KING ARTHUR

King Arthur has been selected by Roberto Amati in relation to the real history of european integration, then enlisted in the People, Dates, Places and Events category, accompanied by own fact SHEET useful to the comprehension, completed of historical MAPS AND IMAGES or with a direct linking to the related Blog contents dedicated to the entire history of european integration and the future of Europe.

King Arthur is one of the most important figure of the history of european integration and even will have influence on the future of Europe. The King Arthur legend survived until nowadays thanks to an infinite literature of all times, "chansons de geste" and several references in the european culture since the early Middle Age, the epoch when he probably lived, up to the modern movies and pop songs: it is a clear evidence that King Arthur has been more than a symbolic imagine, more than a fictional character, more than a legendary hero who noone could ever known. Even because Arthur never died but is awaiting his return in some remote time, often sleeping, as a central motif connected to the Arthurian legends, cause of the reference to the absence of a grave for king Arthur suggests that he was considered not dead and immortal.

By referring to the historic sources, King Arthur was a legendary king of Britannia, central figure in the medieval tradition known as the Matter of Britain: leader of the Roman-Britons just after the end of the Western Roman empire, he defended the country against the Anglo-Saxons invasions in late 5th century, became in two early medieval historical sources the bretwald of Britain thanks to a sorcery of Merlin who had already favoured is born. King Arthur is considered the winner of the Battle of Badon that stopped the Britannia conquest by Germans and permitted the re-settlement of inhabitants in the Gaelic regions of Welsh, Cornwall and Brittany for centuries.

Even thought, there are traces of king Arthur in the Tintagel castle and in the Glastombury Abbey where he probably was buried after being killed in his last battle (still attracing thounsands of tourists and fans every year!). Even more there are lots of references in the welsh and british literature about Arthur and his experiences, starting from the opera of Geoffrey of Monmouth who considered him a direct descedant of the emperor Constantine I. His name could come from "Arto-rīg-ios", meaning "son of the bear/warrior-king", or derive from Arcturus, the brightest star in the constellation Boötes, near Ursa Major or the Great Bear, clearly visible in the sky on every bright night. A typical expression of the celtic mysticism praticed by the irish and british monks and founded on the most ancient european mytic culture and on the christian ethic of purity of the spirit. Legend narrows that his sword Excalibur, that gave him the royal role, was considered magic and probably the one owned by Julius Caesar, offered by the hand of a lake's woman (his wife was a member of the ancient house de l'Aqs) and returned to her forever at the end of his adventure.

An adventure that brough him to fight and defeat Franks and all the german tribes in Gaul, joining that region with Norway, Denmark and Ireland to the Britain Empire, before king Arthur was forced to came back home to face his nephew Mordred who tried to stole his thone by marrying his wife Guinevere. And in the last battle he was mortally wounded and ceded the crown to Custenin (a real king of Dumnonia lived in VI century A.D., member of the House of Brittany and related to the Gwynedd dinasty), then disappeared in the fog on the isle of Avalon.

There started the medieval legend and narrowings ("Arthurian Cycle") about King Arthur and the rounde table's knights in Camelot as Lancelot, Perceval, Galahad, Gawain, Ywain and Tristan, that had a deep impact in the whole european culture until today! In particular, the myth of the Graal (or the Holy Grail) became central in the chansons written in late Middle Age by french authors connected to the history of the Crusades and the Templars knights: they all seem to hide a mistery still unvealed that interested the Franks kings and the Roman Church events. The figure of King Arthur was restored time after by the Tudor dinasty while his name has been common among the Brittany kings since the epoch of the Armorica kingdom.

In the most ancient books on king Arthur, he his depicted as a ferociuos fighter against monsters, dragons and giants, that were so popular at that age in Britain, while in the succeding french cycle was enhanced the role of the christian knights fighting for faith and searching for the final salvation of soul. Even he was connected to the legend of the "fisher's kings" started with Jospeh of Arimatee in the I century A.D. as well as the legend of the "sang real" related to the family of Jesus, of whose the same king Arthur was a member as well as Saint Patrick. The ideal model of king Arthur and his 12 companions was copied by Charlemagne when he established the Palatinum Counts within the carolingian empire, his comitatenses chosen as adiministers of the immenses feifs and top commanders of his troops all around Europe, especially in the defence of Christianity against the Arabs. Lately, king Arthur got back in the Renaissance epoch and in the opera of R.Wagner who copied from some german late medieval authors, during the romanticism time of the arts and culture of the history of european integration.

king King Arthur is considered historically as a member of Brittany House founded by the roman emperor Magno Massimo (known ad Macsen Wledig in british legend), a probable descendant of Costantino I and married to the daughter of Saint Octavius of Gewissi dinasty (Eudaf Hen), "bretwold" of Britain. In XVI century the emperor Maximilian I of the Habsburg dinasty declared he was a direct descendant of Arthur (as you can see in his funeral monument in Hoskirche of Innsbruck). Then king Arthut is ancestor of many european genealogies that ruled the history of european integration until today...

---