Who was Ambrosius Aurelianus? Arthurian Legend.

King Arthur is often confused with Ambrosius Aurelianus. I have fleetingly mentioned Ambrosius several times before, but I think he deserves a post of his own.
Ambrosius was a war leader of Roman-British decent. Surprisingly the earliest mention of him is in the 6th Century by Gildas. Gildas named very few people in his sermon De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae, but he does name Ambrosius. This is what he had to say...

"... a gentleman who, perhaps alone of the Romans, had survived the shock of this notable storm. Certainly his parents, who had worn the purple, were slain by it. His descendants in our day have become greatly inferior to their grandfather's excellence. Under him our people regained their strength, and challenged the victors to battle. The Lord assented, and the battle went their way."

Although this is very brief, we can deduce a fair amount from it.

Ambrosius was of Roman descent.

  

"...his parents had worn the purple..."

Purple was a really important colour. It was worn by the Emperors of Rome. It was the colour worn by those of noble heritage as well as senators. Senior officers in the Roman legions also wore a purple band. Maybe his father held a high rank in the army, or maybe he was  a governor of a provenance in England.

The passage also describes his parents being slain by the Saxons and yet he survived.

 

 Roman men wearing togae praetextae with reddish-purple stripes during a religious procession.

Ambrosius was a Chrisitan.

"...The Lord assented..."

He went into battle with God's help - so from that we can assume he was a Christian.

Ambrosius fought the Saxons.

"Sometimes the Saxons and sometimes the citizens were victorious."

I guess things did not always go the way Ambrosius wanted, but it does tell us that he was a great war-leader.

I always found this line very interesting.

"His descendants in our day have become greatly inferior to their grandfather's excellence."

Who was his Grandfather? He was obviously an important person. There has been a fair few name thrown forward as to who Gildas had been talking about, but it is all speculation.

 Bede mentions Ambrosius in his great work, Ecclesiastical History of the English People

"...Their leader at that time was a certain Ambrosius Aurelianus, a discreet man, who was, as it happened, the sole member of the Roman race who had survived this storm in which his parents, who bore a royal and famous name, had perished. Under his leadership the Britons regained their strength, challenged their victors to battle, and, with God's help, won the day."

It seemed that Bede took his account from Gildas..dare I say Bede had a better way with words?!

Ambrosius's story is picked up by Nennius.

Nennius suggests that Ambrosius was a very influential warlord. Vortigern, another great powerful warlord, feared the return of Roman rule and he saw Ambrosius as more of a threat to his throne than that of the northern invaders. You may recall a story I wrote in an earlier post about Ambrosius, Vortigern, two dragons and a tower that kept falling down. If you missed it, you can read it here.

By the time Monmouth came to talk about him - his story, like many others of the time, had become fictitious and his connection with Arthurian legend was forever cemented. His name is changed to Pendragon - and he becomes High King Arthur's, uncle. Merlin even builds a memorial for him at Stonehenge.

Sometimes it is argued that Ambrosius is Arthur. Both fought at Badon Hill, both were powerful warlords.

Whether Ambrosius was King Arthur, I don't think we will ever know. Whoever he was, he certainly had a very fascinating life.

Forget about Arthur -- Let's take a look at Merlin!

 Higitus Figitus zumbabazing! 

Today, I am going to blog about....

  Merlin  

( Imagine John Hurt saying that - It makes it sound so much more majestic).

Oh my days...now here's a topic. I fear it will take more than one post to talk about this rather interesting chap.

Okay. Lets start with the basics...

When I think of Merlin, I think of several things.

1. He was a wizard.

 

(Maybe not this Wizzard, but you get the idea...I hope!)

2. He was Welsh

( A Welsh mountain.)

3. Colin Morgan

 

4. Myrddin Emrys 

 

( Colin Morgan again!) 

5.Higitus Figitus

 

Today, for simplicity's sake, I am going to look at the legend.

The name Emrys means immortal and that was exactly what Geoffrey of Monmouth did to Merlin when he wrote his wonderful  Historia Regum Britanniae. Which - we all know - is the most fascinating factual book ever to be written. Fascinating, yes. Factual...not so much. But then again, maybe one day someone will find Monmouth's mysteriously lost manuscript - where he claimed he got all of his sources from. Wouldn't it be marvellous if they did? Can you image the uproar that would cause?! Oh, I so want someone to find it. Hey, you know, that could be an interesting idea for a book - I could have fun with that! Monmouth's Lost Manuscript. Has a certain ring to it, don't you think? Watch this space...

Monmouth's, Merlin was incredibly popular. Particularly with the Welsh. The English may have some flimsy claim to Arthur, but the Welsh had Merlin and lets be honest - he was a far more interesting character than some knight who pulled a sword out of a stone.

Let me introduce you to Myrddin Wyllt (a.k.a. Myriddin the Wild / of the Woods / of Carmarthen). Now rumour has it, that Myriddin was driven mad by witnessing the horrors of war and he fled to the woods and became a bit of a wild-man. Monmouth had a very reliable source - here we go - he claimed to have the actual words of this mysterious hermit. Which he then tuned into a great work, which he aptly named Prophetiae Merlini (The Prophesy of Merlin).

Before we continue, we need to take a look quickly at Nennius works. Now Nennius famously listed Arthur's 12 battles, although he never mentioned that Arthur was a king. Who he did talk about was Aurelius Ambrosius...

....The British Warlord, Vortigern, was trying to erect a tower ( like you do), but the tower, for some unknown reason, always collapsed before completion. The solution was simple - all that was needed was the blood of a child born without a father - so simple, why did no one else think of that?! This meant they had to travel to a galaxy far far away, meet up with the Jedi -- hang on -- sorry -- wrong story....

...Luckily, for Vortigern and the tower, there was such a child. A boy called Ambrosius. He was brought before the king. He bravely told the king that the reason why the tower kept falling down was because the foundations were built on a lake where two dragons continuously fought each other. Obviously this was a not so subtle metaphor for the Saxon's and the Britons who were continuously fighting for dominance. The tower would not stand while Vortigern had the throne. It would only stand when Ambosius became king. Ambrosius then has the cheek to tell Vortigern to go away. Ambrosius says "I will stay here." I bet Vortigern didn't see that one coming.

But what has this got to do with Merlin?

Monmouth changed the story Nennius told -- such things happen now and then. The fatherless child is actually a prophetic bard, who goes by the name of Merlin.


Monmouth magically weaves Merlin into the stories of Arthur and his knights. And he states that it was Merlin that brought the stones for Stonehenge from the Preseil Hills. Stonehenge - according to Monmouth- is the burial place of Aurelius Ambrosius.

It was a good job Merlin knew a giant to help him build Stonehenge - I do not understand why archaeologists have never found any evidence for the giant race helping with Stonehenge - I mean, it makes sense and how hard can it be to find a giant's footprint?! I do not think they are looking hard enough.

 This depiction of Merlin and the giant can be found in the manuscript of Roman de Brut by Wace.

Monmouth is also responsible for the tale of how Arthur was conceived. If you are not familiar with it, you can read about it here. But to quickly recap... Merlin casts a magic spell on Uther Pendragon, changing his appearance so that he looks like Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall. Uther creeps into the bedchamber of Gorlois's wife, Igrain, and begets her with child.

Monmouth caught, what I like to call, the King Arthur bug - I must warn you it is very contagious - He could not leave Merlin's story alone, just like he could not leave Arthur's. Merlin pops up again in Vita Merlini.

Once Monmouth finished his great works, that wasn't the end for Merlin and his story. In fact that old Wizard was just getting started. Keep an eye out for the next blog on Merlin and I will continue his tale...

Historical fiction...Who was Arthur?

I have been very busy researching, writing, more researching. And yes, that is candy floss you can see in the picture...best not ask!

My book, The Du Lac Chronicles, is set roughly 24 years after the fall of King Arthur. When Arthur died it seemed all the heroes did too and I wanted to do something about that. But, in order to write about Britain in post Arthur years, I had to know how Arthur changed the political landscape of the kingdom. So before I put pen to paper, or fingertips to keyboard as it was, I researched the world of Arthur.

Arthur has been a hero for centuries. By the Norman conquest he was already firmly fixed in the imagination of the people. There is a lovely story about nine monks from Laon in Northern France who visited Britain in 1113. They traveled to the heart of southern England looking for 'relics' of Arthur's time. When they visited Bodmin in Cornwall, the subject of Arthur came up. The Laon monks dared to suggest that the idea that Arthur would rise again was nothing but a child's fairy tale. This did not go down well with the locals. The monks were in 'Arthur's country.' How dare they suggest such a thing? A full blown riot was only just avoided!

Not long after this incident, Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote the best seller of the middle ages, The History of the Kings of Britain. I love reading Monmouth's masterpiece, he turned Arthur into a hero and although some of his fact must be taken with a pinch of salt, it gives you the sense of how much pride the British had for their past. And also how much we need heroes,  someone to look up to. Arthur is portrayed as a King who stands for chivalry, honour and everything noble. He's almost to good to be true. He certainly had an amazing life...if the stories are to be believed.

The Sword in the Stone.

'Whoso Pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil rightwise King born of all England.'

Many tried - only Arthur succeeded.

Merlin

Arthur's closest advisor was a wizard called Merlin. And why not? We could all do with a wizard in our lives.

The Somerset Levels

(The Isle of Avalon.)

Excalibur

Arthur needed a special sword, I guess the one he pulled from the stone wasn't good enough...perhaps he broke it.

With the help of Merlin, the Lady of the Lake presented Arthur with his magic sword.

Camelot

King Arthur's home.

His knights

Arthur could not rule alone so he chose a selected few to help him rule. They were as honourable and chivalrous as he was and they often went on quests.

The Round Table

Arthur believed in equality, so he commissioned a round table to be built. Those who sat around it were equal in all things.

Guinevere

Arthur's beautiful wife.

Lancelot

Arthur's first knight and the man who ultimately betrayed him....maybe?

Mordred

The knight who murdered Arthur in a vicious battle.

Those who know the Arthur stories will recognise some of the themes I have just listed. But, I wanted to try and find out the truth...if that was possible...behind the myths. I wanted to know what Arthur was really like.

Thats all for now. Be sure to watch out for my next blog when I explore how an ordinary man became such an extraordinary legend.