I just finished reading another of Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London books. Essentially, they’re about Peter Grant, a young London police dude, who ends up working for the magical crimes division. He’s a sorcerer detective’s apprentice copper. Also, Grant's girlfriend is a river goddess and she kicks serious ass.
The series has been described as a sensational blend of inventive urban fantasy, gripping mystery thriller, and hilarious fantasy caper.
In this latest, Lies Sleeping, the villain’s dastardly plan involves bringing back King Arthur which will, somehow, wipe the city of London off the planet. Huh. Constable Grant keeps rebutting Evil Mastermind Man with the fact that Arthur did NOT in fact exist. He’s a myth, a fairy tale, a GREAT story but not someone who could be brought back from the long dead. (also, why would Arthur agree to banjax London?)
Ya know, I forgot all about that—the Arthur wasn't real bit. The mid-6th century (when he was king or, maybe, just a primo warrior) is indisputably a long fucking time ago (hells bells, I wasn’t even born yet—THAT’S how long ago it was). Anything that far back in the mists of time already feels like a fable even if it totally, actually happened.
Warrior Queen Boudica lived in the very first century AD and there’s a shit-ton more solidly known (versus poeticized) about her. If Arty was more than a pastiche of romantic, inspiring figures, it seems there’d be way more evidence.
Now then, Arthur and the wife are said to be buried at the wealthy Glastonbury Abbey.
A massive fire in 1184 destroyed nearly all the buildings and treasures that the monks had amassed, converting a famous attraction into a smoking ruin overnight.
As they struggled to get funds to rebuild, the monks needed something to make the abbey seem significant again. It was now competing with Westminster Abbey, which had been established in 1065 and whose soaring architecture was already a marvel. But there was one thing Glastonbury could have that Westminster didn't. In the 1190s, Glastonbury monks let it be known that they had discovered the skeletons of King Arthur and Guinevere in a tree trunk, buried deep underground; they relocated the grave onto the grounds of the Abbey's new church. (source)
These monks had some serious marketing savvy! I wonder whose bones they've actually got in that cemetery.
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