- Year 72 (c. AD 516) The Battle of Badon, in which Arthur carried the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ on his shoulders for three days and three nights and the Britons were victors.
- Year 93 (c. 537) The Strife of Camlann in which Arthur and Mordred fell and there was death in Britain and in Ireland
That's it. That the historical basis the scholastic community can agree upon concerning the matter of a living, breathing (not anymore so, though) person, that might have some semblance to the what we know as King Arthur.
Why is that disclaimer so important?
If you know your way around history you know that our picture of the past is informed by what is known as sources. Sources run the whole spectrum from written texts to stuff our ancestors through away. Imagine that, your carbage can might tell someone very interesting things about you in centuries to come (maybe even right now, if your garbage man is a bit strange. Maybe lock those things away). It's important to consider that those sources alomost always are biased. Or simply wrong. Or worst of all, forgeries. This heavily conflicts with one of our goals to become a writer: Know your stuff. We will see what that means in practical terms as we delve deeper into the mysteries surrounding Arthur.
What this means ist that you not only have to hunt down sources, you then have to evaluate them. The case of Arthur is perfect for that. The first thing we need to come to terms with: That probably wasn't his real name. What you see above is a translated version of the so called easter annals. His actual name there is Afderydd. This goes for all of the names we will encounter.
Why that is is a topic for anttoher blog, since I want to keep entries from dragging on to long. It's easy to get exhausted by all of this.
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