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The Arthurian Legends are the legends that concern the legendary history of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table. A legend ( Latin, legenda, "things to be read" is a Narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to King Arthur is a legendary British leader who according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against the Saxon invaders Knight is the English term for a social position originating in the Middle Ages. Arthur is the chief subject of the Matter of Britain. The Matter of Britain is a name given collectively to the Legends that concern the Celtic and legendary History of Great Britain, especially those

Contents

History

Arthurian legend as a literary genre emerges in the 12th century as part of courtly medieval literature with authors such as Marie de France, Chrétien de Troyes and Geoffrey of Monmouth. Medieval literature is a broad subject encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe beyond and during the Middle Ages (encompassing the one thousand Marie de France ("Mary of France" was a Poet evidently born in France and living in England during the late 12th century Chrétien de Troyes was a French poet and Trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Geoffrey of Monmouth ( Gruffudd ap Arthur or Sieffre o Fynwy) (c

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. The Historia Regum Britanniae ( English: The History of the Kings of Britain) is a pseudohistorical account of British history The textual sources for Arthur are usually divided into those that were written before Geoffrey's Historia was published (known as 'pre-Galfridian' texts, from the Latin form of Geoffrey, Galfridus) and those that followed this, and could not avoid his influence (Galfridian, or post-Galfridian, texts).

The earliest literary references to Arthur come from Welsh and Breton sources. One of the most famous Welsh poetic references to Arthur comes in the Welsh collection of heroic death-songs known as Y Gododdin ("The Gododdin"), attributed to the 6th-century poet Aneirin. Y Gododdin (pronounced /ə gɔ'dɔðɪn/ is a medieval Welsh poem consisting of a series of elegies to the men of the Brythonic kingdom of Aneirin or Neirin was a late 6th century Brythonic Poet. He is believed to have been a Bard or 'court poet' in one of the Cumbric kingdoms Y Gododdin is known only from a manuscript of the 13th century, so it is impossible to determine whether this passage is original or a later interpolation; it is often argued to go back to the 9th or 10th century.

The Arthurian cycle

The Arthurian literary cycle is the best known part of the Matter of Britain. Literary cycles are groups of stories grouped around common figures often (though not necessarily based on mythical figures or loosely on historic ones It has succeeded largely because it tells two interlocking stories that many later authors have been intrigued by. One concerns Camelot, usually envisioned as a doomed utopia of chivalric virtue, undone by the fatal flaws of Arthur and Sir Lancelot. Camelot is the most famous Castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Utopia is a name for an ideal community taken from the title of a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional Island in the The other concerns the quests of the various knights to achieve the Holy Grail; some succeed (Galahad, Percival), and others fail (Lancelot). According to Christian mythology, the Holy Grail was the dish plate or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, said to possess miraculous powers Sir Galahad is a knight of King Arthur 's Round Table and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend. Percival or Perceval is one of King Arthur 's legendary Knights of the Round Table. In the Arthurian legend, Sir Lancelot ( Lancelot du Lac, also Launcelot) is one of the Knights of the Round Table.

The medieval tale of Arthur and his knights is full of Christian themes; those themes involve the destruction of human plans for virtue by the moral failures of their characters, and the quest for an important Christian relic. A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth A relic is an object or a personal item of religious significance carefully preserved with an air of Veneration as a tangible memorial Finally, the relationships between the characters invited treatment in the tradition of courtly love, such as Lancelot and Guinevere, or Tristan and Iseult. Courtly love was a Medieval European conception of ennobling love which found its genesis in the ducal and princely courts of Aquitaine, Provence Guinevere was the legendary Queen consort of King Arthur. She was most famous for her love affair with Arthur's chief knight Sir Lancelot, which first The legend of Tristan and Iseult is an influential romance and tragedy retold in numerous sources with as many variations In more recent years, the trend has been to attempt to link the tales of King Arthur and his knights with Celtic mythology, usually in highly romanticized, early twentieth century reconstructed versions.

Additionally, it is possible to read the Arthurian literature in general, and that concerned with the Grail tradition in particular, as an allegory of human development and spiritual growth (a theme explored by Joseph Campbell amongst others).

Characters and subjects

Arthur and his entourage

Knights of the Round Table

Other important figures

See also

References

External links

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