The
Battle of Camlann is best known as the final battle of
King ArthurKing Arthur is a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defense of Britain against the Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and his historical existence is debated...
, where he either died in battle, or was fatally wounded fighting his enemy and relative
MordredMordred or Modred is a character in the Arthurian legend, known as a notorious traitor who fought King Arthur at the Battle of Camlann, where he was killed and Arthur fatally wounded. Tradition varies on his relationship to Arthur, but he is best known today as Arthur's illegitimate son by his...
. All detailed accounts of this battle are legend or myth, but there are also early purely descriptive references to the battle.
Historicity
The earliest known reference to the Battle of Camlann is the entry in the 9th-century
Annales CambriaeAnnales Cambriae, or The Annals of Wales, is the name given to a complex of Cambro-Latin chronicles deriving ultimately from a text compiled from diverse sources at St David's in Dyfed, Wales, not later than the 10th century...
. The
Annales date the battle to the year 537, and mention Mordred (Medraut) but do not specify that he and Arthur fought on opposite sides.
- Gueith camlann in qua Arthur eroxt Medraut corruerunt.
perished.)
Later accounts of this battle are in
Geoffrey of MonmouthGeoffrey of Monmouth was a British clergyman and one of the major figures in the development of British history and the popularity of tales of King Arthur...
's
Historia Regum BritanniaeThe Historia Regum Britanniae is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written c. 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the kings of the Britons in a chronological narrative spanning a time of two thousand years, beginning with the Trojans founding the British nation...
, the
Alliterative Morte ArthureThe Alliterative Morte Arthure is a 4346 line Middle English poem, retelling the latter part of the legend of King Arthur. The poem is one of the most significant works in the short-lived revival of alliterative verse in the 14th century.- History :...
, and in the 13th century
WelshWelsh literature may be used to refer to any literature originating from Wales or by Welsh writers:*See Literature of Wales for literature in the Welsh language*See Literature of Wales for literature in the English language...
tale
The Dream of RhonabwyThe Dream of Rhonabwy is a Middle Welsh prose tale. Set during the reign of Madog ap Maredudd, prince of Powys , it is dated to the late 12th or 13th century. It survives in only one manuscript, the Red Book of Hergest, and has been associated with the Mabinogion since its publication by Lady...
.
The location of the battle is unknown, but several candidates exist. One possible site is
Queen CamelQueen Camel is a village and civil parish, on the River Cam and the A359 road, in the South Somerset district of Somerset, England. It is about north of Yeovil. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 872. The parish includes the hamlet of Wales...
in
SomersetSomerset is a county in South West England. The county town is Taunton, which is in the south of the county. The ceremonial county of Somerset borders the counties of Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west...
which is close to the
hill fortA hill fort is a type of fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze and Iron Ages...
near
South CadburySouth Cadbury is a village and civil parish in the South Somerset council area of the English county of Somerset. The parish includes the village of Sutton Montis...
(identified by some, including
Geoffrey AsheGeoffrey Ashe is a British cultural historian, a writer of non-fiction books and novels.-Early life:Born in London, Ashe spent several years in Canada growing up, graduating from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, before continuing at Cambridge.-Work:Many of his historical books are...
, with King Arthur's
CamelotCamelot is the most famous castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and eventually came to be described as the fantastic capital of Arthur's realm and a symbol of the fabulous Arthurian...
), where the River Cam flows beneath Camel Hill and Annis Hill. The site most consistent with the theory of a northern Arthur is the Roman fort called, in
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
, 'Camboglanna'. When this theory was first put forward, this was identified as
BirdoswaldBirdoswald is a former farm in the civil parish of Waterhead in the English county of Cumbria . It stands on the site of the Roman fort of Banna.-Middle Ages:...
, but has since been accepted as nearby
CastlesteadsCamboglanna was a Roman fort. It was the twelfth fort on Hadrian's Wall counting from the east, between Banna to the east and Uxelodunum to the west. It was almost west of Birdoswald, on a high bluff commanding the Cambeck Valley...
. Other identifications have been offered, the
River CamelThe River Camel is a river in Cornwall, UK. It rises on the edge of Bodmin Moor and together with its tributaries drains a considerable part of North Cornwall. The river issues into the Celtic Sea area of the Atlantic Ocean between Stepper Point and Pentire Point having covered a distance of...
along the border of
CornwallCornwall is a county of England in the United Kingdom, forming the tip of the south-western peninsula of Great Britain. It is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Taken with the...
,
CamelonCamelon is a village within the Falkirk council area, in central Scotland.Camelon was the site of a flight of locks until the Falkirk Wheel joined the Union Canal with the Forth and Clyde Canal.The present Camelon railway station was opened in 1994....
(now part of Falkirk) in
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and the River Camlan in
EifionyddEifionydd is an area in north-west Wales covering the south-eastern part of the Llŷn peninsula from Porthmadog to just east of Pwllheli. The river Erch forms its western border. It now lies in Gwynedd....
in
WalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, bordered by England to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It is also an elective region of the European Union...
.
Part of the confusion with the location is due to the literal meaning the word "camlann" which is "crooked bank". In looking for the place the battle might have taken place, one must first locate known battle sites around the right time and then look for the crooked bank or stream that might have given it the name; not an easy task.
Legendary versions
In legendary accounts, the battle was started by a knight on one side who drew blade, against orders, to kill a snake. As the unsheathing of cold steel was against the rules of the truce, and the metal shone, one army thought the other was breaking the truce. Both armies subsequently charged at each other, beginning the battle in earnest. Older Welsh tradition has the battle as the outcome of a feud between Arthur and
MedrautMordred or Modred is a character in the Arthurian legend, known as a notorious traitor who fought King Arthur at the Battle of Camlann, where he was killed and Arthur fatally wounded. Tradition varies on his relationship to Arthur, but he is best known today as Arthur's illegitimate son by his...
(Mordred) with its origins in a quarrel between Arthur's wife Gwenhwyfar (later
GuinevereGuinevere was the legendary queen consort of King Arthur. She was most famous for her love affair with Arthur's chief knight Sir Lancelot, which first appears in Chrétien de Troyes' Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart...
) and her sister
GwenhwyfachGwenhwyfach or Gwenhwyvach, sometimes Anglicized as Guinevak, is a sister of Gwenhwyfar in early Welsh Arthurian legend. Most of the tradition surrounding her has been lost; she is mentioned only in two of the Welsh Triads and in the Mabinogion tale Culhwch and Olwen...
.
Modern fiction
Sometimes Camlann is identified as Camelot itself in newer retellings of the Arthurian saga, such as Elizabeth Wein's
The Winter PrinceThe Winter Prince is Elizabeth Wein's retelling of the Arthurian story of Mordred , detailing Medraut's complicated, intense relationship with his legitimate half-brother Lleu.-Plot summary:...
.