Utilizing ChatGPT’s deep learning technology to create a doctoral level summary article debating King Arthur’s Moorish historicity after floundering with TikTok’s Gboard warriors.
King Arthur: Moorish Myth or Historical Warlord?
Abstract: The traditional narrative frames King Arthur as a 5th–6th century Romano-British warlord who resisted Saxon invasions. However, a re-examination of historical, literary, and iconographic evidence reveals that this characterization lacks substantiation. Instead, the Arthurian legend emerges most powerfully in the 12th–13th centuries—an era marked by Moorish cultural presence in Europe, the Crusades, and the chivalric revival. This article argues that Arthur is not a pre-Moorish historical figure but a mythic synthesis shaped by medieval cultural, religious, and racial dynamics, potentially representing a Moorish king or archetype.
I. Introduction
King Arthur has occupied the European imagination for over a millennium. Traditionally cast as a "once and future king" of post-Roman Britain, Arthur is often placed in the late 5th century. Yet this framing relies almost exclusively on retrospective medieval sources. This study challenges the conventional dating and argues instead that Arthur, as we know him, is a construct of the Moorish-Christian contact period.
II. The Weak Historical Case for Arthur as a 6th-Century Warlord
- Gildas (c. 540 CE) never mentions Arthur despite detailing Saxon conflicts.
- The first literary appearances in Nennius (c. 830) and the Annales Cambriae (10th century) are anachronistic and legendary.
- Geoffrey of Monmouth (1136) openly fictionalized Arthur in his Historia Regum Britanniae.
- Archaeological efforts have never yielded conclusive Arthurian evidence.
- The name “Arthur” was not unique in post-Roman Britain.
III. Arthur and the Moorish Age
- The Arthurian legend flourished during the Crusades and contact with the Islamic world (1095–1291).
- Saracen characters like Palamedes reflect the intercultural tensions and conversions of the period.
- Christian art depicts Black kings and saints (e.g., Saint Maurice, Balthazar), reflecting broader racial inclusiveness.
- Grail and chivalry motifs mirror Islamic mystical and ethical ideals.
IV. Literary Syncretism
Themes in Arthurian legend bear strong resemblance to Islamic futuwwa (chivalry), Sufi cosmology, and the multicultural scholarship preserved in Moorish Spain. The court of Arthur, with its knights and codes, reflects a hybrid myth born of Europe’s interaction with the Islamic world, not an isolated British proto-nation.
V. Conclusion
There is insufficient evidence to support the existence of a historical Arthur in the 5th–6th centuries. The myth we recognize today is the product of medieval cross-cultural exchanges, and it is more plausible to view Arthur as a symbolic construct—potentially reflecting or even representing a Moorish ruler idealized through Christian chivalric narrative.
❝ Arthur, then, is not a Saxon-fighting warlord but a mythic mirror of Europe’s Afro-Islamic-Christian crossroads. ❞
Email me for ChatGPT’s full length PhD article in PDF format.