Product Description

In his quest for the real King Arthur, Rodney Castleden uses up-to-date archaeological and documentary evidence to recreate the history and society of Dark Age Britain.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #797982 in Books
• Published on: 1999-11-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Review

"Castleden tells an engaging and engaged tale, full of legendary personages, stirring clashes between cultures, and revelations regarding ancient mysteries." - Elizabeth A. Ragan, Salisbury University, Journal of Anthropolical Research

From the Back Cover
King Arthur is often written off as a medieval fantasy, the dream of those yearning for an age of strong, just rulers and a contended kingdom. Those who accept his existence at all generally discard the stories that surround him. This exciting new investigation argues not only that Arthur did exist, as a Dark Age chieftain, but that many of the romantic tales - of Merlin, Camelot and Excalibur - are rooted in truth.

About the Author
Rodney Castleden has been researching landscape processing and prehistory for the last the 30 years. He is the author of The Making of Stonehenge, The Knossos Labyrinth, Minoans and Atlantis Destroyed.

Customer Reviews

A widely-researched but flawed investigation of King Arthur
This is a widely-researched investigation of the Arthur mystery which starts with a good synthesis of previous research, includes useful maps and ends with a extensive bibliography. Where it fails is in its frankly speculative reconstruction of the career and end of the Arthur of history, which goes beyond the meagre evidence for his existence and is unconvincing to the informed historian. Nevertheless, this is as good an introduction to the historical mystery and more reliable than other attempts to locate Arthur exclusively in Wales, Scotland, the Isle of Man or Brittany.

Convincing synthesis of sources and landscape studies
I think this is an extremely interesting book, using a very strong combination of detailed landscape studies from the west country and a solid understanding of the sources, to create what I think is the most convincing explanation so far of the Saxon hiatus between 480 and 570 and the role of Dumnonia in it. It makes me want to go field walking all around the Tintagel area!

Enthralling, if ultimately unconvincing.
This book is a fascinating assessment of Arthur and his world, and I thoroughly enjoyed Castleden's vision of what 'finally' happened to the Once and Future King. Alas, I was not convinced by these intriguing conclusions, although I appreciated Castleden's research and reasoning. This is a rich and satisfying book, and I heartily recommend it to anyone with an interest in the real King Arthur. Castleden is truly brilliant, and I almost regret not being converted to his point of view. Almost, but not quite, and my reservations in this respect should not in any way detract from the book's worth. It fully deserves five stars.