Meanwhile the Britons had plucked up courage and made the best fight
they could. They were naturally a brave people (SS2, 18). The fact
that it took the Saxons more than a hundred years to get a firm grip
on the island shows that fact. The legend of King Arthur's exploits
also illustrates the valor of the race to which he belonged.
According to tradtion this British Prince, who had become a convert to
Christianity (S25), met and checked the invaders in their isolent
march of triumph. The battle, it is said, was fought at Mount Badon
or Badbury in Dorsetshire. There, with his irresistable sword,
"Excalibur," and his stanch British spearmen, Arthur compelled his
foes to acknowledge that he was not a myth but a man[1] able "to break
the heathen and uphold the Christ."
[1] See "Arthur" in the "Dictionary of National British Biography";
and Professor Rowley in Low and Pulling's "Dictionary of English
History," p. 434. See also Geoffrey of Monmouth's "History of the
Britons" and Tennyson's "Idylls of the King."