# I just saw King Arthur **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 11, 2006, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-king-arthur/339479 "2006-01-11T13:53:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-king-arthur/339479/21 "2006-01-12T02:44:18Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > I don’t know why the hell they called them “Woads” but the Woads were most certainly supposed to be Picts. Picts tatooed their skin with woad (blue dye). “Woad” is a plant that yields a blue die. I think they were Celts, not Picts. Celts were known to use blue paint on their skin. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-king-arthur/339479/22 "2006-01-12T02:46:57Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > “Woad” is a plant that yields a blue die. I think they were Celts, not Picts. Celts were known to use blue paint on their skin. You are right but people have been associating Woad with the Picti for centuries, so it is an understandable mistakes. The Movie made it plain that Merlin was leading Britons, the Picti were further north anyway. Britons I think were type P-Celtic. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-king-arthur/339479/23 "2006-01-12T03:35:30Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Pepper Mill and I can’t get a babysitter, so any adult movies keep getting put off untilo they’re on video, and then some. Y’know, an “adult” version or parody of this could be very entertaining, if one’s into that sort of thing. Ribald references to jousting staffs, codpieces and anachronistic[?] corsets, dis-armor-ing the knights, watery tarts lobbing scimitars, and a three-way with “it’s good to be the king” Arthur, Guinnevere, and Lancelot. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-king-arthur/339479/24 "2006-01-12T04:10:30Z")
> [@](#): > > As far as Arthurian travesties go, it still sounds better than First Knight, the mere existence of which still bugs the crap out of me. That’s setting the bar pretty low, all right. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-king-arthur/339479/25 "2006-01-12T04:31:25Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > “Woad” is a plant that yields a blue die. I think they were Celts, not Picts. Celts were known to use blue paint on their skin. Picts WERE Celts. Ethically, they were no different from the Britons, they just lived further north. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-king-arthur/339479/26 "2006-01-12T05:51:35Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Well, it seems to be the position of Arthurian scholarship, at any rate. The foremost among the Arthurian scholars as near as I can tell is Geoffrey Ashe—he’s been writing books about the possible historocity of Arthur for something like 40 years. You might run a check on him at Amazon for his latest. By “official” I meant the position of the British Royal Establishment/regime/family/whatever. I’m pretty well up on the various scholarly opinions on the subject, and there’s no absolute smoking gun of historical factual conclusion, so I was interested to see what appeared to be an indication that that, at any rate, the Peerage or whatever doesn’t count him as “Arthur I.” Further elucidation from subsequent posts also clarified for me. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-king-arthur/339479/27 "2006-01-12T12:15:48Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > By “official” I meant the position of the British Royal Establishment/regime/family/whatever. Heh…I wasn’t aware they COULD have an official version of history… ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-king-arthur/339479/28 "2006-01-12T15:44:38Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Heh…I wasn’t aware they COULD have an official version of history… It (sorta) worked for Hitler. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-king-arthur/339479/29 "2006-01-12T17:38:57Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Picts WERE Celts. Ethically, they were no different from the Britons, they just lived further north. OK. I also assume that Arthur, if he existed, was a Celt as well-- just a Romanized one. I’ve always thought it odd that he’s regarded as a sort of founding father of England (Anglo-Saxon Britain). The American anolog might be someone like Geronimo-- a folk hero, yes, but not a member of the conquering majority. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-king-arthur/339479/30 "2006-01-12T17:46:59Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > OK. I also assume that Arthur, if he existed, was a Celt as well-- just a Romanized one. I’ve always thought it odd that he’s regarded as a sort of founding father of England (Anglo-Saxon Britain). The American anolog might be someone like Geronimo-- a folk hero, yes, but not a member of the conquering majority. The Anglo-Normans sorta conquered Arthurian legend the same way they conquered the whole damn country. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-king-arthur/339479/31 "2006-01-12T17:48:59Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Picts WERE Celts. Ethically, they were no different from the Britons, they just lived further north. Doh! Ethically=EthNically. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-king-arthur/339479/32 "2006-01-12T18:15:03Z")
**John Mace** writes: > [@](#): > > I’ve always thought it odd that he’s regarded as a sort of founding father of England (Anglo-Saxon Britain). You and everyone else. From Geoffrey onwards, Arthur fights the Saxons, after all. But it’s not the only time a culture hero has been adopted by his nominal enemies. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-king-arthur/339479/33 "2006-01-12T22:55:54Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Heh…I wasn’t aware they COULD have an official version of history… Dude, if there’s no conclusive factual record, then an institution like the British Royal Family would have to “officially” choose an opinion they agree with, I would think. Surely you aren’t suggesting there’s an indisputably factual history of “King Arthur”? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-king-arthur/339479/34 "2006-01-13T02:41:14Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > The Anglo-Normans sorta conquered Arthurian legend the same way they conquered the whole damn country. 😃 True 'nuff. The original Arthurian legends were **Welsh.** (The Welsh being the unconquered remnant of Celtic Britain.) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King\_Arthur#Earliest\_traditions\_of\_Arthur](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Arthur#Earliest_traditions_of_Arthur) Geoffrey of Monmouth, author of the _Historia Regum Brittanniae,_ was Welsh. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey\_of\_Monmouth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_of_Monmouth) Thomas Malory was from Warwickshire, but that’s on the Welsh-English border. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas\_Malory](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Malory) ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-king-arthur/339479/35 "2006-01-13T07:43:29Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Picts WERE Celts. Ethically, they were no different from the Britons, they just lived further north. And the Celts in Britanny dwove on the wong side of the woad. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-king-arthur/339479/36 "2006-01-13T12:10:11Z")
In one of Jack Chalker’s “Dancing Gods” books, someone is following another person who’s been infected with ticks. In order to get rid of the ticks, they use a special preparation of woad. The special preparation turns the woad from blue to yellow. In order to track the person he’'s looking for, then, he has to… …Follow the Yellow Tick Woad I’m sorrow that I wrote that. A Little. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-saw-king-arthur/339479.md?page=1)