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King Arthur's ancient trail across Britain

He’s the mythical Celtic warlord who held out against the Anglo Saxon invasion of Britain. His right-hand man was a wizard, he was handed his famous sword by a deity, and he was a romantic — and chivalrous — hero. But did he even exist?

In Wales alone, Arthur is meant to have killed a giant on Yr Wyddfa (Mount Snowdon) and a fearsome beast in Llyn Barfog lake, while Merlin is said to be buried both on Bardsey Island, off the north coast, and in a cliff at Nevern. Across the top of the headland spread the remains of a settlement from the fifth to the seventh century — the height of the “Dark Ages,” the post-Roman period in Europe when trading and transport routes broke down, and for which there is little written evidence. One person who isn’t convinced by Geoffrey’s account is Nicholas J. Higham, professor emeritus at the University of Manchester, who calls the text “a complete spoof… a faux history which lionizes the Britons and downgrades the English as pagan incomers who aren’t very nice.”

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