{"id":6108,"date":"2009-07-10T18:33:02","date_gmt":"2009-07-10T23:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.epictales.org\/treskillard\/2009\/07\/10\/where_did_king_arthur_defeat_the_saxons__1\/"},"modified":"2017-02-17T09:38:04","modified_gmt":"2017-02-17T15:38:04","slug":"where_did_king_arthur_defeat_the_saxons__1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.epictales.org\/treskillard\/2009\/07\/10\/where_did_king_arthur_defeat_the_saxons__1\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Did King Arthur Fight The Saxons?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"King<\/a><\/div>\n

When King Arthur gave the people of Britain the gift of life and liberty,<\/strong> he did so at the expense of the invading Saxons. But where did he fight them? This is a very interesting question, and little is known for sure.<\/p>\n

Nennius<\/a><\/strong> wrote in the Historia Brittonum<\/a><\/strong> that there were twelve battles fought by King Arthur (Duke of Battles, Dux Bellorum) against the Saxons. <\/p>\n

These battles<\/a><\/strong> occurred in difficult to find places:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. At the mouth of the river which is called Glein.<\/li>\n
  2. Above the river Dubglas in the region of Linnuis<\/li>\n
  3. (same as above)<\/li>\n
  4. (same as above)<\/li>\n
  5. (same as above)<\/li>\n
  6. Above the river which is called Bassas.<\/li>\n
  7. In the forest of Celidon, that is Cat Coit Celidon.<\/li>\n
  8. At the fortress of Guinnion.<\/li>\n
  9. In the City of the Legion.<\/li>\n
  10. On the banks of a river which is called Tribruit.<\/li>\n
  11. On the mountain which is called Agnet.<\/li>\n
  12. On Mount Badon.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Where were these places located?<\/strong> This has probably been debated since the battles themselves. Some are easier to narrow down than others, but some of them are downright impossible to know for sure.<\/p>\n

    One of those hotly disputed sites also happens to be the most important—Mount Badon<\/a><\/strong>. This is the last battle, and the one at which Arthur utterly defeats the Saxons. <\/p>\n

    This battle took place around the year 493 A.D.,<\/strong> and scholars can confirm from other non-British sources<\/a><\/strong> that the fortunes of the Anglo-Saxons went sour around this time. Of particular note, their is a 70 year hole in the list of Anglo-Saxon leaders after the Battle of Mount Badon.<\/p>\n

    Wikipedia lists seven different possible sites for the battle, and says about the debate:<\/p>\n

    \n

    All of these depend on theories or speculations of scholars, built upon a poverty of evidence. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    \"Liddington<\/a><\/div>\n

    So where will I put my Mount Badon? <\/strong>When the battles officially begin in ARTHUR’s BLADE (Book 1 of the Pendragon Spiral, my second series), I am planning on putting it at Liddington Castle<\/a><\/strong>, which lies in Wiltshire close to the city of Baydon.<\/p>\n

    I first learned<\/strong> about the city of Baydon from this blog post<\/a><\/strong>, written by Nicola Cornick, who lives in the area.<\/p>\n

    What is interesting<\/strong> about this is that I was already researching Uffington Castle<\/a><\/strong> and its nearby White Horse<\/a><\/strong> as a possible site for my Battle of Mount Badon, and this is only five miles north of the city Baydon. Quite a surprise to me, actually!<\/p>\n

    So these three form a triangle:<\/strong> Uffington Castle, The City of Baydon, and Liddington Castle. <\/p>\n

    Stay tuned<\/strong> for more about my research into Uffington Castle and some of the legends and lore related to it. Especially the White Horse… especially the White Horse<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    I want to close with a quote from C.S. Lewis’ That Hideous Strength<\/a><\/strong>, (nicely provided by Wikipedia):<\/p>\n

    \"That<\/a><\/div>\n
    \n

    [Merlin] saw in memory the wintry grass on Badon Hill, the long banner of the Virgin fluttering above the British-Roman cataphracts, the yellow-haired barbarians. <\/p>\n

    He heard the snap of the bows, the click-click of steel points in wooden shields, the cheers, the howling, and the ring of struck mail. <\/p>\n

    He remembered also the evening, fires twinkling along the hill, frost making the gashes smart, starlight on a pool fouled with blood, eagles crowding together in the pale sky.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    May my own writing evoke such vision!<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Views: 202<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \nWhen King Arthur gave the people of Britain the gift of life and liberty, he did so at the expense…\n<\/div>\n
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