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Variations on the classic Merlin and King Arthur legends span hundreds, if not thousands, of retellings. Many are documented within handwritten medieval manuscripts dating back over a millenia—but some editions are far rarer than others. For example, less than 40 copies are known to exist of a once-popular sequel series, the Suite Vulgate du Merlin. In 2019, researchers at the University of Cambridge discovered fragments of one more copy in their collections, tucked inside the recycled binding of a wealthy family's property record from the 16th century. But at the time of discovery, the text was impossible to read.Now after...

In 2019, scholars at Cambridge University Library discovered an extremely rare 750-year-old text on the legends of King Arthur hiding in plain sight. A fragment of the fragile manuscript had been repurposed in the binding of a 16th-century property record, making it almost impossible to study the medieval text without dismantling and certainly damaging the record’s cover. Almost impossible—but not completely. An interdisciplinary team of scholars from the University of Cambridge used various advanced imaging techniques to create a virtual copy of the binding, allowing them to digitally unfold the rare text without having to damage it or the property...

As an amateur historian -- and probably not a good one -- I go nuts when I see amateurish fictions tendered as core premises. This is no more frequently found than in Hollywood; but do not kid yourself, it is not confined to Hollywood. The following famous movie scene (based on the play) is a case in point, one worse than most: Camelot is unique. And we have, by far and away, the most equitable climate in all England -- Camelot (1967)A) The King Arthur stories hail back to the collapse of Celtic Briton, after the Roman garrison left in...

Did Asteroids and Comets Turn the Tides of Civilization? By Mike Baillie The heart of humanity seems at times to have lost its cadence, the rhythmic beat of history collapsing into impotent chaos. Wars raged. Pestilence spread. Famine reigned. Death came early and hard. Dynasties died, and civilization flickered. Such a time came in the sixth century A.D. The Dark Ages settled heavily over Europe. Rome had been beaten back from its empire. Art and science stagnated. Even the sun turned its back. "We marvel to see no shadows of our bodies at noon, to feel the mighty vigor of...

The Dark Ages : Were They Darker Than We Imagined? By Greg Bryant Published in the September 1999 issue of Universe As we approach the end of the Second Millennium, a review of ancient history is not what you would normally expect to read in the pages of Universe. Indeed, except for reflecting on the AD 837 apparition of Halley's Comet (when it should have been as bright as Venus and would have moved through 60 degrees of sky in one day as it passed just 0.03 AU from Earth - three times closer than Hyakutake in 1996), you may...

.... snip ... Physical Aspects Of The Dark Ages Let's first look at the onset of "the" Dark Ages in the sixth century AD. The Roman Empire was finished, nothing was happening in the sciences, and worse was happening in nature. The Italian historian Flavius Cassiodorus wrote about conditions that he experienced during the year AD 536 : "The Sun...seems to have lost its wonted light, and appears of a bluish colour. We marvel to see no shadows of our bodies at noon, to feel the mighty vigour of the Sun's heat wasted into feebleness, and the phenomena which accompany...

The Dark Ages : Were They Darker Than We Imagined? By Greg Bryant Published in the September 1999 issue of Universe As we approach the end of the Second Millennium, a review of ancient history is not what you would normally expect to read in the pages of Universe. Indeed, except for reflecting on the AD 837 apparition of Halley's Comet (when it should have been as bright as Venus and would have moved through 60 degrees of sky in one day as it passed just 0.03 AU from Earth - three times closer than Hyakutake in 1996), you may...

A piece of the famous Halley's comet likely slammed into Earth in A.D. 536, blasting so much dust into the atmosphere that the planet cooled considerably, a new study suggests. This dramatic climate shift is linked to drought and famine around the world, which may have made humanity more susceptible to "Justinian's plague" in A.D. 541-542 — the first recorded emergence of the Black Death in Europe. The new results come from an analysis of Greenland ice that was laid down between A.D. 533 and 540. The ice cores record large amounts of atmospheric dust during this seven-year period, not...

Double impact may have caused tsunami, global cooling Pieces of a giant asteroid or comet that broke apart over Earth may have crashed off Australia about 1,500 years ago, says a scientist who has found evidence of the possible impact craters. Satellite measurements of the Gulf of Carpentaria (see map) revealed tiny changes in sea level that are signs of impact craters on the seabed below, according to new research by marine geophysicist Dallas Abbott. Based on the satellite data, one crater should be about 11 miles (18 kilometers) wide, while the other should be 7.4 miles (12 kilometers) wide....

Public release date: 3-Feb-2004 Contact: Dr Derek Ward-Thompson derek.ward-thompson@astro.cf.ac.uk 029-2087-5314 Cardiff University Astronomers unravel a mystery of the Dark Ages Undergraduates' work blames comet for 6th-century "nuclear winter" Scientists at Cardiff University, UK, believe they have discovered the cause of crop failures and summer frosts some 1,500 years ago – a comet colliding with Earth. The team has been studying evidence from tree rings, which suggests that the Earth underwent a series of very cold summers around 536-540 AD, indicating an effect rather like a nuclear winter. The scientists in the School of Physics and Astronomy believe this was caused...

Multiple comet impacts around 1500 years ago triggered a "dry fog" that plunged half the world into famine. Historical records tell us that from the beginning of March 536 AD, a fog of dust blanketed the atmosphere for 18 months. During this time, "the sun gave no more light than the moon", global temperatures plummeted and crops failed, says Dallas Abbott of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York... Now Abbott and her team have found the first direct evidence that multiple impacts caused the haze. They found tiny balls of condensed rock vapour or "spherules" in debris inside...

Welcome to this weeks video, the Story of Wansdyke. This week we take a deep dive into the Wansdyke, a wall, a border, or.... who knows. It spans across a large section south Britain. until recently much of what we know about it was through various antiquarians. But now we have, thanks to Dr Alex langlands, an approximate date that will allow us to piece together this mystery.The WALL that Divided Britain | 20:52Paul Whitewick | 147K subscribers | 34,630 views | December 8, 2024

There may be some truth to the myth of Merlin. On Tuesday, archeologists in Scotland revealed evidence of the legendary wizard’s death in Drumelzier between the 6th and 7th centuries — and the findings could change the way we tell Merlin’s tale. Merlin was said to have been a loyal advisor to King Arthur amid the Dark Ages before being imprisoned, killed and buried along the river Tweed, according to Vita Merlini Sylvestris (the Life of Merlin of the Forest), a medieval manuscript of his life which is currently held at the British Library. A new geological survey of the...

Archaeologists revealed Tuesday that there may actually be some truth to the legend of Merlin and his death in Scotland. The legend goes that Merlin, loyal advisor to King Arthur, was imprisoned in Drumelzier in the Dark Ages, before being killed and buried on the banks of the river Tweed, according to a study published in the journal Archaeology Reports Online. A geophysical survey revealed that there is a grave-like pit in the region. When archaeologists started digging, what they found seemed quite unexpected. Excavations conducted at Tinnis Fort, which overlooks the area of Merlin’s grave in Drumelzier, found it...

An academic who claims to have discovered a Roman fort while out on a bike ride says his discovery indicates a more militant history for west Wales than previously thought.He believes the site, which is located underneath a farmer's field in the north of Pembrokeshire, suggests that Wales was fully integrated into Roman Britain.Dr Mark Merrony, of Wolfson College, Oxford, said he was "absolutely thrilled"...The site is believed to be two to three hectares in size and Dr Merrony said, in its prime, it would have been occupied by 500 soldiers.He said his discovery suggested Wales was completely integrated into...

An ancient French sword has mysteriously vanished after 1,300 years wedged inside a rock 32ft off the ground. The Durandal, which is France’s version of King Arthur’s legendary Excalibur, was reported missing from the clifftop village of Rocamadour on Monday. It belonged to Roland, a famous knight in French literature who was said to own the ‘indestructible’ sword, which had become an iconic part of the area.

A Vermont-based baking company is under fire for hosting a competition that barred white contestants from participating, an attempt to “foster greater inclusivity” in the world of baking. The 2024 Baking Pitchfest, hosted by King Arthur Baking, says it will provide “equitable opportunities for People of Color entrepreneurs,” gracing the winners with “financial support, brand exposure, and mentorship to help accelerate their businesses.” The competition is billed as an “accelerator program,” and will consist of two parts, a product edition and a bakery edition, which are limited to those defined as a “person of color led business” and a “person...

A New York judge has fined former President Donald Trump $5,000 on Friday over a disparaging post about a court staffer on his campaign website. This development comes after a gag order was imposed on Trump, prohibiting him from making supposedly incendiary statements about individuals involved in the civil fraud trial. Along with the fine, Judge Arthur Engoron also threatened to hold Trump in contempt of court for future offenses, meaning the former president could face jail time.Former President Donald Trump was fined $5,000 on Friday after his disparaging social media post about a key court staffer in his New...

The medieval era is full of mysterious events, occurrences, and places, with sometimes even entire kingdoms becoming entirely shrouded in the unknown. We will be examining one of these kingdoms today, Pengwern, whose impact on both the history of Wales and the history of England has seemingly only been slight, with this Welsh kingdom's base on the Wrekin in Shropshire, its only known king, Cynddylan, seems to have succeeded in only antagonising his English neighbours of Mercia and Northumbria. However, the fascinating Welsh history of this realm has largely eluded us for the past 1000 years, and today I'd like...

In this video, I hope to shine a proper light of the Medieval origins of King Arthur. We'll see how Chretien's story developed from fiction written by Geoffrey of Monmouth. We'll see how Geoffrey adapted King Arthur from figures found in Welsh Mythology. We'll see how the mythologies of Wales shifted and moulded King Arthur to fit whatever story they were trying to tell, and we'll see how Wales in the 9th century developed one of the most famous historical figures of all time.King Arthur: What Everybody Gets Wrong | 35:05Cambrian Chronicles | 44.4K subscribers | 381,648 views | March...