- published: 24 Sep 2014
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The 5th century is the period from 401 to 500 in accordance with the Julian calendar in Anno Domini/Common Era.
This century is noted for being a time of repeated disaster and instability both internally and externally for the Western Roman Empire, which finally unravelled, and came to an end in AD 476. The west was ruled by a succession of weak emperors, and true power began to fall increasingly into the hands of powerful generals. Internal instability and pressing military problems caused by foreign invaders finally resulted in the sacking of Rome by a Visigoth army in 410. Some recovery was made in the following decades, but the Western Empire received a serious blow when another barbarian group, the Vandals, occupied Carthage, capital of the extremely important province of Africa, a major supplier of wealth and grain. Attempts to retake the province were interrupted by the invasions of the Huns under Attila. After Attila's final defeat and death, both Eastern and Western empires joined forces for a final assault on Vandal North Africa, but their campaign was a spectacular failure.
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and his historical existence is debated and disputed by modern historians. The sparse historical background of Arthur is gleaned from various sources, including the Annales Cambriae, the Historia Brittonum, and the writings of Gildas. Arthur's name also occurs in early poetic sources such as Y Gododdin.
The legendary Arthur developed as a figure of international interest largely through the popularity of Geoffrey of Monmouth's fanciful and imaginative 12th-century Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain). Some Welsh and Breton tales and poems relating the story of Arthur date from earlier than this work; in these works, Arthur appears either as a great warrior defending Britain from human and supernatural enemies or as a magical figure of folklore, sometimes associated with the Welsh Otherworld, Annwn. How much of Geoffrey's Historia (completed in 1138) was adapted from such earlier sources, rather than invented by Geoffrey himself, is unknown.
(Gold/Lloyd/Echolette)
In the beginning
There was no light
No teenage heaven or hell
No songs or voices came from across the outlands
Where oceans are meant to be -- where oceans are meant to be
Oh my God, I feel so alone -- some million lightyears far from home
HOW ABOUT YOU LIVING IN THE 20TH CENTURY
You can halt your car to get your tickets to the starlite skies, you know...
Ev'rybody wants to come home (what a dream)
So, if you don't mind,
Will you join me?
On my way through the eye
up to the light