Arthurian Lore

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29070, 5 December 1959, Page 3

Arthurian Lore

Guardian of the Grail. By John Whitehead. Jarrolds. 346 pp. Index.

Those who turn up an old history book in search of information about King Arthur will find some such reference as this: “Cerdic, the fifst Saxon King of Wessex, was defeated at Mons Badon (Dorset) 520 by the British King Arthur. The West Saxon advance was checked for many years. Trevelyan speaks of the Celts whom “their half mythical King Arthur led against the ‘heathen swarming o’er the Northern Sea’.” Caxton, too, when it was put to him that he should print a life of King Arthur, rather than one of the “Godefroye of Boloyne,” first took thought. “To whome I answerd that dyvers men holde oppynyon that there was no suche Arthur and that alle suche bookes as been maad of hym ben but fayned and fables, bycause that somme cronycles make of hym no mencyon he remembre hym noothynge, ne of his knyghtes.”

But to Colonel Whitehead, the author of “Guardian of the Grail,” King Arthur was a historical figure, to whom definitely identified events and actions may be assigned. “The story of King Arthur belongs properly to the first century A.D. The enemy he resisted were Romans, known colloquially by the Britons as ‘the Pagans,’ and indeed called such in the romance; this term was misinterpreted successively as ‘Saxons’ and ‘Saracens’,” thus reflecting changed conditions. In fact for Colonel Whitehead “King Arthur in the flesh emerges as the historical figure of ‘Caractacus,’ the Roman mispronunciation of Caratacos, or the modern Welsh Caradoc.” Accordingly on page 281 of his book the author is able to place Arthur’s life accurately in the first century A.D.

In the year 44 he was fighting the Roman general, Aulus Plautius. Next year, 45, was the date of his marriage with Guenevere. It also saw him a reigning King and the leader of the Knights of the Round Table. Five years later he was in revolt against the Romans, but was captured and sent a prisoner to Rome in 52. He remained 10 years in Italy, and when he came home again he revived the Round Table and the Quest for the Grail began. The year 67 is given as the date of Modred’s revolt and the death of Arthur. Colonel Whitehead reinterprets Malory, Wace, and Geoffrey of Monmouth in the light of his own special knowledge, which would appear to be based for the most part on surmise and a warm romantic imagination. On page 224 there is a remarkable family tree in which the relationship between Jesus, John the Baptist, Joseph of Arimathea, Arthur, Lancelot, and Galahad is carefully traced. He also looks for what he calls “a social renewal” in the British Isles, when England will again be known as “Clas Myrddin, the Green Isle of Reason.” On that day, “sword blades will be sharpened, dinted helms made true, burnies hardened, and all the various means for keeping firm our will to sustain the banner of Arthur will be hammered Into ihape. And when the echoes reach Argante in Avalon, she will know that the time has come to give Arthur the' ring that will restore him to health and strength, the sapphire ring of Adam that weds men to ideals. Then will we see, approaching our shores from across the far horizon, the sails of his ship, “White Wings,” heralding a new era of peace and prosperity; and in it, girt with Coliburn as of old, Arthur will come again. _ , . One other thing about Colonel Whitehead’s book is remarkable. From all his many references to Sir Thomas Malory’s “Le Morte d’Arthur,” it is clear that he is still using the old two-volume translation in the Everyman Library. Surely a man so deep in Arthurian lore is not ignorant of the revolution brought about by Vinaver’s transcription of the Winchester manuscript.