Posted on 06/01/2011 12:32:30 PM PDT by decimon
A Wiltshire mound where the legendary wizard Merlin was purported to be buried has been found to date back to 2400 BC.
Radiocarbon dating tests were carried out on charcoal samples taken from Marlborough Mound, which lies in Marlborough College's grounds.
The 19m (62ft) high mound had previously mystified historians. Some believed it dated back to about 600 AD.
English Heritage said: "This is a very exciting time for British prehistory."
Dig leader Jim Leary said: "This is an astonishing discovery.
"The Marlborough Mound has been one of the biggest mysteries in the Wessex landscape.
"For centuries people have wondered whether it is Silbury's little sister; and now we have an answer. "
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Tell tale ping.
I thought old wizards just floated away and became stars.
now this is synchronicity-i’m in the middle of reading Bullfinch’s Mythology- The Age of Chivalry.
Merlin was a cool dude.
wiltshire is renowned for it’s finds .
He and others crossed France and went to the headwaters of the Rhone Valley and replanted the grapes there as well.
It's pretty easy to accept that he was a real person since, in fact, the grapes got replanted and due to some serious depopulation in the region it was easy enough for folks from Britain to get around (presumably on horses).
France has a "King Arthur" tradition in the West and in the Center as a consequence.
As far as the other characters are concerned, I think they are composites.
That’s hardly a basis for establishing a government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
Yes, but the Continental Britons (France) also had an “Arthur, King of the Britons,” at the time when the Islandic Britons (England) had crowned the illegitimate John I. Arthur I, Duke of Brittany was the legal heir of Richard the Lion-hearted. And during his reign, the French Knights gathered at a Round Table to liberate the Sancta Caliz (Holy Grail) from the Black Knights (Moors) of Valencia, Spain (Hibernia).
Can’t help but suppose that had something to do with the French legends of King Arthur.
Is the French version where he abuses a chambermaid at an inn?
Also: the French Knights were assembled in Provencal. “Graal” was a word unique to that region, meaning, “dish.” That the Sancta Caliz was a dish, not stemware, would have been quite surprising to the British. (It has since been made into stemware by the addition of a jeweled stem and base.)
Arthur I of Brittany disappeared, mysteriously. His supposed grave is on Avalon.
As punishment for John’s usurpment of the British throne, the Catholic Church placed an interdict on England. Restoring Arthur to the throne would mean that the English could once again receive from the chalice, which, according to Catholic doctrine would bestow eternal life on those who did so worthily.
Not funny.
A bit off topic but... Back when Reggie Jackson was at the height of his game, National Lampoon had a comic called “A New York Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”. Reggie got conked with a flying bottle flung by one of his adoring fans. He woke up in Camelot. Next thing you know he’s teaching Arthur ebonics and how to wear pimp clothes. Meanwhile Merlin’s fuming. You get the gist.
Meh rlin came along 3000 years before King Arthur?
Ping!
Shwmae. Dw i heb dy weld ti ers talwn!
Diolch yn fawr! Hwyl!
Croeso! Hwyl fawr!
Welsh?
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