Meanwhile these islands, stiff with cold and frost, and in a distant region of the world, remote from the visible sun, received the beams of light, that is, the holy precepts of Christ, the true Sun, showing to the whole world his splendour, not only from the temporal firmament, but from the height of heaven, which surpasses every thing temporal, at the latter part, as we know, of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, by whom his religion was propagated without impediment, and death threatened to those who interfered with Its professors.

And, since Joseph of Arimathea is often credited with being the one who first introduced Christianity to Britain, then it is not too far-fetched to assume that the two must've arrived together. Christ is believed to have been crucified in 32 AD and allowing a year as a minimum time to organize and launch a mission, then Joseph could have come to Britain, at the very earliest, in 33 AD or at the latest, 37 AD. This assumes, of course, that Gildas can be trusted on this point. We report this not to suggest that it is true, merely to include it in the record for completeness.


63 - The more traditional date for the arrival of Joseph of Arimathea on the first Christian mission to Britain. Legend says that he came to Glastonbury and brought with him the Holy Grail, which was either a cup/bowl or two "cruets" thought to contain the blood and sweat of the crucified Christ.


184 - Lucius Artorius Castus, commander of a detachment of Sarmatian conscripts stationed in Britain, led his troops to Armorica to quell a rebellion. This is the first appearance of the name, Artorius, in history and some believe that this Roman military man is the original, or basis, for the Arthurian legend. The theory, most recently popularized by C. Scott Littleton in his book, "From Scythia to Camelot", holds that Castus' exploits in Gaul, at the head of a contingent of mounted troops, are the basis for later, similar traditions about "King Arthur," and, further, that the name "Artorius" became a title, or honorific, which was ascribed to a famous warrior in the fifth century. .


c.357 - Birth of Anwn alias Antonius, son of the Western Emperor, Magnus Maximus. He may have held some official post in the Civitas Demetarum (around Caermarthen). Blackett & Wilson believe his name was Arthun and that he was the King Arthur who campaigned on the Continent.


360 - First major invasion of the Picts and Scots across Hadrian's Wall in the north; repulsed by Roman General, Lupicinus, leading four regiments of Balkan and Germanic auxilliary troops. Emperor Julian, satisfied that the danger was past, slashed military expenditures in Britain.


367 - First co-ordinated invasion of Picts in the north, Irish from the west and Saxons from the south-east. Aided by escaped slaves, disaffected peasantry and a Roman army that had become weak due to desertions, the invaders had free run of the country, to pillage and terrorize at will. Defense of Britain had been left in the hands of Fullofaudes, Dux British History Clubrum (the Duke of the Britains, ie. the four provinces) and Nectaridus, Come Litoris Saxonici (the Count of the Saxon Shore), both of whom were either captured or killed in battle. With no one left to protect them, Britain was over-run and fell into a state of virtual anarchy


368-9 - Emperor Valentinian dispatched the Spaniard, Theodosius, to the island. After landing at Richborough, he marched first on London and rather than trying to win the war all at once, methodically restored order, region by separate region. He gave amnesty to deserted Roman troops, strengthened northern wall defenses and imported barbarian troops from Germany who were believed to be loyal to Rome and order was restored. But, from this point, even though life returned to a semblance of normalcy, the old Roman ways in Britain had begun to change.


383 - Magnus Maximus (Macsen Wledig), a soldier who had come to Britain with fellow Spaniard, Theodosius, and who claimed to be related to him, was proclaimed Emperor in Britain by the island's Roman garrison. With an army of British volunteers, he quickly conquered Gaul, Spain and Italy.


388 - Maximus occupied Rome itself. Theodosius defeated him in battle and, although personally inclined to be lenient to him, Maximus was spirited away by Theodosius' officers and beheaded in July, 388. Many of the remnant of Maximus' troops settled in Armorica (NW Gaul, incl. Brittany). The net result to Britain was the loss of many valuable troops needed for the island's defense (this is considered the "first migration").


395 - Theodosius, the last emperor to rule an undivided empire, died, leaving his one son, Arcadius, emperor in the East and his other son, the young Honorius, emperor in the West. At this point the office of Roman Emperor changed from a position of wielding absolute power to one of being merely a head of state.


396 - The Roman general, Stilicho, acting as regent in the western empire during Honorius' minority, reorganized British defenses decimated by the Magnus Maximus debacle. Began transfer of military authority in border areas from Roman commanders to local British chieftains.


397 - Stilicho, himself, comes to Britain and repels an attack by Picts, Irish and Saxons.


402 - Events on the continent force Stilicho to recall one of the two British legions to assist with the defense of Italy against Alaric and the Visigoths. The recalled legion, known as the Sixth Victrix, was said by Claudian (in "De Bello Gallico," 416) to be "that legion which is stretched before the remoter Britons, which curbs the Scot, and gazes on the tattoo-marks on the pale face of the dying Pict." Alaric and the barbarians were defeated, this time, at battle of Pollentia.


403 - Victricius, Bishop of Rouen, visited Britain for the purpose of bringing peace to the island's clergy, who were in the midst of a dispute, possibly over the Pelagian heresy.


405 - The British troops, which had been recalled to assist Stilicho, were never returned to Britain as they had to stay in Italy to fight off another, deeper penetration by the barbarian chieftain, Radagaisus.


406 - In early January, 406, a combined barbarian force (Suevi, Alans, Vandals & Burgundians) swept into central Gaul, severing contact between Rome and Britain. In autumn 406, the remaining Roman army in Britain decided to mutiny. One Marcus was proclaimed emperor in Britain, but was immediately assassinated.


407 - In place of the assassinated Marcus, Gratian was elevated "to the purple," but lasted only four months. Constantine III was hailed as the new emperor by Roman garrison in Britian. He proceeded to follow the example of Magnus Maximus by withdrawing the remaining Roman legion, the Second Augusta, and crossing over into Gaul to rally support for his cause. Constantine's departure could be what Nennius called "the end of the Roman Empire in Britain. . ."


408 - With both Roman legions withdrawn, Britain endures devastating attacks by the Picts, Scots and Saxons.


409 - Prosper (Tiro), in his chronicle, says, "in the fifteenth year of Honorius and Arcadius (409), on account of the languishing state of the Romans, the strength of the Britons was brought to a desperate pass." Under enormous pressure, Britons take matters into their own hands, expelling weak Roman officials and fighting for themselves, amounting to a de facto declaration of independence.


410 - The Honorian Rescript* effectively gave Britain the right to bear arms, and as a concomitant, its "independence" from Rome. The Goths, under Alaric, sack Rome while Honorius was ensconced at Ravenna.
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* a "rescript" is the term for a reply from the emperor to a direct question, usually on a point of law. In this case, the reply is apparently to a request from the British for aid in helping them deal with constant attacks from outside.


411 - Constantine III's bid for emperor's throne falls apart. While under siege at Arles, Constantine felt "called" to a religious life and is ordained as "presbyter" in hopes of throwing himself on Emperor Honorius' mercy at Ravenna. On the way, he is captured and beheaded.


413 - Pelagian heresy said, by Prosper of Aquitaine in his "Chronicle," to have begun.


418 - Pelagius declared a heretic by Pope Zosimus and Pelagian heresy outlawed in Rome. In Britain, the heresy enjoys much support from "pro-Celtic" faction. Traditionalists (pro-Romans) support Roman church.


420-30 - During this time, according to Prosper, Britain is ruled by petty "tyrants."


425 - Traditional date for rise of Vortigern, called by Gildas "superbus tyrannus," to power.


429 - At the request of Palladius, a British deacon, Pope Celestine I dispatches bishops Germanus of Auxerre and Lupus of Troyes to Britain to combat Pelagian heresy. While in Britain, Germanus, a former military man, leads Britons to "Hallelujah" victory in Wales.


c.440-50 - Period of civil war and famine in Britain, caused by ruling council's weakness and inability to deal with Pictish invasions; situation aggravated by tensions between Pelagian/Roman factions. Vacated towns and cities in ruin. Migration of pro-Roman citizens toward west. Country beginning to be divided, geographically, along factional lines.


c.441 - Gallic Chronicle records, prematurely, that "Britain, abandoned by the Romans, passed into the power of the Saxons."


c.445 - Vortigern comes to power in Britain.


446 - Britons (probably the pro-Roman party) appeal to Aetius, Roman governor of Gaul, for military assistance in their struggle against the Picts and the Irish (Scots). No help could be sent, at this time, as Aetius had his hands full with Attila the Hun.


c.446 - Vortigern authorizes the use of Saxon mercenaries, known as foederati, for the defense of the northern parts against barbarian attack. To guard against further Irish incursions, Cunedda and his sons are moved from Manau Gododdin in northern Britain to northwest Wales.


447 - Second visit of St. Germanus (this time accompanied by Severus, Bishop of Trier) to Britain. Was this visit spiritually motivated, to combat a revived Pelagian threat or was Germanus sent in Aetius' stead, to do whatever he could to help the desperate Britons?


c.447 - Britons, aroused to heroic effort, "inflicted a massacre" on their enemies, the Picts and Irish, and were left in peace, for a brief time. Could this heroic effort have been led, again, by St. Germanus?


c.448 - Death of St. Germanus in Ravenna. Civil war and plague ravage Britain.


c.450 - In the first year of Marcian and Valentinian, Hengest arrives on shores of Britain with "3 keels" of warriors, and are welcomed by Vortigern. This event is known in Latin as the "adventus Saxonum," the coming of the Saxons.


c.452 - Increasing Saxon settlement in Britain. Hengest invites his son, Octha, from Germany with "16 keels" of warriors, who occupy the northern lands, to defend against the Picts. Picts never heard from, again.


c.453 - Increasing Saxon unrest. Raids on British towns and cities becoming more frequent.


c.455 - Birth of Prince Arthwys son of King Mor of Greater Ebrauc (York), , one of the two candidates for a 'Northern Arthur.'


c.456 - Geoffrey of Monmouth tells us of a probably fictitious, but entirely believable event in which Saxons massacre 300 leading British noblemen at phony "peace" conference. Ambrosius' father, possibly the leader of the pro-Roman faction, may have been killed either during the Saxon uprising or this massacre.


c.457 - Death of Vortigern. Vitalinus (Guitolinus) new leader of pro-Celtic Pelagian faction. Battle of Aylesford (Kent) in which Ambrosius, along with sons of Vortigern, Vortimer and Cateyrn, defeat Hengest for the first time.


c.458 - Saxon uprising in full-swing. Hengest finally conquers Kent, in southeastern Britain.


c.458-60 - Full-scale migration of British aristocrats and city-dwellers across the English Channel to Brittany, in northwestern Gaul (the "second migration"). British contingent led by Riothamus (perhaps a title, not a name), thought by some to be the original figure behind the legends of Arthur.


c.460-70 - Ambrosius Aurelianus takes full control of pro-Roman faction and British resistance effort; leads Britons in years of back-and-forth fighting with Saxons. British strategy seems to have been to allow Saxon landings and to then contain them, there.


c.465 - Traditional birth date of King Arthur


c.466 - Battle of Wippedesfleot, in which Saxons defeat Britons, but with great slaughter on both sides. Mutual "disgust and sorrow" results in a respite from fighting "for a long time."


c.466-73 - Period of minimal Saxon activity. Refortification of ancient hillforts and construction of the Wansdyke possibly takes place during this time.


c.469 - The Roman emperor in the west, Anthemius (467-72), appeals to Britons for military help against the Visigoths. Reliable accounts by Sidonius Apolonaris and Jordanes name the leader of the British force, Riotimus (Riothamus). The bulk of the British force was wiped out in battle against Euric, the Visigothic king, and the survivors, including Riothamus, vanished and were never heard from, again. Jordanes' Gothic History tells us:

Now Euric, king of the Visigoths, perceived the frequent change of Roman Emperors and strove to hold Gaul by his own right. The Emperor Anthemius heard of it and asked the Brittones for aid. Their King Riotimus came with twelve thousand men into the state of the Bituriges by the way of Ocean, and was received as he disembarked from his ships. Euric, king of the Visigoths, came against them with an innumerable army, and after a long fight he routed Riotimus, king of the Brittones, before the Romans could join him. So when he had lost a great part of his army, he fled with all the men he could gather together, and came to the Burgundians, a neighboring tribe then allied to the Romans.

The theory has been advanced, most convincingly by Geoffrey Ashe, that this Riotimus is the "original" of King Arthur.


c.470 - Battle of Wallop (Hampshire) where Ambrosius defeats Vitalinus, head of the opposing faction. Ambrosius assumes High-kingship of Britain.


473 - Men of Kent, under Hengest, move westward, driving Britons back before them "as one flees fire."


c.475 - The death of King Mor of Greater Ebrauc (York). He is succeeded by his son, Arthwys, the Northern Arthurian candidate, who probably takes the opportunity to seize the Peak District from Elmet.


477 - Saxon chieftain, Aelle, lands on Sussex coast with his sons. Britons engage him upon landing but his superior force drives them into the forest (Weald). Over next nine years, Saxon coastal holdings are gradually expanded in Sussex.


c.479 - Birth of Prince Arthwys son of King Masguid Gloff of Elmet, a kingdom based on West Yorkshire. This minor prince of the North is one of the two candidates for a 'Northern Arthur.'


c.480 - "Vita Germani," the Life of St. Germanus, written by a continental biographer, Constantius.


Traditional ascendancy of Arthur to the High-Kingship of Britain.


c.485-96 - Period of Arthur's "twelve battles" during which he gains reputation for invincibility.


486 - Aelle and his sons overreach their normal territory and are engaged by Britons at battle of Mercredesburne. Battle is bloody, but indecisive, and ends with both sides pledging friendship.


c.490 - Hengest dies. His son, Aesc, takes over and rules for 34 years.


Death of King Einion Yrth of Gwynedd. His kingdom is almost certainly divided into Gwynedd and Rhos under his sons, Cadwallon Lawhir and Owain Ddantgwyn respectively. Phillips and Keatman (see entry for 1992) identify Owain as the real Arthur who they believe ruled from Powys.


c.495 - Cerdic and Cynric, his son, land somewhere on the south coast, probably near the Hampshire-Dorset border.


c.491-5 - The Siege of Mount Badon. Britons, possibly under overall command of Ambrosius Aurelianus and battlefield command of the "Leader of Battles," Arthur, defeat Saxons under King Esla of Bernicia (according to the Bonedd y Saint) but possibly also King Cerdic of Wessex. Date of battle uncertain; Gildas, measuring time from the coming of the Saxons (Adventus Saxonum whicwas probably between 447-50), writes,

. . . until the year of the siege of Bath-hill, when took place also the last almost, though not the least slaughter of our cruel foes, which was (as I am sure) forty-four years and one month after the landing of the Saxons, and also the time of my own nativity.

c.496-550 - Following the victory at Mt. Badon, the Saxon advance is halted with the invaders returning to their own enclaves. A generation of peace ensues. Corrupt leadership, more civil turmoil, public forgetfulness and individual apathy further erode Romano-British culture over next fifty years, making Britain ripe for final Saxon "picking."


c.501 - The Battle of Llongborth (probably Portsmouth), where a great British chieftain, Geraint, King of Dumnonia, was killed. Arthur is mentioned in a Welsh poem commemorating the battle.


508 - Cerdic begins to move inland and defeats British king Natanleod near present-day Southampton.


c.515 - Death of Aelle. Kingdom of Sussex passed to his son, Cissa and his descendents, but over time, diminished into insignificance.


517 - Death of Phillips and Keatman's 'King Arthur' who they believe was King Owain Ddantgwyn. According to Gildas, he was murdered by his nephew, King Maelgwn of Gwynedd.


519 - Kingdom of the West Saxons (Wessex) founded with Cerdic its first ruler.


c.530-40 - Mass migration of Celtic monks to Brittany (the "third migration").


534 - Death of Cerdic. Cynric takes kingship of Wessex.


c.537 - Battle of Camlann, according to Annales Cambriae (which may record the event up to twenty years late), in which forces of Arthur and Mordred (Modred, Medrawt, Medrod) fought (probably, but not necessarily against each other). Death of Mordred and death (or unspecified other demise) of Arthur.


c.538 - According to Gildas, King Cynlas Goch, son of Owain Ddantgwyn, abandons his wife in favour of his sister-in-law, a nun who he drags from her convent. He almost certainly ruled in Rhos, although Phillips and Keatman believe he was from Powys. He was Gildas' 'Charioteer of Din Arth' which they interpret as meaning that he lived at the 'Fort of Arthur' inherited from his father.


Birth of St. Armel, identified by Barber & Pykitt (see entry for 1993) as the retired King Arthur.


c.540 - Probable writing of Gildas' "De Excidio Britanniae."


542 - Mortal wound received by Arthur, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, in his final battle against the usurper, Mordred.


c.545 - Birth of Prince Artur son of King Aidan of Dalriada


c.547 - "Yellow" Plague hits British territories, causing many deaths. Ireland also affected. Saxons, for whatever reason, are unaffected by it.


551 - Probable date of completion of Jordanes' "Gothic History" (see "c.469" entry).


c.570 - Probable death of Gildas.


573 - Myrddin, the bard of King Gwenddoleu of Caer-Wenddoleu (Carwinley in Cumberland) flees into the Caledonian Forest in a mad frenzy, after his patron is killed at the Battle of Arderydd (Arthuret). Myrddin is believed to be an original of Merlin.


c.585 - Birth of Arthwyr son of King Pedr of Dyfed.


598 - Death of Prince Artur of Dalriada at the Battle of Circin, against the Picts, probably at the Howe of Mearns.


King Mynyddog Mwynfawr & Prince Cynan of Din-Eidyn (Edinburgh) ride south to fight Saxon Bernicia against enormous odds at the Battle of Catraeth (Catterick). The British are victorious and North & South Rheged probably expand to fill the vacuum left in North Yorkshire.


c.600 - Welsh bard, Aneirin, writes Y Gododdin, a poem praising men going into Battle of Catraeth (Catterick, see above entry) and alludes to Arthur's prowess as a warrior. In the 98th of 99 stanzas, the poet, in what may be history's first mention of Arthur, says, "He brought black crows to a fort's wall, though he was not Arthur."


c.610 - Accession of King Arthwyr of Dyfed.


c.618 - Birth of Athrwys son of King Meurig of Gwent & Glywysing. Blackett & Wilson (see entry for 1980), as well as Barber & Pykitt (see entry for 1993), believe Athwrys to be the original King Arthur by re-assessing the evidence for the period in which he lived and transporting him over a hundred years back in time.


c.600-700 - Original Trioedd Ynys Prydein , "Welsh Triads," probably composed about this time. The Triads are groupings of three items (events, places, battles, heroes, heroines, etc.) from Welsh/British history that are somehow connected. It is believed that they were arranged in this manner to assist the memory of the bards who told or sang stories based on these items of information. About 96 triads are known (in many variant forms) and only surviving examples are found in most of the medieval collections of Welsh manuscripts, such as the Black Book of Carmarthen (about 1250), the White Book of Rhydderch (early 1300's) and the Red Book of Hergest (c.1375-1425).


c.830 - Nennius, a monk/historian of Bangor, Gwynedd (Wales), compiles Historia Brittonum, "History of the Britons". At no risk of ever being considered an egomaniac and not one to overestimate his own abilities, Nennius says of himself and his work,

. . . being dull in intellect and rude of speech, I have presumed to deliver these things in the Latin tongue, not trusting to my own learning, which is little or none at all, but partly from traditions of our ancestors, partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans, and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymus, Prosper, Eusebius, and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons, although our enemies, not following my own inclinations, but, to the best of my ability, obeying the commands of my seniors; I have lispingly put together this history from various sources, and have endeavoured, from shame, to deliver down to posterity the few remaining ears of corn about past transactions, that they might not be trodden under foot, seeing that an ample crop has been snatched away already by the hostile reapers of foreign nations. For many things have been in my way, and I, to this day, have hardly been able to understand, even superficially, as was necessary, the sayings of other men; much less was I able in my own strength, but like a barbarian, have I murdered and defiled the language of others.

c.890 - Compilation of Anglo Saxon Chronicle is begun, perhaps at the direction of Alfred the Great.


c.970 - Original version of Annales Cambriae, "Annals of Wales," was composed about this time. Part of Harleian Collection, No. 3859 in the British Library, the document, containing two mentions of Arthur, was found inserted into a copy of Nennius.


c.1019 - Earliest possible date of composition for the Legend of St. Goeznovius, a Breton legend, which, in its preface, mentions Arthur and calls him the King of the Britons. Date is disputed as some scholars think this legend should be dated later than Geoffrey of Monmouth.


1066 - Norman Conquest of England. William the Conqueror's Breton followers gain increasing influence on development of the Arthurian legends in Britain.


c.1090 - Professional hagiographers, such as Caradoc of Llancarfan, Lifris and others, write various saints lives, some (St. Gildas, St. Padarn, St. Cadog, St. Iltud) include mentions of Arthur and his exploits.


c.1110 - The granite 'Perros Relief' is carved in the church of St. Efflam in Perros-Guirec in Brittany. Traditionally it is supposed to represent St. Efflam and King Arthur.


c.1113 - Hermann of Tournai (writing in 1146), tells the story of a visit to the church of St. Petroc in Bodmin, Cornwall, by the Laon Canons, a group of French clerics traveling in England to raise money to rebuild their cathedral after a disastrous fire. They brought with them the Shrine of Our Lady of Laon, a collection of miracle-working relics. While there, a man with a withered arm came to them looking to be healed of his affliction. In the course of conversation with the man, he said that Arthur still lived. Members of the visiting group from France apparently mocked him for saying such a nonsensical thing. The crowd of onlookers, though, supported the man's contention and a brawl broke out, which required armed force to stop. The point is that there seems to have been a generally held belief, at least in Bodmin, Cornwall, that Arthur was not only a genuine historical figure, but that he was still alive in 1113.


1125 - William of Malmesbury completes "Gesta Regum Anglorum" (Deeds of the Kings of England), in which he states,

"this is that Arthur of whom the trifling of the Britons talks such nonsense, even today; a man clearly worthy not to be dreamed of in fallacious fables, but to be proclaimed in veracious histories. as one who long sustained his tottering country and gave the shattered minds of his fellow citizens an edge for war."

c.1129 - William of Malmesbury in residence at Glastonbury Abbey, where he writes "De Antiquitate Glastoniensis Ecclesiae," a history of the abbey.


1129 - Henry of Huntingdon's "Historia Anglorum" is based on Bede, Nennius and the AngloSaxon Chronicle.


c.1135 - The 'Modena Archivolt' is carved and installed in Modena Cathedral in North Italy. It features the abduction of Queen Guinevere by one Mardoc and her subsequent rescue. It is important in illustrating the wide extent to which Arthurian tales were popular in the pre-Galfridian (Geoffrey of Monmouth) period.


1136 - Geoffrey of Monmouth publishes the famous "Historia Regum Britanniae" (History of the Kings of Britain), in Latin. His work would be used as the standard text on British history for the next 600 years.


1139 - In a letter to Warinus, Henry of Huntingdon describes Arthur's last battle and mentions that the Bretons say that he didn't die and are still waiting for his return..


c.1145 - Geoffrey Gaimar publishes "Estoire des Angles" (History of the English), a French adaptation of Geoffrey's "History," which is now lost.


1150 - Geoffrey of Monmouth writes his "Vita Merlini " (Life of Merlin). Includes the story of Merlin's going mad and taking to the forest after the Battle of Arfderydd (Arthuret).


1151 - Geoffrey of Monmouth appointed to bishopric of St. Asaph in Wales, but never actually visits there.


Alfred (Alured) of Beverley was probably the first of the medieval writers to voice some concern about Geoffrey's claims. In his chronicle, "Aluredi Beverlacensis Annales" of 1151, he questions: why, if the Britons were so great and so glorious in battle, do not the historians of the world acknowledge their accomplishments?; why, if the Britons crushed the Romans, did not a single Roman, Greek or Frankish writer ever mention it?


1155 - Master (Robert) Wace completes "Roman de Brut," a version of Geoffrey's "History" in French. He dedicated his work to Eleanor of Aquitaine, the wife of Henry II, and is remembered as being the first writer to introduce the concept of the "Round Table" to the Arthurian cycle. Of Arthur, Wace says,

"I know not if you have heard tell the marvellous gestes and errant deeds related so often of King Arthur. They have been noised about this mighty realm for so great a space that the truth has turned to fable and an idle song. Such rhymes are neither sheer bare lies, nor gospel truths. They should not be considered either an idiot's tale, or given by inspiration. The minstrel has sung his ballad, the storyteller told over his tale so frequently, little by little he has decked and painted, till by reason of his embellishment the truth stands hid in the trappings of a tale. Thus to make a delectable tune to your ear, history goes masking as fable.

c.1160-80 - Marie de France writes "Lais" (Lays), a collection of short poems. Two of the poems, "Chevrefoil" and "Lanval," include Arthurian characters and themes.

" Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin" (Black Book of Carmarthen) compiled. Thought to be the work of one scribe, possibly working at the Priory of St John at Carmarthen, it contains 38 items, almost all poetry, including:

. . .Many men wonder about this Arthur, whom Geoffrey [333] extols so much singly, how the things that are said of him could be true, for, as Geoffrey repeats, he conquered thirty realms. If he subdued the king of France to him, and did slay Lucius the Procurator of Rome, Italy, then it is astonishing that the chronicles of Rome, of France, and of the Saxons should not have spoken of so noble a prince in their stories, which mentioned little things about men of low degree.

Geoffrey says that Arthur overcame Frollo, King of France, but there is no record of such a name among men of France. Also, he says that Arthur slew Lucius Hiberius, Procurator of the city of Rome in the time of Leo the Emperor, yet according to all the stories of the Romans Lucius did not govern, in that time, nor was Arthur born, nor did he live then, but in the time of Justinian, who was the fifth emperor after Leo.

Geoffrey says that he has marveled that Gildas and Bede make no mention of Arthur in their [335] writings; however, I suppose it is rather to be marveled why Geoffrey praises him so much, whom old authors, true and famous writers of stories, leave untouched. But perhaps it is the custom of every nation to extol some of their blood-relations excessively, as the Greeks great Alexander, the Romans Octavian, Englishmen King Richard, Frenchmen Charles; and so the Britons extolled Arthur. Which thing happens, as Josephus says, either for fairness of the story, or for the delectation of the readers, or for exaltation of their own blood.

"Cronica sive Antiquitates Glastoniensis Ecclesiae" (Chronicle or Antiquities of the Church of Glastonbury), by John Seen, a monk of Glastonbury, continuing the history of the abbey originally begun by William of Malmesbury 220 years before. Much Arthurian material is here, including an account of the discovery of his grave and a prophecy of Melkin, allegedly a 5th century British bard, in which the grail and the grave of Joseph of Arimathea are said to have been at Glastonbury.


c.1370-90 - Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" are believed to have been written during this period. Two of the tales, the Squire's and the Wife of Bath's, make direct references to Arthurian characters or themes.


c.1400 - "Llyfr Coch Hergest" (Red Book of Hergest), the earliest complete version of the Mabinogion, is one of the most important Welsh medieval manuscripts. At 362 folios, it is the largest. The manuscript is dated between 1382 and 1410, and contains examples of many kinds of Welsh literature, excepting only the laws and religious texts. It includes: the "History of the Kings of Britain" of Geoffrey of Monmouth, "Brut y Tywysogyon," a series of Triads, "Gereint fab Erbin", "The Dream of Rhonabwy" and others. Its contents are similar to those of Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch.

c.1430 - John Capgrave, a friar at King's Lynn, Norfolk, publishes "De Sancto Joseph ab Aramathea," in which he states, quoting from an unnamed manuscript,

"Philip sent from a Gaul a hundred and sixty disciples to assist Joseph and his companions."

But, it was not until the third edition (composed in the late 15th c.) of his "Nova Legenda Angliae," printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1516, that a life of St. Joseph of Arimathea was included.


c.1450 - Herry Lovelich's "History of the Holy Grail," the first English translation of the French Vulgate tale, "Estoire del Saint Graal." In the Vulgate, Josephes, Joseph's son is the protagonist in the British portion of the tale. In Lovelich's version, the emphasis is switched to Joseph of Arimathea and his conversion activities in Britain, but his connection with the Grail is diminished. "Llyfr Gwyn Hergest" (the White Book of Hergest) may have been a manuscript of some importance. Several descriptions of its contents indicate that it contained: "Y Bibyl Ynghymraec," the "Laws," a copy of the "Statute of Rhuddlan," and strict metre poetry. It was destroyed by fire in the nineteenth century. Partial transcripts are preserved in both the British Library and the National Library of Wales.


1463 - First record of 'Winchester Round Table.'


1465 - John Hardyng completes his "Chronicle," blending Glastonbury and Grail traditions in the process. He connects Arthur and Joseph of Arimathea, whom he credits with constructing the original Round Table. The "Chronicle" brings Joseph to Britain in 76 AD, after a 42 year period of imprisonment, and attributes to him the conversion of the land to Christianity. Hardyng's work is an indication of the extent to which the Glastonbury traditions of Joseph and Arthur had integrated themselves into the mainstream.


1469-70 - Completion of "Morte d'Arthur" by Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel, Warwichshire, while in London's Newgate Prison. Malory's work is the definitive English Arthurian romance and embodies many earlier French and Welsh tradtitions. He accepts Joseph of Arimathea's association with Glastonbury, but distances him from the Grail.


1485 - Henry VII takes the throne of England, claiming to restore the line of Arthur to the rule of Britain, as prophesied by Merlin.


William Caxton's first printing of Malory's "Morte d'Arthu," giving wider circulation to the Glastonbury, Arthur and Joseph traditions.


1486 - Birth of Prince Arthur, son of King Henry VII. He was so named to emphasise the new dynasty's descent from the ancient British kings and purposefully born at Winchester, Malory's Camelot. He is christened in the cathedral with much pomp.


1502 - Death of Arthur, Prince of Wales, the son of Henry VII. He is buried in Worcester Cathedral.


1520 - King Henry VIII of England meets King Francis I of France at the 'Field of the Cloth of Gold' displaying pennants and trappings depicting King Arthur as a World conqueror.


1522 - The 'Winchester Round Table' is painted with Tudor iconography for the visit of Emperor Charles V to the court of King Henry VIII.


c.1533-39 - "Itinerary," the modern title given to the collection of notes made by John Leland, Henry VIII's court antiquary, during his extensive travels for the purpose of documenting the historical treasures of England. There are several items of Arthurian significance: in his notes on the county of Somerset, Leland relates a tradition equating the ancient hillfort, Cadbury Castle, with King Arthur's Camelot; also in Somerset, Leland tells us that "a bridge of four stone arches which is known as Pomparles (over the River Brue near Glastonbury) is the place where, "according to legend, that King Arthur cast his sword into it;" in his Cornwall notes, Leland discusses a river in the Camelford area. He says, "in some histories it is called Cablan. It was beside this river that Arthur fought his last battle (Camlann), and evidence of this, in the form of bones and harness, is uncovered when the site is ploughed."


1534 - Polydore Vergil completes "Anglica Historia" in which he is critical of Geoffrey of Monmouth's history, in general, and his portrayal of Arthur, in particular. He even goes so far as to question Arthur's existence.


1539 - Dissolution of Glastonbury Abbey and destruction of King Arthur's Tomb, after which Arthur's burial cross is said to have lain in the "Reverstry" of St. John Baptist, Glastonbury (according to a late 17th century document, Bodleian Rawlinson B.416A, folio 10v) "within this 100 years."


1544 - Leland publishes "Assertio Inclytissimi Arturii" (Assertions of the Renowned Arthur), a compilation of most of the archaeological and literary evidence for King Arthur, as it was known in Tudor England. Here, Leland notes the inscription on the burial cross, allegedly belonging to King Arthur's grave, found at Glastonbury. The editor of the "Assertio" commented that "his disquisition upon Arthur is more notable for heat than light."


1550 - Glastonbury Abbey property granted to Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, by King Edward V. Ownership would revert to the crown almost immediately when Somerset fell out of Royal favor the next year, but not before the Duke invited a colony of Dutch weavers to live and work on the site.


1553-8 - The Protestant Dutch weavers, fearing for their lives after (Bloody) Mary I took the throne, fled to Frankfurt. Four former monks petition the Queen to re-instate monastic service at the abbey, but her death ended their hopes.


1559 - Protestant Elizabeth I grants Glastonbury Abbey to Sir Peter Carew. Abbey would stay in private hands until early 20th C.


1599 - Edmund Spenser dies leaving his Arthurian poem, "The Faerie Queene," unfinished. In it Arthur portrays "magnanimity," to Spenser's mind, the leading virtue.


1602 - Richard Carew visits Slaughter Bridge and records, in his 'Survey of Cornwall', that "the folke thereabouts will shew you a stone bearing Arthur's name" (see entry for 1945).


1607 - Publication of William Camden's "British History Club," including illustrations of King Arthur's Burial Cross.


c.1650 - Puritans chop down original Glastonbury Thorn on Wearyall Hill, said to have grown from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea, which, legend says, he planted upon his arrival there in AD 63.


1691 - "King Arthur," an opera written by John Dryden with music by Henry Purcell, told the tale of Arthur's battles with the (fictitious) Saxon leader, Oswald.


1695, 1697 - Richard Blackmore writes "Prince Arthur" and "King Arthur," two transparently allegorical verse epics incorporating Christian moral themes. In the poems, Arthur is William III; his antagonist, Octa, is James II, and so on.


c.1700-20 - The burial cross of King Arthur vanishes from history in the early 18th century. It was last known to be in the possession of one William Hughes, Chancellor of the cathedral of Wells.


1723 - Glastonbury Abbey fallen into ruin. Wandering antiquary, William Stukeley, reported in his Itinerary entry on St. Mary's Chapel,

. . . the roof beat down by violence, and a sorry wooden one in its place, thatched with stubble to make it serve as a stable; the manger lies upon the altar and niche where they put the holy water.

He went on to describe weekly auctions of building materials salvaged from the ruined abbeItems such as pillars, window jambs, fine hewn stone, etc, were used for roads and animal stalls, but many people, according to Stukeley, were superstitious enough to refrain from using the materials to build their own residences.


1767 - John Hamilton Mortimer paints the 'Discovery of Prince Arthur's Tomb'.


1808 - In the preface to William Blake's "Milton," the poet writes:

And did those feet in ancient time, Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the Holy Lamb of God, On England's pleasant pastures seen?

And did the countenance divine, Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here, Among these dark, satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold! Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me spear! O clouds, unfold! Bring me my chariots of fire!

I will not cease from mental flight, Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem, In England's green and pleasant land.

It is believed that Blake's words hark back to old West Country tradtions which said that Joseph of Arimathea brought the boy, Jesus, to England in the time, unaccounted for in the Bible, between his 12th and 30th years of age.

These words were later made famous in a hymn entitled, "Jerusalem." The words were set to music in 1916 by the English composer Hubert Hastings Parry, and later orchestrated by Sir Edward Elgar in 1922. "Jerusalem" was first performed at a Votes for Women concert in 1916.


1809 - Sir Walter Scott anonymously publishes "The Bridal of Triermain," a curious blending of Arthurian legend and the Sleeping Beauty story.


1822 - William Wordsworth writes "The Egyptian Maid," a poem featuring Merlin and the Lady of the Lake.


1840 - Arthurian poems by Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Merlin I" and " Merlin II".


1848 - William Dyce, followed by Henry Hugh Armstead, decorates the Throne Room in the newly rebuilt Palace of Westminster with scenes from the life of King Arthur.


1850 - William Holman Hunt paints 'The Lady of Shalott'.


Birth of Prince Arthur, son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.


c.1850-c.1900 - Gothic Revival inspired many poetic and literary works based on Arthur and Arthurian themes and embodying Victorian moral attitudes and neo-chivalric enthusiasms. Some of the many artists and their works are listed below:

Matthew Arnold: "Tristram and Iseult"

Gustave Doré: French illustrator, produced a collection of thirty-six drawings to illustrate an edition of Tennyson's "Idylls of the King."

William Morris: "The Defense of Guinevere," "King Arthur's Tomb," "Sir Galahad, A Christmas Mystery," " The Chapel in Lyonesse," "Near Avalon"

Dante Gabriel Rossetti: " God's Graal," an unfinished poem: "King Arthur's Tomb," "Lancelot's Vision of the Sangreal," "Sir Tristram and La Belle Yseult Drink the Love Potion," paintings in the pre-Raphaelite style.

Algernon Charles Swinburne: "Queen Yseult," "Joyeuse Garde," "Tristram of Lyonesse," "The Tale of Balen," "The Day Before the Trial," "Lancelot."

Alfred Lord Tennyson: "The Lady of Shalott," "Sir Galahad," "Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere: A Fragment," "Morte d'Arthur," "The Idylls of the King," a cycle of Arthurian poems.

1857 - Work begins on the Oxford Murals featuring Arthurian themes by Dante Rosetti and his team. They are important in illustrating the pre-Raphaelite preference for subjects from Malory rather than Tennyson.

1859 - Richard Wagner completes the opera, "Tristan und Isolde."


1875-77 - Edward Burne-Jones paints 'The Beguiling of Merlin'.


1880-98 - Edward Burne-Jones paints 'Arthur in Avalon.'


1882 - Wagner's opera, "Parsifal," is performed.


1888 - William Waterhouse paints 'The Lady of Shalott.'


1889 - Mark Twain publishes "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court."


1891-94 - Edward Burne-Jones designs and William Morris produces the Stanmore Hall Tapestries featuring scenes from the Legend of the Holy Grail.


1893-4 - Aubrey Beardsley contributes over 400 black and white drawings to illustrate John M. Dent's edition of Malory's Morte d' Arthur.


1903 - Rutland Boughton composed first opera, "Eolf," which included a cameo appearance by King Arthur. Work was never published or performed but was an indication of things which were to follow in his life.


1903-10 - Howard Pyle illustrates "The Story of King Arthur and His Knights" and other similar stories.


1917 - N.C.Wyeth, star student of Howard Pyle, illustrates "The Boy's King Arthur," an abridgement of Malory.


Arthur Rackham illustrates A.W. Pollard's abridgement of Malory, 'The Romance of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table


1923 - Thomas Hardy writes "The Queen of Cornwall," a one-act play based on the Tristan and Isolde story.


1926 - J. Armitage Robinson publishes "Two Glastonbury Legends," a classic work in the area of Glastonbury's involvement with the development of the legends of King Arthur and Joseph of Arimathea.


Roger Sherman Loomis examines the origins of many Arthurian characters amongst Celtic deities in his 'Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance.'


1927 - E. K. Chambers' classic "Arthur of Britain" is published and becomes an important reference work for much 20th century Arthurian writing.


Arthurian tourism begins to take off in Tintagel.


1929 - Frederick Glasscock founds the 'Order of the Fellowship of the Knights of the Round Table' and builds 'King Arthur's Great Hall' at Tintagel.


1933 - The 'Hall of Chivalry' is completed and opened to the public at Tintagel.


1930-44 - Charles Williams produces most important modern reinterpretations of Arthurian mythology in "War in Heaven" (1930), "Taliessin Through Logres" (1938), and "The Region of the Summer Stars" (1944). The three works cover the entire breadth of the traditional Arthurian story, making them into a moral epic of cosmic proportions. Williams deemphasizes the Guinevere-Lancelot affair, and instead focuses on the mystical aspects of the grail quest, comparing it to human spiritual development.


1936 - A.J. Davies' windows featuring King Arthur and St. Joseph of Arimathea are designed and installed in the church of St. John the Baptist in Glastonbury.


1937 - First appearance of Hal Foster's Arthurian comic strip, 'Prince Valiant'.


1936-7 - Cornwall Excavation Committee engages C.A. Ralegh Radford to direct dig at Castle Dore hillfort, near Fowey. Evidence was found suggesting that the earthwork dated from the 2nd C. BC and that the inhabitants traded in tin and had Breton connections. After a period of disuse during the Roman period, the fort was re-fortified and re-occupied with a great hall and other buildings characteristic of the headquarters of a substantial chieftain. This timing coincides nicely with the floruit of King Mark, legendary adversary of King Arthur and wronged husband of Isuelt. The local landscape is full of connections to these enduring legends.


1939 - C. A. Ralegh Radford publishes results of his excavations at Tintagel Castle. Evidence was found of several dark age buildings on the site which dated from the time of Arthur, but which appeared to be the ruins of a former monastic community. These findings put a temporary damper on public enthusiasm for finding proof that Arthur was born at Tintagel, as Geoffrey of Monmouth, Malory and Tennyson had all said. Enthusiasm would be rekindled by findings in late 1990's.


1945 - C.S. Lewis concludes his Space Trilogy with "That Hideous Strength," a tale replete with Arthurian motifs and "grail" characters.


Maccalister reinterprets the inscription on the 'Arthur Stone' at Slaughter Bridge near Camelford. It seems to really be dedicated to the memory of one Latinus, the son of Macarus (see entry for 1602).


1952 - Lewis publishes "Arthurian Torso," a "double" volume containing his friend, Charles Williams', previously unpublished "Figure of Arthur" and Lewis' commentary, "Williams and the Arthuriad."


1953 - Robert Taylor stars in MGM's 'Knights of the Round Table'.


1958 - T. H. White completes the "Once and Future King," a novel loosely based on Malory, which would provide the basis for the musical, "Camelot" and Disney's film, "The Sword in the Stone." The novel consists of four parts, the first three of which were originally published separately: "The Sword in the Stone" in 1938; "The Witch in the Wood", later renamed "The Queen of Air and Darkness", in 1939; and The "Ill-Made Knight" in 1940. The fourth book, "The Candle in the Wind", first appeared in 1958 when the "Once and Future King" was published. White modernizes Malory and adds new tales, characters and details to the exisiting legends without alienating the reader who if familiar with Malory or other classic tellings of the Arthurian stories.


1960 - "Camelot," a Lerner and Lowe musical stageplay based on T.H. White's "Once and Future King," is performed on Broadway, starring Richard Burton as King Arthur and Robert Goulet as Lancelot. A Film version, starring Richard Harris as Arthur and Franco Nero as Lancelot, appeared in 1967. Camelot was brought back on stage, this time starring Goulet as Arthur, in a Summer Stock tour of 1996.


The largest satellite station in the World is constructed on Goonhilly Down in Cornwall. The transmitter-receiver dishes are named after Arthurian characters.


Chalice Well Trust initiated a series of archaeological digs under the direction of Philip Rahtz in and around Glastonbury for the purpose of substantiating traditional claims of Christian activity in the area beginning in the first century. Of particular interest was Glastonbury Tor which is dominated by the tower of St. Michael's Church. Little or no evidence was found of Celtic, pre-Christian or Roman occupation on the Tor, but a settlement dating from the Arthurian era was found. Artifacts consistent with a military occupation rather than a religious one were found giving some support to the belief that Glastonbury Tor was one outpost in a series of hillforts that began at Cadbury Castle to the south-east and included the Tor, Brent Knoll and, at the north-western end, Dinas Powys in Wales.


1962 - "Castle Dor," an update of a 19th century version of the Tristan and Isolde story, originally begun by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863-1944), was completed from his notes by Daphne du Maurier. Du Maurier lived in the vicinity of Fowey, in Cornwall, epicenter of the Tristan, Isuelt and King Mark legends, and was well-steeped in the local traditions.


1963 - "Sword at Sunset" by Rosemary Sutcliff, a realistic telling of the Arthurian story from the king's own viewpoint. This may be the first Arthurian novel to attempt to capture the reality of dark age life and warfare and to successfully convince the reader that this is the way it really was . . . and, if it wasn't, that it should've been.


Disney releases "The Sword in the Stone," an animated film based loosely on T. H. White's 1938 novel of the same name. Good for cutesy characters and some Disney-esque fun, but it doesn't do much to further our understanding of the Arthurian legends.


1966-70 - The Camelot Research Society conducts excavations at Cadbury Castle, South Cadbury, Somerset under the direction of Leslie Alcock. Project set out to assess the validity of Cadbury's persistent connections with King Arthur and, in the process, managed to capture imagination of the public, who contributed significant sums of money to help finance work. Some stunning discoveries made: castle was re-fortified during 5th century and was occupied by an influential military leader, maybe Arthur or someone like him.


1967 - "A Glastonbury Romance," published by the estate of John Cowper Powys, a prolific novelist, essayist, poet and orator. This is a story of large proportions (and 1100+ pages, too) which centers on a man's struggle to restore Glastonbury to its rightful place as one of the world's great spiritual centers against the opposition of a voracious industrialist whose loftiest purpose is to build factories and mines. All this against a backdrop of centuries old traditions involving the legends of King Arthur and the Holy Grail which seem to have a profound affect on the town and everyone in it.


1971 - Publication of Leslie Alcock's 'Arthur's Britain,' a key text synthesising known historical and archaeological information concerning King Arthur and the times in which he apparently lived.


Publication of Prof. Valerie Lagorio's seminal work on the development of the legends of Joseph of Arimathea (Speculum, April issue).


1973 - Publication of John Morris' 'The Age of Arthur,' an ambitious, if not altogether successful attempt to explain all the contradictory information about the 'Dark Ages'. Nonetheless, an important work.


1975 - "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," jokingly said by Geoffrey Ashe to be the most realistic of all celluloid Arthurian depictions, stars Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin.


Helmut Nickel, followed by C. Scott Littleton, proposes that the Arthurian legends are based upon Scythian religious tradition and were brought to Britain by the Sarmatians in the Roman army.


1976 - "The Acts of King Arthur and his Noble Knights," John Steinbeck's attempt at a modernization of Malory. He said, "In no sense do I wish to rewrite Malory, or reduce him, or change him, or soften or sentimentalize him. I believe the stories are great enough to survive my tampering, which at best will make the history available to more readers, and at worst can't hurt Malory very much." But, when he began the project, he had no conception of the magnitude of what he set out to do.

He wrote in a letter to his literary agent on November 19, 1956, " I have a feeling that this will go very fast." Several months later, in a letter to a friend dated April 9, 1957, Steinbeck says, "People ask me when I will have the Morte thing ready and I choose a conservative figure and say ten years. The size of the job, however, makes me feel that this might be a conservative estimate." Then, on July 8, 1965, in Steinbeck's last mention of his Malory project, he writes, "I go struggling along with the matter of Arthur. I think I have something and am pretty excited about it but I am going to protect myself by not showing it to anybody so that after I get a stretch of it done, if it seems bad, I can simply destroy it. But, right now I don't think it is bad. Strange and different, but not bad." Steinbeck died in 1968 without having finished the work. The completed portions were published, posthumously, in 1976.


1977 - Release of George Lucas' first 'Star Wars' movie, Episode IV: A New Hope. The storyline is generally accepted as being based upon Arthurian themes.


Prof. David Dumville begins a series of papers pronouncing King Arthur to be a purely mythical character.


1978 - Mary Stewart completes her Merlin Trilogy of novels, "The Crystal Cave" (1970), "The Hollow Hills" (1973) and "The Last Enchantment" (1978).


1979 - Establishment of 'Quondum et Futurus: The Newsletter for Arthurian Studies'.


1980 - Blackett & Wilson publish their first Arthurian work, 'Arthur, King of Glamorgan & Gwent' identifying King Arthur as both King Athrwys of Ergyng and Anwn (see entry for c.357) son of the Emperor Magnus Maximus.


Gillian Bradshaw, a historical novelist, went back to Welsh sources to create her trilogy of novels, "Hawk of May," "Kingdom of Summer" (1981) and "In Winter's Shadow" (1982), told from the viewpoints of Gawlchmai (Gawain), his squire and Gwynhwyfar (Guinevere).


1981 - In the April, 1981 issue of the scholarly journal, Speculum, in an article entitled, "A Certain, Very Ancient Book," Geoffrey Ashe advances his theory identifying King Arthur with the little-known British king, Riothamus. Ashe brings fresh and creative thinking to ancient sources such as Jordanes "Gothic History," the letters of Sidonius Appolinaris, Gregory of Tours' "History of the Franks," the obscure, Breton "Legend of St. Goeznovious" and Geoffrey of Monmouth's "History of the Kings of Britain."


Sharan Newman, author of medieval mysteries, produced her first book in a trilogy about Guinevere entitled, "Guinevere." The magical and beautifully-told series concludes with "The Chessboard Queen" (1983), and "Guinevere Evermore" (1985).


"Excalibur," an excellent adaptation of Malory by John Boorman, stars Nicol Williamson as Merlin. One of the few Arthurian genre films to capture any dark-age realism.


1982 - "The Mists of Avalon," by Marion Zimmer Bradley, adds a new wrinkle to the Arthurian story, by telling it from the point of view of the women involved in the tale: Igraine, wife of Gorlois; Morgaine, the daughter of Igraine and Gorlois; Morgause, Igraine's younger sister; Viviane, the Lady of the Lake and Gwenhwyfar, Arthur's Queen. As might be expected, characterization of Arthur is weak.


Birth of Prince William Arthur Philip Louis, son of Charles & Diana, Prince & Princess of Wales.


1983 - Blackett & Wilson discover the 'Artorius Stone' supposedly marking the grave of King Arthur at Mynydd-y-Gaer in Glamorganshire.


1982-85 - King Arthur saves the earth from a Martian invasion in Barr & Bollund's 'Camelot 3000' comic books.


1984 - Opening of Arthurian theme park, The Magical Kingdom of Camelot, at Chorley, Lancashire, UK. Currently visited by over 1 million people per year.


1985 - "Discovery of King Arthur" by Geoffrey Ashe follows up the 1981 presentation of his theory to the academic world (see above) and is the first in a spate of mass-market "historical Arthur" books by numerous authors (ie. Keatman and Phillips, Adrian Gilbert, Barber and Pykitt, etc.).


Publication of Nikolai Tolstoy's 'Quest for Merlin'.


Prof. Charles Thomas dates the 'Arthur Stone' at Slaughter Bridge, near Camelford, to about AD 540 (see entries for 1602, 1945.


1986 - Publication of Norma Lorre Goodrich's 'King Arthur' which uses literary sources to identify the great man as originating from the Scottish border region of Cumberland.


The journal, 'Quondum et Futurus: The Newsletter for Arthurian Studies' becomes 'Arthurian Interpretations'.


Publication of 'The Arthurian Encyclopaedia' edited by Norris J. Lacy.


1988 - James P. Carley publishes concise but brilliant history of "Glastonbury Abbey." Going far beyond Glastonbury's traditional associations with King Arthur and Joseph of Arimathea, Carley separates fact from the outrageous fiction-as-history perpetrated by the abbey's notorious medieval chroniclers and gives us a clearer picture of one of Christendom's richest and most colorful monastic houses.


1991 - The BBC produces a six episode mini-series, 'Merlin of the Crystal Cave' adapted form Mary Stewart's novels.
Borrowing on a timeless Arthurian theme, Monty Python graduate Terry Gilliam's film, "The Fisher King," unites shock jock, Jeff Bridges, with a homeless man, Robin Williams, in a quest for the "holy grail."



The journal, 'Arthurian Interpretations,' becomes 'Quondam et Futurus: A Journal of Arthurian Interpretations.'


1992 - Publication of Phillips & Keatman's 'King Arthur: the True Story' which claims that King Arthur was the Northern Welsh monarch, Owain Ddantgwyn, whom they locate in Powys.


1993 - Barber & Pykitt publish their 'Journey to Avalon' identifying King Arthur as both King Athrwys of Ergyng and St. Armel.


A company named 'Camelot' is granted a licence to operate the National Lottery in the UK. The number-selection machines are named after Arthurian characters. The 'Arthurnet' discussion group is established on the worldwide web.


1994 - Opening of 'King Arthur's Labyrinth' in the old Braich Goch Slate Mines near Machynlleth in North Wales. A tableau-based tourist attraction, it tells the stories of Arthur's activities in Wales.


The journal, 'Quondam et Futurus: A Journal of Arthurian Interpretations,' becomes 'Arthuriana,' the Journal of Arthurian Studies.


1995 - "First Knight," a slick Hollywood production starring Sean Connery as Arthur, Julia Ormond as Guinevere and Richard Gere as Lancelot. Connery's Arthur is believable and he looks just like you think Arthur should have looked and Ormond's Guin surpasses all others in beauty and sympathy, but Richard Gere just doesn't seem to fit the part of the heroic Lancelot.


"A Kid in King Arthur's Court," a Disney film recalling Mark Twain's "Connecticut Yankee"; the story of a modern who is transported back in time to the days of King Arthur. Entertaining but fluffy.


1996 - "The Historic King Arthur" by Frank Reno is released. The author goes Geoffrey Ashe (Arthur = Riothamus) one further and advances the theory that Arthur = Riothamus = Ambrosius Aurelianus, ie. that "Riothamus" and "Arthur" are merely titles/honorifics and that Ambrosius Aurelianus is the human to whom they have been applied. This is not a widely-held theory but we believe it provides good food for thought, particularly since Ambrosius is the only known 5th century person who did anything even remotely "Arthurian."


Bernard Cornwell releases the first title in his "The Warlord Chronicles" series, "The Winter King" and follows up quickly with "Enemy of God" (1997) and "Excalibur" (1998). In the series, the author re-creates the Dark Ages beautifully and accompanies his well-written text with notes about sources and his use of history and legends.


"The Arthuriad of Catumandus" by Frederick Lees is published. Told from the point of view of Catumandus, a pagan Briton who had lived in the Eastern Empire and discovered that he had been fathered by the great King Arthur. We believe that this is the first modern novel to mention the 5th C. king, Riothamus (a tip of the hat to Geoffrey Ashe's theories), and equate him with Ambrosius Aurelianus (perhaps another tip of the hat to the recent work of Frank Reno).


Publication of D.F. Carroll's 'Arturius: A Quest for Camelot' where King Arthur is identified with Prince Artur of Dalriada (Scotland).


1998 - "Arthurian" Inscription Found at Tintagel - On 6th August 1998, English Heritage revealed that during the last week of digging on the Eastern terraces of Tintagel Island, a broken piece of Cornish slate (8" by 14") was discovered bearing the name "Artognov". It was excavated on July 4th, by Kevin Brady, an archaeologist working with a team from Glasgow University (Scotland). "As the stone came out, when I saw the letters A-R-T, I thought uh-oh..."

The stone apparently bears two inscriptions. The upper strongly incized letters have been broken off and are sadly indecipherable. The lower inscription, though fainter, clearly reads "Pater Coliavificit Artognov", which Professor Charles Thomas of Exeter University has carefully translated as "Artognou, father of a descendant of Coll, has had this built". Possibly written by a Gaulish hand, the style of writing is certainly 6th century, a date confirmed by surrounding fragments of 6th century Mediterranean pottery already well known from the Tintagel site. Also found nearby was the remains of the only Spanish glass flagon known from this period of Britain's history. Chris Morris, who has been leading the Scottish based excavation team for the past eight years, believes that the dedicatory "Arthur Stone," as it has already been christened, was placed in the wall of a 6th century stone building which later collapsed soon after it was built. The slate was then reused as drain cover a century later.

Though "Artognou" (pronounced arth-new) proves that names similar to that of the great King existed in the, so called, Arthurian period, Chris Morris is sceptical about making too much of the obvious link with King Arthur's traditional birthplace. He believes the stone's importance lies in the fact that it is "the first evidence we have that the skills of reading and writing were handed down in a non-religious context". However, Dr Geoffrey Wainwright, chief archaeologist at the, normally cautious, English Heritage declared the newly discovered link should not be dismissed. "Tintagel has presented us with evidence of a Prince of Cornwall, in the Dark Ages, living in a high-status domestic settlement at the time Arthur lived. It has given us the name of a person, Arthnou. Arthnou was here, that is his name on a piece of stone. It is a massive coincidence at the very least. This is where myth meets history. It's the find of a lifetime."


Adrian Gilbert publicises the work of Blackett & Wilson by publishing his 'the Holy Kingdom'.


2000 - Publication of 'The Keys to Avalon' in which Blake & Lloyd attempt to relocate all Arthurian locations in Wales.


2001 - "The Mists of Avalon," a TV mini-series based on the 1982 book by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Beautiful photography and evocative music highlight this Turner Network Television (TNT) production featuring Oscar winner Anjelica Huston, Emmy winner Julianna Margulies and two-time Academy Award and Golden Globe nominee Joan Allen. According to press materials, the series "delves into the romance, bravery and deceit linking the characters of Arthur's Kingdom and exalts the powerful women behind the throne of King Arthur," but in actuality it merely pretends to significance and provides no analysis or insight, at all. In one of the great casting mistakes of all time (rivaling the decision to allow Kevin Costner to play Robin Hood), Arthur is portrayed as a weak, sniveling little wimp (or, perhaps, the decision was intentional given the obvious gender orientation of the program). Much emphasis seems to be placed on promoting goddess worship and in a telling scene at the end of the film, a statue of the Virgin Mary is said to be nothing more than a christianized version of the old goddess.


Establishment of the 'Centre for Arthurian Studies' at the North-East Wales Institute for Higher Education in Wrexham, co-founded by Steve Blake and Scott Lloyd, co-authors of "The Keys of Avalon" (2000) which claims to reveal the "true location of Arthur's kingdom."


2003 - "The Mystery of King Arthur, Vol. 1" is released. A Mick Fowler Productions/British History Club History Club enterprise, this series of DVD's explores Arthurian history and legend as has never been done before on-screen.


2004 - "King Arthur," a Jerry Bruckheimer film, is released with much fanfare and high expectations. The film, while likable enough as pure entertainment, takes impermissible liberties with history and legend (which is really what the film was supposed to be about). Case in point are Arthur's horse soldiers. Historically, these were troops conscripted out of eastern Europe (Sarmatia) by the Romans and sent to remotest Britain to shore up the island's defenses. Their Roman commander is said to have been one Lucius Artorius Castus, the central character in a not-too-widely-held scholarly theory that casts him as the original figure behind the legend of King Arthur (see timeline entry for 184 AD). One problem with this is that these cavalrymen lived in Britain in the latter half of the second century, 300ish years before the movie was supposed to have taken place, and another is that, in the 180's, the Saxons hadn't arrived in Britain, yet, and wouldn't need battling for a long time to come.

Producer Bruckheimer, in his quest to be creatively original, also for the first time in history and legend sees fit to transform the reliably feminine figure of Guinevere into a painted-up, Celtic shield-maiden, fully the equal of any of her male co-combatants in the "manly" arts of war. He might have gotten away with this, had the naturally willowy actress, Keira Knightley, had the physique to make us believe -- but she didn't -- and, as a result, we're left conflicted with memories of what should have been our always-delicate Guinevere, rampaging around a dark age battlefield clad in some of the most improbably revealing and non-protective battle gear in the long history of warfare.

In our view, however glad Arthurians worldwide might have been when they heard that yet another attempt was going to be made by a major Hollywood talent to do justice to their favorite legendary character, they are surely disappointed, now, at having seen just another tarted-up, Hollywood summer "blockbuster".


The release period (late June - early July) was sprinkled with programs attempting to provide serious analysis of the film, "King Arthur", and the man behind the legend. The History Channel had two such shows, totaling 3 hours of air time and ABC-TV had a 20 minute segment on its PrimeTime Friday "20/20" show. The best of the bunch was clearly the History Channel's "Quest for King Arthur" (June 20th), featuring Arthurian academic luminaries Geoffrey Ashe ("The Discovery of King Arthur" and Secretary of the Camelot Research Committee [see entry for 1966-70]), Christopher Snyder ("The World of King Arthur"), Bonnie Wheeler (Editor of the publication, "Arthuriana") and Jeremy Adams (noted medieval historian from Yale and SMU). Although much material was presented that could've been confusing to the uninitiated, this was probably the most authoritative and satisfying treatment of Arthur's historical and legendary background ever done for television...but, then again, all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't make the "King Arthur" film into anything more than another swashbuckling knight movie.