Arthur Pendragon is the supreme king of the Britons. History of Great Britain

In the epic of each people there is a hero whose features depict an ideal of valor and patriotism. As a rule, it is fictional and it is only the embodiment of the dream of the triumph of good. We have Ilya Muromets, the Finns - Kalevala, and the British - their legendary King Arthur Pendragon, who became the central character of countless novels, stage productions, and in recent years and screenplays.

The hero from the pages of the ancient epic

For a long time, the researchers unsuccessfully tried to find documentary evidence proving the existence of its historical prototype. Since it was not possible to do this, it was decided not to finally take this character to the category of fiction, to rely on his life story mainly on what the most ancient legends brought to us. This is not the case only in England. The historicity of our Prince Rurik is also questioned by many scientists, but this does not prevent us from believing everything that the chronicler Nestor writes about him .

In the teachings of the magician

The family tree of the Pendragons, which had its roots on British chernozem, occasionally yielded very interesting results. For example, it is known that the birth of King Arthur himself was the result of the intrigues of the magician Merlin. In the VI century, under the influence of his sorcerous charms, King Uther blazed with a passion for the young duchess Igrein and, finding a plausible excuse, killed her old frail husband in a duel, having received a beautiful widow as a reward. Starting this questionable case, Merlin set the king's condition that, as payment for help, he would receive from him for the upbringing of the child, who will be born. And when the future King Arthur Pendragon was born, he was immediately sent to the castle sorcerer.

The magic sword that opened the way to the throne

Further, the legend tells that in a few years the duchess Igrein had to be widowed again. King Uther, whose wife she became after he killed her husband, was poisoned by the approximate, which was quite in line with the spirit of those times. After his death, the throne remained vacant for some time. Young Arthur, having received secret magical knowledge from his mentor, continued his education with the old and very worthy knight Sir Hector.

Britain could not long remain without a legitimate king, and she had to choose a new one. Not this time, without the intrigues of the wizard Merlin, who led the elections. Each of the pretenders to the throne had to pass the test - to try to pull out the sword stuck into the stone. No matter how other candidates sweated, none of them succeeded, and only the young Arthur Pendragon, who had mastered the lessons of his mentor, easily coped with the assignment and became the king of Britain.

Victory over the opposition

But it turned out that not everything is so simple. Those courtiers who had recently poisoned his father, did not recognize the legality of the elections and, together with some neighboring monarchs, having gathered a good army, went to Arthur's war. It's hard to say what would have happened if the newly-made King of Britons had not found reliable allies in the face of two overseas warriors Bana and Borsa. With the help of magic and these two thugs, he successfully defeated his enemies, and began to reign for the joy of all survivors. His capital, Arthur Pendragon, made the glorious city of Camelot.

Magic Sword Excalibur

Resting from public affairs, the young king indulged in purely chivalrous pleasures - summoning up arrogant British aristocrats and dashing them with the same magic sword that he once pulled from the stone. This continued until one day the cherished sword broke. As the legend tells, this annoying incident prevented Arthur from sending his next adversary, Sir Pelinor, to the patriarchs, which he was unspeakably happy with.

Consoled the warlike king is the same Merlin, who became for help during the election by one of the trustees. He presented the king with a new sword, forged by the order of elves, who lived along the shores of Lake Vatelin. These cute fairy creatures set a condition: Arthur Pendragon would only fight for a just cause and, in addition, undertakes to return it within the prescribed time limit. The sword they made possessed a secret power that allowed them to smash the enemy on their own, and remained unscathed. He was called Excalibur.

Creation of a round table

To make his capital Camelot worthy of splendor, Arthur gathered in it all the noblest and valiant knights of the time, and that they did not interrupt each other because of a more or less honorable place at the table, he made a very wise decision, making the table round - so that no one Was not offensive. Since then, the expression "round table" has become not just a designation of an attribute that creates convenience during negotiations, but a symbol of equality of those present.

Fatal marriage

Like all the kings of Britain, the young monarch spent his days in campaigns, tournaments and feasts. This continued until he married. His chosen one was the daughter of a neighboring king - the young beauty of Guinevere. By the way, the wizard Merlin very much discouraged him from this marriage. It is not known, whether the future was seen in a supernatural way, or simply saw that the girl was very spoiled and nothing good would come of it. Anyway, the wedding took place.

Soon Merlin's fears were confirmed. It so happened that Arthur's young wife was kidnapped while walking by a certain baron Meligrans. The ohalnik took her to his castle, but before he could give way to the criminal passion, he was killed by the knight of the round table, Sir Lancelot, who recognized the misfortune that had happened and hurried to the aid of a beautiful lady. Guinevere was so grateful to him for her salvation, that she immediately betrayed her husband from the excess of feelings. Their novel did not end there.

New woes

The fact that the young queen violates marital fidelity, Arthur was informed by his nephew (and according to some versions, an illegitimate son) - an evil and insidious schemer Mordred. About morality in those centuries was strict. An adulterous wife was sent to the fire, and Arthur hastened to arrange this pleasure for her. But, to his regret, the lovers managed to escape, and the first ship sailed to France, where such things were looked through. Beneath a thirst for vengeance, Arthur followed them, leaving his vicar Mordred as informer.

He could not overtake the fugitives, but when he came back he found out about a new trouble: in his absence Mordred usurped power, declaring himself a monarch. It was because of what to become dejected. Even yesterday, a brilliant king and a happy husband, Arthur lost both the crown and his wife. With the latter, he had already resigned himself, but it was not so easy to give up power in his customs. Gathering the army out of knights loyal to him, he gave battle to his nephew in the Kammlanskoye field.

Death of Arthur

The description of what happened on that fateful day, occupies an important place in the writings of all the biographers of the king. It was a grand battle, in which all the legendary figures of the time came together. It lasted from sunrise to sunset. They write that the whole British army died in it. Found his death and scoundrel Mordred, having before this mortally wounded the legitimate king. With his death, the family tree of the Pendragons withered.

Before giving up the spirit, Arthur ordered his friend Sir Bedivere to return the magic sword Excalibur to the elves on Lake Vatelin. When he closed his eyelids, his body was buried on the island of Avalon. There is a legend that Arthur's death is just a dream that will be interrupted when a disaster breaks out over his beloved Britain, and he will rise from the grave to save her.