This course, from the great courses “King Arthur: History and Legend” by Dorsey Armstrong, is a real deep dive into the history, the legend, and the literature of King Arthur. If you go in for that sort of thing—like me—you should consider it.
Professor Armstrong gives you an in-depth look at the legendary King of England by first taking you through the ancient history of events and people who may have been the earliest things that shaped the Legend of King Arthur as we know it. It's interesting because it's a time right after the Roman Empire withdrew from England, well on its way to collapse. So, the people of England who formally saw themselves as Roman citizens now found themselves alone and surrounded by barbarians on all sides. Then, historical evidence suggests that a great leader, or maybe a couple great leaders, rose up to defend the people, and this could be the historical inspiration of King Arthur, but he bore minimal resemblance to how we would come to see him through the lenses of later stories about him and his knights' adventures.
The other part of this series examines all of the prominent stories that tell the Legend of King Arthur and how it evolved over time, with each period contributing to the legend.
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