Overview

Hardcover with Dust Jacket, Case Bound, digital Blue Cloth with gold lettering on spine This new study resolves important historical issues and shows that the current idea that Arthur was a myth is unlikely to be true. Robert MacCann places Arthur into a historical setting in which his relationship to known kings is established, his location is shown, and his dating to the AD 400s - 500s is confirmed. Building on the work of Welsh historian, John Lloyd, he identifies Arthur's father, Uthr, with Einion Yrth who conquered the Irish in north Wales. He shows that the epithets Uthr and Yrth have the same meaning and that Uthr and Einion lived at the same time and same location, in Rhos, north Wales. Dr MacCann investigates the Merlin legend and the historical Taliesin and shows that neither was connected to the historical Arthur. From the work of Geraint Gruffydd he identifies Arthur's bard as Talhaearn, who was called the 'father of (poetic) inspiration' and was the leading bard of the sixth century. The heart of MacCann's thesis is Arthur's tragic voyage to Annwfyn, identified from features of the poetry as America. He brings together all the early poetic sources to give a complete picture of Arthur's death. He shows that Arthur's time was one of climate disasters. The first in about AD 531 was probably caused by clumping in Halley's meteoroid trail and the second, from AD 536 by volcanic eruptions. These caused cold conditions, followed in Wales by the Yellow Pestilence. Arthur's mysterious death and these disasters led to the view that he was ill-fated and to a superstition against using his name in Wales. Dr MacCann analyzes several claims for pre-Columbian visits to America - Madoc; the Irish 'Ogam' carvings in West Virginia; the slaughter of a white people in Kentucky; the DNA results of bones that date to AD 710, found near 'Ogam' carvings, and ancient Roman coins found along rivers in America.

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9780994510266

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Robert MacCann (PhD, Syd.) studied pure and applied mathematics and was head of a government research unit in psychometrics. He was a Research Fellow at Oxford University and Honorary Research Fellow at Sydney. He is also interested in Welsh poetry and argues that some poems in the Book of Taliesin originated in the sixth century and are priceless sources for Arthur's life.

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