Dragons

The legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is the most powerful and enduring in the western world. King Arthur, Guinevere, and Sir Lancelot did not really exist, both their names conjure up a romantic image of gallant knights in shining armor, elegant ladies in medieval castles, heroic quests of the Holy Grail in a world of honor and romance, and the court of Camelot at the center of a royal and mystical Britain. The Arthurian legend has existed for over a thousand years and is just as compelling today as it was in the faraway days of its early creators – Geoffrey of Monmouth, Robert de Boron, Chretien de Troyes, and most majestically: Sir Thomas Malory in his epic work, Le Mort d’Arthur. Countless writers, poets, and artists have been inspired by the life and times of King Arthur. There is also an early Welsh poem – ‘Historian Brittonum’ – from around 800, which records that’s “at that time the Saxons increased in numbers and grew in Britain. After the death of Hengist, Octa, his son, came down from the north part of Britain to the kingdom of the Kentish men, and from there are sprung the kings of the Kentish men. Then Arthur fought at that time against them in those days along with the kings of the Britons, but he was their leader in battles.” The poem lists Arthur’s battles, culminating in his twelfth at Baden Hill.
The poem ‘Annals Cambria’ from around 900 also gives reference to battles: “The Battle of Baden, in which Arthur carried the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ for three days and nights on his shoulders and the Britons were the victors” and “The Battle of Camlann, in which Arthur and Medraut fell – and there was plague in Britain and Ireland.” He is mentioned in ‘Pride Annan’ and in the 10th century appears in the ‘Stanzas of the Grave’, a Welsh poem which makes reference to the graves of several Arthurian figures, knights, as such were real enough – and still are: people beome knighted in Britain even today. Medieval knights were