Today, The Grandma wants to talk about Guinevere, one ofthe main characters of the Arthurian saga.
Guinevere, often written as Guenevere or Gwenevere, is the wife of King Arthur in Arthurian legend. She first appears as Guanhumara in Geoffrey of Monmouth's HistoriaRegumBritanniae, a pseudo-historical chronicle of British history written circa 1136.
In medieval romances, one of the most prominent story arcs is Queen Guinevere'stragic love affair with her husband's chief knight, Lancelot. This story first appeared in Chrétiende Troyes's Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart and became a motif in Arthurian literature, starting with the Lancelot-Grail of the early 13th century and carrying through the Post-Vulgate Cycle and Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur.
Guinevereand Lancelot's betrayal of Arthur precededhis eventual defeat at the Battle of Camlann by Mordred.
The original Welsh form of the name Gwenhwyfar or Gwenhwyvar, which seems to be cognate with the Irish name Findabair, can be translated as TheWhiteEnchantress or The White Fay/Ghost, from Proto-Celtic.
Geoffrey of Monmouth rendered her name as Guanhumara in Latin, though there are many spelling variations found in the various manuscripts of his HistoriaRegum Britanniae. The name is given as Guennuuar in Caradoc's Vita Gildae,while Gerald of Wales refers to her as Wenneuereia. In the 15th-century Middle Cornish play Bewnans Ke, she was called Gwynnever. A cognate name in Modern English is Jennifer, from Cornish.
In Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, she is described as one of the great beauties of Britain, descended from a noble Roman family and educated under Cador, Duke of Cornwall.
In one of the Welsh Triads, there are three Gwenhwyfars married to KingArthur. The first is the daughter of Cywryd of Gwent, the second of Gwythyr ap Greidawl, and the third of (G)ogrfan Gawr the Giant. In a variant of another Welsh Triad, the daughter of Gogfran Gawr is mentioned. Two other Triads mention Gwenhwyfar's contention with her sister Gwenhwyfach, which was believed to be the cause of the Battle of Camlann. In the mid-late 12th-century Welsh folktale Culhwch and Olwen, she is mentioned alongside Gwenhwyfach.
Guinevere is childless in most stories, two exceptions being Perlesvaus and the Alliterative Morte Arthure. In the latter text, Guinevere willingly becomes Mordred's consort and bears him two sons, though this is implied rather than stated in the text. There were mentions of Arthur's sons in the Welsh Triads,though their exact parentage is not clear.
Other family relations are equally obscure. A half-sister and a brother play the antagonistic roles in the Lancelot–Grail and the German romance Diu Crône respectively, but neither character is mentioned elsewhere.
Welsh tradition remembers the queen's sister Gwenhyvach and records the enmity between them. While later literature almost always named Leodegrance as Guinevere's father, her mother was usually unmentioned, although she was sometimes said to be dead; this is the case in the Middle English romance TheAwntyrs off Arthure, The Adventures of Arthur, in which the ghost of Guinevere's mother appears to her daughter and Gawain in Inglewood Forest. Other works name cousins of note, though these do not usually appear in more than one place.
Guinevere has been portrayed as everything from a weak and opportunistic traitor to a fatally flawed but noble and virtuous lady. In Chrétien de Troyes's Yvain, the Knight of the Lion, she is praised for her intelligence, friendliness, and gentility, while in Marie de France's Lanval, and Thomas Chestre's Middle English version, Sir Launfal, she is a vindictive adulteress, disliked by the protagonist and all well-bred knights.
Early
chronicles tend to portray her inauspiciously or hardly at all, while
later authors use her good and bad qualities to construct a deeper
character who played a larger role.
The works of Chrétien were some of the first to elaborate on the character Guinevere beyond simply the wife of Arthur. This was likely due to Chrétien'saudience at the time, the court of Marie of France, Countess of Champagne, which was composed of courtly ladies who played highly social roles.
The Grandma is reading about the myth of Excalibur, Arthur's sword, which legend says that was freed from a stone by Arthur. It is sometimesalso attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. Excalibur is one of the most famous swords in Literature and TheGrandma wants to talk about it and about its source of inspiration: the story of the knight of Montesiepi in Siena.
Excalibur or Caliburn, is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. Sometimes Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone, the proof of Arthur's lineage, are said to be the same weapon, but in most versions they are considered separate. Excalibur was associated with the Arthurian legend very early. In Welsh, it is called Caledfwlch; in Cornish, Calesvol; in Breton, Kaledvoulc'h;and in Latin, Caliburnus.
The name Excalibur ultimately derives from the Welsh Caledfwlch, and Breton Kaledvoulc'h, Middle Cornish Calesvol, which is a compound of caledhard and bwlchbreach, cleft.
Caledfwlch appears in several early Welsh works, including the poem Preiddeu Annwfn and the prose tale Culhwch and Olwen, a work associated with the Mabinogion and written perhaps around 1100. The name was later used in Welsh adaptations of foreign material such as the Bruts, chronicles, which were based on Geoffrey of Monmouth.
It is often considered to be related to the phonetically similar Caladbolg, a sword borne by several figures from Irish mythology, although a borrowing of Caledfwlch from Irish Caladbolg has been considered unlikely by recent studies that suggest instead that both names may have similarly arisen at a very early date as generic names for a sword; this sword then became exclusively the property of Arthur in the British tradition.
Geoffrey of Monmouth, in his HistoriaRegum Britanniae, The History of the Kings of Britain, c. 1136, Latinised the name of Arthur's sword as Caliburnus, potentially influenced by the Medieval Latin spelling calibs of Classical Latinchalybs, from Greek chályps [χάλυψ] steel. Most Celticists consider Geoffrey's Caliburnus to be derivative of a lost OldWelsh text in which bwlch had not yet been lenited to fwlch.
In Old French sources this then became Escalibor, Excalibor, and finally the familiar Excalibur. Geoffrey Gaimar, in his Old French L'Estoire des Engles(1134-1140), mentions Arthur and his sword: this Constantine was the nephew of Arthur, who had the sword Caliburc, Cil Costentin, li niès Artur, Ki out l'espée Caliburc.
In Wace's Roman de Brut (c. 1150-1155), an Old French translation and versification of Geoffrey's Historia, the sword is called Calabrum, Callibourc, Chalabrun, and Calabrun, with alternate spellings such as Chalabrum, Calibore, Callibor, Caliborne, Calliborc, and Escaliborc, found in various manuscripts of the Brut.
In Chrétien de Troyes' late 12th-century Old French Perceval, Arthur'sknight Gawain carries the sword Escalibor and it is stated, for at his belt hung Escalibor, the finest sword that there was, which sliced through iron as through wood, Qu'il avoit cainte Escalibor, la meillor espee qui fust, qu'ele trenche fer come fust.
This statement was probably picked up by the author of the Estoire Merlin, or Vulgate Merlin, where the author, who was fond of fanciful folk etymologies, asserts that Escaliboris a Hebrew name which means in French 'cuts iron, steel, and wood, c'est non Ebrieu qui dist en franchois trenche fer & achier et fust; note that the word for steel here, achier, also means blade or sword and comes from medieval Latin aciarium, a derivative of acies sharp, so there is no direct connection with Latin chalybs in this etymology.
It is from this fanciful etymological musing that Thomas Malory got the notion that Excalibur meant cut steel, the name of it, said the lady, is Excalibur, that is as moche to say, as Cut stele.
In Arthurian romance, a number of explanations are given for Arthur'spossession of Excalibur. In Robert de Boron's Merlin, the first tale to mention the sword in the stone motif, Arthur obtained the British throne by pulling a sword from an anvil sitting atop a stone that appeared in a churchyard on Christmas Eve. In this account, the act could not be performed except by the true king, meaning the divinely appointed king or true heir of UtherPendragon.
As Malory's writes: Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is rightwise king born. This sword is thought by many to be the famous Excalibur, and its identity is made explicit in the later Prose Merlin, part of the Lancelot-Grail cycle. The challenge of drawing a sword from a stone also appears in the Arthurian legends of Galahad, whose achievement of the task indicates that he is destined to find the Holy Grail.
However, in what is called the Post-Vulgate Cycle, Excalibur was given to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake sometime after he began to reign. She calls the sword Excalibur, that is as to say as Cut-steel.
In the Vulgate Mort Artu, Arthur is at the brink of death and so orders Griflet
to throw the sword into the enchanted lake; after two failed attempts,
as he felt such a great sword should not be thrown away, Griflet finally complies with the wounded king's request and a hand emerges from the lake to catch it. This tale becomes attached to Bedivere instead of Griflet in Malory and the Englishtradition. Malory records both versions of the legend in his Le Morte d'Arthur, naming both swords as Excalibur.
In Welsh legend, Arthur's sword is known as Caledfwlch. In Culhwch and Olwen, it is one of Arthur's most valuable possessions and is used by Arthur'swarrior Llenlleawg the Irishman to kill the Irish king Diwrnach while stealing his magical cauldron.
Irish mythology mentions a weapon Caladbolg, the sword of Fergus mac Róich,
which was also known for its incredible power and was carried by some
of Ireland's greatest heroes. The name, which can also mean hard cleft in Irish, appears in the plural, caladbuilc, as a generic term for great swords in Togail Troi, The Destruction of Troy, the 10th-century Irish translation of the classical tale.
In the late 15th/early 16th-century Middle Cornish play Beunans Ke, Arthur's sword is called Calesvol, which is etymologically an exact Middle Cornish cognate of the Welsh Caledfwlch. It is unclear if the name was borrowed from the Welsh, if so, it must have been an early loan, for phonological reasons, or represents an early, pan-Brittonic traditional name for Arthur's sword.
Geoffrey's Historia is the first non-Welsh source to speak of the sword. Geoffrey says the sword was forged in Avalon and Latinises the name Caledfwlch as Caliburnus.
When his influential pseudo-history made it to Continental Europe, writers altered the name further until it finally took on the popular form Excalibur,variousspellings in the medieval Arthurian romance and chronicle tradition include: Calabrun, Calabrum, Calibourne, Callibourc, Calliborc, Calibourch, Escaliborc, and Escalibor.
The legend was expanded upon in the Vulgate Cycle, also known as the Lancelot-Grail Cycle, and in the Post-Vulgate Cycle which emerged in its wake. Both included the work known as the Prose Merlin, but the Post-Vulgate authors left out the Merlin continuation from the earlier cycle, choosing to add an original account of Arthur's early days including a new origin for Excalibur. In several early French works, such as Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail and the Vulgate Lancelot Proper section, Excalibur is used by Gawain, Arthur's nephew and one of his best knights. This is in contrast to later versions, where Excalibur belongs solely to the king.
In many versions, Excalibur's blade was engraved with phrases on opposite sides: Take me up and Cast me away, or similar. In addition, when Excalibur was first drawn, in the first battle testing Arthur's sovereignty, its blade blinded his enemies. Malory writes: thenne he drewe his swerd Excalibur, but it was so breyght in his enemyes eyen that it gaf light lyke thirty torchys.
Excalibur's
scabbard was said to have powers of its own. Loss of blood from
injuries, for example, would not kill the bearer. In some tellings,
wounds received by one wearing the scabbard did not bleed at all. In the
later romance tradition, including Le Morte d'Arthur, the scabbard is stolen from Arthur by his half-sister Morgan le Fay in revenge for the death of her beloved Accolon and thrown into a lake, never to be found again. This act later enables the death of Arthur at the Battle of Camlann.
King Arthur is a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. The details of Arthur's
story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and his
historical existence is debated and disputed by modern historians. The
sparse historical background of Arthur is gleaned from various sources, including the Annales Cambriae, the HistoriaBrittonum, and the writings of Gildas. Arthur's name also occurs in early poetic sources such as Y Gododdin.
Arthur is a central figure in the legends making up the Matter of Britain. The legendary Arthur developed as a figure of international interest largely through the popularity of Geoffrey of Monmouth's fanciful and imaginative 12th-century Historia Regum Britanniae, History of the Kings of Britain. In some Welsh and Breton tales and poems that date from before this work, Arthur appears either as a great warrior defending Britain from human and supernatural enemies or as a magical figure of folklore, sometimes associated with the Welsh Otherworld, Annwn. How much of Geoffrey's Historia, completed in 1138, was adapted from such earlier sources, rather than invented byGeoffrey himself, is unknown.
Although the themes, events and characters of the Arthurian legend varied widely from text to text, and there is no one canonical version, Geoffrey'sversion of events often served as the starting point for later stories. Geoffrey depicted Arthuras a king of Britain who defeated the Saxons and established an empire over Britain, Ireland, Iceland, Norway and Gaul.
Many elements and incidents that are now an integral part of the Arthurian story appear in Geoffrey's Historia, including Arthur's father Uther Pendragon, the wizard Merlin, Arthur's wife Guinevere, the sword Excalibur, Arthur's conception at Tintagel, his final battle against Mordred at Camlann, and final rest in Avalon.
The 12th-century French writer Chrétien de Troyes, who added Lancelot and the Holy Grail to the story, began the genre of Arthurian romance that became a significant strand of medieval literature. In these French stories, the narrative focus often shifts from King Arthur himself to other characters, such as various Knights of the Round Table. Arthurian literature thrived during the Middle Ages
but waned in the centuries that followed until it experienced a major
resurgence in the 19th century. In the 21st century, the legend lives
on, not only in literature but also in adaptations for theatre, film,
television, comics and other media.
The historical basis for the King Arthur legend has long been debated by scholars. One school of thought, citing entries in the Historia Brittonum, History of the Britons, and Annales Cambriae, Welsh Annals, sees Arthur as a genuine historical figure, a Romano-British leaderwho fought against the invading Anglo-Saxons some time in the late 5th to early 6th century.
The Historia Brittonum, a 9th-century Latin historical compilation attributed in some late manuscripts to a Welsh cleric called Nennius, contains the firstdatable mention of King Arthur, listing twelve battles that Arthur fought. These culminate in the Battle of Badon, where he is said to have single-handedly killed 960 men. Recent studies, however, question the reliability of the HistoriaBrittonum.
The other text that seems to support the case for Arthur's historical existence is the 10th-century AnnalesCambriae, which also link Arthur with the Battle of Badon. The Annales date this battle to 516–518, and also mention the Battle of Camlann, in which Arthur and Medraut, Mordred, were both killed, dated to 537–539. These details have often been used to bolster confidence in the Historia's account and to confirm that Arthur really did fight at Badon. Problems have been identified, however, with using this source to support the Historia Brittonum's account. The latest research shows that the Annales Cambriae was based on a chronicle begun in the late 8th century in Wales. Additionally, the complex textual history of the Annales Cambriae precludes any certainty that the Arthurian annals
were added to it even that early. They were more likely added at some
point in the 10th century and may never have existed in any earlier set
of annals. The Badon entry probably derived from the Historia Brittonum.
The origin of the Welsh name Arthur remains a matter of debate. The most widely accepted etymology derives it from the Roman nomen gentile, family name, Artorius. Artorius itself is of obscure and contested etymology, but possibly of Messapian or Etruscan origin.
Linguist Stephan Zimmer suggests Artorius possibly had a Celtic origin, being a Latinization of a hypothetical name *Artorījos, in turn derived from an older patronym *Arto-rīg-ios, meaning son of the bear/warrior-king. This patronym is unattested, but the root, *arto-rīg, bear/warrior-king, is the source of the Old Irish personal name Artrí.
Some scholars have suggested it is relevant to this debate that the legendary King Arthur's name only appears as Arthur or Arturus in early Latin Arthurian texts, never as Artōrius, though Classical Latin Artōrius became Arturius in some Vulgar Latin dialects. However, this may not say anything about the origin of the name Arthur, as Artōrius would regularly become Art(h)ur when borrowed into Welsh. Another commonly proposed derivation of Arthur from Welsh arthbear + (g)wr man, earlier *Arto-uiros in Brittonic, is not accepted by modern scholars for phonological and orthographic reasons.
Notably, a Brittoniccompound name *Arto-uiros should produce Old Welsh *Artgur, where u represents the short vowel /u/, and Middle/Modern Welsh *Arthwr, rather than Arthur, where u is a long vowel /ʉː/. In Welsh poetry the name is always spelled Arthur
and is exclusively rhymed with words ending in -ur—never words ending
in -wr—which confirms that the second element cannot be [g]wr man.
An alternative theory, which has gained only limited acceptance among professional scholars, derives the name Arthur from Arcturus, the brightest star in the constellation Boötes, near Ursa Major or the Great Bear.
Classical Latin Arcturus would also have become Art(h)ur when borrowed into Welsh, and its brightness and position in the sky led people to regard it as the guardian of the bear, which is the meaning of the name in Ancient Greek, and the leader of the other stars in Boötes.
The popularity of Geoffrey's Historia and its other derivative works, such as Wace's Roman de Brut, is generally agreed to be an important factor in explaining the appearance of significant numbers of new Arthurian works in continental Europe during the 12th and 13th centuries, particularly in France. It was not, however, the only Arthurian influence on the developing Matter of Britain. There is clear evidence that Arthur and Arthurian tales were familiar on the Continent before Geoffrey's work became widely known, see for example, the Modena Archivolt, and Celtic names and stories not found in Geoffrey's Historiaappear in the Arthurian romances. From the perspective of Arthur, perhaps the most significant effect of this great outpouring of new Arthurian story was on the role of the king himself: much of this 12th-century and later Arthurian literature centres less on Arthur himself than on characters such as Lancelot and Guinevere, Percival, Galahad, Gawain, Ywain, and Tristan and Iseult.
Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur.
Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, after the Lancelot-Grail cycle,eventually came to be described as the fantastic capital of Arthur's realm and a symbol of the Arthurianworld.
The stories locate it somewhere in Great Britain and sometimes associate it with real cities, though more usually its precise location is not revealed. Most scholars regard it as being
entirely fictional, its geography being perfect for chivalric romance writers. Nevertheless, arguments about the location of the realCamelothave occurred since the 15th century and continue to rage today in popular works and for tourism purposes.
The name's derivation is uncertain. It has numerous different spellings in medieval French Arthurian romance, including: Camaalot, Camalot, Chamalot, Camehelot, sometimes read as Camchilot, Camaaloth, Caamalot, Camahaloth, Camaelot, Kamaalot, Kamaaloth, Kaamalot, Kamahaloth, Kameloth, Kamaelot, Kamelot, Kaamelot, Cameloth, Camelot and Gamalaot. Some suggested that it was a corruption of the site of Arthur's final battle, the Battle of Camlann, in Welsh tradition. Others believed it was derived from Cavalon, a place name that he suggested was a corruption of Avalon, under the influence of the Breton place name Cavallon.He further suggested that Cavalon/Camelot became Arthur's capital due to confusion with Arthur's other traditional court at Carlion, Caer Lleon in Welsh.
Some have suggested a derivation from the British Iron Age and Romano-British place name Camulodunum, one of the first capitals of Roman Britain and which would have significance in Romano-British culture. Others say that as the descendants of Romanized Britons looked back to a golden age of peace and prosperity under Rome, the name Camelot of Arthurianlegend may have referred to the capital of Britannia, Camulodunum, modern Colchester, in Roman times. It is unclear, however, where Chrétien de Troyes would have encountered the name Camulodunum, or why he would render it as Camaalot. It is argued that Chretien had access to Book 2 of Pliny's Natural History, where it is rendered as Camaloduno. Given Chrétien's known tendency to create new stories and characters, being the first to mention the hero Lancelot's love affair with Queen Guinevere for example, the name might also be entirely invented. Arthur's court at Camelot is mentioned for the first time in Chrétien's poem Lancelot,the Knight of the Cart,dating to the 1170s, though it does not appear in all the manuscripts. Nothing in Chrétien's poem suggests the level of importance Camelot would have in later romances. For Chrétien, Arthur's chief court was in Caerleon in Wales; this was the king's primary base in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniaeandsubsequent literature. Chrétien depicts Arthur, like a typical medieval monarch, holding court at a number of cities and castles.
It is not until the 13th-century French prose romances, including the Lancelot-Grail and the Post-Vulgate Cycle, that Camelot began to supersede Caerleon, and even then, many descriptive details applied to Camelot derive from Geoffrey's earlier grand depiction of the Welsh town. Most Arthurian romances of this period produced in English or Welsh did not follow this trend; Camelot was referred to infrequently, and usually in translations from French. One exception is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which locates Arthur'scourt at Camelot; however, in Britain, Arthur's court was generally located at Caerleon, or at Carlisle, which is usually identified with the Carduel of the French romances. In the late 15th century, Thomas Malory created the image of Camelot most familiar to English speakers today in his Le Morte d'Arthur, a work based mostly on the French romances.
He firmly identifies Camelot with Winchester in England, an identification that remained popular over the centuries, though it was rejected by Malory's own editor, William Caxton, who preferred a Welsh location.
The Lancelot-Grail Cycle and the texts it influenced depict the city of Camelot as standing along a river, downstream from Astolat. It is surrounded by plains and forests, and its magnificent cathedral, St. Stephen's, is the religious centre for Arthur's Knights of the Round Table. There, Arthur and Guinevere are married and there are the tombs of many kings and knights. In a mighty castle stands the Round Table; it is here that Galahad conquers the Siege Perilous, and where the knights see a vision of the Holy Grail and swear to find it. Jousts are held in a meadow outside the city.
In the Palamedes and other works, the castle is eventually destroyed by King Mark of Cornwall after the loss of Arthur at the Battle of Camlann. However maddening to later scholars searching for Camelot's location, its imprecise geography serves the romances well, as Camelot becomes less a literal place than a powerful symbol of Arthur's court and universe. There is a Kamaalot featured as the home of Perceval's mother in the romance Perlesvaus.
The romancers' versions of Camelot drew on earlier descriptions of Arthur'sfabulous court. From Geoffrey's grand description of Caerleon, Camelot gains its impressive architecture, its many churches and the chivalry and courtesy of its inhabitants. Geoffrey's description in turn drew on an already established traditionin Welsh oral tradition of the grandeur of Arthur's court. The tale Culhwch and Olwen,associated with the Mabinogion and perhaps written in the 11th century, draws a dramatic picture of Arthur's hall and his many powerful warriors who go from there on great adventures, placing it in Celliwig, an uncertain locale in Cornwall.
Although the court at Celliwig is the most prominent in remaining early Welsh manuscripts, the various versions of the Welsh Triads agree in giving Arthur multiple courts, one in each of the areas inhabited by the Celtic Britons: Cornwall, Wales and the Hen Ogledd.
This perhaps reflects the influence of widespread oral traditions
common by 800 which are recorded in various place names and features
such as Arthur's Seat,indicating Arthur was a hero known and associated with many locations across Brittonic areas of Britain as well as Brittany. Even at this stage Arthur could not be tied to one location. Many other places are listed as a location where Arthur holds court in the later romances, Carlisle and London perhaps being the most prominent. It is commented by Arthurian experts that Camelot, located no where in particular, can be anywhere. The romancers' versions of Camelot draw on earlier traditions of Arthur's fabulous court. The Celliwig of Culhwchand Olwen appears in the Welsh Triads as well; this early Welsh material places Wales' greatest leader outside its national boundaries. Geoffrey's description of Caerleon is probably based on his personal familiarity with the town and its impressive Roman ruins; it is less clear that Caerleon was associated with Arthur before Geoffrey. Several French romances, Perlesvaus, the Didot Perceval attributed to Robert de Boron, and even the early romances of Chrétien such as Erec and Enide and Yvain, the Knight of the Lion, have Arthur hold court at Carduel in Wales, a northern city based on the real Carlisle. Malory's identification of Camelot as Winchester was probably partially inspired by the latter city's history: it had been the capital of Wessex under Alfred the Great, and boasted the Winchester Round Table, an artifact constructed in the 13th century but widely believed to be the original by Malory's time. Caxton rejected the association, saying Camelot was in Wales and that its ruins could still be seen; this is a likely reference to the Roman ruins at Caerwent.
In 1542, John Leland reported the locals around Cadbury Castle, formerly known as Camalet, in Somerset considered it to be the original Camelot. This theory, which was repeated by later antiquaries, is bolstered, or may have derived from, Cadbury's proximity to the River Cam and the villages of Queen Camel and West Camel, and remained popular enough to help inspire a large-scale archaeological dig in the 20th century. These excavations, led by archaeologist Leslie Alcock from 1966–70, were titled Cadbury-Camelot
and won much media attention. The dig revealed that the site seems to
have been occupied as early as the 4th millennium BC and to have been
refortified and occupied by a major Brittonic ruler and his war
band from c.470. This early medieval settlement continued until around
580. The works were by far the largest known fortification of the
period, double the size of comparative caers and with Mediterranean artifacts representing extensive trade and Saxon ones showing possible conquest.
The use of the name Camelot and the support of Geoffrey Ashe helped ensure much publicity for the finds, but Alcock himself later grew embarrassed by the supposed Arthurian connection to the site. Following the arguments of DavidDumville, Alcock felt the site was too late and too uncertain to be a tenable Camelot. Modern archaeologists follow him in rejecting the name, calling it instead Cadbury Castle hill fort. Despite this, Cadbury remains widely associated with Camelot.
The name of the Romano-British town of Camulodunum in Essex was derived from the Celtic god Camulus. However, it was located well within territory usually thought to have been conquered early in the 5th century by Saxons, so it is unlikely to have been the location of any trueCamelot. The town was definitely known as Colchester as early as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 917. Even Colchester Museum arguesstrongly regarding the historical Arthur: It would be impossible and inconceivable to link him to the Colchester area, or to Essex more generally, pointing out that the connection between the name Camulodunum and Colchester was unknown until the 18th century. It is suggested that another Camulodunum, a former Roman fort, is a likely location of King Arthur's Camelot and that Slack, on the outskirts of Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, is where Arthur would have held court. This is because of the name, and also regarding its strategic location: it is but a few miles from the extreme South-West of Hen Ogledd, also making close to North Wales, and would have been a great flagship point in starving off attacks to the Celtic kingdoms from both the Angles and other attackers. Other places in Britain with names related to Camel have also been suggested, such as Camelford in Cornwall, located down the River Camel from where Geoffrey places Camlann, the scene of Arthur's final battle. The area's connections with Camelot and Camlann are merely speculative. Further north Camelon and its connections with Arthur's O'on have been mentioned in relation to Camelot, but Camelon may be an antiquarian neologism coined after the 15th century, with its earlier name being Carmore or Carmure.
Ask ev'ry person if he's heard the story; And tell it strong and clear if he has not: That once there was a fleeting wisp of glory Called Camelot. Camelot! Camelot!
Today, The Morgans have met in Leicester Square to take some fantastic coloured pills, before heading to Stonehenge, the enigmatic Neolithic circle, from where they will cross to an even more fantastic world: Camelot. For The Grandma is very emotional because Stonehenge is the last place where a closer friend of her, CortoMaltese,waslastseen. He disappeared in the middle of the Neolithic stones and in that moment the hero became a legend, and the legend, a myth.
During the trip from London to Stonehenge, the family has been reviewing prepositions of place, reading a new chapter in their reading book and talking about topics as diverse as the legend of King Arthur, Arthur Conan Doyle, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll, Jefferson Airplane or the history of M&M's. It has been a different Friday, without so much grammatical load and with more space to listen to stories and participate orally in them.
The Morgans will celebrate Easter in Camelot and will be telling their adventures daily and The Grandma has talked about how literature has protected communities and countries during the Middle Age with the examples ofKingArthur and his Knights of the Round Table,Tirant lo Blanc, Orlando Il Furioso, Roland and El Cid Campeador,
incredible heroes with powerful skills in a dark age, heroes who are
part of our History and stories that we have to keep as long as we can.
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England,
3 km west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen
standing stones, each around 4.0 m high, 2.1 m wide, and weighing around
25 tons, topped by connecting horizontal lintel stones. Inside is a
ring of smaller bluestones. Inside these are free-standing trilithons,
two bulkier vertical sarsens joined by one lintel. The whole monument,
now ruinous, is aligned towards the sunrise on the summer solstice. The
stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the densest complex of
Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred tumuli (burial mounds).
Archaeologists believe that Stonehenge was constructed from around 3000 BC to 2000 BC.
The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the
earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC.
Radiocarbon dating suggests that the first bluestones were raised
between 2400 and 2200 BC, although they may have been at the site as
early as 3000 BC.
One of the most famous landmarks in the United Kingdom, Stonehenge is regarded as a British cultural icon.
It has been a legally protected scheduled monument since 1882, when
legislation to protect historic monuments was first successfully
introduced in Britain. The site and its surroundings were added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1986.
Stonehenge is owned by the Crown and managed by English Heritage; the surrounding land is owned by the National Trust.
Stonehenge could have been a burial ground from its earliest beginnings.
Deposits containing human bone date from as early as 3000 BC, when the
ditch and bank were first dug, and continued for at least another 500
years.
The Oxford English Dictionary cites Ælfric's tenth-century glossary, in which henge-cliff is given the meaning precipice, or stone; thus, the stanenges or Stanheng not far from Salisbury recorded by eleventh-century writers are stones supported in the air.
In 1740, William Stukeley notes: Pendulous rocks are now called henges in Yorkshire... I doubt not, Stonehenge in Saxon signifies the hanging stones. Christopher Chippindale's Stonehenge Complete gives the derivation of the name Stonehenge as coming from the Old English words stān stone, and either hencg hinge (because the stone lintels hinge on the upright stones) or hen(c)ento hang or gallows or instrument of torture (though elsewhere in his book, Chippindale cites the suspended stones etymology).
The henge
portion has given its name to a class of monuments known as henges.
Archaeologists define henges as earthworks consisting of a circular
banked enclosure with an internal ditch. As often happens in
archaeological terminology, this is a holdover from antiquarian use.
Despite being contemporary with true Neolithic henges and stone circles, Stonehenge
is in many ways atypical -for example, at more than 7.3 m tall, its
extant trilithons' lintels, held in place with mortise and tenon joints,
make it unique.
The twelfth-century Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), by Geoffrey of Monmouth, includes a fanciful story of how Stonehenge
was brought from Ireland with the help of the wizard Merlin. Geoffrey's
story spread widely, with variations of it appearing in adaptations of
his work, such as Wace's Norman French Roman de Brut, Layamon's Middle English Brut, and the WelshBrut y Brenhinedd.
According to the tale, the stones of Stonehenge
were healing stones, which giants had brought from Africa to Ireland.
They had been raised on Mount Killaraus to form a stone circle, known as
the Giant's Ring or Giant's Round. The fifth-century king Aurelius
Ambrosius wished to build a great memorial to the British Celtic nobles
slain by the Saxons at Salisbury. Merlin advised him to use the Giant's
Ring. The king sent Merlin and Uther Pendragon (King Arthur's father)
with 15,000 men to bring it from Ireland. They defeated an Irish army
led by Gillomanius, but were unable to move the huge stones. With
Merlin's help, they transported the stones to Britain and re-erected
them as they had stood.
Mount
Killaraus may refer to the Hill of Uisneach. Although the tale is
fiction, archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson suggests it may hold a grain of truth, as evidence suggests the Stonehenge bluestones were brought from the Waun Mawn stone circle on the Irish Sea coast of Wales.
Another
legend tells how the invading Saxon king Hengist invited British Celtic
warriors to a feast but treacherously ordered his men to massacre the
guests, killing 420 of them. Hengist erected Stonehenge on the site to show his remorse for the deed.
This morning at 07:23 London time (an hour later in her beloved Andorra), Scotland Yard rescue teams have located The Grandma on an excavator on the banks of the Thames.
Still a little tired and soaked, the woman's first words have been: where the hell are my dentures?
In a few hours, she will meet her family, The Morgans, and they will continue their visit to London, a city that has lived her disappearance with great anguish.
The Grandma has been taken to a medical centre to assess her health. Doctors say she is still in shock as she claims a very attractive sailor, with messy hair and brightly coloured pants and jacket helped her into the excavator while singing:
We are sailing, we are sailing Home again 'cross the sea We are sailing stormy waters To be near you, to be free Oh Lord, to be near you, to be free Oh My Lord, to be near you, to be free
Doctors believe that The Grandma has suffered a mystical experience typical of people who are in serious danger and they have recommended rest and tranquility while she kept shouting that the show must go on.
During these hours of uncertainty, The Morgans moved to Bath in Somerset, to seek peace and relaxation amidst so much suffering.
Baths, wine and sex corrupt our bodies, but baths, wine and sex make life worth living
Tiberius Claudius Secundus
With virtually no recovery time, The Grandma has wanted to be with TheMorgansand continue her English training.
So,
she has moved to Bath, where all together have worked on the Article
The, Prepositions of Place and Movement, and have read and shared
stories about great scientists like Manel Esteller.
Finally,
they have talked about the Saxon Genitive and how different cultural
communities have created their identity over the centuries, with an
element as important as the surname.
A name is so important. A surname connects you to your past, to your family. Even a given name has meaning -why did your parents pick that particular one?
Today, The Morgans & TheGrandma have decided to sail along the Thames. It has been an accidental trip because The Grandma has fallen to the water and, nowadays, there are no news about her.
The ThamesRiver, known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At 346 km, it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the River Severn.
The river rises at Thames Head in Gloucestershire
and flows into the North Sea near Tilbury, Essex and Gravesend, Kent,
via the Thames Estuary. From the west it flows through Oxford (where it
is sometimes called the Isis), Reading, Henley-on-Thames and Windsor. The Thames also drains the whole of Greater London.
The
lower reaches of the river are called the Tideway, derived from its
long tidal reach up to Teddington Lock. Its tidal section includes most
of its London stretch and has a rise and fall of 7 m.
From Oxford to the estuary theThames drops by 55 metres. Running through some of the drier parts of mainland Britain and heavily abstracted for drinking water, the Thames'
discharge is low considering its length and breadth: the Severn has a
discharge almost twice as large on average despite having a smaller
drainage basin.
Along
its course are 45 navigation locks with accompanying weirs. Its
catchment area covers a large part of south-eastern and a small part of
western England; the river is fed by at least 50 named tributaries. The
river contains over 80 islands. With its waters varying from freshwater
to almost seawater, the Thames supports a variety of wildlife and has a
number of adjoining Sites of Special Scientific Interest, with the
largest being in the North Kent Marshes and covering 5,289 ha.
According to Mallory and Adams, the Thames, from Middle English Temese, is derived from the Brittonic name for the river, Tamesas (from *tamēssa),recorded in Latin as Tamesis and yielding modern Welsh Tafwys, Thames.
The Thames through Oxford is sometimes called the Isis.
Historically, and especially in Victorian times, gazetteers and
cartographers insisted that the entire river was correctly named the
Isis from its source down to Dorchester on Thames and that only from
this point, where the river meets the Thame and becomes the Thame-isis (supposedly subsequently abbreviated to Thames) should it be so called.
Marks of human activity, in some cases dating back to Pre-Roman Britain,
are visible at various points along the river. These include a variety
of structures connected with use of the river, such as navigations,
bridges and watermills, as well as prehistoric burial mounds.
The lower Thames
in the Roman era was a shallow waterway winding through marshes. But
centuries of human intervention have transformed it into a deep tidal
canal flowing between 200 miles of solid walls; these defend a
floodplain where 1.5 million people work and live.
A
major maritime route is formed for much of its length for shipping and
supplies: through the Port of London for international trade, internally
along its length and by its connection to the British canal system. The
river's position has put it at the centre of many events in British
history, leading to it being described by John Burns as liquid history.
Rowing and sailing clubs are common along the Thames,
which is navigable to such vessels. Kayaking and canoeing also take
place. Major annual events include the Henley Royal Regatta and the Boat
Race, while the Thames has been used during two Summer Olympic Games:
1908 (rowing) and 1948 (rowing and canoeing). Safe headwaters and
reaches are a summer venue for organised swimming, which is prohibited
on safety grounds in a stretch centred on Central London.
About 450,000 years ago, in the most extreme Ice Age of the Pleistocene,
the Anglian, the furthest southern extent of the ice sheet reached
Hornchurch in east London, the Vale of St Albans, and the Finchley Gap.
The Anglian ice advance resulted in a new course for the Thames
through Berkshire and on into London, after which the river rejoined
its original course in southern Essex, near the present River Blackwater
estuary. Here it entered a substantial freshwater lake in the southern
North Sea basin, south of what is called Doggerland. The overspill of
this lake caused the formation of the Channel River and later the Dover
Strait gap between present-day Britain and France. Subsequent
development led to the continuation of the course that the river follows
at the present day.
At the height of the last ice age, around 20,000 BC, Britain was connected to mainland Europe by a large expanse of land known as Doggerland in the southern North Sea Basin. At this time, the Thames'
course did not continue to Doggerland but flowed southwards from the
eastern Essex coast where it met the waters of the
proto-Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta flowing from what are now the
Netherlands and Belgium. These rivers formed a single river -the
Channel River (Fleuve Manche)- that passed through the Dover Strait and
drained into the Atlantic Ocean in the western English Channel.
Upon the valley sides of the Thames
and some of its tributaries can be seen other terraces of brickearth,
laid over and sometimes interlayered with the clays. These deposits were
brought in by the winds during the periglacial periods, suggesting that
wide, flat marshes were then part of the landscape, which the new
rivers proceeded to cut into. The steepness of some valley sides
indicates very much lower mean sea levels caused by the glaciation
locking up so much water upon the land masses, thus causing the river
water to flow rapidly seaward and so erode its bed quickly downwards.
The
original land surface was around 110 to 120 m above the current
sea-level. The surface had sandy deposits from an ancient sea, laid over
sedimentary clay (this is the blue London Clay). All the erosion down
from this higher land surface, and the sorting action by these changes
of water flow and direction, formed what is known as the Thames River Gravel Terraces.
Since Roman times
and perhaps earlier, the isostatic rebound from the weight of previous
ice sheets, and its interplay with the eustatic change in sea level,
have resulted in the old valley of the River Brent, together with that
of the Thames,silting up again. Thus, along much of the
Brent's present-day course, one can make out the water-meadows of rich
alluvium, which is augmented by frequent floods.
Today, The Morgans & TheGrandma have just arrived to London to stay someweeks in the English capital. They are staying at the Cumberland Hotel,animportant place for recent British history that joins London with Sant Boi and Barcelona, and England with Catalonia.
The family has been studying how to compose new nouns using infinitives and -ing or -er, and they have been talking about the origin of the name of Sant Boi.
They have started a new reading and have worked with the W- Pronouns to extract the most important information: Who? What? Where? When?
Great Cumberland Place
is a street in the City of Westminster, part of Greater London,
England. There is also a hotel bearing the same name on the street.
The street runs from Oxford Street at Marble Arch to George Street at Bryanston Square.
It contains the Western Marble Arch Synagogue, near which stands a statue of Raoul Wallenberg.
Great Cumberland Place is home to The Cumberland Hotel.
The street was the home of Thomas Pinckney while he was the United States ambassador to the Court of St James's.
Sir James Mackintosh lived in Great Cumberland Street, which was later re-numbered as part of Great Cumberland Place.
The
residents listed in 1833 were: "Hans Busk, Esq.; Sir Clifford
Constable; Sir Frederick Hamilton; Lady C. Underwood; Sir G. Ivison
Tapps; Baron Bülow (the Prussian Minister); General Sir R. M'Farlane;
Leonard Currie, Esq.; Sir S. B. Fludyer, Bart.; Lady Trollope; Earl of
Leitrim; Sir Alexander Johnston; and the Hon. and Right Rev. the Lord
Bishop of Norwich", and in Great Cumberland Street "Lord Saltoun; Mrs.
Portman; John Wells, Esq.; Colonel Sherwood; Captain Richard Manby; John
Lodge, Esq.; Major Murray; Robert Cutlar Fergusson, Esq.; John N.
McLeod, Esq.; and Lord Bagot".
The
explorers James Theodore Bent and Mabel Bent lived first at Number 43
and then Number 13 Great Cumberland Place from the early 1880s until
Mabel Bent's death in 1929.
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874-24 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1951 to 1955.
Apart from two years between 1922 and 1924, he was a Member of Parliament
(MP) from 1900 to 1964 and represented a total of five constituencies.
Ideologically an economic liberal and imperialist, he was for most of
his career a member of the Conservative Party, which he led from 1940 to 1955. He was a member of the Liberal Party from 1904 to 1924.
Of mixed English and American parentage, Churchill was born in Oxfordshire
to the wealthy Spencer aristocratic family. He joined the British Army
in 1895 and saw action in British India, the Anglo-Sudan War, and the
Second Boer War, later gaining fame as a war correspondent and writing
books about his campaigns. Elected a Conservative MP in 1900, he
defected to the Liberals in 1904. In H. H. Asquith's Liberal government,
Churchill served as President of the Board of Trade and Home Secretary, championing prison reform and workers' social security.
As
First Lord of the Admiralty during the First World War, he oversaw the
Gallipoli Campaign but, after it proved a disaster, he was demoted to
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He resigned in November 1915 and
joined the Royal Scots Fusiliers on the Western Front for six months.
In
1917, he returned to government under David Lloyd George and served
successively as Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War,
Secretary of State for Air, and Secretary of State for the Colonies,
overseeing the Anglo-Irish Treaty and British foreign policy in the
Middle East. After two years out of Parliament, he served as Chancellor
of the Exchequer in Stanley Baldwin's Conservative government, returning
the pound sterling in 1925 to the gold standard at its pre-war parity, a
move widely seen as creating deflationary pressure and depressing the
UK economy.
Out of government during his so-called wilderness years in the 1930s, Churchill took the lead in calling for British rearmament to counter the growing threat of militarism in Nazi Germany.
At
the outbreak of the Second World War he was re-appointed First Lord of
the Admiralty. In May 1940, he became Prime Minister, succeeding Neville
Chamberlain.
Churchill
formed a national government and oversaw British involvement in the
Allied war effort against the Axis powers, resulting in victory in 1945.
After the Conservatives' defeat in the 1945 general election, he became
Leader of the Opposition. Amid the developing Cold War with the Soviet
Union, he publicly warned of an iron curtain of Soviet influence
in Europe and promoted European unity. Between his terms as Prime
Minister, he wrote several books recounting his experience during the
war. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953.
He
lost the 1950 election, but was returned to office in 1951. His second
term was preoccupied with foreign affairs, especially Anglo-American
relations and preservation of what remained of the British Empire with
India now no longer part of it. Domestically, his government emphasised
housebuilding and completed the development of a nuclear weapon (begun
by his predecessor).
In declining health, Churchill resigned as Prime Minister in 1955, remaining an MP until 1964. Upon his death in 1965, he was given a state funeral.
Widely considered one of the 20th century's most significant figures, Churchill remains popular in the Anglosphere, where
he is seen as a victorious wartime leader who played an important role
in defending Europe's liberal democracy against the spread of fascism; historians often rank Churchill
as the greatest prime minister. His second term received more mixed
responses, and he is criticized for some wartime events and also for his
imperialist views.
I do not at all underrate the severity of the ordeal which lies before us; but I believe our countrymen will show themselves capable of standing up to it, like the brave men of Barcelona, and will be able to stand up to it, and carry on in spite of it, at least as well as any other people in the world.
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