| about
Arthur |
Conclusion |
Early_References |
Early_Literature |
modern_Literature |
Movies |
Web_Links |
||
Attention:
Please note that this is not a scientific work!
This overview is just what I
found out, based on a lot of sources in the net and historical
literature about Arthur, because I was interested to find out more
about the theme Arthur. Now I can say for me: What the really truth is,
nobody can say. We can think either Arthur really existed based on the
sources or he didn’t exist because there is no proof.
I just want to give a simple
overview about the origin and further stages of the Arthurian legend to
understand why Arthur today is what he is.
In fact King Arthur is only a
legend, made by literature. There is no
real proof for the existence of king Arthur, his knights, Camelot or
the round
table.
All
of these things are added by and by in historical stories about
Arthur.
The only things we real know is that after the pullback of the Romans
from Britannia, because they couldn’t hold Britannia against the
invasion of
the Saxons, the Saxons conquered big areas in the south and the east of
Britannia. So it could be expected that they would conquer the whole
isle,
because the British population was not able to defeat them without the
Roman
armed force, and there were coming more and more Saxons. But fact is
there was
a point about 500 AD, where the Saxons where stopped and boundaries
were made
so that the old Britons in the centre of Britannia and in the north
remain
alive.
At
this point the historian explorer expect that there had to be a great
leader who was able to join all the small kingdoms of Britain and
defeat the
Saxons so that the expansion of the Saxons could be prevented.
This
suggestion is reinforced through the tradition of old welsh poems
and songs. These tell from a great king who defeated the Saxons and
give the
Britons freedom and peace. But the name Arthur was not mentioned in the
first
told stories neither the names of his knights nor the round table.
These things
all were made by literature to give the hero a name and a story.
Early
references as can be seen below gave the authors the basis for
creating new characters and tales in many works counting on old
traditions and
stories.
In
the early Literature the authors produced the common characters
around arthur, like Gyniviere or the knights and added all the
wellknown arthur
belongings like the round table, the holy Grail or Excalibur.
Modern
Literature and movies on the
other side most uses the characters
and places from the early literature giving the characters new life and
making
up new adventures.
The first
assumption is given by a letter to Riothamus from Sidonius
Apollinaris, Bishop of Clermont-Ferrand, expecting by some Riothamus to
be the
original of King Arthur. In this letter
the bishop is speaking to Riothamus about the Britons,
and some accept Riothamus as the original Arthur.
Letter to
Riothamus, c.470
The first telling
about the dark times were Arthur has had to be lived
was from the monk Gildas in the “De Excidio Britanniae” circa 540. But
he was
not a historian, rather a praising the raoman way of life. He speaks
about a
great person as leader and
the Siege of Mount Badon, but
did not mention
the name Arthur at all. In assumption that the real King Arthur is
Rhiothamus,
this makes sense. But here at the first time there is a telling about a
great
leader.
De Excidio
Britanniae, c.540
Another reference
to Riothamus is given in an Excerpt from Jordanes'
sixth century "Gothic History". It is telling of a vain attempt on
the part of Riothamus, "king of the Brittones," and 12,000 men to
help the Roman Emperor, Anthemius, in his struggle with the Visigoths
The Battle of
Llongborth, c.480 is an English translation of a sixth century Welsh
poem, called
"Elegy
for Geraint," found in the book "Black Book of Carmarthen“, mentions
Arthur. But there is not a real mention, rather a mention, which
indicate the
appearance of him.
The real first
appearance of the great Arthur is in the in the “history
of the Britons” (Historia Brittonum), c.830 where ‘Nennius’, a
Welsh historian, gives
us a gather
of facts, myths and fables about the history of
Britain written in ninth century. But in fact this was written about
200
hundred years later than Arthur was alive. So the really existence of
Arthur
cannot be proofed.
The Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle, 9th C. mentions also Arthur relating facts,
but from the point of view of the Anglo-Saxons, and they were of course
interested to represent the Anglo-Saxons as successful emperors and so
it
should be read casting doubt on.
The” Battle of Badon“,
and "The Strife of Camlann“
are two references who mention King Arthur hiomself in the Annales
Cambriae, c. 970. But it is not really clear when they were
written, but for some it is the proof of his historicity.
In the Legend of
St. Goeznovius, c. 1019, Arthur is called "King of
the Britons." But it cannot be proofed that this was written really at
this time.
In 1193 The
Exhumation of Arthur's Body,
Also a notice for
the opening of Arthur's grave in 1191 is an entry in
the "Chronicon Anglicanum" (English Chronicle) by Ralph of
Coggeshall, c.1220
A notice of the
discovery of Arthur's body can be found in the Margam
Abbey Chronicle, c.1300, n excerpt from the chronicle of a Welsh
monastery
The Dream of
Rhonabwy, c.1200, an excerpt from a tale of the Welsh
Mabinogion, mentions Arthur as "Emperor," in the Battle of Camlann.
Also Arthur is
mentioned in a lot of Welsh poems and verses. His
appearance is manifoldly, he comes as a warrior, a leader or a ruffian,
but he
is almost never a king. Most of these verses are twelfth to fourteenth
century
copies, but are believed to have been originally composed much earlier.
Through the Ages
In my opinion Geoffrey of Monmouth
made King Arthur fit for literature, because after his "History of the
Kings of Britain", ca. 1136, different authors started up to invent
stories and tales regarding king Arthur. But this was written about 600
years later than Arthur has lived and how can he know without any notes
about this time, because at this time it was not common, to notate
historical events. Only the Romans were made notes, but they were
already disappeared. If there would be existing notes form this time,
then we wouldn’t today guess about the existence of king Arthur.
Of course a French poet, in fact
Chrétien de Troyes, presented for the first time king Arthur in
a romantically manner, with introducing Lancelot, Yvain, Percevale and
step by step a lot of the other characters known today. Also he made up
the Holy Grail in “Count of the Grail”. Also he transformed the names
of Geoffrey's characters from Welsh to the medieval French used today.
From this point the originally Celtic myth were lost and the Arthurian
legend became more and more literary fantasy, due to fact as that
neither Lancelot nor the Holy Grail were part of the Arthurian legend
before Chrétien
Robert de Boron extended the work
Chrétien's, adding new character by writing Le Roman de
I'Estoire dou Graal (or Joseph d'Arimathie), the Merlin and Pereceval
and brought up the connection beetween the holy grail and St. Joseph of
Arimathea.
The well-known Sir Thomas Malory's 15th century work, "Le Morte
d'Arthur" establishes the Romantic Age of Chivalry, taking the old
stories from Boron and Geoffrey and telling them in a new way. As a
result Arthur's Court was not more in the Dark Age, yet it is set to be
in the medieval times. That’s what we often forget that the time of
Arthur is originally in the Dark Age, and all what written in
literature about the knights, the chivalry and the knights code, as
soon as braveness, nobility and romance is rather improbable happened
at Arthur’s time. Nevertheless it was very popular and even today as a
classic work of literature.
Here I want to
give just an overview of fiction telling adventures and
stories around the arthurian legend.
I don’t want to give a complete list, because
this is not the matter
of this page and you can a big
index on
http://www.io.com/~tittle/books/arthurian.html#fic
Ashley, Mike, The
Pendragon Chronicles
Ashley, Mike. The
Camelot Chronicles.
Van Asten,
Gail. The
Blind Knight.
Bradley,
Marion Zimmer, The
Mists of Avalon A female oriented and
positive
rendition of the Arthurian legend. Considerably more sympathetic to
pagan
religions (although depicted as modern neopaganism) than to
Christianity.
Bradley,
Marion Zimmer, The
Forest House. Prequel to the Mists of Avalon.
Bradley,
Marion Zimmer, The
Lady of Avalon. Prequel to the Mists of Avalon.
Bradshaw,
Gillian, Hawk
of May, Kingdom of Summer, In Winter's Shadow
Burnham,
Jeremy, and Trevor
Ray. Raven.
Edwards, Rex. Arthur
of
the Britons.
Griffiths,
Paul. The
Lay of Sir Tristam.
Hawke, Simon
[Nicholas
Yermakov], The Wizard of 4th Street (1987), The Wizard
of
Whitechapel (1988), The Wizard of Sunset Strip (1989), The
Wizard of Rue Morge (1990), The Samurai Wizard (1991), The
Wizard of Santa Fe (1991), The Wizard of Camelot (1993).
Hollick,
Helen. Kingmaking,
Pendragon's Banner, a third book due in June 1997 to complete
the
trilogy.
Humble,
William F. A
Tale of Arthur
Johnson,
Barbara Ferry. Lionors.
Jones, Mary
J., Avalon
Lawhead,
Stephen, Taliesin,
Merlin, Arthur
Lerner, Alan
J. and
Frederick Lowe. Camelot. 1961.
McKenzie,
Nancy. The
Child Queen.
Meany, Dee
Morrison. Iseult. Lionors, King Arthur's Uncrowned
Queen.
Monaco,
Richard, Parsival
or a Knight's Tale, The Grail War, The Final Quest
(1983), Blood and Dreams (1985)
Percy, Walker.
Lancelot.
Powers, Tim, The
Drawing of the Dark. Ambrosius and the Fisher-King.
Powers, Tim. Last
Call.
Powys, John
Cowper. A
Glastonbury Romance.
Price, Robert,
The Last
Pendragon Telling of Bedwyr, last of the
Knights
after the Fall, and Irion, son of Mordred, and the Saxon threat to
what's left
of old Britain. Arthur himself appears only in the prolog. "Tactics"
oriented.
Sampson, Fay, Daughter
of Tintagel.
This is a omnibus volume of 5 separate volumes: Wise Woman's
Telling, White
Nun's Telling, Black Smith's Telling, Taliesin's
Telling,
Herself. Here's what the book jacket reads: The bards have
sung this
tale the length and breadth of Britain. The story of the momentous
birth of the
legendary Arthur - the story of the fear, hate and love between him and
his
half-sister Morgan the Fay. But never before have there been five
tellings,
each by a witness to the mythical events: Gwennol Far-Sight, Morgan's
childhood
nurse and a wise woman in the ways of sacred pagan magic. Luned, the
young
white nun, who fears her own soul has been contamined by Morgan's
passions.
Teilo, who was once a proud and powerful Smith of the Old Religion,
condemned
to live as a woman amongst Morgan's maids, because of his unwise
ambition. The
bard Taliesin, bred to sing of war and red slaughter and glorious
death. And
finally Morgan the Fay herself speaks, the Goddess, the witch, whose
story has
shape-shifted down the centuries, a force for destruction or a force
for
healing...?
Stafford,
Greg, and others.
King Arthur Pendragon. Other books in the same series: The
Boy King,
by Greg Stafford, The King Arthur Companion,
by
Phyllis Ann Karr, Knights Adventurous, by
Greg
Stafford, This is part of an excellent role playing
game,
but the books are worth reading by themselves as well. There are
several books
the game is made of, purchaseable separately. Most of it is a very
detailed
glossary of people in the various versions of the saga (with primacy to
Mallory's), but almost half of it is spent on similar glossaries of
notable
places, of special "things", and many other fascinating tidbits, such
as an attempt at a self-consistent chronology of Arthur's reign, and so
on.
Stewart, Mary,
The
Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment,
and The Wicked Day (Fawcett Crest.) A modern retelling of the
legend,
almost classic in their own right. The first three are narrated by
Merlin, and
the last in third person.
Stone, Brian,
translater. Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight.
Sutcliff,
Rosemary. Tristan
and Iseult.
Twain, Mark, A
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (many editions).
White, Terence Hanbury, The Once and Future King
and The Book of Merlin A
retelling
of the legend from the earliest stories. More comedic than some of the
other
versions. Be warned, The Book of Merlin was published in
1977, 13
years after T.H. White's death and it contradicts and rehashes many
themes and
stories from TOFK.
White, T.H. The
Sword
in the Stone (orig. published in 1938). The first book in TOFK.
This is
followed by The Witch in the Wood, The Ill-Made Knight,
and
last The Candle in the Wind. All these together comprise
TOFK; the
last was never published separately.
Wolf, Joan, The
Road to
Avalon A romantic
retelling, casting familiar characters into startlingly different
relationships.
Kid in King
Arthur's Court, A (1995)
King
Arthur Was a Gentleman (1942)
Connecticut
Rabbit in King Arthur's Court, A
(1978) (TV)
Looney,
Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie, The
(1981)
Connecticut
Yankee in King Arthur's Court, A
(1921)
First
Knight (1995)
Jake's Journey (1988) (TV)
Johnny
Mysto: Boy Wizard (1996)
Knights
of the Round Table (1953)
Novye priklyucheniya yanki pri dvore korolya Artura (1988)
Connecticut
Yankee in King Arthur's Court, A
(1989) (TV)
Kings
and Queens of England Volume I (1993) (V)
Connecticut
Yankee in King Arthur's Court, A
(1949)
"Guinevere
Jones" (2002)
TV Series
Sword
of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight (1982)
Waxwork
II: Lost in Time (1992)
Connecticut
Yankee, A (1955) (TV)
"King
Arthur and the Knights of
Justice" (1992) TV Series
Adventures
of Sir Galahad, The (1949)
"Adventures
of Sir Lancelot, The"
(1956) TV Series
Young
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's
Court, A (1995)
Spaceman
and King Arthur, The (1979)
Knights
of the Square Table (1917)
"Adventures
of Sir Lancelot, The"
(1956) TV Series
"Sir
Gadabout" (2002) TV Series
Gawain
and the Green Knight (1991) (TV)
"Prince
Valiant" (1991)
TV Series
| http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jjd23/arthur/ |
Arthurian
Resources on the Internet - a good guide by John J. Doherty |
|||
| http://www.arthuriana.co.uk/ |
very
good site by Thomas Green |
|||
| http://www.legends.dm.net/ | Legends
an overview how the Arthurian stories have been developed over the centuries, contains also other legends like Beowulf or Robin Hood |
|||
| |
http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/mainmenu.htm | Camelot
Project Main Menu THE CAMELOT PROJECT at the University of Rochester, contains sources and bibliographies and a lot of information about Arthurian related characters and stories |
|
|
| http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/acpbibs/bibhome.stm | The
Camelot Project Bibliographies ARTHURIANA / CAMELOT PROJECT BIBLIOGRAPHIES |
|||
| http://labyrinth.georgetown.edu/ | the labyrinth: Arthurian Studies a link collection for Arthur related information, like locations, authors or collection of historical materials | |||
| http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jjd23/arthurian.htm | Arthurian stuff a personal website with articles about Arthur and Arthurian Links | |||
| http://www.britannia.com/history/artbios.html | Britannia British history includes a lot of Arthur related information and guided overview of sources | |||
http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/index.htm |
King
Arthur on Earlybritishkingdoms contains a lot information about the
basics, aspects, people and sources of the Arthurian legend |
|||
| http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/avalon.htm | the
Avalon Project provides an overview and links of historical documents
sorted by time |
|||
| http://www.kingarthursknights.com/default.asp | King
Arthur’s knights History, Legend and Everything in between, a big
exploration from the historical Arthur to the fictional Arthur |
|||
| http://camelot.celtic-twilight.com/oas.htm | Legends
of Camelot tries to find out who is the real Arthur and who is the
fictional Arthur by means of different sources |
|||
| http://www.xs4all.nl/~cepweb/early_middle_ages/links.html | link
collection of sources, books and articles relating the early middle
ages, includes King Arthur related links |
|||
| http://history.hanover.edu/etexts.html | Electronic
Text Collections, sorted by location, includes Europe: The Middle Ages |
|||
| http://www.io.com/~tittle/books/arthurian.html#fic | Book
Index differenced by Fiction, Poetry, Medieval and Early Texts,
Arthurian references, Celtic Fiction and Organizations |
|||
| http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/acpbibs/doherty.htm |
A
Handlist of Arthurian Science Fiction and Fantasy, 1980-1989 by John J.
Doherty, now at the Camelot Project. New URL. |