Last updated at 15:21, Thursday, 26 February 2009

Travel around the Cumbrian countryside and you cannot fail to notice a wealth of references to King Arthur.

Steve Matthews with his new book King Arthur Lives in Merrie Carlisle

Stone circles, castles, mountains and lakes are associated with him. And though many regions claim the legendary king of the Britons as one of their own, Cumbria’s claims may seem stronger than most.

The henge at Eamont Bridge near Penrith is referred to as “King Arthur’s Round Table” – and though it dates from the later Stone Age, thousands of years before Arthur’s era, there are those who believe it could have been used by him.

Others say the nearby Mayburgh Henge is also associated with Arthur, though this dates from the Viking era, 500 years too late for the Celtic king, who would have lived in the fifth century AD.

A 12th century castle, near Kirkby Stephen, was built by the knight Hugh de Morville. But it is said to stand on the site of an earlier castle built by Arthur’s father Uther Pendragon. Indeed the present castle has long been known as Pendragon’s Castle.

Not far from the castle, near Keswick, are Castle Rigg and Long Meg stone circles, and some stories claim that Arthur’s mentor, the wizard Merlin, derived his magic from there.

Many legends tell that Arthur died fighting the invading Saxons at the Battle of Camlann, and two sites near Hadrian’s Wall are contenders for this site. Birdoswald is one, while Castlesteads may have a stronger claim as it was known to the Romans as Camboglanna.

His body, or some say only his head, are reputedly buried in Arthuret churchyard in Longtown.

After his death Arthur’s famous sword is said to have been deposited in a lake, and Bassenthwaite Lake is often claimed as Excalibur’s resting place.

The poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson was inspired to write his poems Morte d’Arthur and Idylls of the King while staying in Mirehouse, overlooking the lake.

Of course one part of the legend relates that Arthur and his knights didn’t die at all but went into a kind of extended hibernation, ready to rise up again if the country needs them. They are said to be sleeping at Blencathra.

Now local author Steve Matthews has shed fresh light on the Cumbrian dimension in Arthurian legend.

For it is not just the Cumbrian landscape that clues about him. Many of the ancient texts which tell of his exploits place him firmly in Cumbria, as Steve has discovered.

He spent a year researching stories about Arthur and his knights which stretch back to the 12th century – and was astonished to find that a large proportion of them place him in or around Carlisle.

Steve’s new book, King Arthur Lives in Merrie Carlisle, launched at the Words by the Water literary festival in Keswick on Monday, reveals that mediaeval writers have long associated Arthur with Cumbrian dimension.

The stories about Arthur which circulated across mediaeval Europe, from Cyprus to Iceland, describe him as living in Carlisle.

“Carlisle has a stronger literary claim to him than anywhere else,” Steve says.

One source of Arthurian stores is an 18th century collection of folk tales complied by Bishop Percy, a former dean of Carlisle Cathedral.

Entitled Reliques of Ancient Poetry, the book records ancient stories from Cumbria which were probably passed on for centuries by word of mouth. Many of them place King Arthur in Cumbria, holding court in Carlisle or hunting in Inglewood Forest.”

One story set locally is entitled The Boy in the Mantle, and tells of a youth who owns a robe which can only be worn by a virtuous woman. Among those who try to wear it without success is Arthur’s wayward queen Guinevere.

Another of the stories Bishop Percy records is set in Tarn Wadling near High Hesket. It tells of one of Arthur’s knights, Sir Gawain, and the “loathly lady” – an extremely ugly woman he is forced to marry.

On their wedding night the ugly woman is of course transformed into an extremely beautiful one, and Gawain is told he can have her either beautiful by day or beautiful by night.

“He tells her: ‘Whichever you wish,’ which was the right answer,” Steve said. “She then becomes beautiful all the time.”

However there are much earlier accounts of Arthur than these, and Steve found they too placed him in Cumbria.

“I went back to the 14th and 15th century and found about 10 poems that again have Arthur’s court in Carlisle. Four of them have him killing boar in Inglewood Forest.

“They also have the ghost of Guinevere’s mother appearing to her in Tarn Wadling, warning her to mend her ways.”

Arthur – if he existed at all – would have lived around the fifth century AD. He is supposed to have led the native, Celtic Britons against the Angles and Saxons who invaded these shores as the Romans were pulling out.

But it is 700 years later, in the 12th century, that many of the romantic stories about him began, with the writers, Marie de France and Chretien de Troyes.

Both of them also place him in Cumbria.

Marie de France tells the story of a knight called Lanval, who is propositioned by Arthur’s erring wife Guinevere. When he rejects her, she tells Arthur that Lanval has insulted her.

He is to be put to death in Carlisle Castle, but as he awaits execution a beautiful maiden rides down the street to the castle to rescue him.

The city also features in Chretien de Troyes’ story of Perceval, a peasant lad who wants to become a knight at Arthur’s court, and fights and kills the evil Red Knight in Carlisle Castle.

The legend of the Holy Grail is told by many of the writers who followed Chretien de Troyes. It tells that the Grail, the goblet used by Jesus at the Last Supper, had been carried to Britain and Arthur’s knights were on a quest to find it. “Whoever finds it would be the most perfect knight,” Steve explained.

This particular legend spread all over Europe. “There were versions told in Iceland, Norway, Belarus, Cyprus, Italy, Spain and Germany – and they all place Arthur in Carlisle.”

However Steve also said: “There was little awareness of where Carlisle was in these stories. It was just a distant place that was romantically associated with Arthur.”

Early accounts of Arthur’s life and exploits had been written in old French, the language of the aristocrats. But Thomas Malory’s version, Morte D’Arthur, is despite its title one of the first written in English.

Steve says the most significant incidents in Malory’s story are those set in Carlisle.

There is the story of Agravaine, a knight who wants to expose Guinevere’s adulterous affair with Sir Lancelot.

“He arranges for Arthur to go out hunting, knowing that Lancelot will come to Guinevere’s bedchamber in Carlisle Castle.”

Agravaine goes with 12 knights to seize Lancelot but Lancelot fights them all off, killing all except Agravaine. Guinevere, however, is found guilty of treason and is to be burned at the stake outside the castle – but is saved from the flames by her lover.

“Lancelot rides into Carlisle and rescues her, and takes her away to his castle in the north-east.”.

A civil war is then waged which is eventually ended in a peace deal brokered by the Pope.

“Guinevere and Lancelot ride into Carlisle dressed in white and carrying olive branches,” said Steve.

“All the most important elements of the story take place in Carlisle.”

Yet despite the wealth of references to Cumbria found in so many of the Arthur stories, the author says many local people are today are unaware of these links.

“Carlisle has the most important role of any actual city in the legends,” he said. “But I don’t think people in Carlisle know about it at all these days.”

King Arthur is called “the once and future king” – but many historians doubt whether he is either once or future. There is no real proof that Arthur ever really existed, and Steve stresses that Cumbria’s claim to him is only literary, not historical.

Some enthusiasts maintain that Arthur is a real historical figure arguing that there’s no smoke without fire. But any smoke that Arthur gives off will be very faint today, 1,500 years on.

The native Celts in Britain certainly did fight the invading Angles and Saxons in the fifth century, and may have had a charismatic leader in their struggles.

But that does not mean there was an Arthur, a round table, a Guinevere or a Lancelot.

However nor does it mean that there wasn’t. And as long as it’s possible that Arthur did exist, then it’s not unlikely that he lived and died in Cumbria.

• King Arthur Lives in Merrie Carlisle is published by Bookcase and costs £15.

• Steve will be talking about his work at Words by the Water, at the Theatre by the Lake in Keswick on Monday afternoon. The talk will begin at 2.15pm. Tickets cost £7 and are available by calling 017687 74411.

First published at 11:29, Thursday, 26 February 2009
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk