Incredible 1,300-year-old inscriptions discovered at Tintagel castle in Cornwall ‘help prove’ it was King Arthur’s birthplace
Slate windowsill from the seventh century includes Latin writing, Greek letters and Christian symbols
A newly-discovered 1,300-year-old windowsill covered in ancient writing could hold the key to finally proving where King Arthur was born.
Legend has long had it that Tintagel Castle in north Cornwall was the site of the monarch's birth in the late fifth century, but there has been precious little proof.
But now, following the discovery of the ancient stone and other artefacts, experts believe the site could have been an important royal base with links stretching as far as the eastern Mediterranean - increasing the likelihood it previously played host to England's rulers.
The windowsill, believed to be part of a medieval window ledge features Latin writing, Greek letters and Christian symbols all date from the seventh century AD.
It is thought to have been the work of someone practising writing.
Inscribed writing from the early Middle Ages rarely survives, so the find of the 1,300 year old engraving is particularly unusual, according to English Heritage, which manages the site on the north Cornwall coast.
It was uncovered last summer as part of a major excavation at Tintagel by Cornwall Archaeological Unit, which has also turned up oyster shells and livestock bones, bowls from Turkey and glass goblets from Spain dating from the same period.
The stone, a two-foot long piece of Cornish slate which served as a window ledge in a building that appears to have been part of a major early medieval settlement, includes Roman and Celtic names "Tito" or Titus, and "Budic".
This hints at a multicultural community on the north Cornwall coast some 1,300 years ago, the experts said.
The Latin words "fili" or son, and "viri duo", which means two men, also appear on the stone.
Further analysis will be conducted on the stone to see how it was engraved, and meanwhile it is going on display at Tintagel from Saturday.
While Tintagel is intricately bound up in the legend of King Arthur, who is said to have been conceived there in the late fifth century, experts think it was the seat of early Cornish kings with trading links to the Mediterranean during "Cornwall's First Golden Age".
It adds further weight to the theory of early medieval Tintagel as a royal site with a literate Christian culture and a network of connections stretching from Atlantic Europe to the eastern Mediterranean, English Heritage said.
Curator Win Scutt said: "It's incredible to think that 1,300 years ago, on this dramatic Cornish cliff-top, someone was practising their writing, using Latin phrases and Christian symbols.
King Arthur: Fact Or Fiction?
LEGEND has it that King Arthur ruled Britain in the late firth and early sixth centuries.
He is said to have successfully defended the country from Saxon invasion with his Knights of the Round Table.
Historians disagree on whether Arthur was a genuine historical figure or merely an invention of later writers.
The legend developed through the 12th Century writing of Geoffrey of Monmouth.
The first and most famous reference to Arthur comes in the 9th century Historia Brittonum, which has been attributed in parts to Welsh monk Nennius.
In his retelling of Celtic Britain's history, Arthur is a military commander, NOT a king.
In the famous Welsh poem Y Gododdin, written sometime between the seventh and 11th century, his name pops up again.
This was a tribute poem to warriors from the Brittonic Welsh kingdom of Gododdin who died fighting the northern Angle kingdoms of Deira and Bernica in the early seventh century.
It says one of the fallen comrades was 'no Arthur'.
Another Arthur reference pops up in an elegy for Geraint, a king of the southwest Celtic kingdom Dummonia, who died in 710AD.
A war leader Riothamus, linked to Britain or Brittany, who fought the Goths around 470AD, was considered a likely contender for the real-life Arthur because he was last recorded as being near the French town of "Avallon". Arthur's final destination was Avalon.
A stone discovered in 1998 at Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, where he was conceived in medieval tradition, contained the inscription "Artognou" which some have linked to Arthur.
"We can't know for sure who made these marks or why, but what we can say is that seventh century Tintagel had professional scribes who were familiar with the techniques of writing manuscripts and that in itself is very exciting.
"Our ongoing research has already revealed the extent of Tintagel's buildings and the richness of the lifestyle enjoyed here.
";This latest find goes one step further to show that we have a literate, Christian community, with strong connections from Atlantic Europe to the Mediterranean."
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