Who was Arthur ?
This is a very complicated question. There is no known answer. The historical Arthur is shrouded in
the mists of the Dark Ages. The best description of what we know and do not know about Arthur is
to be found in the introduction to:
The Encyclopaedia of Arthurian Legend , Ronan Coghlan (91)
What is certain is that Arthur was NOT a medieval King. The modern images of knights in plate
armour and a grand castle called Camelot are not historical at all. We know very little historically
speaking but Arthur was probably a 5th century warrior cheiftain who protected his peoples from
invaders for a time. The battle of Camlan is probably connected to Arthur. More than this is pure
conjecture, though there is an awful lot of conjecture.
A more modern approach to the question "Who was Arthur ?" might say that history is irrelevant and
that the mythology surrounding the legend is more important. Even mythology is complex though and
Arthur changes in stories from a God-like Celtic King, through to a deflated early medieval monarch
and finally in modern times, to an ordinary man with an extra-ordinarily difficult job !
