Book Review: King Arthur’s Children

If you’ve read Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur, surely you’ve gotten to the part that says ‘and then Arthur had a son, named Borre, who was thereafter a knight of the Table Round,’ and found yourself saying: “Borre?!? I’ve never heard of him!” …then was shocked when this son of the king is never mentioned in the story again.

Historian and Arthurian scholar Tyler R. Tichelaar has the answer for who Borre is, and what happened to him, as well as all of the other offspring that Arthur was said to have fathered, in his superb study, King Arthur’s Children: A Study in Fiction and Tradition. Calling on the old legends from the Matter of Britain as well as scholarly interpretations of it and historical information about the real figures where they existed, Tichelaar explains who each of these mythical children were, what place they had in the story, if they appeared in different versions or as different characters, and what ultimately happened to them, if known. In this way the book is an excellent resource for anyone fascinated by the Arthurian epic in general, and certainly those authors and scholars who wish to create their own works of Arthurian lore.

I read Tichelaar’s excellent fiction book, Arthur’s Legacy: Children of Arthur, Book One, which develops and makes reference to some of the characters mentioned here, and was likely inspired by his work on this book, which added a new layer of insight to my experience of that book.

Arthur’s most famous child is Mordred, the only one developed in the most well-known versions of the legend, and of course, Mordred makes up the largest portion of this book’s study. Tichelaar examines Mordred’s birth, depictions of his character, his marriage to Guinevere, and even his own sons. It’s unlikely anyone will have any questions about Mordred after perusing this superbly detailed study.

The book is very easily readable and enjoyable, and I enjoyed Tichelaar’s learned but easygoing style. I also appreciated that he includes depictions of the children from more modern Arthurian authors, approaching the material like a saga in progress, not a dead piece of history that was entombed in the past. If you’re interested in the topic of King Arthur’s children, whether Mordred or any of his legendary others—this is the book for you.