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By the ninth century people all over were telling the fabulous tales and romances about Arthur and his kingdom. The common people heard them sung by bards, while in the court poets wrote different versions. In each retelling the speaker would select certain details for emphasis and introduce new elements, so that the story could be adapted to the particular time and audience. Although most historians believe that there actually did exist an Arthur, they …

…Welsh bards who embellished and added to his legend in their own creative way. From Wales these tales traveled to Britain and France, where they became popular during the twelfth century through being spread by jogleurs and minstrels who wondered from castle to castle reciting Arthur's stories at feasts. The French poets eagerly seized on to the new material, and developed it into the earliest versions of the Arthurian legends that we possess today (Barber 34).