More King Arthur

Near as I can figure, the usual scholars suspect that, if Arthur did exist, it would have been after the Romans left, and that's why he was fighting Saxons. Unless they've come up with some new research since I was last reading on the subject. Admittedly, it has been a few years since I've read extensively. Supposedly, it was Chretien de Troyes who put him in Medieval times.

I like him in Medieval times. The clothes are better, and all that armour is just terrific to look at. I like knights standing vigil with their weapons in the chapel all night before they are dubbed. I like the ideals of chivalry.

Before you start, I know the reality was far different, and that the chief function of a knight was mercenary terrorism.

When it comes to the legends of King Arthur, I don't care. I want the smitten Lady of Shalott to see the world through her mirror. I want Guinevere to foster her hopeless love for Lancelot. I want Lancelot to be raised by the Lady of the Lake. I want the arm clothed in white samite to rise from the mere to catch Excalibur, tossed there by Percival at Arthur's dying command. I want the arm to brandish the sword three times before withdrawing it beneath the surface, never to be seen again.

In the latter part of the 12th century, Henry II was having a spot of trouble with the Welsh, who were sort of like the Basques on the border of France and Spain. Very nationalistic, fierce and rather grumpy when invaded. They had a legend going, even then, that Arthur would return to bail them out of this Norman oppression. This was not much more than 100 years after the Conquest. So, Glastonbury Abbey mysteriously burned, and while digging out to rebuild, two bodies were discovered, with a handy plaque identifying them as Arthur and Guinevere. Sorta kinda trying to prove to the Welsh that he was good and dead, and not coming to their aid.

When Richard the Lionheart (Henry's son) took off on the (I think) Fourth Crusade, he stopped off in Sicily to visit his sister and brother-in-law, and presented to his brother-in-law (Tancred) a sword that he claimed was Excalibur. I've always wanted to know if that story was true (I ran into it in one of the biographies I read of Richard), and, if so, where is the sword? I suspect in the bowels of the Vatican Museum, if it exists at all.

So Henry, savvy politician that he was, used the legend of King Arthur to further his own political agenda. He probably didn't believe it, but knew a rallying cry when he heard one, and did what he could to nip the "Future" part of the "Once and Future King" in the bud.