King Arthur: The Making of the Legend

409 Pages·2018·46.327 MB·English

by  Nicholas J. Higham

‘Riveting … brings the historical Arthur to
what may be his last, decisive battle.’
Max Adams, author of In the Land of Giants
KING ARTHUR
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KING ARTHUR
The Making of the Legend
NICHOLAS J. HIGHAM
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW HAVEN AND LONDON
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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.
For information about this and other Yale University Press publications, please contact:
U.S. Office: [email protected] yalebooks.com
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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.
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For Cheryl
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CONTENTS
List of Plates and Maps viii
Acknowledgements x
Introduction: Arthur, History and the Storytellers 1
PART I THE ‘FOREIGN’ ARTHURS
1 Lucius Artorius Castus: A Dalmatian King Arthur? 13
2 The ‘Sarmatian Connection’ 40
3 King Arthur and the Narts 77
4 King Arthur and the Greeks 117
PART II THE ‘BRITISH’ ARTHUR
5 A Dark Age King Arthur 149
6 Arthur and the Historia Brittonum 176
7 A British Arthur: Starting the Tradition 216
8 ‘Fire’, ‘Smoke’ and ‘Highland Mist’ 248
Appendix I The Artorius Inscriptions 281
Appendix II Arthur’s Battles as Described in the Historia 285
Brittonum and Annales Cambriae
Appendix III The Mirabilia: A List of Wonders and Miracles That 289
Became Attached to the Historia Brittonum
Abbreviations 293
Endnotes 299
Bibliography 347
Index 371
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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.
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PLATES AND MAPS ix
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.
Maps
1 The Roman Empire in the second half of the second century ce. 16
2 The ‘Sarmatian connection’. 43
3 Roman Britain. 55
4 Ancient Greece. 122
5 Britain after Rome. 164
6 Britain and Ireland. 227
7 Localising Arthur. 265