What most people want to know is, was there really a King Arthur?
But right now, there is no good way to really, truly know that.
History is supposed to be made up of the things we know to be true; anything
else is called fiction, speculation, legend, myth and a variety of other names.
What we know to be true:
- in the Middle Ages (from about 800 to about 1400 A.D.), there was no King
Arthur in England
- in the Dark Ages (from about 500 to about 800 A.D.), there may have
been a King Arthur, but no one has substantial proof
- the Roman armies left Britain around 410 A.D. This left the people living
in Britain without protection. The Saxons started to raid and invade not
long afterward
- the people who lived in Britain during this time had been heavily influenced
by the Romans, and were probably Christian and quite civilized
- Gildas, a monk living in the sixth century (after King Arthur would have
died), wrote a book about the Saxon invasion. He explained how Britain was
invaded by the Saxons, and mentions a battle at a place called Mt. Badon.
That battle kept the Saxons from taking over the whole of Britain, and halted
their advance for a time. Gildas does not specifically name King Arthur,
but the Arthurian legend seems to fit inside Gildas' history quite well.
- there are signs from the archaeological record that there was a period
of time when the Saxons were stopped from continuing to take over the whole
island. This gives us a hint that Gildas was at least partly right, and
gives us another hint, that King Arthur, or someone similar, was fighting
the Saxons at that time.