Legend of King Arthur revealed: Experts decode seven pages of a 700-year-old manuscript - one of the earliest of its kind - telling the story of Camelot, including a romance between Merlin the Magician and the enchantress Viviane

The Daily Mail UK ^ | 02 September 2021 | IAN RANDALL FOR MAILONLINE

[blueplum]

Fragments of a hand-written medieval manuscript telling the story of Merlin the Magician from the legend of Camelot have been translated into English.

The text tells of battles between King Arthur and King Claudas, as well as the romance between Merlin and Viviane — sometimes known as 'the Lady of Lake'.

The seven pieces of parchment date back some 770 years, and were discovered in 2019 among the University of Bristol’s Special Collections Library by researchers trawling though the ancient tomes....

...'The Suite Vulgate du Merlin was written in about 1220–1225, so this puts the Bristol manuscript within a generation of the narrative’s original authorship.

'We were also able to place the manuscript in England as early as 1300–1350 thanks to an annotation in a margin — again, we were able to date the handwriting, and identify it as an English hand....

[Grimmy]

They dated the handwriting?

Wow.

If researchers in the distant future ever “date my handwriting” for whatever odd reason, they’ll probably determine I was from an alternate reality.

My handwriting is so bad it’s often the case I can’t even read it when I go back over notes or some such.

[Grimmy]

Camelot ping

************

Camelot was actually in Saudi Arabia and was a well-known place to stable mounts and beasts of burden after crossing the desert to refill those mounts’ humps with fodder and water.

[Texan5]

I have Jack Whyte’s whole post Roman/Arthur series-it is a great read over and over-I like that it is not romanc-ey, no magical explanations of events, good historical portrayal of social conventions, military strategies, etc of the time-probably very close to the truth of who Arthur and his companions really were-post-Roman Britons who were soldiers and rulers-and just like others of that time, not chivalrous and sometimes downright brutal...

[dfwgator]

Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.

[Texan5]

Also love Whyte’s series and agree with you 100%...

[magyars4]

Agreed. Plus the fact that it makes one think about a civilization collapsing and how to prepare for it.

[SunkenCiv]

/rimshot!

[SunkenCiv]

https://faculty.arts.ubc.ca/sechard/492godo.htm

[snip] Y Gododdin is the earliest surviving Welsh poem. While the manuscript in which it is preserved, commonly called the Book of Aneirin, dates to the 13th century, it is generally agreed that it preserves a much older text. It is a series of elegies for the men of the Gododdin, who died at a battle in Catraeth — now thought to be Catterick in Yorkshire — around the year 600. The poem thus is an account of the fighting which occurred between Saxons and Britons at the time of the Saxon invasions. One of the early consequences of that invasion was the cutting off of the kingdoms in the north from those in the southwest...; this poem seems to report on a failed attempt to regain some of that lost ground.

The poem may contain a very early reference to King Arthur. One of the warriors is praised for his valour, “although he was not Arthur.” Some scholars take this reference to indicate that a figure called Arthur was so famous at the time of the poem’s original composition that a warrior could be praised simply by comparison. [/snip]

[SunkenCiv]

[snip] The disputation was held at Verulam before an incredible number of people... The people applauded their victory with joyful acclamations. Before the assembly broke up, a certain tribune and his wife presented their little daughter of ten years of age, who was blind, to the two holy bishops [/snip]

https://www.bartleby.com/210/7/262.html

[Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume VII: July. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.]

(Verulam was Verulamium, third-largest city in Roman Britain, near modern-day St Albans)

[SunkenCiv]

[snip] Coel Hen or Coel the Old, the son of Tegfan, was a Celtic ruler who lived around the turn of the fourth and fifth centuries at the time of the departure of the Roman legions from Britain... Coel’s association with the north of Britain has led to the suggestion that he may have been the last of the Roman Duces Brittanniarum with his headquarters at York...

According to the Harleian genealogies and the later genealogies are known as the Bonedd Gwyr y Gogledd (The Descent of the Men of the North), Coel Hen was married to Ystradwal, the daughter of Cadfan, and was the ancestor of several lines of kings in the Hen Ogledd or “Old North”, the Brythonic Celtic speaking part of northern England and southern Scotland. His descendants, known as the Coeling, included Urien of Rheged son of Cynfarch Oer, Urien, a late sixth-century warrior king of North Rheged, of whom the Welsh Triads list as one of the “Three Great Battle-leaders of Britain”. Other descendants of Coel include Gwallog, possibly king of Elmet; the brothers Gwrgi and Peredur; and Clydno Eiddin, king of Eidyn or Edinburgh. He was also thought to be the father-in-law of Cunedda, founder of the kingdom of Gwynedd in North Wales, by his daughter Gwawl. The genealogies bestow the epithet Godebog, on Coel meaning the “Protector”. [/snip]

https://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/celts_26.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coel_Hen

[SunkenCiv]

Ambrosius Aurelianus / Emrys Wledig:

https://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/celts_17.html

Vortigern:

https://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/celts_23.html

Magnus Maximus (383-388 A.D.):

https://www.roman-emperors.org/madmax.htm

Riothamus
Post-Roman Britain
by Peter Kessler, 25 November 2012. Updated 8 December 2018

https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/FeaturesBritain/BritishRiothamus.htm

the source of the name “Camelot” is, obviously, Camulodunum.

[snip] Following the destruction of the Colonia and Suetonius Paulinus’ crushing of the revolt the town was rebuilt on a larger scale and flourished, growing larger in size than its pre-Boudican levels (to 108 acres/45 ha) despite its loss of status to Londinium, reaching its peak in the Second and 3rd centuries. The town’s official name was Colonia Claudia Victricensis (City of Claudius’ Victory), but it was known colloquially by contemporaries (such as on the monument of Gnaeus Munatius Aurelius Bassus in Rome - see below) as Camulodunum or simply Colonia. The colonia became a large industrial centre, and was the largest, and for a short time the only, place in the province of Britannia where samian ware was produced, along with glasswork and metalwork, and a coin mint. Roman brick making and wine growing also took place in the area. Colonia Victricensis contained many large townhouses, with dozens of mosaics and tessellated pavements found, along with hypocausts and sophisticated waterpipes and drains...

The city was one of the few Roman settlements in Britain designated as a Colonia rather than a Municipia, meaning that in legal terms it was an extension of the city of Rome, not a provincial town. Its inhabitants therefore had Roman citizenship. Of the two provincial administrators the senatorial military governor was always located in areas of conflict, whilst the civilian Procurator’s office had moved from Camulodunum to the new port of Londinium sometime around the Boudican Revolt. However the Colonia did retain the Imperial cult centre and priesthood at the Temple of Claudius. The colonia was at the centre of a large territorium containing many villa sites, including an important cluster around the Colne estuary. [/snip]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camulodunum#Colonia_Victricensis_in_the_second_and_third_centuries

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

Right it’s like Golf and Caddyshack innit?

[SunkenCiv]

"The magnanimous Arthur, with all the kings and military force of Britain, fought against the Saxons. And though there were many more noble than himself, yet he was twelve times chosen their commander, and was as often conqueror." This is a quote from the ancient text known as the Historia Brittonum, which was one of the oldest records of King Arthur’s life story.

King Arthur: The Life and Legend | April 1, 2019 | Biographics

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Actor Richard Harris explores the myths behind the King Arthur legend in this extensive documentary on which I was the cameraman. Shown in 2002, this was the last film he is thought to have worked on, as within a year he had passed away. Using drama and expert analysis it represents a very comprehensive study of the subject. It was a subject very dear to Richard Harris's heart as the 1967 film "Camelot", and subsequent musical theatre productions, thrust him well and truly into the limelight. Record companies were unwilling to release an album of the production's songs so Harris funded it himself which went on to earn him very substantial revenue. Richard Harris was Dumbledore in the early Harry Potter films.

King Arthur documentary presented by Richard Harris | March 15, 2020 | Steve Haskett

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I read it as a pre-teen and The Crystal Cave still sets on my shelf today.

Only three books I can say that about. Fire Hunter and The Velvet Room are the other two.

[BDParrish]

:-) Thanks!

[SunkenCiv]

I'm pretty sure the first two in paperback, and the third one in hardcover (via a book club) are still around here, uh, somewhere.

[SunkenCiv]

My pleasure.

[Bratch]

King Arthur: The Life and Legend | April 1, 2019 | Biographics

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

My husband built me eight new book cases so I have no excuse for not having my books neatly put away.

Yet they still seem to find their way into every room in the house, lurking under cover, ready to pounce.

I swear it is gremlins. :)

[21twelve]

Thanks for that link - that was a very interesting and well done show on the possible history of a real life King Arthur. Cool stuff.