Following the devastating war in Gaul, Arthur's Men have returned to Britain bearing a terrible secret while stories abound of Arthur's continuing triumphs across the sea. Prosperity and peace are the rule in King Arthur's Golden Age, but storms gather.The looming conflicts threaten more than any border or throne. The course of history, the future of the British people, will be decided by the actions of a very few.
Fifteen hundred years have turned history into legend...After three generations of struggle against ruthless invaders, Britain has finally clawed its way back within reach of peace and prosperity. Across the sea, Rome is crumbling under an onslaught of barbarian attacks, internal corruption and civil war. Desperate for allies, Rome's last great emperor looks to Britain and the rising fame of her High King, Arthur.Arthur believes the coming war is inevitable, but many are opposed. Dissent, intrigue and betrayal threaten to tear the fragile British alliance apart from within, while the enemies of Britain wait for the first sign of weakness.Meanwhile, Gawain, a young warrior craving fame, is swept up in Arthur's wake as the king raises an army. While Gawain's wife and kin face their own struggles at home, the young warrior finds himself taking on more than he bargained for, and heading into the greatest battle his people have faced in generations.The Retreat to Avalon is the exciting beginning of the historical fiction trilogy The Arthurian Age, introducing readers to the origins of King Arthur and the world he lived and fought for.
Archaeologist Donald Gladstone knows there is no solid evidence that King Arthur ever existed, yet medieval tales of this legendary warrior must have found their inspiration somewhere, and Donald is determined to discover their true source. A chance encounter with the beguiling Julia Llewellyn, a gifted linguist working for the Oxford English Dictionary, sets Donald’s quest—and his life—on a new and unexpected course. An astonishing archaeological discovery made near Stonehenge lands King Arthur in the headlines, throwing Donald and Julia back into each other’s paths as they follow the elusive clues embedded in an old Welsh battle poem. Their journey through the English and Welsh countryside, from Oxford’s hallowed Bodleian Library to the magical sites of Tintagel and Glastonbury and beyond, will intersect in unforeseen ways with their own troubled lives, and will lead them at last to a deeper understanding of the origins of Arthur. Sean Pidgeon’s debut novel is at once a suspenseful literary and archaeological treasure hunt and a poignant contemporary love story.
The author has determined in an earlier McFarland book (The Historic King Arthur, 1996, paperback 2007) that there was not a historic King Arthur during the sixth century. However, as listed in The Historia Brittonum, there was a "great king of all the kings of Britain" named Ambrosius Aurelianus who was conflated with a heroic Arthur of the second century, and hence with the legendary King Arthur. To further authenticate the Celtic/Romano "King Arthur,"--that is, Ambrosius--the author here examines seven major historical figures of the period A.D. 383-500 based upon the Genealogical Preface of The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the emendation of dates in that chronicle. Those seven allies and adversaries are Vortigern, Vortimer, Vitalinus, Cunedda, Cerdic, Octha, and Mordred. Through an extensive analysis of Arthur's 12 battles listed in the Historia Brittonum, this work explores both the influences of the High King's allies, and the shifting allegiances of his enemies. A battle list provides possible geographic locations for each of the battles, including a new site for Arthur's fateful battle at Camlann.
Did King Arthur really exist? The Reign of Arthur takes a fresh look at the early sources describing Arthur's career and compares them to the reality of Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries. It presents, for the first time, both the most up to date scholarship and a convincing case for the existence of a real sixth-century British general called Arthur. Where others speculate wildly or else avoid the issue, Gidlow, remaining faithful to the sources, deals directly with the central issue of interest to the general reader: does the Arthur that we read of in the ninth-century sources have any link to a real leader of the fifth or sixth century? Was Arthur a powerful king or a Dark Age general co-cordinating the British resistance to Saxon invaders? Detailed analysis of the key Arthurian sources, contemporary testimony and archaeology reveals the reality of fragmented British kingdoms uniting under a single military command to defeat the Saxons. There is plausible and convincing evidence for the existence of their war-leader, and, in this challenging and provocative work, Gidlow concludes that the Dark Age hypothesis of Arthur, War-leader of the Kings of the Britons, not only fits the facts, it is the only way of making sense of them.
Everything you ever wanted to know about King Arthur and his knights is covered in this fascinating volume: the origins of the Grail legend, the Tristan and Isolde love story in opera and literature, Spielberg's use of Arthurian motifs in Star Wars , the depiction of Arthur in paintings, the presentation of Camelot on the Broadway stage, the twitting of the legend in Monty Python and the Holy Grail and much more. This critical survey of Arthurian history and legend, archaeology, literature, and the arts from the fifth century to the present provides an introduction for the general reader and a useful summary for the specialist. It offers both historical facts and key discussions on Arthurian subjects, from post-Roman Britain to the most recent novels and films. There is a lengthy glossary of Arthurian characters, motifs, and places, a chronology of major historical and literary items, a guide to pronunciation, and a full bibliography. What's new in the Second Edition:All the material has been revised and updated to 1996 since the original 1988 edition; The chapter on modern literature has been thoroughly revised, with new material on writings from France, Germany, England, and America; The coverage of King Arthur in the arts has entirely rewritten by one of the premier authorities in Arthurian studies. Brand-new geneological charts of the ancestry of Arthur and his family and the Grail kings and knights.; A fully up-to-date chronology; Many new illustrations.
Enter the legendary world of medieval Wales in these three full length series starters! Cold My Heart: Love. Magic. Faith. By the autumn of 537 AD, all who are loyal to King Arthur have retreated to a small parcel of land in north Wales. They are surrounded on all sides, heavily outnumbered, and facing near certain defeat. But Myrddin and Nell, two of the king's companions, have a secret that neither has ever been able to face: each has seen that on a cold and snowy day in December, Saxon soldiers sent by Modred will ambush and kill King Arthur. And together, they must decide what they are willing to do, and to sacrifice, to avert that fate. The Last Pendragon: Enter a world of myth and magic in dark age Wales! Rhiann knows that demons walk the night. She has been taught to fear them. But from the moment Cade is dragged before her father's throne, beaten and having lost all of his men to her father's treachery, he stirs something inside her that she has never felt before. When Cade is revealed to be not only Arthur's heir but touched by the sidhe, Rhiann must choose between the life she left behind and the one before her--and how much she is willing to risk to follow her heart. Daughter of Time: Time travel to Medieval Wales ... A medieval man with an uncertain destiny, Llywelyn, the Prince of Wales, faces treachery and deceit at the hands of friends and foes alike. When Meg slips through time into medieval Wales, the pair must navigate the shifting allegiances that threaten the very existence of Wales–and create their own history that defies the laws of time. Open the door to an alternate world of princes and castles in the prequel to the After Cilmeri series!
From Atlantis to Nostradamus, Masons to Templars, Lionel and Patricia Fanthorpe have explored some of the greatest mysteries in this world and beyond. Now they attempt to answer even more questions about vampires, Sasquatch, and the Pyramids. No element of the unknown is safe from the Fanthorpes scrutinizing eyes.
This special 16-book bundle collects fearless investigations into the paranormal from the pens of Lionel and Patricia Fanthorpe, who for several decades been researching and writing about ancient and eternal mysteries. Their entertaining and thought-provoking works span numerous topics, from numerology, freemasonry, voodoo, satanism and witchcraft to the very nature of death and time. Additionally, they have produced numerous volumes examining the great unexplained mysteries and places of history, including The Bible, European castles, strange murders, arcane objects of power, the mysterious depths of the sea and remarkable people. Take a strange and beautiful trip to the mystical side of life in this special set! Includes Death Mysteries and Secrets of Numerology Mysteries and Secrets of the Masons Mysteries and Secrets of the Templars Mysteries and Secrets of Time Mysteries and Secrets of Voodoo, Santeria, and Obeah Satanism and Demonology Secrets of the World’s Undiscovered Treasures The Big Book of Mysteries The Oak Island Mystery The World’s Greatest Unsolved Mysteries The World’s Most Mysterious Castles The World’s Most Mysterious Murders The World’s Most Mysterious Objects The World’s Most Mysterious People Unsolved Mysteries of the Sea
