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The Reign of Arthur: From History to Legend
 
 

The Reign of Arthur: From History to Legend (Hardcover)

by Christopher Gidlow (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: The History Press Ltd; First Edition edition (13 May 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0750934182
  • ISBN-13: 978-0750934183
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.8 x 3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 671,982 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Product Description

Product Description

Did King Arthur really exist? The Reign of Arthur takes a fresh look at the early sources describing Arthur's career and compares them to the reality of Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries. It presents, for the first time, both the most up to date scholarship and a convincing case for the existence of a real sixth-century British general called Arthur. Where others speculate wildly or else avoid the issue, Gidlow, remaining faithful to the sources, deals directly with the central issue of interest to the general reader: does the Arthur that we read of in the ninth-century sources have any link to a real leader of the fifth or sixth century? Was Arthur a powerful king or a Dark Age general co-cordinating the British resistance to Saxon invaders? Detailed analysis of the key Arthurian sources, contemporary testimony and archaeology reveals the reality of fragmented British kingdoms uniting under a single military command to defeat the Saxons. There is plausible and convincing evidence for the existence of their war-leader, and, in this challenging and provocative work, Gidlow concludes that the Dark Age hypothesis of Arthur, War-leader of the Kings of the Britons, not only fits the facts, it is the only way of making sense of them.


About the Author

Christopher Gidlow is events and live interpretation manager at the Historic Royal Palaces. An Oxford history graduate, he has a longstanding interest in the middle ages and the Arthurian legends. At Oxford he was president of the university Arthurian Society, of which he is now an honorary life member.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

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Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
14 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A superb re-examination of the earliest Arthurian sources, 5 Jul 2004
By A Customer
The first half of this long-awaited book, "From History," is a critical re-examination of all the earliest Arthurian sources (Gildas, Nennius, the Welsh Annals, etc.) in the light of the latest historical research. By taking nothing for granted, Gidlow comes up with several surprising and persuasive insights.

The second half, "To Legend," examines how later authors (from the Mabinogion through the Welsh Saints' Lives to Geoffrey of Monmouth) added the magical deeds of legendary heroes to this historical Arthur, turning him into a figure first of folklore, then eventually of chivalric romance. Again, by examining the layers of this dubious source material in chronological order, Gidlow adds to our understanding of how Arthur came to be viewed primarily as a figure out of legend.

The author makes a convincing case that Arthur, victor at Mount Badon, could have filled any of a number of roles in post-Roman Britain, and that -- but for the 'taint' of the later, legendary material -- scholars would have no reason to deny his essential historicity.

Gidlow's easy familiarity with the many aspects of Arthuriana -- in history, romance, literature, and 'King Arthur shared my postcode' crank scholarship -- shines through. This book is an easy read, and a rewarding one. Highly recommended.

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12 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading - don't miss it!, 23 Jun 2004
By A Customer
This is a much-needed book. Gidlow carefully examines the source-material for Arthur as far as Geoffrey of Monmouth's "History of the Kings of Britain", and presents a lucid and compelling case for Arthur's historical existence, whilst acknowledging the progressive accretion of folkloric and legendary material around that worthy's name.

Where this book scores over several other proponents of a "historical" Arthur is that Gidlow adopts a properly critical approach to the sources, allowing due weight to each document's historical context and purpose. Add to this some stunning photographs and an entirely new possible location for the battle of Mount Badon, and this is a book no-one interested in King Arthur should be without.

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14 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Clearest critical review of the evidence for Arthur, 16 Sep 2004
By I. Viehoff "iviehoff" (Chalfont St Giles, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
First I must declare a potential bias. Chris Gidlow and I were contemporary members of the (now sadly moribund) Oxford Arthurian Society, and we both are honorary life members.

In the 1970s, through the works of academics such as John Morris, the concept of the historical Arthur became temporarily respectable. However in the 1980s much of their work was shown to be seriously flawed. Unfortunately, great numbers of books have been written by popular writers who, in pandering to their readers' dreams, take a conjuror's approach to evidence. Coupled with a strong presence of new-agers and UFOlogists in the field, serious academics now steer well clear, and if asked dismiss it all as myth. And certainly the Arthur that appears in mediaeval romances with Lancelot and the Holy Grail is pure fictional invention.

What Chris Gidlow does in this book is show that the historical documents do support a case for believing in a historical Arthur - a man called Arthur who led the British forces fighting the Saxons in a series of battles culminating in success at Mount Badon - at least as strong as the case for believing most of the other things historians believe about that period of history.

Source criticism is crucial to coming to this conclusion. Even the best sources of the period have an unfortunate tendency to mix legend and history in their writings, and most writers had an axe to grind, and varying levels of competence on different subjects. Gidlow is careful in showing how we can distinguish history from legend, and also to consider where the writers might be distorting or misunderstanding.

I used to hear Chris sparring with other Arthurians over these issues, matters that went over the heads of most of us. It is a great pleasure for me to read this book now that Chris has mastered his sources and ironed out a consistent approach to the subject.

So 5 stars for content, and nothing knocked off for his idiosyncratic style, because he has successfully written a readable book which succeeds in conveying precision a long way from the dry-as-dust approach of an academic thesis.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A very methodical look at Arthur
I've read about 15 books and numerous papers on the Arthurian subject and this is one of the best. Whilst it may cover much discussed in other works - as most books do - Mr... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mr. M. Wilson

2.0 out of 5 stars Pretty dull stuff
I got this book because of how good the reviews on Amazon said it is, but when I read it, I was left wondering how it differed so much from so many other books on the historical... Read more
Published on 3 Dec 2004 by jejones88

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