Arthur: “We, the Knights of the Round Table, devoted to Our Lord and Christian Duty in our Search for the Holy Grail...” Merlin: “My King, looks like a boy born tomorrow will be your undoing!” Arthur: “Okay, let’s do a Herod.”
@@eldritch1174 In the early legends they weren't half him or Morguese either. If Gildas was referring to Arthur disguised as Cuneglasus Gwen's sister did no fooling. Arthur pursued her. A likely story. An affair then when shit hits the fan he's all bu bu but she made me do it. To which no one bought that in his own time nor let him live down
I love how the narrator's tone is borderline incredulous like he can't believe what he's reading either, especially when he talks about sir gallahad lol
Bro this is actually so helpful. Trying to wrap your head around Arthurian legend is like trying to jump into the deep end when you know you can't swim
TH White's "the Once and Future King" is my favorite rendition of this story. The characters become incredibly human despite the fairytale quality to all the stories.
I love that book! I have an old dog eared copy, and I actually just looked the other day for it on audible. It really does bring all the stories together, doesn’t it? Seems like White collected all the different stories and put them into one tome, really.
Yeah, but that's just one telling, others, including the bbc series mordred isn't a very good guy. One of those stories say that he's gwenevere's brother, and he just steels his thrown, and in the bbc series, he kills Arthur for a girl, whom Arthur had executed. No one's good
@@meetaverma8372 There's a legend that he was a royal married to Gwen's sister. All I remember is he was pissed about something Gwen either sad or did to her sister. He dragged Gwen off the throne. Family drama. I tell you.
The bit about pulling swords from stones may date from the Bronze Age. Swords at that time were cast from carved stone molds, and working with metal was seen as something magical.
Caesar’s Sword, called “crocea mors”, meaning “yellow death”, because its blade gleamed brightly in the sun and it was fatal to all it pierced, according to myth, had been the sword of the god Mars, forged by Vulcan [the smith of the gods] and bestowed to the Trojan prince Aeneas by the goddess Venus, his mother. Aeneas saw the sword fall from Heaven as he stood on the future site of Rome and heard the words: “with this, conquer”. The sword was among the relics of the old Roman kingdom but was lost during the period of the Roman Republic and rediscovered by Julius Caesar as a young man who believed that through it the gods had appointed him “King of The World”. The sword is identified with the sword called “Marmyadoyse”, forged by Vulcan, and owned at different times by Hercules, Alexander The Great, and Julius Caesar. It is sometimes wrongly identified with King David’s Sword called “L’Espee as/aus/az Estra[i]ngnes Renges”, which sword apparently was in the possession of the “Lady of The Lake“, the abbess of a religious order of nuns, from whom Arthur was to later acquire it. There is reference made to the sword called “Caledfwlch” in Welsh tradition, which is identified with the sword called “Caladbolg”, “Caladcholg”, “Caladcolc” in Irish tradition, which was owned by several Irish, Scottish, and Welsh kings, which probably maybe identified with King David’s Sword? Caesar lost his sword in Britain in hand-to-hand combat with the British king Nennius, who was mortally wounded in the fighting and the sword was buried with him. The sword remained in his grave throughout the Roman Era in Britain. In post-Roman times the sword was removed from his grave by the British King Vortigern, who, to display the trophy, had the sword hammered into a crack in “an anvil of iron a foot high” which was set atop “a great stone four-square” and displayed to the public in the town-square of London as a war-memorial to commemorate the initial victory of the Britons over the Romans in the battle in which the sword was captured about 500 years earlier; but sometime before London fell to the Saxons the war-memorial was moved to a churchyard at Silchester where the episode of “The Sword in The Stone” took place. The sword was a tempting treasure to possess and inevitably people came along trying to withdraw it but none could, and someone engraved on it just below its hilt the words [in rude Latin]: "...ex cal[ce]liber[ace]…", meaning “[much treasure] to free from stone [of iron]”, hence, the sword came to be called “Excalibur”. GM, in his “HRB”, calls the sword “Caliburnus”. In French Romance it is called “Calibor[e]”, “Escalibor[e]”, etc.
@@sticlavoda5632 Who forged it - if you go by the history I gave out - it is likely meteorite iron forged in the clump of mud huts that became Rome. Such a sword since it came from heaven would be seen to have "magic" powers unlike the common swords of normal people. A real pity that it ended up tossed into some random lake or something waiting for its owner to come back for it.
Aneaus held the sword of Troy, Caledfwich or whatever was taken from the stone and broken, then replaced by Excalibur as a gift from the lady of the lake! None of these swords were a bronze cast!
@@lushlover2023 England didnt exist until around the 10th century about 400 years after Arthur was supposedly alive. Yes the place now called England did physically exist but it was the people who later became the English (Anglo-saxons) that Arthur was supposed to have been fighting and he was a leader of the celts or Britons.
@Carl the Adopted Yorkshireman Spot on dude! Arthur was never king of England, Excalibur does NOT give the right to rule England which is another popular misconception!
The earliest mention of Arthur by name appears in the “Annales Cambriae” [“Welsh Annals”], which is a chronicle of early British History written in Latin by medieval Welsh monks as an on-going record of events from the 5th-century to the 10th-century. The text begins in Year 445 and ends in Year 977, however, the text is back-dated to Year 425 and the last entry in the chronicle was made in 954. There are two entries in the chronicle that refer to Arthur by name: the first is for Year 72 of the Easter Cycle, which may be reckoned to be Year 517 (New Style) (516 Old Style), and reads that Arthur won the Battle of Mount Badon [or Badon Hill, which temporarily halted the Anglo-Saxon advance]; and, the second entry is for Year 93, that is, Year 538 (NS) (537 OS), and reads that Arthur and Medraut (Mordred) fell in the Battle of Camlan.
In the TV version of "Merlin" Morgan Le Fay, who is played by actress, Katie McGratch who does a fantastic job of it! Ms. McGrath later does on to portray Leena Luthor in CW's "Supergirl" and she does a fantastic job of that too!
@@steveholton4130 No, The Who is a rock band. I don't know that there'd be a family tree for them. Though I suppose it could depend for any band, what other bands the members played for.
Top points for correctly pointing out that sword in the stone and the sword Excalibur were two completely separate and unique swords. Fun factoid though is that the allegory of each sword is based on a method of teaching the advancements/improvements of metal. The sword in the stone being that of iron where the metal is taken out of the rock. The then tale of Excalibur and the lady of the lake tying in to the advancement to stronger metals like steel with quenching the blade. The Volsunga sagas has Odin thrust a sword into the Barnstokkr tree in the middle of a feast hall. There is no "future king" aspect to the story but nobody can pull the sword except for Sigmund. The sword later is broken and he has it repaired so he can fight (and eventual kill) the dragon Fafnir. The blade being quenched in the blood of the dragon. In this story the tale is more about the burning of wood being used for forging and dragons blood being used to cool the blade rather than water. Either way though Arthur's Sword in the Stone AND Excalibur/Caliburn are pretty much identical to the swords of Sigurd/Siegfried and Sigmund... Gram/Nothung/Balmung... Would wager that both tales have the same root origin and that the names have just been changed to meet the cultural group whom is telling the tale. Sigurd and Uther are the same person and they are the father of Arthur/Siegfried. Also Excalibur/Caliburn/Gram/Nothung/Balmung are all one and the same exact sword, and it wasn't a mythical sword but a tale of their clans/tribes or people discovering how to properly forge iron or steel into weapons.
2:16 Aurelius Ambrosius 2:46 Constanine III of Britain 2:52 Constans was killed by Vortigern. 3:10 Horsa died in Battle 3:42 Uther decided to adopt a new moniker Pendrgon 4:19 Merlin ∟4:44 He was born to a princess and an incubus ∟4:50 going to be the antichrist until he was baptised ∟5:09 shapeshifting powers to transform Uther into Gorlois 5:20 Arthur was conceived 5:26 Uther marries Igraine 5:31 round table created, Uther once again goes to war with the Saxons 5:45 Malory version: Arthur is raised in secret until Merlin arranges a contest to pull the sword from the stone 5:55 Excalibur 7:35 Sir Percival ∟8:03 he takes the 13th seat of the round table, a place that left open for one who be worthy of the grail ∟8:14 Wounded King 8:51 Quest for the Grail - Grail - tied to healing the old man's wounds 9:07 Sir Bors - cousin of Sir Lancelot - but he and his brother Lionel were taken prisoner by Frankish King Claudas ∟9:56 God intervenes and smites Lionel in a pillar of fire ∟10:13 refuses her advances in the name of his vow of chastity 10:32 Galahad ∟10:49 gifted as a knight he's able to defeat Lancelot as a teen 11:03 Sir Gawain ∟11:13 serves the Pope in Rome and led Arthur's forces against the Roman empire ∟12:49 transformed into the immortal Green Knight by Morgan le Fay 13:04 Morgan Le Fay = Gawain's Aunt ∟13:16 in Geoffrey of Monmouth's account, Morgan was the chief of nine magical sisters who ruled over Avalon ∟13:28 she schemes to usurp the throne 13:54 Merlin is in love with Morgan 14:04 Lancelot 14:16 Arthur's Death - Thomas Malory - The Death of Arthur 14:56 White Knight 15:49 Elaine of Astolat ∟16:02 Elaine falls in love with Lancelot ∟16:07 portrayed as a temptress ∟16:50 Elaine dies of a broken heart - her will: placed in a boat and set adrift down the river towards Camelot ∟17:01 castle Camelot is located in Winchester, Wessex 17:25 Galehaut 17:59 Lancelot is persuaded by Galehaut to begin an affair with Guinevere 18:13 Elaine is struck by Lancelot, albeit more by last than love. The lady of corbenic uses magic to trick Lancelot into believing she's Guinevere 18:40 Lancelot Exiled 19:07 After 10 years, Lancelot was found by Percival 19:44 Arthur orders Guinevere to be burned at the stake 19:49 Lancelot killed Gawain's brothers 20:17 Arthur had once an affair with his half-sister Morgause 20:33 From his incestual union was born a son named Mordred. 20:38 Merlin warned Arthur that a child born on that day will be his undoing, so Arthur ordered the death of all sons born on that day, but Mordred survived 22:03 Arthur is brought by the Lady of the Lake and or Morgan Le Fay to the Isle of Avalon
I don't know if you take suggestions, but it struck me while searching for visual charts detailing the influences and timeline of art movements or music genres. Absolutely love your work, and I appreciate your continued dedication and hard work to bring something you love alive.
Please to a Spencer-Churchill family tree. Between american dollar princesses, Winston Churchill, Lady Di and the illegitimate children of Charles II it's a fascinating family tree
Pretty interesting, thanks! For anyone interested, Bernard Cornwell's Arthurian (Warlord) Trilogy is really amazing too. He made it real. For example, he made Merlin a druid and yeah, a creep as Jack mentioned.
As someone who is taking the Arhtur Legends as the backbone for a story's setting, this was a great video and made me consider a few ways to alter my current set-up for King Arthur. Thanks for the vid.
Thank you for a very helpful and succinct overview of these relationships! I believe the version of Merlin's imprisonment which has him trapped within / turned into a tree is actually post-Malory, though I haven't been able to identify where it originated. The Morte Darthur has Nimue (a Lady of the Lake) trap Merlin beneath a large rock, seemingly killing him. Earlier versions which also derive from the Lancelot-Grail Cycle of prose romances have Vivian (much the same character under a different name, and with different motivations) either fatally seal him within a tomb, or seduce him into semi-voluntary imprisonment within an airy, otherworldly tower accessible only by herself.
"Listen: Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government! Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some... farcical aquatic ceremony!"
Seeing the picture of Sir Percival you used from BBC's Merlin, I finally realized I know Tom Hopper from 3 things: Percival in Merlin, Dickon Tarly in GoT and Luther in The Umbrella Academy. Those gigs were so far apart I didn't recognize him from before each time, lol.
Arthur had another sister besides Morgause and Morgan Le Fay, her name was Elanor. He had a total of three sisters. His family was pretty large. His father had siblings as well as his mother.
Alan Rufus, who wrested victory from the Saxons in 1066, had six legitimate brothers, four or five illegitimate brothers, an illegitimate sister and an unknown number of legitimate sisters. Of the 11 or 12 we know, all had remarkable lives, especially Alan and his six 'God-given' brothers, according to the encyclopedic historian Orderic Vitalis who said that true details of their careers would make for a very long and satisfying story.
Arthur wasn’t too smart if he killed all the boys born on a certain day because of a doom prophecy yet leaves alive the one boy who just being a royal and his son would be the most potentially dangerous. 😆
@@ErmisSouldatos I doubt this guy would be such a shoddy researcher that he would make that kind of mistake and it’s all myths anyway since Arthur didn’t exist. Useful Charts is extremely thorough, if that had ever been thought possible he would have mentioned it, he’s done several videos on biblical history. There’s plenty of flood myths throughout different cultures but you can’t say that one copied it from another. Sometimes stories are just similar.
@@robertmiller9735 Medieval European literature directly lifts many things from the Bible. The religious institutions of the time were basically the only way to learn how to read and write. most people who were literate were associated with the church, or learned to read and write from a religious institution.
Just Arthur and Merdyn/ Merlin and they lived in two diff centuries. possibility with Lancelot and the Italian knight the rest id say are pure fiction and plot devices for later story telling. There's not even any truth to the Arthurian grail legends, unless you count "spiritual" truth.
Mr Rackham! I clicked on this not knowing anything about this channel and was pleasantly surprised to hear your voice! I will definitely be checking the rest of the videos on this channel out!
"Arthur is mentioned as a war commander fighting alongside the Kings of The Britons in the Battle of Badon" - I heard one of his knights wetted himself during the battle.
King Arthur was Welsh. He was the King of Glamorgan and Gwent. He came from a long line of Welsh kings. There are many books out there with the true history of King Arthur. Artorius Rex by Alan Wilson and Baram Blackett is a very informative book on this subject.
I'm apparently a descendant of uther pendragon through Arthur's sister Anna de Briton lady ardette, there's a bunch of Welsh Kings of various places (gwynedd and powys to name a couple) also manx chieftains and Dwxyd Kwxyd Eneid Cerwyd ap King of Druids Croydon if my family tree is true
Arthur Rex is a great book that highlights a more epic and heroic tale. In the final battle, Lancelot is impaling upwards of 100 knights on his lance, and the rest of the Knights fates are embellished in much the same style.
@@hayzyhorses6899 not "was" still is and there's virtually endless proof/evidence/reasons why people outta NEVER bother pissing off god seemingly esp in older times
An excellent video. The Arthurian legends is simply that. I liked the novels that Bernard Cornwell wrote about Arthur. It seems to be a more realistic version of what Arthur would have been, of he existed at all.
In some version of story Morgana is the half sister of Arthur on their mother side. That the boy they had together is their(Mordred) son. I know why they change this from BBC version. In other version they have same father.
Wilson & Blackett, the Forensic Historians have spent decades researching King Arthur and have written many books. There are documentaries on YT about their research. They have found there were two King Arthurs of Glamorgan/Wales and they descended from the lost tribes of Israel. Richard D Hall of Richplanet interviewed them on numerous occasions. Check it out it if you want to know more.
The sword and the stone is the art of pulling the metal ( sword ) from the stone. Merlin had the knowledge of this technology and some clairvoyance mixed with gnostic knowledge of alchemy that hardened the stone..He also was a brilliant strategists. Oh my mother's maiden name was Ambrosewicz. The origin is southern Lithuania or northern Poland. Depending on which timeline
"I am Arthur, king of the Britons!" "King of the who?" "The Britons!" "Who're the Britons?" I know, the PYTHON jokes have been done to death, but I couldn't resist
I can't imagine what the parents would be like when they saw the order to kill the babies born in the same day as mordread. I guessing shock. But not as much shock as me with Jack being a guest speaker.
Mind you, this is the later family tree of the romances. Earlier, Morgause was Uther's daughter and Arthur's Full Sister while Morgan was completely unrelated. Lancelot, obviously, never existed or was an Independent Hero that got absorbed by Arthur's Myth. Guinevere may have had kids with Arthur (Possible contenders: Amr, Gwydre, Loholt and/or Duran) and Her real love Interest was Mordred, who was just a Nephew (See Diarmuid, Tristan and Naoise for similar Wife-stealing Nephews in Celtic Myth).
@user-pq4fc1mc7q there's no hard evidence for whether or not Arthur's sons were bastards or not. They are only mentioned off-handedly in the sources we can find them in with hardly any elaboration. On the contrary, there is a good possibility that those boys ARE Guinevere's legit kids. The biggest contender is *Loholt* - He is indeed Guinevere's son in the stories of _Perlesvaus_ and _Lanzelet_ These stories predate the Vulgate cycle's inclusion of an "illegitimate Loholt" by a "Lisanor" Lanzelet, in particular, is special because its the earliest work where Lancelot *isn't* Guinevere's lover, indicating that it might be based on traditions that predate Chretien de troyes' _Knight of the Cart_ Which in turn means Loholt *_may be traditionally Guinevere's son long before Lancelot got popular as a character_* since Loholt appears in Lanzelet, lamenting the abduction of his mother, Ginover/Guinevere. The attributation of Mordred's son as Guinevere's son is also attested in medieval lore as well. It is found in _Alliterative Morte Arthur_ , a work based on the chronicle traditions, where Lancelot is nonexistent and Mordred is affirmably Guinevere's love interest. The best argument for Melehan and his brother being Guinevere's sons, is that *Mordred has no love interest other than Guinevere* - Mordred, from the earliest iterations of the mythos, is traditionally in love with Guinevere and is an abductor alongside Melwas, Gazosein and Yder. All possible alternative love interests for Mordred - a certain "Cwylloc" and "Gwenhwyfach" - come from Post-Malory welsh sources, that are most certainly _inauthentic_ Only Galahad is firmly not Guinevere's son, primarily because Galahad needs to be a blood relative of the Grail Family, which Guinevere is not. EDIT: LOL, I just remembered: *Lancelot and Guinevere DO have children together* - in the (admittedly Post-Malory) Portuguese work _Memorial das Proezas de Segunda Tavola Redonda_ - Guinevere gives birth to twins by the names of Florismarte and Andronia. Another *_hilarious_* concept is the giant Gargantua, who is the origin of the english word "gargantuan". According the anonymous _Le Grandes Chronique de enorme geant Gargantua_ , Gargantua was giant created by Merlin using the Blood and fingernails of Lancelot and Guinevere, making Gargantua an artificial *_grandson_* of Lancelot and Guinevere's
@user-pq4fc1mc7q There's no hard evidence as to whether or not Arthur's sons were bastards or not. They are merely mentioned off-handedly and with little elaboration. On the contrary, there is a strong possibility that these boys are Guinevere's Legitimate sons. The biggest contender of which is *Loholt* - he is directly stated to be Guinevere's Legitimate son in the works _Perlevaus_ and _Lanzelet_ , both of which predate the Vulgate cycle by a few years. _Lanzelet_ in particular, is special because it is the earliest story where Lancelot *isn't* Guinevere's lover, indicating its based on a tradition that predates Chretien de Troyes' _Knight of the Cart_ Since Loholt appears in _Lanzelet_ as Guinevere's son, lamenting her abduction, this is pretty big evidence that Loholt *IS traditionally Guinevere's son.* Mordred's sons being Guinevere's sons is also attested in medieval lore, particularly _Alliterative Morte Arthure_ which is based on the chronicle traditions where Mordred is Guinevere's love interest. Only Galahad is not Guinevere's son, mostly because Galahad needs to be a blood relation of the Grail family, which Guinevere is not. EDIT: A big argument against the childlessness of Guinevere is the fact that *divorce* is a recommended sanction in a fruitless marriage. By the _Cyfraith Hywel_ (traditional welsh law), Guinevere's queenship is in jeopardy if she doesn't produce an heir within the first seven years of a marriage.
@user-pq4fc1mc7q Loholt is just called a meritous youth in Chretien. There's functionally no hard confirm on the bastardry angle. In fact, in one Chretien's stories, Arthur swears by his father, mother and his son in the same breath as if Loholt was his legit son. In welsh myth, the character Loholt is based on, Llacheu, is called one of the Well-endowed/Well-off men of the Island of Britain, alongside Gwalchmai/Gawain. That means to me he's an edling - an heir. And Mordred really doesn't any other love interest other than Guinevere. Two suggested alternative love interests - a "Cwyllog" and a "Gwenhwyfach" - come from Post-Malory sources (Gwenhwyfach predates Malory BUT is never mentioned as Mordred's significant in early works). Indeed, in Robert Wace's _Brut_ Mordred revolts specifically out of love for Guinevere. Why is Mordred vying for the hand of his uncle's childless wife if he already has a significant other? The "Gwen" part of Guinevere means white but it has the connotations of "Blessed" or "Beautiful". You can't be "Blessed" if your barren like winter - life production is sacred. Ex: Olwen ("white track") creates flowers with her footsteps This argument just makes Arthur look stupid. Why would he marry something that symbolizes something that can't bear fruit? That's dooming the kingdom to starvation. Winter is not associated with "prosperous rule" Winter is awful in general - *Undesirable* - especially in the British Isles with its unpredictable weather. Its why the Celts venerated light and fire - Belenus, Lugh, Nuada, etc. If anything, its May season Guinevere is associated with - its when she's siezed by her abductors usually and flowers are her most common motif in art. Heck, reading the stories, Gwen spends most of her abduction time _during_ the winter months, not summer. If you're going to use the "sovereignty myth" argument, you realise that winter is not something associated with beauty or prosperity in celtic myth. I point to Beira/Cailleach, an old hag and personification of winter. EDIT: Isolde has kids, too. Ysaye le Triste come to mind. _Tavola Ritonda_ introduces a twin son and daughter of Tristan and Isolde.
@user-pq4fc1mc7q Loholt in De Troyes is not referred is not referred to as prince because the only time he's mentioned, de Troyes was just listing off the knight-characters present in Arthur's court. Gawain, technically, is the heir-apparent of Orkney/Lothian, but he's never referred to as "Prince Gawain". Same with the other Orkney Brothers. Regardless of whether or not Guinevere is a kingmaker, being infertile is a huge obstacle to the normal operation of kingship, Celtic or not. That's a blemish on the King because then he wouldn't have successors. I know because there's another sovereignty figure who was nearly divorced because she couldn't produce an heir in time: Rhiannon. Had Rhiannon not given birth to Pryderi, Pwyll would have been forced by his vassals to put aside Rhiannon and find a more fertile wife. Neither Medb nor Rhiannon, each sovereignty figures, are infertile, so why should we assume Guinevere and Isolde can't be mothers? Just so you know, Persephone has children too. (Zagreus, Melinoe, the Erinyes, etc.) > _The answer is because they're legends/mythology and don't necessarily act like real monarchs would._ You are right in that these characters are archetypes not realistic figures. But then, it doesn't negate the fact that Isolde (and Guinevere) can have children *_if the storyteller permits it_* The reasons why Isolde (and Guinevere) don't seem to have children has nothing to do with their personal fertility and everything to do with storytelling and how these stories were constructed as well as the cultures involved. Llacheu - as well as Amr, Gwydre and Duran, never mind daughters like Archfedd - are never directly stated to be illegitimate and I remain completely unconvinced by any argument that they're not children by Guinevere (Admittedly, because of the lack of evidence for either side)
@user-pq4fc1mc7q _"Arthur was a perfect faithful husband"_ _"Guinevere exists to be his broodmare"_ Oh no no no, I never mean imply THAT. I am in the camp that prefers to interpret Arthur as tyrant that rightfully lost his kingdom. In fact, it's precisely why I like to think of Amr as Arthur and Guinevere's firstborn _because Arthur ultimately kills him._ I am, also someone who prefers to interpret both Arthur and Guinevere as promiscuous (Indeg, Garwen and Gwyll for Arthur) (Yder, Gosengos, Lancelot and Mordred for Guinevere), but that doesn't preclude pregnancy. (By the by, Lancelot and Guinevere do have children in later stories - _Memorial Das Proezas de Segunda Tavola Redonda_ gives them Florismarte and Andronia) Its just irritating for me to interpret Guinevere as a sovereignty goddess while maintaining the childlessness from the later courtly love inspired mythos. For moral, spiritual and practical reasons, divinities like that can't be infertile, unless for specific reasons, like being an old crone. Especially, as you stated, Guinevere came from the underworld - the Celtic underworlds (Tir-na-nog, Annwfn) are lands of plenty and youth, full of delights. Anyway, thank you for time and I am sorry if this conversation has gone too far in some places. Have a good day!
Mallory calls the Kingdom he rules "Logris" but in practically all original accounts, whether they name his kingdom or not, it is explicitly a Brittonic kingdom in the Modern-day lands of Southern England while the Angles and Saxons still only had some footholds on the Island. So ethnically and linguistically closest to Welsh or Cornish, but geographically English. And basically all early accounts of Arthur credit the tales they based them on as originating in Wales, so there's that too. There is also a King Mark of Cornwall featured in many stories of his knights, particularly those featuring Sir Tristan and his lady love Iseult--basically a slight variation of the Arthur-Guenivere-Lancelot love triangle with a clearer "Hero"--Tristan and Iseult loved each other before Iseult was forced to marry King Mark, King Mark only married her, over both of their objections, to punish Sir Tristan for making him look bad and give him an excuse to exile Tristan and take his valuable lands the instant he hears rumors of their basically inevitable tryst, and King Mark has basically no redeeming qualities, at least in Mallory's account.
Dear Usefulcharts, I have ordered 3 of your beautiful usefulcharts on September 2020 and they're not delivered yet. I live in Paris France so may be that is why it took so long (international shipment slowed by Covid19?), I look forward to receiving them. Keep doing the good work! Best regards, Chris.
Love it, I wonder can you do an family tree of vlad the impaler family, I know you made one but it was mostly to show how the current queen of britain was related to him and it was pretty short and basic so maybe a more in depth one
Its still a magnificent story..even as you have told it... my blood pressure rises and i immediately pulled in... this and the stories like it have always been that way. The tension of good and evil or the mixing of the two.. romance and sacrifice... the drama and intrigue.. deep family secrets and mystical nature of the families...the understanding of the concept of purity and holiness and the immerse struggle that even pious ppl sometimes succumb.... the blaming of being driven to and over come by the lusts of the flesh on mystical devious evil designs that are then said to be the downfall of that person decades later by the fruit of that lustfull union. The ideas that perfection comes through divine or mystical gifts or training. That you can train and become exceptional but only through chastity(reaching for divinity) can you become perfect. The fact that you can be moral/ good and still be on the wrong side. That the quest/struggle/fight/journey is the story not the resolution of the quest. It also personifies the rule of NOT YOURS DONT TOUCH
Through my grandfather and my father I descent from king Cunobelinus the Pendragon and from king Caractaco the Pendragon, from king Arvirago of Siluria in Wales, too
Hey... You're good at making useful charts. It's why I watch and subscribe. Here's a challenge. A video/chart showing explaining the whole " Pope , Vatican (complex) , Vatican City (nation), Holy See (government? ) , Catholic Church relationship thing. That would be cool. If do it myself, but you clearly have far greater experience and resources for the research and actually making the charts. As well as a channel platform to get the knowledge out. Thanks
Correct me if I am wrong, but the notion of the Lady of the Lake being a tittle that passes from one woman to the next is a recent notion, from the Mists of Avalon novels.
I would love a video on the Matter of France, too! There's some crossover with the Matter of Britain. For example the sorceress Melissa is said to be an apprentice of Merlin.
That's a hell of a medieval soap opera you just explained
Lol yeah
@@superm530 I've never heard of this!!!
@@superm530 you’re a genius
Tristan and Isolde ?
@Anonymus X buccaneer is pirate tho?
During the duel, Arthur must've been like:
Mordred, I am your father
A father who ordered his sons execution...
@@rennor3498 yes I know, but it was a reference...
@@ErmisSouldatos I get the reference
😁
... and your uncle
Arthur: “We, the Knights of the Round Table, devoted to Our Lord and Christian Duty in our Search for the Holy Grail...”
Merlin: “My King, looks like a boy born tomorrow will be your undoing!”
Arthur: “Okay, let’s do a Herod.”
NO NO NO
We need to pull a Pharaoh.
ha
Yooo I was thinking the same. Malory probably knew some Bible. Was he conscious of those parallels he was writing in?
@@jlupus8804 A monk at Monmouth Priory know some famous Biblical tales? I suppose it's possible.
"Arthur is fooled by Guinevere's identical evil sister." That might as well happen, I guess.
The false Guinevere.
More likely everyone was like yeah sure bruh.
If you notice, he said half sister. How does that even happen
@@eldritch1174 In the early legends they weren't half him or Morguese either. If Gildas was referring to Arthur disguised as Cuneglasus Gwen's sister did no fooling. Arthur pursued her. A likely story. An affair then when shit hits the fan he's all bu bu but she made me do it. To which no one bought that in his own time nor let him live down
in one of the versions, Mordred was the evil brother of Gwen actually, so you might as well make him the shapeshifting sibling she had
Zoot?
I love how the narrator's tone is borderline incredulous like he can't believe what he's reading either, especially when he talks about sir gallahad lol
Strange women lying in ponds dispensing out swords is hardly a basis for a system of government
Tis but a scratch.
Listen if i went around calling myself an emperor cus some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me they would put me away.
@@the_chosen_one5642 yes,but with all due respect,your majesty.
If she weighs the same as duck, then she's made out of wood.
@@PunyGoddess What she turned me into a newt.
"On second thought, let's not go to Camelot. 'Tis a silly place."
I see you everywhere
"It's only a model."
@@samsignorelli "shhh"
Polish?
Nor to Camlann. It is ill-reputed.
"In a land of myth, and a time of magic… the destiny of a great kingdom rests on the shoulders of a young boy. His name… Merlin."
Loved the show. The ending was sad thou ...
@@lebl992 Just image if they had Arthur's sons from the Welsh legend. It would have been an even worse tragedy.
hello my merlin fellas
After 10 years, it is still amazing
Love that you used pics from the BBC’s Merlin at some points
My thoughts exactly ❤️😍
It was fantastic! I loved that adaptation
Same!! That show 🥰😭
Merlin was trash. Just a half-arsed attempt to anglofy our mythology.
@@acg3934 okay... congratulations
maybe if the knights would allow themselves to be tempted by these women, their swords wouldnt keep getting stuck in stones
there is a version where some of them are women
A lot of the stories, especially the original Lancelot, were commissioned by noblewomen and they wanted simps
@@cornbreadfedkirkpatrick9647 The only way to keep IT down is to CUT It Down!
Tempt me not, fair lady!
@@cornbreadfedkirkpatrick9647 Then stop flashing me thy ankles, you devil woman!
Bro this is actually so helpful. Trying to wrap your head around Arthurian legend is like trying to jump into the deep end when you know you can't swim
TH White's "the Once and Future King" is my favorite rendition of this story. The characters become incredibly human despite the fairytale quality to all the stories.
I love that book! I have an old dog eared copy, and I actually just looked the other day for it on audible. It really does bring all the stories together, doesn’t it? Seems like White collected all the different stories and put them into one tome, really.
I absolutely agree. I'm rereading it but this time on audible.
Yes!! I love Merlin's backstory in that and I want more stories about Sir Palamades!
This is one of the best King Arthur stories I have ever heard. This really puts all the stories together.
Did anyone notice Arthur just ordered deaths of children born on certain date & Mordred is called the villain in this story 😂
English morality was essentially Satanic till Jesus intervened.
Yeah, but that's just one telling, others, including the bbc series mordred isn't a very good guy. One of those stories say that he's gwenevere's brother, and he just steels his thrown, and in the bbc series, he kills Arthur for a girl, whom Arthur had executed. No one's good
@@meetaverma8372 There's a legend that he was a royal married to Gwen's sister. All I remember is he was pissed about something Gwen either sad or did to her sister. He dragged Gwen off the throne. Family drama. I tell you.
@@TVwriter23 that should have been the show tbh
@@meetaverma8372 I'm weird though one of my faves is how Merlins ex wife died on her wedding days. It was one of those don't look back tropes.
The bit about pulling swords from stones may date from the Bronze Age. Swords at that time were cast from carved stone molds, and working with metal was seen as something magical.
Caesar’s Sword, called “crocea mors”, meaning “yellow death”, because its blade gleamed brightly in the sun and it was fatal to all it pierced, according to myth, had been the sword of the god Mars, forged by Vulcan [the smith of the gods] and bestowed to the Trojan prince Aeneas by the goddess Venus, his mother. Aeneas saw the sword fall from Heaven as he stood on the future site of Rome and heard the words: “with this, conquer”. The sword was among the relics of the old Roman kingdom but was lost during the period of the Roman Republic and rediscovered by Julius Caesar as a young man who believed that through it the gods had appointed him “King of The World”. The sword is identified with the sword called “Marmyadoyse”, forged by Vulcan, and owned at different times by Hercules, Alexander The Great, and Julius Caesar. It is sometimes wrongly identified with King David’s Sword called “L’Espee as/aus/az Estra[i]ngnes Renges”, which sword apparently was in the possession of the “Lady of The Lake“, the abbess of a religious order of nuns, from whom Arthur was to later acquire it. There is reference made to the sword called “Caledfwlch” in Welsh tradition, which is identified with the sword called “Caladbolg”, “Caladcholg”, “Caladcolc” in Irish tradition, which was owned by several Irish, Scottish, and Welsh kings, which probably maybe identified with King David’s Sword? Caesar lost his sword in Britain in hand-to-hand combat with the British king Nennius, who was mortally wounded in the fighting and the sword was buried with him. The sword remained in his grave throughout the Roman Era in Britain. In post-Roman times the sword was removed from his grave by the British King Vortigern, who, to display the trophy, had the sword hammered into a crack in “an anvil of iron a foot high” which was set atop “a great stone four-square” and displayed to the public in the town-square of London as a war-memorial to commemorate the initial victory of the Britons over the Romans in the battle in which the sword was captured about 500 years earlier; but sometime before London fell to the Saxons the war-memorial was moved to a churchyard at Silchester where the episode of “The Sword in The Stone” took place. The sword was a tempting treasure to possess and inevitably people came along trying to withdraw it but none could, and someone engraved on it just below its hilt the words [in rude Latin]: "...ex cal[ce]liber[ace]…", meaning “[much treasure] to free from stone [of iron]”, hence, the sword came to be called “Excalibur”. GM, in his “HRB”, calls the sword “Caliburnus”. In French Romance it is called “Calibor[e]”, “Escalibor[e]”, etc.
@@peterwindhorst5775 Nice!
@@peterwindhorst5775 ok so , in myth , who previously possesed the sword of king arthur? Who forged it . Explain it in simpler terms
@@sticlavoda5632 Who forged it - if you go by the history I gave out - it is likely meteorite iron forged in the clump of mud huts that became Rome. Such a sword since it came from heaven would be seen to have "magic" powers unlike the common swords of normal people. A real pity that it ended up tossed into some random lake or something waiting for its owner to come back for it.
Aneaus held the sword of Troy, Caledfwich or whatever was taken from the stone and broken, then replaced by Excalibur as a gift from the lady of the lake! None of these swords were a bronze cast!
Let’s not forget that Hellboy is a descendent of Arthur, and rightful King of England through his mother by Mordred’s line
Let's also not forget England did not exist when Arthur was supposedly alive
@@pedanticradiator1491 well technically yes England existed at the time of Arthur.... Probably wasn't called that
@@lushlover2023 England didnt exist until around the 10th century about 400 years after Arthur was supposedly alive. Yes the place now called England did physically exist but it was the people who later became the English (Anglo-saxons) that Arthur was supposed to have been fighting and he was a leader of the celts or Britons.
@Carl the Adopted Yorkshireman Spot on dude! Arthur was never king of England, Excalibur does NOT give the right to rule England which is another popular misconception!
7 kingdoms period right?
My favorite Arthurian retelling is The Mists of Avalon. Its amazing how many of these stories the author is able to entertwine in her narrative
I remember it came out in VHS, 2 of them and I watched them with my family as a teenager.
Pity she turned out to be a pedophile, a lot of people have fond memories of those books.
King Arthur, possibly the best known fanfiction in the world
Have you heard about Jesus and Hercules?
@@cristristam9054 I'm in a quandary, if I tell the truth and say "yes" I weaken my previous statement, but if I lie ...
Nope. Never heard of 'em.
@@lunatickgeo you a funny dude :))))))))))
@@cristristam9054 I try ;)
The earliest mention of Arthur by name appears in the “Annales Cambriae” [“Welsh Annals”], which is a chronicle of early British History written in Latin by medieval Welsh monks as an on-going record of events from the 5th-century to the 10th-century. The text begins in Year 445 and ends in Year 977, however, the text is back-dated to Year 425 and the last entry in the chronicle was made in 954. There are two entries in the chronicle that refer to Arthur by name: the first is for Year 72 of the Easter Cycle, which may be reckoned to be Year 517 (New Style) (516 Old Style), and reads that Arthur won the Battle of Mount Badon [or Badon Hill, which temporarily halted the Anglo-Saxon advance]; and, the second entry is for Year 93, that is, Year 538 (NS) (537 OS), and reads that Arthur and Medraut (Mordred) fell in the Battle of Camlan.
In the TV version of "Merlin" Morgan Le Fay, who is played by actress, Katie McGratch who does a fantastic job of it! Ms. McGrath later does on to portray Leena Luthor in CW's "Supergirl" and she does a fantastic job of that too!
How about the Baggins family tree?
The WHO?
@@steveholton4130 No, The Who is a rock band. I don't know that there'd be a family tree for them. Though I suppose it could depend for any band, what other bands the members played for.
@@justrusty Wouldn't the band's tree be the combined trees of the founding band members?
@@steveholton4130 Yeah, probably. I was thinking metaphorically. Like the NFL has "coaching trees" of relationships.
The family tree would be too big also the lord of the rings books have a family tree at the enf
Top points for correctly pointing out that sword in the stone and the sword Excalibur were two completely separate and unique swords. Fun factoid though is that the allegory of each sword is based on a method of teaching the advancements/improvements of metal. The sword in the stone being that of iron where the metal is taken out of the rock. The then tale of Excalibur and the lady of the lake tying in to the advancement to stronger metals like steel with quenching the blade. The Volsunga sagas has Odin thrust a sword into the Barnstokkr tree in the middle of a feast hall. There is no "future king" aspect to the story but nobody can pull the sword except for Sigmund. The sword later is broken and he has it repaired so he can fight (and eventual kill) the dragon Fafnir. The blade being quenched in the blood of the dragon. In this story the tale is more about the burning of wood being used for forging and dragons blood being used to cool the blade rather than water. Either way though Arthur's Sword in the Stone AND Excalibur/Caliburn are pretty much identical to the swords of Sigurd/Siegfried and Sigmund... Gram/Nothung/Balmung...
Would wager that both tales have the same root origin and that the names have just been changed to meet the cultural group whom is telling the tale. Sigurd and Uther are the same person and they are the father of Arthur/Siegfried. Also Excalibur/Caliburn/Gram/Nothung/Balmung are all one and the same exact sword, and it wasn't a mythical sword but a tale of their clans/tribes or people discovering how to properly forge iron or steel into weapons.
Fantastic explanation.
This is amazing. Where is this from?
2:16 Aurelius Ambrosius
2:46 Constanine III of Britain
2:52 Constans was killed by Vortigern.
3:10 Horsa died in Battle
3:42 Uther decided to adopt a new moniker Pendrgon
4:19 Merlin
∟4:44 He was born to a princess and an incubus
∟4:50 going to be the antichrist until he was baptised
∟5:09 shapeshifting powers to transform Uther into Gorlois
5:20 Arthur was conceived
5:26 Uther marries Igraine
5:31 round table created, Uther once again goes to war with the Saxons
5:45 Malory version: Arthur is raised in secret until Merlin arranges a contest to pull the sword from the stone
5:55 Excalibur
7:35 Sir Percival
∟8:03 he takes the 13th seat of the round table, a place that left open for one who be worthy of the grail
∟8:14 Wounded King
8:51 Quest for the Grail - Grail - tied to healing the old man's wounds
9:07 Sir Bors - cousin of Sir Lancelot - but he and his brother Lionel were taken prisoner by Frankish King Claudas
∟9:56 God intervenes and smites Lionel in a pillar of fire
∟10:13 refuses her advances in the name of his vow of chastity
10:32 Galahad
∟10:49 gifted as a knight he's able to defeat Lancelot as a teen
11:03 Sir Gawain
∟11:13 serves the Pope in Rome and led Arthur's forces against the Roman empire
∟12:49 transformed into the immortal Green Knight by Morgan le Fay
13:04 Morgan Le Fay = Gawain's Aunt
∟13:16 in Geoffrey of Monmouth's account, Morgan was the chief of nine magical sisters who ruled over Avalon
∟13:28 she schemes to usurp the throne
13:54 Merlin is in love with Morgan
14:04 Lancelot
14:16 Arthur's Death - Thomas Malory - The Death of Arthur
14:56 White Knight
15:49 Elaine of Astolat
∟16:02 Elaine falls in love with Lancelot
∟16:07 portrayed as a temptress
∟16:50 Elaine dies of a broken heart - her will: placed in a boat and set adrift down the river towards Camelot
∟17:01 castle Camelot is located in Winchester, Wessex
17:25 Galehaut
17:59 Lancelot is persuaded by Galehaut to begin an affair with Guinevere
18:13 Elaine is struck by Lancelot, albeit more by last than love. The lady of corbenic uses magic to trick Lancelot into believing she's Guinevere
18:40 Lancelot Exiled
19:07 After 10 years, Lancelot was found by Percival
19:44 Arthur orders Guinevere to be burned at the stake
19:49 Lancelot killed Gawain's brothers
20:17 Arthur had once an affair with his half-sister Morgause
20:33 From his incestual union was born a son named Mordred.
20:38 Merlin warned Arthur that a child born on that day will be his undoing, so Arthur ordered the death of all sons born on that day, but Mordred survived
22:03 Arthur is brought by the Lady of the Lake and or Morgan Le Fay to the Isle of Avalon
so weird to have one of my fave history editors not talk as quick as lighting with funny pics in my fave history charts video
I don't know if you take suggestions, but it struck me while searching for visual charts detailing the influences and timeline of art movements or music genres. Absolutely love your work, and I appreciate your continued dedication and hard work to bring something you love alive.
Please to a Spencer-Churchill family tree. Between american dollar princesses, Winston Churchill, Lady Di and the illegitimate children of Charles II it's a fascinating family tree
for the Spencer, it is very easy: origin in France.
I want them to follow up on the dollar princesses, that should be interesting
He already did it
@@Totomy2011 my comment is from 3 years ago. The video is from 2 years ago.
@@m.s.1067 fair enough
Pretty interesting, thanks!
For anyone interested, Bernard Cornwell's Arthurian (Warlord) Trilogy is really amazing too. He made it real. For example, he made Merlin a druid and yeah, a creep as Jack mentioned.
High
Cornwell's Arthur is by far the best Arthur
@@marcguidetti3081damn right. The King who never was King, Enemy of God and scourge of the Saxons!
As someone who is taking the Arhtur Legends as the backbone for a story's setting, this was a great video and made me consider a few ways to alter my current set-up for King Arthur.
Thanks for the vid.
I’m always excited to see an upload from UsefulCharts but I’m especially glad for this one.
False, every one knows Arthur was Artoria and had a redhead wife who cooks good food and likes swords
tomboy Mordred
Nah, it's the one that have a trusty servant that bangs coconut for him along the road. Get cultured, you weeb.
@@piuscalvinus Moedred*dreadnought which is iron clad starky dred
@@hshocker98 which one was that? I only know someone who follow walking fish to meet a mystic user...
Wow just the job
Thank you for a very helpful and succinct overview of these relationships! I believe the version of Merlin's imprisonment which has him trapped within / turned into a tree is actually post-Malory, though I haven't been able to identify where it originated. The Morte Darthur has Nimue (a Lady of the Lake) trap Merlin beneath a large rock, seemingly killing him. Earlier versions which also derive from the Lancelot-Grail Cycle of prose romances have Vivian (much the same character under a different name, and with different motivations) either fatally seal him within a tomb, or seduce him into semi-voluntary imprisonment within an airy, otherworldly tower accessible only by herself.
Old Brittonic kings please? Post-Roman era up to the last Welsh rebellion
Truth!!
Yup it would be interesting to learn about the Welsh royal houses. Maybe something on who would be king of Wales had Wales remained independent?
Now a hundred people want this.
@@003mohamud There'd be tons to choose from. Wales was split into small kingdoms each with their own royal families.
I thought we were an autonomous collective...
“You speak mad shit for someone with such a flammable house, peasant”
I once had a scimitar lobbed at me by a watery tart, and all I got is an earldom. Is there someone I could complain to about this?
It’s anarcho-syndicalist commune
An Anarcho synicalist commune
Last time I was this early, the sword was still stuck in the Stone
Are you making a reference to the Excalibur? 😂
@@rivershelf991
Last time I was this early, the sword was known as [Insert_some_weird_Gaelic_words].
Nice to see another dive into mythology and folklore, always interesting to see!
Funny that the names of Chrétien de Troyes and Robert de Boron are not even mentioned on the sources...
Je m'y attendais également...
@@Skadi609 Les anglais ont du mal a accepter que les légendes arthuriennes soient françaises et pas anglaises ;-)
"Listen: Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government! Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some... farcical aquatic ceremony!"
Excalibur (1981) seems to be the most accurate rendition of the Arthur myth. Great movie btw.
I watched it in class lol
Bernard Cornwell would like a word.
do the Welsh Kings and Queens Family Tree pls
This video would be interesting to see. Gwyneth first if you please.
Oh do we track the sheep side of the family as well?
@@georgethompson1460 let's have humans first, do the sheep video separately later
Those names are as long as a paragraph
@@mich8050 *Gwynedd
Seeing the picture of Sir Percival you used from BBC's Merlin, I finally realized I know Tom Hopper from 3 things: Percival in Merlin, Dickon Tarly in GoT and Luther in The Umbrella Academy. Those gigs were so far apart I didn't recognize him from before each time, lol.
THANKS FOR BREAKING THIS DOWN AS BEST AS I CAN FIND ON MAINSTREAM MEDIA
Arthur had another sister besides Morgause and Morgan Le Fay, her name was Elanor. He had a total of three sisters. His family was pretty large. His father had siblings as well as his mother.
Alan Rufus, who wrested victory from the Saxons in 1066, had six legitimate brothers, four or five illegitimate brothers, an illegitimate sister and an unknown number of legitimate sisters. Of the 11 or 12 we know, all had remarkable lives, especially Alan and his six 'God-given' brothers, according to the encyclopedic historian Orderic Vitalis who said that true details of their careers would make for a very long and satisfying story.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge/investigation results with us Jack !
Regards from one of your French viewers !
Arthur wasn’t too smart if he killed all the boys born on a certain day because of a doom prophecy yet leaves alive the one boy who just being a royal and his son would be the most potentially dangerous. 😆
Yeah, not only is it a definite Bad Guy move, it never works. I guess he wasn't Genre Savvy.
I think this was taken from Herod ordering all babies under 2 executed, and only baby Jesus surviving, but that's just my opinion
@@ErmisSouldatos I doubt this guy would be such a shoddy researcher that he would make that kind of mistake and it’s all myths anyway since Arthur didn’t exist. Useful Charts is extremely thorough, if that had ever been thought possible he would have mentioned it, he’s done several videos on biblical history. There’s plenty of flood myths throughout different cultures but you can’t say that one copied it from another. Sometimes stories are just similar.
@@ErmisSouldatos It's a common trope that crops up in many cultures. Not necessarily borrowed.
@@robertmiller9735 Medieval European literature directly lifts many things from the Bible. The religious institutions of the time were basically the only way to learn how to read and write. most people who were literate were associated with the church, or learned to read and write from a religious institution.
I love Arthurian Legends so much. Sir Galahad is my absolute favorite. Thank you so much for this amazing video! 😁👍
I think that Arthur,Lancelot.Gawain,Mordred and Merlin existed and were simply glorified over the centuries.
Myrllin
Yeah, that fits
Just Arthur and Merdyn/ Merlin and they lived in two diff centuries.
possibility with Lancelot and the Italian knight
the rest id say are pure fiction and plot devices for later story telling.
There's not even any truth to the Arthurian grail legends, unless you count "spiritual" truth.
also answer for grammatical genders plus the dynamic confusion of the highest ordah in stack exchange funne but true prolly
Sticking with the legendary family trees, one on Chú Chualann or Fionn Mccumhail, Irish legendary warriors, would be great.
Keep up the great work!
Cú Chùlainn
@@eamonlyons8318 My bad
King Arthur my waifu
I mean Saber
Fine taste.
exsuu....CALIBAAAAAAAAAAR!
A fellow “Man of Culture”
Arthurian Legend is basically a story you have to string together using a bunch of fanfictions 😂
Mr Rackham! I clicked on this not knowing anything about this channel and was pleasantly surprised to hear your voice! I will definitely be checking the rest of the videos on this channel out!
"Arthur is mentioned as a war commander fighting alongside the Kings of The Britons in the Battle of Badon" - I heard one of his knights wetted himself during the battle.
Is that the same guy who nearly stood up to the Chicken of Bristol?
King Arthur was Welsh. He was the King of Glamorgan and Gwent. He came from a long line of Welsh kings. There are many books out there with the true history of King Arthur. Artorius Rex by Alan Wilson and Baram Blackett is a very informative book on this subject.
most Welsh legend states that Arthur is from Dumnonia and not Gwent
I'm apparently a descendant of uther pendragon through Arthur's sister Anna de Briton lady ardette, there's a bunch of Welsh Kings of various places (gwynedd and powys to name a couple) also manx chieftains and Dwxyd Kwxyd Eneid Cerwyd ap King of Druids Croydon if my family tree is true
@@boaringname203 I'm a descendant through her as well on my dad's side. Nice to meet you, far distant cousin. :)
Nice one thank you
Nice video!! I’ve been waiting for this.
Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles is a interesting version of the Arthurian Legend.
Yes! Interesting is exactly how I'd describe it.
Arthur Rex is a great book that highlights a more epic and heroic tale. In the final battle, Lancelot is impaling upwards of 100 knights on his lance, and the rest of the Knights fates are embellished in much the same style.
Mordred has one grandmother and two grandfathers.
Also kinda similar to mordred is that one story in the Bible where all the first born sons of Egypt had to be killed.
and Bethlehem.
@@mudnarchist also herod and the one in moses time which is pharaoh?
Haha I learned about this in Prince of Egypt, that’s back in the Old Testament when God was okay with killing lots of people
@@hayzyhorses6899 not "was" still is and there's virtually endless
proof/evidence/reasons why people outta NEVER bother pissing off god seemingly esp in older times
I like how ancient stories has alot of half-siblings in them and yet in modern fiction its untouched upon
Half-siblings are cool playmates but full-up Incest is the best!!!
@Anonymus X I have no idea who you are so I can't be sure, but, most likely you are?Do you have a problem with incest? What gender are you?
@@steveholton4130 u weirdo thats meme template unless there're deleted comm oh well
@@prezentoappr1171 meme is as foreign a language as Marsian.
Nice vid. Thanks for including all the different stories
I love the Mists of Avalon
Great summer read
An excellent video. The Arthurian legends is simply that. I liked the novels that Bernard Cornwell wrote about Arthur. It seems to be a more realistic version of what Arthur would have been, of he existed at all.
As stories of King Arthur mention Tintagle as his fortress, which is in Cornwall, it’s possible the ‘Pen’ part of the name would mean ‘hill’.
In some version of story Morgana is the half sister of Arthur on their mother side. That the boy they had together is their(Mordred) son. I know why they change this from BBC version. In other version they have same father.
Arthur, The Once and Future King. 👑
The legend is Arthur will return to save Brittiania
@@blossomjoseph5541 well, Brexit happened, and he hasn't shown up 😆😆😆😆
Will he come when sea levels rise so much that they swallow half of the island?
@@KateeAngel all countries will once leave the EU, it is doomed to fail
@@blossomjoseph5541 It Isn't in need of saving, yet!!!
So basically everyone sleeps with everyone, and they hold grudges.
who tf's "everyone"?
Wilson & Blackett, the Forensic Historians have spent decades researching King Arthur and have written many books. There are documentaries on YT about their research. They have found there were two King Arthurs of Glamorgan/Wales and they descended from the lost tribes of Israel. Richard D Hall of Richplanet interviewed them on numerous occasions. Check it out it if you want to know more.
Thanks for reminding me of The Lady of Shalott. It used to be one of my favorite songs but at some point I somehow forgot about it.
I like how Galahad out Mary Sues Lancalot who himself was Mary Sue
The sword and the stone is the art of pulling the metal ( sword ) from the stone. Merlin had the knowledge of this technology and some clairvoyance mixed with gnostic knowledge of alchemy that hardened the stone..He also was a brilliant strategists.
Oh my mother's maiden name was Ambrosewicz. The origin is southern Lithuania or northern Poland. Depending on which timeline
Thanks for the info
now turn him into a cute anime girl
She’s my waifu
@@OliveOilFan OUR WAIFU
@@jiroandreigepanaga1551 our blyat.
Shush kiddies
I live about 60 miles from Tintagel. It's always nice to hear Cornwall featured, however briefly, in history
"I am Arthur, king of the Britons!"
"King of the who?"
"The Britons!"
"Who're the Britons?"
I know, the PYTHON jokes have been done to death, but I couldn't resist
This is pretty intriguing. They should make a big budget tv show.
7:46 Fun fact, in one story it’s said that Percival was given the Spear of Longinus, the spear used to stab Jesus during his Crucifixion
It's weird to see Jack Rackam narrate something without any funny comments or witty remarks.
I can't imagine what the parents would be like when they saw the order to kill the babies born in the same day as mordread. I guessing shock. But not as much shock as me with Jack being a guest speaker.
Mind you, this is the later family tree of the romances. Earlier, Morgause was Uther's daughter and Arthur's Full Sister while Morgan was completely unrelated. Lancelot, obviously, never existed or was an Independent Hero that got absorbed by Arthur's Myth. Guinevere may have had kids with Arthur (Possible contenders: Amr, Gwydre, Loholt and/or Duran) and Her real love Interest was Mordred, who was just a Nephew (See Diarmuid, Tristan and Naoise for similar Wife-stealing Nephews in Celtic Myth).
@user-pq4fc1mc7q there's no hard evidence for whether or not Arthur's sons were bastards or not.
They are only mentioned off-handedly in the sources we can find them in with hardly any elaboration.
On the contrary, there is a good possibility that those boys ARE Guinevere's legit kids.
The biggest contender is *Loholt* - He is indeed Guinevere's son in the stories of _Perlesvaus_ and _Lanzelet_
These stories predate the Vulgate cycle's inclusion of an "illegitimate Loholt" by a "Lisanor"
Lanzelet, in particular, is special because its the earliest work where Lancelot *isn't* Guinevere's lover, indicating that it might be based on traditions that predate Chretien de troyes' _Knight of the Cart_
Which in turn means Loholt *_may be traditionally Guinevere's son long before Lancelot got popular as a character_* since Loholt appears in Lanzelet, lamenting the abduction of his mother, Ginover/Guinevere.
The attributation of Mordred's son as Guinevere's son is also attested in medieval lore as well. It is found in _Alliterative Morte Arthur_ , a work based on the chronicle traditions, where Lancelot is nonexistent and Mordred is affirmably Guinevere's love interest.
The best argument for Melehan and his brother being Guinevere's sons, is that *Mordred has no love interest other than Guinevere* - Mordred, from the earliest iterations of the mythos, is traditionally in love with Guinevere and is an abductor alongside Melwas, Gazosein and Yder.
All possible alternative love interests for Mordred - a certain "Cwylloc" and "Gwenhwyfach" - come from Post-Malory welsh sources, that are most certainly _inauthentic_
Only Galahad is firmly not Guinevere's son, primarily because Galahad needs to be a blood relative of the Grail Family, which Guinevere is not.
EDIT: LOL, I just remembered: *Lancelot and Guinevere DO have children together* - in the (admittedly Post-Malory) Portuguese work _Memorial das Proezas de Segunda Tavola Redonda_ - Guinevere gives birth to twins by the names of Florismarte and Andronia.
Another *_hilarious_* concept is the giant Gargantua, who is the origin of the english word "gargantuan". According the anonymous _Le Grandes Chronique de enorme geant Gargantua_ , Gargantua was giant created by Merlin using the Blood and fingernails of Lancelot and Guinevere, making Gargantua an artificial *_grandson_* of Lancelot and Guinevere's
@user-pq4fc1mc7q There's no hard evidence as to whether or not Arthur's sons were bastards or not. They are merely mentioned off-handedly and with little elaboration.
On the contrary, there is a strong possibility that these boys are Guinevere's Legitimate sons.
The biggest contender of which is *Loholt* - he is directly stated to be Guinevere's Legitimate son in the works _Perlevaus_ and _Lanzelet_ , both of which predate the Vulgate cycle by a few years.
_Lanzelet_ in particular, is special because it is the earliest story where Lancelot *isn't* Guinevere's lover, indicating its based on a tradition that predates Chretien de Troyes' _Knight of the Cart_
Since Loholt appears in _Lanzelet_ as Guinevere's son, lamenting her abduction, this is pretty big evidence that Loholt *IS traditionally Guinevere's son.*
Mordred's sons being Guinevere's sons is also attested in medieval lore, particularly _Alliterative Morte Arthure_ which is based on the chronicle traditions where Mordred is Guinevere's love interest.
Only Galahad is not Guinevere's son, mostly because Galahad needs to be a blood relation of the Grail family, which Guinevere is not.
EDIT: A big argument against the childlessness of Guinevere is the fact that *divorce* is a recommended sanction in a fruitless marriage. By the _Cyfraith Hywel_ (traditional welsh law), Guinevere's queenship is in jeopardy if she doesn't produce an heir within the first seven years of a marriage.
@user-pq4fc1mc7q Loholt is just called a meritous youth in Chretien. There's functionally no hard confirm on the bastardry angle. In fact, in one Chretien's stories, Arthur swears by his father, mother and his son in the same breath as if Loholt was his legit son.
In welsh myth, the character Loholt is based on, Llacheu, is called one of the Well-endowed/Well-off men of the Island of Britain, alongside Gwalchmai/Gawain. That means to me he's an edling - an heir.
And Mordred really doesn't any other love interest other than Guinevere. Two suggested alternative love interests - a "Cwyllog" and a "Gwenhwyfach" - come from Post-Malory sources (Gwenhwyfach predates Malory BUT is never mentioned as Mordred's significant in early works).
Indeed, in Robert Wace's _Brut_ Mordred revolts specifically out of love for Guinevere.
Why is Mordred vying for the hand of his uncle's childless wife if he already has a significant other?
The "Gwen" part of Guinevere means white but it has the connotations of "Blessed" or "Beautiful". You can't be "Blessed" if your barren like winter - life production is sacred.
Ex: Olwen ("white track") creates flowers with her footsteps
This argument just makes Arthur look stupid. Why would he marry something that symbolizes something that can't bear fruit? That's dooming the kingdom to starvation. Winter is not associated with "prosperous rule" Winter is awful in general - *Undesirable* - especially in the British Isles with its unpredictable weather. Its why the Celts venerated light and fire - Belenus, Lugh, Nuada, etc.
If anything, its May season Guinevere is associated with - its when she's siezed by her abductors usually and flowers are her most common motif in art.
Heck, reading the stories, Gwen spends most of her abduction time _during_ the winter months, not summer.
If you're going to use the "sovereignty myth" argument, you realise that winter is not something associated with beauty or prosperity in celtic myth. I point to Beira/Cailleach, an old hag and personification of winter.
EDIT: Isolde has kids, too. Ysaye le Triste come to mind. _Tavola Ritonda_ introduces a twin son and daughter of Tristan and Isolde.
@user-pq4fc1mc7q Loholt in De Troyes is not referred is not referred to as prince because the only time he's mentioned, de Troyes was just listing off the knight-characters present in Arthur's court.
Gawain, technically, is the heir-apparent of Orkney/Lothian, but he's never referred to as "Prince Gawain". Same with the other Orkney Brothers.
Regardless of whether or not Guinevere is a kingmaker, being infertile is a huge obstacle to the normal operation of kingship, Celtic or not. That's a blemish on the King because then he wouldn't have successors. I know because there's another sovereignty figure who was nearly divorced because she couldn't produce an heir in time: Rhiannon. Had Rhiannon not given birth to Pryderi, Pwyll would have been forced by his vassals to put aside Rhiannon and find a more fertile wife.
Neither Medb nor Rhiannon, each sovereignty figures, are infertile, so why should we assume Guinevere and Isolde can't be mothers?
Just so you know, Persephone has children too. (Zagreus, Melinoe, the Erinyes, etc.)
> _The answer is because they're legends/mythology and don't necessarily act like real monarchs would._
You are right in that these characters are archetypes not realistic figures.
But then, it doesn't negate the fact that Isolde (and Guinevere) can have children *_if the storyteller permits it_*
The reasons why Isolde (and Guinevere) don't seem to have children has nothing to do with their personal fertility and everything to do with storytelling and how these stories were constructed as well as the cultures involved.
Llacheu - as well as Amr, Gwydre and Duran, never mind daughters like Archfedd - are never directly stated to be illegitimate and I remain completely unconvinced by any argument that they're not children by Guinevere (Admittedly, because of the lack of evidence for either side)
@user-pq4fc1mc7q
_"Arthur was a perfect faithful husband"_
_"Guinevere exists to be his broodmare"_
Oh no no no, I never mean imply THAT. I am in the camp that prefers to interpret Arthur as tyrant that rightfully lost his kingdom.
In fact, it's precisely why I like to think of Amr as Arthur and Guinevere's firstborn _because Arthur ultimately kills him._
I am, also someone who prefers to interpret both Arthur and Guinevere as promiscuous (Indeg, Garwen and Gwyll for Arthur) (Yder, Gosengos, Lancelot and Mordred for Guinevere), but that doesn't preclude pregnancy.
(By the by, Lancelot and Guinevere do have children in later stories - _Memorial Das Proezas de Segunda Tavola Redonda_ gives them Florismarte and Andronia)
Its just irritating for me to interpret Guinevere as a sovereignty goddess while maintaining the childlessness from the later courtly love inspired mythos. For moral, spiritual and practical reasons, divinities like that can't be infertile, unless for specific reasons, like being an old crone. Especially, as you stated, Guinevere came from the underworld - the Celtic underworlds (Tir-na-nog, Annwfn) are lands of plenty and youth, full of delights.
Anyway, thank you for time and I am sorry if this conversation has gone too far in some places. Have a good day!
The story of Elaine of Astolot sounds like Tennyson’s poem Lady of Shalott, probably inspired by the legend then.
If Arthur (the bear) really existed, he was Briton, likely Cornish or Welsh.
100% he was. The whole original story is about a Brittonic leader fighting against Saxons, anything else was added later
Mallory calls the Kingdom he rules "Logris" but in practically all original accounts, whether they name his kingdom or not, it is explicitly a Brittonic kingdom in the Modern-day lands of Southern England while the Angles and Saxons still only had some footholds on the Island. So ethnically and linguistically closest to Welsh or Cornish, but geographically English. And basically all early accounts of Arthur credit the tales they based them on as originating in Wales, so there's that too.
There is also a King Mark of Cornwall featured in many stories of his knights, particularly those featuring Sir Tristan and his lady love Iseult--basically a slight variation of the Arthur-Guenivere-Lancelot love triangle with a clearer "Hero"--Tristan and Iseult loved each other before Iseult was forced to marry King Mark, King Mark only married her, over both of their objections, to punish Sir Tristan for making him look bad and give him an excuse to exile Tristan and take his valuable lands the instant he hears rumors of their basically inevitable tryst, and King Mark has basically no redeeming qualities, at least in Mallory's account.
@@KateeAngel According to legend an Arthur killed his son, but his name wasn't Mordred.
There was an Artuir in Scotland. Irish though
The film. Has Arthur a brit in the roman army until the Romans leave that seems more plausible
Dear Usefulcharts,
I have ordered 3 of your beautiful usefulcharts on September 2020 and they're not delivered yet.
I live in Paris France so may be that is why it took so long (international shipment slowed by Covid19?), I look forward to receiving them.
Keep doing the good work!
Best regards,
Chris.
They should definitely have arrived by now. Contact customer service using the website and they will send a new batch.
@@UsefulCharts Many thanks
love how u used pics from Merlin!!
Love it, I wonder can you do an family tree of vlad the impaler family, I know you made one but it was mostly to show how the current queen of britain was related to him and it was pretty short and basic so maybe a more in depth one
thousands at 0:22 "KING O' TH' WHO?!"
"Let me face the peril", "No, its too perilous"
Nice video 👍🏻 keep up the good work
I thought Brave Sir Robin also went looking for the Grail. Hehehe...
At one time or another EVERYONE has looked for The GRAIL but so far No One has found or recognized it !!!
Its still a magnificent story..even as you have told it... my blood pressure rises and i immediately pulled in... this and the stories like it have always been that way. The tension of good and evil or the mixing of the two.. romance and sacrifice... the drama and intrigue.. deep family secrets and mystical nature of the families...the understanding of the concept of purity and holiness and the immerse struggle that even pious ppl sometimes succumb.... the blaming of being driven to and over come by the lusts of the flesh on mystical devious evil designs that are then said to be the downfall of that person decades later by the fruit of that lustfull union. The ideas that perfection comes through divine or mystical gifts or training. That you can train and become exceptional but only through chastity(reaching for divinity) can you become perfect.
The fact that you can be moral/ good and still be on the wrong side.
That the quest/struggle/fight/journey is the story not the resolution of the quest.
It also personifies the rule of NOT YOURS DONT TOUCH
But how does Arthur know so much about swallows?
You've got to know those things when you're a king, you know.
He learned it all by watching Sword Swallowers and Lusty Ladies.!
King Arthur starts the line of “ Kernow” later anglicized to “Curnow” hence Kernow being Cornish for Cornwall
I could just hear Arthur screaming for Merlin...
Always knew Merlin was a stalker, could just tell
Through my grandfather and my father I descent from king Cunobelinus the Pendragon and from king Caractaco the Pendragon, from king Arvirago of Siluria in Wales, too
Hey...
You're good at making useful charts.
It's why I watch and subscribe.
Here's a challenge.
A video/chart showing explaining the whole " Pope , Vatican (complex) , Vatican City (nation), Holy See (government? ) , Catholic Church relationship thing.
That would be cool.
If do it myself, but you clearly have far greater experience and resources for the research and actually making the charts. As well as a channel platform to get the knowledge out.
Thanks
You forgot to include Sir Not Appearing in this Picture.
Correct me if I am wrong, but the notion of the Lady of the Lake being a tittle that passes from one woman to the next is a recent notion, from the Mists of Avalon novels.
I would love a video on the Matter of France, too! There's some crossover with the Matter of Britain. For example the sorceress Melissa is said to be an apprentice of Merlin.
It is so fascinating how older more Pagan ideas were translated into Christian ones to keep the Arthur tale alive.
I love your intro
Ever since watching the Fate anime series I think only of King Arthur as a bishoujo blonde girl! Saber!!!
THIS IS THE TREE I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR AHHHH