LS, hello! I am a dutch student and currently doing what you call GSCE's (I believe). For this I have to do research to a certain subject and I have chosen to do research, and write, about the religious difference in the many different Arthur stories there are written. Now chosing this subject is for a great deal inspired by your books about Arthur that I've read about 4 years ago. I loved the whole celtic base to it, something I m trying to find now too for my research! Now I would like to ask you if you, for any reason(s) in pariculair think why it is more likely Arthurs religion was (at first) a celtic one, and not Christian. It would be great if you could tell me a little about your findings on this :) Thanks in advance and keep up the good work! I am really enjoying your books! Elbereth.
It's an assumption! The truth is that we know almost nothing about Arthur (even if he existed), and almost nothing about his religion. But among the earliest mentions of Alfred are saints' lives written in Wales, and in all those early lives (St Padarn, St Carannog, and others), Arthur is depicted as an enemy of the church - in fact as a villain. In one tale he steals the altar of a church, and in another he steals a saint's cloak. This strongly sugests that the early Welsh church remembered Arthur as a bad guy! Which suggests to me that he might well have been a pagan - paganism was far from dead in Britain, though the ancient Celtic religion (Druidism) was certainly on its last legs. In truth it's my guess, nothing more! I hope this helps, and I'm sorrry if the answer is so short. The other religions around in Britain at that time were ones imported by the Romans, and I find it significant that there are more ruins oif Mithraic Temples in Britain than there are of Romano-Celtic churches - so we know Mithraism was strong, and presumably the other Roman religions were present (including Christianity, which spread along the trade routes of the Roman Empire). It's a mess! Sorry! All I can say is good luck and graag gedaan!