The Heroic Age, Issue 1, Spring/Summer 1999

It would take the entire issue and more to discuss all there web or net sites devoted to Arthur and Arthurian materials. So here are a few of the best and a couple of the not-so-good.

The finest Arthurian Web site of all is The Camelot Project:

Alan Lupack and Barbara Tepa Lupack have taken great pains to get a lot of Arthurian literature, criticism, scholarship, history, etc. and to get it right and to make it easy to use. There is almost no legitimate investigation about Arthur that can't be aided by this site. It deserves the very highest rating: Shall we say 5 Excaliburs?

The "listserver" Arthurnet gets second place: Anyone may join the never-ending discussion of everything from the earliest Celtic materials to the latest comic books, film, paperbacks, and TV programs. Some renowned scholars are list members, and so are Arthur fans of all ages. This list will never deteriorate into name-calling or petty digressions because it is managed by Judy Shoaf, who deserves a special place in Heaven for her work. She keeps discussions on track, refuses the loonier notes (re-incarnations of Arthur need not apply) and the angrier notes (she has kept me from invective numerous times), offers her own scholarly contributions, and makes the List what it is (She will probably reply to me that it is the contributors that make the list what it is, being Judy).

To subscribe: write to listserv@morgan.ucs.mun.ca, with no title/header, and the message:

4.99 Excaliburs.

Tom Green has a major Arthurian site with much of his own painstaking and insightful scholarship represented. He ran a marvelous discussion on Arthurnet about the historical Arthur, and much of his own work on the question is in the site:

4.5 Excaliburs.

John J. Doherty has a most useful site which is almost entirely made up of links to other Arthur sites, often with his own very informative characterizations (if you have this site bookmarked, check for this most recent Web address

4 Excaliburs.

Celtic Studies Resources, by "An Opinionated Digital Medievalist" (a.k.a. Lisa Spangenberg, and a fine scholar she is) not only has a number of interesting and thoughtful answer to all sort of questions about Arthur, but also a good chili recipe, and links to non-Celtic sites that she likes. An enjoyable and informative site:

4 Excaliburs.

Finally, for negetive ratings only:

Arthur A to Z Knowledge Bank starts off like an amateur, but interesting place to visit, but almost immediately slopes off into depths one doesn't want to explore: The opening pages are rife with errors about Merlin, Celtic culture, etc. . . . and very soon you are reading that Arthur is a re-incarnation of Osiris, and these Web folks seem to mean it.

I guess I have to give the address:

Then, there's

One hears of sites like this but is rarely rewarded with the thing itself. Chapter One tells us that the Templars were keepers of the Grail, and that they came to Nova Scotia in 1398, after "the Inquisition was determined" to exterminate them. It goes downhill from there, as the Templars search for Avalon, an Earthly Paradise. I did not read on to see where or whether they found it.

Perhaps we can visit more of the Arthur sites, the great and the goonybird, in some future issue . . .