Is there any truth to the King Arthur legends? - Alan Lupack
-
0:07 - 0:13“Here lies Arthur,
king who was, and king who will be.” -
0:13 - 0:16So reads the inscription
on King Arthur’s gravestone -
0:16 - 0:20in Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur.
-
0:20 - 0:22Writing in the 15th century,
-
0:22 - 0:27Malory couldn’t have known how prophetic
this inscription would turn out to be. -
0:27 - 0:32King Arthur has risen again
and again in our collective imagination, -
0:32 - 0:34along with his retinue of knights,
-
0:34 - 0:35Guinevere,
-
0:35 - 0:36the Round Table,
-
0:36 - 0:37Camelot,
-
0:37 - 0:40and of course, Excalibur.
-
0:40 - 0:44But where do these stories come from,
and is there any truth to them? -
0:44 - 0:49King Arthur as we know him
is a creation of the later Middle Ages, -
0:49 - 0:54but his legend actually has its roots
in Celtic poetry from an earlier time: -
0:54 - 0:57the Saxon invasions of Britain.
-
0:57 - 1:01After the Romans left Britain in 410 CE,
-
1:01 - 1:05Saxon invaders from
what’s now Germany and Denmark -
1:05 - 1:09quickly capitalized on the vulnerability
of the abandoned territory. -
1:09 - 1:13The inhabitants of Britain fought
fiercely against the invaders -
1:13 - 1:15through several centuries of turmoil.
-
1:15 - 1:18There are hardly any written records
from this time, -
1:18 - 1:22so it’s difficult to reconstruct
an accurate history. -
1:22 - 1:26However, surviving poetry from the era
gives us some clues. -
1:26 - 1:31One of the poems, The Gododdin, contains
the very first reference to Arthur, -
1:31 - 1:34though Arthur himself
doesn’t actually appear in it. -
1:34 - 1:38It says a different warrior,
named Gwawrddur, -
1:38 - 1:42was skilled at slaying his enemies,
but was no Arthur. -
1:42 - 1:44That’s not much to go on,
-
1:44 - 1:46but whoever this Arthur was,
-
1:46 - 1:49he must’ve been
the gold standard of warriors. -
1:49 - 1:54Whether he ruled anyone, or even lived
at all is, unfortunately, less clear. -
1:54 - 1:56Despite this uncertainty,
-
1:56 - 2:00references to Arthur caught
the attention of an aspiring historian -
2:00 - 2:02hundreds of years later.
-
2:02 - 2:09In 1130, Geoffrey of Monmouth
was a lowly cleric with grand ambitions. -
2:09 - 2:11Using Celtic and Latin sources,
-
2:11 - 2:14he spent years creating
a lengthy chronicle -
2:14 - 2:17titled, "The History
of the Kings of Britain." -
2:17 - 2:21The centerpiece
of this tome was King Arthur. -
2:21 - 2:25History is a generous term
for Geoffrey’s account. -
2:25 - 2:28Writing six hundred years after
the Saxon invasions, -
2:28 - 2:31he cobbled together fragments
of myth and poetry -
2:31 - 2:35to compensate for the almost
complete lack of official records. -
2:35 - 2:37A few of his sources contained
mentions of Arthur, -
2:37 - 2:41and some others were realistic accounts
of battles and places. -
2:41 - 2:44But many featured mythic heroes
fighting long odds -
2:44 - 2:47with the help of magical swords
and sorcery. -
2:47 - 2:49Geoffrey blended them all:
-
2:49 - 2:52A magical sword called Caledfwlch
-
2:52 - 2:56and a Roman fortress called Caerleon
appeared in his source material, -
2:56 - 3:01so Geoffrey’s Arthur ruled from Caerleon
and wielded Caliburnus, -
3:01 - 3:04the Latin translation of Caledfwlch.
-
3:04 - 3:07Geoffrey even added a wise
counselor named Merlin, -
3:07 - 3:11based on the Celtic bard Myrrdin,
to Arthur’s story. -
3:11 - 3:14If Arthur did live, he would likely
have been a military leader, -
3:14 - 3:19but a castle-bound king better fit
Geoffrey’s regal history. -
3:19 - 3:22Geoffrey’s chronicle got the attention
he’d hoped for, -
3:22 - 3:24and was soon translated from Latin
into French -
3:24 - 3:28by the poet Wace around 1155 CE.
-
3:28 - 3:32Wace added another centerpiece of
Arthurian lore to Geoffrey’s sword, -
3:32 - 3:33castle,
-
3:33 - 3:34and wizard:
-
3:34 - 3:36the Round Table.
-
3:36 - 3:38He wrote that Arthur
had the table constructed -
3:38 - 3:42so that all guests in his court
would be equally placed, -
3:42 - 3:46and none could boast that he had
the highest position at the table. -
3:46 - 3:51After reading Wace’s translation,
another French poet, Chrétien de Troyes, -
3:51 - 3:56wrote a series of romances
that catapulted Arthur’s story to fame. -
3:56 - 4:01He introduced tales of individual knights
like Lancelot and Gawain, -
4:01 - 4:04and mixed elements of romance
in with the adventures. -
4:04 - 4:05He conceived Arthur,
-
4:05 - 4:06Lancelot,
-
4:06 - 4:09and Guinevere’s love triangle.
-
4:09 - 4:15In addition to interpersonal intrigue,
he also introduced the Holy Grail. -
4:15 - 4:21Chrétien probably based his Grail’s powers
on magical objects in Celtic mythology. -
4:21 - 4:24He lived in the middle of the Crusades,
-
4:24 - 4:28and others imposed the preoccupations
of the time on the Grail, -
4:28 - 4:32casting it as a powerful relic
from the crucifixion. -
4:32 - 4:35Numerous adaptations in French
and other languages -
4:35 - 4:37followed from Chrétien’s work.
-
4:37 - 4:41In the course of these retellings,
Caerleon became Camelot, -
4:41 - 4:45and Caliburnus
was rechristened Excalibur. -
4:45 - 4:46In the 15th century,
-
4:46 - 4:50Sir Thomas Malory synthesized
these stories in Le Morte D’arthur, -
4:50 - 4:54the basis of many modern accounts
of King Arthur. -
4:54 - 4:58In the thousand years since Arthur
first appeared in a Celtic poem, -
4:58 - 5:00his story has transformed over
and over -
5:00 - 5:05to reflect the concerns of his chroniclers
and their audiences. -
5:05 - 5:08And we’re still rewriting
and adapting the legend today. -
5:08 - 5:10Whether or not the man ever lived,
-
5:10 - 5:11loved,
-
5:11 - 5:12reigned,
-
5:12 - 5:13or adventured,
-
5:13 - 5:16it’s undeniable that the character
has achieved immortality.
- Title:
- Is there any truth to the King Arthur legends? - Alan Lupack
- Speaker:
- Alan Lupack
- Description:
-
View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/is-there-any-truth-to-the-king-arthur-legends-alan-lupack
King Arthur has risen again and again in our collective imagination, along with his retinue of knights, Guinevere, the Round Table, Camelot, and of course Excalibur. But where do these stories come from, and is there any truth to them? Alan Lupack traces the evolution of King Arthur.
Lesson by Alan Lupack, directed by Patrick Smith.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TED-Ed
- Duration:
- 05:32
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