Scholary Publications on Arthurian and related Topics


Peer-reviewed Papers in Journals

The derivation of the date of the Badon entry in the Annales Cambriae from Bede and Gildas

Howard Wiseman, Parergon 17, 1-10 (2000).

This paper is
published in Parergon, the Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies. It has been very gratifying to see this work cited in several papers and the following books:
a) mentioned in the 2003 Oxford book The Britons by Christopher Snyder,
b) explored in the 2003 Routelidge book King Arthur: Myth Making and History by Nicholas Higham,
c) discussed in the 2007 Cambridge book Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West, 376-568 by Guy Halsall,
d) discussed in the 2009 Blackwell book A Companion to Arthurian Literature (ed. Helen Fulton), in the contribution by Nick Higham.
e) analysed in the 2009 University of Bologna Doctoral Thesis of Alberto Zama

A longer version of this paper, including a discussion of the date of the battle of Camlann, The derivation of the date of the Arthurian entries in the Annales Cambriae from Bede and Gildas can be found on the Vortigern Studies site.

A British legion stationed near Orleans c. 530? Evidence for Brittonic military activity in late antique Gaul in Vita Sancti Dalmatii and other sources

Howard M. Wiseman, Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association 7, 9–31 (2011).

Note that the
first page of the version reproduced here differs from that in the printed version in using a more conventional font for the title, as well as fixing typos introduced in the publication process.
Those interested in Arthur could read the final footnote first.

Arthur, Authors, and Authorities: The Influence of Modern Historians on Arthurian Historical Fiction

Howard M. Wiseman, Arthuriana 31, 3 (Fall), 40–81 (2021).

Unfortunately the publisher does not allow posting of the pdf on a public website. If you want the paper and cannot obtain it from the link above, please email me.


Invited Conference Paper

Transmarine campaigns by the 'historical' Arthur: trends in modern fiction

Howard Wiseman, pp. 173-193 in "Arthur, la mer et la guerre", Civilisation médiéval 26, (Classiques Garnier, Paris, 2017).
Edited by Alban Gautier, Marc Rolland and Michelle Szkilnik.


This is the paper accompanying an invited talk at the conference "Arthur, la mer et la guerre" at Boulogne-sur-Mer in 2014.


Reviews and other Opinion Pieces

Book Review:  The Dates for Gildas and Badon in Cambro-Latin Compositions: Their Competence and Craftsmanship by David Howlett

Howard Wiseman, The Heroic Age 6, The Forum (2003).

The Heroic Age is a fully peer-reviewed academic  journal intended for professionals, students and independent scholars, focussing on North-western Europe during the early medieval period (from the late 4th through 11th centuries). 

Here is my abstract: In this book, David  Howlett claims to discover secret meanings in early Mediaeval Welsh compositions in Latin, including the dates for the battle  of Badon and Gildas' composition of the de Excidio Britanniae.  I argue that these dates are baseless.


The Historicity and Historiography of Arthur: A critical review of King Arthur: Myth-Making and History by N. Higham, and The Reign of Arthur: From History to Legend by C. Gidlow

Howard M. Wiseman, The Heroic Age 10, The Forum (2007).

This contains my considered (in 2006) view on the historicity of Arthur: (i) The evidence suggests that there was a famous historical 6th century Arthur. (ii) If there was such a man, he was probably the Arthur, the war-leader of the Britons at the battle of Badon. (iii) There's not much more we can say about him with any degree of confidence.


Book Review: Francis Pryor, Britain AD: A Quest for Arthur, England and the Anglo-Saxons

Howard M. Wiseman, The Heroic Age 10, Reviews (2007).

Here is the first line: This book was a great disappointment.
 

Book Review: McCormack, Patrick: Albion – Three Novels of Arthurian Britain

Howard M. Wiseman, The Heroic Age 12, Reviews (2009).


Traces of an Arthurian Source in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia? A critical analysis of Geoffrey Ashe's "historical abstract"

Howard Wiseman, The Heroic Age 16, The Forum (2015).

Abstract: Geoffrey Ashe proposed that Geoffrey of Monmouth's account of Arthur's Gallic warfare and subsequent downfall is best explained as drawing upon a hypothetical "historical abstract" of the recorded deeds of Riothamus, king of the Britons, in c. 470. Here I show that Ashe's argument fails even on its own terms, and suggest a more plausible hypothetical source that may have inspired certain aspects of Geoffrey of Monmouth's account.


Also worth mentioning ...

King of the Britons

A wikipedia article which I (as user "Vortimer") rescued from being a list of legendary Kings. I am wholly responsible for its form and largely responsible for its content. I've also contributed to many other related articles.



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