The Dark Ages were a time of change and turmoil across Europe. After reigning supreme in Britain for 300 years the Romans returned to the continent, leaving the Isle of the Mighty in the hands of its original inhabitants, the Britons.

Coveted by marauding Saxons from the east, pillaging Irish from the west, and fearsome Picts from the north, Britain’s bountiful pastures were under constant siege. With neverending quarrels and inter-tribal warring between the Britons themselves, Britain was ready for a strong and mighty leader to rally its people and repel the invading hordes.

This leader was to be Arthur, born to return the Island of Britain to its rightful owners – the Britons. His fame and stature would transcend the centuries and remain as enigmatic today as it has always been.

Over those centuries, Arthur’s achievements have captivated poets, writers and storytellers from numerous cultures and backgrounds. But Arthur The Legend returns to the roots of the story of Arthur, to the tales and historical sources of Celtic Britain.

Those ancient roots lie deep within the Celtic tradition of Wales, kept alive in age-old prose, poetry and historical documents such as the Historia Brittonum, Annales Cambriae and the Mabinogion. It is from these sources that Arthur The Legend finds its milieu and gives us an authentic rendition, through the pages of a gripping graphic novel, of those early tales of Arthur from an age well before the Norman Arthurian Romances.

As the first volume in a series of four, Arthur the Legend begins with Vortigern’s treachery in granting the Saxons a foothold in Britain, which in turn drives him to seek assistance from the original Merlin, or Myrddin the Mad, the wild man of the woods. Myrddin is the druid, prophet and seer who recognises the young Arthur as the son of prophecy who will grow and save his people. With his heroic rise as warlord, Arthur leads his people from one decisive battle to the next in his ruthless quest to keep his land free from the Saxon foe.

Author David Chauvel is Series Director at the French publishing house Delcourt, and has collaborated with illustrator Jérôme Lereculey since the 1970s. As Celtic Bretons, both have been drawn to recount the long ignored, and ancient Welsh version of the Arthur story in a magnificent and detailed series of graphic novels.

Also available in Welsh as Chwedl Arthur.