After
the passage of time the usurping King Vortigern,
in order to guarantee support for himself for
the defense of the
realm of insular Britain,
which he was ruling unjustly, invited some warlike
men from the region of Saxony and made them
his allies in his kingdom. Since these were
heathenish and devilish men, who from their
natures lusted to make human blood flow, they
called down many evils upon the British.
Shortly afterward their arrogance was
checked for a time by the great Arthur, King
of the Britons, who forced them for the most
part from the island or into servitude. But
after this same Arthur had brilliantly won many
victories inBritain and Gaul,
he was finally called from human life, and the
way once again lay open to the Saxons to return
to the island to oppress the British, to overthrow
churches, and to persecute saints.
But
withVortimer [Guortimer,
son of Vortigern] dead, the vigor
of the Britons flagged, and their hopes diminished
and flowed away, and indeed would have vanished
entirely if Ambrosius,
the lone survivor of the Romans who had ruled
after Vortigern, had not
checked the unruly barbarians with the exemplary
assistance of the heroic Arthur. This is that
Arthur who is raved about even today in the
trifles of the Bretons (Britons)—a man
who is surely worthy of being described in true
histories rather than dreamed about in fallacious
myths—for he truly sustained his sinking
homeland for a long time and aroused the drooping
spirits of his fellow citizens to battle. Finally
at the siege of Mt. Badon, relying on the image of the
Lord’s mother, which he had sewn on his
armor, looming up alone, he dashed down
nine hundred of the enemy in an incredible massacre.
(Book 1, chapter 8)
At
that time [1066-87] in the province
of Wales known as
Ros was found the tomb of Walwen
[Gawain], who was the by no means degenerate
nephew of Arthur through his sister. He ruled
in that part of Britain which
is still called Walweitha and was a warrior
most famous for his courage; but he was driven
from his rule by the brother and the nephew
of Hengist, though he made them
pay dearly for his exile. He shared deservedly
in his uncle’s praise, because for several
years he postponed the collapse of his tottering
homeland.
However, the tomb of Arthur is nowhere
to be found—that man whose second coming
has been hymned in the dirges of old. Yet the
sepulcher of Walwen…is
fourteen feet long. It is said by some that
Walwen’s body
was cast from a shipwreck after he had been
wounded by his enemies, while others say that
he was murdered by his fellow citizens at a
public feast. And so the truth lies in doubt,
though neither story would lessen the assertion
of his fame. (Book 3, chapter 287)