The Age of Arthur: A History of the British Isles from 350 to 650

The late John Morris survived just four years after the publication of "The Age of Arthur" in 1973, long enough to see his reputation crumble amongst his peers following the appearance of this work. Much of the evidence for his arguments were to appear in an Arthurian Sources series, but he died long before these were ready for publication. What was eventually published was barely the ghost of what he must have intended, but even so enough survives to show that his methodology -- using his undoubted scholarship to plaster over the cracks of diverse and often uncertain evidence to suggest a sound structure -- was ultimately flawed.

The Age of Arthur, if read at all for enlightenment, should be used with caution and with some prior knowledge and understanding of the limitations of the available evidence. Nearly four decades of archaeological and other research mean that many of his ex cathedra statements have regretfully to be disregarded. Sadly that hasn't stopped some enthusiastic disciples, such as Rodney Castleden, from claiming his throne, alas with rather less erudition. ( )

Interesting historical thesis of the transition from roman rule in Britain and the exploration of why dispite the fact that much of the western empire was occupied politically/miltary by "barbariens" the cultural etc breaks with the past was greatest in Britain. The long resistence of the british to the english left them welsh and the english with a civil society that had local authonomy and strong sense of the rights of the indvidual and the roots of a national identity ( )

An indepth study of the time that King Arthur would have lived. ( )