Реферат: Untitled Essay Research Paper By the ninth

💣 👉🏻👉🏻👉🏻 ВСЯ ИНФОРМАЦИЯ ДОСТУПНА ЗДЕСЬ ЖМИТЕ 👈🏻👈🏻👈🏻

By the ninth century people all over were telling the fabulous tales and
romances about Arthur and his kingdom. The common people heard them sung
by bards, while in the court poets wrote different versions. In each retelling
the speaker would select certain details for emphasis and introduce new elements,
so that the story could be adapted to the particular time and audience. Although
most historians believe that there actually did exist an Arthur, they differ
on how major his role was on influencing society during his time.
To understand the most widely accepted view on when and
how Arthur gained fame, one must be aware of the historical time period
surrounding Arthur. The unity that the Roman government imposed on Britain
disappeared around 410 AD. In its place arose small villages whose rulers
struggled for political and military supremacy. Around 540, a Welsh monk
and historian named Gildas wrote in his book Concerning the Ruin and Conquest
of Britain that “The disasters that the British people suffered at the
hands of the Anglo-Saxons after the Roman withdrawal were clear evidence
that god was punishing them for their sins.” It was during these disasters
that the monk was referring to that Arthur held up resistance for the Britons
against the Saxons, at a time when Britain was constantly being threatened
by invaders. Through being the commander who routed the battles against the
enemy and thereby saving the south of Britain from distruction of the Saxons,
“Arthur became the image of the hero and savior whose death people refused
to believe in and whose return was yearned for.”
The opinion that Arthur was a genuine figure in history,
though not the glorious King Arthur that most people know him to be, is largely
based on the writings of Nennius, a Welsh historian, who gave the first and
only historical account of Arthur’s military career in Chapter 56. The
“After the death of Hengist, his son Octha came from
Britain and settled in Kent, whence come the kings of Kent.
Then Arthur fought against them in those days, with the
Kings of the Britons, but he himself was the leader of the battles.”Here Nennius implies that Arthur was not a king but a general of some sort,
who helped the rulers of small British kingdoms organize themselves, combining
forces to fight against the Saxons. In another section entitled The Marvels
of Britain, Nennius calls Arthur a soldier: Here he tells of Cabal, the dog
of Arthur the Soldier, and of the grave of Anwr, the son of Arthur the
The passage then continues describing the twelve battles
that Arthur fought and won. The last battle, the greatest in the history
of the country, was at Badon Hill. It resulted in a total massacre of the
Saxons, establishing fifty years of peace from the Saxon’s horrible
brutality of slaughtering, burning and senseless vandalism (Jenkins 30-31).
Nennius’s historical account is backed up by a set
of Easter Tables. They were calculating tables as to when Easter would fall
out for the next given number of years and in them were noted events of
outstanding importance. In the annals were two dates regarding Arthur. The
first date is disputed: It is put as either 499 or 518 A.D. The first entry
“Battle of Badon, in which Arthur carried the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ on his shoulders for three
days and three nights and the Britons were victors (Jenkins 28).” The second entry dated 539 reads:
The Battle of Camlann, in which Arthur and
Modred perished. And there was plague in
These accounts of Arthur are not only the basis for his fame, but they also
show us the broad terrain of Arthur’s military activity. While the Battle
of Mount Badon was fought in Southern England, the battle of Cat Coit Celidon,
mentioned in the Historia Brittonum, was fought in Scotland. The implications
of Arthur’s widespread battles lead to two conclusions of him. One is
his political position as agent of a number of kingdoms, and the other is
his easy mobility of his forces (Alcock 18).
The mobility of Arthur’s army makes it nearly impossible
to pin Arthur down to a set region. However, there was an archeological search
for Arthur’s castle Camelot in southern Cadbury, Somerset, England attempted
by The Camelot Research Committee in 1966 to 1972. They discovered
“markings denoting the existence of an elaborate hill- fort. Enormous
concentric rings of earthen embankments covering over 18 acres outlined a
fortification that only a powerful warlord would have maintained (Schlesinger
107).” Unearthed artifacts enabled the searchers
to determine that the “castle” was active in the sixth century.
The architectural style resembled the style of Roman forts prior to the Arthurian
age. All evidence found gave proof that the fort was used during Arthur’s
time, but none positively proved that Arthur actually lived there (Schlesinger
The earliest search for physical proof of Arthur occurred
in the twelfth century under the command of King Henry II. During his reign
it was rumored that the town of Glastonbury was Arthur’s resting place,
the legendary island of Avalon. It was said that the king’s tomb laid
between the two pillars in the cemetery of Glastonbury Abbey. King Henry
ordered the Glastonbury monks to search for the tomb. A tomb was found after
King Henry II died. At that time a monk wrote :
“Seven feet down the diggers found a slab of stone and
a lead cross inscribed HIC IACET SEPULTUS
INCLITUS REX ARTURIUS IN INSULA AVALONIA-
Here lies buried the renowned King Arthur in the
The monk also described the contents of the tomb. They found the skeleton
of a tall man and also some slighter bones with a scrap of yellow hair,
There is much debate on the authenticity of
“Arthur’s Tomb.” It is impossible to say that strands of human
hair could have endured a period of 600 years. The blond hair couldn’t
have existed if one wants to believe this is the tomb of Arthur. The lead
cross that was supposedly found by the monks, that marked the location of
Arthur’s burial place, had been lost and is thought to have been made
by the Glastonbury monks in order to give more credence to their find and
in order to gain more glory for their abbey (Schlesinger 103).
There are several reasons why archeological proof is rarely
available for the “quest of truth” regarding the Arthurian time
period. The prime reason for this is the fact that Britons used perishable
materials such as earth and wood to build their forts and homes. Their daily
tools were made from carved wood. The clothing and armor they wore were made
from leather, cloth, and fur, which all disintegrate quickly with time
(Schlesinger 101). In addition to this, any archeological evidence that might
be found would be useless without a clear time scale into which it can be
fitted. Also, their does not exist an accurate historical time scale for
events in Britain between the end of the fourth century and the beginning
of the seventh century. The archaeology can tell us how Arthur might have
lived but still would not resolve the prime question of who Arthur was and
when he lived ( Barber 23). A third reason for this is that we can’t
pin Arthur down to one region or place, because of the hasty mobility of
Arthur and his troops. It would be very difficult to do a large scale
archaeological dig on such a vast piece of territory. None of Arthur’s
place names are accurate. Arthur’s Seat, the various Arthur Stones,
and the Round Tables have no valid connection to him. Some of these items
refer to archeological monuments dated two or three thousand years after
Though Nennius’s documents are more widely known,
the earliest historical reference referring to an Arthur is Life of Columba.
It is written by Adomnan around 700 A.D. Adomnan wrote about an Arthur who
is the son of Aedan mac Gabrain, King of Dalriada. This Arthur is a warrior
who dies (before his father, never giving him the chance to become king)
fighting a tribe called Miathi. There are other occurrences with the name
Arthur, associated with the north of Britain (Barber 21).
There are several interpretations by historians of that
earliest historical reference to an Arthur. Richard Barber in King Arthur,
believes that is the original Arthur that was transformed into the legendary
hero. He believes that we should reject Nennius’ historical account
and dating. Richard Barber believes that Nennius fabricated from literary
sources his account to suit the political needs of the moment. He created
a new image of the hero with which to encourage his contemporaries. According
to Richard Barber, Nennius had his own purpose for history (Barber 22-23).
According to Richard Barber’s interpretation, one
can still believe that the Arthur mentioned in the poem the
“Gododdin” is referring to the first Arthur written about in Life
of Columba. The “Gododdin” was a famous Welsh poem in the year
600 that describes the strength of a recently slain warrior. However, the
poet admits about this warrior, “But he was not Arthur.” This
incidental mention of Arthur’s name, which is the first mention of the
legendary King Arthur, provides us with two conclusions. First, Arthur had
to be so well known that a simple mention of his name would bring to the
audience’s mind the ideas of valor and heroism. Second Arthur had to
have lived some time before the 600’s but not too much before so the
figure of Arthur would still be fresh in the audience’s mind (Schlesinger
Others disagree with Barber. They believe that the Arthur
mentioned in the Life of Columba is not the same Arthur of the legend. Arthur
back then was a popular name because it was associated with heroism. They
believe the Arthur who was made into a hero lived towards the end of the
In order to establish the historical validity of the
“Gododdin,” one must understand that it was not the custom of Welsh
poets to invent people and events; this is a modern invention. Therefore,
historians believe that all of the characters in the early poems of Welsh
literature are real people with actual events (Schlesinger 17).
In other early Welsh literature, Arthur is still a shadowy
figure. This is partly due to the fact that we only have fragments of early
Welsh poetry in which Arthur’s appearances are brief as a poetic hero.
“So the process by which the first legends were woven around whatever
historical nucleus there once was remains a puzzle (Barber 25).”
During the eleventh and twelfth century Arthur became
so popular as a hero that Welsh literature contains several references to
Arthur which include actual incidents from his legendary career. The Welsh
poets probably invented the incidents in order to enhance their work. Because
of this there is no historical evidence on exactly what Arthur did, but one
can see from this his popularity as a hero at this time.
Welsh poetry usually portrays Arthur favorably. An ideal,
heroic, active leader of a band of successful warriors and knights. Other
times it talks of his knights’ exploits, portraying him as the idol king
who stays at home in a splendid romantic setting while his knights underwent
the hardship and adventure. Unfortunately, not many of their triads have
been preserved, though we do have many of their “headlines,” which
reflect on Arthur’s increasing popularity. In some of the earlier triads,
we are introduced to Arthur’s wife Guinevere, and the magician Mordred,
both of whom we meet again in later romances.
Chretien de Troys, a French poet in the late twelfth century,
adapted five tales about Arthur’s court for the French society. He replaces
the rugged, masculine world of the early tales of Arthur with the conflicts
between the spiritual and the physical worlds.
In Chretien’s tales the deeds King Arthur accomplished are less important
than the society that assembles at his court, the tales of the knights, and
the beautiful ladies that gather there. Chretien’s most common subject
is the problems arising from earthly love. One of his famous stories is the
romance between Lancelot and Guinevere. Like other poets of the time Chretien
was influenced by a code of “courtly love” (Schlesinger 73-76).
Chretien de Troys was the first to invent Camelot, a place
with no historical authenticity (Alcock 14). It is never mentioned in the
earliest traditions, or early evidence of Arthur. He saw Arthur as a monarch
who needed the necessary furnishing and therefore invented “The finest
court that ever has been”(Schlesinger 73). He created Arthur’s
court as a gathering place for nobles and courageous lords during the twelve
year period of peace between the Saxons and Romans.
Arthur’s period of transition from reality to romance
was long and complex. He was remembered as a hero by the Welsh bards who
embellished and added to his legend in their own creative way. From Wales
these tales traveled to Britain and France, where they became popular during
the twelfth century through being spread by jogleurs and minstrels who wondered
from castle to castle reciting Arthur’s stories at feasts. The French
poets eagerly seized on to the new material, and developed it into the earliest
versions of the Arthurian legends that we possess today (Barber 34).

Название: Untitled Essay Research Paper By the ninth
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