I remember reading a long time ago that there's a belief that the whole "Sword from the Stone" thing was actually based on the discovery of how to create iron from iron ore.
Mark
that actually makes a bit of sense. a lot of legends are just flowery ways of telling real-life acts.
as for those quotes from the 1400-1500’s literature, they are most likely wannabes trying to steal some glory. The Arthur legend dates back to pre-1000 AD I think. every castle in Britain has been claimed as Camelot over the last 1000 years.