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Never before have the rulers of the Five Kingdoms come together in this way. Never before have we all worked towards the same aim, towards peace.
Uther to Arthur[src]

The Five Kingdoms is the group of kingdoms created centuries ago by Bruta. The Five Kingdoms have been united in an official alliance since the reign of Uther Pendragon.

History

Hundreds of years ago, before the birth of the Five Kingdoms, the land was in an endless cycle of bloodshed and war, but one man was determined to end all that. Bruta. He gathered together the elders of each tribe and drew up plans for the lands to be divided. Each would respect the others’ boundaries, and drew it over the land as they saw fit. Bruta later became Camelot’s first king. (The Sword in the Stone).

Peace in the five kingdoms did not last. Over the centuries, new Kingdoms emerged, presumably taking territories from original five.

During the reign of Uther Pendragon, the rulers of the Five Kingdoms gathered in Camelot to draft an official alliance. Never before had the rulers come together in this way. Never before had they all worked towards the same aim of peace. The peace talks were secretly opposed by King Alined, who tried to sabotage them by starting a war between Camelot and Olaf's Kingdom. His plot failed, however, and the kingdoms parted ways as allies (Sweet Dreams).

Despite peace between the Five Kingdoms, conflict still occurred in the land. Arthur attempted to maintain peace in the Five Kingdoms by pursuing an alliance with Sarrum of Amata. The alliance ultimately failed when Sarrum was assassinated during the treaty signing (The Hollow Queen).

The Five Kingdoms

For other notable kingdoms and domains see kingdoms

Kingdom Ruler Crest
Deorham King Alined
Camelot Queen Guinevere Pendragon; previously Arthur Pendragon and Uther Pendragon
Olaf's Kingdom King Olaf
Unnamed Kingdom Unnamed King
Unnamed Kingdom Unnamed King

Trivia

Appearances

Series 2
Sweet Dreams (Mentioned only)
Series 4
The Darkest Hour: Part One (Deleted scene only)
His Father's Son (Mentioned only)
The Secret Sharer (Mentioned only)
The Sword in the Stone: Part One (Mentioned only)
Series 5
The Hollow Queen (Mentioned only)

Gallery

See Also

In the Legends

According to the 12th-century Historia Regum Britanniae ("The History of The Kings of Britain") by Geoffrey of Monmouth, the exiled Brutus of Troy came to an island inhabited by giants and named it Britain after himself. On his death, he split the land between his three sons, Locrinus (Loegria/ Southern Britain), Kamber (Kambria / North and West Britain and Wales, from the Severn to the Humber) and Albanactus (Albany / Scotland).

Historicity

Five Kings are condemned by the monk Gildas in his sermon "De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae" (On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain) which may have been an inspiration for the Five Kingdoms. These Kings are:

  • Vortiporius, king of Dyfed - Gildas described him as "like... the spotted leopard...whose head now is growing grey". Unidentified King 2 has a spotted crest and it is green, a possible reference the Irish origin of Dyfed's Royal Family.
  • Aurelius Conanus - Gildas accuses Aurelius of "horrible murders, fornications, and adulteries". This seems to fit Alined pretty well and the two have similar names. Aurelius was also described as the "lion's whelp", and Alined's crest kind of looks like a lion if you squint, but a goat seems closer.
  • Cuneglassus - Gildas calls him "thou bear" an animal which appears on Olaf's crest. As for the name, "Olaf" might be a corruption of "Cynlas", the Welsh descendant of Cuneglassus.
  • Maglocunus - Gildas describes him as "Dragon of the Isle" and as the foremost of the Five Kings, which could be Uther Pendragon. Gildas claims Maglocunus arose to the throne by murdering his uncle, which would explain why Uther says he conquered Camelot rather than inheriting it. As for the difference in names, it's possible that Maglocunus is Uther's birth name, and "Uther Pendragon" (which roughly translates to "The Most Terrifying* Great Dragon") was an epithet he adopted later in life. (*Or 'Wonderful' depending on translation).
  • Constantine, king of Damnonia (Either Strathclyde or Cornwall) - By process of elimination, this could be Unidentified King 1.