Battle of Badon
The Battle of Badon, also known as the Battle of Mons Badonicus,[a] was purportedly fought between Britons and Anglo-Saxons in Post-Roman Britain during the late 5th or early 6th century.[1] It was credited as a major victory for the Britons, stopping the westward encroachment of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms for a period.
The earliest known references to the battle, by the British cleric Gildas, date to the 6th century. It is chiefly known today for the supposed involvement of the man who would later be remembered as the legendary King Arthur; although it is not agreed that Arthur was a historical person, his name first appears in the 9th-century Historia Brittonum, where he is mentioned as having participated in the battle alongside the Brittonic kings as a war commander, though is not described as a king himself. Because of the limited number of sources, there is no certainty about the date, location, or details of the fighting.[2][3]
Almost all scholars agree that this battle did happen. However, Gildas does not call it an actual battle, but rather a siege. It is unclear if the Saxons were besieging the Britons, or Britons were besieging the Saxons.[4]
Historical accounts[edit]
Gildas[edit]
The earliest mention of the Battle of Badon appears in Gildas' De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae (On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain), written in the early to mid-6th century. In it, the Anglo-Saxons are said to have "dipped [their] red and savage tongue in the western ocean" before Ambrosius Aurelianus organized a British resistance with the survivors of the initial Saxon onslaught. Gildas describes the period that followed Ambrosius' initial success:
Second Badon[edit]
The A Text of the Annales Cambriae[15] includes the entry: "The first celebration of Easter among the Saxons. The second battle of Badon. Morgan dies."[18][36] The date for this action is given by Phillimore as AD 665,[15] but the Saxons' first Easter is placed by the B Text in its entry 634 years after the birth of Christ and "the second Badon" is not mentioned.[37]
Romance depiction[edit]
The 13th-century Vulgate Cycle, a French prose romance retelling of the Arthurian legend, replaced the Battle of Badon with the Battle of Clarence (spelling variants: Clarance, Clarans, Clarenche, Clarens). In the first round of fighting, a coalition of British kings is defeated by the Saxons (or the Saracens in some subsequent versions, including that by Thomas Malory). In the second phase, Arthur joins the battle and enemy forces are destroyed, driving invaders into the sea.
Modern depictions[edit]
King Arthur leads the Knights of the Round Table into battle against the Saxons led by Hengist in the Prince Valiant comic strip series episodes 1430 (5 July 1964) and following.[40] The battle is mentioned in the 1975 comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail as one of the many questionable feats of Sir Robin, who in the film's bardic narration is said to have "personally wet himself at the Battle of Badon Hill".[41] The battle is featured prominently in 1997's Excalibur: A Novel of Arthur by Bernard Cornwell, in the book's second part, "Mynydd Baddon", in which the armies of Angle and Saxon kings Aelle and Cerdic, aided by Celtic traitors led by Lancelot, are defeated in an epic battle by an uneasy alliance of various British and Irish kingdoms. The author combines various medieval accounts of the battle, such as it beginning as an Anglo-Saxon siege of a hilltop (here initially desperately defended by Guinevere, who is depicted as a brilliant strategist and rallying figure[42]) and having Arthur's cavalry appear with the sign of the cross on their shields (here a requisite demanded by the Christian king Tewdric for him to also join the battle), to create a more grounded and realistic depiction than the ones from his medieval sources.[43] The 2004 film King Arthur ends in a climactic battle scene occurring along Hadrian's Wall as the mostly Romano-British forces of Arthur defeat those of the Saxon kings Cerdic and Cynric, at a heavy cost to Arthur.[44]