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Legend has it that Uther Pendragon, King of England was overcome
by desire for the wife of one of his close friends, Gorlois,
Duke of Cornwall. To
prevent Uther from taking his wife, Gorlois took her to Tintagel
Castle a supposedly impregnable Castle off the North Cornish
coast. However King Uther sought the help of Merlin who cast
a spell that caused a thick fog to descend on the castle and
surrounding area, it also gave King Uther the appearance of
Gorlois. Thus whilst Uthers men were fighting Gorlois and his
men, King Uther slipped away into the the castle. |
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Ygraine,
the wife of Gorlois, thinking her husband had returned took
King Uther to her bed and Arthur the future King of England
was conceived. In the battle outside Gorlois was killed leaving
Uther able to marry Ygraine which he promptly did. Merlin's
condition for casting the spell was that he should take charge
of the child when he was born, which he did.
ref : Brookesmith
P,1991, Legends of the Lost, Blitz Editions, Leicester.
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Is
it the place the Romans called Durocornovium? Was it a Celtic
Christian monastery? Is it the stronghold of the kings of Cornwall
in the Dark Ages? Questions like these just add to the magic
and mystery of Tintagel, buffeted by the sea on its windswept
island. What is clear is that the present castle was laid out
in the thirteenth century and by Tudor times had fallen into
the ruins you see now
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Was
it here that Tristan wooed Isolde? Where Merlin magicked Uther
Pendragon into the bed of Igerna, wife of King Gorlois, to
father Arthur? And when Arthur became king, did he place his
foot in "Arthur's Footprint" as part of ancient inauguration
rites?
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As
you walk to the top of the headland, take in the view from
Trevose Head in the south, to Hartland Point in the north,
and listen to the waves breaking in Merlin's Cave below.
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When the
conquering Normans reached the westernmost land of England
they heard that the ancient seat of Cornwall's kings had stood
atop this soaring headland, surrounded on three sides by the
ceaseless surge of the Atlantic.
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So
in propaganda terms it made sense for Earl Richard of Cornwall,
younger brother of Henry III, to build a castle on the spot
where his legendary predecessors had held court. There was
no strategic reason for the choice, as there had been for
the other Norman castles in Cornwall, Launceston and Restormel
- and Earl Richard rarely stayed there.
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Though
Norman realpolitik put Tintagel on its windy headland, it is
as a castle of the imagination that it holds us spellbound -
a place of 'magic casements, opening on the foam of perilous
seas, in faery lands forlorn.'
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In
1139 Geoffrey de Monmouth published his 'History of Britain'
and claimed that Tintagel was the birthplace of King Arthur.
Although there may have been the remains of the community established
by St Juliot in the 6th century, when Reginald, Earl of Cornwall
built his stronghold here in 1145 there was no record of Arthur's
castle.
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Reginald,
the illegitimate son of Henry I, was responsible for the
Great Hall and Chapel. In the middle of the 13th century
further buildings were added by Earl Richard, the younger
brother of Henry III. The main part of the castle dates
from his tenure. In the 14th century, with other Cornish
castles, it was passed into the ownership of the Black Prince.
He carried out some restoration but after his death the
castle fell into decline.
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It was
used as a prison at the end of the 14th century but was
never used again as a fortress. Today it forms part of the
Duchy of Cornwall. Coastal erosion has resulted in the castle
being part the mainland and part on a peninsula. The narrow
causeway that connected the castle to the mainland in Geoffrey
of Monmouth's time has been washed away and access to the
castle is now by two steep stairways.
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Look
around you, as the sea-light dances and the salt-spray flies,
and you can believe whatever you want to believe.
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