Artorius Rex

The concluding volume of John Gloag's trilogy of historical novels about sub-Roman Britain (following Caesar of the Narrow Seas and The Eagles Depart), Artorius Rex sets aside the legendary King Arthur for the historical man behind it: Artorius, dux Britanniarum, a general and judge of men who unites Britain's fractious kingdoms against Irish, Pictish, and Saxon incursions. The story is narrated as the journal of Caius Geladius (Kay), a general descended from the family at the center of Gloag's earlier novels. Artorius's downfall comes through his love for Gwinfreda, daughter of a Saxon king, while Merlin appears not as a sorcerer but as a fallible adviser, and the nobleman Wencla works to undermine Artorius's authority.