King Arthur - Mythillogical

“Some watery Tart distributing swords is no basis for a system of Government....”

It’s a crime that the YouTube algorithm punishes creators like you who make amazing documentaries like this instead of rewarding you, this channel has a quarter of the subscribers it deserves

When the part about the scabbard was read, I got what the message was: if you carry a scabbard, people will assume you are ready to fight, but willing to talk. If you walk around with a drawn sword, though, everyone will assume you are there to kill them and want to fight you because they feel they must. Maybe in this version of the story, it was literal and magical, but I sense that expression was originally used metaphorically.

So, I study a lot of the early Welsh texts (including the Arthurian bits), and every pre-Monmouth text you mentioned I have on my shelf and have read (most of at least, Gildas gets a little too religious for me so it’s a chore even though I find it funny). If you’re interested in talking more about it or delving deeper I’d love to talk about it! There aren’t many people in Southern California who study this... Also, I can definitely help with the welsh pronunciation, I’m quite into linguistics, and welsh is of particular interest to me. And Bede is pronounced like bead.

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Thanx so much! The quality is perfectly fine, btw!

I took a university class on the history of Arthur a few semesters ago and really appreciated hearing your thoughts on my boys Geoffrey and Chrétien

The movie "Excalibur" has Mordred portrayed as both Arthur's illegitimate son (by his half-sister, Morgan le Fay) AND his nephew.

Merlin is nuts in the older takes on this tale, wow. A regular Mai'iq the Liar

My favorite fictional series of Arthur is Stephen R Lawhead's The Pendragon Cycle. He put everything into the myth!

I've really loved and appreciated these videos. Thank you for the outstanding work you've put into them and for sharing them with us.

Any idea when we're gonna get a mythillogical on flood stories? I can't wait for it

You guys forgot to mention that time when King Arthur and Merlin meets up with the Transformers......

I dislike the criticism of Herodotus that his material was largely "unfounded". He was pretty clear when he had only heard something or observed it himself, and also provided many criticisms of what may have been inaccurate information. The Greeks during his time viewed the world through a perspective of mythology and superstition, so in my opinion the historical information is more valuable and accurate in terms of understanding Ancient Greece with all of the mythology and superstition embedded within it.

The part of Mass that presents the body and blood of Christ is the Eucharist, though you explained it well enough for everyone to recognize.

Interesting talk so far, but you're right - the Welsh pronunciations are awful! ;) In the spirit of giving something back... sounds below in [brackets] are the emphasis syllables in the word, which is almost always the penultimate syllable in a multi-syllabic word.. Caerfyrddin (Carmarthen) = c-aye-r [vuhr]-thin (dd is always pronounced "th" as in "the", not "thanks") Myrddin = [muhr]-thin Y Gododdin = uh god-[o]-thin (the middle o is a short sound that rhymes with the "god", not a long sound like "ode") Mabinogion = mab-ih-[nog]-yon (there isn't a soft "g" in Welsh, it's always a hard "g" sound) Ysbaddaden Pencawr = us-ba-[tha]-den [pen]-cow-r (cow as in the bovine animal!) Cai = K-aye Bedwyr = [bed]-weer (in this circumstance, the "w" is a consonant rather than a vowel so is pronounced as it is in English) Gwalchmei = [gwalkh]-may Gwrhyr = [goor]-heer Taliesin = tal-ee-[ehss]-in That'll do for now! :D

King Arthur was Welsh. He was the King of Glamorgan and Gwent. He came from a long line of Welsh kings. There are many books out there with the true history of King Arthur. Artorius Rex by Alan Wilson and Baram Blackett is a very informative book on this subject.

Cool episode, I wonder if you guys ever came across any cognates of Arthur from other Celtic speaking areas? I know that the Welsh stories remind me a lot of Fionn Mac Cumhaill and the Fianna

Also I don't remember if it was mentioned, but since listening to this I've come across the figure of Ambrosius Aurelianus in anglo-british texts, including bede, who waged successful wars against the english in exactly the time referred to as "Arthurian". It looks like this guy is the main inspiration for the legends surrounding the figure and I'm not the first to make the connection. I think the only conflict arises from early stories about King Arthur also including him as Arthur's uncle, ironically cementing him as a separate figure. I have a pretty strong feeling that this was the man.

I am reminded of once being told how the French(Norman) conquerors added cuckoldry to the tale of King Arthur to demoralise/mock the natives, or maybe because that just seems to be a rather common French trope.