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[[File:king_arthur.jpg|frame|link=http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rights-managed/42-25648773/arthur-draws-the-sword-from-the-stone|Now me, [[Discworld|I'm more impressed by whoever put the sword there to begin with]].]]
The [[Knight in Shining Armor|perfect king]], who ruled [[Britain]] during a [[Golden Age]] with [[Merlin]] at his side, but fell to treachery, and [[King in the Mountain|now sleeps]], waiting for Britain's [[In Its Hour of Need|hour of greatest need]]. Subject of many a [[Chivalric Romance]], long known as the "[[Matter of Britain]]," alongside the Matter of France (stories of Charlemagne's court and wars with the Saracens) and the Matter of Rome (The Trojan War, the Aeneid, Alexander the Great).<ref> These three ''matières'' (sources of inspiration) were defined ca. 1200 by the French poet Jean Bodel for French works; it does not encompass themes important to other literature, such as the German cycles about the Burgundians and the Goths, notably represented by the ''[[Nibelungenlied]]''. Or, for that matter, all French or Anglo-Norman romances, whatever they claimed.</ref>
[[Shrouded in Myth|There may be a kernel of historical truth to the myth]], but [[Memetic Mutation|it has been obscured by centuries of elaborations]]. If he existed, the historical Arthur may have been a Romano-British leader (a native Briton, ancestors of the Celtic-speaking Scots, Cornish and Welsh) who fought the invading Saxons after the Roman provincial government collapsed. Documents show that after the [[Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny|Battle of Badon Hill]], the Saxon tide was turned back for almost a century, but the records are confused as to of who was in charge of the Britons at the time, if anyone; if he existed, Arthur's realm may have been an outpost of people not-getting-killed. The first surviving reference is from circa 600 A.D., and implies that either the legend or at least the man's reputation was well known even then.
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