Arthurian Tales: Ambrosius Aureliani
13-ISBN: 9780971782853
10-ISBN: 0971782857
LCCN: 2010934064
Soft-cover, p. 352
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Arthurian themes – the Sword of Power and the Round Table – were given historical bases

Liberties were taken in the development of the Arthurian themes regarding the Sword of Power and the Round Table. Still, fifth-century events anchor them within Ambrosius Aureliani.

Littleton and Malcor bring up two influential points in From Scythia to Camelot about the Sword in the Stone myth. The authors ask why the whole episode is absent from British chronicles, as well as from Geoffrey’s Historia. Secondly, the authors tell that the earliest appearance of the Sword in the Stone myth occurs in the writings from the regions settled by the Alans around Orléans.

This has led to the belief that the Sword of Power did not originate in Britain but somewhere in Gaul. Interestingly enough, contemporary and near-contemporary writers tell a tale about a noteworthy sword in the fifth century. Based on the known travels of its wielder, this sword rode through the region near Orléans.

King Bleda died in 446 according to the Gallic Chronicle of 452 in From Roman to Merovingian Gaul by Alexander Callander Murray. Sometime afterwards, a herdsman drew the Sword of Ares from the earth and gave it to Attila the Hun. In The Age of Attila, Priscus records this contemporary event and Jordanes passes the tale down in The Origin and Deeds of the Goths.

Gregory of Tours tells that Attila was turned away from Aureliani and that city of Gaul survived the Scourge of God.

In this mist of details, the Sword of Power will appear for the future king to claim.

According to the French writer that introduced the theme of the Round Table, Wace states that the tales of Arthur were not all lies nor all true. Geoffrey Ashe makes note of Wace’s statement in The Discovery of King Arthur. This leaves us the task of once more, sifting through the various legends for an underlying history.

Geoffrey Ashe further cites a myth that Merlin made the Round Table for Uther. Geoffrey of Monmouth tells how Aurelius Ambrosius had Uther travel to Ireland with Merlin. They took down the Giant’s Ring and brought it to Britain as a monument for the nobles massacred on the first of May [ in 429 - based on the documented revolt of the Saxons by Constantius of Lyons].

With the trip to Ireland happening sometime after the massacre, the taking of the Giant's Ring is cast in the context of Palladius’ trip in 431. Ambrosius, Merlinus and Utherpendragon [Euthar] take down the Giant’s Ring on behalf of the Roman Church. The pagan symbol falls victim to the wrath of Christianity like the ancient temple of Serapis in Alexandria and the consecrated statue of Mount Etna on the island of Sicily. Unlike the others, Merlinus preserved it by moving it to Britain.

In Ambrosius Aureliani, this stone monument is not portrayed as Stonehenge, but instead as an enormous stone hoop, a ring that a giant could wear. Through the process of moving it, the idea of the Round Table develops within Merlinus.

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