The stories of King Arthur have been around for hundreds of years. But how did one person begin his journey into the hearts of a nation? Watch the story below to discover how a young boy became one of the most famous legends in British history.
Download the King Arthur Fun Activity Pack (pdf, 1 MB) to see if you can make all the things needed to look like a king. Then read our article to dive into the world of King Arthur’s weapons and armour. Learn the British Sign Language and Makaton for ‘king’ to really impress your royal subjects. Finally, read the article all about the history of King Arthur’s legend.
Please contact us if you require any of our downloadable documents in an alternative format.
The legend of King Arthur has been told and retold in many ways for hundreds of years. During the Middle Ages authors describe Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table as using arms and armour from their own time periods. But modern writers like to set the legend of Arthur in a fantasy world set anywhere between 500 CE and 1500 CE.
Something that unites all the different versions of this legend is that they all contain amazing examples of arms and armour From magical swords to weird and wonderful helmets, we have some of them in our collection at the Royal Armouries.
One famous tale of King Arthur describes how he and his gallant knights went on a quest to find the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail was supposedly a mysterious cup used by Jesus and his disciples in the Last Supper. In the 1970s, the Monty Python comedy team made a film inspired by this legend, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Ask your grown ups about it. It is a very silly film, but even so King Arthur and the Knights of Camelot wear armour similar to the type worn by real knights in the 1300s and 1400s. Except their armour is made of string and fibre glass, not steel.
Which is which? The Monty Python helmet is on the right, while the real great helm is on the left. The real helmet is from the 1330s
Same game. Rude French guard’s helmet from the film on the left, with the real bacinet, dating from the 1380s, on the right.
The Grail story inspired the film Excalibur (1981) as well. The film makers equipped their knights with the shining plate armour of the late 1400s and 1500s. But the movie armour is made of aluminium, a much softer and lighter metal than steel.
The armour on the right was worn by the actor playing Lancelot in Excalibur and looks a lot like the real suit of armour on the left that is from 1515-1525.
King Arthur’s sword Excalibur appears in both the films mentioned so far and in most modern retellings of the legend. But parts of the legend have inspired new stories altogether. In some romances from the 1300s and 1400s, Excalibur is drawn by Arthur from an anvil (big metal block used by armourers to make weapons) on a stone proving he is King. In others the sword is given to him by the Lady of the Lake, a magical water-spirit. In the Lord of the Rings, writer J. R. R. Tolkien invented a powerful sword, that makes the character called Aragorn the heir to the throne of Gondor. The sword was also made by dwarves and kept by elves. Cool. Check out the sword below which is Weta Workshop’s interpretation of that sword for the 2001 film Lord of the Rings. The creators were inspired by late medieval swords.
Aragorn’s sword Anduril, or Flame of the West.
A real hand-and-a-half sword from the 1480s. Can you see how these two swords look a like?
Why not see if you can find some different versions of the legend and see what arms and armour you can find? Can you design your own weapons and armour? Or write you own version of the story Arthur? It could be your version hitting the big screen next. You never know!
Watch the storytelling to see how a boy began his journey to be come a legend and gain his famous sword. Download the King Arthur Fun Activity Pack (pdf, 1 MB) to see if you can make all the things needed to look like a king. Learn the British Sign Language and Makaton for ‘king’ to really impress your royal subjects. Finally, read the article all about the history of King Arthur’s legend.
Please contact us if you require any of our downloadable documents in an alternative format.
The legend of King Arthur has captured the imagination of people all over the world. His stories are full of magic, adventure, intrigue and dragons, we cannot forget the dragons. With all this magic and dragons, surely none of it could be true. Could it? Where does this great collection of stories come from? Did Arthur or Camelot really exist? Let us take a look.
The 9th century historian Nennius is the first to write about Arthur as a powerful 6th century warlord (not a king, mind) battling the Saxons. In the 12th century the historian Geoffrey of Monmouth makes Arthur a king, give him Queen Guinevere, and adds to Arthur’s ‘history’ with a backstory, dragons, Merlin, Excalibur, the conquest of Europe, betrayal and death. Lovely.
It is after this work that the legend of King Arthur really takes off. Still in the 12th century a poet named Wace adds the Round Table we all know and love; and Chrétien de Troyes writes stories about the knights, introduces Queen Guinevere, Arthur and Lancelot’s love triangle and the Quest for the Holy Grail. In the 13th and 14th centuries more writers pick up where Chrétien leaves off. Then Thomas Malory has a go at putting it all into one, massive piece of work, Le Morte d’Arthur, at the end of the 15th century.
The difficulty is that, although there are 6th and 8th century histories that record the Saxon invasion of England and defeat, none of them mention a magical sword or dragons or, for that matter, Arthur. Which might mean that Geoffrey of Monmouth relied on information long since lost to us; or that he took a scrap of legend and made up the rest. You can decide for yourself, but other authors in Geoffrey’s time were very rude about his reliability.
An image from a manuscript from the 1400s showing the Round Table, which Arthur built to show that he and all his knights were equal.
Geoffrey of Monmouth has his Arthur ruling from Caerleon, a real place in South Wales, but he does not call it Camelot. Chrétien De Troyes introduces a place called Camelot but does not say where it is. And with little evidence of a real Arthur, it is no surprise that lots of different places claim to be Arthur’s capital city, including Winchester, not far from the Royal Armouries site Fort Nelson. The Leeds museum’s own county of West Yorkshire also makes a claim. Coincidence? Probably. But why should Arthur not have ruled from a site that is now a golf course west of Huddersfield?
You can still visit the remains of a Roman fort at Caerleon, but even more remained in the 1700s. You can see a drawing of it here. Did Arthur once walk along these walls?
The legends of King Arthur have been written and rewritten in different ways over time. His world is full of amazing and magical characters with tragic, romantic and heroic tales. Recent re-tellings have explored these different angle. The BBC television series Merlin tells the story from the young wizard’s point of view. The Netflix series Cursed places Nimue, the Lady of the Lake, at the centre of the tale. In this version, Nimue is given the magical sword Excalibur by her dying mother who asks her to deliver it to Merlin. Nimue uses Excalibur to behead a wolf and become the Fey Queen. But that, as they say, is a story for another day.
This image by Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898) shows The Lady of the Lake speaking to King Arthur about the sword, Excalibur.
Sometimes, the story is set in a different space entirely. An old man, strong with magical power, gives a boy raised without knowing who he really is a powerful sword, revealing that it belonged to the boy’s father, a great lord, which sets him on a path that topples an evil empire. Sounds familiar? It is the plot to Star Wars: A New Hope and, with a few changes of gender, the plot of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Can you think of any others like this?
There is so much to be taken from this world that stories surrounding Arthur will no doubt continue to be made for many years to come.
Watch the storytelling to see how a boy began his journey to be come a legend and gain his famous sword. Download the King Arthur Fun Activity Pack (pdf, 1 MB) to see if you can make all the things needed to look like a king. Then read our article to dive into the world of King Arthur’s weapons and armour. Learn the British Sign Language and Makaton for ‘king’ to really impress your royal subjects.
Please contact us if you require any of our downloadable documents in an alternative format.
Download the King Arthur Fun Activity Pack (pdf, 1 MB) to see how to create the things you need to be a king just like Arthur. Also see which knight of the round table you are most like, and more. Then use the videos below to the learn the Makaton and British Sign Language for ‘king’, a key skill in any knight’s quest.
Watch the storytelling to see how a boy began his journey to be come a legend and gain his famous sword. Then read our article to dive into the world of King Arthur’s weapons and armour. Finally, read the article all about the history of King Arthur’s legend.
Please contact us if you require any of our downloadable documents in an alternative format.
The story of Joan of Arc comes from the 100 Years War in the 15th century. It is an epic tale of a normal teenage girl who changes the course of history forever. Watch the story telling below to discover the real life adventure she had and why she is seen as a hero to this day.
Download the Joan of Arc Fun Activity Pack (pdf, 2 MB) to explore further the world and tactics of 15th century war. Watch the story telling to see how Joan went from average teenager to becoming a legend. Also, read our article all about other incredible warrior women from history. Finally, learn the British Sign Language for ‘blade’ and Makaton for ‘sword’ to help you tell the epic story to your friends and family.
Please contact us if you require any of our downloadable documents in an alternative format.
This statue of Joan is in a park in Washington DC, in the USA. She looks very proud and confident, hopefully to inspire others to be the same. Photograph ©David King 2006. Used under Creative Comms Attribution 2.0 Generic Licence.
Joan of Arc has inspired painters, sculptors, writers, composers and cinema directors for over 600 years. Not bad for a girl who came from a village in the middle of the french countryside, who could not read or write, and died before she was 20 years old.
Fun Fact: Whilst Disney has not made a film about Joan of Arc, she does appear in one. In ‘Frozen’ when Princess Anna sings ‘Do you want to build a snowman?’, you can see a portrait of Joan when Anna lies on the settee.
Joan became famous very quickly in an age when TV, the internet, social influencers and TikTok did not exist. She and her family did not have any famous or important friends to help make her famous. It was her character, her passion and her self-belief that convinced others to believe in her and support her campaign. Word of mouth did the rest. Whether she was a strategic genius, inspired by God, or just lucky, her fame spread because people simply started talking to each other. The rich, the poor, the French and the English; the military commanders and the church leaders, they were all talking about her.
This is the earliest drawing we have of Joan of Arc. It is in the protocol of the parliament of Paris (1429). It was drawn by Clément de Fauquembergue, but we don’t think that he ever actually saw Joan herself. © French National Archives
Joan of Arc succeeded in putting King Charles VII on the French throne, but shortly after she was captured by the English. King Charles made no attempt to help her. Joan was finally tried with the English finding her guilty of being a witch, of not believing in God and of dressing like a man. On the morning of 30th May 1431 Joan was burned at the stake.
However that was not the end of her story. After her death her fame only grew. 20 years later King Charles VII ordered a retrial for Joan. This time they decided she was innocent- not much help to Joan, of course. Joan became a hero of revolutionary France in the 1700s and 1800s. In 1920 the Catholic Church made her a Saint.
Fun Fact: Michael Morpurgo has written over 100 books, including ‘War Horse’, ‘Private Peaceful’ and ‘The Butterfly Lion’. He has also written a book called ‘Sparrow’ which is inspired by the life of Joan of Arc.
Designed to inspire women to buy war stamps and save their country, this American poster shows just how inspiring Joan became.
Joan is not just a famous hero in France, she is known all over the world. Take America for example: During the Second World War, a poster was issued in America with Joan as its star. The poster was designed to ask women to donate money to the war effort. You can see it above. There is also a brand of beans in the USA and Canada named after her. Anyone for Joan of Arc chilli beans?
Her name and image have been used for lots of different things. Many of these have nothing to do with her life or the beliefs that made her famous. But it shows that Joan can be just as inspiring to people today as she was 600 years ago. Even if that is only to buy a tin of beans.
Did you know that even Joan’s haircut became a fashion trend? According to the historical records, Joan cut her hair short. In 1909, Monsieur Antoine (one of Paris’ most popular hair stylists) started to cut his clients hair short, called a ‘bob’, inspired by Joan of Arc. This look really caught on in the 1920’s and it is still a popular style today.
Joan’s story shows just how much influence one person with belief and determination for a cause can have. These are the qualities of a true hero. Do you have belief in something? What do you think you could achieve?
Download the Joan of Arc Fun Activity Pack (pdf, 2 MB) to explore further the world and tactics of 15th century war. Watch the story telling to see how Joan went from average teenager to becoming a legend. Also, read our article all about other incredible warrior women from history. Finally, learn the British Sign Language for ‘blade’ and Makaton for ‘sword’ to help you tell the epic story to your friends and family.
Please contact us if you require any of our downloadable documents in an alternative format.
Joan of Arc is one of the most famous fighting women in history. She is often shown dressed in armour, with a sword in her hand and waving a flag. Joan was determined to get the Dauphin (the next in line to the French throne) crowned as King of France. Dramatic, right? But she was not the only woman in history to play a major part in war. Let’s have a look at some other warrior women from Europe in the 1400s and 1500s.
This is Margaret of Anjou. You can see she is wearing a crown and has a sceptre in her hand, showing that she is a queen. Image courtesy of the © British Library, MS Roy. 15. E, VI f. 2v.
Margaret came to England from a part of France called Anjou when she was just 15 years old. She married King Henry VI and became Queen. Unfortunately her husband had serious mental health issues which meant he was very ill for months at a time. He even missed his own son being born because of his illness. So Margaret had to fight for her husband and her son’s right to the throne.
One of Henry’s cousins thought he should be King instead of Henry. This began a war for the English throne called the ‘War of the Roses’. You might have heard of it. Margaret did not put on a suit of armour and charge into battle screaming (unfortunately), but she did have the brains to pull together resources and people to help her. She rallied lords and gained support for her husband and son. Margaret succeeded at a time when it was not common for women to be involved in military matters. But all her efforts were not enough. Her son was killed at the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471 and her husband was killed whilst imprisoned in the Tower of London.
Despite failing to reach her goal, Margaret is remembered as a fearsome woman. Over a hundred years later, playwright William Shakespeare called her the ‘She-wolf of France’! Rude.
Isabella of Castile does not look very happy in this portrait, does she? © 2019. Museo Nacional del Prado
Born in Castile, which is part of Spain, Isabella was never meant to be Queen. After the death of her two brothers and a lot of family squabbles (well… a war actually) she was crowned Queen of Castile in 1474. Unusually for her time, she inherited the throne and became Queen in her own right. She was only 23 years old.
Isabella is known as a ferocious queen. It is believed that she once rode out to talk to rebels who had risen up against her rule, and that she was successful in stopping their rebellion. Few monarchs would have had the bravery to face rebels in person. So she was clearly not scared to stand up for herself. Isabella did not fight in any battles during her reign, and there were a lot of battles. She did travel with her armies and advise on military tactics, while also organising field hospitals to help wounded soldiers. Very cool for a queen to do.
This portrait of Katherine of Aragon when she was Queen of England © National Portrait Gallery, London
You might think this queen looks familiar. That is because she is the youngest daughter of Isabella of Castile. Katherine is also the first wife of the famous King Henry VIII of England. When Henry was away fighting in France in 1513, the Scottish invaded England. This was not a surprise, since the relationship between the kingdom of Scotland and the kingdom of England was often a bad one. But Katherine and the lords of England still needed to defend the country. Katherine worked with the Earl of Suffolk to get the English armies ready for war. The Battle of Flodden was a victory for the English: King James IV of Scotland was killed during the battle. Katherine wanted to send her husband the body of the Scottish King as a gift to celebrate. Gross. But she was persuaded only to send King James’ blood-stained coat. Still gross.
Helping England win against an age-old rival made Katherine a very popular queen.
Unlike Joan of Arc, all of these women would have had a place in history for being queens. But like Joan, they used their intelligence and will power to go after their goals, even if people around them thought they shouldn’t. This has given them a special place in history as warrior women. And we have only looked at a few women! We could have included Boudica of the Iceni tribe in the 1st century, Empress Matilda of England and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine in the 12th century, Queen Mary I of England in the 16th century without even leaving Europe. There are many, many more from all over the world.
Can you think of any other famous women from history who are heroes?
Download the Joan of Arc Fun Activity Pack (pdf, 2 MB) to explore further the world and tactics of 15th century war. Watch the story telling to see how Joan went from average teenager to becoming a legend. Also, read our article all about other incredible warrior women from history. Finally, learn the British Sign Language for ‘blade’ and Makaton for ‘sword’ to help you tell the epic story to your friends and family.
Please contact us if you require any of our downloadable documents in an alternative format.
Download the Joan of Arc Fun Activity Pack (pdf, 2 MB) to have fun finding out more about siege warfare tactics and how to create your own flag. Then watch the videos below to keep learning British Sign Language and Makaton! This week, the British Sign Language is for ‘blade’ and the Makaton is for ‘sword’.
Watch the story telling to see how Joan went from average teenager to a roaring legend. Also, read our article all about how Joan’s life has continued to inspire people for the last 600 years. Finally, read our article about other fearsome warrior women from history to discover how they have all impacted history in their own way.
Please contact us if you require any of our downloadable documents in an alternative format.
Tune in to the tale below and learn how Arjuna and his close friend Krishna, helped the god of fire fight the god of war. It is an epic story of gods, demons, battles, blazes, weapons and elephants!
If you enjoyed Arjuna and the god of war why not download the Arjuna Fun Activity Pack (pdf, 2MB) to dive into the world of the Mahabharata and the Pandavas brothers. Then watch our videos to perfect your BSL and Makaton for ‘Archer’. Then read all about how Indian heroes used archery to show off their skills and also read the story behind Arjuna himself and the Mahabharata.
Please contact us if you require any of our downloadable documents in an alternative format.
This painting is from the 1800s and shows Arjuna and Krishna in a chariot. If you look really closely, you can see a bow and quiver of arrows behind Arjuna (to the right) © The Trustees of the British Museum/(CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
What weapon should a hero have? You might think a sword or an axe would be a good choice but in Ancient India the answer was a bow and arrow. Dhanurveda, or ‘the science of archery’ was one of the most prized skills a warrior could have. If you wanted to be a member of the Indian warrior-elite you needed a vehicle, a weapon and a very clear way of shooting.
Ancient Indian armies had loads of archers who fought on foot but these were generally low-ranking soldiers. If you wanted to be one of the best archers, the true elite, you rode into battle in a chariot. The chariots rushed towards the enemy, the archers shot their arrows and were then carried away at speed, hopefully before the enemy could respond. As time went on and they bred bigger and stronger horses, Indian archers rode into battle on horseback. Some went even one bigger and shot their arrows from the back of elephants!
This is a suit of armour for an elephant…have you ever seen something like it before? It is from India and dates from 17th-18th century. You can see how someone might ride on the back of the elephant into battle.
Fun Fact: Arjuna was not the only Indian religious hero who was shown to be a master archer. The Hindu demigod Rama, the tenth Guru of Sikhism, Guru Gobind Dingh Ji, and the founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama, are all depicted as being skilled with a bow.
This composite bow is from India was made in the 1700s. The bow is not strung, which means it is curved the opposite way how it curves when strung. It looks a bit like a crab with its claws in front of its body.
There were lots of types of bow in India through history. Some Indian bows were similar to medieval English bows, like the ones that Robin Hood might have used (go to this article so you can read all about them), but they used different types of wood or even bamboo to make them. Some were made of solid steel to make them tougher than the wooden ones. The most widespread and popular type of Indian bow, the composite bow, was different again! It was made of wood, horn and sinew (bits of animal muscle, yuck!) glued together. The horn and sinew made the bow stronger and more springy which gave the bow more power. But which type did Arjuna use? The Mahabharata does not say, although we can rule out steel bows. They were only made in the 1700s and 1800s. So a few thousand years too late.
Fun Fact: India was ruled over by the Mughal Empire between the 16th and 18th centuries and there are surviving bows from this time in our collection. Lots of them are ‘crab bows’. They are called this because when the bow does not have a string on it and the limbs of the bow are not pulled tense, the limbs relax. They make a sharply angled shape that looks like a crab with its front claws. Just like the collection piece pictured above.
This thumb ring is made from a very pale green jade (a type of stone). It is extended out at one side so the archer can hold the bow string with their thumb and not rip the skin off their thumb. It is from India and was made in the 1700s
Just like the bows, the Indian way of shooting was different to the technique used by Robin Hood and most European archers. And this is not even taking into consideration that the Indian archers would shoot from horse or elephant back! Instead of using three fingers to pull the string, most archers in Asia (including India) wrapped their thumb around the string and pulled. While this technique is a lot quicker, it really hurts after a while because you are using one thumb to pull the bow’s full weight. So, the archers wore a special thumb ring made of a strong material like leather, jade, metal, ivory or bone to help take the force of the bow and protect their thumbs.
Fun Fact: Some pictures of Indian archers have thumb rings on each hand. Why? Because they could shoot a bow using either their right or left hand! Showoffs.
It is safe to say, the mounted archers of Ancient India were incredible skilled warriors. They trained for years to master bowmen and riders. Arjuna, frankly, makes all of this look easy! It is no wonder that he is looked up to as a hero.
Watch the story telling of how Arjuna helped the God of fire, Argni against Indra, the God of War. Then read all about the epic story of Arjuna and the Mahabharata. Then download the Arjuna Fun Activity Pack (pdf, 2MB) to dive into the world of Mahabharata and the Pandavas brothers, and see how to sign ‘Archer’ in British Sign Language and Makaton.
Please contact us if you require any of our downloadable documents in an alternative format.
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