August 25, 2008 • 8 mins
Thanks to his enduring presence in western culture, the name King Arthur conjures up a very specific image. Take a look at our HowStuffWorks podcast to learn more about the fact and fiction surround King Arthur.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Stuff you missed in history class from how
Stuff Works dot com. Hello and welcome to the podcast.
I'm editor Candice Gibson, joined to day by the ever
valiant and ever noble and true Sir Josh Clark. Hey, Cannie,
(00:22):
thank you, thank you for nighting me just now. Very welcome.
It's like the third time this month. I know, I'm
really trying to get on josh Is good side. You've
just been so so darn chivalrous and nice. I just
had to do something, you know, quid pro quo. The
cape over the puddle is what you're referring to. And
you held a door for me about two weeks. Again,
that's true. I guess I have been kind of chivalrous
king indeed, and you know we could use a little
(00:44):
bit more of that in our daily lives. I'm not
saying we all have to go around whipping out swords
from stones like my favorite legend of all time, King Arthur.
But there are certain principles and values from the Artherurian
legend that I like to apply to my daily life. Well,
they're actually kind of universal, they are there. What are
these qualities? Again? We have honor and encourage um. Uh,
(01:10):
maybe not stealing the king's wife. That's a good thing.
It's a nice one too. You know. What's what's odd
is that UM a lot of these these um parts
of chivalry are a lot of the values that fall
under the umbrella of chivalry. Also UM kind of jive
with UM like Christian values as well. They do kind
(01:31):
of which is kind of significant because I remember part
of the Eutherian legend is that UM, when England needs
the most, Arthur will rise from the dead to come
back to save it. Which it's an awful lot like
another person, who is that? I know who you're hinting at.
Jesus you did know, wow, I I did, And you
(01:53):
know it's there's a very good reason that it sounds
a lot like Christian stories. And that's because when the
legend of Arthur was first put on paper, it was
back with Jeffrey of Monmouth. He started penning it down
back in the yeah as well, centuring the eleven hundred,
and then after Jeffrey of Monmouth, Christian Christian of Troy
or kretin Deta he picked it up and penned his
(02:16):
own version. And after Kretindi there was the Vulgate cycle,
and this was a version of the legend of Arthur
that married the story with very Christian concepts. And then
after that version was written, Sir Thomas Mallory adopted that
and created his very famous, very well reputed and known
Lemore d'Arthur or The Death of Arthur, and that was
(02:39):
the version that everyone was working from. So if there's
certain principles of Christianity that seemed to give at the
Artherian legend, that's why. Well, yeah, I think it was
kind of the two were married together because about the
time that it was being put to paper, Christianity was
being introduced to Western Europe. You know, Prior to this time,
peasants had really no reason to toil, and then all
(03:02):
of a sudden they have Christianity, which says, uh, you know,
the harder you work on earth, of the the worshier
lot on earth, the better it is in heaven. All
of a sudden they toil a little harder in the
feudal you know, kings were saying keep at it, you know,
thanks a lot. So it's it makes a lot of
sense that that this national hero would be married with
(03:22):
those same kind of Christian values. As well, And just
to give you a little background on this national hero.
I know you probably have some ideas of who Arthur was,
whether you see him as Sean Connery or the very skinny,
scrawny prepubiscent cartoon from Disney Sword and Stone. My preferred
version really, um, but Arthur. You know, it's really hard
(03:43):
to tell the story of Arthur because there's so many
disparate versions, but pretty much, um, he was a young
lad growing up in England at a time when it
had recently been invaded and their former leader had been dethroned,
and he saw a sword and a stone, he pulled
it out, and by virtue of that he became king
because that was ex Caliber. Indeed, indeed, other versions of
(04:05):
this story have the Lady of the Light handing him
the sword and telling him that he was to rule
the country. So from there he took his trustee sword
ex Caliber, and built the mighty Fortress Camelot as stronghold
for his for his kingdom. And once inside he started
devising a very innovative and egalitarian concept called the round table.
(04:28):
And this really was pretty radical because before there had
always been positions of authority within the knighthood. And you know,
someone was always top night and somebody wasn't sort of
bottom wrong. But with Arthur, everyone was equal. It was
a round table round. It was a good way to lead,
it was. And because he was such a good leader,
everybody kind of wants a piece of him, you know,
(04:48):
the same way that the same way that the US
wants to claim Posh. And yet she still has British roots.
Everyone wants to say she's our girl. Everyone said, thought
about Arthur, the British, the Welsh, well, actually the British
kind of um. One could make a case the British
Pilford Arthur um and propped him up as a as
(05:10):
a a poster boy for their their national values, you
know things that uh. He he was a famous figure
that um conquered evil and united you know that this
land wherever the land actually was during you know his time,
um and lead people out of this darkness and out
(05:32):
of danger and fear. Um. And he wasn't necessarily English.
The Welsh, on the other hand, seemed to be perfectly
content with Arthur remaining English. There's a guy out there
who's found some evidence that if Arthur did live, he
was a Welshman, and the Welsh aren't really doing a
whole lot to you know, pick up that gauntlet and
run with it. You know, it's funny that's evidence of
(05:55):
Arthur's existence. It's pretty touchy because if this is a
matter of national pride and people do want a piece
of Arthur, what they need is proof, and they're turning
to these supposed historical relics and they're saying, here it is,
here's proof that Arthur existed. And you were asking me
about one of these earlier, the round table you were
talking about it supposedly is hanging in a castle. Well,
(06:16):
there is a round table hanging in a castle in
England and it was supposedly Arthur. So I mean, wouldn't
that prove that, you know, he was an actual person
when they take him out of the realm of fiction
and put him into the room effect, Well, it would,
except for one tiny hitch. It's not authentic, so it's
fiction that would make it fiction. And a lot of
(06:39):
these historical relics and dates come from Thomas Mallory because
again he was the one who put this into context
and actually named landmarks in England. And you know pretty
much that Arthur was here, and that wasn't the case.
And in fact, the place that he claimed was Arthur's
birthplace Tentacle Castle, that wasn't built until the eleven hundreds,
(07:00):
and that was centuries after Arthur was supposed to have lived.
And a lot of people think now that the reason
he named that place is because it was affiliated with
his patron, who commissioned his work of literature. There you go,
And as for the round table in question, well here's
where your bubble is really going to be burst. Well, um,
some scholars carbon dated it and it only dated back
(07:23):
to Yeah. Yeah, so now they're starting to believe that
it was commissioned by Henry the eighth because people were
really fascinated by the Artherian legend and medieval culture and
he wanted a replica. Yeah, it's understandable. I could not
feel more disillusioned right now. But um, at least I'm
still at night. Well that is true, that is true. Well, um,
(07:46):
I would help scrape you up. I have a nice
story for you. It's called How King Arthur Worked, and
you can read all about it on how stuff works
dot com. For moral this than thousands of other topics
because at how stuff Works dot com. Let us know
what you think. Send an email to podcast at how
stuff Works dot com. H
Welcome to Stuff you missed in history class from how
Stuff Works dot com. Hello and welcome to the podcast.
I'm editor Candice Gibson, joined to day by the ever
valiant and ever noble and true Sir Josh Clark. Hey, Cannie,
(00:22):
thank you, thank you for nighting me just now. Very welcome.
It's like the third time this month. I know, I'm
really trying to get on josh Is good side. You've
just been so so darn chivalrous and nice. I just
had to do something, you know, quid pro quo. The
cape over the puddle is what you're referring to. And
you held a door for me about two weeks. Again,
that's true. I guess I have been kind of chivalrous
king indeed, and you know we could use a little
(00:44):
bit more of that in our daily lives. I'm not
saying we all have to go around whipping out swords
from stones like my favorite legend of all time, King Arthur.
But there are certain principles and values from the Artherurian
legend that I like to apply to my daily life. Well,
they're actually kind of universal, they are there. What are
these qualities? Again? We have honor and encourage um. Uh,
(01:10):
maybe not stealing the king's wife. That's a good thing.
It's a nice one too. You know. What's what's odd
is that UM a lot of these these um parts
of chivalry are a lot of the values that fall
under the umbrella of chivalry. Also UM kind of jive
with UM like Christian values as well. They do kind
(01:31):
of which is kind of significant because I remember part
of the Eutherian legend is that UM, when England needs
the most, Arthur will rise from the dead to come
back to save it. Which it's an awful lot like
another person, who is that? I know who you're hinting at.
Jesus you did know, wow, I I did, And you
(01:53):
know it's there's a very good reason that it sounds
a lot like Christian stories. And that's because when the
legend of Arthur was first put on paper, it was
back with Jeffrey of Monmouth. He started penning it down
back in the yeah as well, centuring the eleven hundred,
and then after Jeffrey of Monmouth, Christian Christian of Troy
or kretin Deta he picked it up and penned his
(02:16):
own version. And after Kretindi there was the Vulgate cycle,
and this was a version of the legend of Arthur
that married the story with very Christian concepts. And then
after that version was written, Sir Thomas Mallory adopted that
and created his very famous, very well reputed and known
Lemore d'Arthur or The Death of Arthur, and that was
(02:39):
the version that everyone was working from. So if there's
certain principles of Christianity that seemed to give at the
Artherian legend, that's why. Well, yeah, I think it was
kind of the two were married together because about the
time that it was being put to paper, Christianity was
being introduced to Western Europe. You know, Prior to this time,
peasants had really no reason to toil, and then all
(03:02):
of a sudden they have Christianity, which says, uh, you know,
the harder you work on earth, of the the worshier
lot on earth, the better it is in heaven. All
of a sudden they toil a little harder in the
feudal you know, kings were saying keep at it, you know,
thanks a lot. So it's it makes a lot of
sense that that this national hero would be married with
(03:22):
those same kind of Christian values. As well, And just
to give you a little background on this national hero.
I know you probably have some ideas of who Arthur was,
whether you see him as Sean Connery or the very skinny,
scrawny prepubiscent cartoon from Disney Sword and Stone. My preferred
version really, um, but Arthur. You know, it's really hard
(03:43):
to tell the story of Arthur because there's so many
disparate versions, but pretty much, um, he was a young
lad growing up in England at a time when it
had recently been invaded and their former leader had been dethroned,
and he saw a sword and a stone, he pulled
it out, and by virtue of that he became king
because that was ex Caliber. Indeed, indeed, other versions of
(04:05):
this story have the Lady of the Light handing him
the sword and telling him that he was to rule
the country. So from there he took his trustee sword
ex Caliber, and built the mighty Fortress Camelot as stronghold
for his for his kingdom. And once inside he started
devising a very innovative and egalitarian concept called the round table.
(04:28):
And this really was pretty radical because before there had
always been positions of authority within the knighthood. And you know,
someone was always top night and somebody wasn't sort of
bottom wrong. But with Arthur, everyone was equal. It was
a round table round. It was a good way to lead,
it was. And because he was such a good leader,
everybody kind of wants a piece of him, you know,
(04:48):
the same way that the same way that the US
wants to claim Posh. And yet she still has British roots.
Everyone wants to say she's our girl. Everyone said, thought
about Arthur, the British, the Welsh, well, actually the British
kind of um. One could make a case the British
Pilford Arthur um and propped him up as a as
(05:10):
a a poster boy for their their national values, you
know things that uh. He he was a famous figure
that um conquered evil and united you know that this
land wherever the land actually was during you know his time,
um and lead people out of this darkness and out
(05:32):
of danger and fear. Um. And he wasn't necessarily English.
The Welsh, on the other hand, seemed to be perfectly
content with Arthur remaining English. There's a guy out there
who's found some evidence that if Arthur did live, he
was a Welshman, and the Welsh aren't really doing a
whole lot to you know, pick up that gauntlet and
run with it. You know, it's funny that's evidence of
(05:55):
Arthur's existence. It's pretty touchy because if this is a
matter of national pride and people do want a piece
of Arthur, what they need is proof, and they're turning
to these supposed historical relics and they're saying, here it is,
here's proof that Arthur existed. And you were asking me
about one of these earlier, the round table you were
talking about it supposedly is hanging in a castle. Well,
(06:16):
there is a round table hanging in a castle in
England and it was supposedly Arthur. So I mean, wouldn't
that prove that, you know, he was an actual person
when they take him out of the realm of fiction
and put him into the room effect, Well, it would,
except for one tiny hitch. It's not authentic, so it's
fiction that would make it fiction. And a lot of
(06:39):
these historical relics and dates come from Thomas Mallory because
again he was the one who put this into context
and actually named landmarks in England. And you know pretty
much that Arthur was here, and that wasn't the case.
And in fact, the place that he claimed was Arthur's
birthplace Tentacle Castle, that wasn't built until the eleven hundreds,
(07:00):
and that was centuries after Arthur was supposed to have lived.
And a lot of people think now that the reason
he named that place is because it was affiliated with
his patron, who commissioned his work of literature. There you go,
And as for the round table in question, well here's
where your bubble is really going to be burst. Well, um,
some scholars carbon dated it and it only dated back
(07:23):
to Yeah. Yeah, so now they're starting to believe that
it was commissioned by Henry the eighth because people were
really fascinated by the Artherian legend and medieval culture and
he wanted a replica. Yeah, it's understandable. I could not
feel more disillusioned right now. But um, at least I'm
still at night. Well that is true, that is true. Well, um,
(07:46):
I would help scrape you up. I have a nice
story for you. It's called How King Arthur Worked, and
you can read all about it on how stuff works
dot com. For moral this than thousands of other topics
because at how stuff Works dot com. Let us know
what you think. Send an email to podcast at how
stuff Works dot com. H
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