Badon remains puzzling. It seems too late to square with the rest, yet Arthur was surely associated with it somehow. If another commander had won this crucial victory, why did somebody so important drop out of the record? Maybe we should suspect Arthur’s Men here, military heirs fighting under his standard after his death, and winning the battle. Bards counted the victory as his, but grew vague as to whether he was present himself, so that over the course of time the event became blurred. Something like this is documented in other cases. But again, it’s only a guess.

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Yet to admit guesswork is a step towards insight rather than a confession of failure. That, after all, is the way things are. Some might wish that we could replace Arthur’s pseudo-biography with a real one. Would that be better? He is a strange, haunting, betwixt-and-between figure, not a figment to be dismissed, yet not a clear-cut individual like, say, Alfred the Great. If we could confront him plainly as we confront Alfred, who knows how we would react? It is right that the mists around him should not be allowed to blot him out. But perhaps it is also right that they should not disperse entirely.

Geoffrey Ashe was born in London. He lived for some years in Canada and attended the University of British Columbia, later taking a further degree at Cambridge. Since 1974 his home has been in Glastonbury. He has written 23 books. Best known are his studies of British legend.

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