Arthurian stories

Arthur is a very popular mythological figure in the “Matter of Britain”, the legends which tell of the origins of Britain as a nation. However there is no historical evidence that he existed. The legends became very popular with the publication of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s’ “History of the Kings of Britain”.   This was published in the 12th Century, around 1138. We don’t know how much of the “facts” in this work are from Geoffrey’s imagination, or from earlier sources.
 Arthur is depicted as a King who fought the Saxons and then established an empire over Britain, Ireland, Gaul and other countries. Other characters who appear in Geoffrey’s version are Arthur’s wife Guenevere, his wizard Merlin and his father Uther Pendragon. He was associated with Cornwall, being conceived at Tintagel. Chretien de Troyes added Lancelot to the story, there was a French cycle of stories which covered the adventures of Arthur’s knights and Guinevere’s love affair with Lancelot. In earlier texts, poems and “histories”, Arthur was not always depicted as a King, but as a warrior. He is referred to as Dux Bellorum, (Leader of Battles), which has led some writers to speculate that there was a historical figure called Arthur, but that he was not a King. He might have been a soldier who fought the Saxons, or other British kings, and might have been raised to the rank of Emperor, by his soldiers and accepted as such, as long as he defended the country…

 In the 15th Century, Thomas Malory wrote a version of the story, combining all the legends, in “Morte D’Arthur”, which has fixed the story for many generations. It as an immensely popular work, depicting the characters as 15th century knights rather than the Dark Ages warriors they might have been. Castles, beautiful ladies being rescued etc.….are part of his version of the story, but they are of course historically inaccurate. Over time, the “Arthur story” became less popular and by the more "rational" 18th century, there were few works on him.
 But in the 19th century, with the revival of interest in medieval history and culture, there was a resurgence of “Arthurian interest”. Tennyson’s cycle of poems revitalized the story, though it’s been said that he depicted the king as a 19th Century gentleman. Tennyson re tells the Lancelot story, of Guinevere’s falling in love with her husband’s Knight, and having an affair with him, which led to the breakup of the Kingdom. There were other 19th century writers, such as William Morris, who wrote Arthurian poems, and the Pre Raphaelites drew on the legends for many of their paintings. However in the 20th Century, the legends have become even more popular and there are literally hundreds of new works about Arthur, some of them “fantasy” novels which emphasize the supernatural aspects of the story. Many others are “historical” ones, which attempt to give a realistic picture of medieval life, with Arthur as a Roman or Romano- British warrior…. More to follow!