King Arthur

[Reposted from main Folklore thread]

I saw a couple of interesting items about King Arthur:

Jason Colavito discussed David Carroll's theory about the identity of King Arthur - that he was Arturius, son of King Aedan of Dal Riada. Apparently Carroll is offering £50,000 to anyone who can prove his theory wrong - an impossible task, even though Colavito points out that his statements in support of it are demonstrably flawed, and the theory itself is more than 20 years old. (This Arturius lived later than the conventional date of King Arthur, and it's been suggested he was named after him.)
http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/david-carroll-offers-50000-to-prove-his-king-arthur-theory-wrong

On a (slightly) more serious note, a slate windowsill with some seventh-century graffiti carved on it has been found at Tintagel. English Heritage says this "lends further weight to the theory that Tintagel was a royal site with a literate Christian culture":
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/06/14/ancient-doodle-discovered-windowsill-tintagel-castle-evidence/

Of course, Tintagel is also the site where the "Artognou Stone" was found, bearing an apparently sixth-century inscription which has been interpreted as referring to Artognou, descendant of Paternus Colus - which to some signified Arthur, descendant of Coel Hen (the legendary founder of Colchester or Camulodunum). Sadly, expert opinion seems to be that Artognou can't be Arthur, Colus can't be Coel, and Colchester was named after the River Colne).

It seems common in legends like these to create a single character out of a group of individuals.  Merlin for example was thought by some to be just such a composite that included Taliesin the bard among others.

Mysterious Universe has an article on the discovery of medieval fragments of an Arthurian romance whose text differs from the version(s) previously known. This is a version of part of the 13th-century Estoire de Merlin:
https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2019/02/a...een-found/

Here is the Bristol University press release explaining the find:
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2019/janu...rlin-.html

I think MU is being over-optimistic in asking whether biographical revelations about Merlin are likely to emerge from the manuscripts (and I'm not sure whether the fragments themselves are supposed to be 13th-century, or only a version of a 13th-century text). But it's always interesting when previously unknown medieval texts are discovered.

Mysterious Universe has an article on the discovery of medieval fragments of an Arthurian romance whose text differs from the version(s) previously known. This is a version of part of the 13th-century Estoire de Merlin:
https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2019/02/a...een-found/

Here is the Bristol University press release explaining the find:
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2019/janu...rlin-.html

I think MU is being over-optimistic in asking whether biographical revelations about Merlin are likely to emerge from the manuscripts (and I'm not sure whether the fragments themselves are supposed to be 13th-century, or only a version of a 13th-century text). But it's always interesting when previously unknown medieval texts are discovered.

Awesome find Chris!