Evil's Fatal Attraction to Good
How one of the most famous noble rulers, a king true, used power to lead his kingdom to peace and prosperity.
Of knights, dames, wars and tournaments… since the late middle age, the tale of King Arthur, Camelot, Excalibur and the knights of the Round Table have been part of our collective imagination.
Writing in the 15th century, Sir Thomas Malory1 rendered the story vivid. “Here lies Arthur, the king who was and who is to be,” so reads the inscription on the king’s tombstone. He couldn’t have known how prophetic this inscription would prove to be.
Part legend—the mythical kingdom of Camelot and its noble Knights of the Round Table—part myth—the Lady of the Lake, the Sword of the Earth, the quest for the Holy Grail, and the Isle of Avalon, King Arthur’s narrative stands out above the rest.
But where do these stories come from, how much truth is there in them, and what’s their value in culture?
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The King Arthur we know is a creation of the late Middle Ages.
But his legend has its roots in Celtic poetry from ancient times, to the Saxon invasions of Britain. After the Romans abandoned Britain in 410 AD, Saxon invaders from what is now Germany and Denmark quickly took advantage of the vulnerability of the abandoned lands.
The people of Britain fought ferociously against the invaders over many troubled centuries.
Surviving poems from the period offer some clues. Whoever Arthur was, he must have been a role model for warriors. Nennius was the first to write about the exploits of the King, though in too many battles.
Whether the noble ruler reigned over land and people or even lived is less clear. However, references to Arthur caught the attention of an aspiring historian hundreds of years later.
In 1130, Geoffrey of Monmouth was a humble cleric with great ambitions. Using Celtic and Latin sources, he spent years writing a long chronicle called History of the Kings of Britain. The focus of this work was King Arthur.
Writing 600 years after the Saxon invasions, Geoffrey of Monmouth pieced together fragments of myth and poetry to make up for the almost complete absence of official records.
Some of his sources contained references to Arthur, and others were factual accounts of battles and locations. But many featured mythical heroes who, against all odds, fought with the aid of magical swords and sorcery.
The monk mixed it all up: a magical sword called Caledfwlch and a Roman fortress called Caerleon appeared in his sources, so the historian’s Arthur ruled from Caerleon and wielded Caliburnus, a Latin translation of Caledfwlch.
Based on the Celtic bard Myrrdin, Geoffrey of Monmouth also added to the Arthurian story a wise advisor called Merlin. If Arthur existed, he was probably a military leader, but a king with his own castle fit better into the monk’s royal history.
The monk’s chronicle received the attention it hoped for, and was soon translated from Latin into French by the poet Wace in 1155 AD. Wace added another cornerstone to Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Arthurian myth of the sword, the castle, and the wizard—the Round Table.
Arthur had a table made so that all the guests at his court were seated equally and no one could claim the chief place at the table.
After reading Wace’s translation, another French poet, Chrétien de Troyes, wrote a series of romances that made Arthur’s story famous. He introduced the stories of individual knights such as Lancelot and Gawain and mixed elements of love into their adventures, creating the famous love triangle between Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere.
In addition to this love intrigue, he also introduced the Holy Grail.
De Troyes drew on magical objects from Celtic mythology to describe the powers of the Grail. He lived in the midst of the Crusades, and many placed the concerns of the time on the Grail, enshrining it as a powerful relic of the crucifixion.
Many adaptations in French and other languages followed Chrétien’s work. In the course of rewriting, Caerleon became Camelot and Caliburns was renamed Excalibur.
Between the 12th and 13th centuries, the birth of European national monarchies begin to replace a feudal system in crisis. France, Spain, and England reinforce a central power and consolidate territorial borders.
It therefore makes sense that the collection of Arthurian stories by Sir Thomas Mallory in the 15th century into Le Morte D’Artur would be a success. These stories formed the basis of modern Arthurian tales.
Sir Malory’s rendition is more than jousts and hunts. Beneath the surface, the stories are filled with symbols, metaphors, and Biblical allusions. At the center of the entire Middle Ages was the symbol: the life of medieval man was inscribed in a symbolic universe, where every form of thought, artistic, mystical, theological, was based on it.
Arthur, the son of King Uther Pendragon but raised by another family, takes his rightful place as king when, as a boy, he manages to pull the sword called Excalibur from the stone. Although he rules wisely and is advised by the wizard Merlin, Arthur makes many enemies and is often at war.
“It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.”
Arthur recognized the power of one’s own thoughts and choices in shaping their character.
Paradoxically, the survival of the idea of the universal empire in Germany and Italy consigned these two realities to a political fragmentation that would persist until the 19th century. (Historical maps of Germany and Italy bear witness to the later unifications.)
The process of formation of monarchic states was gradual and marked by contrasts and compromises between the central power that was strengthening itself and the local powers that sought to maintain their privileges.
It’s possible that the Arthurian tales spread as a cautionary tale and aspiration for rulers. As the economy grew—in Italy at a formidable pace—society became more educated and able to reflect on definitions and ideals.
People wanted to know what legitimized power, even as many welcomed more central control (though faced with higher taxes, they began to push back once again.)
The stories of Arthur and his knights have had a huge influence on European literature and culture, transforming to reflect the concerns of his chroniclers. They’ve been adapted and reinterpreted in countless theatrical and cinematic works to feed our collective imagination on the values of courage, honor, and loyalty.
Medieval society embraced symbolism, and the Arthurian tales delivered. Arthur represented a universal archetype, a symbol of the struggle between Good and Evil, light and darkness. It still does.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
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