@Anditover

1 month ago

That's all very well, but castles didn't really start to exist until the middle ages they were effectively a Norman invention. The whole concept of The Castle is that it forms part of network of strongholds for a conquering force in a hostile land. We see this during the initial invasion in 1066 and the subsequent occupation of the interior of England. Later on we also see the same strategy in Edward I's invasion of Wales. What Camelot would have been is a hybrid between an Iron Age hill fort, housing a community in a defensible location with commanding views over it's district, and a Roman Castrum, where professional soldiers could assemble, train, and their commanders meet for strategic planning. This, if it ever existed, would be a focal point for those who wanted to resist the Anglo-Saxons, to assemble, arm, train, and sally forth. Without at least one such focal point its hard to imagine any long term feasible resistance, even to defend relatively easy places such as the South West peninsula, Wales, or Peak District. I suspect that there wasn't a single "Camelot", with potential regional ones at Wroxeter, Chester, Cadbury Castle and, yes Tintagagel. Ultimately however, history shows that they all fell, somewhere between the latter 5th century, and mid 6th, at the latest, as the Saxon presence coalesced from invasion, to occupation, and then to kingdoms. I wish this "documentary" had focused less on 13th century, and 20th century whimsy, and more on Dark Age geopolitics, with finds to back up the, let's be honest, guesswork about what was going on.

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