A Celtic Arthur

1
A Celtic Arthur?

• This course will examine the Celtic roots of the
  Arthurian legends in both history, oral tradition
  and literature of the early Middle Ages.

2
A Celtic Arthur?

• The material pertaining to Arthur, his followers
  and other early narratives such as Trystan and
  Ysolt, the Grail Story and Merlin (Myrddin) have
  been continually recycled for some thousand years
  and more.

3
A Celtic Arthur?

• It is possible to recognize various stages in
  this evolution

4
A Celtic Arthur?

• When you look at the syllabus for the course
  (www.courseweb.uottawa./CLT1170), you will notice
  that the colours blue, yellow and green have been
  used to distinguish the three main components of
  this course

5
A Celtic Arthur?

• The first section (blue) concentrates on the
  historical period in post-Roman Celtic Britain,
  and the first invasions of Britain by
  Anglo-Saxons from the European Continent.
• The big question asked is whether Arthur could
  actually have existed, since early tradition
  places him in the fifth century AD. What are the
  theories, is there any proof? Who mentions him
  from the early medieval period?

6
A Celtic Arthur?

• The orange section represents the second part of
  the course in which we will study how traditions
  about a Celtic British leader called Arthur
  become integrated into Celtic oral and written
  sources. (These sources are largely Welsh, Breton
  and Cornish) Here we will see the beginnings of
  Arthurs knights, the first references to
  Guinevere (Gwenhwyfar), his sword (Caledfwlch),
  and Arthurs marvellous feats. He remains however
  very much a Celtic leader of legend, unknown
  outside Wales and Brittany.
• We shall be studying the first real literary text
  which features Arthur Culhwch and Olwen.

7
A Celtic Arthur?

• The last section (yellow), will concentrate on
  the remarkable explosion of interest in Arthur
  outside of the Celtic world.
• This, as we shall see, is largely caused by the
  publication of a work known as The History of
  the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth
  (this is in Wales).

8
A Celtic Arthur?

• Geoffreys work brought the figure of Arthur the
  king to the notice of the whole of the west and
  centre of Europe within only a few years in
  between the 12th and 13th centuries.
• It is not a history book in our sense but a
  wonderful mixture of legendary material and
  fantasy, much of which (the legendary part) taken
  from Welsh and Breton tradition.

9
A Celtic Arthur?

• This period marks the beginning of a new Arthur,
  one who was tailored to European tastes. Much of
  what most people know about the Arthurian legends
  have their source in this later period. Camelot,
  the Round Table, Guinevere and Lancelot, the
  sword in the stone are mainly newer elements in
  the legendary material, built on the very rich
  Celtic foundations which we shall be
  concentrating on.

10
A Celtic Arthur?

• Arthur in early Welsh saints lives (vitae), 12th
  century AD
• The transformation of Arthur in Geoffrey of
  Monmouths Latin work of fiction and
  pseudo-histroy History of the Kings of Britain.
  1136AD.
• The first French versions of Geoffrey of Monmouth
  and the influence of Breton traditions in
  Chrétien de Troyes, Wace and others. Mid 12th
  century.

11
A Celtic Arthur?

• The Chronicle tradition in England and Scotland.
  (Robert of Gloucester etc 1260-1300).
• The Romance Tradition of Arthur in French,
  German, English. The Vulgate Cycle or
  Lancelot-Grail Cycle (a complete history of the
  Grail and of the role of Arthurs court in the
  quest, including the story of Merlin).

12
A Celtic Arthur?

• In this third section of the course, we shall be
  reading some of the narratives about Arthur and
  his entourage (aka knights) as found in medieval
  Welsh literature. In addition we shall see how
  Arthur was used for political purposes in the
  middles by the still unconquered Welsh and the
  English.
• Finally we shall look at how the memory of Arthur
  has remained in folklore amongst the Welsh and
  their cousins the Bretons and the Cornish.

13
A Celtic Arthur?

• German translation c1250.
• Other important texts Yder (c1216), Jaufre (an
  Occitan romance). These and other texts
  aggrandize the exploits of the other knights.
• Sir Thomas Malory Le Morte dArthur (1469-70),
  printed 1485.. An important factor in the
  continuing interest in Arthur and his knights.

14
A Celtic Arthur?

• From Malory to Tennyson. Medieval romances
  strongly influenced Renaissance epic, eg The
  Faerie Queen.
• The period between 1634-1816, a period of much
  less Arthurian interest.
• Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809-92) Idylls of the
  King.
• Parody and satire.

15
A Celtic Arthur?

• The continuing romanceErnest Rhys, S.Fowler
  Wright, Derek Brewer, , Canadian poet Charles
  G.D.Roberts, Margaret Atwood (seven short
  Arthurian poems), Frank Davey.

16
A Celtic Arthur?

• Film The Black Knight (1954), Knightriders
  (1981), Lancelot du lac (1974), Lancelot and
  Guinevere (1963), Excalibur (based on Sir Thomas
  Malory) (1981), A Knight in Camelot (1998) etc,
  King Arthur (The Untold True Story that Inspired
  the Legend) an attempt to relocate the Arthurian
  legend in the post-Roman period.
• Continuing fiction.

17
The Celtic Arthur

• In the first classes of this course we will be
  discussing the evidence for Arthur as an
  historical figure.
• To see him purely as a fictitious character,
  worthy only of literature and film is to miss the
  very heart of the Arthurian legend.
• Even if the later (medieval and early modern)
  versions of Arthur are clearly part of an
  on-going artistic project, we can hardly deny
  that all early references to Arthur take for
  granted that he lived.

18
Arthurs World and Before.

• We will need to understand the cultural and
  linguistic conditions that prevailed in Britain
  1500 years ago to understand what gave rise to a
  figure like Arthurnot so much King Arthur but
  Arthur of the Britons.
• All the early evidence points to the 5th
  centuryAD as the time in which the putative
  Arthur would have lived.

19
The Arthur of History

• Yet to understand the cultural and political
  world in which an Arthur-type figure would have
  evolved, we will have to examine the world of
  Celtic Britain before this time.
• What exactly is meant by Celtic Britain?
• What is the meaning of Celtic by c500AD?
• Who are the BRITONS?
• Who are the Welsh, Bretons, Cornish?

20
Arthur of the Celts

• Before the arrival of the Romans in Britain
  (54BC), almost all the inhabitants of the Isle of
  Britain spoke a Celtic language. For the Greeks
  and the Romans Britain and the Britons were
  synonymous with Celtic La Tène civilisation.
• The Britons were a Celtic- speaking people who
  covered almost all of the Island of Britain. (The
  English had yet to arrive).
• They lived in tribal groups sometimes hostile and
  sometimes in league with each other.

21
The Arthur of History

• The Celtic languages are traditionally classed
  into two groups
• Brittonic (or Brythonic or P-Celtic) Welsh,
  Breton, Cornish.
• Goidelic (or Q-Celtic). Irish, Scottish Gaelic,
  Manx.

22
The Arthur of History

• But in Early Britain, the ancestor language of
  the Brittonic languages (often simply called
  Brittonic or Brythonic) was spoken widely
  throughout the British Isles (except perhaps
  northern Scotland- . This language was closely
  related to the Celtic language of northern France
  (Gaul).

23
Arthur of the Celts

• The Romans left their mark linguistically and
  culturally on Celtic Britain during their
  occupation (1st to early 5th centuries AD).
• Many parts of southern Britain were as Roman as
  Gaul during the same period.
• Latin and Brittonic would be heard in the market
  place.

24
Arthur of the Celts

• The British Celts had adapted many Roman ways.
  Many were bilingual especially in the south and
  east.
• Christianity had been introduced with Roman
  civilization and gave rise to Celtic
  Christianity with its very specific Welsh,
  Breton, Irish and Scottish saints.
• Despite adapting Roman administration and other
  habits, the British Celts remained a homogenous
  cultural group, with important ties in language,
  family and regional traditions.

25
Arthur of the Celts

• This began to change with the arrival of the
  Saxons from the east who gradually colonised
  eastern Britain (c5-7th centuries), and brought
  the remaining Britons in the east under the
  influence of their language and culture.

26
Arthur of the Celts

• These people with varying amounts of Roman
  influence, were the people left to face the Saxon
  invasions in the east and the Pictish attacks in
  the north, as well as attacks from Ireland in the
  west (the Vikings are later!).
• Inevitably the local chieftains were forced to
  defend their territories from the invaders, since
  after c410AD the Roman army had left Britain.
• The next two centuries of crisis would see a
  renewal of warfare amongst the Britons mainly
  against the common foe.

27
Arthur of the Celts

• This world was the world of Arthur.
• The earliest mention of Arthur put him in this
  context of many battles against Saxons and
  northern Picts in various parts of Britain.
• Such apparent mobility would suggest he was a
  war-leader, but not a king or chieftain. He was
  not King Arthur as yet.

28
Arthur of the Celts

• This Arthur, who is the putative war-leader of
  the Britons during this chaotic period after the
  retreat of the Romans from Britain, was no doubt
  partially Romanised, but more profoundly a Celtic
  Briton of his time, perhaps from a semi-noble
  family.
• As such we may call him a Celt (remembering
  that this term is really a modern reconstruction
  when referring to the peoples of western, central
  and insular Europe during the La Tene Iron Ages
  (c600BC-100AD).

29
Arthur of the Celts

• Arthur is, in fact, a Celto-Roman name, and
  attested over a wide area of the Roman empire.
• Its Latin form is Artorius, and many of the
  earliest references to Arthur that we shall
  examine use this form.
• But the element art/arth- is easily identifiable
  as a Celtic or Brythonic word meaning bear.
• Early Celtic warriors of Britain, Ireland and
  Europe like to think of themselves as being as
  fierce as bears (common in many parts of Europe
  2000 years ago). Many of their names reflect this
  idea.

30
Arthurs ancestors

• The Britons (of which Arthur would have been)
  were thus the descendants of a long established
  population who probably during the introduction
  of farming started to use a language
  (Indo-European) which evolved into the forms of
  Celtic called Brittonic (later Welsh, Breton and
  Cornish).
• This more recent theory supersedes the older idea
  that the Celtic language was brought by large
  numbers of settlers into the country.

31
Arthurs ancestors (not literally

• Some celebraties from Celtic Britain (before
  Arthur) (c50BC-65AD).
• Especially in the Catuvellaunian dynasty
• Cassivellaunus (anti-Roman)
• Tasciovanus
• Cunobelinus (pro-Roman)
• Caratacus (very anti-Roman)

32
Arthurs ancestors (not literally

• The Client Kings and Queens of Britain
• Cartimandua of the Brigantes
• Prasutagus of the Iceni (replaced Antedios,
  rebellion in 47AD)
• Cogidumnus of the Atrebates c 43AD(called
  himself Tiberius Claudius Cogidumnus Rex Magnus).
  He received land and citizenship and was probably
  given the massive Roman villa in Fishbourne in
  southern Britain.

33
Arthurs ancestors (not literally)

• The rebellion by Boudica 60-61AD)
• Queen of the Iceni.
• The Romanization of southern Britain.
• Celtic speech remained unchanged although the
  south was probably quite bilingual.

34
Arthur of the Celts

• The arrival of Julius Caesar in Britain 54BC (not
  an invasion, Caesar is not an emperor).
• The invasion of Britain under the emperor
  Claudius 45AD

35
Romanized Britain

• The might of Roman military rule.
• Hadrians Wall (117 kilometres long).
• This was to control the Britons on both sides.
• Recruitment of British warriors.
• They would assume Roman citizenship, Latin, a
  trade. After returning they would married and
  passed on many of these traits.

36
Romanized Britain

• Cities took the lead in Romanizing the province,
  especially amongst the native aristocracy.
  Arthurs family would have belonged to that level
  of society.
• The three coloniae Colchester, Lincoln,
  Gloucester and later York.
• Two permanent legionary fortresses Chester and
  Caerleon.

37
Romanized Britain

• The majority of the large towns were formed along
  tribal lines and governed by the increasingly
  Romanizes native aristocracy..
• In fact the traditional Celtic oppidum or trade
  centre was converted into a mediterranean style
  city with Roman civic amenities.
• Local magistracies a career move for the sons of
  the native aristocracy.

38
Romanized Britain

• Soon this class developed into a local ordo or
  curia (Welsh urdd), a governing council of 100
  members headed by two magistrates.
• Transformation of the non-literate, warrior
  aristocracy into a bilingual urbal curial class.
  They became a land owning class with large
  estates, protected by private military forces.
  They no doubt organised their own defense against
  barbarians.
• Little hard evidence for actual members of the
  tribal aristocracy after the 2nd century.

39
Romanized Britain

• However there were areas of Britain where
  Romanization was less marked.
• Most of Wales, the South West, and north of
  Britain do not have many Romanized towns.
• Perhaps significantly the traditions about Arthur
  tend to identify him with the south west or the
  north.

40
Back to the roots

• Large imperial estates started to decline in the
  4th century, and archaeological evidence points
  to a revival of hillforts in Late Roman Britain.
• Beginning in the c3rd century, large numbers of
  Roman items start to appear in the hillforts.
  Why? This would have been something known to the
  genration of Arthurs parents.

41
Romanized Britain

• Perhaps the reclaiming of ancestral lands, after
  the hillforts were no longer deemed a threat.
• This occupation becomes more intensive in the 5th
  and 6th centuries (during Arthurs time and
  afterwards).
• The traditional explanation of this
  refortification is that these hillforts served as
  places of refuge for British communities facing
  the barbarian threat.

42
Important texts for this period

• Gildas- De Excidio Britanniae c550AD
• Bede-The History of the English Church and
  People, 731 AD
• Nennius Historia Brittonum c800AD
• The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle c890AD
• Annales Cambriae (the Annals of Wales), c950AD

43
The Arthur of History

• In 410 Rome is sacked by the Visigoths and the
  empire begins to break up. Britain has to fend
  for itself- withdrawal of the Roman army.
• Ammianus Marcellinus records that in 364AD
  Britain is constantly harrassed by Picts, Saxons,
  Scots and Attacotti.
• By c388 the first migrations to Brittany take
  place.

44
The Arthur of History

• In 380 a Spanish general declares himself dux
  Brittanorum and his British troops declare him
  emperor of the west. Magnus Maximus.(Macsen
  Wledig)
• During the 5th century there is a return to
  certain forms of British control. The Romans have
  left.
• A major figure in that century is Vortigern
  (whose name means Great King).

45
The Arthur of History

• Vortigern (Gwrtheyrn in Welsh) c 425-459.
• He is described by the British writer Gildas as
  Tyrannus Superbus.
• V. uses Saxon mercenaries to keep Picts at bay.
  Plundering of the coastal areas begins.
• This period however heralds the advent of the
  Saxons (Germanic settlers). Their descendants
  will write Beowulf.

46
The Arthur of History

• The legendary Hengest and Horsa land in Britain c
  428.
• This is also the period when the Briton Patrick
  is introducing Christianity into Ireland (c
  432-459).
• Another important leader of this century emerges.
  Ambrosius Aurelianus (Emrys Wledig) c 460-475 and
  has some successes against the growing Saxon
  presence and encroachment.

47
The Arthur of History

• A period of peace seems to follow some of his
  victories against the Saxons.
• This does not last and the next century and half
  are a period of fateful defeats for the Britons
  in their attempts to stop the loss of land and
  sovereignty.
• The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle coldly records defeat
  upon defeat visited upon the Wealas (the Britons,
  the Brython).

48
The Arthur of History

• The Battle of Catraeth (c572) in which the
  northern tribe the Gododdin (Votadini) are
  defeated at Catterick. (leads to the creation of
  the kingdom of Northumbria)
• The Battle of Dyrham c 577(Anglo-Saxon
  Chronicle-the loss of Gloucester, Cirencester,
  Bath to the Saxons).
• Battle of Chester c615 (cuts off the Old North)

49
The Arthur of History

• The Old North
• The kingdoms of Arthurs Britain
• Rheged
• Elmet
• Gododdin
• Ystrad Clud

50
The Arthur of History

• The most important of these early texts
  pertaining to the historical Arthur is the
  Historia Brittonum (History of the Britons).
• This work used to be attributed to Nennius.
• The earliest recension of this work goes back to
  829/830AD.

51
The Arthur of History

• What is the historical value of Historia
  Brittonum?
• The HB falls into the genre of historical writing
  well known in early medieval Ireland- the
  synthetic history.
• An expression of a sense of national unity
  projected back into a legendary past.

52
The Arthur of History

• Synthetic history- definition.
• The classic example of this kind of writing is
  found in the Lebor Gabala Erenn (Book of the
  Conquest of Ireland), 12th century.
• The origin of the British people is the first
  great theme of the HB
• But the central them throughout the text is