1: KING ARTHUR AND HIS KNIGHTS: THE LEGEND - For most people, mention of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table conjures up a romantic scene, with men dressed in shining plate armor and women in silk and satin - all set amid the splendor of the mediaeval castle of Camelot. For most, this imagery is the stuff of legend, and few know that Arthur really existed, that he lived more than 500 years before the first romantic tales of his adventures were written down, and that the reality is a far cry from the chivalrous tales of the Round Table. 

"King Arthur" sets out to put the record straight, by taking us back to the 5th century, to the Dark Ages. There, stripped of the elaborate magic and romance of the medieval stories, a new but authentic image of Arthur and his men is presented - in a time of savagery and warfare, of darkness and doom, when a small band of heroes struggled to keep alight the fading light of Roman Britain, and to establish a new realm, ruled over by the descendants of two cultures - Roman and British. In this version there is no magic, no shining armor, and no Camelot. Instead we have a band of brave men, whose origins are in a far off land, who combine their incomparable fighting skills with those of the Romano-British, against a new and terrible enemy - the Saxons, invaders from across the sea, whose desire is to plunder the rich lands of Britain and to wipe out all memory of Roman civilization.

The Dark Ages are truly a very different time to the more romantic  Middle Ages. This was an era of bloodshed and warfare, when petty leaders fought each other for the position of High King. At this time, after more than 300 years of occupation, the Roman Legions began to withdraw from Britain to defend their own increasingly beleaguered city. Chaos descended on Britain. Savage Picts attacked from the north beyond Hadrian's Wall, the fierce Scots from west across the Irish sea and the Saxons began raiding deep into the country from the south and east.     

Everything looked black for the Romano-British people.  But one man, who would become King Arthur, rose to the challenge and made a spectacular stand against the invaders. He fought 12 great battles in which he smashed the Saxon army so utterly that they were rendered powerless for almost 40 years. These events were so shattering no one could forget them. Stories began to be told. They were added to and embellished again and again, with each age bringing in its own version. By the 15th century, a thousand years after the real Arthur lived, there were hundreds of stories in circulation. The Round Table, Excalibur, Merlin's magic, the love story of Lancelot and Guinevere and the quest for the Grail were all a part of a great epic cycle, involving heroes new and old. The legend of King Arthur became the most popular subject for storytellers throughout the Middle Ages, and in our own time it remains one of the most frequently worked subjects for historic study, fiction, drama and film. It continues to inspire us all with its rich panorama of heroism, love and human endeavor.

2: THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN- The Roman occupation of Britain lasted over 300 years - from AD 60 to AD 410. During this time the legions subdued and pacified the British population, until most levels of society were assimilated and civilized in Roman culture. However, in the borderlands, the legions fought a continual guerrilla action against the native British Celts, a proud warrior race who delighted in warfare and personal decoration with equal measure. While these dangerous adversaries hid in the hills and wild lands to the North and West, across the southern and central areas of the island Roman influence was strong. Roman villas (such as the one where the young Alecto is kept hidden in "King Arthur") dotted the landscape. These had underfloor heating, glazed windows and mosaic floors - luxury items which awed the native people as much as it caused them to despise their civilized conquerors.

The Roman legions, whose iron discipline and ordered methods of warfare made them a force few could overcome, left a powerful legacy on the native Britons, many of whom joined up and learned their conquerors warlike skills. In turn, many legionaries from other lands chose to settle in Britain, marrying native women and establishing a mixed race culture - the Romano-Britons.  Sarmatian tribesmen in particular became deeply interwoven into the life and culture of the country.

When the Roman legions finally withdrew, leaving the country open to internal strife as local chieftains fought for supremacy, the Romanized Britons turned to those who bore the heritage of both cultures. Men like Artorius, or Arthur, a child of Roman and British stock, were singled out to act as generals and governors of the beleaguered country.  An ancient poem, dating from only a few years after Arthur's time, describes him as 'a man of two cultures', who fought at the Wall for the preservation of Britain. Such a man was Arthur, the inheritor of Roman civilization, government and the tactics of war, who led the last desperate stand against a new enemy, the invading Saxons. 

3: THE SARMATIANS - The Sarmatians were a tribe of warriors from, roughly speaking, the area known today as the former Soviet republic of Georgia. They belonged to a group of roughly confederated tribes, including the Alans, the Izygets, the Ossytes and the Scythians, all of whom were impressive warriors and superb horsemen. In the 2nd century AD these wild tribes fought a deadly war against Rome. They were finally defeated by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius who, following the practice of stationing foreign troops in its most far-flung outposts, stationed some 3000 Sarmatian warriors in Britain. Most were stationed at a fort near the present day Lancashire town of Ribchester, but some went to Hadrian's Wall - in the belief that since they had no relatives North of the Wall they were unlikely to open the gates to family members.  Archaeological evidence tells us of Sarmatian contingent at the fort of Camboglanna, long believed to be the site of Arthur's last battle at Camlan, and possibly the original Camelot. The Sarmatians established a tight-knit community at both sites, which archaeological evidence shows was maintained for some time.

The Sarmatians were permitted to keep their own customs, gods, and traditions, which included the religious practice of worshipping a sword stuck in a stone. In battle, they fought under the leadership of a Roman officer named Lucius Artorius Castus, a seasoned prefect who had distinguished himself in campaigns against the Izagetes. The Sarmatian troops fought under a wind-sock style banner shaped like a dragon and known as the Draco, which was said to roar when they rode into battle.  Like the later Knights of the Round Table, they believed themselves to be all of equal status. Fierce and proud warriors, they reached an almost legendary status among the Native Britons and were remembered long after this time.

Evidence thus suggests that their powerful presence, including their beliefs and traditions, influenced the growing saga of the hero Arthur (also known as Artorius) who lead a band of mounted warriors, fought under a dragon banner, and proved his superiority by drawing a sword from a stone.
Even this weapon, Excalibur, may derive from a Sarmatian source. An older name for it is Caliburn, ("White-steel") which in turn derives from chalybus ("steel") and eburnus ("white"). Curiously, a tribe of Sarmatian smiths from the area of the Caucasus were known as the Kalybes - suggesting that the very name of Arthur's sword may have originated with the warriors from across the seas. 

From these unquestionable historical facts, we may conclude that the presence of the Sarmatians in Britain, and at the Wall, influenced the creation of the later Arthurian legends, and that Lucius Artorius Castus and his Sarmatian knights may well be the original King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Arthur's success in defeating the Saxons lies in the mobility and shock-tactics of his mounted troops.  By the early 5th century, even Roman legions were discovering that they needed mounted divisions to counter the barbarian hoards that began to threaten Rome. From them, they learned the use of the stirrup, which gives stability to the mounted warrior, enabling him to stand in the stirrup to thrust with sword and spear against barbarian infantry. The Sarmatians were well-versed in this form of warfare and almost certainly passed it on to their Roman masters.

4:  LUCIUS ARTORIUS CASTUS AND HIS MEN: THE REAL ARTHUR AND THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE?  In "King Arthur," both the knights and their commander are descended from the original Sarmatian legionaries stationed in Britain. Their leader, Artorius Castus, is the offspring of a marriage between a Roman and a British woman. He may be either a descendant of the original Lucius Artorius Castus, prefect of the VI Vecxtrix Legion and commander of the Sarmatian warriors in exile, or simply a leader who took the name Artorius as a title. Interestingly, no record of a leader named Arthur or Artorius has ever been traced to the 6th century, when the historical Arthur is generally believed to have lived, leaving us with Lucius Artorius Castus as the only significant commander of this name in written history. Further evidence to support this is to be seen in an episode in which the original Lucius Artorius lead a contingent of the VI Legion in putting down a revolt in Brittany. During this time he bore the title dux (duke) which was later applied to Arthur (as Dux Brittanorum, Duke of Britain). While these facts may be coincidental, all point to a number of historical parallels between the two men.

The names born by the knights in "King Arthur" are all drawn from traditional Arthurian stories, dating from several periods. Thus, Tristan derives from a hero called Drustan, who may well be an actual historic figure who lived in Scotland in the 5th or 6th centuries. Bors, Lancelot, Dagonet, and Galahad, are all familiar characters from the later medieval tales, though in "King Arthur" their roles are more in keeping with the Dark Age period. In the Medieval romances, Lancelot is the greatest of the knights, a warrior against whom no one can stand, whose doomed love for Guinevere was instrumental in bringing down Arthur's kingdom. In the film, he is still Arthur's right hand man, still a great warrior, and still in love with Guinevere. It is also possible that an earlier version of his name, Aancel or Ancelot, may derive from the Alan tribesmen, who were cousins to the Sarmatians.

In the original tales, Bors is Lancelot's cousin and a great fighter in his own right. One of the few knights to be described as married, he is a stalwart member of the Round Table Fellowship. Dagonet is usually described as something of a trickster, though here he is quicker with his weapons than his tongue. The character of Galahad probably diverges most from the traditional character, where he is a saintly knight, and the son of Lancelot. His character in "King Arthur" is again more in keeping with the violent times in which he lives

5: THE PICTS / WOADS -  In "King Arthur" the Picts, or Woads, are at first the bitterest enemies of Artorius and his men.  Later, they become allies against a common foe, the Saxons,  and Artorius marries Guinevere, daughter of the Pictish leader and herself their future leader.

The name Pict or pictus actually means 'the Painted People' probably deriving from their habit of tattooing themselves with tribal markings, using a blue dye produced from the woad plant to give them their fearsome appearance. This gives us the name for the Picts in the movie, where they are called 'woads' by the Romans - a typical way of  referring to your enemies with an insulting term.
The Picts are among the most mysterious inhabitants of Britain. No one is really certain where, or even when, they originated, though most historians now believe they are the descendants of the indigenous people of Britain, and predate the Celts by several centuries. Certainly they were slighter in stature than the Celts and tended towards darker hair and skin colouring. There is very little evidence for the existence of a Pictish culture before the 2nd century AD, when they are first mentioned by the Romans as savage fighters who painted themselves blue. The main reason for the building of Hadrian's Wall was to keep them out of the rest of Britain.

The Picts are known to have existed well into the 9th century, when they  disappeared from the pages of history almost as mysteriously as they had appeared. They left behind a list of the names of their kings, from which it has been possible to reconstruct a few words of the lost Pictish language, and some enigmatic carvings which may represent tribal markings. These can still be seen cut into stones all over modern day Scotland and are reflected in the tattoos designed for the Picts in "King Arthur." One theory even suggests that they were the actual descendants of the Sarmatian warriors stationed in Britain, which would certainly account for their difference in appearance from the rest of the native population.

6: MERLIN AND GUINEVERE -  Merlin comes to us straight from the well of ancient myth. Though today he is best known as a magician and wonder-worker, in all the versions of his story he is first represented as a man of vision, a seer, who has insight into the future.

In "King Arthur" he is a seer and prophet. Men fear him. He has the power of life and death over his followers and is a legend in his own time. South of the wall, people fear him as a magician and sorcerer who can appear or disappear at will, a boogy man to frighten children.  Along the wall and north of it he is known as a leader of his people, a formidable fighter and a visionary.  He once loved a woman who later died or turned against him.

Guinevere, Merlin's daughter, is the future Queen of the Picts. As a woman she inherits the power through the matrilineal line. She is a warrior first and a woman second, but above all she is the Lady of the Lake, the true leader of the Picts. As Merlin's daughter she brings her own power and something of his vision.  She may not be able to see the future but she shares Merlin's vision of a unified land and has her own innate sense of destiny. Her followers are fanatical and would follow her to death and beyond.

He knows what must happen for the good of the land. In "King Arthur" he seeks to bring about a union of the old native British bloodline, represented by Guinevere, and the Roman-British stock, represented by Arthur.  As leader of the Picts, Merlin must  make this happen if the land is to survive once the Saxons are beaten. He is thus represented not as a magician or sorcerer, but as man who fights for the freedom and survival of his people, perhaps with the help of the Gods, and who seeks to manipulate lineages to create a new dynasty of kings.

7:  THE SAXONS  - The people referred to under the generic name Saxons actually came from several different areas of Europe. There were the Jutes and Angles from Denmark, the Saxons from North Germany, and the Fresians from North Holland. The Saxons probably began to sail westwards in search of a better homeland after a succession of bad harvests. After a series of coastal raids,  a contingent of Saxon warriors were invited into Britain as mercenaries by the usurper around the middle of the 5th century. Tradition lists several of their leaders, including Cerdig and Cynric, who become Arthur's implacable foes in the movie.

Only the heroic opposition of the Roman-Britons, under the command of Arthur, prevented them from totally overwhelming the country. Instead, after the series of 12 battles fought across much of Britain, the Saxons eventually became settlers rather than invaders, founding several communities around the Eastern and Southern coastlines. There, they married into British families and so began to create the foundations for the nation which would later be known as the Anglo-Saxons.

King Arthur: The Historical Context - continued

Chronology of Arthur and his times;  sources and references