History's Mysteries (1998–2011): Season 11, Episode 4 - The Knights of Camelot - full transcript

700 years after
he died, he became

England's most famous ruler.

King Arthur-- fact or fantasy?

[theme music]

NARRATOR: In the
far distant past,

many believe a wise king
named Arthur presided over

a glamorous court of brave
knights and genteel ladies

at a place called Camelot.

Arthur's mentor, the
wizard and prophet Merlin,

warned him against marrying
the strong-willed Guinevere.

His advice was ignored,
and the wedding took place.



Soon after, Arthur's new queen
and his most trusted warrior,

Lancelot, fell in love.

Their illicit affair signaled
the end of the idyllic kingdom.

When and why did this
romantic legend enter

our literature and our lives?

1,500 years ago, Great Britain
was a primitive, violent land

beset by chaos of every kind.

There was no common language,
no central government.

The Roman occupiers had
abruptly left the British Isles

in the year 410 to defend
its empire in Italy

from the marauding Goths.

The native Celts were
left the task of repelling

the barbarians at their
gate-- the Angles, Saxons,

and Jutes who were invading from
across the cold northern seas.



I think the Dark Ages
were very dark indeed.

The population was
shrinking dramatically,

because of the loss
of the will to live,

I think, loss of
the will to have

children, as well as disease
and depopulation because

of warfare.

NARRATOR: Then in the
late fifth century,

a crucial battle was
waged in western England

between the Celts and
hordes of invading Saxons.

The Celtic victory brought
about a period of relative peace

to the land.

Accounts of the battle
credit a warrior

named Arthur with
the achievement.

Yet there's no mention
of Arthur being a king

or ruling from a
place called Camelot

until nearly 700 years later.

Before the revival of
interest in Arthur,

however, the Normans
successfully invaded

Britain from France in 1066.

The French brought with them
a culture that would gradually

impose its Christian
values on the mainly

pagan British tribes.

Emerging from the
Dark Ages, the people

also found a renewed appetite
for a romantic view of life.

In 1138, Geoffrey of
Monmouth completed

"The History of the Kings
of Britain" in Latin.

A fifth of the book was
devoted to the noble character

and exploits of King Arthur.

No scholars accepted
the stories as factual,

yet the deeds of this great
king carried great resonance

for the hero-hungry public.

Could the elaborate
tale, which Geoffrey

was the first to put in writing,
have been a total fiction?

I think there's always
a real possibility

that there was an unusual
person on whom Arthur is based.

The reason I think so
is partly from my sense

of how medieval
literature was written.

Almost no one wrote just making
it up out of their own minds.

NARRATOR: Fully 600 years after
the historical Arthur may have

lived, the grandson of
William the Conqueror

sat on the English throne.

Some scholars believe that
the king encouraged Geoffrey

of Monmouth to take
the folk tale of Arthur

and set it down as history
in order to improve

William's royal stature.

Thus in 1138, the
story of Arthur

seems to have gone from a
tale handed down generation

to generation to
a story that would

evolve into one of the
world's most beloved legends.

In 1170, Chretien de
Troyes, a French poet,

would add a love
interest to the story.

300 years later, in
1470, Sir Thomas Malory

would write the first novel
based on the epic exploits

of Arthur and his court.

It was to find popularity
around the world.

Finally, in the 19th century,
"The Idylls of the King"

by Alfred, Lord Tennyson would
present the tale of Arthur

in its most romantic light.

As we shall see, all
of these versions

had great social and
political impact.

Geoffrey's book set
in motion a new idea

that appealed to the
courts of all British kings

and would soon become
official policy.

The name given it was chivalry,
to which one swore an oath.

READER (VOICEOVER): "Never
to do outrage nor murder,

and always to flee treason.

To give mercy unto him
that asketh mercy."

The legend of King Arthur.

I think the idea of
the chivalric code

is one of the most
potent ideas that

has ever been let loose in the
history of Western thought.

Knights developed a
notion of the perfect way

to treat other knights, which
gradually led to the Geneva

Conventions, to notions about
how you treat prisoners of war,

be they infantrymen of very
lowly origins or officers

of very high standing.

READER (VOICEOVER):
"And always do

ladies, damsels and gentlewomen
succor, upon pain of death."

The legend of King Arthur.

It's in Geoffrey of Monmouth
that chivalry begins,

and that is when Arthur
marries Guinevere

and there is a tournament
at their marriage feast

in which we're told
that the men fought

more bravely because they were
inspired by the love of women.

Linking the impulse to love
with the impulse to war

is one of the very roots
of the Arthurian story.

It is certainly the root
of Arthurian chivalry.

Chretien de Troyes seems
almost singlehandedly to have

invented the full-blown
literature of medieval romance.

It is wonderful to
read these stories,

because they suggest
the intensity of passion

to be found in the
court of King Arthur.

It's often said that people
loved before the 12th century,

but until Chretien de Troyes
wrote his Arthurian romances,

everyone thought that
love was just bad for you.

Chretien suggests that love is
a compelling ideal through which

we find our best selves.

NARRATOR: But Chretien
de Troyes also introduced

to the legend the courageous
knight Lancelot, who would

soon enter into a profane love.

READER (VOICEOVER): "He
seemed the goodliest man

that ever among ladies ate in
hall and noblest of them all."

The legend of King Arthur.

NARRATOR: Having rescued
Guinevere from an abductor

and beknighted by her for
it, Lancelot and the queen

become lovers.

Virtually all
versions of the tale

acknowledge their affair to be
at the heart of Camelot's fall

from grace.

ALAN C. LUPAK: Courtly
love in its origins

and in its
codification is usually

almost always adulterous love.

It's adulterous love partly
in response to a very real

situation in the Middle Ages.

Marriages among noble people
were often arranged marriages,

and you would often have a young
woman married to an old man

just because it's
politically expedient.

Guinevere is the booty
over which men argue.

She represents the goal
for which men fight.

Guinevere is the Helen of
Troy of the Middle Ages.

She seems to go from the heights
of clear, beautiful queenship,

as one who is concerned only
with the good of the people

and the good of her
husband, to a character who

is little more than a whore.

NARRATOR: The fabled love
triangle among Guinevere,

Lancelot, and Arthur
would be more fully

developed by later writers
applying the moral values

of their times.

But in the 12th century,
the first priority

of the royalty in power
was to legitimize as much

of Arthur's life as possible,
since all early British kings

claimed to be
descended from him.

But there were many questions.

How did he become king?

Where was he buried?

Geoffrey of Monmouth
had named the fortress

at Tintagel on the
storm-wracked Cornish

coast as Arthur's birthplace.

There is perhaps no more
romantically forbidding

spot in all of Great Britain.

It is here, Geoffrey wrote,
that Arthur's lustful father

seduced another man's wife.

Arthur's father, King
Uther, was holding a banquet

in London, and among his guests
were the Duke of Cornwall

and his beautiful wife, Igerne.

Uther conceived a violent
passion for Igerne

and was soon obviously paying
her too much attention.

Her husband took
her back to Cornwall

and put her in his fortress out
on this great rocky promontory

at Tintagel.

But he had reckoned
without Merlin.

Merlin changed Uther
into an exact likeness

of the lady's husband--
a clone, you might say.

And, of course, this was
the perfect disguise.

He marched in, and he
had his way with Igerne,

and this was how
Arthur was born.

NARRATOR: But why would
Geoffrey of Monmouth

pick Tintagel as Arthur's
birthplace, a fortress

apparently built in
the 12th century, when

the historical Arthur had
lived 600 years earlier?

Recently,
archaeologists uncovered

two previously unknown facts--
that a monastery had preceded

the castle here, and that
Mediterranean pottery

identified in excavations
dated back to Arthur's

time, the 5th century.

We're now finding a sizable
commercial settlement which

would, of course, have been in
touch with the Mediterranean

and so on.

So Tintagel is suddenly
reappearing, thanks

to archeology, as a
very interesting place,

a place of great importance in
the time of the Arthur figure.

NARRATOR: While King Arthur
may have been born here

at Tintagel, there's
little folklore

dealing with his early years.

One story has the baby Arthur
swept ashore by the sea

and raised by Merlin.

Another has him as a young man
prove he's heir to the throne

by being the only
one able to withdraw

a mighty sword from a stone.

Evocative reminders
of a distant past

still excite the
imagination of those

who investigate the
ancient brooding

landscapes of Great Britain.

But how much about the
golden age of chivalry

can we acknowledge as fact
and how much as only fantasy?

Despite the code of
chivalry, medieval women

have the legal
status of children,

and a respected advice
manual of the time

recommended starving them
to gain their obedience.

NARRATOR: For the ancient Celts
who had settled in Britain long

before the Christian era,
every aspect of nature

held a spiritual power that was
both to be feared and honored.

As a young man,
legend says that King

Arthur was brought by
his guardian Merlin

to a secret place.

A spirit from the deep known
as the Lady of the Lake

offered up the magical
sword Excalibur.

It would vanquish
all foes of Arthur

throughout his long life.

Of all the forms of
nature, the forests

especially played a large
part in Celtic folklore.

They were considered
part of the other world

where giants and
dragons lurked, ever

on the lookout for human prey.

By the 12th century,
the ominous woods

had become the hunting
ground for the brave

knights who served the King
Arthur of book and song.

How better to prove
one's courage and skill

than to kill a monster?

Proof to one's peers
and perhaps to one's

lady love, who, not
uncommonly, may have

been abducted by the beast.

READER (VOICEOVER): "Because
of these noble lords

about his hall, of whom
each knight painted

himself to be the
hardiest champion,

Arthur made the Round Table."

The legend of King Arthur.

NARRATOR: According to
storytellers of the time, each

of whom added to
Geoffrey's history,

as part of Guinevere's
dowry to Arthur,

Merlin was ordered to have a
round table built which could

seat 150 of the finest knights.

All these men can sit together
as equals at one table in which

one's rank is not higher
than another's, but in which

each of their special
capacities is recognized.

Isn't that a wonderful
principle for democracy?

NARRATOR: By the 16th century,
a round table designed by Henry

VIII had been placed in
Winchester Cathedral, where it

remains on display to this day.

The city of Winchester
itself, west of London,

had long been held to
be the original site

of the legendary Camelot.

But in recent years, a
new theory has evolved.

West of Winchester
are the remains

of an 18-acre hilltop fort.

Today, some believe it
to be a likely location

for Arthur's fabled court.

READER (VOICEOVER):
"People will tell

you they have heard that Arthur
much traveled here to Camelot."

John Leland, 1542.

NARRATOR: It is now
called Cadbury Castle,

though no structures remain.

Modest excavations
carried out in the 1960s

confirmed there had been an
Iron Age settlement here, which

by the 5th century,
Arthur's period,

had evolved into the most
sophisticated Celtic stronghold

found in Britain.

Walls measuring 14-feet thick
once fortified the area.

Experts also concluded that
this may have been a political

rather than a military
center, with resources

of wealth and manpower unequaled
in the country at that time.

But was it the home of Arthur
and the glamorous court

over which he presided?

GEOFFREY ASHE: It's said that on
a certain night in the summer,

the ghosts of him and his men
ride over the top of the hill.

And, in fact, I have
kept vigil once or twice,

and I didn't see any ghosts.

But down in the woods
there, I heard the sound

of a flute being played.

It was very eerie.

I did not go down
to investigate.

It would have been quite wrong
to go down to investigate.

Something was happening.

That's about all I
could say, really.

NARRATOR: Could this area
called Cadbury Castle

have been the site of Camelot?

I'm reminded of Troy.

I mean, In the 18th
century, everybody

knew that Troy didn't exist.

There was nothing there.

But Schliemann believed
it, and he went and dug.

And lo and behold, not
one Troy, but seven.

I wouldn't be surprised if it
should turn out that there was

a major city
resisting the Saxons

around the 470s AD ruled over
by a great figure named Arthur.

How nice if we would
find, just as we

have found the Troy of
Priam, the Camelot of Arthur.

NARRATOR: If the physical
reality of Camelot

was ever to be
established, we've

yet to understand fully
the key characters who

are said to have lived there and
gave it life, made it prosper,

and influenced each
succeeding age.

READER (VOICEOVER): "He
was strong but just,

noble yet kind,
passionate though wise."

The legend of King Arthur.

King Arthur appeals to people
because he's accessible.

That is, most heroes, it
seems to me, simply aren't.

They aren't human.

But you think of Arthur.

Here is the person
who is the model

of the heroic and
ideal king, and yet he

has all the defects
of the private man

and unaware of what
his wife is doing.

And he doesn't know
how to handle that.

And it seems to me it's
that very humanity of him,

all the faults he has as
well as the virtues, that

makes him enormously appealing.

NARRATOR: And, of course,
there's the legendary Merlin--

part devil, part saint--
who guided Arthur

through his formative years.

When Merlin was
very young, legend

says that his gift of prophecy
saved his life from the hands

of Vortigern, an earlier king.

Vortigern is told that
what he ought to do

is sacrifice Merlin,
the young boy,

and that therefore his house
will have a strong foundation.

Merlin says with great
cleverness to him,

but your problem is not that
you need to sacrifice a child.

If you dig down
there, you'll find

two dragons who need to
be destroyed before you

can build a solid castle.

Of course, they dig down.

Of course, they
find the dragons.

And, of course, Merlin
becomes the greatest

engineer and the greatest
magician in the land.

NARRATOR: In some tales, Merlin
is credited with magically

transferring the engineering
wonder known as Stonehenge from

its supposedly
original 4,000-year-old

site in Ireland
to its present one

on Salisbury Plain in England.

From the time of
Chretien's romance,

centuries would
pass before anyone

would write down a
fully fleshed-out

account of the entire legend.

In 1470, Sir Thomas Malory
completed "Le Morte d'Arthur,"

"The Death of Arthur,"
regarded not only

as the definitive
telling of the romance

but as a literary masterpiece.

In Malory, the pivotal
figure of Lancelot

is regarded as the paragon
of chivalric virtue.

His passion for Guinevere
is not consummated

until the final chapters.

But in whichever century
Arthurian romances

were written and passed on, one
theme persisted-- the quest.

A noble knight was always
leaving on a journey

to find and destroy
something or someone evil,

to rescue a fellow
knight or a lady love,

or to seek the ultimate goal.

The varied landscape
of Great Britain

is still graced by tangible
reminders of the skill

and imagination of those
who lived here long

before the birth of Christ.

Christianity itself would
gain an early foothold

along with Caesar's legions.

After many more
centuries, it would

eventually dominate the
pagan religions of the land.

But there would be no holy wars
fought here in the Dark Ages,

only bloodshed over secular
passions-- greed, power, tribal

jealousies-- irrational
forces King Arthur

is credited with
bringing under control

by the late fifth century.

At about this time, one
of the first British

Christian communities
was founded,

and it survives to this day.

It is called Glastonbury.

A good part of the
Arthurian legend

has ties to this town and
its 10th century abbey.

Here are the waters
of the Chalice Well,

believed by some to have
healing powers dating

back to the time of Christ.

Legend has it that the
Holy Grail was brought

to Glastonbury from the
Holy Land at that time,

and eventually this
legend would play

a powerful part in the
actual history of England.

READER (VOICEOVER):
"Joseph of Arimathea,

an honorable councilor,
went boldly on to Pilate

and craved the body of Jesus.

And when he knew it
of the centurion,

he gave the body to Joseph."

The Gospel according
to Mark, 15:46.

NARRATOR: According to
legend, Joseph of Arimathea

helped wash the body of
Christ after the crucifixion

and preserved Christ's
blood in a chalice or grail.

In this version of
the tale, Joseph

arrived in Glastonbury 30 years
later with the sacred vessel.

Centuries later, every
knight in Arthur's court

vied to be sent on this
greatest of adventures

to find the Holy Grail.

What the Grail actually is
varies from story to story.

But what the physical object
is isn't that important.

But what's important
is the spiritual quest

and the virtue of the person
engaged in that quest.

NARRATOR: But there
was only one knight

truly qualified to
gain this honor,

and his name was Galahad.

READER (VOICEOVER): "My strength
is as the strength of 10,

because my heart is pure."

The legend of King Arthur.

NARRATOR: Sir Thomas Malory
was the first to write

of the mystical encounter
between the virtuous

young knight and the Grail.

The Grail, when it comes
to Arthur's Round Table,

comes on the same
day that Galahad

arrives at the round table.

Galahad, the illegitimate
son of Lancelot,

comes to fill the Siege
Perilous, the perilous

seat in which if anyone
sits who doesn't belong

will destroy them.

Galahad sits.

All is well.

Suddenly, there is
darkness in the room.

There is thunder heard outside.

And in comes, hoving--
the verb is "hoving,"

like a hovercraft-- over the
table this magnificent grail.

And none of them
touch the Grail,

but each person there feels
that he has eaten the best

foods he's ever eaten,
has drunk the best

drinks he's ever drunk, is
completely physically sated.

The beautiful thing
about the Grail

is not that it's
fully spiritual,

but rather that it's so
physical in its impact.

It makes people happy.

NARRATOR: For Galahad, however,
the ecstasy he experiences

takes him to a place where
his fellow knights could not

follow.

Once he achieves the
Grail, since his only focus

is on the spiritual,
there's nothing

left in this world for him.

And so he's taken
from the world.

It's interesting, of
course, that Galahad

is the son of Lancelot, and
so that Lancelot, in effect,

does not achieve
the Grail himself

but achieves it through his son.

NARRATOR: The Christ-like
purity of Galahad

caused a later poet to have
him buried in the holiest

of places, Jerusalem.

The Grail epic is only one
of several major episodes

said to have emanated from
the medieval site called

Glastonbury.

Atop this hill, known
as Glastonbury Tor,

are the remains
of a castle tower

in which Guinevere is said
to have been held captive

before Lancelot rescued her.

In some folklore, the tor
itself is believed to be hollow

and the point of entry
to the underworld.

But the past and present
fame of Glastonbury

rests on the contention
that King Arthur

was buried here after
his last battle,

Guinevere alongside him.

In 1191, monks
supposedly exposed

the remains of bodies,
underneath which was found

a cross of lead
with the inscription

"Here lies buried
the renowned King

Arthur in the isle of Avalon."

Unfortunately, both the cross
and remains have disappeared.

Some scholars
suggest the monks had

an ulterior motive when they
publicized their discovery.

CHARLES T. WOOD: Glastonbury
became the wealthiest

monastery in England.

When you come to
the 15th century,

you find that the English are
regarded as the most important

Christians-- that when councils
of the Church are held,

England gets
precedence over anyone

else-- because Joseph
of Arimathea, out

of this Glastonbury story, is
taken to be the true founder

of the Church of England.

NARRATOR: Whether or not
Arthur was buried here,

the appeal of this abbey
has never diminished

in its millennium-long history.

I've lived in Glastonbury
now for 20 years,

and I was, you might
say, spiritually

here a long time before that.

It's a deeply fascinating place.

It's a very powerful
sort of place

as a great religious center
long before Christianity,

then as a great
Christian center.

And again and again, it
shows this kind of vitality.

NARRATOR: But the serenity
of Glastonbury today

belies the violent history
that brought Great Britain

to the fore as a world power.

King Arthur, who
lived by ideals,

supposedly died by the sword.

Why did Camelot,
his perfect kingdom,

last only his lifetime?

Some claim that the unpopular
Norman kings of England

persuaded the monks to discover
Arthur's grave at Glastonbury.

This was supposed
to prevent enemies

from declaring themselves the
immortal Arthur resurrected

to lead the people in revolt.

NARRATOR: Was King Arthur
a true historical figure?

We do not know.

We do know that by
the 12th century,

his legend had made an
impact on the actual rulers

of Great Britain.

The code of chivalry as set
forth by Arthurian storytellers

was adopted by royalty
as a means of imposing

guidelines on actual warfare.

Early monarchs hoped and
believed they could recreate

the ideal court of Camelot.

But 300 years later, the
fabled kingdom was more

remote from reality than ever.

A major civil war, the War
of the Roses, had broken out.

Many scholars believe Sir
Thomas Malory wrote "Le Morte

d'Arthur" in a London jail.

He was held there for eight
years as a political prisoner.

The book reflected the
mood of public anguish

over the violence that still
raged throughout the land.

The time in which
Malory wrote is

a very chaotic
time in which kings

are constantly being deposed.

You look at any family
tree in this period,

you find that 2/3 of the
people have little daggers

after their names,
which means they

died a less than natural death.

What runs through
Malory's telling of it

is that type of breakdown of
chivalry and good lordship

which he associates with
the fight between red rose

and white, Lancaster
and York, which

was the essence of the 15th
century in which he lived.

NARRATOR: With the advent
of the printing press

during his lifetime,
Malory saw his version

of the Arthurian legend become
one of the first bestsellers.

Despite its political overtones,
the love triangle remained

at the heart of the drama.

READER (VOICEOVER): "Steadily,
the queen beheld Sir Lancelot.

She wept so tenderly she almost
sank to the ground for sorrow,

in that he had done for
her such great goodness,

whereas she had shown
him great unkindness."

Sir Thomas Malory.

"Is she really a good girl?

Or is she just a hopeless,
adulterous bitch?"

reflect, it seems
to me, a great deal

of difficulty in the Middle
Ages of understanding

women as human beings.

As you read the
medieval authors,

you find that they're
going back and forth

between those poles of
great purity and delicacy

of the virgin on the one hand.

On the other hand, that
temptress, that carnal Eve.

NARRATOR: There is little
ambiguity, though, in Malory's

treatment of King Arthur.

King Arthur maintains his
nobility, in spite of the fact

that he's cuckolded.

He doesn't receive
the kind of derision

that we find in many
other medieval works

for cuckolded husbands.

It's not the typical
situation where the two

lovers want to go and
have fun and deceive

the foolish old husband.

It's a situation where
there is real feeling

among the characters, and this
is something that enhances

the tragedy of that story.

NARRATOR: Malory's 15th century
narrative, written in a period

of great political
turmoil, would remain

the most widely known
account of the romance

for the next 400 years.

Then in the mid-1800s, the
poet laureate of England,

Alfred, Lord Tennyson,
began writing his version,

called "The Idylls of the King."

It was an instant
success, with an audience

far different from Malory's.

There was peace in the land.

Queen Victoria reigned supreme.

The sun never set on
the British Empire.

But the Industrial
Revolution had just

begun with a vengeance,
and Tennyson,

along with many
major artists, feared

that technology was the new
evil abroad in the land.

CHARLES T. WOOD:
"Idylls of the King"

does have a sad and
despairing note.

The sadness of the fall
of Camelot, if you will,

is the fall of rural,
peaceful, agricultural England

to the forces of modern
steel and cotton mills.

Camelot becomes, it seems
to me, the symbol of that

lost golden age but also becomes
very much an ideal for raising

the next generation.

That is, everything suggests
that all the stories

of chivalrous
knighthood were supposed

to teach these future
leaders of society

how to be true,
chivalrous leaders.

The Arthurian ideal becomes
the ideal of the ruling classes

of England, it seems
to me, at least

down to the First World War.

NARRATOR: By Tennyson's time,
along with modern technology,

science was also raising
troubling questions

for the Victorians.

In a sense, their
whole world view

was being called into
question, the whole moral world

view as people began
studying things like geology

and proving that the Earth
was older than it would be

if we took the Bible literally.

NARRATOR: But at the heart
of Tennyson's version

of the legend, as
in all its tellings,

the love triangle still
dictates Camelot's destiny.

Tennyson's Arthur
is both a mother

and a father to his society.

One of the things Tennyson
achieves by shoving the figure

of Guinevere into the
realm of sinfulness

is to achieve the
grandeur of Arthur.

Both Arthur and Lancelot are
profoundly noble, flawed only

because they love this woman
and flawed through their love

of this woman.

NARRATOR: All the magic
at Merlin's disposal,

all the wise
leadership of Arthur,

all the devotion of his
loyal knights cannot prevent

the downfall of Camelot.

Human passions
within the court, not

hostile invaders from without,
would end its golden age.

In the Middle Ages, love
madness, an obsession

with a particular woman,
was recognized as a disease

for which physicians prescribed
cures, such as bleeding

and sexual intercourse.

NARRATOR: For those who might
wish to retrace the paths where

Arthur and his bold knights
might once have ventured,

it is said there is scarcely
an acre of British countryside

over which their noble
steeds did not race.

Most people believe there
is at least some truth

to the Arthurian legends.

But few believe that Merlin,
despite his reputation,

could have possessed
magic or technical skill

to erect this mystical
monument, as he claimed.

And what of Arthur himself?

How are we to remember
the legendary king, whose

great hopes for the
Round Table would

be dashed within his own time?

CHARLES T. WOOD: Is Arthur
ever considered a sad figure?

I don't think so.

In American terms, it
would be that of an Abraham

Lincoln fighting the Civil War.

And I don't think anyone
ever talks about a Lincoln

as a sad person, although
he's a somber one.

But he's got a sense of humor.

Arthur seems to be like that.

NARRATOR: And
Arthur would go out,

as he had begun, a
warrior, his mighty sword

Excalibur vanquishing the foe.

In this case, the enemy was
Mordred, his illegitimate son.

Mordred had seen the love
affair weaken the throne

and decided that the
crown could be his.

In the Battle of Camlann,
Arthur was forced to kill him

but was himself
mortally wounded.

As strange as the legend of his
birth, so is that of his death.

He was escorted to the
magical aisle of Avalon,

where his wounds were treated by
his half-sister, Morgan le Fay.

His final command
was to have Excalibur

returned to the lake from
which it first came to him.

READER (VOICEOVER): "Many men
say there is written upon his

tomb 'Here lies Arthur, the
once and future king.' Yet some

men say in many parts of England
that King Arthur is not dead."

Sir Thomas Malory.

NARRATOR: Some ancient
legends have it

that he was returned
to Camelot and buried

somewhere in this hillside.

To this day, the legend has
it that Arthur is only asleep,

awaiting the call to return to
rule a perfect earthly kingdom.

No romantic eternity,
however, followed

Guinevere and Lancelot.

Their passionate affair ended
when Arthur fell in battle.

Both lovers were repentant.

Her remaining days were spent
in a nunnery, his as a hermit.

And so the legend of
Camelot comes to a close,

leaving a remarkable legacy of
knights in shining armor living

out the code of chivalry in a
kingdom where each man's worth

was weighed by his virtue.

Camelot, a wondrous,
ideal world,

has been in our thoughts
for a thousand years now.

What is the special magic
of this ageless tale?

Camelot has always appealed to
people, because it is a place,

like the Garden of Eden and
like a Persian garden, that

is a kind of sacred space
which is forever spring

and where people
are forever young.

But it is also a place
which, ultimately,

like those other gardens, fails.

And it seems to me it's that
sort of triumph and tragedy

that captures us
century to century.

It's a story that
has great hope.

But since it's a
story that emerges

from the Christian tradition,
it is also a story of how

we are all fallen creatures.

Camelot is the best
that human beings can

make until we find not
an earthly Jerusalem,

but a heavenly one.

I think the idea
of Camelot does

appeal very much because of
the dream of the golden age.

And as it was put at the
end of the famous musical,

"for one brief shining
moment," it existed.

And the difference
between one brief

shining moment and nothing at
all is a very great difference.

The legend of Camelot
has inspired a Broadway

musical and several
movies and now a theme

park in northern England.

Among the attractions at the
Magical Kingdom of Camelot--

England's one and
only jousting arena.

[theme music]