A "boy" King Arthur, hah!
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magolding — 9 years ago(May 13, 2016 10:52 AM)
According to Geoffry of Monmouth Arthur became king age 15 and fought the Saxons soon after.
Later medieval storytellers also said Arthur became king age 15 but soon had to fight civil wars against various vassal lords and kings who considered him a usurper.
A big problem for anyone trying to figure out the history of Arthurian Britain or writing a novel set in Arthurian Britain is the possible relations between Arthur and his probable contemporary King Maelgwn "Gwynedd" ("of Gywnedd") or "
Hir
" (the tall) or "
Mawr
" ("The Great"), ancestor of the kings of Gywnedd and of the Britons.
The medieval and modern Welsh name Maelgwn is based on the ancient British name Maglocunnos. And Saint Gildas denounced various British leaders who were roughly contemporary with Arthur and with Maelgwn "Gwynedd" - including "Maglocunnos the Dragon of the Isle". "The Dragon of the Isle" is assumed to mean either "The Warlord of [the Island of] Anglesey" (in the kingdom of Gwynedd) or "The Warlord of Britain".
Anyway, Gildas wrote that "Maglocunnos the Dragon of the Isle" (usually identified with Maelgwn "Gwynedd") usurped his first throne (of many) from his maternal uncle. Some writers thus suggest that Maelgwn's victim was Arthur and Maelgwn was the real Mordred.
But Gildas also wrote that Maglocunnos usurped his first thrown while in his "first adolescence" and thus possibly close to the age of 15 when Arthur, according to much later stories, fought his first wars, possibly civil wars against other British leaders. So it is possible to suggest that maybe Arthur and Maglocunnos were two different names of the same young British king.