The Ancestral Tree of the real Arthur. Examining the dates of death of his immediate kin, one can glean evidence of the power struggle described in the legend.
Sequence of Events
AD 410 -- The Roman legions begin their withdrawal from Britannia under orders from Honorius. By 420 there were almost certainly no Roman forces left in the island.
420-- The Welsh kingdom of Powys founded.
425-- Vortigern takes control of Powys.
448-- Vortigern killed fighting Irish forces who are attempting to establish colonies in Wales. His son Britu sues for peace.
460-- Saxons hold all of eastern Britain. The Celtic kings appoint Ambrosius Aurelianus leader of the joint British forces. He invites Cunedda and his Pictish Votadini (from what is now southern Scotland) to settle and rule Gwynedd in North Wales. The two leaders set out to begin a Celtic imperialist revival.
480-- Military stalemate between the British and Saxon forces in southern Britain. Celts recovering ground from the Germanics (Angles) in the north.
485-- Owyn Ddantgwyn, Cunedda's grandson, an heir to the kingdom of Gwynedd and the Arthur of legend, first fights under Ambrosius Aurelianus.
488-- Saxon advance has resumed . Ambrosius Aurelianus is killed and (Arthur) Owyn Ddantgwyn succeeds as leader of the joint British forces.
c.493-- The Saxons are about to cut the Celtic domain in two by reaching the west coast in the area of Roman Bath, thereby separating West Wales (modern Cornwall) from Cymru (Wales). (Arthur) Owyn Ddantgwyn meets and stops them at Badon Hill (Mons Badonis). This victory is so complete that the Saxon advance is halted for 50 years.
c.500-- The Irish expand their territories in Dalriada (modern south-western Scotland) and continue their attempts to settle Wales, giving Owyn Ddantgwyn new worries.
519-- (Arthur) Owyn Ddantgwyn is slain at Gamlann on the border of Gwynedd and Powys. Much rejoicing in Dalriada and Ireland.
560s-- A bard, seer, magician, astronomer and alchemist named Emrys Myrddin, named as Merlin in the Annales Cambriae, and who must have been young in Arthur's time, is present (possibly with a sister) in the court of Gwenddolau, who ruled a kingdom located in what is now known as the Lake District of north-west England.
573-- Gwenddolau's kingdom is invaded by the sons of king Eliffer of Ebrauc, the neighbouring kingdom to the north, and at the battle of Arfderydd (Arthuret) Gwenddolau is slain. Myrddin goes mad and flees into the forest of Coed Celyddon (in what is now southern Scotland)
570s-- There is a legend of a wild man, very wise, with magical powers and who seemed to have high connections, dwelling in the forests of Gododdin (modern Lothian in southern Scotland). The locals call him Lailoken. Myrddin and Lailoken were probably (though not certainly) one and the same.
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