From The Bookbanter Blog a 2008 reviewof the Rosemary Sutcliff book, a best-selling historical novel for adults, Sword at Sunset which is about King Arthur. It is one of several books by Rosemary Sutcliff  about Arthur.

Sutcliff’s early medieval world is not as ‘dark age’ as normally depicted in fiction, but thriving with trade and societal infrastructure across Europe still seemingly intact.  Artos the Bear spends the beginning of the book traveling to southern France where he looks to purchase strong breeds of horses to bring back to Britain to create a strong cavalry force to fight against the invading Anglo Saxons and maintain the British control and rule.