King Arthur: The Making of the Legend

439 Pages·2018·15.64 MB·English

by  N. J. Higham

KING ARTHUR

Copyright © 2018 Nicholas J. Higham All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in
part, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and
except by reviewers for the public press) without written permission from the publishers.
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Set in Minion Pro by IDSUK (DataConnection) Ltd Printed in Great Britain by Gomer Press, Llandysul,
Ceredigion, Wales Library of Congress Control Number: 2018953721
ISBN 978-0-300-21092-7
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Cheryl
CONTENTS
List of Plates and Maps
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Arthur, History and the Storytellers
PART I THE ‘FOREIGN’ ARTHURS
1 Lucius Artorius Castus: A Dalmatian King Arthur?
2 The ‘Sarmatian Connection’
3 King Arthur and the Narts
4 King Arthur and the Greeks
PART II THE ‘BRITISH’ ARTHUR
5 A Dark Age King Arthur
6 Arthur and the Historia Brittonum
7 A British Arthur: Starting the Tradition
8 ‘Fire’, ‘Smoke’ and ‘Highland Mist’
Appendix I The Artorius Inscriptions
Appendix II Arthur’s Battles as Described in the Historia Brittonum and
Annales Cambriae
Appendix III The Mirabilia: A List of Wonders and Miracles That Became
Attached to the Historia Brittonum
Abbreviations
Endnotes
Bibliography
Index
PLATES AND MAPS
Plates
1 A wine label from Podstrana, Croatia, featuring the sword in the stone. ©
The author.
2 St Martin’s Church, Podstrana. © The author.
3 The larger ‘Artorius’ inscription, St Martin’s Church, Podstrana. © Drazen
Marsic.
4 One of three pieces of the smaller ‘Artorius’ inscription, Archaeological
Museum of Split. © Nenad Cambj.
5 Drawing of a scene on Trajan’s Column depicting Sarmatian warriors in
flight from Roman cavalry. © Maggie Kneen.
6 ‘Sarmatian’ beads from Chesters Roman fort on Hadrian’s Wall. Courtesy of
the Trustees of the Clayton Collection and English Heritage.
7 A funerary relief carving of a probable Sarmatian cavalryman found at
Chester. © West Cheshire Museums.
8 A lead ‘tamga’ from Ribchester. © Ribchester Roman Museum.
9 The ‘Apollo’ monument from Ribchester. © Ribchester Roman Museum.
10 Sarmatian burial mounds at Vaskút, Hungary. © Visy Zsolt.
11 Mid-fifth-century Sarmatian pottery from excavations of the brick factory
site at Tiszaföldvár, Hungary. © Andrea Vaday.
12 Sarmatian beads of the mid-fifth century from excavations of the brick
factory site at Tiszaföldvár, Hungary. © Andrea Vaday.
13 Fourth-and fifth-century levels under excavation at Ribchester in 2016. ©
Duncan Sayer.
14 A stone footprint at the Dál Riatan stronghold of Dunadd, Argyll, Scotland.
© The author.
15 The late medieval crozier of the archbishop of Siena. © Luca Larpi.
16 A mountain village in the Caucasus, illustrated in Douglas Freshfield,
Travels in the Central Caucasus and Bashan (London, 1869).
17 The Mote of Mark, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. © The author.
18 The Battersea Cauldron, c. 800–700 BCE. © The Trustees of the British
Museum.
19 The Antiochos dedication, Chester, England. © West Cheshire Museums.
20 The ‘astronomer’ mosaic, Brading Villa, Isle of Wight, England. ©
Oglander Roman Trust.
21 Part of the archivolt of the Porta della Pescheria in Modena Cathedral, Italy.
© Elizabeth Lapina.
22 The Winchester Round Table, Winchester Castle, England. © John
Critchley/Historic England Archive.
23 South Cadbury hillfort, Somerset, England. © Historic England Archive.
24 The farm of Camlan Uchaf in the small township of Camlan, Wales. © The
author.
25 Pen-y-Fan viewed from Cribyn, Brecon Beacons, Wales. © Dave Dunford.
26 Arthur’s Stone, a Bronze Age burial site at Llanrhidian Lower, Gower
Peninsula, Wales. © The author.
27 ‘King Arthur’s Hall’ near St Breward, Cornwall, England. © The author.
28 Pendragon Castle, Mallerstang, near Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria. © The
author.
29 The Maen Huail, Ruthin, Wales. © The author.
30 An explanatory plaque, Maen Huail, Ruthin, Wales. © The author.
31 Illuminated medallion 49 from the fifteenth-century Histoire Universelle. ©
The University of Manchester.
32 Tintagel viewed from across the causeway with the haven in the foreground.
© The author.