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A bronze Arthur plate armour with visor raised and with jousting shield wearing Kastenbrust armour (early 15th century) by Peter Vischer, typical of later anachronistic depictions of Arthur

King Arthur was a fabled British leader and a prominent figure in Britain's legendary history. A real individual may have been the inspiration of the legend, but any core of history is deeply submerged in the later fictional narratives of Arthur. In these he appears as the ideal of kingship both in war and peace; even in modern times he has been ranked as one of the 100 Greatest Britons of all time. Over time, the stories of King Arthur have captured such widespread interest that he is no longer identified as the legendary hero of a single nation. Countless new legends, stories, revisions, books, and films have been produced in Europe and the United States that unabashedly enlarge on and expand the fictional accounts of King Arthur.

The scarce historical background to Arthur is found in the works of Nennius and Gildas and in the Annales Cambriae. The legendary Arthur developed initially through the pseudo-history of Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Welsh collection of anonymous tales known as the Mabinogion. Chrétien de Troyes began the literary tradition of Arthurian romance, which subsequently became one of the principal themes of medieval literature. Medieval Arthurian writing reached its conclusion in Thomas Mallory's comprehensive Morte D'Arthur, published in 1485. Modern interest in Arthur was revived by Alfred Tennyson in Idylls of the King, and in the paintings of the Pre-Raphaelites. Key modern reworkings of the Arthurian legends include Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, T.H. White's The Once and Future King and Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal.

The central themes of the Arthurian cycle vary depending on which texts are examined. However, they include the establishment of Arthur as king through the sword in the stone episode, the advice of the wizard Merlin, the establishment of the fellowship of knights known as the Round Table and the associated code of chivalry, the defence of Britain against the Saxons, numerous magical adventures associated with particular knights, notably Kay, Gawain, Lancelot, Percival and Galahad, the enmity of Arthur's half-sister Morgan le Fay, the quest for the Holy Grail, the adultery of Lancelot and Queen Guinevere, the final battle with Mordred, and the legend of Arthur's future return. The magical sword Excalibur, the castle Camelot and the Lady of the Lake also play pivotal roles.

Historicity

Main article: Historical basis for King Arthur

The historicity of the King Arthur legend has long been debated by scholars. One school of thought, based on references in the Historia Brittonum and Annales Cambriae, would see Arthur as a shadowy historical figure, a Romano-British leader fighting against the invading Anglo-Saxons sometime in the late 5th to early 6th century. The Historia Brittonum ("History of the Britons"), a 9th century Latin historical compilation attributed to the Welsh cleric Nennius, gives a list of twelve battles fought by Arthur, culminating in the Battle of Mons Badonicus, where he is said to have single-handedly killed 960 men. The 10th century Annales Cambriae ("Welsh Annals"), dates this battle to 516, and also mentions the Battle of Camlann, in which Arthur and Medraut were both killed, dated to 537. Only the B text of circa 1300 refers to Arthur as a king. The early A text only uses his name, although this may not be significant as they often name kings without mentioning their title. The latest translation of the Annales Cambriae shows that the annals might have been started in the late eighth century, over two hundred years after Arthur. Worse the earliest version of the Annales which carry the Arthurian references, although possibly compiled in the late tenth century, could have been written up in the their final form as late as 1200 CE. The Arthurian references in the Annales Cambriae therefore probably owe their provenance to Geoffrey of Monmouth after 1135 and not a lost original document. The Historia Brittonum calls him dux bellorum or "dux (commander) of battles".^[1] Historian John Morris went so far as to make the putative reign of Arthur at the turn of the 5th century the organising principle of his history of sub-Roman Britain and Ireland, The Age of Arthur. Even so, he found little to say of an historic Arthur, save as an example of the idea of kingship, one among such contemporaries as Vortigern, Cunedda, Hengest and Coel. Morris argues that Arthur's power base would have been in the Celtic areas of Wales, Cornwall and the West Country, or the Brythonic "Old North" which covered modern Northern England and southern Scotland.^[2]

Another school of thought argues that Arthur had no historical existence. Nowell Myres was prompted by the publication of Morris's Age of Arthur to write "no figure on the borderline of history and mythology has wasted more of the historian's time".^[3] Gildas' 6th century polemic De Excidio Britanniae ("On the Ruin of Britain"), written within living memory of the Battle of Mons Badonicus, mentions that battle but does not mention Arthur.^[4] Some argue that he was originally a half-forgotten Celtic deity that devolved into a personage, citing parallels with the supposed change of the sea-god Lir into King Lear, the Kentish totemic horse-gods Hengest and Horsa, who were historicised by the time of Bede's account and given an important role in the 5th century Anglo-Saxon conquest of eastern Britain, the founder-figure of Caer-fyrddin, Merlin (Welsh Myrddin), or the Norse demigod Sigurd or Siegfried, who was historicised in the Nibelungenlied by associating him with a famous historical 5th century battle between Huns and the Burgundians.^[5]

Historical documents for the period are scarce, so a definitive answer to this question is unlikely. Sites and places have been identified as "Arthurian" since the 12th century,^[6] but archaeology can reveal names only through inscriptions. The so-called "Arthur stone" discovered in 1998 in securely dated 6th century contexts among the ruins at Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, a secular, high status settlement of Sub-Roman Britain, created a brief stir.^[7] There is no other archaeological evidence for Arthur.

Several identifiable historical figures have been suggested as the historical basis for Arthur, ranging from Lucius Artorius Castus, a Roman officer who served in Britain in the 2nd century; Roman usurper emperors like Magnus Maximus; and sub-Roman British rulers like Riothamus, Ambrosius Aurelianus,^[5] Owain Ddantgwyn^[6] and Athrwys ap Meurig.^[6]

Arthur's name

The origin of the name Arthur is a matter of debate. Some suggest it is derived from the Latin family name Artorius, meaning "ploughman" (the variant "Arturius" is known from inscriptions).^{[citation needed]} Others propose a derivation from Welsh arth (earlier art), meaning "bear", suggesting art-ur, "bear-man", is the original form. Arthur's name appears as Arturus in early Latin Arthurian texts, never as Artorius, although it is possible that Vulgar Latin forms of Artorius, pronounced in Celtic languages, could have yielded both Arthur and Arturus.^{[citation needed]}

Toby D. Griffen of Southern Illinois University links the name Arthur to Arcturus, the brightest star in the constellation Boötes, near Ursa Major or the Great Bear. The Classical Latin Arcturus would have become Arturus in Vulgar Latin, and its brightness and position in the sky led people to regard it as the "guardian of the bear" and the "leader" of the other stars in Boötes. Griffin suggests that "Arthur" was not a personal name, but a nom de guerre or an epithet borne by the man who led the Britons against the Saxons, which both Latin and Brythonic-speakers would associate with leadership and bear-like ferocity.^[8] A variant of the nom de guerre theory has the name combining the Welsh and Latin words for "bear", art and ursus.^[9] The name Arthur and its variants were used as personal names by at least four leaders who lived after the traditional dates of Arthur’s battles, suggesting to Griffen and others that it only began to be used as a personal name after "the" Arthur made it famous.

Literary traditions

The creator of the familiar literary persona of Arthur was Geoffrey of Monmouth, with his pseudohistorical Historia Regum Britanniae ("History of the Kings of Britain"), written in the 1130s. All the textual sources for Arthur are divided into those that preceded Geoffrey and those that followed him, and could not avoid his influence.

Pre-Galfridian traditions

The earliest literary references to Arthur are found in Welsh poetry. He is mentioned briefly in the late 6th century Welsh poem cycle The Gododdin, attributed to the poet Aneirin. In one verse, the bravery of one of the warriors is described, "though he was not Arthur".^[10] The poems are known only from a manuscript of the 13th century, so it is impossible to determine whether this passage is original or a later interpolation. Several poems attributed to Taliesin, a poet said to have lived in the 6th century, refer to Arthur, including The Chair of the Sovereign, which refers to "Arthur the Blessed",^[11] The Treasures of Annwn, which recounts an expedition of Arthur to the Otherworld,^[12] and Journey to Deganwy, which contains the passage, "as at the battle of Badon, with Arthur, chief holder of feasts, his tall blades red from the battle all men remember".^{[citation needed]}

Arthur appears in a number of well known vitae ("Lives") of 6th century saints, most of them written at the monastery of Llancarfan in the 12th century. In the Life of Saint Illtud, apparently written around 1140,^{[citation needed]} Arthur is said to be a cousin of that churchman. According to the Life of Saint Gildas, written in the 11th century by Caradoc of Llancarfan, Arthur killed Gildas' brother Hueil, a pirate on the Isle of Man. In the Life of Saint Cadoc, written around 1100 by Lifris of Llancarfan, the saint gives protection to a man who killed three of Arthur's soldiers, and Arthur demands a herd of cattle as wergeld for his men. Cadoc delivers them as demanded, but when Arthur takes possession of the animals, they transform into bundles of ferns. A more historical account appears in the Legenda Sancti Goeznovii, which portrays the king with no obvious touches of legend or fantasy. Similar incidents are described in the late medieval biographies of Carannog, Padern, and Efflam.

An early Welsh poem found in the Black Book of Carmarthen, Pa gur yv y porthaur? ("What man is the gatekeeper?"), takes the form of a dialogue between Arthur and the gatekeeper of a castle he wishes to enter, in which Arthur recounts the deeds of his men, notably Cai and Bedwyr. The 10th century Welsh prose tale Culhwch and Olwen, included in the modern Mabinogion collection, includes a list of more than 200 of Arthur's men, Cai and Bedwyr included, and tells of Arthur helping his kinsman Culhwch win the hand of Olwen, daughter of Ysbaddaden the giant, by completing a series of apparently impossible tasks, including the hunt for the great boar Twrch Trwyth. The Historia Brittonum mentions Arthur hunting a boar named Troynt. This may be related to a post-Galfridian tradition of Arthur as leader of the Wild Hunt, first mentioned in the 13th century by Gervase of Tilbury.^[13]

The Welsh Triads contain traditions of Arthur. Many are derived from Geoffrey of Monmouth and later European traditions, but some are independent of these and may refer to pre-existing Welsh traditions. His court is placed at Celliwig in Cornwall, identified with Callington by the Cornish antiquarians, but Rachel Bromwich, latest editor and translator of the The Welsh Triads, identifies it with Kelly Rounds, a hill fort in the parish of Egloshayle.^[14]

Bewnans Ke, a play in Middle Cornish held by the National Library of Wales, is a recent Arthurian discovery.

Geoffrey of Monmouth

The first narrative account of Arthur's reign is found in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 12th century Latin work Historia Regum Britanniae ("History of the Kings of Britain"), an imaginative and fanciful account of British kings from the legendary Trojan exile Brutus to the 7th century Welsh prince Cadwallader. Geoffrey places Arthur in the same post-Roman period as the Historia Brittonum and Annales Cambriae. He introduces Arthur's father, Uther Pendragon, and his magician advisor Merlin, and the story of Arthur's conception, in which Uther, disguised as his enemy Gorlois by Merlin's magic, fathers Arthur on Gorlois' wife Igerna at Tintagel. On Uther's death, the fifteen-year-old Arthur succeeds him as king and fights a series of battles, similar to those in the Historia Brittonum, culminating in the Battle of Bath, and then defeats the Picts and Scots, conquers Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark and Gaul, and ushers in a period of peace and prosperity which lasts until the Roman emperor Lucius Tiberius demands tribute. Arthur refuses, and war follows. Arthur and his warriors, including Caius, Bedver and Walganus, defeat Lucius in Gaul, but as he prepares to march on Rome, Arthur hears news that his nephew Modredus, whom he had left in charge of Britain, has married his wife Guanhumara and seized the throne. Arthur returns to Britain and defeats and kills Modredus on the river Camblam in Cornwall, but he is mortally wounded. He hands the crown to his kinsman Constantine and is taken to the isle of Avalon to be healed of his wounds, never to be seen again.^[15]

Geoffrey's Historia became very popular and influential and was translated into Norman French verse by Wace, who introduced the Round Table, and Middle English verse by Layamon. It fed back into Welsh tradition, with three different Welsh prose translations appearing, and material in the Welsh triads deriving from it.

Arthurian romance

The popularity of Geoffrey's Historia and its derivative works led to new Arthurian works being written in continental Europe, particularly in France, in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. Arthur and his retinue appear in some of the Lais of Marie de France, but it was the work of another French poet, Chrétien de Troyes, that had the greatest influence. Chrétien wrote five Arthurian romances between 1170 and 1190. Erec and Enide and Cligès are tales of courtly love with Arthur's court as their backdop, and Yvain, the Knight of the Lion features Yvain and Gawain in a supernatural adventure, but the most significant for the development of the legend are Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart, which introduces Lancelot, one of the most familiar of Arthur's knights, and his adulterous relationship with Arthur's queen, Guinevere, and Perceval, the Story of the Grail, which introduces the Holy Grail and the Fisher King. Perceval, although unfinished, was particularly popular, and four separate continuations of the poem appeared over the next half century.

In Chrétien's Perceval it is not clear exactly what the Grail is. A few decades later Robert de Boron's poem Joseph d'Arimathe explains that the Grail is the cup used by Joseph of Arimathea to catch Christ's blood during the crucifixion, later brought to Britain by Joseph's family. Robert's work had lasting effect on subsequent stories of the Grail. By contrast, in Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, a Middle High German version of the story, the Grail is a magical stone.

A German poet, Ulrich von Zatzikhoven, further developed Lancelot's story in his Lanzelet, which introduces the Lady of the Lake. The Anglo-Norman poet Thomas of Britain and the Norman poet Béroul introduced the story of Tristan and Iseult in the late 12th century, later developed in Middle High German by Gottfried von Strassburg.

The Welsh Mabinogion collection contains three Arthurian romances, similar to those of Chrétien, but with some significant differences. Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain is related to Chrétien's Yvain, Geraint and Enid to Erec and Enide, and Peredur son of Efrawg to Perceval, although the place of the Holy Grail is taken by a severed head on a platter.

Vulgate Cycle

A series of five Middle French prose works, the Estoire del Saint Grail, the Estoire de Merlin, the Lancelot propre, the Queste del Saint Graal and the Mort Artu, written in the 13th century, combine to form the first coherent version of the entire Arthurian legend, known as the Lancelot-Grail cycle, also known as the Prose Lancelot or the Vulgate Cycle. These texts introduce the character of Galahad, expand the role of Merlin, and establish the role of Camelot, first mentioned in passing in Chrétien's Lancelot, as Arthur's primary court. The Suite du Merlin or Vulgate Merlin Continuation adds more material on Merlin and on Arthur's youth, and a later series of texts, known as the Post-Vulgate Cycle, reduces the importance of Lancelot's affair with Guinevere, which was prominent in the Vulgate.

Thomas Malory

The development of the Arthurian cycle culminated in Le Morte d'Arthur, Thomas Malory's retelling of the entire legend in a single work in English in the late 15th century. Malory based his book on the various previous versions, in particular the Vulgate Cycle, and introduced some material of his own. Le Morte D'Arthur was one of the earliest printed books in England, published by William Caxton in 1485.

Arthur's swords

Main article: Excalibur

In the early Welsh sources, Arthur's sword is called Caledfwlch (IPA: /kɑl.'ɛd.vuːlx/) and Kaledvoulc'h in Breton, and is likely related to the phonetically similar Caladbolg (IPA: /'kɑl.ɑd.vɒlɣ/), a sword borne by several figures from Irish mythology. The first two syllables of both derive from Celtic *kaleto-, "hard". Geoffrey of Monmouth calls Arthur's sword Caliburnus. In early French sources this becomes Escalibor, and finally the familiar Excalibur.^[16]

In Robert de Boron's Merlin, Arthur obtained the throne by pulling a sword from a stone. In this account, this act could not be performed except by "the true king," meaning the divinely appointed king or true heir of Uther Pendragon. This sword is thought by many to be the famous Excalibur and the identity is made explicit in the later so-called Vulgate Merlin Continuation, part of the Lancelot-Grail cycle. However, in what is sometimes called the Post-Vulgate Merlin, Excalibur was given to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake sometime after he began to reign. According to many sources, Arthur broke the sword pulled from the stone while fighting King Pellinore, and thus Merlin took him to retrieve Excalibur from the lake (as cited in many novels including Howard Pyle's King Arthur and His Knights, King Arthur and the Legend of Camelot, and indeed most modern Arthurian literature). In this Post-Vulgate version, the sword's blade could slice through anything, including steel, and its sheath made the wearer invincible in that the wearer could not die so long as they bore the scabbard.

Some stories say that Arthur did indeed pull the sword from the stone (Excalibur), giving him the right to be king, but accidentally killed a fellow knight with it and cast it away. Merlin told him to undertake a quest to find another blade, and it was then that Arthur received his sword from the hand in the water, and named it Excalibur, after his original sword.

The Alliterative Morte Arthure, a Middle English poem, gives mention of Clarent, a sword of peace meant for knighting and ceremonies as opposed to battle, which is stolen and then used to kill Arthur.

King Arthur today

Main article: King Arthur in various media

The legend of King Arthur has remained popular into the 21st century. Though the popularity of Arthurian literature waned somewhat after the end of the Middle Ages, it experienced a revival during the 19th century, especially after the publication of Alfred Lord Tennyson's Idylls of the King. Its popularity sparked a myriad of books, poems, and films about King Arthur, both new works of fiction and analyses of the relevant historical and archaeological data.

King Arthur's constant characteristics in various stories

Many authors throughout history have written stories and poems about the Arthurian legend. Each story builds on its predecessor, and the overall image and character of King Arthur remains consistent. The king of Camelot is the perfect example of a chivalrous king and knight. He is also often shown as an equal to his knights rather than a ruler. In Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, Arthur is depicted as the perfect king in his rule as well as his marriage.^[17] Even when his wife, Guinevere, commits adultery with Arthur’s best knight, Lancelot, and destroys his court, he is able to forgive her for the sins she committed. Even as a young king in the story “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” Arthur has the image of the perfect, selfless king. During the feast, he refuses to eat until all of his subjects have taken their fill. Also, when the Green Knight confronts him and his court, Arthur accepts the deadly challenge until Gawain insists he must bear it. At the end of Gawain’s quest, Arthur and his knights decide to wear the green girdle, which for Gawain represents his failure and weakness. Although he is their king, he still sees himself an equal to his knights and wears the girdle as a sign of their equality.

See also

• List of Arthurian characters
• List of books about King Arthur
• List of legendary kings of Britain
• Mythological king
• King in the Mountain
• Nine Worthies, of which Arthur was one
• Sites and places associated with Arthurian legend
• Asteroids 2597 Arthur and 2598 Merlin, named after the Arthurian figures

Notes

References

• Leslie Alcock. Arthur's Britain: History and Archaeology AD 367 – 634. Allen Lane, The Penguin Press. London. 1971. ISBN 0-7139-0245-0
• Mike Ashley, The Mammoth Book of King Arthur, Robinson Books, London, 2005.
• Chris Barber & David Pykitt. Journey to Avalon. 1993.
• Richard Barber, King Arthur in Legend and History, Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2004, ISBN 0-85115-254-6 [1]
• Rachel Bromwich, "Concepts of Arthur", Studia Celtica, 9/10 (1976), pp.163–81.
• Ronan Coghlan, Encyclopaedia of Arthurian Legends, Element, Shaftesbury, 1991.
• David N. Dumville, "Sub-Roman Britain: History and Legend", History 62 (1977), pp. 173–92.
• Adrian Gilbert, Baram Blackett & Alan Wilson. The Holy Kingdom. 1998.
• Norma Lorre Goodrich: "King Arthur", 1986 New York/London: Franklin Watts ISBN 0-531-09701-3
• Phyllis Ann Karr: "The Arthurian Companion", 2001 Oakland: Green Knight Publishing ISBN 1-928999-13-1
• Longford, Elizabeth (Editor) "Arthur" chapter in The Oxford Book of Royal Anecdotes. 1989. Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York
• Roger S. Loomis, "The Arthurian Legend before 1139", The Romanic Review, 32 (1941), 3–38.
• Daniel Mersey. Arthur King of the Britons: From Celtic Hero To Cinema Icon. Summersdale. Chichester. 2004. ISBN 1-84024-403-8
• John Morris. "The Age of Arthur." New York: Scribner, 1973. SBN 684 13313 X
• Thomas Jones, "The Early Evolution of the Legend of Arthur", Nottingham Medieval Studies, 8 (1964), pp. 3–21.
• Derek Pearsall, Arthurian Romance: a short introduction, Blackwell, Oxford 2005 ISBN 0-631-23319-9
• Graham Phillips & Martin Keatman. King Arthur: The True Story. 1992.
• Robert Rouse and Cory Rushton, The Medieval Quest for Arthur, Tempus, Stroud, 2005 ISBN 0-7524-3343-1
• Mancoff, Debra N. The Arthurian Revival - Essays on Form, Tradition and Transformation Garland Publishing, New York and London 1992. ISBN 0-8153-0060-3
• Reid, Margaret J.C. "The Arthurian Legend." New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 1938 p.49
• Remfry, P.M., Annales Cambriae. A Translation of Harleian 3859; PRO E.164/1; Cottonian Domitian, A 1; Exeter Cathedral Library MS. 3514 and MS Exchequer DB Neath, PRO E (ISBN 1-899376-81-X)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

King Arthur

• King Arthur and Dark Age Sites
• The Medieval Development of Arthurian Literature
• King Arthur, General of the Britons, Ford, David Nash. Britannia.com
• Information on the new translation of the Annales Cambriae