I am interested in the truth behind some of the gifts bestowed to other kingdoms and warriors, such as in ‘Enemy if God’, after Arthur orders the head of Cadwy to King Mark, he then sends a tribute of polished turtle shells ‘that had washed up on the shores of his wild country’. Were items like this truly viewed as prizes or of some significant value, possibly a gift of the ‘Gods’ or a treasure of the wilds? I wonder at the historical truth behind this.

Ross Brodt