When I say King Arthur, what do you think of? Gorgeous men in gleaming armour, maybe (this one is Clive Owen), the Round Table, Merlin, the quest for the Holy Grail? Or maybe you are of a literary bent and remember Tennyson:
A bow-shot from her bower-eaves,
He rode between the barley sheaves,
The sun came dazzling thro’ the leaves
And flamed upon the brazen greaves
Of bold Sir Lancelot.
A red-cross knight for ever kneel’d
To a lady in his shield,
That sparkled on the yellow field,
Beside remote Shalott.
The gemmy bridle glitter’d free,
Like to some branch of stars we see
Hung in the golden Galaxy.
The bridle bells rang merrily
As he rode down to Camelot:
And from his blazon’d baldric slung
A mighty silver bugle hung,
And as he rode his armour rung,
Beside remote Shalott.
I think of all these, and also of that wonderful medieval text, Malory's Morte d'Arthur, which I first read as an undergraduate and which is still capable of bringing tears to my eyes:
Then sir Lancelot was brought before her. Then the queen said to
all the ladies: 'Through this same man and me hath all this war be
wrought, and the death of the most noblest knights of the world; for
through our love that we have loved together is my most noble lord
slain....And therefore sir Lancelot, I require and beseech thee
heartily, for all the love that ever was betwixt us, that thou never
see me more in the visage....'.
If this is the kind of thing you are expecting, you will be rather surprised by this impressively large novel by Helen Hollick. First published in 1979 and now reissued by Sourcebooks, this book promises to show King Arthur as he really was -- or might have been, since of course there is no actual historical evidence that he ever existed at all. If indeed he did, he would have been alive not in that great period of medieval chivalry with which we tend to associate him but in the earlier, much murkier and more brutal era known as the Dark Ages. This is when Helen Hollick sets her story. The novel begins with fifteen-year-old Arthur on board ship, heading across the Irish Sea from Hibernia (Ireland) to Gwynedd (Wales). The year is 450 AD. Soon he will meet the feisty twelve-year-old Gwenhwyfar (say it our loud and you'll get it), daughter of the great Welsh King Cunedda. This is the story of their relationship, in part, but it is also the story of Arthur's coming of age, and coming into his inheritance. He has been brought up by Lord Uthr Pendragon, though his actual parentage is unknown. Now Uthr has set sail for Britain with the intention of overthrowing the tyrant Voltigern and establishing himself as king.
Arthur grows into a strong man and a fine warrior. Many bloody battles later, after Uthr has been killed by Vortigern, he discovers his true parentage -- he is in fact Uthr's own son -- and comes into his inheritance. But, despite having pledged himself to Gwenhwyfar, he has made a tactical marriage to Vortigern's duplicitous daughter Winifred. He must somehow extricate himself from this situation so that he can marry the woman he truly loves. Quite how he does this is not for me to say, but I can tell you that it is all very exciting and action-packed, and I don't think I am giving anything away when I say that the ending is a happy and triumphant one.
Helen Hollick has researched this little known period thoroughly and there is no doubt that the setting is far more authentic than the more usual one of medieval romance. If Arthur, or someone like him, did exist, he was undoubtedly what Helen Hollick calls "a down-to earth, ruthless war leader". Some of the characters and some of the battles are based on historical fact, and what is not has been vividly imagined. So if you feel like losing yourself in an exciting, drama-filled historical novel, this is the one for you. And what is more, it is only the first of the "Pendragon Trilogy" to be reissued, so you will have lots more to look forward to. And, tomorrow, I will be posting an interview with the author, so watch this space.
