Out of Chaos Comes the Light: Arthur

Lesson 4: Out of Chaos Comes the Light: Arthur

The transformation of life in the fifth century from Roman rule to self-reliance was not smooth. Periods of poor leadership or no leadership at all created a situation requiring a strong hand. That void was filled by a leader who came to be known as King Arthur. This lesson covers Arthur’s rise to power, the concluding event of Early Arthurian Britain.

Warlord or King? Arthur’s Twelve Battles

Nennius, in the Historia Brittonum, lists twelve battles Arthur fought and won with the kings of Britain against the Saxons. In this document, Arthur is not called a king, but his military prowess is highly touted. The final battle of Mount Badon, likely to have happened at the end of the century, is the final push that broke the Saxons and drove them either into submission or out of Britain altogether. Some of the descriptions in the Historia are on the fantastic side, but that these battles actually occurred is certainly plausible.

The entries regarding Arthur in the Welsh Annals (Annales Cambriae) also mention the battle of Badon. They do not call him a king either. The sixth century Welsh poem Y Gododdin, by Aneirin, portrays Arthur as a warleader instead of a king as well. The poem appears to have no need to explain who Arthur was, as if assuming the audience knew his accomplishments well. The Welsh Triads (Trioedd Ynys Prydein), Welsh bardic lore grouped into sets of three, make him sound like an adventurer, guerilla fighter and clan feuder.

By contrast, Geoffrey of Monmouth calls Arthur "king" directly upon his father’s (Uther) death. Uther is poisoned when Arthur is fifteen years old. The Britons’ leaders gather and suggest to Dubricius, the Archbishop of the City of Legions (Chester) that he should crown Arthur as king. Dubricius and the other archbishops gather and crown the young man at Silchester. Afterward, the sequence of twelve battles against the Saxons begins. Instead of a simple list as Nennius gave, Geoffrey added a substantial amount of detail to each battle.

Many of the locations of the battles can be identified with a fair amount of confidence. Others are completely unknown, although historians have many theories. The battles appear to be quite widespread, indicating campaigns against not only the Saxons but also the Angles in the east and the Picts in the north.

Interestingly, the Welsh genealogies list Arthur as Uther (Uthyr) Pendragon’s son, Arthwyr Pendragon. Uther’s entry includes the title, King of All Britain. Arthur’s does not. However, the epithet Pendragon roughly means something like "head dragon" or "chief dragon."

Was Arthur a king or a powerful warlord? In the fifth century, the term “king” may have been a cheap title as it was in Ireland, if it was actually used at all. “King,” to the Anglo-Norman aristocracy, carried a lot more importance by Geoffrey of Monmouth’s time in the twelfth century. With Geoffrey’s patriotic slant to his narrative, “king” would have elevated Arthur to a worthy level in the eyes of those the writer intended to impress.

If Arthur existed, he most certainly was a warlord of importance. He was unique enough for his memory to be carried throughout centuries of obscure poetry and folklore, and then into a fabulous legend that continues to grow. Whether he carried the title or not makes little difference, to a struggling nation, he was a king.