Arthur and the Lost Kingdoms

Name: Arthur and the Lost Kingdoms
Brand: Tantor Audio
Availability: InStock
Author: Alistair Moffat
ISBN: 9781666196740

Author: Alistair Moffat

Narrator: Mhairi Morrison

Unabridged: 10 hr 8 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 06/21/2022

Categories: Nonfiction, Military History, History, European History

Synopsis

A "fascinating historical detective work" that pins down the real story of the legendary medieval king and the court of Camelot (Spectator).

The Holy Grail, the kingdom of Camelot, the Knights of the Round Table, and the magical sword Excalibur are all key ingredients of the legends surrounding King Arthur. But who was he really, where did he come from, and how much of what we read about him in stories that date back to the Dark Ages is true? So far, historians have failed to show that King Arthur really existed at all, and for a good reason—they have been looking in the wrong place.

In this "vivid and thought-provoking" book, Alistair Moffat shatters all existing assumptions about Britain's most enigmatic hero (Birmingham Evening Mail). With references to literary sources and historical documents, as well as archeology and the ancient names of rivers, hills, and forts, he strips away a thousand years of myth to unveil the real King Arthur. And in doing so, he solves one of the greatest riddles of them all—the site of Camelot itself

About Alistair Moffat

Alistair Moffat was born in Kelso, Scotland. He is an award-winning writer, historian, and director of programs at Scottish Television. He was director of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and former rector of the University of St Andrews. He is the founder of Borders Book Festival and cochairman of The Great Tapestry of Scotland. His many books include The Highland Clans, To the Island of Tides: A Journey to Lindisfarne, and The Hidden Ways: Scotland's Forgotten Roads, shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Nicky on September 15, 2012

Interesting to read, and I was quite willing to be convinced here -- I was already aware of the Strathclyde Welsh speakers, as they turn up in an Anglo-Saxon poem I translated. And it'd be much less annoying for Arthur to prove to be Scottish than English, and an argument I've seen elsewhere. Moffat......more

Goodreads review by Emelia on February 25, 2018

It has taken me longer to read this book than any other I have read. Arthur and the Lost Kingdoms has so much new information in it as well as a bibliography in the back. Which leads one to have several pieces of paper stuck in Moffat's book and a separate sheet of paper for notes on the other books......more

Goodreads review by Anne on April 15, 2015

Brilliant. Infuriating. Early in the book, Moffat sets up a mystery: on a statue in the town of Hawick, in the Scottish Borders, there's an inscription which is said to be connected to the warcry of the men of the town during the Battle of Flodden. Teribus ye teri odin! Moffat suggests it is from Ol......more

Goodreads review by Chris on November 14, 2012

Thank goodness these "lost" kingdoms are not "holy" kingdoms, as is claimed by conspiracy theorists from southeast Wales! At least we don't have to suffer a rant about secret histories suppressed by the ignorant English and the arrogant establishment familiar from similar "histories", "true" stories......more

Goodreads review by Paul on August 14, 2023

Scottish histories often blast through the centuries prior to Kenneth I as that is when the lands first became somewhat united into one country. The Roman account Calgacus speech is normally given a mention, as well as the tribes Votadini, Selgovai, Damnonii, Meatae etc. It normally takes little more......more