Genelach Dáil Cuinn Project™ Forum

Final resting place of up to 65 British kings revealed as discovery sheds light on King Arthur era. The new research on early British and Irish royal graves is published this month in the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/scie ... 37073.html

Tim,

Interesting article. I wish more had been said about the Irish "royal" grave sites. I certainly hope Prof. Daniel Bradley and Dr. Lara Cassidy of TCD are involved.

FYI, there has been a school of thought that Art Óenfer mac Cuinn Cétchathaig and the Irish fíanna war bands may have been the origin for the myths of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table; although I did just find this interesting annals entry from the Annals Of Ulster:

AU467.3 Death of Uter Pendragon, king of England, to whom succeeded his son, King Arthur, who instituted the Round Table.

Also, there may have been some confusion very early on between the Féni (an early Irish people) and the genitive case of fían, féne.

Any idea when the entry about King Arthur might have been written? Presumably based on British sources rather than some ancient Irish tradition.

Geoff,

I have no idea, because regardless of the date for the compilation of the annals, we have no idea what their sources were. I personally am convinced there were Ogam records from the early period that were used to compile the various annals, but have sadly since been lost. Also keep in mind there are records of early Irish settlements in Wales and even into Cornwall, just as there were in Scotland, with the Dál Riata kingdom. So was Arthur based on a Roman man, or perhaps an Irish one? IDK if we will ever figure that one out.