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28-05-2015, 05:39

Fact and Legend

Such a great legend has developed around King Arthur that it may come as a surprise to learn that the character is based on a real person: a Christian general named Ambrosius Aurelianus, who led the Britons to victory over the invading Anglo-Saxons at the Battle of Mount Badon in 516. This figure became associated with Arthur, and as the centuries passed, legend obscured fact.

There are literally hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Arthurian tales, but most depict Arthur as king over a realm centered in western England and Wales, where he had his castle at Camelot. There he held council with his Knights of the Round Table, among whom the greatest was Sir Lancelot. A pure Christian sworn to defend his king, Lancelot fell in love with Arthur's beautiful queen, Guinevere (GWIN-uh-veer), and was torn by conflicting loyalties. In the end, he gave in to his passion and thus helped usher in the end of Camelot.

The legend of Camelot included numerous mystical elements. There was, for instance, the figure of Merlin, a magician with amazing powers who seemed to live forever. There was the knights' quest for the Holy Grail, said to be the cup from which Christ had drunk at the Last Supper.

And there was the account of Arthur's death, after which fairies whisked him away to a magical land called Avalon, where he was restored to life and would one day return to save England.

All in all, it is one of the most intriguing tales in Western literature, though in fact it is not purely English in origin. During the Middle Ages, an extensive body of French, German, Italian, Spanish, and even Hebrew Arthurian legends developed.

The last of the great orders was formed in 1191, and consisted primarily of Germans: hence its name, the Teutonic (too-TAHN-ik; German)

Knights, or the Teutonic Order. In 1225, they set out to conquer the last two non-Christian European tribes: the Prussians of eastern Germany, and

The Lithuanians farther east. They tamed the wilds of Prussia, destined to become the most powerful of German states, and built Europe's largest castle at Marienburg in 1309.



 

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