WAS ARTHUR A SCOT?
                              By Archie McKerracher

     The fabled King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table are 
traditionally associated with Glastonbury, in England's West Country.  But 
most scholars now agree that while King Arthur was undoubtedly a factual 
person his kingdom, if kingdom it was, lay not in the west of England but in 
the old Celtic Brittonic kingdom which took in most of south-west and west 
Scotland as far north as Loch Lomond and across to Stirling.  Almost 
certainly he was a roman trained Celtic commander of cavalry who fought to 
hold back the Anglo Saxon invasions after the Roman evacuation of Britain in 
the late 5th century. The story of Arthur was probably handed down orally in 
Brittonic Celtic until recorded in Latin by monks in the 9th century.  The 
English monk Geoffrey of Monmouth, who wrote the first popular history of 
King Arthur in 1136, located him in the West Country to please his patron 
Robert of Gloucester.  Geoffrey's tales became all the rage in Europe and 
many sought to cash in on their popularity.  The monks of Glastonbury Abbey 
in Somerset, eager for fame and pilgrims, just happened to discover the 
supposed, and remarkably preserved, bodies of Arthur and Guinivere in a deep 
excavation during a visit by Henry II. 
     This fortunate find secured royal patronage for Glastonbury Abbey and 
put it on the tourist map forever!  In the 15th century Thomas Mallory wrote 
his 'Morte d'Arthur', and turned King Arthur and his companions into the 
medieval knights in armour beloved by film makers. 
     But the evidence placing Arthur in southern Scotland in the 6th century 
A.D. is overwhelming.  The Welsh monk Nennius, writing about 850, says the 
Saxons circumnavigated the lands of the Picts in their longships, and 
established a colony in Strathclyde.  Arthur fought twelve great battles to 
repel them.  The second, third, four and fifth were at the rivers called 
Dubglas in the region of Linnius, almost certainly the rivers called Douglas 
in the Lennox near Loch Lomond.  The seventh was "in the Coit Celidon", or 
Caledonian forest; the eighth was near Gunnion Castle, possibly Greenan 
Castle in Ayrshire, where Arthur bore the image of the Holy Virgin upon his 
shield; the ninth battle was at the City of the Legions, which was Carlisle, 
while the eleventh was Mons Agned or Edinburgh.  From these latter battles 
one can deduce the Saxons were also invading from Northumberland where they 
had also settled. 
     The final battle of Mons Badon in 516 A.D., where Arthur and his forces 
killed 960 Saxons and totally destroyed them as a threat for a generation, is 
undoubtedly Dumbarton Castle near Glasgow which is called castrum Arhuri in a 
charter of 1367.  Other evidence is found in the many place names in southern 
Scotland named after him which do not occur any where else in Britain.  There 
is also a little known fact about the mysterious Clan MacArthur of whom it is 
said, "the hills and streams and MacAlpine; But whence came forth MacArthur 
and the Devil".  This clan claim to be descended from Arthur's one surviving 
son, Smervie Mhor, who fled into the mountains of Argyll after the death of 
his father.  The Gaelic name for the MacArthur's totem plant of wild thyme is 
Lus Mhic Righ Bhreatainn - The Plant of the British King's Son. 
     Professor Norma Goodrich of Claremont College, California, an expert in 
several languages, has studied what happened to the Arthurian tales as they 
were translated through four languages.  The hero Sir Lancelot, for example, 
who came from the Terre Blanche, has long been regarded as a fictional person 
but Lancelot in Anglo Saxon English translates into L'Ancelot in Norman 
French, pronounced with a guttural 'c'.  Translated into Latin it becomes 
Anguselus and finally, back into the original Brittonic Gaelic, it becomes 
Aonhgus, or Angus. 
     And there we have the factual name of the 6th century Pictish king of 
Alba, the White Land between the rivers Tay and Don, who attended Arthur's 
coronation and reputedly gave his name to the county of Angus in modern 
Tayside. 
     The huge deserted Roman city of Carlisle, where Arthur was crowned, or 
perhaps merely acclaimed as overall commander, was probably his principal 
seat, or Camelot.  But according to Professor Goodrich, there was not one but 
several Camelots.  The name derives from Caer + Malet, the Fort of the 
Hammerer, the hammer being Arthur's favorite weapon.  These Camelots include 
the castles of Caerleverock in Dumfriesshire; Greenan in Ayrshire; Dumbarton; 
Stirling and Edinburgh, although these would have been then simple forts of 
wood and turf. 
     Arthur's wife is called Guinivere in Norman French, from which comes the 
modern name of Jennifer.  But her original name in Brittonic Celtic was 
Guanhumara which translates as White Goddess.  Her unique name and her 
obsession with severed heads clearly identifies her as a Celtic Pict.  She 
was undoubtedly a warrior queen in her own right, for the Picts followed the 
law of matriachal inheritance, and she probably ruled Scotland south of the 
Forth. The early chronicles certainly say the Picts ruled southern Scotland 
and part of Northern England after the Romans left in the 5th century.  The 
southern Picts had originally joined forces with the invading Saxons but then 
turned against them, and it is said Guanhumara or Guinivere then joined with 
Arthur and made over her lands to him as a dowry. 
     The principle symbol of the Arthurian tales is of course the legendary 
Round Table, about which has been written thousands of words.  The first 
person to mention it was Robert Wace, a Jersey born author who wrote Brut, a 
history of Britian, in Norman French in 1155.  Wace's original text was 
mistranslated into Anglo Saxon by a monk who rendered it as 'First Arthur had 
a board made (by cunning carpenters in Cornwall).'  Later writers developed 
this into a round wooden table, forgetting that the Celts of Wales, Ireland 
and Scotland did not use tables.  But what the original manuscript actually 
says is "First Arthur built a tabled rotunda". 
     Now at that time there was only one building in Britain that merited 
such a description.  This was a unique stone structure known as Arthur's 
O'on, which lay at STenhousemuir near Falkirk in central Scotland.  This 
building, which may have been the repository of the legendary Holy Grail, was 
once Scotland's most celebrated antiquity.  It is first mentioned in 
Nennius's 9th century Historia Brittonum - 'later the Emperor CArausius 
rebuilt the Scottish Wall... and he built a round house of polished stone on 
the bank of the River Carron'. However the reference to Carausius as the 
builder is merely an assumption.  A charter of the 12th century refers to the 
building as furnus Arturi - Arthur's furnace- while Henry Sinclair, Dean of 
Glasgow in the 15th century, called it 'Julius's Howff' from its supposed but 
erroneous connection with Julius Caesar. 
     The name of the modern town of Stenhousemuir derives from this 'stone 
house' -Johannes de Stan Huis being recorded as the local landowner around 
1200 A.D. 
     The celebrated antiquarians William Stukely and Alexander Gordon both 
made detailed drawings of the O'on in 1720 and 1726.  In appearance it was a 
circular domed structure shaped like a beehive, some 20 feet high by 20 feet 
in diameter, and built on a four foot high stone foundation platform.  The 
building was constructed from carved sandstone blocks each about 4 feet long 
by 1 foot deep, and laid without mortar.  Internally and externally the 
stones were dressed to a smooth finish and the forty courses narrowed in 
thickness as the building rose into the shape of a dome.  At the top was a 
circular opening and on the east side was an arched doorway about 9 feet by 5 
feet.  The historian Hector Boece wrote in 1527 that inside on the south side 
was a huge stone 'which the infidels used as an altar.'  The antiquarian Sir 
Robert Sibald made a close examination of the interior in 1707 and reported 
he could make out a carved eagle and the figure of a cross, and also the 
letters I.A.M.P.M.T. 
     Arthur's O'on, which presumably derived its name from its resemblance to 
an oven, was utterly unique in Britain.  It was sited below the crest of a 
slope on the north side of the Carron Valley with a limited outlook to the 
north but otherwise with extensive views to the south.  An ancient road 
running from a ford over the Carron passed beside it.  Some modern 
achaeologists suggest it was a Roman temple dedicated to the goddess Victory, 
or to Terminus, goddess of boundaries.  This might seem confirmed by the 
reported Roman eagle emblems and by the finding in 1700 of a brass finger, 
perhaps from a cult statue, in a chink in the stonework.  And yet, the 
building was sited in No Man's Land some four miles in front of Antonines 
Wall, and traditionally such temples were sited within the Roman Camp. 
     Wace further added that "all were seated within the circle and no one 
was placed outside", and that hardly refers to a circular table but rather a 
circular building.  In fact, the O'on was identical to the Martyriums 
dedicated to the Virgin, fashionable in the Middle East in the 5th century.  
Arthur is said to have made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and he would have seen 
many such buildings, particularly the one at Jerusalem said to cover the body 
of Christ. He is said to have brought back from the Holy Land a statue and a 
portrait of the Virgin Mary and a piece of the True Cross, fragments of which 
were lodged at a church at Stow near Galashiels in the Borders. 
     Arthur was a devout Christian and it is possible he was not a king as 
such but a religious and military leader.  It was the custom for a Celtic 
chief to hold council surrounded by his twelve principal warriors, and by 
holding such a meeting within the O'on the legend of Arthur and the twelve 
knights of the Round Table was born.  The O'on too was sited within a war 
cemetery and perhaps a place of Celtic ritual sacrifice for excavations here 
have uncovered huge ox horns. 
     The mystical Holy Grail, sought by Arthur and the Knights of the Round 
Table of the later legends, is also the result of a mis-translation.  The 
first and most famous detailed description of this comes from the Romance 
Parzival, written by Wolfgang Essenbach around 1200.  He drew his material 
from an ancient manuscript found at Toledo University in Spain.  In this he 
refers to the Grail not as a cup or chalice but as 'lapsit exillis' - a stone 
from heaven, and says 'The stone is also called the Grail'.  Essenbach said 
it was brought by Mary Magdalene to France from the Holy Land and from thence 
to Britian.  He relates, 'Hear now how those called to the Grail are made 
known. On the stone, around the edge, appear letters inscribed, giving the 
name and lineage of each one, maid or boy, who is to take the blessed 
journey', and 'today is Good Friday, and they await there a dove, winging 
down from Heaven'. 
     This brings us back to Arthur's O'on.  It seems probable the birds with 
outstretched wings carved into the floor and wall were not eagles but doves, 
the symbol of the Holy Spirit and of Mary Magdalene.  According to the early 
chronicles the dove was also the symbol of Guinivere and the brotherhood of 
the Grail.  It also seems probable the large stone which lay inside and used 
as an altar may have been the factual Holy Grail which Arthur may have 
brought back from Jerusalem.  Might the fact behind the legend of Arthur 
drawing Excalibur from a stone be based on him laying his own sword on the 
stone to dedicate it to preserve Christianity against the pagan Saxons?  In 
doing so he perpetuated the ancient Celtic rite of sword worship and indeed, 
much of the Arthurian legend has its roots in Celtic folk-lore. 
     Tragiclly, the remarkable building called Arthur's O'on was completely 
demolished in 1743 by Sir Michael Bruce of Stenhouse who used its stones to 
repair a mill dam on the nearby river Carron.  His vadalism caused howls of 
outrage from antiquarians throughout Scotland.  The only defence was that the 
impecunious Sir Michael had a large family to support and no money to buy new 
stone.  However, the dam and all its stonework were swept away in a flood 
shortly after.  The Bruces too have long gone.  Their mansion of Stenhouse 
was demolished in the 1970's and its policies covered by modern housing 
estates. The exact site of Arthur's O'on now lies in the back garden of a 
private villa. 
     Although all trace has disappeared locally an exact replica of Arthur's 
O'on was built by Sir John Clerk in 1763 on top of the stable block of 
Penicuick House, Midlothian, where it served as a doo'cot, and where it can 
be seen today. 
     One of the earliest and principal recorders of the Arthurian tales was 
the French poet Chrietien de Troyes who wrote in 1136 of a sacred stone 
called "The Anvil" which was kept at the Grail Castle, otherwise known as the 
Chateau del Perron.  This word perron is curious.  It is an Old French word 
of imprecise meaning, perhaps Hard Rock.  it is close to Pierre, the modern 
French word for stone, which also translates into Peter, the rock upon whom 
the Church was founded.  Chrietien goes on to state specifically this stone 
called The Anvil was not striped but marble, that various heroes sat upon it, 
and it was known as the Seat of Dread or Honour. 
     In the January/Febuary 1986 edition of the Highlander, I explored the 
known facts about the Stone of Destiny, Scotland's most sacred symbol of 
sovereignty.  I wrote then that the earliest mention of the Stone was by a 
monk called Baldred Bisset in 1306.  I have since found an earlier mention by 
a monk called Robert of Gloucester in 1150 who specifically states it was of 
white polished marble.  It may be coincidence but the Arthurian sacred marble 
stone called The Seat of Dread, held within Arthur's O'on, seems to have a 
remarkable similarity to the Stone of Scone which the early chroniclers call 
the Fateful Stone and which they say was also of polished marble.  The Stone 
of Scone was also said to have hieroglyphics around the top edge as had the 
Arthurian one. Were they one and the same? 
     Again, there is a curious similarity to the marbled block of stone with 
hieroglyphics around its edge seen by farm boys in an underground chamber on 
Dunsinnan Hill in Perthshire in 1805.  Did Arthur bring back from Jerusalem a 
block of marble which may have been the base of a statue of the Virgin, or 
perhaps it may have been an altar stone?  Several early missionaries, 
including St. Patrick, obtained their altars from the Holy Land. 
     The Celtic confederacy of Caledonians, Picts, and Britons that had 
defeated the Saxons was split asunder by civil war around 537 and Arthur was 
fatally wounded at the battle of Camlann/Camboglana, now Birdoswald on 
Hadrian's Wall on the English Border.  Did Lancelot, alias Aonghus, king of 
Alba, take the Stone back with him to his capital at Scone where it became 
the crowning Stone of the Pictish kings and then of the Scottish kings after 
they took over in 847?  Did Abbot Henry of Scone then hide the Stone of 
Dunsinnan Hill in 1296 before the arrival of Edward I and his army, and give 
a fake to the English king? 
     It is also likely that Lancelot, alias Angus, took Guinivere or 
Guanhumara back with him to Tayside after her territory was over-run.  The 
medieval authors who embellished the Arthurian tales into the form we know 
today accused her of adultery with Lancelot.  They were unaware it was 
accepted custom for a Pictish woman to be a wife to several men who were 
usually brothers, or fathers and sons.  There would be nothing unusual 
therefore in Guinivere being the wife or lover of both Arthur and 
Lancelot/Angus.  It is interesting that tradition says she lies buried at 
Meigle in Angus, because that is only a stone's throw from Scone, the ancient 
crowning place of Scottish kings. 

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