Battle of Camlann Battle of Camlann The Battle of Camlann ( or "Brwydr Camlan") is reputed to have been the final battle of King Arthur, in which he either died or was fatally wounded, fighting either with or against Mordred, who is also said to have died. The name may derive from a Brittonic "*Cambo-landa" ("crooked/twisting-enclosure" or "crooked/twisting open land"), or (less likely) "*Cambo-glanna" ("crooked/twisting bank (of a river)"), as found in the name of the Roman fort of Camboglanna in Cumbria. The earliest known reference to the battle of Camlann is an entry in the 10th-century "Annales Cambriae", recording the battle in
Battle of Camlann negotiations between Arthur and Mordred. Many die and Arthur kills Mordred in a final duel, but is himself mortally wounded. Arthur tasks his knight Griflet (or Bedivere) with returning his sword Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake, and the king is taken to Avalon. The "Mort Artu" account of Arthur's last battle was adapted into many subsequent works, including the Old French Post-Vulgate Cycle, the Middle English Stanzaic "Morte Arthur", and Thomas Malory's influential Middle English work "Le Mort d'Arthur". These works all locate the battle at Salisbury. In a popular motif, introduced by Geoffrey in "Historia" and elaborated