Footnote 1 Merlin first appears under the Celtic name Myrrdin in Historia Regum Britanniae written by Geoffrey of Monmouth in 1136 AD.
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Footnote 2 Uther also appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae in his pursuit of Igerna (Igraine) the wife of Duke Gerlois.
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Footnote 3 The lightning-sword is reminiscent of many mythological swords in Celtic legends. It is mythed to have been forged on the isle of Avalon and been holy to the priests and priestesses there.
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Footnote 4 Igraine appears as Igerna in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae as wife to Duke Gerlois of Cornwall and Tintagel.
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Footnote 5 Duke Gerlois appears as the Duke of Cornwall and Tintagel under the king who is brother to Uther Pendragon in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae.
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Footnote 6 The earliest mentions of Arthur are in his adulthood. Arthur is mentioned in The History of the Britons circa 537 AD, Annales Cambriae from the Dark Ages, and Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae 1136 AD. Any mention of his early life is almost certainly literary fiction and speculation.
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Footnote 7 There are two version to the Excalibur myth, both of which originated in the fifteenth century. One states that the sword was pulled from the stone, while the other claims that Merlin took Arthur on a boat to retrieve the sword from the Lady of the Lake. Both are almost certainly invented though it is possible that Arthur received his sword from the Lady of the Lake.
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Footnote 8 There are two schools of thought as to the meaning of the name "Excalibur." One is the Latin derivation from ex calce libritus--freed from the stone. The other holds that the name comes from the Latin Caliburnus which was derived from an earlier Celtic word that referred to a mythical sword.
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Footnote 9 Morgan Le Fay, also called Morgana or Morgaine, appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae as a benign healer who looks after Arthur.
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Footnote 10 Mordred first appears as Medraut in Annales Cambriae which is attributed to Nennius in the tenth century. Mordred was known to be Arthur's bastard child but was not given as the son of Morgan Le Fay until Le Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory in the 1500's.
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Footnote 11 There is a mention of a wife to Arthur in the Life of Gildas by Caradoc in 1130 AD, but she is not named. The Mabinogion, a collection of Welsh stories, names her as Gwenhwyfar.
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Footnote 12 Lancelot was very likely a historical figure around whom many legends were made, but he may or may not have lived during Arthur's time. The author Norma Lorre Goodrich makes a convincing case to argue that he did coexist with Arthur while many others are adamant that he did not.
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Footnote 13 The Roundtable was introduced into Arthurian legend by Robert Wace in 1155 AD. It mirros the manner in which Celtic chiefs would meet in a circle about a camp fire with none set above the others.
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Footnote 14 There are no historical documents claiming a number of or naming Arthur's knights. Sir Thomas Mallory gives 150 as the number of knights in his Le Morte D'Arthur while other estimates range as few as twelve with Arthur the thirteenth.
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Footnote 15 Taliesin, a contemporary of Arthur, speaks of a magic cauldron of healing and plenty which appears often in Celtic myth. This is the first association with the Grail. It is likely that the Folk-tale Vessel of Plenty merged into the Christian doctrine when Christianity spread into Europe. The religious Mysteries of the cults therein were absorbed in part by the Christians thus giving birth to the Grail legends. The earliest versionsof the Grail quest are quests for a holy vessel used in enacting the Mysteries, and only later became associated with the holy cup from the last supper. (From Ritual to Romance by Jessie L. Weston)
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Footnote 16 The Battle of Camlan is thought to have happened historically and to have occurred on Salisbury Plain near Glastonbury, a likely sight for Avalon where Arthur is mythed to have gone after the battle.
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Footnote 17 Bedivere originally appears as the knight Griflet. He is not renamed as Bedivere until Idylls of the King by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. He is likely an invented character.
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Footnote 18 The Lady of the Lake (Dame du Lac) has several different names according to the particular version of the story: Viviane, Eviene, Niviene, Nimue, Nina. Merlin's death or removal from the world by enchantment is attributed to her. Also, some texts claim that she was responsible for Lancelot's upbring, hence his name: Lancelot du Lac. She appears at last as early as the Vita Merlini by Geoffrey of Monmouth.
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Footnote 19 Avalon is a mythical isle of plenty associated with apples and good fortune. Taliesin introduces the isle as the place where Arthur was to be buried. Geoffrey of Monmouth also speaks of it. The associations between Avalon, life, blessedness, and rebirth hint that it is a place from which Arthur could return. If the island has a true, geographical location, it is probably Glastonbury in southern England.
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Uther Pendragon--Uther was the brother of Ambrosius Aurelianus whom Geoffrey of Monmouth called Aurelius Ambrosius and the son of Constantine III. He earned the name Pendragon--Great Chief--as Britannia's Dux Bellorum (War Leader) under Ambrosius Aurelianus. Uther later became High King of Britannia after the death of Ambrosius Aurelianus.
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Igraine--Igraine was a Celtic woman from an illustrious family. She had a daughter--Morgan Le Fay--by the Roman Duke Gerlois and, later, a son--Arthur--by Uther Pendragon after Uther had killed Gerlois.
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Duke Gerlois--Gerlois held Cornwall and Tintagel at the behest of his liege-lord Ambrosius Aurelianus, but, unable to accept Uther as his new king after Abrosius' death, he died at Uther's hands.
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Arthur Pendragon--Arthur was the son of Uther Pendragon and Igraine. He came to his kingship early, united all the people of Britannia, and held of the Saxon invasion all of his life. Arthur served as Dux Bellorum of Britannia and later as High King of Britannia. After Arthur's death, the Saxon invasion was finally successful.
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Morgan Le Fay--Morgan Le Fay was the daughter of Duke Gerlois of Cornwall and Tintagel and Igraine of the Celts. She was taught the Celtic magic and rituals by her mother from an young age. In the earliest legends, Morgan is a benign healer who cares for Arthur. Later, she becomes known as a malignant woman who plots Arthur's downfall.
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Sir Ector--Sir Ector was the kindly knight to whom Merlin gave Arthur to be fostered. He later became a knight of the Roundtable.
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Sir Kay--Kay was the son of Sir Ector--the knight to whom Arthur was fostered. Arthur was raised to become Kay's squire until Merlin revealed Arthur's true heritage. Kay later became Arthur's Seneschal and a knight of the Roundtable.
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Sir Mordred--Mordred's name is uncertain; it ranges from Mordred to Modred, to Medraut, to Amhar, to Lohot depending upon the source. He was likely Arthur's son or nephew. Even though some books claim that he was both, the first connection of Mordred to Morgan Le Fay occurs in Sir Thomas Mallory's Le Morte D'Arthur and has no known basis in fact. He was a knight of the Roundtable. Mordred claimed Arthur's kingdom while Arthur was away fighting another war thus forcing a battle between the two at the field of Camlan which resulted in both of their deaths.
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Guinevere--Guinevere was Arthur's queen. While in later romances she is depicted as a simpering medieval Lady, she was more likely a Celtic chieftaness and war leader in her own right. Guinevere had between one and three sons at least two of which were killed. Her only disgrace is the suppose love affair between herself and Lacelot who was her champion.
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Sir Lancelot du Lac--Lancelot was first among Arthur's knights and a king in his own right. He may also have been the son of the Lady of the Lake as his name seems to indicate. Though he himself was not able to achieve the Grail Quest, his son, Galahad, did. The only blemish on his name was the supposed affair between himself and Guinevere whom he championed.
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Sir Gawaine--The eldest of the knights of Orkney, son to King Lot of Lothian and Orkney and Morgause--sister to Arthur--, Gawaine was a constant defender of Arthur's life and honor. He was second as a knight only to Lancelot. In some versions of the Grail legends, it is he who achieved the Grail Quest.
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Sir Percival--A knight of the Roundtable, Percival ventured forth to find the Grail. In some of the legends, he cured the Fisher King of his Ills, restored the land to fruitfulness, and achieved the Grail Quest.
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Sir Galahad--Galahad was the son of Lancelot and Elaine--Guinevere's cousin. He was the holiest of Arthur's knights and, in the most popular versions of the Grail legends, he achieved the Grail Quest.
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Sir Bedivere--Bedivere returned Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake when Arthur, dying after the battle at Camlan, so commanded it. In earlier versions of the myth, this service is performed by Griflet, another knight.
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Lady of the Lake--She is an enigmatic figure who may have been Lancelot's mother. It is from the Lady of the Lake that Arthur received Excalibur, and it is to her that Excalibur went upon Arthur's death. She may have been a druid priestess of Avalon. One explanation for the various names she is give in different versions of the story is that each name denotes a different woman who served in the capacity of Lady of the Lake at a different time from the others--a succession of the title from one generation of priestesses to the next, if you will.
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Cornwall --Cornwall is a small area of land in southwestern England bordered on three sides by the Atlantic Ocean and the English Channel.
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Tintagel --Tintagel is a castle on the Atlantic Ocean in Cornwall.
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Camelot --Camelot was Arthur's main castle. There are many conflicting theories about which castle in England corresponds to the historical Camelot. A likely location for Camelot is Stirling Castle in mid-eastern Scotland by the Firth of Forth. Another prevailing theory is that Cadbury Castle near Glastonbury in southern England is Camelot.
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Camlan --Camlan was the field in which Arthur's fatal battle took place. One theory as to its location is that Camlan corresponds to the Roman Fort Camboglanna in northern England near Carlisle along Hadrian's Wall.
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- http://arthurpendragon.ukonline.co.uk/artfaq.html
- An Arthurian frequently-asked-questions site
- http://www.sfw.org/books/arthur1.html
- A very long poetic rendering of the Arthurian legends
- http://www.mystical-www.co.uk/king_arthur/index.html
- Fact, semi-fact, myth? This site is affiliated with the Arthrurian A2Z
- Arthurian A2Z
- A large index of the places and names in Arthurian legend.
- http://www.panix.com/~wlinden/arthur.shtml
- An index of many things including extensive book and movie lists.
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