King Arthur I
Ask ev'ry person if he's heard the story;
And tell it strong and clear if he has not:
That once there was a fleeting wisp of glory
Called Camelot.
Camelot! Camelot!
King Arthur I coronation portrait
Arthur I was a king who took the throne amidst great expectations. 24 years prior to his coronation, his father, Henry Tudor, had taken the throne at the Battle of Bosworth. Immediately, Henry sought to establish his family’s legitimacy to cement their rule over England. He first did this by issuing an edict after his coronation, guaranteeing the property rights of all lords who swore fealty to him- even those who fought for the House of York against him. Next, he married Elizabeth of York, formally uniting the warring houses into one whole, as symbolized by the new symbol for the House of Tudor, which combined the heraldic roses of House York and House Lancaster.
The Tudor Rose
His final campaign to strengthen Tudor legitimacy would be a genealogical one. Employing a team of genealogists, he traced his ancestry back to the ancient Kings of Britain, thus firmly securing his Romano-British credentials. With this in mind, he chose to name his firstborn son Arthur Arthur, the King immortalized by the works of Geoffrey of Monmouth, who characterized him as the great King who had repelled the Saxons, and forged an empire across Britain, Ireland, Gaul, and even Iceland. So important was this legendary status that, historians of the day identifying Winchester as Camelot, Elizabeth was sent to a Winchester Priory to give birth to the latter-day Arthur.
On the 20th of September, 1486, at approximately 1 AM, she did just that. Though a month premature, young Arthur Tudor was born remarkably strong and able, much to the joy of his mother and father, for Arthur represented the great hope of the Tudor dynasty- a living symbol of the unification of House York and Lancaster, and a promise for a new golden age.
The young Arthur looked as if he would fulfill all these hopes and more. From a young age, the boy was quoting Ovid, Homer, Virgil, Cicero, and a cavalcade of assorted classical authors. He was unusually tall, a superb archer, a wonderful dancer, and he was considered extremely handsome by many- including the Spanish Court.
Portrait of Prince Arthur, circa 1500
The marriage of Arthur was seen as a matter of paramount importance- whoever the young Prince of Wales was betrothed to would likely change the course of history, by their selection. The natural choice was Catherine of Aragon, youngest daughter of the Spanish King and Queen. It was believed that, by their marriage, there could be a grand Anglo-Spanish alliance against the French.
Arthur’s reign as Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall was rather uneventful, but he did gain many of the skills of Kingship, aided by his close friend Griffith Ryce. It nearly ended before it began, however- in 1502, Arthur and his wife Catherine came down with a bout of the sweating sickness, but thankfully both recovered before Arthur’s 16th birthday.
Arthur would ascend the throne in 1509 with the death of his father to tuberculosis. His coronation was marked by splendor and Arthurian regalia. Some of the more eccentric proclaimed that Arthur’s ascension was the promised return of Arthur, come to save England- though from what, they knew not.
A scant two days after his ascension, Arthur enacted his first formal act as King, by outlawing his father’s most unpopular ministers, Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley- however, he would later pardon Dudley, upon reading his treatise “The Tree of Commonwealth”. Arthur also maintained his father’s skepticism of the House of York, seeing them as potential rival claimants, albeit not with even remotely the same vigor as his father.
The first major event of Arthur’s reign came only a few years after his coronation, with the War of the Holy League. In 1512, the English honored their alliance with the Spanish, joining the papal Holy League. Arthur hoped to not only expand English holdings in Northern France, but to re-establish control in Aquitaine, which had been lost to the French since the conclusion of the Hundred Years War.
The English launch their invasion of Aquitaine with Griffith Ryce at the helm, with 14,000 men at his command. From the south comes the Castilian and Aragonese Army, marching through newly-conquered Navarra. Soon, the coasts of Aquitaine are in English hands, and the Holy League is laying siege to Bordeaux. Across all fronts of the war, France is suffering. Pushed out of Milan and Italy altogether by the Venetians, while a second English force, led by Arthur himself and his brother Henry, pushes towards Paris itself. France suffers humiliating defeat after humiliating defeat. In 1513, France is forced to seek terms, and the Treaty of Brussels is signed.
Among other things, the treaty established English control over Gascony, Normandy, and the land between it and Calais. Arthur returned to England a hero, parades and revelry held in the street of London. His reign barely began, and he had given the country its largest territorial gain in a century. Not only that, but England also tightened its grip on Scotland, which found itself under the regency of a Tudor following the death of the Scottish King while fighting the English. He brought yet more prestige to the House of Tudor as his brother Henry, in addition to his military exploits, was quickly rising through the ranks of the Church, proving himself a theological wunderkind. Some whispered that he would be Cardinal before he was 30.
Henry Tudor, brother of King Arthur
It was in this state of great success that Arthur received a gift from the Mayor of Grimsby. The King was fascinated that a living creature could be so large, and that it’s death could yield so much profit. King Arthur set to reading up on Whales, and whaling. This idle research would prove to be of paramount historical importance.
