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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 AD. 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.〔, has a summary of the debate on this point.〕 The sparse historical background of Arthur is gleaned from various sources, including the ''Annales Cambriae'', the ''Historia Brittonum'', and the writings of Gildas. Arthur's name also occurs in early poetic sources such as ''Y Gododdin''.〔; . ''Y Gododdin'' cannot be dated precisely: it describes 6th-century events and contains 9th- or 10th-century spelling, but the surviving copy is 13th-century.〕 Arthur is a central figure in the legends making up the so-called 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'').〔, but see also 〕 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.〔See ; ; ; and 〕 How much of Geoffrey's ''Historia'' (completed in 1138) was adapted from such earlier sources, rather than invented by Geoffrey 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's version of events often served as the starting point for later stories. Geoffrey depicted Arthur as 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. ==Debated historicity== (詳細は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 leader who 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 first datable mention of King Arthur, listing twelve battles that Arthur fought. These culminate in the Battle of Mons Badonicus, or Mount Badon, where he is said to have single-handedly killed 960 men. Recent studies, however, question the reliability of the ''Historia Brittonum''.〔; ; .〕 The other text that seems to support the case for Arthur's historical existence is the 10th-century ''Annales Cambriae'', which also link Arthur with the Battle of Mount 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'' This lack of convincing early evidence is the reason many recent historians exclude Arthur from their accounts of sub-Roman Britain. In the view of historian Thomas Charles-Edwards, "at this stage of the enquiry, one can only say that there may well have been an historical Arthur (... ) the historian can as yet say nothing of value about him". These modern admissions of ignorance are a relatively recent trend; earlier generations of historians were less sceptical. The historian John Morris made the putative reign of Arthur the organising principle of his history of sub-Roman Britain and Ireland, ''The Age of Arthur'' (1973). Even so, he found little to say about a historical Arthur. Partly in reaction to such theories, another school of thought emerged which argued that Arthur had no historical existence at all. Morris's ''Age of Arthur'' prompted the archaeologist Nowell Myres to observe that "no figure on the borderline of history and mythology has wasted more of the historian's time". Gildas' 6th-century polemic ''De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae'' (''On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain''), written within living memory of Mount Badon, mentions the battle but does not mention Arthur.〔Gildas, ''De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae'', chapter 26.〕 Arthur is not mentioned in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' or named in any surviving manuscript written between 400 and 820. He is absent from Bede's early-8th-century ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'', another major early source for post-Roman history that mentions Mount Badon.〔Bede, ''Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum'', Book 1.16.〕 The historian David Dumville has written: "I think we can dispose of him () quite briefly. He owes his place in our history books to a 'no smoke without fire' school of thought ... The fact of the matter is that there is no historical evidence about Arthur; we must reject him from our histories and, above all, from the titles of our books." Some scholars argue that Arthur was originally a fictional hero of folklore—or even a half-forgotten Celtic deity—who became credited with real deeds in the distant past. They cite parallels with figures such as the Kentish Hengist and Horsa, who may be totemic horse-gods that later became historicised. Bede ascribed to these legendary figures a historical role in the 5th-century Anglo-Saxon conquest of eastern Britain.〔; ; , chapters five and seven.〕 It is not even certain that Arthur was considered a king in the early texts. Neither the ''Historia'' nor the ''Annales'' calls him "''rex''": the former calls him instead "''dux bellorum''" (leader of battles) and "''miles''" (soldier).〔''Historia Brittonum'' 56, 73; ''Annales Cambriae'' 516, 537.〕 Historical documents for the post-Roman period are scarce, so a definitive answer to the question of Arthur's historical existence is unlikely. Sites and places have been identified as "Arthurian" since the 12th century,〔For example, .〕 but archaeology can confidently reveal names only through inscriptions found in secure contexts. The so-called "Arthur stone", discovered in 1998 among the ruins at Tintagel Castle in Cornwall in securely dated 6th-century contexts, created a brief stir but proved irrelevant. Other inscriptional evidence for Arthur, including the Glastonbury cross, is tainted with the suggestion of forgery.〔Modern scholarship views the Glastonbury cross as the result of a probably late-12th-century fraud. See and .〕 Although several historical figures have been proposed as the basis for Arthur,〔These range from Lucius Artorius Castus, a Roman officer who served in Britain in the 2nd or 3rd century (), to Roman usurper emperors such as Magnus Maximus or sub-Roman British rulers such as Riotamus (), Ambrosius Aurelianus (), Owain Ddantgwyn (), and Athrwys ap Meurig ()〕 no convincing evidence for these identifications has emerged. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「King Arthur」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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