The King Arthur Folktales

With the Saxons and their chums on the up (see the preceding section), the future looked wretched for the Romano-Britons. Few suspected that they were about to produce a leader of legendary fame. Yet little doubt exists that a Romano-British leader of real military ability did live at about this time. In the early part of the ninth century a monk named Nennius compiled a book called Historia Britonum. He drew on many earlier sources from all over England, Wales, and Ireland. He tells us that a certain Arthur became the Britons’ dux bellorum (war leader) and that he was the victor in 12 major battles against the Saxons; significantly, Nennius does not refer to Arthur as ‘king’. Of Arthur’s victories, Mount Badon, fought in AD 517 near Badbury in Wiltshire, is the best known and seems to have halted the Saxon advance for the better part of a generation. In all probability Arthur was a charismatic leader who managed to persuade other leaders from various parts of Britain that their only hope of survival lay in cooperation.

He probably created an alliance of equals, hence the reference to the Round Table that has filtered down the years. For an alliance between leaders in different parts of Britain, it made sense to form a strategic mounted reserve to deploy from one threatened area to another, particularly as the sites of Nennius’s 12 battles range across a wide area, including one fought in Scotland. This may be the original version of King Arthur’s knights. Nothing is certain, however, not even the name Arthur, for our sources rely on the misty realm of Welsh and Cornish folk memory. Following Arthur’s death in about AD 534 (at the hands of his blood relative, Mordred, according to legend), the Saxons renewed their inexorable advance across Britain. The Romano-Britons were forced steadily west until all they possessed were Cornwall, Wales, Cumbria, and Strathclyde. Small wonder that they spoke wistfully of Good King Arthur’s golden days and promised each other that one day he would return.