R

esearch led me to Scotland and the arthurs and after reading the leading authorities on Arthur, it was evident that there had to be more than one King Arthur. Which in itself is a misnomer, because an arthur was rarely a king of his own land, nor was his given name Arthur. In the fourth and early fifth century, it was forbidden to call an important person by his or her given name, what with the threat of assassination so prevalent. No wonder they didn’t call the Pendragon/Dux Bellorum/High King by name. Hence the use of titles such as Arthur, Merlin, etc. One prospect for an early Arthur was Aurelius Ambrosius. The last arthur was a historical Scottish  Arthur who breaks this tradition, with Arthur in the given name and title. He was a British Arthur, Roman Dux Bellorum (Duke of War), a Welsh Pendragon (head dragon), or an Irish/Scot High King. In other words he was a king of kings, or war leader of many kings.

So we have at least two or three arthurs, which can account for approximately a hundred or so years of dates associated with him. The same goes for merlin, also a title and not a given name, also explaining his uncommon longevity on a historical timeline. It is possibly true of Guinevere, too, as queen to the arthur. It is known that King Arthur had at least three wives, all named Guinevere.

 

As for Merlin, there were at least two. There was Merlin Emrys of Powys, who was uncle to the Scottish Arthur’s father. He is often confused with Merlin Sylvester of Gwenydd, the magician of Gwendalau who went mad after the Battle of Arderydd.

Norma Lorre Goodrich has written several non-fiction books on these characters. As an expert historian and linguist, she’s been able to go over the various original Arthurian sources rather than rely on translations and lend a new perspective that is scholarly and quite thought-provoking. In fact, Goodrich made a strong case for the location of the Grail Castle on St. Patrick’s Isle off the Isle of Man and was invited by the Isle of Man’s government for the unveiling of a sixth century holy site discovered exactly where she’d said.

There seemed to be more of a role for the Grail Church in Goodrich’s books than protecting holy relics. It seemed to represent the High Celtic Church, which included Druidic Christian priests who were not only holy men of Scripture, but proto-scientists. Her Merlin, and mine, was such a priest of high influence in the Celtic Church—a scholar, a scientist, a diplomat and an advisor to the king. She suggests he may have been St. Dubric. At least one of the merlins was.

The Grail Church had another sacred role suggested in Goodrich’s books. It protected the Davidic royal bloodline that combined with the ruling Irish Milesian Celtic line in 580 BC according to English Heritage documents. The marriage of Tia Tephi, princess of Judah and Eremon, High King of Ireland by the prophet/ollam Jermiah took place after the fall of Jerusalem and the capture and death of her father King Zedekiah and her brothers. Not only did this preserve the Davidic royals, appointed by divine right, but it reunited the two branches of Judah (the lion) that were separated in Genesis.

In short, Judah had twins by Tamar, his widowed daughter-in-law. A hand appeared during the difficult delivery and the midwife dutifully tied a red thread about its wrist to mark it as firstborn. But the babes turned in the womb and it was the other boy who emerged first. This was Pharez, accused by the midwife of stealing his brother’s birthright in the womb. He became the father of Judah’s Davidic bloodline, which included Jesus. The child with the red thread (later to be called the red hand) was Zarah, who became known as the father of the Celts. So when Eremon, the Milesian High King of Ireland and descendant of Zarah married Tia Tephi of Pharez’s line, Judah was reunited and the bloodline of lion kings was passed on through the Irish royalty, which married into the Welsh, Scottish and English royals. (Zarah’s Red Hand is featured on the flag of Ulster today as well as prominent in many Celtic genealogies.)

Thus was a goal of the Grail Church. To see that this line was integrated into all the royal families of the British Isles, and I think, if this is true, to all the royal families of Europe, because we all know how they intermarried. Arthur was a product of such an arranged marriage, as was Merlin, Guinevere and the key figures in his stories. Curiously, many of the names in Arthuriana have Hebrew roots and Arthur kept the Hebrew calendar with Easter held on the Passover, the result of Arimathean influence. Nenius, a proper Roman priest, accused the Celtic Church of hiding behind the skirts of their Hebrew heritage, meaning the Messianic Jews who brought Christianity to the British Isles in the first century before Rome even had a church.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I chose the Scottish Arthur for my book HEALER, the first of the Brides of Alba trilogy. This is the only historically documented Arthur. He is the son of Aedan, King of the Dalraida Scots (Davidic line) and Ygerna, High Queen of the Celtic Church, who is descended from Joseph of Arimathea of the apostolic bloodline of Jesus’ family and disciples (not the Twelve, but his other direct followers who spread the gospel). The children from these marriages were often raised in the Grail Church to become either warriors (like Arthur) to take kingdoms for Christ, merlins like the historic Merlin Emrys in my book as proto-scientists, teachers, priests and advisors, or queens like Guinevere to support their warrior husbands, advise them, record their deeds/genealogies and marry to spread the bloodlines.  Sometimes the women were trained to lead as warriors as well.

 

The children raised by the Grail Church were the elite of the elite like Guinevere, Lancelot, Arthur, Perceval, Morgan, Merlin and Vivian. Their knowledge was often mistaken for what the unlearned called magic. For instance, Excalibur was reputed to never need polishing and could cut an ordinary sword in half. Never mind that Celtic metalworkers had discovered an element in meteorites that had the qualities of what we call stainless steel today. Merlin was said to have brought the moon and stars down to earth. And so he did. With a great disc that we would today call a telescope. My heroine in HEALER possessed the knowledge of plants and healing arts taught by Joseph of Arimathea and the sisters of Avalon. These likely included Eastern healing practices accepted today by modern medicine such as acupuncture, chiropractic, biofeedback, etc.

There were some other interesting darkage practices that I found intriguing. For instance, the mother of twins was put to death because the first babe was thought to be the human father’s, but the second, put out to die, thought to belong to a demon. Sometimes the twin was rescued, like Lancelot by the Lady of the Lake, a priestess/abbess of the Celtic Church. He was raised by watermen, a metaphor for priests who practiced baptism. Beheading in the lore might have meant giving someone enlightenment or an attitude adjustment, since their heads were put aright afterward.

So we have multiple persons with the same name/title, multiple places where no one person could possibly have fought/ruled, and, to add to the confusion, no standard dating practice for historical timelines. All contributes to the conflicts in historical accounts regarding Arthurian documents. Therefore I end as Nenius did when he wrote his authoritative work on King Arthur. “I have made a heap of what I had.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

King Arthur

Christian Heroes Tapestry c. 1385

 

 

Bibliography (email TMC's Scribe for more)

1. Carroll, David F. Arturius: A Quest for Camelot. D.F. Carroll, 1996.
2. Gardner, Laurence. Bloodline of the Holy Grail: The Hidden Lineage of Jesus. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1996. 
3. Alcock, Leslie. Kings & Warriors, Craftsmen & Priests in Northern Britain AD 550-850. Scotland: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 2003.

 

Linda Windsor is the author of twenty-nine contemporary and historical novels. Her first sixteen were secular historical romance for Kensington Publishing as Linda Windsor and Linda Covington. In 1999, she switched to the inspirational market. Her inspirational historicals have placed in the secular historical category of RWA contests and Affaire De Coeur polls. Both her inspirational historicals and romantic comedies dashed with suspense have won  National Reader's Choice Awards, Aspen Golds, Barclay Golds, and numerous other RWA contests as well as the CBA Christy Award for the Irish Celtic RIONA, #2 of  the Fires of Gleannmara series. Linda is currently contracted for a three book historical trilogy titled Brides of Alba. HEALER, book #1, is a June 2010 release.  Visit Linda at www.lindawindsor.com.

 

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