[The Latin below is transcribed from the first section of the manuscript marked off in red, on the right. Where you see underlining in the transcription, this means that I have expanded the abbreviations in the manuscript, commonly used by medieval scribes to save space and time. Notice that there are very few obviously upper-case letters in the original, and very little punctuation. It's common to split words across line breaks. While the text of the Historia Brittonum is usually dated to around 800, this manuscript is an 11th-century copy.]

In illo tempore Saxones inualescebant in
multitudine et crescebant in brittannia.
Mortuo autem Hengisto octha filius eius transi-
uit de sinistrali parte brittanie ad reg
-num cantorum. et de ipso orti sunt reges cantorum.
Tunc arthur pugnabat contra illos.
in illis diebus cum regibus brittonum. sed ipse dux erat
bellorum.

[At that time the Saxons increased in numbers and grew in Britain. After the death of Hengist, Octa, his son, came down from the north part of Britain to the kingdom of the Kentishmen, and from there are sprung the kings of the Kentishmen. Then Arthur fought at that time against them in those days along with the kings of the Britons, but he was their leader in battles.]

Finally, the Annales Cambrie, put together around 960-980 in Wales, provide some dates for some of the battles; they also include references to other characters who are, or will come to be, associated with the Arthurian legend, though without much detail at this point.

Note that the word for "battle" is Latin in the first instance [Bellum Badonis] and Welsh in the second [Gueith Camlann]

The grave of Gwalchmei is in Peryddon
as a reproach to men;
at Llanbadarn is the grave of Cynon.

The grave of Osfran's son is at Camlan,
after many a slaughter;
the grave of Bedwyr is on Tryfan hill.

The grave of Owein son of Urien is in a square grave
under the earth of Llanforfael;
at Abererch is Rhydderch the Generous.

After things blue and red and fair
and great steeds with taut necks
at Llanheledd is the grave of Owein

There is a grave for March, a grave for Gwythur,
a grave for Gwgawn Red-sword;
the world's wonder/ difficutly (anoeth) a grave for Arthur.

 From Preiddeu Annwn

I will praise the Lord, the Sovereign, the King of the land,
who has extended his rule over the strand of the world.
Well equipped was the prison of Gwair in Caer Siddi
according to the story of Pwyll and Pryderi.
None before him went to it,
to the heavy blue chain; it was a faithful servant whom it restrained,
and before the spoils of Annwn sadly he sang.
And until Judgement Day our bardic song will last.
Three shiploads of Prydwen we went to it;
except for seven, none returned from Caer Siddi.

I am honoured in praise, song is heard.
In Caer Pedryfan, four-sided,
my eulogy, from the cauldron it was spoken.
By the breath of nine maidens it was kindled.
The cauldron of the Head of Annwyn, what is its custom,
dark about its edge with pearl?
It does not boil a coward's food; it has not been so destined.
The sword of Lluch Lleawg was raised to it,
and in the hand of Lleminawg it was left.
And before the door of the gate of hell, lanterns burned.
And when we went with Arthur, renowned conflict,
except for seven, none returned from Caer Feddwid...

From Pa gwr

Though Arthur was but playing,
blood was flowing
in the hall of Afarnach
fighting with a hag.
He pierced the cudgel-head
in the halls of Dissethach.
On the mount of Eidyn
they fought with Dog-heads;
by the hundred they fell.
They fell by the hundred
before Bedwyr the Fine-sinewed
on the strand of Tryfrwyd
Fighting with Garwlwyd....
I saw Cei in haste;
prince of plunder,
the tall man was hostile
His revenge was heavy;
his anger was sharp.
When he drank from the buffalo horn
he would drink for four;
when he came into battle
he would strike like a hundred.
Unless it were God who did it,
Cei's death could not be achieved...

his is that Arthur about whom the foolish tales of the Britons rave even today; one who is clearly worthy to be told about in truthful histories rather than to be dreamed about in deceitful fables, since for a long time he sustained his ailing nation, and sharpened the unbroken minds of his people to war. (William of Malmesbury)

ut in our own days, instead of this practice, a writer has emerged who, in order to expiate the faults of these Britons, weaves the most ridiculous figments of imagination around them, extolling them with the most impudent vanity above the virtues of the Macedonians and the Romans. This man is called Geoffrey, and his other name is Arthur, because he has taken up the fables about Arthur from the old, British figments, has added to them himself, and has cloaked them with the honorable name of history by presenting them with the ornaments of the Latin tongue. (William of Newburgh)

Gerald of Wales (d. 1223) writes that he was present at the exhumation of King Arthur from a grave discovered at Glastonbury Abbey around 1190 or 1191; this is part of his account:

This is an engraving of the lead cross Gerald describes. The cross disappeared some time in the 18th century. This illustration is found in Britannia, by William Camden (1551-1623). Special Collections has several printings of this important book. To see more pictures from these printings, visit the British Antiquities page.

In our time Arthur's body, which fables had treated mysteriously, claiming it had, at the end been spirited away to some distant place and had somehow resisted death, was found at Glastonbury hidden deep in the earth in a hollow oak, between two stone pyramids, set up long ago in the cemetery.... And there was a lead cross fixed under... a stone slab. I have seen this cross, and have traced the letters sculpted into it... and they said: 'Here lies buried the famous King Arthur with Guenevere his second wife in the island of Avalon.' Several notable things arise from this inscription: that Arthur had two wives, of whom the second was buried with him, and indeed her bones were found with the bones of her husband... There a tress of female hair, blond, pristine with its original colour, was found, but a monk snatched it with a greedy hand and it immediately dissolved into dust.... [It] was in large part Henry the Second, king of England, who had told the monks, just as he had heard from an old British bard, that they would find the body deep in the earth, that is to say at least sixteen feet deep, and not in a stone tomb but rather in a hollow oak....

The place which is now called Glastonbury was in the old time called Avalon. And it is like an island, completely surrounded by marshes, whence it is called in the British tongue Inis Avallon, that is, the island of apples. Apples, indeed, are called aval in the British tongue, and they abound in that place. It was here, to this island which is now called Glastonbury, that Morgan, a noble matron and the ruler and patron of those parts, and also close in blood to King Arthur, took Arthur after the battle of Camlann for the healing of his wounds.... And you should also know that the bones of Arthur which were found were so large, that the poet's words seemed to be fulfilled in them: 'And they will wonder at the size of the buried bones they have unearthed'. For indeed one of the tibia, which the abbot showed me, when it was placed on the ground next to the foot of the tallest man there, reached a good three fingers above that man's knee. And the skull was like a prodigy, so wide and so large it was, so that the space between the eyebrows and the eyes was as wide as a man's palm....

So far, we've seen bits and pieces of history and legend attached to a figure called Arthur; the first person to provide a life narrative for this figure is another 12th-century Anglo-Latin historian, Geoffrey of Monmouth. His Historia regum Britannie includes an extended Arthurian section, a few short excerpts of which you will find below [for more bits and pieces from Geoffrey, visit the Arthurian Swords page, the Roman Wars page, and the Courtly Love page]. The excerpt from William of Newburgh translated above makes it clear that not everyone "bought" Geoffrey's history, but William was in a minority; the Historia was a medieval bestseller, surviving in over 250 manuscripts. For more detail about Geoffrey, visit these pages:

Geoffrey and British History

Roman Britain

Geoffrey's Reputation

Geoffrey claims to be translating an ancient British book: 

... Walter, archdeacon of Oxford,... [gave me] a certain very ancient book in the British language, which continually and in order, in most beautiful language, displays the deeds of all these men, from Brutus, the first king of the Britons, up to Cadwallader, the son of Cadwallo. Thus at Walter's request, I have taken the trouble to translate the book into Latin...

Merlin tells Uther the meaning of a comet:

For that star signifies you, as does the fiery dragon beneath the star. The ray which stretches towards the shores of Gaul portends your future son, who will be most powerful, and whose power will extend over all the kingdoms which he will protect. And the other ray signifies your daughter, whose sons and grandsons will hold the kingship of Britain in turn.

Uther tricks Ygerna and Arthur is conceived:

And thus the king spent the night with Ygerna and relieved himself through the sexual relations he desired. He deceived her through the false appearance which he had assumed. He also deceived her with the false words which he carefully composed, for he said that he had come secretly from the besieged camp so that he could see to the thing which was so dear to him, and also to his town. She, believing him, refused him nothing that he asked. Also that night was conceived that most famous of men, Arthur, who afterwards through his wonderful bravery won great renown.

Arthur comes to the throne:

Now Arthur was a youth of fifteen years, of outstanding virtue and generosity. His innate goodness gave him such great grace that he was loved by almost all the people.... Arthur, because his strength was linked with generosity, decided to harass the Saxons so that he could enrich the household which served him with their wealth. Righteousness also moved him, for he ought by hereditary right to have the rule of the whole kingdom.

Arthur is victorious in his war with the Romans:

This outcome was established by divine power, for as in former times the ancestors of those Romans had harrassed the ancestors of the Britons with invidious iniquities, so now those Britons strove to defend the liberty which the others sought to take away from them, refusing to pay the tribute which had been unjustly demanded of them.

Arthur's death:

But that most famous king Arthur was mortally wounded; Arthur having been taken from there to the island of Avalon for the healing of his wounds, he handed over the crown of Britain to his cousin Constantine, son of Cador Duke of Cornwall, in the year 542 after the incarnation of our Lord. May his soul rest in peace.