Rod Collins

Did King Arthur spend time and fight battles in Lincolnshire ?
It seems to fly in the face of accepted wisdom but there are some compelling arguments to suggest that King Arthur fought several battles in Lindsey !

First and foremost it has to be cleared up - we are not talking about wizards, round tables, dragons and swords stuck in stones.
But don’t automatically presume, as many do, that King Arthur is a fictional character !

Who was King Arthur

Most people are familiar only with the myths perpetrated by much later writers such as Geoffrey of Monmouth, Chrétien de Troyes and Thomas Mallory but mention of this warrior King is recorded as far back as 600AD. One possibility is that he was the son of King Aedan of Dalriada and was born 559. Much of the ‘proper’ historical information we have of him comes from a 9th century Welsh monk Nennius and his work Historia Brittonum in which he lists several battle and their locations.
There is some dispute about the author but be that as it may, it does not change the information

The Battles

The best known of all is The Battle of Badon Hill which was around the 6th century, as well as this one others stretched as far apart as the southern tip of England to Scotland, all of which sounds a little unlikely when considered properly.
Having read much on the subject, ranging from the scholarly to the entertaining with a good dash of speculative in the middle, I always wondered why, when fighting The Saxon Invaders, did they do so primarily in and around what was known as Dumnonia (Devon and Somerset area) - by the time The Sais had got that far inland surely it was too late !
Why not meet them where they landed and initially began settling - attack them in and around the east coast area !

Thomas Green

Thomas Green has written an excellent paper on this and presents several not only interesting but very plausible alternatives to the accepted norm.
Battles are historically noted to have been fought in Linnuis in particular they mention a river called Dubglas. Now, Linnuis in fact translates to Lindsey which is the upper part of Lincolnshire !
The River Dubglas, as far as can be told, may well be the River Witham
For those seeking more in depth information and reasoning I commend Thomas Green’s excellent paper to you - it would provide an excellent basis for a book in my opinion !

At this point I think we can safely say it seems more than reasonable, indeed, arguably demonstrated, that Arthur did indeed fight in Lincolnshire !

Myths ~ The Holy Grail ~ Grail Lore ~ Knights Templar

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table are inextricably linked with The Holy Grail as are The Knights Templar. The two are often lumped in together, The Knights Templar, however, came into existence over 600 years after the Dark Ages - they, The Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon, also had a strong presence in Lincolnshire.
There are also some very intriguing mutterings and theories about a serious connection to Lincoln and Lincoln Cathedral in particular.
Worthy of a separate write up methinks

The Doubts ~ Did King Arthur Even Exist ?

This is a subject that allows one almost to pick a preferred stance on the whole Arthurian thing and then just follow the postulations made by various scholars and commentators, both ancient and modern, that suit your opinion best.
There are those who say he was entirely mythical but I believe he did exist - as a warrior made great and famous in battle.
I suspect he didn’t quite crop up in the places he is said to have but crop up I think he did - there must be a kernel of truth in order to sustain all those legends.
In those times the Bards recorded much of history and, as they were paid to write their songs by their patrons, tended to flatter those who commissioned the song or those from whom they sought patronage, indeed settings were often changed to facilitate the restructuring of what actually happened.

It is also worth remembering that so-called Kings were in abundance at the time - they were all over the place, nothing like as all defining and well-documented as they became later in history. Folklore has undoubtedly blown his position out of proportion which accounts for the scant contemporaneous historical information available.
It was also The Dark Ages remember, a time when we actually regressed as a country, perhaps the only time in history that has ever happened.
After the Romans left the country discarded all the evolutionary things brought by The Roman Occupation, from building to education - records became as good as a thing of the past.

Strip all the fantasy and hyperbole away and I believe there is enough material there to argue that he did exist though clearly not in the way most people would imagine today.

In Conclusion ~ Was King Arthur Ever in Lincolnshire

Yes, I believe so !
Nennius, as mentioned, tells us of the battles fought in the Linnuis region, this transcribes nicely into Lindsey in the eyes of many scholars.

Consider also The Battle at the mouth of the River Gleni.
There are two possible locations for this The River Glen in Northumberland or the one in Lincolnshire.
There were huge concentrations of Saxon’s in the area now known as Lincolnshire, only natural given the location, it surely then makes sense, if you intend to attack the invaders, that you do so there.
Add to this that the county has two of the three largest Saxon cremation cemeteries in England and the balance of probability swings in favour of Lindsey evermore.
There’s no point pretending this is an exact science but when logic, along with unbiased scholarly re-evaluation of available historical data and translations, is applied then at the very least Lincolnshire looks as likely venue for Arthurian Battles as any other. Properly considered it looks, certainly to me, more than probable.
Arthurianly Yours
Rod