My Blogs including travel logs and sketches

  KING ARTHUR ;  Who was King Arthur  ? Let's start with the legend, first recorded by Geoffrey of Monmouth, see references at the bottom of this post. Geoffrey's story King Uther was a British king, 430-496 , who was attracted to Ygerna, the beautiful wife of Gorlois , Duke of Cornwall. In order to escape from the King, Ygerna was shut inside a cliff fort on the north coast of Cornwall called Tintagel. The fort could not be easily stormed, so Uther received a magic potion from Merlin which made him look like Gorlois. Thus disguised he fooled the guards and found his way to Ygerna. The meeting resulted in the birth of Arthur. Gorlois was later killed in a battle and Uther married Ygerna. When Uther died Arthur succeeded him when he was 16, with Merlin's help, when he withdrew the famous sword, Excalibur, from the stone. He  ruled from his court at Camelot,  thought to be in Somerset, with his Knights of the Round Table. He fought twelve battles against the S...