Arthur fl.early 6th century
Semi-legendary King of the Britons

He may have been a Romano-British war leader in the west of England called Arturus, but he is represented as having united the British tribes against the invading Saxons, and as having been the champion of Christendom. His most famous victory was supposedly at Mount Badon (c.518) and a 10th-century source associates his death with a battle at Camlan (c.539), after which he was buried at Glastonbury. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle makes no mention of him, however, and he first appears in the 9th century Welsh chronicle, Nennius's Historia Britonum. Other works in which he appears include the Annales Cambriae (10th century), and The Black Book of Camarthen (12th century). He also figures in the Welsh romance Kilhwch and Olwen, and in the Gesta Regum Anglorum of William of Malmesbury. The story of Arthur became interwoven with legends of the Holy Grail and the Knights of the Round Table at Camelot, told by such writers as Geoffrey of Monmouth, Chr�tien de Troyes, Layamon, and Sir Thomas Malory.