Snoozecast Presents: Tales of King Arthur

Tonight, we’ll read another story from our King Arthur series. This one, “Arthur Drives the Saxons from His Realm” comes from a book edited by Rupert S. Holland and published in 1919.

The Saxons were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large former country in what is now Germany. In the late Roman Empire, the name was used to refer to Germanic coastal raiders, and as a name similar to the later "Viking".

In contrast, the British "Saxons", today referred to in English as Anglo-Saxons, became a single nation bringing together migrant Germanic peoples and assimilated Celtic Britons populations. The term "Anglo-Saxon", combining the names of the Angles and the Saxons, came into use by the eighth century to distinguish the Germanic inhabitants of Britain from continental Saxons.

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Tonight, we’ll read another story from our King Arthur series. This one, “The Crowning of Arthur and the Sword Excalibur” comes from a book edited by Rupert S. Holland and published in 1919.

If you’d like to listen to this whole anthology easily in order, go to snoozecast.com/series.

Excalibur is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone (the proof of Arthur's lineage) are in some versions said to be different, though in other incarnations they are either the same or at least share their name. Several similar swords and other weapons also appear in this and other legends.

Historically, a sword identified as Excalibur (or rather, Caliburn, at the time) was supposedly discovered during the purported exhumation of Arthur's grave at Glastonbury Abbey in the year 1191. That same year, either this or another sword claimed as Excalibur was given as a gift of goodwill by the English king Richard I of England to his ally the King of Sicily.

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Tonight, we’ll read another story from our King Arthur series. This one, “Merlin Fortells the Birth of Arthur” comes from a book edited by Rupert S. Holland and published in 1919.

If you’d like to listen to this whole anthology easily in order, go to snoozecast.com/series.

Merlin is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a wizard. He became one of the most important figures in the imagination and literature of the Middle Ages.

Most notable among his superpowers being that of prophecy and shapeshifting, Merlin engineers the birth of Arthur through magic and intrigue.

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Tonight, we’ll read another story from our King Arthur series. This one, “Pelleas and Ettarde” comes from a book written by Mary MacGregor. 

If you’d like to listen to this whole anthology easily in order, go to snoozecast.com/series.

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Tonight, we’ll read another story from the King Arthur series written by Maude Radford Warren titled “How Sir Lancelot Saved the Queen

If you’d like to listen to this whole series easily in order, go to snoozecast.com/series.

King Arthur was a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries.

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Tonight, we’ll read another story from the King Arthur series written by Maude Radford Warren titled “Sir Lancelot and His Friends.”

If you’d like to listen to this whole series easily in order, go to snoozecast.com/series.

King Arthur was a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries.

Sir Lancelot, also known as Lancelot of the Lake, is a character in some versions of Arthurian legend, where he is typically depicted as King Arthur's close companion and one of the greatest Knights of the Round Table. In the French-inspired Arthurian tradition, Lancelot is the orphaned son of a king, raised in the fairy realm by the Lady of the Lake.

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Tonight, we’ll read another story from the King Arthur series written by Maude Radford Warren titled “Sir Geraint and Enid.”

If you’d like to listen to the first stories in this series, you can find our episode titled “The Sword Excalibur” that aired on April 10, 2020. If you’d like to listen to the whole series easily in order, go to snoozecast.com/series.

King Arthur was a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defense of Britain against Saxon invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries.

Sir Geraint was a valiant warrior who married the beautiful Lady Enid. We will hear the tale of their marriage, which has its ups and downs, but luckily, ends on the up. Beyond their part in the Arthurian legends, Geraint and Enid are featured in a classic Welsh folk tale and their story was reworked by the poet Alfred Tennyson.

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Tonight, we’ll read another story from the King Arthur series written by Maude Radford Warren titled “Sir Ivaine.”

If you’d like to listen to the first stories in this series, you can find our episode titled “The Sword Excalibur” that aired on April 10, 2020. If you’d like to listen to the whole series easily in order, go to snoozecast.com/series.

King Arthur was a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries.

In the last episode, we learn of Sir Ivaine, who, among Arthur's Knights of the Round Table was one who was a mixture of good and bad, as indeed most people are. He was brave, kind-hearted, and merry; but at the same time fickle, sometimes forgetful of his promises, and inclined to make light of serious things. 

Sir Ivaine was overthrown by the evil Black Knight as a boy, and Ivaine sets out before the others to vanquish the foe. On his way, he befriends a lion. Sir Ivaine battles the Black Knight and wins, but in doing so finds himself wounded and confined within the castle walls of the Black Knight, separated from his lion whom is still outside the walls. He is protected at the top of a castle turret, in secret hiding, by a kind little maiden.

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Tonight, we’ll read a section from the King Arthur series written by Maude Radford Warren titled “Sir Gareth and Lynette.”

If you’d like to listen to the first stories in this series, you can find our episode titled “The Sword Excalibur” that aired on April 10, 2020. If you’d like to listen to the whole series easily in order, go to snoozecast.com/series.

King Arthur was a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries.

In the last episode, King Arthur decides he wants to marry Princess Guinevere and sends some of his men to ask her father, King Leodogran. This leads Leodogran to investigate King Arthur’s parentage to find out if he is truly from royal blood. Leodogran seeks the counsel of Queen Bellicent, who has a young son named Gareth. Gareth pleads with her to be allowed to join his older brothers in joining the court of King Arthur. She finally concedes, as long as he disguises himself as a lowly kitchen worker at first.

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Tonight, for the 300th episode of Snoozecast, we’ll read a story about Princess Guinevere from our King Arthur’s series.

If you’d like to listen to the first stories in this series, you can find our episode titled “The Sword Excalibur” that aired on April 10, 2020. If you’d like to listen to the previous episode, it aired on September 14, 2020.

King Arthur was a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defense of Britain against Saxon invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries.

Guinevere is the wife and queen of King Arthur in the Arthurian legend. Early versions of these stories starting in the twelfth century had only a brief mention of her. As time went on, her character has been fleshed out depending on the author’s desires. Guinevere has been portrayed as everything from a villainous and opportunistic traitor to a fatally flawed but noble and virtuous lady.

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