Concept of a Legend

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Concepts of Arthur
Thomas Green 
Tempus, 2007 (The History Press, 2008)
ISBN: 978-0752444611

This is a detailed study of the origins of Arthur and the nature and development of the early Arthurian legend under the former nom de plume of Caitlin R. Green.

Here Green argues for a concept of Arthur as a figure of legend, not history.

Green asserts that the case for a historical Arthur rests entirely on two sources; the Historia Brittonum (The History of the Britons) and the Annales Cambriae (Welsh Annals). These two texts are the starting point for any argument presented for a historical Arthur.

At first glance both texts appear to present a concept of Arthur that is historical. The History of the Britons contains a complete section (usually referred to as Chapter 56) which presents Arthur as a leader of battles, not a king, and lists twelve successful conflicts culminating in the Battle of Badon, also referenced in a contemporary source, De Excidio Britanniae of AD 540 (although Gildas does not mention Arthur by name). Green sees the History of the Britons as presenting a concept of Arthur as a warrior who fought against Germanic invaders in the late 5th century.

Green suggests the History of the Britons could simply represent a mythical or folkloric figure drawn into history and far from being a 'heap', as descibed in the prologue of Nennius, sees the text as a carefully constructed work in ‘Biblical style’ with explicit political aims expressly written for Merfyn, King of Gwynedd 829-30 AD.

The Badon entry in the Welsh Annals is clearly influenced by Arthur's eighth battle at Guinnon in chapter 56 of the The History of the Britons. Whereas, the battle of Camlann, Green sees as a creation of the mid to late 10th century, and treated very differently by the ‘guardians of Welsh tradition’ possessing an 'Otherworldy' context and just one of several legendary versions of Arthur’s demise circulating in early medieval Wales.

Green concludes that the The History of the Britons is of dubious historical value and questions the confidence we can hold in its Arthurian reference, seeing the text as part of the process of historicizing a legend.

This an important work in the search for Arthur in which Green examines the earliest level of the Arthurian legend prior to Geoffrey of Monmouth, unravelling the world of a superhero battling monstrous supernatural beasts, witches and giants.


Concepts of Arthur
Table of Contents:

Chapter 1 The Arthur of History: The Evidence and Its Critics
Chapter 2 The Earliest Stratum of the Arthurian Legend
Chapter 3 The Nature of Arthur: ‘A Mighty Defender'?
Chapter 4 The Nature of Arthur's War-Band and Family
Chapter 5 The Origins of ‘Arthur'
Chapter 6 The Historicization of Arthur
Chapter 7 The Arthur of the British: A Maximum View

From May 2017, Concepts of Arthur has been unavailable in all editions for well over a year and the rights have now reverted to the author who has made the original 2007 version of the book available as a free PDF download on her website: Dr Caitlin R. Green Arthuriana: Studies in Early Medieval History & Legend

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Britons and Anglo-Saxons - Lincolnshire AD 400-650

A new book by Thomas Green, due publication in September, argues that British political control in the Lincoln region survived into the sixth century.

Britons and Anglo-Saxons: Lincolnshire AD 400 - 650
Thomas Green

No 3 in Studies in the History of Lincolnshire Series
Published by the History of Lincolnshire Committee, 18 September 2012

Hardcover: 336 pages
ISBN-10: 0902668242
ISBN-13: 978-0902668249

Paperback: 336 pages
ISBN-10: 0902668250
ISBN-13: 978-0902668256

Offering an interdisciplinary approach to the study of Dark Age Lincolnshire during the period between c. 400 and 650 AD, reviewing not only the archaeological evidence, but also the availabe historical, literary and linguistic information for the period. Green argues that by using all of this material together, significant advances can be made in our understanding of events during this period, particularly Anglian-British interaction. When taken together, this evidence suggests that a British polity named *Lindēs was based at Lincoln into the sixth century, going on to have an intimate connection to the seventh-century Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Lindsey (Old English Lindissi).

A British Polity in the Lincoln Region
The main focus of Britons and Anglo-Saxons is on the post-Roman period, and specifically tackles the question of Anglian-British interaction in eastern Britain. Green argues that there is now a significant body of evidence to suggest that the former Late Roman provincial capital of Lincoln retained its centrality into the post-Roman period, becoming the focus of a British polity known as *Lindēs which probably survived up to the fifth century and at least into the sixth. A large quantity of British high-status metalwork is known from fifth- to sixth-century Lincolnshire and during the same period the old Roman forum at Lincoln appears to have been used by the British as a Christian church. Significantly, this fifth- to sixth-century British polity appears to have been able to control the Anglo-Saxon immigrants arriving in its territory, up until the early sixth century and eventually succumbing to Anglo-Saxon control, the region became the seventh-century kingdom of Lindissi (the name derived from *Lindēs).

The Origins of Lindisfarne and the Kingdom of Bernicia
Britons and Anglo-Saxons claims to provide a detailed analysis of the nature of the Anglo-Saxon population-groups that were present in the Lincoln region from the mid-fifth century onwards, including those of *Lindēs-Lindissi and also groups further south, such as the Spalde/Spaldingas. Arguing that the emerging picture of Anglian-British interaction, if repeated throughout the Anglo-Saxon regions would have a significant bearing on the origins of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, the nature and extent in the core areas of Anglo-Saxon immigration, and the conquest and settlement of Northumbria.

Green presents the case for the island of Lindisfarne being originally settled by Anglo-Saxon migrants from Lincolnshire, which he argues provides the most credible interpretation of the etymology for the name of the Northumbrian island as the Lindisfaran were a major Anglo-Saxon population-group based in the Lincoln region. Further, he suggest that that the arrival of the Lindisfaran could be identical with the arrival of the founders of the kingdom of Bernicia.

Table of Contents:
Foreword: Dr Kevin Leahy (The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Lindsey, 2008) acknowledges Green's latest monograph as breaking new ground, presenting a new approach to the history of the Lincoln region in the post-Roman period.
Introduction:  Previous Approaches, Sources and Methodology
Chapter 1  The Context of Post-Roman Lincolnshire
Chapter 2  The British Country of *Lindēs
Chapter 3  Anglian-British Interaction and the End of the ‘Country of *Lindēs’
Chapter 4  Lindissi and the Legacy of *Lindēs
Chapter 5  The Population-Groups of Early Anglo-Saxon Lincolnshire
Chapter 6  Lindisfarne, the Lindisfaran, and the Origins of Anglo-Saxon Northumbria
Conclusion  The Significance of *Lindēs and Lindissi

PRE-PUBLICATION OFFER
Britons and Anglo-Saxons is due to be published on 18 September 2012 in both hardback and paperback (336 pages, ISBNs 978-0-902668-24-9 and 978-0-902668-25-6). The book can now be pre-ordered from the publishers at a discount of 25% off the cover price available through a link on the author's website Thomas Green Arthuriana - a saving of 25% on the published prices of £29.95 hbk and £17.95 pbk. Orders must be received before the launch date of 18 September 2012.

"This volume breaks new ground. It offers an interdisciplinary approach to the history of the Lincoln region in the post-Roman period, drawing together a wide range of sources. In particular, it indicates that a British polity named Lindes was based at Lincoln into the sixth century, and that the seventh-century Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Lindsey had an intimate connection to this British political unit." - Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology

Dr Thomas Green lives in Lincolnshire and is currently undertaking research at the University of Oxford, where he recently completed his doctoral thesis. He maintains the Arthuriana website specialising in studies in early Medieval history and legend. Much of the Arthurian material from the website is available as Arthuriana: Early Arthurian Tradition and the Origins of the Legend as a print-on-demand book or a PDF download. Much of this material formed the basis of his book Concepts of Arthur: the Nature of the Early Arthurian Legend (Tempus, 2008), both essential reading for students of  the early Arthurian legend.


See: ‘The British Kingdom of Lindsey’ by Thomas Green, a detailed study of the historical, archaeological, literary and linguistic evidence for a post-Roman British kingdom in the Lincoln region. [A version of the paper that originally appeared in Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies, 56 (2008), pp.1–43]

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Arthuriana: Early Arthurian Tradition and the Origins of the Legend

Thomas Green

ISBN 978-1-4452-2110-6
Published by The Lindes Press
29 October 2009
290 pages - Perfect Bound

Following the publication of 'Concepts of Arthur' by Tempus in January 2008, Thomas Green has now issued a hard copy collection of the academic and popular articles which have appeared on his ‘Arthurian Resources’ website since 1998.

Arthuriana: Early Arthurian Tradition and the Origins of the Legend was published by The Lindes Press on 31 October 2009. This book has been created in response to requests from readers for a print version of the material on the website, for both ease of reading and referencing of the material archived online; as such, the articles from the website are reproduced with the minimum of alteration but have been professionally typeset and formatted.

However, be warned, if you are looking for yet another identification for the historical King Arthur you won't find him in Green's work, who concentrates on the Arthur before Geoffrey of Monmouth, pre-Galfridian, the Arthur of early welsh poetry who was accompanied on his adventures by an early mythological pantheon of Gods. This Arthur is far removed from the knight in shining armour of Mallory's tales.

This work on Green's Arthurian Resources website was the precursor to the book 'Concepts of Arthur', published last year, presenting a detailed study of the ultimate origins of Arthur and the nature and development of the early Arthurian legend, providing a comprehensive overview of recent scholarship, including the author's own academic research into the sources of the early Arthurian tradition.

Fundamentally, 'Concepts of Arthur' provides an analysis of the entire non-Galfridian Arthurian legend. Unlike many previous studies of Arthur, it avoids a priori assumptions about the origin and development of the Arthurian legend, preferring to argue from first principles. Most importantly, it considers the 'historical Arthur' as a genuine part of the tradition itself, to be treated alongside – and not artificially separated from – all the rest of the early source material.

Green knocks down the myths of later Arthurian Romance, without ever 'poo-pooing' them, and presents a stripped down, originally folkloric or mythical figure who became historicised in the 9th century, but in doing so never comes across as negative or anti-Arthur, and produces the most common sense approach yet to the eternal enigma of Arthur.

Arthuriana: Early Arthurian Tradition and the Origins of the LegendThomas Green
Contents:

Preface
1. The Historicity and Historicisation of Arthur
2. A Bibliographic Guide to Welsh Arthurian Literature
3. A Gazetteer of Arthurian Onomastic and Topographic Folklore
4. Lincolnshire and the Arthurian Legend
5. Arthur and Jack and the Giant-killer
* Jack & Arthur: An introduction to Jack the Giant Killer
* The History of Jack and the Giants (1787)
* The 1711 text of The History of Jack and the Giants
* Jack the Giant Killer: a c.1820 Penny Book
* Some Arthurian Giant Killings
6. Miscellaneous Arthuriana
* An Arthurian FAQ - Some frequently asked questions.
* The Monstrous Regiment of Arthurs - A critical guide.
* An Arthurian Reference in Marwnad Gwên? - the manuscriopt evidence examined.
* The Other Early Arthurian Cycle: the Tale of Tristan and Isolt.
* Myrddin & Merlin - a guide to the early evolution of the Merlin Legend.
* 'But Arthur's Grave is Nowhere Seen' - Twelfth-century and later solutions to Arthur's current whereabouts.
* Bibliographic guide to the characters of the Pre-Galfridian Arthurian legend.
* A Guide to Arthurian Archaeology


>> Thomas Green's Arthurian Resources website


Arthuriana: Early Arthurian Tradition and the Origins of the Legend is available online as a 'Print on Demand' book and can be either purchased directly from the print company Lulu (from October 2009 onwards) or from Amazon (from January 2010).

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