A leading expert in Arthurian literature returns to Bangor University on 8th February to reveal details about King Arthur and a significant battle said to have taken place between Britons and Anglo-Saxons.
The date and location of this key battle in post-Roman Britain have provided experts with plenty to puzzle over. In his keynote lecture, to mark the fifth anniversary of Bangor University’s Centre for Arthurian Studies, ‘King Arthur's Masterpiece: The Battle of Badon’ Professor Field will tell us about when and where and how the battle was fought, and even about Arthur.
People wanting to attend the keynote lecture at the University’s Eric Sunderland lecture Theatre in the University’s Main building at 17.00 are asked to register in advance by e mailing arthur@bangor.ac.uk
As Professor Field explains, “The real King Arthur was a fifth-century commander in the war between the Britons and the Anglo-Saxon invaders. His most famous victory was the Battle of Badon, now forgotten, though its effects are still with us.”
Professor Raluca Radulescu, Director of the Centre, explains,
"The Battle of Badon" is key to Arthur's victories in the work of 9th century monk Nennius, Historia Brittonum. It is Arthur's last victory against the Saxons, which has inspired many authors of both fiction and history to develop the image of a king that won over his enemies and inspired courage in his fellow citizens, to quote twelfth-century historian William of Malmesbury.”
From 1964 until his retirement in 2004, Professor P.J.C. Field lectured in the School of English Literature and directed the MA in Arthurian Literature, unique in the world. His 50 years of scholarship on the fifteenth-century romance writer Sir Thomas Malory led to his publishing a full edition of Malory’s Le Morte Darthur in 2013. Professor Field also served as President of the International Arthurian Society (2002-2005) and has recently performed research to identify the true location of Camelot.
The lecture marks the relaunch of the Centre, focused around the work of one of Bangor University's leading Arthurian scholars, as well as the work of our current staff and students.
The Centre for Arthurian Studies is a hub of international research exchange, bringing together expertise across centuries of Arthurian legends, print and visual media, and theoretical approaches. As such it channels and advances decades of world-leading Arthurian research at Bangor in both Welsh and English. It was launched formally in January 2017 and since then a host of activities, including research, impact and engagement events, have taken place. Some of these are highlighted in our latest newsletter, attached to this invitation.
The P.J.C. Field Fellowship will also be launched at the event, This fund will support visiting researchers who wish to use the Centre’s unparalleled resources and collaborate with the centre’s researchers on projects that enhance the visibility and use of the collections The event will include the opportunity to view a selection of rare books from the centre’s Arthurian collections, in an exhibition specially curated for the event by Prof. Raluca Radulescu, the Centre's co-director, and research posters and presentations by the Centre’s postgraduate researchers.