King Arthur: Man or Myth?

Ciniglio, Nicholas J.

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King Arthur: Man or Myth?

Ciniglio, Nicholas J.

Abstract

King Arthur first appears in the Early Middle Ages in historical chronicles and stories documented by monks of Britain. As these works diffused, the legend of King Arthur continued to gain prominence to such an extent that he appears in High Medieval texts, such as Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain, and as a protagonist in medieval romances such as Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur. King Arthur has seen a revival in the past 150 years which has prompted both intellectual and cult debates on whether or not the legendary King of the Britons was real, or solely an idyllic figure to embellish medieval writing. This thesis seeks to explore the debate surrounding the historicity of King Arthur through an analysis of prior scholarship to form a structure of the debate. Tangible archaeological evidence will be cross-referenced with medieval texts which mention Arthur or otherwise lend contextual clues about his life, in order to demystify the duality of a real and a legendary King Arthur.