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Publisher's notice

This book is not offered for sale by Medievalbookshop, but a link is provided so that you can purchase copies from Amazon. Information about this book was provided by the publisher and some details may have changed. More about this page...

Rodney Castleden.
King Arthur: The Truth Behind the Legend
.
London: Routledge, 2003.
280pp, illustrated.
Paperback ISBN 0415316553.

Publisher's recommended price £16.99

Paperback reissue (a few copies of the hardback are still available on the medievalbookshop unused bargains page).

King Arthur is often written off as a medieval fantasy, the dream of those yearning for an age of strong, just rulers and a contended kingdom. Those who accept his existence at all generally discard the stories that surround him. This exciting new investigation argues not only that Arthur did exist, as a Dark Age chieftain, but that many of the romantic tales - of Merlin, Camelot and Excalibur - are rooted in truth.

In his quest for the real King Arthur, Rodney Castleden uses up-to-date archaeological and documentary evidence to recreate the history and society of Dark Age Britain and its kings. He revives the possibility that Tintagel was an Arthurian legend, and proposes a radical new theory - that Arthur escaped alive from his final battle. A location is even suggested for perhaps the greatest mystery, the whereabouts of Arthur's grave.

Contents: 1. Who this Arthur Was: The Once and Future King; Doubts about Arthur's Existence; 2. The Documents: Constantius' Life of Germanus; Writings on Stones; Genealogies; Nennius' Historical Miscellany; Poetry; The Anglo-saxon Chronicle; Gilda's Book of Complaint; Geoffrey of Monmouth; 3. The Archaeology: Background Problems; Strongholds of the North; strongholds of Wales and the Borders; Dark Age Dumnonia; Castle Dore and Other Sites; 4. Arthur's Britain: St Germanus and Vortigern; Ambrosius Aurelianus; Christian Missionaries; The Saxons; 5. Arthur: The Man. the King and the Kingdom: The Man; 'The most powerful leader of the Britons'; Arthur's Power Base; Arthur as a Christian King; 6. Camelot: Colchester, Cadbury and Caerlaverock, Tintagel, Viroconium, Killibury, The Hammerer; 7. The Death of Arthur: The last battle; Arthur's Disappearance; Avalon; 'The Wonder of the World'.


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