King Arthur

King Arthur is a fabled British leader and a prominent person in Britain’s legendary history, said in many medieval tales to have taken the ruler ship over Britain and protected his land against Saxon invaders following the withdrawal of Rome. Arthur’s story includes many elements of legend and folklore and his very existence is debated and has become a point of fierce controversy among modern historians. No one can decide whether King Arthur was fact or fiction. King Arthur is known as the leader of ‘The knights of the round table’. It is thought his best friend and fellow knight was Sir Lancelot. He was married to Guinevere, who was a Scottish Celt thought by many as a pagan and so the Romans treated her in despite. She was a master archer and not many (apart from Arthur) could shoot an arrow further than her. It is said they met when he accidentally rescued her from a Roman village, fell in love, then fought beside each other as they ruled Scotland and England as one and saved Britain from the domination of the Saxons. Arthur was thought to have been born in Tintagel castle in Cornwall, England and the famous ‘King Arthur’s seat’, where he ruled Britain from, is in Edinburgh, Scotland. Apart from the controversy over the existence of a single historical Arthur, he was recently voted as one of the 100 Greatest Britons.

Vocabulary