He charged before three hundred of the finest,
He cut down both centre and wing,
He excelled in the forefront of the noblest host,
He gave gifts of horses from the herd in winter.
He fed black ravens on the rampart of a fortressnote
Though he was no Arthur.
Among the powerful ones in battle,
In the front rank, a palisade was Gwawrddur.
He cut down both centre and wing,
He excelled in the forefront of the noblest host,
He gave gifts of horses from the herd in winter.
He fed black ravens on the rampart of a fortressnote
Though he was no Arthur.
Among the powerful ones in battle,
In the front rank, a palisade was Gwawrddur.
— Y Gododdin (Song for the Gododdin Men), attributed to one Aneirin
At that time, the Saxons grew strong by virtue of their large number and increased in power in Britain. ...Then Arthur fought against them in those days, together with the kings of the Britons, but Arthur himself was their leader in battle. [And though there were many more noble than himself, yet he was twelve times chosen their leader, and was as often conqueror.]note
— Historia Brittonum (History of the Britons), attributed to one Nennius
Year 72: 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 victors.
...
Year 93: The Strife of Camlann in which Arthur and Medraut fell, and there was devastation in Britain and in Ireland.
...
Year 93: The Strife of Camlann in which Arthur and Medraut fell, and there was devastation in Britain and in Ireland.
— Annales Cambriae (Annals of Wales), Anonymous
Arthur [...] drew out his Caliburn, and, calling upon the name of the blessed Virgin, rushed forward with great fury into the thickest of the enemy's ranks; of whom (such was the merit of his prayers) not one escaped alive that felt the fury of his sword; neither did he give over the fury of his assault until he had, with his Caliburn alone, killed four hundred and sixty men.
— Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain)
He makes the little finger of his Arthur more powerful than the loins of Alexander the Great.
— William of Newburgh in his criticism of Geoffrey of Monmouth.
YET some men say in many parts of England that King Arthur is not dead, but had by the will of our Lord Jesu into another place; and men say that he shall come again, and he shall win the holy cross. I will not say it shall be so, but rather I will say: here in this world he changed his life. But many men say that there is written upon his tomb this verse: Here lies Arthur; King once, and King to be.
— Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur
Hic iacet Arthurus, rex quondam, rexque futurus.
— Latin original of the ending phrase.
I will tell it at once as in town I have heard it told,
as it is fixed and fettered
in story brave and bold,
thus linked and truly lettered,
as was loved in this land of old.
as it is fixed and fettered
in story brave and bold,
thus linked and truly lettered,
as was loved in this land of old.
"Everyone knows something about King Arthur. Whether you watched The Sword in the Stone as a kid, listened to Camelot as an adult, or just existed in a part of the world where Britain was briefly in charge, you know about King Arthur. But if you ever tried to look into King Arthur to try and find some sort of canon for the story, you were probably both confused and disappointed. Maybe you read somewhere that Merlin aged backwards, but then couldn't find any evidence to suppourt that. Maybe you wanted to know about the Holy Grail and ended up reading 50 pages about some Fisher King guy instead. Maybe you wanted to learn the sordid history of Arthur and Morgan Le Fay's secret tryst that famously produced the traitorous Mordred, and were utterly baffled to find zero connection between Mordred and Morgan at all. Whatever the case, while Arthurian mythos is very widespread and most people have at least some knowledge of the basic structure of the story, when you start tugging at the threads, the entire setup starts to lose cohesion. So what is Arthurian canon, and, more importantly, do we actually care?"
— Overly Sarcastic Productions, "Legends Summarized: King Arthur"
