King Arthur
The story of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table has been one of the most popular stories in world literature. Writers have told of Arthur's brave deeds and the adventures of his knights for hundreds of years.
There probably was a real King Arthur, who led the British People in battles against the Anglo-Saxon invaders in the late 5th century and early 6th century, though historians know little about him. The real King Arthur probably won some victories over the Anglo-Saxons, but he was not nearly as great as the King Arthur of the stories. In the Middle Ages people loved to hear stories of great warriors told by storytellers who travelled around. These storytellers passed on the earliest tales about Arthur by word of mouth. They told the stories of Authur and his knights as though they were knights of the Middle Ages, wearing the kind of armour that was worn by knights of the Middle Ages and following the set of rules of behaviour called chivalry.