King Arthur

King Arthur is widely spoken about in the history of Britain. He is a familiar name in the romances literature and medieval history. He is believed to have led the Britain in the Great War to defend itself from Saxon invaders. The invasion is recorded in the books of history to have happened in the time between 5th and 6th centuries AD. However, modern historians dispute his existence. Many of them believe him to be folklore and a literal invention or a work of fiction. The reason his existence is disputed is because of the sparse information on his background available about in the books of history. The scarce information available in early poems of Y Gododdin, history books like Historia Brittonum and Annales Cambriae is not enough proof that he existed.

A famous Warrior

Arthur is a typical central figure and a legend of the Matter of Brittain. He is portrayed in the works of history and especially in the Historia Regum Britannia as a legendary figure that has a lot of interest from the international society. In some poems dated as early as before his works, Arthur is a great warrior. His work is to defend the people of Great Britain from supernatural powers. It is, therefore, not clear if he or existed, or Geoffrey created King Arthur, and he adopted him from earlier works. Many aspects that are present in his story and that surround his life were later taken and used to establish the Arthurian romance. This later grew to the significant medieval literature. This changes only little in French stories where they switch King Arthur with other characters of his stature. King Arthur has since then lived on. He is not only prevalent in literature but has also been used in many adaptations like comics, TV shows, films and other media.

Origin of the name

Now that many historians doubt that King Arthur ever lived, there is a lot of confusion as to where the name came from. It is not certain the origin or the meaning of the name. Some historians claim that it was a Roman family name Artorious. It was disguised as Arthur to hide the source and contest the etymology of the name. However, others believe that the name Artorious could become Arthur when borrowed and used in the Welsh. It has therefore remained a mystery if King Arthur was just a work of imagination or he was a reality.