Uploaded July 2023 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
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The Truth About King Arthur and the Celtic Wars Against the Anglo-Saxons
Myth, legend or historical figure? What is the truth about King Arthur and did he really lead the Celtic Britons in wars against the Anglo-Saxons in post-Roman Britain?
The earliest references to Arthur are contained in early Welsh sources. Perhaps the earliest reference to him appears in a Welsh medieval poem called the Y Gododdin, written anywhere between the 7th and 11th centuries AD. It written by the Brythonic bard, Aneirin, and refers to the men who had been organised by the Gododdin to fight the Angle tribes occupying Deira in the south, part of Northumbria today in northern England.
Gododdin itself was a Brythonic people that occupied a territory extending from southern Scotland to north-east England, part of a region known as the Hen Ogledd or the Old North. The force raised by the Gododdin however included fighters from other lands, including from Pictland and the land we call North Wales. The ensuing battle was fought around 600 AD and is known as the Battle of Catraeth. The Angles won a resounding victory however, slaughtering the Celtic Britons, nearly killing all the Gododdin force. “Only one man in a hundred came back,” as the poem states.
In referencing a brave warrior in the poem called Gwawrddur however, apologies to any Welsh speakers, Aneirin refers to Arthur. The poem reads:
He fed black ravens on the rampart of a fortress
Though he was no Arthur
Among the powerful ones in battle
In the front rank, Gwawrddur was a palisade
This is a really interesting passage, as the author clearly holds Arthur in high esteem. Could there have been a brave warrior King called Arthur who lived around this time, or was Arthur already a legendary figure even at that time? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
This is not the only reference to Arthur. He appears in two early medieval historical sources, the Annales Cambriae (thought to have been written around the 10th century) and the Historia Brittonum (thought to have been written in the 9th century), but as these dates show, these were written hundreds of years after King Arthur supposedly lived.
Sources:
Britannica - King Arthur britannica.com/topic/King-Arthur
The legends of King Arthur - bl.uk/medieval-literature/articles/the-legends-of-king-arthur
King Arthur en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Arthur
Poem of the week: from The Gododdin by Aneirin theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2018/jul/09/poem-of-the-week-from-the-gododdin-by-aneirin
Y Gododdin en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y_Gododdin
Aneirin en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneirin
Geoffrey of Monmouth en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_of_Monmouth
Creative Commons Imagery:
Notuncurious commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Central.Britain.c550.jpg Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
#kingarthur #celtic #history
Please support this channel on Patreon and get ad-free videos and other benefits: patreon.com/historydecoded
Check out my merch store and please help support this channel - celtic-history-decoded.creator-spring.com - Full terms and conditions can be found on Spring’s website.
Please Buy Me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/CelticHistory
Please donate through PayPal using this link: paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QFB9ZECHZJDF6 – chdecoded@gmail.com
Subscribe to Celtic History Decoded: youtube.com/channel/UCCS3M_uNHH2iOJkpGhkO2SA?sub_confirmation=1
Follow Celtic History Decoded on Instagram - instagram.com/celtichistorydecoded
Subscribe to World History Decoded – youtube.com/@worldhistorydecoded
The Truth About King Arthur and the Celtic Wars Against the Anglo-Saxons
Myth, legend or historical figure? What is the truth about King Arthur and did he really lead the Celtic Britons in wars against the Anglo-Saxons in post-Roman Britain?
The earliest references to Arthur are contained in early Welsh sources. Perhaps the earliest reference to him appears in a Welsh medieval poem called the Y Gododdin, written anywhere between the 7th and 11th centuries AD. It written by the Brythonic bard, Aneirin, and refers to the men who had been organised by the Gododdin to fight the Angle tribes occupying Deira in the south, part of Northumbria today in northern England.
Gododdin itself was a Brythonic people that occupied a territory extending from southern Scotland to north-east England, part of a region known as the Hen Ogledd or the Old North. The force raised by the Gododdin however included fighters from other lands, including from Pictland and the land we call North Wales. The ensuing battle was fought around 600 AD and is known as the Battle of Catraeth. The Angles won a resounding victory however, slaughtering the Celtic Britons, nearly killing all the Gododdin force. “Only one man in a hundred came back,” as the poem states.
In referencing a brave warrior in the poem called Gwawrddur however, apologies to any Welsh speakers, Aneirin refers to Arthur. The poem reads:
He fed black ravens on the rampart of a fortress
Though he was no Arthur
Among the powerful ones in battle
In the front rank, Gwawrddur was a palisade
This is a really interesting passage, as the author clearly holds Arthur in high esteem. Could there have been a brave warrior King called Arthur who lived around this time, or was Arthur already a legendary figure even at that time? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
This is not the only reference to Arthur. He appears in two early medieval historical sources, the Annales Cambriae (thought to have been written around the 10th century) and the Historia Brittonum (thought to have been written in the 9th century), but as these dates show, these were written hundreds of years after King Arthur supposedly lived.
Sources:
Britannica - King Arthur britannica.com/topic/King-Arthur
The legends of King Arthur - bl.uk/medieval-literature/articles/the-legends-of-king-arthur
King Arthur en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Arthur
Poem of the week: from The Gododdin by Aneirin theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2018/jul/09/poem-of-the-week-from-the-gododdin-by-aneirin
Y Gododdin en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y_Gododdin
Aneirin en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneirin
Geoffrey of Monmouth en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_of_Monmouth
Creative Commons Imagery:
Notuncurious commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Central.Britain.c550.jpg Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
#kingarthur #celtic #history
