Many believe the romantic legend of King Arthur and his knights is based on a real, historical figure who most likely, according to Welsh literature, lived in the late 5th/early 6th centuries. He may have been a charismatic leader who rallied Briton resistance to the aggressive colonisation of what would become England by Anglo-Saxons.
Although aware of the romantic legend of King Arthur, my interest started when I stumbled on the extraordinary story of Arthur when reading a modern translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's 12th century History of the Kings of Britain. Fascinated, it led me onto other early historical sources - Gildas, Nennius, the Mabinogion and Welsh Annals, and the mission to build my own story of what might have happened in Britain in the 5th and early 6th centuries.
Abandoned, my post-Roman Britain novella, soon grew into a book series, A Light in the Dark Ages. My aim was to create stories of kings, fictional characters and events that connected the end of Roman Britain to the story of a historical Arthur (loosely guided by Geoffrey of Monmouth's chronology) and the possible locations of the 12 battles in which Arthur was victorious (Nennius). A re-dating of an entry in the Welsh Annals suggests Arthur 'fell' at Camlann in 536 or 537. So, my series timeline covers 126 years from 410 - 536. Arthur's grandparents would have remembered the sight and sound of Roman legionaries marching...
My five-book series starts with Abandoned, covering roughly years 410 to 450; then Ambrosius: Last of the Romans (450 - 480); Uther's Destiny (480 - 500); Arthur Dux Bellorum (500 - 520); Arthur Rex Brittonum (520 - 536). I apologise if my storytelling is a bit clumsy in parts, but what shines through, I hope, is my enthusiasm for the subject matter.
My stories of Ambrosius, Uther and Arthur were the manifestations of a growing fascination for the missing pages in British history - the Dark Ages. What really happened? Will we ever know...
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