König Artus Teil 2 - die wahre Geschichte | Wiegand von Marburg

And if you try to get to the origin of the saying, especially if you want to find out whether it really existed, then it becomes a really small puzzle, then it becomes such a schnitzel hunt and then it gets really exciting. I'll try to bring you a little bit closer. Well, the question is, was the Atos actually real or was it not real? And if so, what did it look like? We have gotten used to the fact that the Atos stories from the High Middle Ages were later adapted for the cinema and therefore the Atos is almost always depicted as a high medieval knight or as a great high medieval king. So his knights of the round table with a lance and a large helmet and a colorful shield, as one imagines the tournament of the knights of the High Middle Ages. But the story of the Joffrey of Monmouth actually tells of a completely different Atos, namely of the Atos, who in the 6th century or in the 5th century, we have to check a little more, fought the Anglo-Saxons, who are only now coming into the country. Because a part of the migration of the people also includes the British Isles. And let's take a quick look at what is actually true of it, what is really history. So how was it really, what did the historical Atos look like, if it even existed? And I did a little research, I really looked at different books and I came across a book that is about 25 years old by Graham Phillips. When I say the name, I can already see some historians slowly rolling their eyes. Because Graham Phillips is a little bit famous, he is not a historian, but a journalist and book author and he has a whole series of pretty weird theories about the story. So there is something questionable and you shouldn't put everything on the scale of gold, what he gives of himself. But in my opinion, he did a really good job of researching this Atos topic and really dared to look at the old historical sources, he also looked at them, partly in Wales, in old archives and researched it so well that at least his theory is reasonably plausible. Because he just looked at what Joffrey of Monmouth himself might have found in the old sources. There are essentially three big names. Once Nennius, a Celtic monk, a Welsh Celtic monk who wrote down the Historia Britonum, so a lot about Celtic Britain. There is Beda Venerabilis and the monk Gildas, so these are the most important sources from this so-called dark age, from the Dark Ages. And if you compare all of this a little bit now, also with contemporary Roman records from the same time, then you can put together such a small puzzle. And that basically starts in 410, when the Romans, who had occupied Britain until then, withdraw. So take almost everything with them, especially the legions there. Because in the Roman Empire there are enough other Zoff, they have to defend themselves against the good, they have to defend themselves against the Persians. There is partly civil war because there are several emperors. And Britain is not so important that you absolutely have to stop. So you get the military power, which is now still stationed in Britain, to Rome and there is actually a vacuum. So of course there are still some Romans who stayed there, who have their houses there, who have their families there. But essentially the Christianized, partly Roman-civilized Celtic Britons are left to their own devices at that time. The Romans are hardly gone, of course, the British who remained there are under pressure. Once from Ireland, the Irish attack the western part of the country, the Picts come from the north. And in this situation there is an upper king named Vortigern, who says to himself, hmm, let's get a few mercenaries to help us. And he invites tribes from the north of Germany, which of course did not exist at the time, i.e. from England, from Jutland and from Friesland, respectively so north of the Elbe, i.e. where England and Saxony live. And they come and help. And they like it so much that they say to themselves, great, we'll get more of it and we'll stay. So there is suddenly also a pressure in the south and southwest, that starts in Kent and then in East Anglia. And then part of the country and part of the country are slowly conquered by this fishing Saxony. South Saxony, Sussex, West Saxony, Wessex, East Saxony, Essex and East Anglia, of course, there are people from fishing. And later they just called themselves Angle-Saxony to distinguish themselves from the Saxons in northern Germany. Yes, and Vortigern therefore brings people into the country, who suddenly no longer become allies, but become enemies. So in the middle of the 5th century, these Angle-Saxons suddenly become many and become enemies and become dangerous. And the remaining Celtic Brits are now trying to organize a resistance against it. And that succeeds under a man who is called the last Roman in Britain and who obviously also comes from an aristocratic Roman family, namely Ambrosius Aurelianus. He can unite the remaining Brits and can also organize the fight against the Angle-Saxons. And so a coalition of the last soldiers of the empire of the remaining Romans and the, if you like, Celtic-Wallisian nation begins. Whereby Wales and Wallisia is actually the Germanic word for the Celts, while the Celts themselves call themselves Cymru. Wales is still called Cymru today. And Ambrosius Aurelianus obviously has a capable field lord, who is called Arthus. This Arthus does not appear as a king in the early writings, but as a field lord, as a warrior. And something else, Arthus is obviously, if you look at the sources, not a name, not a first name, but an honorific name, if you will, a fighting name. Arth is Celtic, Wallisian for bear. And we also have the Roman tradition, Ursus is also called bear. And if you take the Celtic Arth and the Roman Ursus together, then you are at Arthursus or Arthur. And that means nothing more than the bear. And if you now follow the sources and look, who could have been in this bear, then you come to either a prince of Gwyneth or of Pauls, both Wallisian small kingdoms. And a possible Wallisian king from exactly this time was either Aenion Gerd or his son Owen Thunquin. One of the two was probably the bear, the Arth or Arthur or Arthus. By the way, two of the battles already mentioned in Nennius and also in Gildas are pretty well documented. So it certainly really happened. One is the Battle of Bardon. There are still arguments among historians about where it took place. Possibly at Barth, so it could have been Salisbury Hill. But it could also have been a place in South England, which is also called something like that. And there are certainly half a dozen other places that could be in question. So Barth or Bardon was Arthur's greatest victory after these old historical records. And then there is also the Battle of Camlan, in which Arthur is fatally injured and fatally wounded. Arthus, by the way, and a Maedhraud, who is obviously the linguistic role model for Mordred. He is in the Arthus story the treacherous nephew or even the treacherous unmarried son of Arthus. In general, which names actually occur in the original story? There are not that many. This is Arthus. This is Merlin. This is Mordred or Maedhraud. And one of the knights of the round table already appears at that time, namely Tristan. Tristan is quite obviously also from Wallisian sources. It can be read quite well as the prince of Cornwall, the son of King Mark. These four figures at least appear in the earliest stories. Well, as I said, Graham Phillips is quite controversial. Of course, there are also disputes about it. There are always other theories. There are also enough people who say Arthus is exclusively a myth and it never really existed. But there are relatively good indications that Arthus, Arth, the bear, at least existed as a field lord. And maybe he was also a Wallisian king at that time. Even if he was not the great, the super-great Christian king, he was basically the one in the Middle Ages who founded this myth. And if it did exist, then he actually also wore late Roman or late Antique armor and armaments. And not the Gothic armor from Excalibur or the medieval armor that you see in other films. I actually only know two films that really do it differently, which do not show Arthus in the medieval or late medieval armor, but are early medieval or even date back to Roman times. One is The Last Legion with Colin Firth and Ben Kingsley. Yes, semi-entertaining, I would say. I don't think it's so well done. You can take a look at it. A little better King Arthur with Clive Owen and Keira Knightley. Yes, he's a little better. But he also tries to bring in something historical or to be more historically correct. But the theories behind it are also controversial and they also bring a lot of really, really bad things together. As far as historical reality is concerned, for example, the Anglo-Saxons were actually invited by a Celtic king named Vortigern to defeat the Picts. And vice versa, the Picts were not allied to defeat the Anglo-Saxons. And apart from that, there's a lot about armor or armaments. Well, let's just say it didn't work out that well. But it's worth seeing. You can take a look at it, I think. It's at least somewhat entertaining. For sure, no plate armor was invented in the 5th or 6th century. But maybe something like this or something like that. And the opponents of Arthus probably wore something like this. This is the famous helmet of Sutton Hoo, this is the sword of Sutton Hoo. These are Anglo-Saxon finds from this early time. And we can assume that the opponents on the Anglo-Saxon side had these armaments and armaments. So, whether you believe in a real Arthus or not, it's up to you. Whether you find the theory of Graham Phillips plausible or others who are still on the trail, is actually two-pronged. Much more important is that Arthus is still a great legend, a huge story. And you can also interpret it in a modern way. It was very successful in the early 80s. Marion Simmer Bradley did it with the Nails of Avalon. I don't think it's that great. I prefer Rosemary Sutcliffe, who basically retold the story at the same time. But maybe you like it. And that was also a bestseller. And I'm pretty sure there will soon be a movie or a TV series or a new book with the Arthus stories. Because they are always fascinating and will always be part of our European culture. And Arthus has long since taken over pop culture. So, next time there will definitely be more action again. And I would like to show you how to fight with this and this. Namely with sword and buckler. And we will do that in a great historical place. Maybe you'll be there again. Thank you very much for watching this time. And see you next time. Bye. Basically early medieval tourism. Basically medieval tourism. Basically medieval tourism, if you will.