The UnXplained

King Arthur.

A noble warrior, who embodied honor and chivalry,

wielded the legendary blade Excalibur

and went on epic quests with the Knights of the Round Table.

For more than a thousand years,

tales have been told about a peasant boy

who pulled a sword out of a stone and became a king.

Is the legend of King Arthur and the Knights

of the Round Table just a myth?

Or is it possible that the story we all know was based on fact?

Was King Arthur a real person?

Well, that is what we’ll try and find out.

Every year, thousands of people gather at

the Gulf Coast Renaissance Faire

to experience a taste of medieval life.

The fair is one of many similar events held around the globe

that are inspired by age-old tales

of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

I don’t know what child, growing up, doesn’t want

to be a knight in shining armor.

It’s such a romanticized time period that the stories of

King Arthur and Knights of the Round Table and all of their

quests and adventures have branched and become

bigger and bigger right through today’s modern age.

It has such a collective

grab on our imagination and our soul.

King Arthur is everywhere today.

You’d be hard-pressed to find another legendary figure that is

as popular all over the world, in so many times

and so many places, whether it’s in the 12th century,

or the 15th century, or the 21st century.

Since the Middle Ages, the legend of King Arthur

has captured the imagination of countless people

all over the world.

But what are the origins of this powerful story?

The Arthur story begins with a boy raised by farmers.

One time, his brother is in a sword-fighting contest,

and his brother’s sword breaks.

And Arthur said, "No, don’t forfeit, hold off for a second.

I saw a sword."

And he saw a sword stuck in a stone.

As the story goes, the sword that Arthur saw

was no ordinary blade.

It had been prophesied that only the future king of England

could draw the sword out of the stone.

Many men had tried to remove it, but all of them failed.

That is, until Arthur pulled the sword,

and it slid out of the stone.

This is the earliest that Arthur begins to understand that

something is happening in his life beyond his grasp.

Gradually, this unusual young man

does become king of all Britain.

The Arthurian legend basically tells about

a young person who discovers their destiny,

and discovers how to achieve this destiny.

He becomes the center of these medieval romances,

where he is the quintessential leader.

He is Rex Quondom, Rexque Futurus;

the Once and Future King.

It’s amazing how much of that story

has permeated our culture just sort of by osmosis.

And the image we all have is that King Arthur

lives in Camelot, which is a big stone castle.

He had a wife, Guinevere, and also he is assisted

by a wizard named Merlin.

His knights of the Round Table looked for the Holy Grail.

And he has a fabulous sword named Excalibur.

It is this wonderful repository

of symbols and themes and adventures

that are all interlinked,

because they all relate to the court

of this one marvelous figure.

The vast influence of the Arthurian legend

is undeniable.

But for more than 1,000 years,

a fascinating question has lingered.

Is it possible that King Arthur wasn’t merely a myth

but rather a real man?

If we go back to the original accounts of King Arthur,

written during the Dark Ages, around about 500 AD,

the Roman Empire collapsed, and the Roman soldiers

withdrew from Britain.

And this country turned into complete anarchy.

There were various separate tribes fighting each other.

And what was needed was one single warrior

or chieftain or king to unite them all.

And Arthur is said to have been that person in myth and legend.

There are lots of theories on who King Arthur

might really have been.

And really, there’s no clear answer.

The Arthur that we think we know came from

many hands, many authors, many writers,

who had slightly different takes on the Arthur story.

We know the basic elements of the story,

but the man himself remains a mystery.

According to historians, there are numerous versions of

the King Arthur legend, many of which have been lost to time.

But the most influential telling of the story

dates to the 12th century,

when a Welsh monk named Geoffrey of Monmouth

claimed he’d discovered a long-lost account of early

British history that recorded King Arthur

as being an actual person who lived around the year 500 AD.

Monmouth then published a translated version of this text,

which he called The History of the Kings of Britain.

Geoffrey of Monmouth, in his text in the 12th century,

this is what breaks the Arthurian legend wide open.

What’s fascinating is that so many of the things

and places and events he writes about in recent times

have been proven to be correct in terms of

being the right time, the right place,

and the right elements to be based on,

many historians believe, real events.

Could it be possible that the tales

of King Arthur are more than mere fantasy?

Perhaps a clue may be found by examining a castle

in southwest England that Geoffrey of Monmouth claimed

to have been the site where King Arthur was born.

Overlooking the rocky cliffs of

Bristol Channel are the ruins of Tintagel Castle.

Built in the 13th century, this once-mighty fortress

is now a popular tourist attraction

with a fascinating history.

Well, Tintagel is a really wondrous and mysterious location

because it hides an enormous amount of

knowledge about our past.

There’s this fantastic castle that is 900 years old.

But below the ground, there’s tons of information

about hundreds of years before this,

in the period when, perhaps, Arthur existed.

What’s really fantastic and incredible

about this spot in particular is that

Geoffrey of Monmouth tells us

that Arthur’s born in Tintagel, and that has now been

very conclusively proven to have very, very strong links.

Excavations beneath Tintagel have revealed the remains of

an earlier castle that dated back to the sixth century AD.

And a curious inscription found among the prior castle’s remains

offers evidence in support of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s claim

that the real King Arthur

had a profound connection to Tintagel.

In 1998, Glasgow University were excavating here,

and they found a drain cover behind one of the buildings.

And that drain cover... They were amazed to find

it had an inscription on it.

At the top of the stone is very clearly Artognou.

A-R-T-O-G-N-O-U.

It was securely dated to the sixth century, based on

the items around it,

and on that stone

was carved a name that looks

very much like "Arthur." "Artognou."

When you have the site of Tintagel

that has been associated with

Arthur’s supposed birthplace for centuries,

and the discovery of a stone

that has a name on it that begins A-R-T,

you have all the elements

coming together at the right time in the right place.

The mere possibility that one day we’ll be able to verify

the birthplace of the real King Arthur is thrilling.

But could there be other parts of the legend

that might also be historically accurate?

Well, perhaps the answer can be found by examining

two of the most iconic elements of Arthurian lore:

Merlin the Magician and Excalibur.

One of the most iconic stories

from the tales of King Arthur

is that of a young Arthur singlehandedly

pulling a sword out of a stone.

It was a feat that revealed him

to be the one true king of Britain.

But there’s another sword in the Arthur legend

that is no less compelling.

There are two swords in the Arthur story.

One comes out of that stone, and later,

he gets a sword as a gift from the Lady of the Lake.

This is the goddess of the lake.

And her arm comes up out of the water holding a sword.

And that is Excalibur, a sword beyond other swords.

Excalibur, we are told, had a golden hilt,

and had magical powers.

It’s a sword that’s supposed to make Arthur invincible.

Arthur’s story is the hero’s journey,

because it has the magic and the sacred

and all the mystical dimensions.

In the hero’s journey,

the protagonist gains a special tool or weapon.

This is the magical thing.

It will be just the thing you needed,

although you might not know it at the time.

And then the moment will arise and you see

exactly why you have it.

According to legend, King Arthur used Excalibur

to win many battles and unite Britain under his leadership.

But, alas, Arthur finally died on the battlefield

when he was mortally wounded by his son, Mordred.

As King Arthur lies dying on the field of battle...

he asks that his sword, Excalibur,

the source of all his power,