The facts around the real King Arthur are mired in myth and folklore, but historians believe he ruled Britain from the late 5th and early 6th centuries.
Many historians agree that while the king was a genuine historical figure in early Britain, he could in fact be a composite of multiple people from an age of poor record keeping.
There are many versions of the Arthur legend, but some common threads are interwoven throughout them.
In 410 AD, the Romans pulled their troops out of Britain and, with the loss of their authority, local chieftans and kings competed for land.
In 449 AD, King Vortigern invited the Angles and Saxons to settle in Kent in order to help him fight the Picts and the Scots.
However, the Angles and Saxons betrayed Vortigern at a peace council where they drew their knives and killed 460 British chiefs.
The massacre was called the Night of the Long Knives, which, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, occurred at a monastery on the Salisbury Plain.
Ambrosius Aurelianus, became King and consulted the wizard Merlin to help him select an appropriate monument to raise in honour of the dead chieftains.
Merlin suggested that the King’s Ring from Mount Killarus in Ireland be dismantled and brought to England.
The king’s brother and Arthur’s father, Uther Pendragon, led an expedition of soldiers to bring the stones from Ireland to England.
Merlin magically reconstructed the stones as Stonehenge on the Salisbury Plain around the burials of the dead British chieftains in the monastery cemetery.
Some legends say Arthur was born at Tintagel Castle in Cornwall and was taken by Merlin to be raised by Sir Ector.
Shortly thereafter, civil war broke out in England and Uther Pendragon was killed.
When Arthur was a young boy he drew a sword called Caliburn from a stone.
One version of the legend states that the sword was made at Avalon from a sarsen stone that originated either from Avebury or Stonehenge and whoever drew the sword from the stone was the true King of England.
Arthur was coronated in the ruins of the Roman fort at Caerleon in Wales.
In another version, King Ambrosius Aurelianus led a battle against the Saxons at Badon Hill.
Aurelianus was killed and his nephew, Arthur, took control of the soldiers and won the battle. Later, Arthur lost Caliburn in a fight with Sir Pellinore but was saved by Merlin’s magic.
Arthur received a new sword (Excalibur) and a scabbard from Nimue, the Lady in the Lake at Avalon.
The scabbard was magical and as long as Arthur wore it, he could not die.
Arthur had three half-sisters who are sometimes referred to as sorceresses.
Arthur fell in love with Morgana, not knowing that she was his half-sister and they had a son named Mordred.
When Arthur discovered the truth, he was horrified and ordered all male infants born at the same time as his son to be brought to Caerleon.
The babies were put onto an unattended ship and set out to sea, which crashed on some rocks and sank.
Mordred survived the sinking of the ship and was found by a man walking on the shore and taken home.
Arthur fell in love again with a woman named Guinevere who was the daughter of King Lodegrance of Camylarde.
They married and her dowry included a round table and many knights. Arthur established his court at Camelot
The round table became a symbol of equality amongst his knights, for no knight was seated in a position superior to another.
In addition, a mealtime rule at the table was that no one could eat until they told a story of daring.