Король Артур: миф или реальность.
проект по английскому языку (5 класс) на тему

Regional contest of  students’ creative works

«Perspective project»

«Gymnasium «Dmitrov»»

English language

King Arthur: Myth or Reality?

                                                            The author of the work: Podlodnov Michael

                                                                                   the student of the 5th «B» grade

The supervisor: Levanova  Liudmila Vasilievna

English teacher

Dmitrov, 2017

Content

1.

Introduction……………………………………………………………………3

2. The main part….………………………………………………………………5

2.1 King Arthur's origin…………….…………………………………….5

2.2 King Arthur's military activities……………………………………...6

2.3 The legend about King Arthur ……….………………………………7

3.Theoretical part……. ……………………………….……………………….13

3.1. The main point of the King Arthur’s legend .....................................13

4. Practical part………………………………………………….…………...…14

          4.1 Facts about King Arthur’s existence.…………..…………………....14

          4.2 The survey…………………………………………………………...17

Conclusion..........................................................................................................17

        Bibliography........................................................................................................19        

1. Introduction

      King Arthur and his knights are the main characters of English legends and novels. They are well known all over the world. There are poems, paintings, novels, films and musicals about the Knights of the Round Table. Nowadays

Arthur is a symbol of courage, strength and goodness.

     The story about King Arthur and his knights is very old. They say that he was a king of Britain in the years of 400 and 600. In fact, nobody exactly knows who he was.

        A lot of historians from the Middle Ages thought about the question: Did King Arthur really exist? I started to think about this question after reading the book in the English language “Excalibur. Legend of the Sword”.

       The opinions of the scholars are different: some of them think that the

prototype of Arthur has existed; others think that the figure of Arthur is collective. They consider that the leader of the Celtic tribe of Britons who lived during the VI century could be a prototype of Camelot.  To my mind, the name of

legendary King Arthur is closely connected with medieval England. The early history of medieval England is connected with conquests of the British islands.

       According to the legend, King Arthur ruled Britain with his beautiful queen Guinevere. He had about 150 knights at his court at Camelot. He chose them for their goodness and bravery. An old magician Merlin was his close friend and adviser.

 Arthur was a good king and his reign was a time of peace for the British.

       There are many legends about him and few facts. Many poems were written about King Arthur and his knights in the Middle Ages and later. Not every book about them has the same people and stories in it. Writers tried to make the

 stories more interesting and more exciting. At that time people were interested in magic, knights and their ladies. So, people fought with swords and used

magic in these stories. The stories of King Arthur and his knights are full of heroic deeds, adventures, love and hate.

       In the 9th century, a historian called Nennius wrote a book called “Historia Britonum”. It was a history of Britain, about the life of the Celtic leader, Arthur, and his knights. Nennius wrote that Arthur was a great Celtic military leader of the 5th and 6th centuries. He fought against the Saxons from the year 513 to 537. He and his men won many battles against the Saxons. People loved and remembered him for centuries after. There are lots of old ballads, songs, poems and stories about Arthur and his knights.

      In 1470, Sir Thomas Malory wrote about King Arthur and his castle,

Camelot. Today there are many books and films in different languages of this exciting subject. King Arthur is so famous that he is part of the British literary cycle.

      Around the beginning of the VIII century, scientists began to ask the

question about the existence of the real historical figure, whose name was

Arthur. The sources about King Arthur’s activities almost do not exist. He is mentioned only in one medieval chronicle. It says about the battle of the VI century, in which King Arthur has taken part. Most probably, he was neither a king nor a prince, but he simply commanded a combat squad.

 There is no evidence of the King Arthur’s existence, but I want to find it very much…

The aim of the research work is to find out if King Arthur really existed.

To reach the aim I have set the following tasks: 

• to  study  reference, documentary, publicistic literature on the research topic;
• to investigate the legend about King Arthur;
• to explore the myths about  King Arthur;
• to find the facts, which prove the existence of King Arthur;
• to conduct a survey among the students of  my class to know their opinion about King Arthur ;
• to make my own  conclusion  based on this information.

Hypothesis: King Arthur is the real historical figure.

The subject of the research: the legends and myths, which tell us about the real existence of King Arthur.

The methods of the research: search, research, questionnaires, comparison, analysis, generalization.

2. The main part

2.1 King Arthur’s origin

We don’t know almost anything about the period from 407, when

Constantin took the legions away from Britain. We don’t have any written

evidence from that time. The evidence, which is saved from the history are half-legends.

The Erlihman’s analysis helped to find out King Arthur’s place of birth – it is the south –west of Britain, where during the V century there was the

stability that helped him to have at least minimal education and to have a good place in the society.

Legendary Logreus situated there, however Arthur maybe was not its king. The archeological evidence proves it.

The date of Arthur’s birth is not clear, approximately 472 year. The date of his death is about 542 year. His activities cover the first half of the VI century.

According to Erlihman, Arthur was a Romanian Briton, who gathered a squad and had a lot of victories against Saxons. Then he became a commander in chief of the union of Britons Kingdoms of the South-West.  This version seems to be real for me.

During 200 years of researches a lot of people, not considering demons and gods, described Arthur’s legendary deeds. However, thanks to the sources that are available for us, we can say, that Arthur is a real person.

2.2 King Arthur's military activities

All legends tell that the main King Arthur’s and his knights’ activities was a war. We know two different lists of his battles. Nennius has made the first list. He tells about 12 battles in which King Arthur commanded Britons and won his enemies, who were Anglo-Saxons.

“The first battle took place next to the river Glean. The second, the third, the fourth and the fifth took place next to another river - Dubglas, in the

 province Linnuis. The sixth battle took place next to the river Bassas, the

seventh - in the Celadon forest. The eights battle took place next to the castle Gvinnon, where Arthur carried the image of St. Mary; that day pagans ran away from the city. The ninth battle took place in the city of Legion, the tenth- on the bench of the river Tribruit, the eleventh- near the mountain Agned, the twelfth- near the mountain Baon”. [5].

We can think that Nennius’s list is historical; however, it’s not so easy. We can find only four places of battles out of twelve: Baden, Lindsey,
Coit-Kelidon and the City of Legion. The other ones are not certain.

The real image of King Arthur’s wars can be made based on the list of Nennius and other sources. The first war in Baden, where they won against Saxons. The second war was against Saxons in Lindsey. They wanted not only to defeat the enemies, but also to unite the kings. The small army of Arthur was not able to conquer this territory, that’s why they made non-aggression pact.

Two more battles took place on the North of Britain, which could be

between 510 and 520 years. The North battles and small wars of Arthur are not certain. Thanks to wars and some diplomatic ways, King Arthur began to

command with the West part of England, Midland, a part of the North and a lot of regions of Wales.

The reality of his campaign is not certain. Probably it was only a small war in order to help an ally in Armorik.

A lot of people say that the events took place very far from each other. Arthur commanded an army, which travelled from one part of the country to

 another and joined with local forces. King Arthur was not very successful in the battles against Anglo-Saxons. However, the horsemen defeated Britons and Irish. King Arthur himself did not ride a horse very well, because he ride a calm mare. Different sources prove that King Arthur not only took horses from Gaul, but also tried to raise them in Britain.

To join his army he used the new way, not joining people by relationship, but by devotion to the leader. Anglo- Saxons used this way as well. Probably, King Arthur joined his people by inspiring to fight against enemies. King

Arthur’s fame helped him to join foreigners to his army.

Soldiers of other kingdoms stood in the watchtowers, which were built by Romans along the coast. A big system of military fortifications protected the country on the land.  Special concentration of the fortifications was on the West of Britain that proves, that there lived King Arthur, who, not being a king, was able to conquer a large territory.

Arthur’s “state within a state” existed for about 40 years – from Baden to Kamlan. Almost all the time wars took place, in the beginning they were wars only with Anglo- Saxons. Long before Arthur’s death, internal wars began, in which he took an active part.

To conclude everything, I would like to say that in the beginning of the career Arthur fought with foreign enemies, but in the end, he had to get involved with internal wars of Britons.

2.3 The legend about King Arthur

The popularity of King Arthur in the medieval culture begins with the book “The History of Britons” (Historia Britonum or Historia regum Britanniae, between 1132-1137) by Galfridus Monemutensis. Probably, it is one of the most important books of the Middle Ages, which includes a lot of historical facts. Galfridus makes Arthur a great figure: “he possessed not only the whole Britain, but also a large part of Europe – Gaul and Scandinavia; he defeats even Roman emperor”. [6].

       Many years ago there lived a great and noble king Uther Pendragon. He ruled the country wisely and brought peace to England. Other places were very dangerous at that times but people did not fight in Uther’s country. Uther loved a beautiful woman, Igraine, and he wanted to marry her. But she did not love him and he was very sad about that [4, p.3].

        Uther had a counsellor named Merlin. Merlin was a very clever man and knew a lot of magic. He could change into an animal or bird. Sometimes, when he used magic, nobody could see him. He also helped people with his magic, and one day he came to King Uther.

       ‘You can marry Igraine,’ he said. ‘I will help you. But when you have a child, you will have to give the boy to me’.

       ‘I will give him to you,’ said the King. He married Igraine and later they had a baby son. They called him Arthur. When Arthur was three days old, a very old man arrived at the door of the King’s house. It was Merlin [4, p.4].

         ‘King Uther,’ said Merlin, ‘I can see into the future. Very soon, you will become ill and you will die. It will be a terrible time. There will be great wars in Britain. Your son will be in danger because your enemies will want to kill him. Let me take him away. He will live in a secret place there until he becomes a man.’

Uther and Igraine got very unhappy but they believed Merlin.

        ‘Take our child to a safe place,’ said King Uther. ‘He must be out of danger.’

So, one dark night, Merlin took the baby away. He brought him to the castle of a good knight Sir Ector. The knight promised to take good care of the baby.

        Merlin took Arthur under his care in order to protect him. When Uther died, Merlin decided to tell the boy the truth about his royal origin. Merlin taught Arthur military art, helped him to seize the country. [4, p.5].

      The next sixteen years were terrible. There were many wars. Many castles and villages were burnt. The people needed a strong ruler to bring peace to

Britain.

 Merlin decided that it was time to reveal his secret. He went to London with a

message for the Archbishop. Lords and ladies from all over the land came to hear what Merlin had to say.

       ‘I have great news,’ said Merlin. ‘This land will soon have a new king. He will be wiser and nobler than Uther Pendragon. The new king will bring peace to this land. There will be no war and hunger in England.’

Merlin told the Archbishop to gather all the knights in the biggest church. [4, p. 8].

      On Christmas Day, all the noblemen were in the great church. Outside the church there was a big stone with a sword in it. The sun shone on the sword and it looked very strong. The knights were excited, and started to talk about it.

‘Where did it come from?’  

‘How did it get here?’

‘Who brought the stone here? We didn’t see anybody. And who put the sword in it?’

On the stone  there were the  words:  ONLY THE KING CAN TAKE THE SWORD FROM THE STONE.

      Every knight tried to pull the sword out of the stone. Nobody could do it – the sword did not come out. The knights pulled and pulled. But they could not move the sword.

‘Our king is not here,’ said the Archbishop. ‘But I know that we will find him’        The Archbishop decided to send messengers across the land.

‘You will tell our people about the tournament on New Year’s Day. Everyone can try to pull the sword out of the stone,’ the Archbishop said. [4, p.7].

      So on New Year’s Day, the knights, as their custom was, went to hear

 service in the Great Church, and after it was over they met in the field to make ready for the tourney. Among them was a brave Knight called Sir Ector, who brought with him Sir Kay, his son, and Arthur, Kay’s foster-brother. Now Kay had unbuckled his sword the evening before, and in his haste to be at the tourney had forgotten to put it on again, and he begged Arthur to ride back and fetch it for him.

        But when Arthur reached the house the door was locked, for the women had gone out to see the tourney, and though Arthur tried his best to get in he could not. Then he rode away in great anger, and said to himself, ‘Kay will not be without a sword this day. I will take that sword in the churchyard, and give it to him’; and he galloped fast till he reached the gate of the churchyard. Here he jumped down and tied his horse tightly to a tree, then, running up to the stone, he seized the handle of the word, and drew it easily out; afterwards he mounted his horse again, and delivered the sword to Sir Kay. The moment Sir Kay saw the sword he knew it was not his own but the sword of the stone, and he sought out his father Sir Ector, and said to him, ‘Sir, this is the 8 sword of the stone, therefore I am the rightful King.’ Sir Ector made no answer, but signed to Kay and Arthur to follow him [4, p.10].

       They went back to the place outside the church, and Sir Ector put the sword in the stone again.

‘Now pull it out,’ he said to Arthur.

Arthur pulled it out. It came out as easily as a knife out of butter. Sir Ector saw this and took Arthur’s hand.

‘You are my king,’ he said.

Arthur did not understand. What did his father mean?

‘Arthur,’ Sir Ector said slowly, ‘I love you very much, but I am not really your father. Merlin, the famous man of magic, brought you to me when you were a small child. I took you into my family because he asked me. Now I know that you are the king’

‘I will try to be a good king,’ said Arthur. ‘And I will listen to your words,

 because you are my father. Sir Kay, my brother, you will be an important knight and a friend to me.’

      Then they went to the Archbishop and told him everything. The knights were angry. They did not think that Arthur was really the king. So, the

Archbishop called all the knights to the stone.

     Arthur put the sword back into the stone. Every knight tried again to take it out, but it did not move. Then they watched and Arthur pulled it out easily.

Everybody shouted ‘Arthur is our king! Arthur is our king!’

     So, King Arthur began a new life. He took his horse and went through the country with his knights. Sometimes they had to fight bad men but they were not afraid. Arthur was a good king, and his knights were brave. His country was a quiet place again [4, p.15].

       One day Arthur broke his magical sword. Then Merlin promised him a new sword Excalibur. Elves from Avalon made this sword especially for Arthur. This sword could win an enemy without any mistake. However, there was one very important condition: it was possible to use the sword only for a kind did. When the time came, Arthur would have to return the sword to the elves from Avalon. [4, p.19].

Once upon a time young King Arthur met a daughter of the king

Leodegrans whom he had saved one day. Her name was Guinevere. Arthur fell in love with her from the first sight. They got married and lived happily in

Camelot. [4, p.25-26].

 In Camelot Arthur gathered a team of the bravest knights of the kingdom, among them was Lancelot, Gawain, Galahad and others. Nobody knew for sure, how many knights were with Arthur, in some sources it was said that they were 100. They thought that the creation of the big round table for the knights was Guinevere’s idea. Thanks to the table, the knights fell equal with the king.

[4, p.30].

Merlin visited Camelot very often in order to see Arthur and to motivate the knights to do good things. The Knights of the Round Table always helped the people from the low classes of the society. They won dragons, wizards and other bad creatures, protecting kings and princesses. Their main goal of their pilgrimage was searching Holy Grail, from which Jesus drank during the time of Lord’s Supper, and where later his blood was.

King Arthur loved his friend Lancelot and his wife Guinevere. He knew that they loved each other, but he behaved, as he did not know about it. Arthur preferred not to see, that he did not want, considering peace in the kingdom more important than personal relationship. It helped his enemies, especially Mordred (according to some sources he was Arthur’s nephew).

One day Mordred and 12 Knights of the Round Table wanted to see the king, and they came into his room, where they saw how Lancelot apologized to Guinevere. Lancelot became angry, he killed almost all his friends and went away from Camelot with Guinevere. Arthur went to find them and left Mordred instead of him. [4, p.44-46].

On the way, Guinevere understood all her sins and asked Lancelot to take her to the nunnery.

 Mordred tried to seize the power and to subdue the people. Arthur went back to Camelot, where enemies had been waiting for him. On the coast Saxon’s army of Mordred kept him. He died from the hand of his nephew; however, he had time to injure Mordred. People took Arthur to the Avalon, where he threw his sword away into the lake. [4, p.48-50].

According to some legends, a beautiful story about the courageous king of the medieval England did not finish and Arthur only sleeps in the Avalon even now, and he is always ready to wake up and protect Britain from the real danger.

There is a legend that during the time of the late Middle Ages, one boy was lost in the forest and he found a cage.  Next to the entrance, there was a horn and an inscription in the ancient language. However, the boy could

understand it. On the inscription, it was written: “Here lies Arthur, the king in the past and the king in the future”. The boy came inside blowing into the horn. He saw that with the sound he woke the knights up. One of them asked the boy if the time came. They boy was afraid and he told that the time did not come and ran away. Only after that he remembered the old legend, he wanted to find this cage again, but could not. That is why, even now, King Arthur is sleeping and waiting, when someone will tell him to wake up. This myth will live until people will dream of a strong kingdom, which Arthur will bring for them.

3. Theoretical part

3.1 The main point of the King Arthur’s legend

King Arthur is one of the most legendary characters who has an official

biography.

There is no better time in the mythology of the Old England, then the time of King Arthur and his knights, when during the time of the medieval darkness the devotion to the country came.

Lucius Artorius Castus, Roman Avosiy Aurelian (successfully defeated Saxons), Charles the Great with his 12 Paladins are considered to be the main prototypes of Arthur.

According to the fact, that the main enemies of Camelot, Saxons, lived in 450 years, and the first information about Arthur appeared in the works of Gildas in 560 years, we can make a conclusion that Arthur lived during 500 AD.

The main figures of the story about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table are the characters, who influenced on the prosperity and fall of the whole United Kingdom. King Arthur was the only son of the Highest King of Britain Uther Pendragon.  Galfrid tells about close relations between Britons and Romans; the rulers of Britain are the ancestors of King Arthur and they are

genealogically connected with famous Romans.

The legend about King Arthur is popular in the literature of the XX century. It is used in about 140 literary works. Very often authors make the legend more modern in order to make it closer to the reader.

The analyses of the modern understanding of the legend helps to make a

conclusion that King Arthur, Merlin and other characters are very popular

 figures for the contemporary people. The legend became more understandable for people of all ages and education.

Thus, the interest to the legendary figure in the English history is still

actual. The connection with ancestors is made thanks to literature. The plot about King Arthur is used in different movies, paintings and sculptures.

Arthur is a kind of God, who has left this world only for a short period in order to make it a heaven.

4. Practical part

4.1 Facts about King Arthur’s existence

I have studied not only informational, documental and publicistic, but also myths and legends about King Arthur. Now I can give 12 facts, proving his

existence:

Fact 1. Looking for the facts, that prove the existence of King Arthur, I studied the research of David Carroll. He could divide the legends about King Arthur from the truth about him.

 Jeoffrey de Monmouth lived in the XII century and tried to write the

history of British kings. He was first to mention about King Arthur. He made a beautiful story about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. He put them to either Cornell or Wales. However, Carroll started his research from the Southern Scotland. During the VI century there lived Britons, on the North - Picts, on the South - Saxons. On the North West (now Argyle) there was the kingdom of Scotts Dalriada. That time Scotts fought against Saxons and Britons. During the second half of the VI century a famous military leader appeared. His name was Arturius and he was the eldest son of one of the Scots kings.

Fact 2. From the XII century people connect King Arthur with the abbey

 Glastonbury, which is located on the South-west of England. This legend

appeared in 1191 year, when the monks of this abbey declared that they had found King Arthur’s and his wife’s graves.

According to the legend, King Arthur was buried in Avalon (translation “Apple Island”). Thus, we can say that Glastonbury is Avalon. However, since 601 year this place was called Ineswitrin (“Grass Island”). Why did monks tell that there was a grave of Arthur in their abbey? The reason is obvious. In 1184, the fire destroyed the abbey and the monks needed money for reconstruction. Monks found relics of saint people and a lot of pilgrims came to their abbey. Hopefully, the real copy of the manuscript was saved and we can see which parts monks have added.

Fact 3. The work “History of Britons" by the monk Nennius was another interesting source. The monk described 12 battles, in which Arthur had taken part. Some of the battles took place on the territory of South Scotland and North England. The places where Britons fought with Saxons during the end of VI century during Saxon’s expansion to the north of Britain.

Fact 4. We can find a piece of information about Arthur in some poems of Wales. All poems connect Arthur with Scotland; however, he is not mentioned as a king.

Fact 5. Probably everybody has heard about the magician Merlin. Merlin was a real figure. He was a bard, a Druid of the pagan prince of Gwendldaw at the end of VI century. After the death of the prince, Merlin became mad; he was hiding in the forest. British King Ryderrch, Arthur’s ally, took Merlin to himself.

Fact 6. “Life of St. Columba” by Adomnan is one of the most important historical documents. Adomnan tells there about Arthur and some other contemporaries of St. Columba, which have some similarities with the characters from the legend about King Arthur.

Fact 7. During VI century, there were some kingdoms on the territory of Southern Scotland. Briton’s kings reigned those kingdoms. One of the Kingdom on the west coast in the region of Falkrik was called Mannan. This kingdom was far from Scott’s kingdom Dalriada; however, the king there was also a Scott. Probably until 574 year, Aidan was a king there. In 574 Aidan became a king of the state of Scotts Dalriada, his eldest son Arthur reigned Mannan. He took part in pagan wars with Picts and Saxons.

Fact 8. There is an evidence, which proves the real existence of legendary Camelot. It was a fortress, built by romans on the bench of the river Carron, when they wanted to seize Scotland. Camelot came from Picts to Scots and another way, finally, it became a territory of Mannan. Today, 2 miles from Falkrik, we can find a town Camelot. In the end of XVI century people saw there some remainings from the walls of the fortress and houses. None of these places can prove, that there was a military leader Arthur during VI century.

Fact 9. Where did the last Arthur’s battle appear? According to the legends that battle was next to Camallan. Carol proved that the battle took place in 582 on the bank of the river Allan, on the north of the river Forth. Morgana, Arthur’s sister, brought her injured brother to the legendary island Avalon.  Did that

 island really exist? Caroll said that it was a part of the land, surrounded by the rivers Forth, Teith and Allan from three sides.

Fact 10. Carol managed to find the translation of the ancient manuscript in the library of the British museum. In that manuscript there was information that

Aidan had a daughter Morgein!

Fact 11. There are some places in Scotland connected with the name of Arthur. Arthur’s seat is in Edinburg. Mountain Ben Arthur is next to the lake Loch Lomond. Probably they were named after Arthur from the legends, English king, who fought against Scots.

Fact 12. The Round Table. What is the origin of this name? If we consider the existence of Avalon and Camelot to be proved, then we should find the Round table in this place. Between the river Forth and the castle Sterling there is a little mountain, which is called Kings Knot, in modern English it means Round Table. A poet Barbour mentioned this place with the name of the Round Table in the novel “The Bruce”, 1370. Willian of Worcester was the next to mention Round Table in his chronic. This mark on the landscape we can see even today next to the cliff, where the castle Sterling is situated. Definitely, 14 centuries ago it looked differently. Probably it was a hill next to which King Arthur’s knights had got a meeting before the battle with Picts.

4.2 The survey

And what do my classmates think about King Arthur? What do they know about this legendary man?  Is he a real person or a myth? I conducted a survey among my classmates and learned their opinion. According to my research, 30 pupils from our gymnasium were questioned about King Arthur. The results of my survey you can see in this diagram.  (Supplement 1)

 60% think that King Arthur was a myth while 40% are sure he was a real

 person.  

Conclusion

Making a conclusion, if King Arthur from the legend and from the history was the same person, I think he definitely was! There are too many coincidents: Arthur from the legend was the contemporary of king Uther and magician Merlin, Arthur from the legend had a fortress Camelot, he died during the battle with Picts, he had got a sister Morgana, he was an ally of Briton’s kings. The historical Arthur had the same characteristics!

Historians could not find the name Arthur in historical documents. According to Caroll’s mind there wasn’t such a name that time, there was a name of Artur or Arturius. Thanks to Carroll’s researches, we can say that he lived in the country, which now is called Scotland.

Most of us probably have heard or read the legends about mysterious King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. A lot of historians think that the legends about King Arthur are connected with the real leader of one of the tribes, which existed between V-VI centuries.

The memory about King Arthur is saved not only in Britain, but also in Wales.

The legends about him are coming from one generation to another, step by step making this story more beautiful.

As for me, I don’t consider Arthur to be a mysterious person, a superman, who fought with dragons, I consider him to be a real person, a historical figure. His life became legendary, it inspired the next generations of Britons to fight.

I admire King Arthur, because he was noble, wise and brave, and I think he is one of the most important heroes on the Earth.

Bibliography

1. Легенда о короле Артуре // Новые мифы, дата публикации – 27.05.2010 г. URL: http://www.newmif.ru/mifologija/58 
2. Неценко О.В. Вероятные исторические прототипы. // Книжний вестник, 2011
3. Король в прошлом, король в грядущем // Путь к замку Грааля URL: http://www.king-artur.ru/prochlogo_i_griaduchego   
4. Чесова Н.Н.    Excalibur (Экскалибур). М.: Айрис Пресс, 2015. 76 с.
5. Nennius - Historia Brittonum- Arthur's 12 Battles.

http://www.caerleon.net/history/arthur/nennius/page4.html

6. Galfridus Monemutensis.  The History of the Britons. The Life Of Merlin - М., 2008.
7. Cotterell, A. The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology / A. Cotterell. – London, 2010.  
8. David F. Carroll "Arturius. A Quest For Camelot", 1996 г.
9. Tempest, D. King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table / D. Tempest. – Penguin Readers, 2008.
10.  Arthurian Legend. [Electronic resource]. Mode of access:

  http://www.arthurian-legend.com/origins-king-arthur/

11. King Arthur: History and Legends. [Electronic resource]. Mode of access:

     http://www.britannia.com/history/arthur/cadcast.html

12. UXL Encyclopedia of world mythology. – USA: UXL, 2008.