Shit, there’s a lot of history before we get to the part before Arthur. I’ll try to sum up the best I can. I’ll start with the end of the Roman Empire, at least in the West, and—
Actually, wait. Let’s start with a map.
The British Isles (and Brittany!). This is where the shit happens. Mostly (we’ll get to that later).
Anywho, a really long-ass time ago, the Romans peaced the fuck out of Britain. They left behind some walls, some baths, a shit-ton of ruins, and a power vacuum.
Besides power vacuums, of course.
Source: British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts
After like 250 years or so, things finally settled down-ish when this dude Constantine won a bunch of wars and became the High King of the Britons.
Everything was cool for a little while under Constatine’s rule, in that the other kingdoms and clans and in Great Britain calmed down and stopped warring with the Britons.
They did keep warring among themselves, but did so less often and only like half-assed it anyway.
This sorta-peace didn’t last.
See, there was this dude, Vortigern. Vortigern was an okay fighter (at best) but he looked really good in gold and jewels and all the fancy shit. But, all that luxury was reserved for the king. So, Vortigern killed High King Constantine.
His fighting skills aside, Vortigern was actually pretty good at regicide.
