King Arthur: Myth-Making and History

by Higham; Nick

• ISBN13: 9780415213059
• ISBN10: 0415213053
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-06-21
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

King Arthur's story encapsulates the medieval romance and the tragedy of the Dark Ages. Yet legends shroud his life, and to this day scholars cannot agree on his dates, his location or even whether he really existed. King Arthurpenetrates both the historical literature and the fantastic legends of this hero, king, demigod. Probing the ever-popular cultural icon, historian N.J. Higham traces the changing face of Camelot from its birth in the ninth century to contemporary films such asExcalibur,Monty Python and the Holy GrailandFirstKnight. How did the idea of King Arthur evolve? What role was Arthur intended to perform in the political and cultural worlds that constructed him? Higham sheds new light on the genesis of this beloved figure, scrutinizing the first two Arthurian texts:The History of the Britonsand theWelsh Annals. His conclusion: historians created Arthur to fit their present political agendas, rather than relying on primary sources.An eye-opening, fresh look at the Arthurian myths, King Arthur follows his kingship's longevity in the popular imagination from the ninth century to the twenty-first.

Author Biography

N. J. Higham is Reader in History at the University of Manchester and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries

Table of Contents

List of figures	ix
Acknowledgements	xi
Introduction	1	(9)
A King out of Time: Arthur in the twentieth century	10	(28)
Arthur comes of age	26	(5)
Arthur in the spotlight	31	(5)
Conclusion	36	(2)
The Genesis of Arthur	38	(60)
Being `British' The political and ideological context	39	(20)
Alternative ideologues and British authority	59	(15)
Prototype Arthurs	74	(6)
Bears and gods	80	(15)
Conclusion	95	(3)
Contested Histories: Anglo-Saxons and Britons c. 730-830	98	(72)
Bede and the Britons	98	(4)
Welsh-Mercian interactions	102	(14)
Reclaiming the past: Writing British history in the early ninth century	116	(3)
The Historia Brittonum: Authorship and purpose	119	(5)
Britons, Trojans and Romans	124	(4)
Vortigern and the adventus Saxonum	128	(8)
St Patrick and Arthur	136	(5)
Arthur and the Old Testament	141	(3)
Arthur's battles	144	(6)
The image of Arthur	150	(7)
The English historical framework	157	(7)
Conclusions	164	(2)
The Pillar of Eliseg	166	(4)
Text in Context: The Annales Cambriae c. 954	170	(48)
England, Wales and the Vikings	171	(3)
Heroic poetry	174	(6)
Y Gododdin	180	(5)
Asser	185	(3)
The Armes Prydein	188	(5)
The Annales Cambriae	193	(23)
Conclusions	216	(2)
The Rise and Fall of the `Historical' Arthur	218	(49)
The Arthurian legend to c. 1100	218	(3)
Arthur as cultural icon	221	(5)
Arthur as royal cult	226	(9)
Arthur in question	235	(4)
The fall of King Arthur	239	(25)
Conclusion	264	(3)
Postscript: The Rhetorical Arthur	267	(8)
Bibliography	275	(21)
Index	296