King Arthur: Is There Any Truth Behind Britain's Legendary King? | Britain AD | All Out History

The dark ages is a period of history often steeped in myth and misunderstanding. Explore the real history of dark age Britain through the lens of one of its most iconic figures, King Arthur. Discover if the dark ages were really that "dark" after all.

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[bethbartlett]

Archaeologists must be required to take a class called "Assumptions".

[manuelkong]

the idea that the Dark Ages settled on England is not bollocks....building in stone declined dramatically, coinage largely disappears, trade is reduced, literacy is reduced, inscriptions become rare, glass production becomes rare and glass becomes expensive and only for the wealthy, pottery mostly disappears, the land ends up in the hands of a bunch of petty kings who fight each other (and Vikings) for centuries before the land is unified again....
the idea there was no Dark Age is what is bollocks

[MerrilyMerrilyMerrily]

I just watched something called the 'worst year in history'- 536AD--one which lingered for a decade. A nuclear winter from a volcanic explosion that decimated the population, would certainly account for persistent rumours of the 'dark' (like literally), ages all over.

[frederickherrmann]

The series makes a lot of good points, but to dismiss Gildas and Geoffrey of Tours and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles entirely is too much the other way.

[randyeilers]

52 minutes in. Make no mistake about it. The Romans occupied and ruled with an iron fist. Probably not a handfull of rich Britons, most all were Romans or relatives of Romans. In 300 years of occupation, the Romans definitely changed all culture of Britain in every way

[cubicinches]

Within myths and legends facts can often be found. Francis alludes to the drawing of a sword from stone at 10:28 being similar to casting of bronze. Not that far away from fact Francis but not quite right. Early iron ore deposits were found on the surface or often on river beds This ore was referrd to as "River stone. Early charcoal forges did not generate sufficient heat to get the iron ore molten but by heating the ore to bright red it could be beaten forming iron and removing the slag. Even today the process of heating iron or steel and hammering it into shape is referred to as "Drawing" the steel Thus by taking raw ore maybe in the form of river stone the artificer heated the ore drew the iron form the ore (stone) and eventually fashioned a sword.
The best swords are not cast but are wrought asi in drawn form iron or steel.
Hence the legend that the true King would draw a sword from the stone. Imagine how magical that would seem to be in the iron age.

[brianmurray]

3rd or 4th time watching this series as a single video. Love listening to it while working.

[morvanhall]

The Billy Meier contact notes has quite interesting things to say about Merlin and King Arthur.

[rebeccawyse]

They don't know Welshman and Scotsman history well.

[Teresa-ihsn]

So good to see Francis and Guy! Great documentary!

[czgator]

This is Time Team's Francis Pryor's take on what happened in England after the Romans' departure. "King Arthur's Britain, The Not So Dark Ages."

[robertgreen]

Approx. 1300, reminds me of walking south Florida after a rain looking for "turtle backs"!!

[Williamgarant]

Is that Francis from "Time Team"

[FutureMythology]

Excellent! A big, "Thank you!", to all concerned.

[stevenroetzel]

Coulda, shoulda, woulda. Don't miss understand me, the things found and speculated about in this episode are great, fascinating, even profound. That life continued after the Romans left Britain is obvious. As it seems to me is the Romanization of the native Britains, after all they lived together for hundreds of years, no? That leaders rose or continued to rule in various places in post-Roman Britain and the search for specific places where this happened (or continued) is worthy of continuing study. But explain to me in what way is this a search for King Arthur?


What? Oh, it's just Clickbait to get us to watch? ... OK, but personally I would have watched anyway if you had just said the search for Dark Age Britains. Guess I am just interested in Archeology.

[lilysceeliljeaniemoonlight]

I certainly believe King Arthur was of Welsh background!

[Imagicka]

7:30 Obviously, whoever "nicked" the sword is the true king of the Britons.

[okftivx]

We have read in history books that during the Dark Ages most books were outlawed and taken up and burned. Certainly this would explain these large gaps in recorded history! We're convinced this is what we're dealing with in any accurate reconstruction.

[PresterMike]

Amazing I love it! I’m a huge lover of history and I love love that you’ve kept it beautiful

[gabrielanderson]

If he was just sleeping, he probably wouldn't be very happy with the shape of things at the moment, lol