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1 the Rightful King

 
 
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 The strange circumstances surrounding Arthur's birth and that of his heir Mordred are attempts by later monkish scribes to explain something they didn't understand knowledge that was forgotten. We now know that some at least of British society at this time preserved the ancient custom that passed the inheritance of property and of political sovereignty through the mother rather than the father.

That Mordred was the heir to Arthur was interpreted by monkish scribes as  when it was just a plain statement, from a time when custom decreed that it was his sister's son who would inherit, not his.

The claim that Arthur being the son of Ygerne was also the heir to the high king needed the war of uther, the siege of tintagel and merlin's magic to explain.

Arthur was the son of Ygerne, Lady in Cornwall, and the heir to the high king known to history as Ambrosius Aurelanius. Who also comes down thru welsh legends as Emrys, last of the Romans, whose father had been an emperor ( alright, an emperor in Britain, but still a late Roman emperor ) Whether he was the son of Uther pendragon or not was irrelevant. 
By force of arms and Merlin's enchantments Uther got his way.

 

 
Mordred was Arthur's heir because they lived in a society which preserved the ancient custom that passed the inheritance of property and of political sovereignty through the mother rather than the father. The heir to the high king was not the high king's son, the heir to the high king was his sister's son. Morgan's son, but not Arthur's.

Likewise Arthur himself, was heir to the high king because he was the son of Ygerne, not because he was the son of Uther. Arthur was heir to the high king Ambrosius Aurelanius

 

 

 

 

Chapter One
It was a dark and stormy night, so the old tales tell, at Tintagel when Ygerne gave birth to Arthur. When Merlin spirited him away.

 

Pottery archaeology tells us Tintagel was an important node on long established trade routes with the Mediterranean cultures. Indeed so many pieces of sixth c. Mediterranean pottery have been found there that they are termed 'Tintagel Ware.'  

Building archaeology depicts an early Christian celtic monastic establishment. 

Legends describe Tintagel as a stronghold ruling the surrounding lands.

'Tintagel ware' pottery has also been found at other sites testifying to the existence of an extensive and organised internal trading network at this time. Sites like St. Michael's Mount, Glastonbury Tor, Cadbury castle, Chun, Dinas Powys, Gwithian, Lundy.

These sites were the citadels of native princes, still considering themselves citizens of an empire that no longer existed, ruling a tribal society.

That's the world Arthur was born into, born in the citadel of a native prince, son of Ygerne wife of Gorlois Duke of Cornwall, son of Uther the pendragon or high king.

That's the world the newborn Arthur was taken from by Merlin

 

 

'Then when the lady was delivered, the king commanded two knights and two ladies to take the child, bound in a cloth of gold, and that ye deliver him to what poor man ye meet at the postern gate of the castle.  So the child was delivered unto Merlin, and so he bare it forth unto Sir Ector, and made an holy man to christen him, and named him Arthur'

Malory, le Morte d'Arthur

 Merlin's Cave - one of a range of Mystic Realms Arthurian Posters
 
"He occurs in the Welsh accounts of the saints but never as a hero, always as a despot and tyrant.
Arthur was the son of Uther who was pendragon or chief king of the Britons and of Ygerne wife of Gorlois Duke of Cornwall.
A son Arthur and a daughter Ann, who became the wife of Lot and the mother of Mordred." from baring - gould

Arthur disappears from view as a new born babe
and reappears full grown
to gain

the sword in the stone, 
claiming his inheritance 

as

 the rightful king.

 

Later, Ygerne returned to Lundy, where she  assumed the lead role in that community. 
When she died she was buried in the cemetery on Beacon Hill.
With an inscribed stone to mark her grave.
 

 
"The earliest full stories concerning King Arthur and his exploits appear to be the little known Welsh tales of "Culhwch and Olwen" and the "Dream of Rhonabwy". Though dating from before the 11th century, these two stories became a late attachment to a collection of Welsh mythological tales taken from the 14th century White Book of Rhydderch and Red Book of Hergest. Together, they are known as the "Mabinogion": an introduction for aspiring poets. Though the stories have a mythological slant, a certain amount of bardic poetic license is to be expected. Their background, however, is clearly an unfamiliar Dark Age society that gives us some idea of what the real Arthur was probably like" - source unknown
 

"There is only one contemporary Arthurian source that can be examined today. "Concerning the Ruin of Britain", or "De Excidio Britanniµ" was written by the British monk, St.Gildas, in the mid-6th century. Unfortunately, Gildas was not a historian. He was only interested in lamenting the loss of the Roman way of life and reproaching the British leaders (Constantine, Aurelius Caninus, Vortepor, Cuneglasus & Maglocunus) who had usurped Imperial power and degraded Christian values. There is no reference to Arthur, but Gildas describes a similar nameless leader. He praises Ambrosius Aurelianus and also mentions the Siege of Mount Badon, though not the name of the victor. Gildas' writings are dated immediately prior to 549 (the death of Maglocunus, one of his usurpers). The passage telling of Badon places the siege forty-four years before this. This places Arthur firmly around the turn of the 6th century." - source unknown
"The Welsh Easter Annals, supposedly written over the years that they cover, AD 447 to 957 (though very early entries were probably written some time after the events), are amongst the earliest sources to mention Arthur. Used to calculate Easter dates, this document also records historical events alongside many of its yearly entries. Two of these tell of Arthur. AD 516 refers to "The Battle of Badon, in which Arthur carried the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ for three days and three nights on his shoulders and the Britons were the victors". AD 537 records "The Strife of Camlann in which Arthur and Medraut perished". All characters included elsewhere in these, otherwise reliable, annals appear to have been real historical people. There is no reason to suppose, therefore, that Arthur and Mordred were not likewise. It has been suggested that stylistically speaking, Arthur's appearance in the Badon entry may have been an interpolation. Criticisms of the length of the battle are unfounded though, for Gildas (see above), more correctly, calls the battle a siege. The statement that Arthur carried "the cross of Our Lord on his shoulders" may refer to an amulet containing a chip of the true cross. Or more likely it is a transcriptual error of Welsh "shoulder" for "shield", indicating the cross was merely an armorial bearing"   - source unknown

 
 

Arthur like later welsh, Irish and Scottish leaders fought, and beat, the English.


The beacon chains meant that Arthur could successfully protect his realm from a base at Clovelly Dykes and only from there.
This was Camelot
 
 

Clovelly Dykes

The iron age hill fort of Clovelly Dykes or Ditchen Hills stands on the Hartland peninsula, North Devon, England.  
The fort, a concentric multi enclosure plateau hill fort, is situated on a watershed.
  With a commanding sea view over Bideford/Barnstaple Bay to the coast of Wales, but a more restricted inland view.

 

 Clovelly Dykes

 
 
Clovelly dykes is at the intersection of four ridgeways 

Clovelly Dykes was constructed in two main phases;
Click Here for Larger Image
 the first consisted of the two central enclosures. The inner bank and ditch encloses about two and a half acres, the outer bank and ditch adds another two acres. The outer bank is substantially the larger of the two with an escarpment of some twenty six feet compared to the sixteen feet (approx.) of the inner. The entrances to both faced east.
In the second phase the area of the fort was increased from four and a half acres to twenty three acres by the construction of approximately one and a half miles of earthworks making it one of the largest hill forts in  south west England. The new plan placed the entrances at the north /west ( a double entrance) and the northeast. The southern ridgeway approached the southwest corner of the fort, joined with the western ridgeway and paralleled the new western embankment and ditch and entered the fort at the north west gate.. the north central gateway opened on to "an ancient roadway paved with large square stones" leading to the village of Clovelly. The eastern ridgeway entered the fort through the northeastern entrance
 Click Here for Larger Image
 
 These new entrances were not just simple gateways in the bank and ditch. 
At least two of them were screened by additional earthworks. 
Once past the outlying earthworks visitors have to travel for some distance with banks on both sides.
The present gaps in the northern sides of the two original banks and ditches were possibly opened up as part of this phase.

The main threat to the builders of Clovelly Dykes was from inland, from the south and the east. 
The north and west were protected not only by the cliffs and sea but also by the earthworks' cliff castles at Embury Beacon and Windbury Head; Hoskins, p405 mentions the tradition that "There was a third of these cliff castles at Hartland Point, now undermined by the sea.' 
 
 
 
Hillforts were not merely military fortifications, they were defensive settlements. 
People lived in the huts within the ramparts.
 

This is the base of a mounted strike force.
The exits are downhill, and on the opposite side from the obvious approach. 
Some parts are protected by three rings of earthworks, other parts by only one. 
Why?
 Because the occupants of those parts aren't supposed to be in the fort if it is attacked,  they should be outside mounted and armed.
This was the military and administrative heart of Arthur's Britain.
This was Camelot
 

Camelot or Grail Castle?

Beli = Pelles = Velly

First written mention of 'Camelot' appears to be in 'Lancelot' by Chretien de Troyes (c1170).
 
 
 
In the nineteenth century Clovelly Dykes was proposed as the site of the Battle of Cynuit (Hubba the Dane and Alfred's men)
 
"Camelot was destroyed with all the significant features of Logres when Mark invaded after the death of Lancelot." (from 'Palamedes' circa 1260.)
 

There is convincing evidence that Clovelly Dykes is the site of Camelot. 
No recorded archaeological investigation has ever been conducted there.
 

eXcalibur

 

After the failure in battle of the Sword in the Stone. Merlin took Arthur to the riverside, where the Lady of the Lake affirmed his rightful kingship, with her gift of the magical sword eXcalibur.

According to  Geoffrey of Monmouth eXcalibur was forged on the Isle of Avalon by Otherworldly craftsmen.

 

Forged on the Isle of Avalon

 was also gifted an enchanted scabbard by  / the Lady on the isle of Avalon. It protected him from wounds. 

 

 
 
part 2 Arthur's Realm

All Mystic Realms Books are Here

 If you want to read more about Arthur, we recommend both 'The Idylls of the King ' by Alfred, Lord Tennyson and 'Le Morte d'Arthur' by Sir Thomas Malory. Download the eBooks here

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