Who was Arthur ?
This is a very complicated question. There is no known answer. The historical Arthur is shrouded in the mists of the Dark Ages. The best description of what we know and do not know about Arthur is to be found in the introduction to: The Encyclopaedia of Arthurian Legend , Ronan Coghlan (91) What is certain is that Arthur was NOT a medieval King. The modern images of knights in plate armour and a grand castle called Camelot are not historical at all. We know very little historically speaking but Arthur was probably a 5th century warrior cheiftain who protected his peoples from invaders for a time. The battle of Camlan is probably connected to Arthur. More than this is pure conjecture, though there is an awful lot of conjecture. A more modern approach to the question ‘Who was Arthur ?’ might say that history is irrelevant and that the mythology surrounding the legend is more important. Even mythology is complex though and Arthur changes in stories from a God-like Celtic King, through to
