![]() The visible remains on the headland would have helped to keep alive a memory of its former importance. Tintagel appears in these poems as the court of Tristan’s uncle, King Mark of Cornwall. Independent support for such a folk memory comes from the legend of Tristan, known from French and German poems later in the 12th century, which seem to have drawn on Cornish legends. Geoffrey described its dramatic physical attributes, evidently appreciating its romantic nature. He associated Arthur closely with Cornwall, and Cornish legend may have preserved a folk memory of the earlier importance of the site, perhaps as a stronghold of the rulers of Cornwall. The reasons for Geoffrey’s use of Tintagel can only be guessed. The History contains the earliest written mention of Tintagel in the tale of how Arthur was conceived there by Uther Pendragon, King of Britain, the result of his magically assisted seduction of Queen Igerna (Igraine), wife of Duke Gorlois of Cornwall. In about 1138 Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain gave the figure of King Arthur, the legendary ruler of Britain, Ireland and large parts of continental Europe, its international fame. The headland could also have been defensive, possibly a response to settlement in its hinterland by Irish-speaking colonists at the same period, known from monumental stones with Irish inscriptions found in north-east Cornwall and down to the Tamar valley.Īfter the mid-7th century there is little evidence of activity on the headland for over 500 years. British kingship at this period was peripatetic, so Tintagel would probably have been one of several royal sites in Devon and Cornwall. The most likely explanation of the site is that it was a secular stronghold of the then rulers of Dumnonia (Devon and Cornwall). ![]() Most unusually it also has supplies of fresh water. ![]() The site’s precipitous headland (the island), connected to the mainland only by a narrow neck of land, makes it strongly defensible, with extensive views over the whole southern part of the Bristol Channel. A large bank and ditch, also still visible, defended the landward side of the narrow neck, which at this date may have been as high as the land on either side. The island was covered with many small rectangular buildings, some visible today. From about AD 450 until about AD 650 Tintagel was a prosperous and highly significant site, closely involved in trade with the Mediterranean world. ![]()
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