WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: Was there a real King Arthur? 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:04.279 M Hey everybody, this is Chuck. Welcome to Saturday Celex. 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:06.920 I hope you had your pop tarts and your breakfast 0:00:06.960 --> 0:00:10.520 cereal and you watched your your morning cartoons. Because now 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:12.879 it's time to learn a little something. I'm gonna pick 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:17.360 was There a Real King Arthur? From January fourteen, two 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:21.279 thousand and fourteen, as my select pick this week. You know, 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:24.040 I love my history podcasts and all the episodes we 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:26.759 do about history, and one of my favorite things is 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:30.720 is to take a look at, uh, these these figures 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:34.120 from literature and and lore and think, wow, were they 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:37.320 real people? Is there a basis in reality? In fact? 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:39.839 And that's what we did with King Arthur? So, uh, 0:00:40.120 --> 0:00:42.440 I hope you dig it. I certainly did, and here 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:55.240 we go. Was there a Real King Arthur? Welcome to 0:00:55.680 --> 0:01:04.679 Stuff you Should Know from House Stuff Works dot Com. Hey, 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:07.080 you welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, and there's 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:12.200 Charles w Chuck Bryant, Jerry Waved, everybody quiet. Jack. That's 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:16.120 stuff you should know. Yeah, that's us. That is us 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:21.440 still legend. You know, it was impossible for me to 0:01:21.480 --> 0:01:26.959 research this without only thinking of two things. Two movies. 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:31.000 Clive Owe, Nope, Uh, I didn't see that one. It 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:34.160 was it was good? Was that the one called King Arthur? Okay, 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:36.480 it was a good I thought, So I'll check it 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:38.760 out because I dig this character. And I've seen a 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:43.520 lot of the movies that that tackle Camelot. But Excalibur 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:46.800 and uh Monty Python and The Holy Grail. Of course, 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:49.800 I I surely I've seen ex Caliber because I had 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:52.160 showed time when I was a kid. It was a 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:56.360 big hot movie when you were twelve in the early eighties. Yeah. Yeah, 0:01:56.640 --> 0:01:59.360 And then of course the Holy Crail. I mean, how 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:02.160 do you not see that? It's the Holy Grail of comedies. 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:04.640 Some say, yeah, I can see that. You should check 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:07.320 out the Cowler. It actually holds up pretty well, does it. Yeah, 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:10.480 And it's um Has is somewhat notable for having a 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:14.320 couple of early appearances by actors that went on to 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:18.919 be uh much bigger movies like that. Yeah. Gabriel byrne 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:22.920 is in it and just barely and um Liam Neeson 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:25.280 and I think both of them it was there first 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:28.880 roles and they're like hardly in the movie. Who was 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:33.840 who played King Arthur? Um? Was it anybody like I've 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:36.480 heard of? Or they had to have been big at 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:40.120 the time, right, Who was it Richard Burton? You know 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:43.320 when I was uh like thirteen, I saw Richard Harris 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:47.640 do Camelot the Fox Seater in Atlanta. So is that, like, 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:54.440 is that based on the Arthurian legend? What the musical Camelot? Yeah? Sure, okay, 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:57.240 but I mean you know it's a musical. Yeah, and 0:02:57.280 --> 0:02:59.560 it's from the sixties, so you can never tell like 0:02:59.800 --> 0:03:02.200 it had just been named Camelot. That's what I was asking. 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:05.720 Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, No, it's about the Arthurian legend. 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:08.519 But out of all of them, I would say, hands down, 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:12.680 Monty Python and the Holy Grail is the best of 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:16.560 the Arthurian Legend movie adaptations. Yeah. I haven't seen it 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:18.480 in years, but it's like one of those that I 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:22.240 saw so many times I can still quote most of it, 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:23.720 you know. I mean it has it all. It has 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:28.760 the killer rabbits, the killer bunnies. Yeah, it has the 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:33.399 coconut carrying swallows. It has the nice you say knee, 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:37.920 It has the Black Knight who merely has a flesh wound. Yeah, 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:44.080 has everything, has singing dancing yeah, um, I mean the 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:49.120 great Graham Chapman as uh Arthur. Yeah, and um, bring 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:51.960 out your Dead. Yeah. So many things that are in 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:56.640 the lexicon from that. Yeah. Uh. Nigel Terry played Arthur 0:03:56.680 --> 0:03:59.280 in the Excalibur movie. I don't I don't know who 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:02.440 he is. Probably recognize him. Helen Mirren was morgana though, 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:06.840 oh wow? Um, but yeah, small roles. Oh. Patrick Stewart 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:09.800 was the other guy, got you he played? Was he bald? 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:12.280 Has he always like? He always been bald? One of those? 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:13.840 I'm sure he had hair at some point. Oh, I'll 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:16.280 bet he looked weird with hair. I can't imagine him 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:18.320 with hair. What if he was born with like a 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:20.800 full head of hair and that was it. He started 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:23.080 losing it after that, right for two days and then 0:04:23.440 --> 0:04:25.880 it all came out all right. So anyway started to 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:28.240 disrupt this early on. But those two movies, I just 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:31.640 every time I saw it with a pen dragon. This 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:34.120 is a cool name, that's a great name. I couldn't 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:36.039 help but just kind of say those lines in my head. 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:38.880 So I mean, you you make a good or you 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:44.440 raise a good point. Um, there's so many Arthur movies 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:47.440 out there, Arthur books. Sword in the Stone was pretty 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:51.760 good too. Um that everybody has a kind of a 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:56.880 basic idea of um. The King Arthur legend, the Arthurian 0:04:56.960 --> 0:05:01.120 myth or romance it's sometimes called to but UM. What 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:03.599 I think probably a lot of people don't know is 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:08.480 that it is a syncretized meaning. The Catholics got their 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:11.240 myths on it and through a bunch of Christianity on 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:14.320 top of something that was already extant, and in this 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:19.279 case Um what was excellent was a group of myths 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:23.080 that arose from the Celts, the Celtic people, which is 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:26.800 pretty substantial that we have this because the Celts never 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:29.560 wrote anything down, mainly on account of the fact that 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:34.000 they didn't have a written language. Their tradition was entirely oral, 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:38.120 which is why we have very little of an understanding 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:40.599 of the Celts. Most of our understanding of the Celts 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:44.120 comes from outside observers like Pliny the Elder. Thank God 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:46.159 for Pliny, or else we might not even know the 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:53.200 Celts ever existed. Um, but the Arthurian legend is very 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:58.719 clearly based on Celtic mythology. But even more enticing to 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:03.279 me is the idea that it's possibly, or it's possible 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:07.200 that that um Celtic legend, that Celtic mythology is rooted 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:10.320 somewhat in fact, Like Arthur may have been a real person. 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:13.240 That's sort of the Agel question. Yeah, but I mean 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:17.200 I find that in astoundingly fascinating. Like there's places that 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:20.960 are part of the Arthurian legend that do exist in 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:23.680 real life. But whether or not they actually were a 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:27.400 part of Arthur's life, if there was a real Arthur. 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:32.360 I mean, each spot um generates awesome debate, you know. 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:36.800 So for the anthropologist, the history major in me, I 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:40.200 just I'm fascinated by the whole thing. Agreed, sir. So 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:44.480 let's go over the basic legend of of Arthur. Uh 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:51.960 killer king, legendary hero saved Britain when Britain needed saving, Yeah, 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:57.080 because the Roman Empire had crumbled, um, and the Saxons 0:06:57.160 --> 0:07:00.800 were all over Britain, the Germanic tribes. Yeah, and he 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:06.360 defeated them and brought great peace to the land and 0:07:06.680 --> 0:07:11.120 built a castle called it Camelot, gathered up nights together 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:14.680 around around a round table which we'll get into, and 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:18.880 to help bring peace to to the land. And and 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:21.760 he did, and he did so very successfully. In in fact, 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:26.240 in two thousand two, the BBC voted King Arthur as 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:29.120 number fifty one and the poll of one greatest Britons, 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:32.119 even though he might not even be a real dude, 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:35.600 And the Britons are smart folks and they still voted 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:38.720 him that they're pretty sharp. Yeah. So, um, those are 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:43.360 the broad strokes. But depending on which version you're reading, 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:45.720 it's going to be different. Did he pull a sword 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:48.160 from a stone? Was it Excalibur? Did he get it 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:51.600 from the lady in the water? Was his undoing, uh, 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:55.800 Mordred or was it Guinevere and Lancelot? Yeah, it depends 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:59.560 on which version you're reading. And we'll go over those versions, right, 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:02.200 and we can you can kind of trace these back 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:05.640 to you know, you can see layer after layer being added. 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:07.840 So when you look at the Arthurian legend as we 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:11.520 understand it now, you can kind of peel back layer 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:14.880 by layer and get to the original stuff, um, which 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:19.600 is pretty old. Indeed, like they think that, Um, we 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:23.520 we'll get to that. Let's let's talk about the Arthur's story. Um, 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:26.119 so you've got Arthur. He comes along at a time 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:31.040 when Britain is in its greatest need. There were some 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:35.280 great kings, possibly relatives of Arthur, like Uther Pendragon, his 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:39.559 father supposedly would have been one of the rulers. Right, 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:42.160 what you're smiling because you like that name. All I 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:45.240 can think of is I am off a son of Pendragon. Okay, 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:49.360 so you just say that anytime you want, man um so. 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:54.840 But he arrives at a time when Britain is being 0:08:55.320 --> 0:08:59.440 overrun by the Saxons. It's being um ruled by the Saxon's. 0:08:59.480 --> 0:09:03.000 Like there's no British king on the throne. And there's 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:05.160 a legend that comes up that there is a sword 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:08.880 in a stone and only the rightful king, meaning only 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:13.360 the line of Luther pen Dragon. I'm not gonna say again. Uh, 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:16.640 We'll be able to remove the sword from the stone, 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:19.560 and when that person comes, he will be dubbed the 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:24.440 King of Kings and will restore um the the rightful 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:29.560 um lineage to the British throne. Yeah and uh. In 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:32.760 some stories, like I said, a young man, a young 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:36.720 Arthur pulls the sword stored it's a sword from the 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:40.480 Swan and uh, and other legends it does come from 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:42.040 the lady in the lake. He rides out on a 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:45.080 barge and the hand stretches up with the sword in it. 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:48.000 All you sees the arm coming from the water, and 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:50.720 he gets the sword that a way well, and and 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:53.880 then I think a third a third way. He pulls 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:58.280 the sword from the stone, proclaiming himself Arthur. Yeah, and 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:01.440 everyone goes no, one's like he's the dude, right, Like 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:03.439 we got one of our own back in power now. 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:05.959 And then that sword breaks and that's when he gets 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:08.120 ex caliber from the Lady of the Lake. It's right, 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:11.920 the most powerful magic sword and all the land. Uh, 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:14.319 it's a it's what you call a bitch and swords 0:10:14.360 --> 0:10:17.920 his pitch and sword Merlin and some stories comes around, uh, 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:22.880 right about this time, and he appears on Arthur's a teen. 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:26.640 Generally um associated with the Lady of the Lake. There 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:28.680 and Avalon, they're both from the same neck of the woods. 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:33.439 Avalon is a magical mystery place even outside of the 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:35.680 Arthurian legend. As far as the Celts go, it was 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:42.440 a it means apple land, yeah, um, and I guess 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:45.960 apples were super magical to the Celts. But the Avalon 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:50.920 itself is um almost in otherworldly afterlife. The kind of area, 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:53.720 even though it's a physical place you can go to 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:59.000 in Britain, still interesting. Uh. It's interesting that the apple 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:03.960 is always been a uh strange fruit. Yeah, like I 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:05.760 know it was probably wasn't an apple and eating but 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:10.600 it's all in. I wonder Southern Baptists called it an apple? Yeah, 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:13.760 And I wonder when what it was originally in like 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:19.040 air Maic and when it was converted to apple. Where's 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:22.400 the apple indigenous? I don't know or the or the 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:27.640 apple and the what was the children's was it not 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:30.679 snow white? Was snow white? Yeah? Yeah? With the poison apple? 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:34.000 Poison apple again. I saw a video today that we've 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:36.520 been eating apples wrong? Did you know that? I've seen that. 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:38.960 I can't bring myself to eat an apple like that. 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:42.280 There's a there's a middle spindle, a k A. The 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:44.760 core that is not to be consumed. That it's not true. 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:48.600 I won't do it. It's just too weird. But you 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:50.959 can eat the core. There is no core. There is 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:53.480 a core. I make it. Every I create the core, 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:59.640 every I I show it. Just like a sculptor reveals 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:03.320 the sculpture within a slab of stone, so too, do 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:05.520 I reveal the core in an apple. Let me ask 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:07.200 you this. If you cut the apple up into the 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:09.560 eight pieces and get the seeds out you can just 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:12.720 eat that's the whole apple. You have to shave off 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:16.960 like inner part the core. For those of you don't know, 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:19.080 there's a video of a dude eating an apple from 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:21.880 the bottom end forward and he just eats the whole 0:12:21.880 --> 0:12:28.199 thing because he's a psychopath. Um. Okay, sorry to get 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:31.040 sidetracked by the history of the apple. Well, no, I 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:34.400 think you do raise a really really interesting point, Chuck. 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:37.199 I wonder you know when the apple started getting a 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:41.040 bad rep, when the apple stood in for other fruit. Yeah. 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:44.000 I think that's an excellent thing to look up. Okay, 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:47.120 so let me know what you find. Alright. So Arthur, 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:50.720 like I said, he builds Camelot, that's his castle once 0:12:50.760 --> 0:12:55.120 he restores peace. Yeah. Well, no, no, no, I think 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:56.640 that was he went out and got all the nights 0:12:56.679 --> 0:12:59.520 to help him restore peace. Okay, So he built Camelot 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:03.760 and into patient of restoring exactly and recruited nights. Uh 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:06.120 for the round table. And we might as well go 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:10.079 ahead and leak that the round table was supposedly round 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:12.480 because we're all equals and there's no head of a 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:16.640 round table. Makes sense, yeah, um, And it was either 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:20.439 fashioned by Merlin yeah, or it was a gift from Guenevere, 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:24.000 who we haven't gotten to yet, A wedding present from 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:28.640 Guenevere's father, even though he got it from Arthur's father, 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:31.320 Luther pen Dragon. Yeah, and her father was King Leo 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:33.839 de Grants who I think that was. Patrick Stewart, got 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:38.360 you an excalibur. Um. So the nights go out, they 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:42.240 defeat all the outsiders there, peace reigns, and that it's 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:46.559 why Camelot to this day has the connotation of and 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:52.719 especially with the Kennedys, like this, you know, peaceful, idyllic situation. Right, 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:55.599 that's Camelot. Although it was a place, you know what 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:59.600 I'm saying, it sort of represents more than a place, right, 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:05.319 represents the piece that he brought with these knights. Um. 0:14:05.440 --> 0:14:09.800 Then he meets Gwenevere, falls in love with this little hottie, 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:14.280 and then depending on what story you read, there might 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:18.559 have been an affair with Lancelot or Mordred, who was 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:22.200 either his nephew or depending on what you read, or 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:27.720 his son, uh, which technically he could be both because 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:33.280 supposedly he had Mordred with his half sister. Morgan. Yeah, 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:35.760 that makes sense, who is translated into Morgan le Fay 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:40.960 who's like this kind of enchanting temptress, evil woman um 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:46.080 who helps Mordred Um try to take over Camelot tries 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:50.080 to take over the throne, and Arthur says, nay to you, 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:54.600 we will do battle at a place called Camlan, That's right, 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:58.520 and then dies. That's where Mordred is killed and Arthur 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:02.440 is um wounded, and depending on the version of the story, 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:05.960 Arthur's either mortally wounded or just kind of wounded, but 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:10.000 either way, he gives his his sword ex Caliber to 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:13.400 Bedevere and says, you need to return this to the 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:17.200 lady in the lake. After kind of waffling because Bedevere 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:20.560 is like, I could use ex Caliber. Uh, he finally 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:23.120 gives he throws ex Caliber to the lake and this 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:25.600 arm comes up and goes ching and like catches it 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:28.360 and then goes back down and he's like, there was 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:30.800 a lady of the lake. Yeah, that's the ex Caliber 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:35.520 movie version. They followed that version, because I remember distinctly 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:38.480 him chunking the sword out there in the arm coming up. 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:43.120 That's cool. I think I have some vague mental memory 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:46.600 of that as well. Um. And then Arthur's taken to 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:51.120 Avalon to either die and be buried, which is um 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:56.000 or he recuperates and hangs out there to come back 0:15:56.360 --> 0:15:59.840 to reign over Britain and it's next time of greatest need, 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:03.160 which is why Arthur is frequently referred to. And there 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:07.280 was a book titled the Once and Future King because 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:10.480 he will return again when Britain needs him, which makes 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:14.120 him like kind of the British superman. Yeah, before we 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:15.880 go any further, my friend, I think it's a good 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:34.360 time for a message break. Hey, now we're back. So 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:37.080 that's the Uh, that's the basic legend. I mean, like 0:16:37.120 --> 0:16:42.160 we just basically condensed thousands of pages of different books 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:45.200 and thousands, well not thousands, but hundreds of years of 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:49.760 um folklore into a few minutes. But you get the 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:52.040 gist of it. Sure you know the story. And if this, 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:54.800 if this ignited your fancy and you're like, I want 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:57.400 to know more, man, you've got a you could dedicate 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:01.120 the rest of your life to researching and reading Arthurian 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:05.040 legend because there's tons of it and and it's all 0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:07.800 like we said, um, it's a literary tradition, but it's 0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:10.399 rooted in an oral tradition among the Celts, the pagan 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:14.800 Celts um but this literary tradition itself is really really 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:18.880 old that they they first mention of Arthur is um 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:21.880 from I think the fifth century, right, the fifth century 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:25.560 Welsh poem, six sixth century Welsh poem. When you're off 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:29.800 hundred years back then, um, especially with a man who 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:32.800 may or may not have existed, but Arthur pops up 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:36.480 in one line in this Welsh poem called the Gododin 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:40.560 god Odin good Odin. Yeah, it's a great word, and 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:46.080 this poem eulogizes the Welsh warriors, maybe Britain's oldest poem. Yeah, 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:50.360 because the Celts would have started to have become Christianized 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:52.760 around this time, hence things would have started to have 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:55.639 been written down, so this poem would have popped up 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:59.560 really right around that cusp between the end of purely 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:04.160 Celtic take culture. Because the British Isles were the last 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:07.240 stronghold of the Celts, which swept all the way to Asia, 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:09.960 like they covered Europe, parts of North Africa. The Celts 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:14.359 were everywhere, but um, it was the um the British 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:17.840 Isles that were the last holdouts until about like the fifth, six, 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:23.760 seven eighth centuries UM, when they became Christianized. Alright, so 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:26.560 they're Christianized at this point. Yeah. By the time this 0:18:26.680 --> 0:18:29.439 poem came out, the very fact that there's a written poem, 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:33.440 it shows you that the me their way in this 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:36.200 area and the Celts are off just telling stories, looking 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:38.960 their wounds and telling stories, still not writing stuff down 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:41.560 there like you have you are you familiar with Missileton? Yeah? 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:45.920 Do you know about knocking on wood? Look at you 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:51.359 utilizing all your information? Uh so. Uh. Some other references 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:56.720 in literature, um, the Historia Brittonum History of Britain eight 0:18:56.800 --> 0:19:01.320 hundred and the Analysis Cambria the Animals of Whales a 0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:04.600 few hundred years after that. They were they were basically 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:07.919 history books, the main history books of Brittain and Wales 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:12.440 and um. But they themselves were just compilations of of 0:19:12.440 --> 0:19:17.280 other books and can't be like factually verified. Yeah, but 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:20.000 nevertheless they were used and Arthur was mentioned in both. 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:23.679 Um the Arthur we know and love today. Uh. You 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:27.919 can trace back to Jeffrey of Monmouth. He was a 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:31.960 priest who wrote Historia Regum britagn The History of British 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:36.240 Kings and the eleven hundreds. But he based his stuff 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:40.399 on the history of Britton. Um, but it just became 0:19:40.440 --> 0:19:43.600 really popular, right, So like he kind of based it 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:45.440 on the other thing. Well, I mean most some people 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:48.440 even say you plagiarized, but it became so popular. He 0:19:48.520 --> 0:19:52.639 was kind of golden, right, and I think great. I 0:19:52.680 --> 0:19:55.399 think also he Um, I mean most histories are based 0:19:55.400 --> 0:19:59.520 on previous histories. Um, so that's that in and of itself, 0:19:59.640 --> 0:20:02.199 isn't a add thing. But yeah, I don't know what 0:20:02.280 --> 0:20:04.680 this article is implying that like he was that he 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:09.399 stole work or he fabricated it. Well, he was accused 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:11.800 of fabricating some of it, so so well either way. 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:16.119 He gave the world the Arthurian legend. That's right, Like 0:20:16.359 --> 0:20:19.200 Arthur existed before this, like as we've seen. But he 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:22.560 was the one that said, like, there's a great story here, 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:24.920 and I'm gonna bulk this up. Yeah, And so he 0:20:25.000 --> 0:20:30.520 started naming places, he started contemporizing things, like he took 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:34.240 um this legend and put it into a context that 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:37.639 the people who lived in his time would understand and 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:41.240 be fascinated by. Yeah, and he introduced Christianity for the 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:44.440 first time to the story. Um, the French got ahold 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:47.080 of it, and then they're all about a good romance novel. 0:20:47.640 --> 0:20:51.359 So they sort of introduced the love elements or not introduced, 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:56.040 but UH emphasize the love elements a little bit more. Yeah. 0:20:56.080 --> 0:21:00.960 About fifty years after Geoffrey of Monmouth UM made his 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:06.400 history um Chrestian Detroit UH came up with some stories 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:09.639 that added that romantic part and a lot like the 0:21:09.720 --> 0:21:13.720 I think the Grail stuff too. Oh yeah, yeah, he 0:21:13.760 --> 0:21:16.600 was the one who who came up with the romance 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:20.240 between Lancelot and Grenevere and the Grail of search for 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:22.239 the Grail, which wasn't a part of the story up 0:21:22.280 --> 0:21:25.560 until the twelfth century, and most of the stuff had 0:21:25.560 --> 0:21:29.119 been like history books and poems UM starting with the 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:32.879 Vulgate cycle or pros lancelot as when you started getting 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:37.400 these great prose stories and Christianity is woven in even more. 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:41.200 And this is between twelve ten and twelve thirty, right, 0:21:41.400 --> 0:21:42.720 just to give you an idea of where we are. 0:21:42.760 --> 0:21:45.080 And they don't know if these stories were like maybe 0:21:45.119 --> 0:21:48.280 part of a popular literary trend at the time where 0:21:48.280 --> 0:21:50.439 a bunch of people writing them like chivalry was a 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:53.200 big thing to write about, or if it was one 0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:56.119 author writing a series of stuff and they were not 0:21:56.320 --> 0:21:59.280 they're not attributed to any single author, but they're they're 0:21:59.280 --> 0:22:01.000 collected to get there was a body of work, the 0:22:01.119 --> 0:22:04.520 Vulgate cycle. Yeah, and those ones focus a little more 0:22:04.560 --> 0:22:07.800 on like Lancelot in the Chivalrous Nights and all that 0:22:08.080 --> 0:22:11.240 we have in the Grail to Um. Yeah with Galahad, Yeah, 0:22:11.240 --> 0:22:14.399 they said that, Um, Joseph of Arimathea, who was in 0:22:14.400 --> 0:22:16.840 the Bible, he was the one who gave Jesus his 0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:22.320 tomb after Jesus was crucified and brought back. And uh 0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:24.960 he said no, well he didn't say that, but they 0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:29.840 they said Joseph Mathea brought the Grail to Britain. Um. 0:22:29.880 --> 0:22:35.240 But then Galahad, Sir Lancelot's illegitimate son, was said in 0:22:35.320 --> 0:22:38.760 the Vulgate cycle that he discovered the Grail because he 0:22:38.800 --> 0:22:42.159 was pure, of course, yes, until he went to the 0:22:42.200 --> 0:22:47.000 castle Anthrax. Remember that scene and the pure and chased 0:22:48.240 --> 0:22:50.840 goes to the castle and there's all the ladies that 0:22:50.880 --> 0:22:54.960 are like tempting him that it's uh, Michael Palin is 0:22:55.040 --> 0:22:59.080 just like wide eyed man. Uh. And then the big 0:22:59.119 --> 0:23:03.119 one um that most of our modern stories are based 0:23:03.160 --> 0:23:09.040 on is Thomas Mallory's Le Morte Darthur The Death of Arthur, 0:23:10.080 --> 0:23:13.080 And I read this in college. Oh yeah, and it 0:23:13.160 --> 0:23:16.960 was tough. It was sort of like a bit of 0:23:16.960 --> 0:23:21.440 a modernized Middle English. Yeah, it wasn't quite Chaucer, wasn't 0:23:21.480 --> 0:23:25.240 that tough, Um. But it was still a tough read. 0:23:25.359 --> 0:23:27.960 And I remember thinking at the time, can I just 0:23:28.040 --> 0:23:31.440 watch Excalibur? And it turns out it could, because that 0:23:31.720 --> 0:23:35.400 was that movie was specifically based on the Death of Arthur. Yeah. 0:23:35.480 --> 0:23:38.120 And so as you're you're kind of seeing like each UM, 0:23:38.160 --> 0:23:41.840 each new century, each new um, authors adding their own 0:23:41.880 --> 0:23:43.800 thing to it. Yeah, he didn't actually write it. I 0:23:43.800 --> 0:23:48.440 should say that he compiled the stories together. Okay, surely 0:23:48.440 --> 0:23:50.760 he cleaned them up and well, yeah, but he didn't 0:23:50.760 --> 0:23:53.240 he didn't create a new work, because he's known as 0:23:53.720 --> 0:23:56.560 it's known as a compilation. Well, he did add some 0:23:56.680 --> 0:24:00.000 new stories about some other nights, Sir Gareth and Sir Tris. 0:24:00.040 --> 0:24:05.200 Then UM and he he he also kind of took 0:24:05.320 --> 0:24:10.960 the um the focus off of the Celtic pagan mythology 0:24:11.040 --> 0:24:15.959 and really focused it onto the Christian mythology. UM and 0:24:15.960 --> 0:24:18.960 and at this point, the idea that this whole thing 0:24:19.040 --> 0:24:24.000 is based on Celtic ideals and and myths is lost 0:24:24.640 --> 0:24:27.359 largely to history. I mean, at the very least, it 0:24:27.400 --> 0:24:32.760 doesn't become nearly as a parent. Um. Was he the 0:24:32.760 --> 0:24:35.639 one that added the Lady in the Lake though? Oh no, 0:24:35.720 --> 0:24:38.960 that was the Vulgate cycle, um, which is supposing to 0:24:38.960 --> 0:24:42.400