Geoffrey Ashe's "The discovery of king Arthur"

The discovery of king Arthur (Geoffrey Ashe)

Legend behind legend

King Arthur is truly a romantic figure, a knight in armour with a round table of brave companions and a noble code of chivalrous conduct. This legend of a legend was created in medieval times by giving a medieval setting to the old tales of Arthur written down in 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his "History of the Kings of Britain".
In Monmouth's "History", Arthur is a British king who, around the year 500, won many glorious victories against the Saxons, who were invading Britain. He also, amazingly enough, led a campaign to Gaul, to conquer the fading but still redoubtable Roman Empire!

Geoffrey of Monmouth claimed that he based his story on facts recorded in an "ancient book written in the British language". There is a Welsh "History of the Britons" that comes from before Geoffrey of Monmouth's time. It mentions Arthur as a general, praises his successful battles against the Saxons, and puts his death in 539.
It has generally been assumed that this was the thin basis of Monmouth's tale, and that he invented the rest, inflating Arthur from a competent post-Roman British leader to a restorer of Roman ideals, bringer of order, a leader of great and noble knights, and ultimately a contender for leadership of the Roman Empire itself.

In The discovery of king Arthur, Geoffrey Ashe gives a comprehensive argument that Monmouth really did have access to authentic historical sources beside the Welsh legends. He argues that the most distinctive feature of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Arthur is not his battles against the Saxons, on which subsequent reworkings of the legend have focussed, but his extensive campaigning overseas, particularly in Gaul. When correlated with other independent historical sources, Monmouth's account clearly points to one historical figure on whom the Arthur legend must be based. That person is Riotimus, King of the Britons:

The historical facts

410	Goths sack Rome. Romano-British general Constantine III takes his legions to Gaul. Picts and Saxons attack England.
425	Vortigern becomes British king.
428	Saxon kings Hengist and Horsa land in Britain.
430's-450's	Saxon attacks on the British intensify.
455	Vortigern still alive. Vandals sack Rome.
457	Leo I becomes emperor of the Eastern Roman empire.
460's	Ambrosius Aurelianus commands British troops, temporarily stopping Saxon expansion in Britain.
468	Riotimus , king of the Britains, is asked by the emperor of the Western Roman empire to help to defeat Visigoths in Gaul. He sails up the Loire with a large force.
469	Roman forces in Gaul defeat Saxons (with Riotimus's help?). Childeric, king of the Franks, saves the remaining Saxons.
470	Riotimus is defeated by the Visigoths. He is last heard of fleeing to Burgundy, in the direction of a town called Avallon.

The story of Arthur according to Geoffrey of Monmouth

After the Romans leave Britain, Picts attack from Scotland. The Archbishop of London appoints Constantine, a Breton, king. He defeats the Picts. At his death, his oldest son becomes king, but is assasinated and replaced by a noblemen called Vortigern . His other sons, Aurelius Ambrosius and Uther, flee to Brittany.
Vortigern allows Saxons, under their kings Hengist and Horsa into Britain to fight the Picts for him. Soon the Saxons overwhelm the Britons, and Vortigern flees to Wales, Aurelius Ambrosius returns, conquers and kills first Vortigern and then Hengist. The Saxons retreat.
Aurelius is assassinated, and Uther becomes king. He continues subduing the Saxons. He seduces a noblewoman and she conceives his son, Arthur .
The Saxons poison Uther, and Arthur becomes king. He embarks on a massive campaign to eliminate the Saxons. He also subdues the Picts and Scots in the North, and marries Guinevere, a lady of Roman descent. Arthur's campaigns grow in scope. He seizes Iceland, Norway, and Denmark. Then he conquers Roman-controlled Gaul. The emperor Leo's Procurator demands that the British pay tribute to Rome. Arthur defeats and kills him, subdues the Burgundians, and is preparing to march on Rome itself, but his deputy in Britain, Modred, usurps the throne, and starts handing lands to the Saxons under their chief Cheldric. Arthur returns to Britain, defeats and kills Modred, but is severely wounded. He is carried off to the Isle of Avalon, never to be seen again. Over the ensuing decades, pressure from the Saxons builds. Finally, they push the Britons into Wales and Cornwall, and take over England.

Other components

Clearly the Arthur legend, like any other, drew on other material as it grew from its origin in the deeds of Riotimus. Ashe points out that one of the main elements is the Roman tradition of the Restitutor Orbis, Restorer of the World.
As the Roman empire hesitated in the third and fourth centuries, and crumbled in the fifth, it was rescued several times by competent emperors, who temporarily restored order and delayed the progress of the barbarians. Aurelian, Diocletian, and Constantine the Great were such men. Consequently, the Romans developed the tradition that, at the hour of darkness, a hero, the Restitutor Orbis, would come forward to dispel the chaos, and restore Romanitas, the traditional values of Roman nobility. Arthur is clearly a British Restitutor.

alford(at)wuphys.wustl.edu

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