King Arthur is first mentioned in two Welsh poems. One of them called '' Gododdin" was written by Aneirin in 600 AD. There King Arthur is compared with one of the Celtic leaders. The author of another poem named "The spoils of Annwfn" was Taliesin. It depicts Arthur's journey to the British otherworld, Annwfn. Experts consider that the poem was written in the 15th century. In medieval times Arthur's legend was retold by many authors. The most widespread interpretation of the legend is Thomas Malory's prose "The death of Arthur", which tells us that the king lived in the 5th and early 6th centuries AD.
Arthur was also mentioned in a chronicle of the 9th century. The chronicle tells about his 12 victories over the Anglo-Saxons. Many elements and events that are now an integral part of the Arthurian legend can be found in Geoffrey's Historia, including Arthur's father Uther Pendragon, the magician Merlin, Arthur's wife Guinevere, the sword Excalibur, and mythical island Avalon.
There isn't any proof of King Arthur's real existence. Historians still argue about that. Some of them say that there was a real prototype but with a different name. Others suppose that he is just a popular character. Anyway if Arthur really existed he was probably the King of the Celts, who lived in Britain at the beginning of the 6th century.
