Although most scholars regard it as being entirely fictional, there are many locations that have been linked with King Arthur's Camelot. Camelot was the name of the place where King Arthur held court and was the location of the famous Round Table.
Medieval texts locate it somewhere in Great Britain and sometimes associate it with real cities, though more usually its precise location is not revealed. Most scholars regard it as being entirely fictional, its unspecified geography being perfect for chivalric romance writers.
Though the castle used for the mythological Camelot is Château De Pierrefonds, situated on the southeast edge of the Forest of Compiègne, north of Paris, there are many Welsh locations used in the filming of each series. As Rachel says: "We're fortunate that there are so many fantastic locations on our doorstep.
All these iconic scenes came to life at Château de Pierrefonds. Château de Pierrefonds, a 19th-century reconstruction built atop an original 12th-century fortress. Tourists can visit the castle and explore its many chambers, gardens, and halls.
Sites of the King Arthur Myths. The location of Camelot is unknown but there are at least three candidates: Caerleon in Wales, Cadbury Castle south of Glastonbury in Somerset, and Winchester in Hampshire. Geoffrey of Monmouth described Caerleon as Arthur's Camelot.
Is there any truth to the King Arthur legends? - Alan Lupack
Was there a real Camelot and King Arthur?
Although most scholars regard it as being entirely fictional, there are many locations that have been linked with King Arthur's Camelot. Camelot was the name of the place where King Arthur held court and was the location of the famous Round Table.
Furthermore, no proof of Arthur's existence has been uncovered, even at Tintagel. “There is no evidence that anyone called Arthur lived there,” says Russell.
"As soon as Arthur knows that Merlin has magic, we felt the format of the show was over," Capps explains. "Because the format of the show was that he had to hide it. It's the end of the story – or the end of this version of the story."
Numerous attempts to answer the question have been made, most of them beginning with Geoffrey of Monmouth and looking back at his sources. The answer offered here proposes that, although Merlin is a literary creation of the 1100s, he is based on a real person who lived in northern Britain six centuries earlier.
The short answer: there is no historical Merlin. In writing the Historia Regum Britanniae, Geoffrey of Monmouth borrowed stories from other legends and some real life people.
Despite its name, this ancient and mysterious monument has been dated to the late Neolithic period, between about 2000 and 1000 BC. It consists of a low circular platform surrounded by a wide ditch and earthen bank, a layout characteristic of prehistoric henges.
Camelot was a palace or castle, not a kingdom. And, alas, it was absolutely fictional. The name doesn't appear in Arthurian legend at all until the late 12th century and doesn't get more than a passing mention until some decades thereafter. Moreover, it appear in the works of French troubadours, not British writers.
FRENCH historians have suggested King Arthur was indeed a Welshman despite years of English “spin” claiming the mythical figure as their own. As part of a major conference into the legend, academics say that if the king ever existed he was probably from Wales with strong links to Brittany, in northern France.
Was Lancelot a real person? The debate over the historicity of the characters in Arthurian legend is ongoing. It is unlikely that there was a single person upon whom the character of Lancelot is based, but it is possible that he was inspired by some real figures.
Excalibur is a legendary sword, not a real one, despite the claims made by some who believe they have recovered the item and the sensationalist headlines designed to draw readers in with the promise of this fictional sword becoming real.
Camelot, in Arthurian legend, the seat of King Arthur's court. It is variously identified with Caerleon, Monmouthshire, in Wales, and, in England, with the following: Queen Camel, Somerset; the little town of Camelford, Cornwall; Winchester, Hampshire; and Cadbury Castle, South Cadbury, Somerset.
There may have been a real Merlin, such as the one Nikolai Tolstoy describes in Quest for Merlin: "... Merlin was indeed an historical figure, living in what are now the lowlands of Scotland at the end of the sixth century A.D...an authentic prophet, most likely a druid surviving in a pagan enclave of the north."
Merlin in the TV adaptation is black, which is strange for two reasons: First, Merlin is not black in the books. He is effectively a priest of a people that were almost entirely white, and an elder. I'm sure Nathaniel Martello-White is a fine actor, but he is also not old enough to play the Merlin from these books.
Avalon: In some versions of the legend, it is said that after King Arthur's death, he was taken to the mystical island of Avalon to be healed or to await his eventual return.
It would have been perfectly satisfying to see Merlin become free, and to know that he and Arthur would continue on their adventures — as equals this time — after the show was over. But the fact that Merlin himself only gets a small taste of this deeply-hoped-for-future is what makes it so painful.
And the show still clearly means a lot to the cast as well, with Macken revealing that he and his fellow Knights of the Round Table (including King Arthur actor Bradley James, Rupert Young, Adetomiwa Edun and Game of Thrones' Tom Hopper) regularly meet up to reminisce about their round table days, even all these years ...
Modern-day scholars claim that she may have been a historical figure who was mythologized after her death as a “Celtic Persephone” or that she represents the sovereignty of Britain while still others claim she symbolizes the goddess Sophia (wisdom) as envisioned by the Cathars.
Arthurian Britain was before the Germanic invaders came and made the place England (Angle-land). What Arthur and his knights of the round table, and all the other people around then and there, would have been speaking was something we now call Brythonic or Brittonic: a Celtic language. Completely unlike modern English.
One theory suggests that Lucius Artorius Castus, a Roman military commander who served in Britain in the late 2nd century or early 3rd century, was a prototype of Arthur. Artorius is known from two inscriptions that give details about his service.
