Définition : site du nord du Cornwall, sur la rive sud de l'embouchure de la rivière Sévern. 

Considéré comme site arthurien, lieu de naissance du Roi Arthur.

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extrait de la carte d'Ordnance Survey : Roman Britain

Tintagel. Vue aérienne

Photographie de la 4è de couverture de la plaquette publiée en 1992 par Cornwall Archeological Trust

Histoire :

Archéologie :

Étymologie :

* Eilert EKWALL (1936-1960-1980 ) : "Tintagol c 1145 Monm, Tintaieol, Tintagaeolestun 1205 Lay, Tintagel 1212 RBE, Tinthagel 1229 Fees. The local form is said to be Dundadgel. The first el. is Co. din, dun 'hill, fort', with provection to tin as in TINTERN, TINDAETHWY, TENBY in Wales (Tenby is Welsh Dinbych). The second el. is obscure".

* A.D MILLS (1981-2003) : "Tintagol c. 1137. Probably 'fort by the neck of land". Cornish *din + tagell".

* R.J. Hutchings (1983)  : 

p. 14 : 

HISTORICAL TINTAGEL

The battles listed in the Welsh Annals and inNennius's Chronicles are all that are known about the life of Arthur. We do not even know if in fact he was a king, but just a dux bellorum, a warlord, who led sections of the British army into battle against the Saxons. As for the place of his birth, nothing is known, and in no way is he connected with Tintagel except in the History of Geoffrey of Monmouth which is largely fiction.

There is evidence however of there having been a Dark Age community living in Tintagel's famous headland, where pottery of the period had been found. There, too, are the remains of a Celtic monastery on the plateau, and lower down, a twelfth-century castle built by Reginald, Earl of Cornwall about thetime that Geoffrey was writing the first biography of Arthur, in which he asserts that Tintagel was his birth-place.

TINTAGEL - ARTHUR'S LEGENDARY BIRTHPLACE

King Arthur was the legendary son of Uther Pendragon and Ygerna, wife of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, and was born about 475 AD at Tintagel Castle in Cornwall. His first biography, upon which our story is based, was by Geoffrey of Monmouth, bishop of Llandaff, who lived from 1100 to 1154. Because his History of the Kings of Britain was so factually unreliable, Geoffrey has been called the father of British fiction. Unfortunately we have little other evidence of Arthur's life to draw on and must be content with what Geoffrey told us about the circumstances of his birth.

King Uther was desperately in love with Ygerna. One Easter the king ordered a feast to be held to which many Princes and Knights were invited. Among them was Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, and his wife Ygerna. Her beauty quite overwhelmed Uther who unashamedly made known his feelings toward her during the célébrations and feasting, sending Gorlois into a jealous rage. Acting on impulse the duke dragged away his wife from the festivities without so much as a by-your-leave to the king, his host. Together they fled to Tintagel, Ygerna to be secured in the castle on the peninsula and he to a nearby fort to divert Uther's attention should he follow.

Determined that his passionate love for Ygerna should not be thwarted, King Uther assembled an army and went in pursuit of the fleeing couple. Warned of their coming, Gorlois prepared his small army to engage Uther's much larger forces. Inevitably Uther laid siege to the fort, but during the engagement he consulted Merlin, the magician and mentor, as how best to gain access to Tintagel Castle. It was known that three men could, by virtue of its inaccessibility, dzfend the castle against a whole army. 

Merlin used his magic to make Uther look like Gorlois, and the King thereby gained access to the interior and to Ygerna's bed-chamber where Arthur was conceived. Duke Gorlois was killed in battle, and under duress Ygerna accepted Uther as her husband thus legalising thée union providing an heir to the throne to lead the British against the  threatening Saxon forces. But Uther died of sickness before Arthur's birth helieving he had failed in his duty to his country.

HIS YOUTH AT DUNSTER

It is said that as soon as Arthur had been weaned by his mother, he was taken to foster parents by Merlin, to be educated and prepared for his regal duties, and that he lived, either at Celliwic, near Padstow in Cornwall, or at Dunster (Dindraethou) in Somerset, where he was taught the martial arts. If the latter is correct, he would have been under the tutelage of Prince Cadwy, who ruled there.

Sources : 

* Eilert EKWALL : The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names. Clarendon Press. Oxford. First edition 1936; Fourth edition 1960, Reprint 1980.

* Ordnance Survey : Map of Roman Britain. 1956.

* A.D MILLS : Oxford Dictionary of Brirish Place-Names. Oxford University Press. 1981-2003.

* R.J. HUTCHINGS : The King Arthur Illustrated Guide. Dyllansow Truran, Truran Publications, Trewolsta, Trewirgie, Redruth 216796. 1983

- Graves News from Tintagel. An account of a second season of archeological excavation at Tintagel Churchyard, Cornwall, 1991. Envois de : Cornwall Archeological Unit; Cornwall County Council. 1992.