Did Arthur Pendragon betray the last of the Druids for his marriage to Gwinivere?

Question

I read this book, "The Mists Of Avalon" and I had previously admired Arthur. But, if that book is true, then he was the one who put an end to paganism in the western world. So, the question is, Did Arthur really betray the Druids, or was that just a fiction?

Answer 1

Oh gods, help. you're serious, aren't you? Well, you might have noticed it was shelved in fiction. It's a great read, mind you, but it is strongly biased, and the religion in the book is strongly neopagan in flavor, and does not in any way resemble what we know about the pre christian religions of the British isles. It is a fanciful reinterpretation of the Arthur story, nothing more.

Literarily, I believe you are supposed to see the marriage as a betrayal of sorts. The marriage to Guinevere is usually taken as a bad idea no matter which version of the story you're reading.

historically, there is no evidence Arthur was pagan. he could have been- it's not beyond the realms of possibility, but the historical arthur (or one of them, anyway) was most likely a Romanised Briton, and may have been Christian to start with, as such. It was also common to worship a plethora of Roman and Celtic gods in the early centuries of the common era. Whenever you see one goddess and one god, you know you're not looking at a historic religion.

It should also be pointed out that by the time Arthur would have lived, Druidism in Britain had been wiped out for a few hundred years. So, he couldn't have betrayed the druids.

If you enjoyed Mists of Avalon, then I really, REALLY reccommend Evangeline Walton's Mabinogion series. It's a modernisation of you guessed it- the Welsh stories known as the mabinogion. She did a nice job, although her take on pagan religions is equally modern.

If you want to know the real deal on pre Christian religions of Britain, check out Ronald Hutton's _The Pagan religions of the Ancient British Isles_. He covers it nicely. he lets you know which groups believed what, where certain ideas came from, and how some modern pagan religions got going. Also relevant is his book _Witches, Druids, and King Arthur_. You might like that one, as well, although it reads less well to my mind. Either one of these will give you a host of other sources to read up on.

If you want to know about Druids, and Celts in general, i reccommend anything by Barry Cunliffe. If you want a good intro to ACTUAL Celtic mythology, an easy read is the mythology compilation by Charles Squire. Yes, it's old, but it's good.

Now if you want to know who ACTUALLY betrayed the druids, that'd be Julius Caesar, first off. He had druids as allies for a while there, but he'd eventually turn on them badly.

It may also be noted that the snakes st. Patrick drove out of Ireland are thought to have been a metaphor for druids. He also bragged about burning all their books. (there is some question as to whether they had books to burn, but it remains- he bragged about destroying information.) If you want to hate someone, leave Art alone and go for Pat, here.

Answer 2

Greetings!

You`ll find interesting questions posed in all Arthurian Lore-and part is that Merlin is betrayed by a host of characters, Nimue`, Morgan, others-but! the way I look at it, is that Merlin was directing everything from behind the scenes, just as Druids actually do.

"Paganism" had to hide, in order to survive-and Merlin, as always, was following the Will of the Spirits.

You will see the parallels repeated in History. And, when reading "Fiction", you will see the Hidden Message of the Author.

/!\

edit:

The Romans never did conquer Scotland or Ireland, many of the Druids there started the Celtic Church in year 36 c.e., and when Patrick (Padraigh), got there, he found a Christian presence that had been there for hundreds of years-that`s the form of "Christianity" Arthur would have been used to-they did not discriminate against Druids until the Catholics got there-

Druids never were "wiped out".

Answer 3

Arthur had to fulfill HIS destiny as did everyone else. the Druids destiny was to "disappear" and so, they too, fulfilled their destiny. The story has yet to end, and it won't end for a VERY long time.

BB,
Raji the Green Witch

Answer 4

try reading the crystal cave series by mary stewart.

the whole thing is from merlin's point of view. i really liked them.

i think that there was a grain of truth in it...the same as with almost all legends.

bb

Answer 5

Lol.

Good book. And of course he did, the whole book is complete fact. If you don't believe in all of it, avalon will continue to go into the mists and we will never be saved.