When I was about four years old I was somewhere with my parents and they showed me a wooden statue of a man holding a book. It must have made an impression on me because I have been a lifelong avid reader, and now am writing here. Although I don't think I knew what a book was at the time, as I wasn't old enough to have started school.
I remember the name of "Arthur". The statue is of Geoffrey Of Monmouth. Monmouth is a Welsh town near where I was born. It is known as the hometown of Charles Rolls, of Rolls-Royce. The following image is from the Wikipedia article "Geoffrey Of Monmouth".
Geoffrey Of Monmouth was a Catholic cleric who lived nine hundred years ago. The statue is near Tintern Abbey. This was a cathedral-scale monastery church that had been operating for about four hundred years when the Protestants decided to abandon it following the Reformation, as it was in a somewhat remote location that wasn't suitable for a cathedral. Tintern Abbey is now a tourist attraction that has been falling into ruin for the five hundred years since the Reformation. But Geoffrey Of Monmouth lived before the Reformation, at the time Tintern Abbey was built.
Geoffrey Of Monmouth was a writer, and wrote a history of the Kings of Britain. But his writing, while widely influential, is now considered as having a storytelling element to it, and probably not being entirely factual. What his writing is really known for is to popularize the story of King Arthur.
The Celtic people, including the Welsh and Cornish, are generally considered as being the original people of Britain, while English people are mostly descended from the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings that came later. Welsh mythology has heroes who may one day reappear and rid the island of invaders, meaning English people. The root of this mythology is the writing of Geoffrey Of Monmouth, although he was believed to be just colorizing the history of the Kings and didn't have anything revolutionary in mind.
The two kings that were really popularized by Geoffrey Of Monmouth are King Arthur and Cadwaladr, who was supposedly the final king of the Welsh kingdom that existed before the Anglo-Saxons came. But it is King Arthur who has really captured the public imagination.
Whether or not King Arthur ever actually existed depends on who you ask. Some believe that he was really two or more people that Geoffrey Of Monmouth combined into one. Others believe that the historical embellishments of Geoffrey Of Monmouth were probably not intentional but that he confused people with similar names, particularly in the case of Cadwaladr. But there are other who not only believe that King Arthur existed, but that he will return someday as a messianic figure.
The knights that were with King Arthur are known as the Knights Of The Round Table. The reason for a round table was supposedly that, with a rectangular table, the seat at the head of the table is considered as a higher-status position. A round table meant that everyone was equal. Their supposed round table is on display in Winchester, which is believed to have been associated with King Arthur. Image from Google Street View.
250 years after the time of Geoffrey Of Monmouth came the Welsh rebellion of Owain Glyndwr. This was certainly motivated, at least in part, by his stories, even if that had not been his intention.
Decades after this rebellion some world-changing events took place. Henry Tudor was born in Pembroke Castle, in Wales. When I was a teenager I saw the castle from outside. Image from Google Street View.
The ruling royal House Of Plantagenet had two rival cadet branches, the House Of Lancaster and the House Of York. Henry Tudor's family was part of the Lancastrian branch. When a Yorkist king took the throne, Henry spent more than a decade in exile in France.
Henry returned to Britain to seize the throne, landing in Wales near his birthplace. As he proceeded across Wales, gathering support before defeating the Yorkists in battle and taking the throne, he linked himself with these heroes that had been popularized by Geoffrey Of Monmouth.
Henry named his first son, who would inherit the throne, Arthur. This was the beginning of the world-famous Tudor Dynasty, and would give the impression that King Arthur had returned. But Arthur Tudor would die as a teenager and it would be another son, Henry, who would inherit the throne and become known to the world as Henry VIII (The Eighth). The Tudors were of Welsh origin and their rule of England can definitely be seen as rooted in the long-before writings of Geoffrey Of Monmouth.
Henry VIII never fulfilled the Arthurian vision of restoring the island to the native people, now the Welsh, by ridding it of English people. He ruled England. It was still England, instead of Britain, because Scotland was still a separate country at this time. But Henry VIII did something else that was momentous. He joined England to the Protestant Reformation that was already underway in continental Europe. So he didn't rid Britain of English people but he did rid England of Catholicism.
This ultimately led to England's Civil War which, unlike in continental Europe, wasn't between Protestants and Catholics but between the two branches of Protestantism that emerged, the Anglicans and the Puritans. In political terms it was between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians. It ultimately resulted in some of the Puritans leaving England altogether, and that is where America's Pilgrims and Puritans came from.
The overthrowing and execution of a king, by popular revolt to establish a new order without a monarchy, could well have set the precedent for the later French Revolution, which can be seen as initiating the modern political era.
Protestants can have a somewhat dim view of the world. The Bible typically portrays "the world" as a foolish and sinful place that, for the most part, has failed to follow the Word of God. But that can be a good thing. When we have too much respect for the way that things have always been done we are less likely to notice better ways of doing things. This is why Protestants are progressive and it is no coincidence that the Industrial Revolution started in England following the Reformation.
Protestants are individualistic, with a "think for yourself" ideal. This started in religious terms, with anyone now being able to read the Bible for themselves and to join any church or set up their own instead of having no choice but to belong to the same church as everyone else. The result was the modern concept of democracy, which is very much a Protestant creation. An essential element of the Reformation was the invention of the printing press, in northern Germany which was Protestant territory.
The presidential court of John F. Kennedy was known as "Camelot". This was the name of King Arthur's court. Ireland was originally Celtic, like Wales, and, while King Arthur isn't usually associated with Ireland, Kennedy was Irish-American. Could this have been an attempt to imply that Kennedy was the return of King Arthur?
There were early kings who fit the general description of Arthur, Alfred the Great and his grandson Athelstan. But they were Anglo-Saxons who battled Vikings, which came later. Both were known for their wisdom, character and, benevolence. I believe that it was these early kings that inspired the Legend of King Arthur.
For another mystery, the following image from the Wikipedia article "King Arthur" shows the "Three Crowns", on both his vest and the pennant. We saw this in the posting "Three Crowns And Fleur De Lis", January 2024.
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