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Arthur, the rightful king

   Mystic Realms        Arthur, the rightful king

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Arthur, the rightful king   It was a dark and stormy night at Tintagel , so the old tales tell, the night that Ygerne gave birth to Arthur, and Merlin spirited him away.....read more

 

Bedivere   Therefore," said Arthur unto Sir Bedivere, "take thou Excalibur, my good sword, and go with it to yonder waterside; and when thou comest there I charge thee throw my sword in that water, and come again and tell me what thou there seest." "My lord," said Sir Bedivere, "your commandment shall be done." So Sir Bedivere departed, and by the way he beheld that noble sword, that the pommel and the haft were all of precious stones; and then he said to himself, "If I throw this rich sword into the water no good shall come thereof, but only harm and loss." ....read more

 

Bors  Bors is a Grail Knight. After undertaking the Grail quest, Bors achieves the Grail and returns to Arthur at Camelot with the story..... read more

 

Elaine, The Lady of Shalott

 

But Lancelot mused a little space; He said, 'She has a lovely face;

God in his mercy lend her grace,

The Lady of Shalott.'

...read more

......read the full poem here

 

Galahad   Galahad is a Grail Knight.  Galahad was the son of Lancelot and Elaine. "Like Perceval in Perlesvaus, Galaad after achieving the adventures of the Grail in the mainland castle sails out to sea to become the king of an island, whither the grail is transferred. There in the island city of Sarras, Galaad is first imprisoned then crowned." ... read more

 

Gawain   Gawain was nephew to King Arthur, by his sister Morgana, married to Lot, king of Orkney, who was by Arthur made king of Norway. Sir Gawain was one of the most famous knights of the Round Table, and is characterized by the romancers as the sage and courteous Gawain. Gawain's brothers were Agravain, Gaharet, and Gareth..... read more

 

Geraint  Historically, Geraint was a prince of Dumnonia in the time of Arthur ( Dyfeint in Welsh/ Devon in English )....read more

 

Guinevere   Guinevere, Arthur's consort, is most famous for her love affair with Arthur's chief knight Lancelot, which first appears in Chrétien de Troyes' Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart. This motif was picked up in all the cyclical Arthurian literature, starting with the Lancelot-Grail Cycle of the early 13th century and carrying through the Post-Vulgate Cycle and Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. Their betrayal of Arthur leads to the downfall of the kingdom.... read more

 

Kay   'In medieval Welsh law the revenue officers were termed Cais. The word is formed from ceisio, to ask, seek, search for, and is the linguistic equivalent of the Latin erogator, 'a person who asks' for revenue on behalf of the state. Like the erogator, the cais visited each district in turn to collect it's stated tribute...The term cais was commonly Englished as Keys or was translated by serjeant; and the serjeant made similar circuits, collecting cornage, cowgeld and maintenance.' ... read more

 

Lady of the Lake  From one perspective the Ladies of the Lake were a community of otherworldly women guarding the Sovereignty of the land, from another they were an early Christian monastic community ... read more

 

Lancelot   The earliest written Arthurian romances are a series of 12th-century poems by Chrétien de Troyes. 'Lancelot, The Knight of the Cart' introduces Lancelot, Arthur's chief knight and his rival for Guinevere's love...read more

 

Merlin  Merlin is a both a druidic figure of great power wielding a shamanistic magic of the land and a civilised Romano Briton. His names include Merlin / Myrddyn / Merlinus / Merlin Emrys ( Ambrosius) As Merlin he is the teacher of Arthur, religious leader of the people, as Ambrosius he is the High King, martial leader of the people.....read more

Merlin The Magician Staff Prop Replica

 

Mordred   The son of Arthur and  Morgan le Fay. Modred in Tennyson the Idylls of the King ....read more

 

Morgan le Fay   Morgan ('Born of the Sea') le Fay is first mentioned, as Arthur's elder half sister by Cretien de Troyes. In the Romances she is the daughter of Ygerne (Igraine) and Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall. In Welsh tradition she is the daughter of Avallach or  Avalloc, king in the Otherworld. Morgan is one of the Ladies of the Lake ... read more

 

Owain  In Welsh bardic poetry Owain is given as 'Owain map Urien' - 'Owain son of Urien.'  He appears in Chretien de Troyes earliest romance, 'Erec,' as 'Yvain li Fiz Urien' .... read more

 

Perceval   Perceval is a Grail Knight   "Sir Percivale, Whom Arthur and his knighthood called the Pure." ....read more

 

Theoderic   In the late 5th century the Visigoth kingdom in what is now western France, had deployed a substantial fleet in the Bay of Biscay. When the kingdom was conquered by Clovis the Frank ( Claudas in Malory) in 507 AD the survivors were pushed into Mediterranean Spain. The fleet lost its Atlantic harbours.....read more

 

Tristram King Mark of Cornwall sends his nephew Tristram to Ireland to escort his (Mark's) intended bride Issolde to Cornwall. On the ship back the Tristram and Issolde fall in love under the influence of a potion prepared by Issolde's mother for her wedding night. King Mark and Issolde are married as planned but the passion of Tristram and Issolde for each other cannot be long concealed.....read more

 

Ygerne  Ygerne, mother of Arthur and Morgan le Fay, was the archetypal Lady of the Lake. According to John of Glastonbury Arthur's mother, Ygerne, was descended from the nephew of Joseph of Arimathea, HELAINS. ....read more

 
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Arthur's Army The armies of the Britons were mainly cavalry those of the Anglo - Saxons, whether seaborne or land based, were infantry. Early Welsh poets tell of resplendent well -mounted sword -armed warriors fighting spear equipped foot -soldiers. One early poem specifically tells of the defeat of Arthur's horsemen by Anglo -Saxon infantry. Not until the late 6th C. does horse furniture start to appear among excavated Anglo - Saxon grave goods in Britain and then only as that of a leader who rode while his men marched...... read more

 

Arthur's Battles  In -'Historia Brittonum' written C.800 Nennius lists twelve battles fought by Arthur None of the places named is easily recognizable but they can be interpreted as describing a series of invasions or raids by the English as they sailed around the South-western coast of Britain, from Exeter round Lands End to Barnstaple Bay, where the final battle, the siege of Mount Badon, took place....read more

 

Arthur's Navy  Geoffrey of Monmouth tells us that Arthur built, or assembled, a fleet of ships.  From earliest times, the peoples of the southwest of Britain have been dependant on the sea, for food, for trade and for defence. .....read more

 

Beacons  The island of Lundy was the centre of a network of signal beacons covering the southwest of Britain; Devon and Cornwall and the south of Wales as from the Brecon Beacons and the Preseli mountains. The author of 'Lundy, the Tempestuous Isle' recorded seeing fourteen lighthouses from Tibbet's Hill on Lundy........  read more

 

Camlann  Early texts refer to 'The Battle of Camlann' where 'Arthur and Medraut fell'  The battle was fought somewhere in the southwest of Britain. ....read more

 

Camelot   Welsh tradition names Arthur's capital as Kelliwic ( -wic = settlement; Latin -vicus) and places it in Cornwall. The first written mention of 'Camelot' appears to be in 'Lancelot' by Chretien de Troyes (c1170). ....read more

 

Clovelly Dykes  The iron age hill fort of Clovelly Dykes or Ditchen Hills stands on the Hartland peninsula, North Devon, England. While it commands a panoramic sea view over the Severn estuary as far as the coast of Wales, the fort has a more restricted inland view. ....read more

 

Excalibur, Forged on the Isle of Avalon  According to  Geoffrey of Monmouth Excalibur was forged on the Isle of Avalon by Otherworldly craftsmen. ....read more

 

The Holy Grail 'The Grail may be described as the dish from which Christ ate the Passover Lamb at the Last Supper; or as the chalice of the first sacrament, in which later the saviour's blood was caught as it flowed from his wounded body; or as a stone with a miraculous feeding and youth preserving virtues; or as a salver containing a man's head, swimming in blood. It may be borne through a castle hall by a beautiful damsel; or it may float through the air in Arthur's castle, veiled in white samite, or it may be placed on a table in the East, together with a fresh caught fish, and serve as a talisman to distinguish the chaste from the unchaste. It's custodian may be called Bron or Ansfortas or Pelles or Joseph of Arimathea or simply called the Fisher King. He may be sound of wind and limb or wounded in the genitals. The hero who achieves the quest may be the notoriously amorous Gawain or the virgin Galahad....read more

 

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Mount Badon   'The twelfth battle was on Mount Badon in which there fell in one day 960 men from one charge by Arthur; and no one struck them down except Arthur himself' ...read more

 

The Passing of Arthur to Lundy, Isle of Avalon 

After being seriously wounded, by Mordred, at the Battle of Camlann,  Arthur was carried off to the Isle of Avalon for healing. Leaving his faithful companion, Bedivere, to mourn his passing.....see the picture

 

The Sword in the Stone  The Sword in the Stone is not Excalibur.  Arthur was twice gifted magical swords, first the sword in the stone from Merlin, then Excalibur from the Lady of the LakeArthur received Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake   after the sword from the stone, Merlin's gift, broke in battle......read more

 

Tintagel - The site of Arthur's conception and birth. So many pieces of sixth c. Mediterranean pottery have been found at Tintagel that they are termed 'Tintagel Ware.'  "no doubt that Tintagel was indeed central to the economic activity of western Britain." .....read more

 

 

 
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Arthurian Texts

 

Le Morte D'Arthur - Thomas Malory    Edited and first published by William Caxton in 1485, Sir Thomas Malory's unique and splendid version of the Arthurian legend tells an immortal story of love, adventure, chivalry, treachery, and death......read the full text here .....download in pdf eBook format

 

Alfred, Lord Tennyson - The Idylls of the King  The Victorian poet, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, based his twelve poem 'Idylls of the King' (1859-85) on the Morte D'Arthur ....read the full text here .....download in pdf eBook format

 

Perlesvaus    The anonymous 'Perlesvaus' (entitled ‘The High History of the Holy Grail’ by Sebastian Evans in his translation) is believed to have been composed on the continent of Europe, circa 1220-1230, as a continuation of Chretien DeTroyes' unfinished work "Perceval, or the Knight of the Grail".  This romance is rather more mystical in tone than its predecessors although the basic events remain the same. Almost uniquely among the early grail texts this continental romance overtly draws on archaic Celtic legends. The hero of the tale, Perceval, comes from Kamelot in Wales. He is a descendant of Joseph of Arimathea. His grandfather was Alain li Gros. His uncles are King Pelles, the Fisher King and the evil king of Castel Mortel. In the romance Perceval encounters the 'Grail Knights' who wear white surcoats adorned with a red cross. The hero makes the journey to what is recognisable as a Celtic Elysium. ...read the full text here  .....download in pdf eBook format

 

Sir Gawain and the Green knight - Jesse Weston  Brave, chivalrous, loyally faithful to his plighted word, scrupulously heedful of his own and others' honour, Gawain stands before us in this poem. We take up Malory or Tennyson, and in spite of their charm of style, in spite of the halo of religious mysticism in which they have striven to enwrap their characters, we lay them down with a feeling of dissatisfaction. How did the Gawain of their imagination, this empty-headed, empty-hearted worldling, cruel murderer, and treacherous friend, ever come to be the typical English hero? ....read the full text here .....download in pdf eBook format

 

The Mabinogion is a collection of Welsh folk tales, the earliest extant copy of which dates from the thirteenth century. However much of the material is considerably older with the four stories of the first group recording memories of ancient Celtic mythology ...read the full text here .....download in pdf eBook format

 

Gildas De Excidio Brittonum   This book is the only substantial source which survives from the time of the Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britain and is the only contemporary Arthurian source that can be examined today ......read the full text here .....download in pdf eBook format

 

Geoffrey of Monmouth - The History of the kings of Britain "The much-maligned Geoffrey of Monmouth, Archdeacon of Monmouth and later Bishop of St. Asaph's, first popularized King Arthur's story, around 1139, in his "History of the Kings of Britain"....read more here .....download in pdf eBook format

 

Geoffrey of Monmouth - The Vita Merlini - Life of Merlin.....download in pdf eBook format

 

 

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THE RETURN OF ARTHUR cycle by Alan Fenton

The Call of Destiny THe Hour of Camelot
Legend foretells that there will be a time when King Arthur will return to save the world. What if that time has come?

In the two books of THE RETURN OF ARTHUR cycle Alan Fenton tells the gripping story of what might happen if the prophesy came true. The books also raise some crucial questions: Is there a place for heroes in our modern world? And if there is, can they save us from those who threaten mankind with destruction? Is War still the answer? Can loyalty and love survive in the 21st Century? Is there a place for chivalry? Does anyone still believe in Galahad's holy quest? Is man doomed to an endless and ultimately fatal struggle with himself? Or is there hope for the future?

In the Call of Destiny and The Hour of Camelot, the great Arthurian myth is played out in our contemporary world, brilliantly brought to life by a master story teller.

 

 
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