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Book Review: The Historical Background of the King Arthur Legend
King Arthur is probably the world’s best-known fictional character. Writers from the 11th century’s Chrétien de Troyes to Bernard Cornwell in the 21st century have written stories about him. And the King Arthur’s legend keeps growing. A story this well-known must have a historical basis.
King Arthur: The Making of the Legend, by Nicholas J. Higham examines that issue. It’s a search for the source of the Arthur legend.
Arthur’s Britain, when and where a historical King Arthur could’ve existed, belonged to a chaotic and obscure corner of history. The Romans had retreated from Britannia. The island was being invaded by barbarians, and de-civilizing as it broke into a constellation of petty and competing kingdoms. Written accounts were spotty, and most history fell under oral tradition.
Higham sifts through all of this in a quest to track down the original sources creating the Arthur legend, including proposed foreign sources. Few verifiable records from the period exist indicating a historical basis for Arthur. Some researchers concluded the historical Arthur, if he did exist, came from outside Britain, with the story somehow transplanted into an obscure island in Europe’s northwest corner.
There are surprisingly many proposed “foreign” Arthurs. They include a Dalmatian centurion, Sarmatian horsemen, Georgian warriors, and stepp tribesmen. Others speculate Arthur was a Roman or Greek legend recast, Arthur as a British Hercules. Higham picks through all these theories, revealing few strengths and many weaknesses in these candidates.
Higham also examines the historical record of early dark ages France and Britain, seeking historic leaders who might have formed the basis of the Arthur myth. Higham believes clues to its origins lies in Historia Brittonum, a 9th century work, attributed to Nennius, a Welch monk.
King Arthur: The Making of the Legend offers some surprising conclusions. Meticulously researched, Higham takes readers through every step of the journey he took to arrive at his conclusions. It is more a scholarly examination of Arthur’s legend than popular writing. Yet for those more interested in the Arthur myth and its origins than another retelling of the Arthur story, this book should not be missed.
“King Arthur: The Making of the Legend,” by Nicholas J. Higham, Yale University Press, 2018, 392 pages $32.50
I write a weekly book review for the Daily News of Galveston County. (It is not the biggest daily newspaper in Texas, but it is the oldest.) My review normally appears Wednesdays. When it appears, I post the review here on the following Sunday.
Published in Literature
Thanks. It looks like a good read.
I wish they’d allow you more words.
Brevity is the soul of wit?
Did Chrétien de Troyes base his tales in part on Welsh romances? Did they base their tales on his? Do they both derive from earlier versions? The shadows dance on the edge of the mist of time.
This is definitely going on the list.
In my humble opinion, the best “fantasy” books about the Arthurian story are the Camulod Chronicles, written by Jack Whyte. Starting with The Singing Sword, they explore Arthur’s history, ancestry, and complete story. I urge anyone looking for a rollicking good read to find them and read.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Will order it. I’ve read a lot on Roman Britain and the murky period in the 5th and 6th century when the Anglo Saxons defeated the Britons or, at least, drove them into Cornwall and Wales, with others migrating to Brittany. Does he discuss Ambrosius Aurelianus?
I do not know
Doubtful – they appear older.
They seem to.
Yes. Extensively.
Ambrosius is a main character in the Whyte books.
We’ll just pry more words out of him here.
The great thing about making a hobby of the Arthurian Legends is that it Just Doesn’t Matter. There’s a new Theory of Everything? Put it on the sideboard between the candied sweet potatoes and the green bean casserole. We’ll get to it, read it, argue over it, swear oaths in support of or in opposition to it
then take to the lists and settle it once and for all.(No point getting carried away.)
I’ve been reading about this stuff since I fell upon a comic book when I was eight.
There are many good reasons why we are still reading this book in the 21st century. Ripping great yarn.
Ah, yes – Walter Scott
This book is next on my reading list. The early Dark Ages in Britain are fascinating to me. Just need to get through the Chernow biography on Grant. Good lord is it long.
One of my favorite characters.
Thanks, Seawriter.