The argument · IV
Arthur
The king lost the war. The account does not end at the cross. He was crucified, reprieved, and held. The safest prison for a royal rebel, on this reading, was at the far end of the empire, in Britain.
There the same figure is remembered with twelve companions, a table, a wound and a Grail. The Arthurian cycle is read as that memory. King Arthur is the British name of the king of Edessa, and the knights are the twelve of the gospel. In The Grail Cypher, Joseph of Arimathea, already identified with Josephus, is the Arthurian figure who carries the story.
There is no Arthur in the early record. The romance is dated to the early twelfth century, after the First Crusade took Edessa in 1098 and a manuscript from that city reached the courts of northern France. Mary Magdalene, Princess of Orange follows the same house west, to Provence and to the later princes of Orange.
Schematic · not a find
From Roman history to Arthurian tradition
The places are historical. The join between them is his.
Roman Britain
No site is marked. No first-century text places Arthur here.
Eastern Mediterranean
Edessa and Jerusalem, as separate places. No route is drawn between them and Britain.
Dates, kept apart
- AD 60s
- Jewish Revolt. He places a king of Edessa in these years. That placement is his.
- AD 70
- Jerusalem falls. That date is the ordinary one.
- 1098
- The First Crusade takes Edessa. That date is the ordinary one.
- After 1098
- He dates the Arthurian romance to the years that follow. The early Welsh material is not given a separate edition here.
The record. No first-century text calls him Arthur.
Ellis’ reading. The romance is dated to after 1098, when the First Crusade took Edessa. The identification is set out in King Jesus and The Grail Cypher.
Continue Exploring
1 · Understand the argument
This page is that introduction.
2 · Watch an introductory lecture
King Arthur — a Knights Templar story
1:12:22
3 · Examine the research and evidence
- Astrology, King Jesus and King Arthur · Research Journal
- The Estoire del Saint Graal, Joseph’s forty-three years · Evidence Library
4 · Explore the relevant book
Volume 4 of the King Jesus books, after the trilogy.
Explore the book behind this research
