Arthurian Legends

Once again, we're interested in how these stories represent a mix of different sources and influences rubbing up against each other to create an entirely new, fictitious, utopian vision of a fantastic, ancient past.

Epic Legends
The Arthurian legends share the same qualities we've seen in other epics, and like the others they:
a) Were written by many authors over a period of hundreds of years.  Arthurian legends date back to the 600s in Britain, and Arthurian legends were popular and written in Britain, France and Germany.  The first complete compilation of the legends was written by Mallory in 1485. 

In the intervening 800 years, the legends vary widely: in some, for example, Gawain is the most noble of all knights and in others he's become a hyper-violent womanizer.

b) Perhaps have some shred of historical fact buried beneath many layers of ancient oral myths. Likely, there was an important King named Arthur (see below) whose life has absolutely nothing to do with the Arthurian legends.

c) Refer to beliefs and symbols so ancient that time has utterly obscured their significance.  While we still find these tales entertaining, it's worth pondering that the authors might not have even known the once historical or deeply religious significance of the described events and symbols -- for 1400 years new cultures have retold these stories to suit their own beliefs. 

d) Indiscriminately blend the myths of otherwise competing cultures (i.e. mixing Pagan/Druidic and Greek and Christian myths).  See the Holy Grail notes for an example.

Ancient Native Briton/Welsh Setting
The legends take place in Wales and the far Western (or Northern, up near Scottland) reaches of “England”, where Roman-Briton culture was not over-run by Anglo Saxons.  The main characters are largely Welsh, and the actual stories are Welsh and Celtic in pre-historic origin, which explains the emphasis on pagan-druidic lore, monsters, dragons, magic etc – esp. in the Green Knight, Merlin, Morgan le Faye (“Fairy”).   
                     

Roman Influence
Recall that the Romans occupied Britain for roughly 350 years, from 43-410 AD.  They “civilized” the British Celts and Picts, and, as they’d done throughout SW Europe and the Middle East, brought the rule of law, built great theaters, roads, castles, walls and baths, and literature, and generally built an empire that lingered in the Medieval mind as some sort of fantasty-ideal.  They also first brought Christianity (but only late in the occupation and with little immediate, effect; the serious Christianizing of Britain happens a bit later), literacy, and Homer, Virgil and Ovid: the epic Greek and Roman tales of heroism.

Arab and Persian Influence
Americans usually forget that while Europe languished through the illiterate Dark Ages, Arabic and Persian culture kept the Helenic/Greek culture of literature and philosophy burning bright, and modeled after Ovid, Greco-Roman style "romances" were and still are popular in the Islamic era.  These spread into Europe during the 700 year long Moorish "occupation" of Iberia (Spain and Portugal).  You can read some of these in our anthology: look up The Thousand And One Nights. We'll discuss this more as Courtly Love.

King Arthur
The earliest references to “Arthur” – or the king the monk Gildas calls “Ambrosius Aurelianus” – is written around 547 and describes a “a most temperate man, who by chance was the only person of Roman parentage to have come through the catastrophe in which his parents, who had worn the royal purple toga, had been killed. … His men challenged their previous conquerors [Anglo Saxon “Germans”] to battle, and by the grace of God, victory was theirs” (The Romance of Arthur 4). See Anglo Saxon Occupation Map

C. 800, the Welsh Nennius writes in his The History of the Britons that “Then Arthur fought against these peoples (Anglo Saxon invaders) along with the kings of the Britons, and he was the leader in their battles” (TRA 5).

To get a good sense of how these legends took shape, consider that these first references were written in Latin, probably written by monks, but that the source of the legends is probably ancient Welsh myth.

Good overview of the oldest origins of the myths: http://www.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/medieval/arthurian.html

Medieval European Written Origin
 The legends are set down in writing originally by 12^th Century Medieval Briton, Norman, "French" (Chretien de Troyes c. 1150 Champagne France) and "German" authors.  Recall that the Norman’s (N. France) invaded and occupied Britain in 1066.  The chivalric ethical code, Christianity, feudal social/political order, technology (warfare, castles) described by these (originally “French” Norman/Brittany and German) authors represents their own time and place as much as the mythologized utopian past.