmed.)
