Mary Anne Yarde's Blog: The Coffee Pot Book Club , page 233

The Battle of Camlann - The final battle of Arthur Pendragon

"The Strife of Camlann in which Arthur and Medraut perished"Annales Cambriae ( The Annals of Wales)
The Battle of Camlann is reputed to have been the last battle that Arthur fought in, although there is no mention of it in Nennius famous list of battles. The first documented evidence of the battle can be found in the 10th Century work, Annales Cambriae.


(How Mordred was Slain by Arthur, and How by Him Arthur was Hurt to the Death, by Arthur Rackham)

What happened?
Now, legend would have it that this was the battle in which Mordred turned on Arthur and they fought each other - but the Annales Cambriae does not actually say this...it simply states that they both perished. It makes me wonder?
But, never mind that, it certainly did not stop Geoffrey of Monmouth writing his romantic work of fiction - I meant fact...historical fact...I am always getting that wrong!
If you are not familiar with the story, than I shall do my best to enlighten you!
Arthur finds out about Lancelot and Guinevere's betrayal. So enraged is he, that he follows Lancelot to France, determined to seek his revenge. Arthur leaves Mordred in charge of Britain in his absence.
While he is away, Mordred decides that he rather likes being King of Britain and upsurges Arthur. 
Arthur, learning of Mordred's treachery, takes his army back to Britain and the two meet at Camlann where they battle for the throne. Mordred is killed - by the hand of Arthur, perhaps? Unfortunately, Arthur is also fatally wounded. He is taken to Avalon -- the water is said to be magical and he hopes it can heal him. No one knows what happened to Arthur after that. It is a mystery.
Where is Camlann?As with all stories of Arthur, there are many haphazard guesses as to where Camlann is. However, there is one clue, Camlann comes from the word, Cambo-glanna, which means a crooked bank of a river! It remains me of Gidas and the location of Badon Hill - The battle was in the south-west. There was a siege on a hill. So helpful!
Monmouth suggested Queen Camel in Somerset, which would be an ideal location if Camelot was at South Cadbury, for the two are very close and for a fictional story it makes perfect sense. Mordred would defend his strong hold on Camelot, whilst Arthur would do everything within his power to reclaim Camelot and Britain.

Queen Camel and that crooked river.

Monmouth tells of a proper full on battle, where the opposing armies line up to face each other, whereas Malory says that the battle was a mistake, a simple misunderstanding, which involved a snake and one of the knights drawing his sword to kill it -  this made the rest of the army draw their swords and carnage consequently resulted. Some mistake!

Guest Post - Arthurian author C.M. Grey

Today I welcome fellow Arthurian author, C. M. Grey, to my blog.

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There are some wonderful characters within this legend that we can really relate to and we all love the story, the romance and the clash of steel. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">However, when I started writing my Shadowland books I decided that the story of Arthur and his Knights had been too well told by some amazing authors and it had almost all been said. I could have invented a story around the legends and given a slightly different take<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which would have been entertaining and fun to do, but I decided to look for a lesser told story within the Arthurian theme.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vKBMG_CQdZk..." imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vKBMG_CQdZ..." width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">My tale from the dark ages starts with an old storyteller who gathers an audience of villagers around him, by a village Inn’s log fire, one midwinter’s eve. He is persuaded to tell a story from his own youth rather than a tale of fancy, and it becomes a retelling of the rise of Uther Pendragon. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Uther was the father of Arthur. He was the man who rose from a humble beginning within the Isceni tribe to unite all the tribes of Britain against a common foe - the Saxon invaders. Under Roman rule, the tribes had lived a simple, relatively untroubled life, but around AD 410 the Romans realised their empire was in peril and departed packing everything of value and heading to their ships. It left a power vacuum in Britain that the Saxon’s, Jutes and Angles immediately took advantage of – the tribes of Britain needed to unite if they were ever going to claim Britain as their own, they needed a strong leader.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In my first book, Shadowland, I tell of the rise of Uther. How he met Merlyn and how he discovered he was destined to lead the Britons against the Saxon’s led by the brothers Hengist and Horsa after his brother Ambrosius died. As much as possible I have kept faith with all the old legends and stories told of Uther and the early years of Merlyn, but because this was the dark ages and so little is factually known, I’ve thrown a bunch of fantasy and a little Druid madness into the mix to make it more interesting.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Shadowland has been really well received with over 240 Amazon reviews and although I intended it to be a stand-alone story, I have been getting so many requests to follow up with another Uther story that almost two years ago I began to write a sequel.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Shadow of a King will finally be published in March 2016. It tells a very different tale from the first, but still taken from the legends of Uther. Persuaded on his deathbed to tell the story of how he met and wooed Igraine. Uther first recalls the story of accepting the Druid’s quest to journey to the Isle of Erin to bring back the stone ring known as the Giant’s Dance, of how he meets Igraine and how he holds back the might of the Saxon Invaders.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">If you enjoy Arthurian Legend, I hope you will try Shadowland and the Shadow of a King when it’s published. Neither are written to be factual books of history, so little fact remains from those times that it leaves it open to imagination. These are merely accounts of how it might have been…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">If you fancy checking out Shadowland, follow the links.</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lsN09hO6pqA..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lsN09hO6pq..." /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shadowland-Tale..." target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">US</span></a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shadowland-Ta..." target="_blank">UK </a></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">About the Author...</span></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7aSf0J3zS6o..." imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7aSf0J3zS6..." width="200" /></a></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Born in Essex, England with a heavy dose of 'travel lust', C.M.Gray has since been lucky enough to live and travel in many countries around the world. In fact he has lived for more years outside of England than he has living there! Working as a carpenter, fruit picker and even a stint in stock brokering, he has called home Buddhist monasteries in the Himalayan Mountains, the clamor of central Hong Kong to a farm in deep rural Burgundy. Forever vowing to return and sink his roots once again in English soil... some day, he hasn't quite made it back yet, but does live a little closer these days; just outside of Barcelona in the middle of the forest with his dogs and two wonderful children.</span></span></div>

Guinevere - A Welsh Story??

What do we know of Guinevere? She was.... 
King Arthur's Wife
 Queen of CamelotLancelot du Lac's, Lover
Guinevere was embroiled into a love triangle that was always going to end badly. She had it all. A loving and powerful husband. A beautiful home. She was popular and loved by the people. She should have been happy and who knows, maybe she was. But her fate was sealed the day she met Lancelot.
So where forth did she come from and what has she got to do with the Welsh?
Firstly we need to check out her name. In Welsh she was called Gwenhwyfar - The White Enchantress / The White Ghost - that makes her sound kind of seductive with supernatural powers doesn't it? 
 I want to look at  Trioedd Ynys Prydein, for those of you who don't speak Welsh - I am among your number - it translates as The Triads of the Island of Britain.
I want to specifically have a look at line 56 ( LVI - for those who prefer Roman Numerals)! Have a read.
Arthur's Three Great QueensGwenhwyfar daughter of (Cywryd) Gwent,
and Gwenhwyfar daughter of Gwythyr son of Greidiawl,
and Gwenhwyfar daughter of Gogfran the Giant.
So it seems that Arthur was married 3 times. Luckily all his wife's were called Gwenhwyfar.  He never found himself in a position where he said the wrong name - that must have come in handy?! 
But hey, Arthur was not content with just a wife. Oh no...  
And his Three Mistresses were these:Indeg daughter of Garwy the Tall,and Garwen (Fair Leg) daughter of Henin the Old,and Gwyl (Modest) daughter of Gendawd (Big Chin). 

That is interesting...don't you think? I never think of Arthur as having mistresses. He is always portrayed as the wounded party  - I knew there was more to it than we first thought! 
I think the names (translations) are great. I wonder if Big Chin was meant as a compliment back then?
 I love reading the Triads of Britain..and I think you will like them too.  I have always been particularly interested in the...
Three Golden-Tongued Knights, Whom No One Could Refuse Whatsoever They Might Ask.
and the...
Three Golden Shoemakers of the Island of Britain

....intrigue me as well.
If you did not know already, everything in Britain comes in three's and that it a fact - well, maybe. But hey, it would hardly be a Triad if it didn't. And come to think of it - the love triangle idea is beginning to make sense - there are three points to a triangle...I know it is a very weak hypothesis. I'll shut up now.

If I have sparked your interest in the Triads then Celtic Twilight have a fabulous translation on their website.  http://www.celtic-twilight.com/camelo...
There is another Triad that mentions Guinevere. The Trioedd Ynys Prydein. This states that Gwenhwyfar fell out with her sister which caused the Battle of Camlann. Typical - women always get the blame.
In my next post on Guinevere, I am going to take a look to see what are old friend, Geoffrey Monmouth, made of her. He had those lost manuscripts after all - so everything he says must be true.


Reference. Queen Guinevere by James Archer (c.1860)Queen Guinevere's Maying by John Collier (1900)