full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Alan Lupack: Is there any truth to the King Arthur legends?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


“Here lies Arthur, king who was, and king who will be.”

So rades the inscription on King Arthur’s gravestone in Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur. wrtinig in the 15th cetrnuy, Malory couldn’t have known how prophetic this inscription would turn out to be. King Arthur has risen again and again in our collective inamgiitoan, along with his retinue of knights, Guinevere, the Round tbale, Camelot, and of course, Excalibur. But where do these stories come from, and is there any truth to them?

King auhrtr as we know him is a creation of the later Middle Ages, but his legend actually has its roots in Celtic poerty from an earlier time: the Saxon invasions of Britain. After the ramons left Britain in 410 CE, Saxon invaders from what’s now Germany and Denmark quilkcy capitalized on the vletbilainruy of the aaondenbd territory. The inhabitants of Britain fought fiercely against the invaders through several centuries of turmoil. There are hardly any werittn rrdceos from this time, so it’s difficult to reconstruct an accurate history. However, surviving poetry from the era gives us some clues. One of the pmoes, The Gododdin, contains the very first reference to Arthur, though Arthur himself doesn’t actually appear in it. It says a different warrior, named Gwawrddur, was skilled at slaying his enemies, but was no Arthur. That’s not much to go on, but whoever this Arthur was, he must’ve been the gold standard of warriors. Whether he ruled anyone, or even lived at all is, unfortunately, less clear.

Open Cloze


“Here lies Arthur, king who was, and king who will be.”

So _____ the inscription on King Arthur’s gravestone in Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur. _______ in the 15th _______, Malory couldn’t have known how prophetic this inscription would turn out to be. King Arthur has risen again and again in our collective ___________, along with his retinue of knights, Guinevere, the Round _____, Camelot, and of course, Excalibur. But where do these stories come from, and is there any truth to them?

King ______ as we know him is a creation of the later Middle Ages, but his legend actually has its roots in Celtic ______ from an earlier time: the Saxon invasions of Britain. After the ______ left Britain in 410 CE, Saxon invaders from what’s now Germany and Denmark _______ capitalized on the _____________ of the _________ territory. The inhabitants of Britain fought fiercely against the invaders through several centuries of turmoil. There are hardly any _______ _______ from this time, so it’s difficult to reconstruct an accurate history. However, surviving poetry from the era gives us some clues. One of the _____, The Gododdin, contains the very first reference to Arthur, though Arthur himself doesn’t actually appear in it. It says a different warrior, named Gwawrddur, was skilled at slaying his enemies, but was no Arthur. That’s not much to go on, but whoever this Arthur was, he must’ve been the gold standard of warriors. Whether he ruled anyone, or even lived at all is, unfortunately, less clear.

Solution


  1. written
  2. century
  3. romans
  4. vulnerability
  5. reads
  6. writing
  7. poems
  8. imagination
  9. abandoned
  10. arthur
  11. quickly
  12. poetry
  13. records
  14. table

Original Text


“Here lies Arthur, king who was, and king who will be.”

So reads the inscription on King Arthur’s gravestone in Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur. Writing in the 15th century, Malory couldn’t have known how prophetic this inscription would turn out to be. King Arthur has risen again and again in our collective imagination, along with his retinue of knights, Guinevere, the Round Table, Camelot, and of course, Excalibur. But where do these stories come from, and is there any truth to them?

King Arthur as we know him is a creation of the later Middle Ages, but his legend actually has its roots in Celtic poetry from an earlier time: the Saxon invasions of Britain. After the Romans left Britain in 410 CE, Saxon invaders from what’s now Germany and Denmark quickly capitalized on the vulnerability of the abandoned territory. The inhabitants of Britain fought fiercely against the invaders through several centuries of turmoil. There are hardly any written records from this time, so it’s difficult to reconstruct an accurate history. However, surviving poetry from the era gives us some clues. One of the poems, The Gododdin, contains the very first reference to Arthur, though Arthur himself doesn’t actually appear in it. It says a different warrior, named Gwawrddur, was skilled at slaying his enemies, but was no Arthur. That’s not much to go on, but whoever this Arthur was, he must’ve been the gold standard of warriors. Whether he ruled anyone, or even lived at all is, unfortunately, less clear.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
king arthur 4
le morte 2


Important Words


  1. abandoned
  2. accurate
  3. ages
  4. arthur
  5. britain
  6. camelot
  7. capitalized
  8. ce
  9. celtic
  10. centuries
  11. century
  12. clear
  13. clues
  14. collective
  15. creation
  16. denmark
  17. difficult
  18. earlier
  19. enemies
  20. era
  21. excalibur
  22. fiercely
  23. fought
  24. germany
  25. gododdin
  26. gold
  27. gravestone
  28. guinevere
  29. gwawrddur
  30. history
  31. imagination
  32. inhabitants
  33. inscription
  34. invaders
  35. invasions
  36. king
  37. knights
  38. le
  39. left
  40. legend
  41. lies
  42. lived
  43. malory
  44. middle
  45. morte
  46. named
  47. poems
  48. poetry
  49. prophetic
  50. quickly
  51. reads
  52. reconstruct
  53. records
  54. reference
  55. retinue
  56. risen
  57. romans
  58. roots
  59. ruled
  60. saxon
  61. skilled
  62. slaying
  63. standard
  64. stories
  65. surviving
  66. table
  67. territory
  68. thomas
  69. time
  70. truth
  71. turmoil
  72. turn
  73. vulnerability
  74. warrior
  75. warriors
  76. writing
  77. written