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Arthur Biography

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ARTHUR (1187-1203). Duke of Brittany, grandson of Henry II of England and nephew of Richard I, Coeur-de-Lion. In 1194 he was proclaimed Duke of Brittany. On Richard's death in 1199 the nobles of Anjou, Touraine, and Maine refused to recognize John and became the vassals of Arthur. He was knighted by Philip II of France and invested with Brittany and other French possessions appertaining to the English crown. In the same year John landed in Normandy. In support of Arthur Philip took the field against him. Soon, however, Philip's unscrupulous conduct gave offense to the Angevin friends of Arthur, and in 1200 a peace was concluded between John and Philip. In 1202 war again broke out. Poitou rose in insurrection against England, and Arthur, who had marched to besiege the castle of Mirabeau, was taken prisoner. He was removed in 1203 to Rouen, where he mysteriously disappeared -- drowned, sonic said, by John's own hands. The story of Arthur appears in Holinshed. Shakespeare, in King John, used Holinshed as a basis, but supplemented the old chronicle with imaginative details of his own. See JOHN.

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. II (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 201.