Mystery Story – Has King Arthur really existed?
King Arthur is the character at the heart of the Celtic folklore, and he is known because of the magic and mystery that belong to his story – and his existence too – . He was a benevolent and well-loved king, a knight and also a hero: he had the power to unify all the people of his lands and to protect them from invaders and fantastic creatures – thanks also to the Knights of the Round Table. Nowadays the story of King Arthur is painted on the halls of the British Parliament.
But how did this story start? Arthur was hypothetically conceived at the Tintagel Castle, situated in a land known as Cornwall. It’s a common idea that Arthur was born after an adultery act between Igraine, the wife of Duke Gorlois of Cornwall, and British King Uther Pendragon.
Merlin the wizard secretly took baby Arthur away from his parents and gave him to Ector: a nobleman who raised Arthur as his father, with his real son Kay, and the children grew up together as stepbrothers. After Uther’s death there was no legitimate heir to throne, so Merlin took a magical sword called Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake and put it in a rock: on the sword, in golden letters, there was written “Who pull out this sword of this stone is the right-wise born king of all England.”
Many men tried but no one succeeded until one day Arthur accidentally came upon the mysterious sword and, not knowing the fact, pulled it out: Merlin crowned Arthur as the King of England in Camelot’s castle and after a few years he married princess Guinevere. Her father – the King of Scotland – gave King Arthur a round table as a dowry: it became the symbol of the legend about him and his knights.
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table were “brothers in arms”, following the Code of Chivalry based on honour, honesty, valour and loyalty. The significance of the Round Table was that no one person, not even King Arthur, would be able to sit at the head of a table because no one was more important than the other. There were many knights but the most important were: Sir Gawain, Sir Lancelot, Sir Perceval, Sir Galahad, Sir Dagonet, Sir Lionel, Sir Kay, Sir Tristan, Sir Gareth, Sir Ector, Sir Mordred.
Sir Lancelot, the most illustrious, fell in love with Guinevere. When Arthur discovered they were having an affair, the knight fled for France and Arthur pursued him. Mordred was left as regent during king’s absence: he proclaimed Arthur was dead, laid siege to Camelot and saized Guinevere, so Arthur had to come back.
A battle on Salisbury Plain happened: most of knights died and Arthur killed Mordred, but the king was gravely wounded. So Arthur decided to throw back Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake and then, carried off by Merlin in a boat, went to the magical Isle of Avalon to heal. Maybe his grave was discovered at Glastonbury in the reign of Henry II (1154-89).
In ancient times many authors wrote about this legend, like Geoffrey of Monmouth and Chrétien de Troyes. Since the 1900s, King Arthur’s story, the love affair between Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot and Merlin the wizard became the topics of many films, cartoons and tv series. The most famous are: “The sword in the stone” (Disney cartoon – 1963), “Excalibur” (1987), “First Knight” (1995), “Merlin” (mini tv series – 1998), “A Knight in Camelot” (1998), “King Arthur” (2004), “Merlin” (tv series – 2008).
So, can we say that the legendary King Arthur and his knights of the round table really existed? Maybe. Real or not, the best thing we can do is just to appreciate this story for what it is: a wonderful part of the European literature that makes lots of people dream around the world and through the centuries.
Giorgia Di Bella 4 B BS
