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Arthur, High King of Britain

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This interest in the "Arthur of romance" and his associated stories continued through the 19th century and into the 20th, and influenced poets such as William Morris and Pre-Raphaelite artists including Edward Burne-Jones. [111] Even the humorous tale of Tom Thumb, which had been the primary manifestation of Arthur's legend in the 18th century, was rewritten after the publication of Idylls. While Tom maintained his small stature and remained a figure of comic relief, his story now included more elements from the medieval Arthurian romances and Arthur is treated more seriously and historically in these new versions. [112] The revived Arthurian romance also proved influential in the United States, with such books as Sidney Lanier's The Boy's King Arthur (1880) reaching wide audiences and providing inspiration for Mark Twain's satire A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889). [113] Although the 'Arthur of romance' was sometimes central to these new Arthurian works (as he was in Burne-Jones's "The Sleep of Arthur in Avalon", 1881–1898), on other occasions he reverted to his medieval status and is either marginalised or even missing entirely, with Wagner's Arthurian opera Parsifal providing a notable instance of the latter. [114] Furthermore, the revival of interest in Arthur and the Arthurian tales did not continue unabated. By the end of the 19th century, it was confined mainly to Pre-Raphaelite imitators, [115] and it could not avoid being affected by World War I, which damaged the reputation of chivalry and thus interest in its medieval manifestations and Arthur as chivalric role model. [116] The romance tradition did, however, remain sufficiently powerful to persuade Thomas Hardy, Laurence Binyon and John Masefield to compose Arthurian plays, [117] and T. S. Eliot alludes to the Arthur myth (but not Arthur) in his poem The Waste Land, which mentions the Fisher King. [118] Moll, Richard James (2003). Before Malory: Reading Arthur in Later Medieval England. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0802037224.

Vinaver, Sir Eugène, ed. (1990), The Works of Sir Thomas Malory, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-812346-0 . 3rded., revised. Lloyd, John Edward (1912). A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest. Longmans, Green, and Co . Retrieved 6 January 2010. Lloyd history of Wales. Koch, John T. (2006), Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, ISBN 1851094407 . An enchanting take on the legend of King Arthur from Britain’s best-loved children’s author, Michael Morpurgo. Audio version of this review to follow on Reading in Bed Book review Podcast from readinginbed.bandcamp.com from 01 August 2021 *Bromwich, pp. 318–319, discusses the confusion of some of these various Constantines. Notable in the context of "Saint" Constantine is Custennin Vendigeit (The Blessed), the name for the historical usurper Constantine III in the Welsh Triads. Bromwich, Rachel (1978), Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Welsh Triads, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, ISBN 978-0-7083-0690-1 . 2nded. O'Sullivan, Thomas D. (1978). The De Excidio of Gildas: Its Authenticity and Date. BRILL. ISBN 9004057935 . Retrieved 4 February 2014. Tapestry showing Arthur as one of the Nine Worthies, wearing a coat of arms often attributed to him, [1] c. 1385 The legendary Arthur developed as a figure of international interest largely through the popularity of Geoffrey of Monmouth's fanciful and imaginative 12th-century Historia Regum Britanniae ( History of the Kings of Britain). [6] Geoffrey depicted Arthur as a king of Britain who defeated the Saxons and established a vast empire. Many elements and incidents that are now an integral part of the Arthurian story appear in Geoffrey's Historia, including Arthur's father Uther Pendragon, the magician Merlin, Arthur's wife Guinevere, the sword Excalibur, Arthur's conception at Tintagel, his final battle against Mordred at Camlann, and final rest in Avalon. The 12th-century French writer Chrétien de Troyes, who added Lancelot and the Holy Grail to the story, began the genre of Arthurian romance that became a significant strand of medieval literature. In these French stories, the narrative focus often shifts from King Arthur himself to other characters, such as various Knights of the Round Table. The themes, events and characters of the Arthurian legend vary widely from text to text, and there is no one canonical version. Arthurian literature thrived during the Middle Ages but waned in the centuries that followed, until it experienced a major resurgence in the 19th century. In the 21st century, the legend continues to have prominence, not only in literature but also in adaptations for theatre, film, television, comics and other media.

Roberts, Brynley F. (1991a), "Culhwch ac Olwen, The Triads, Saints' Lives", in Bromwich, Rachel; Jarman, A. O. H.; Roberts, Brynley F. (eds.), The Arthur of the Welsh, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, pp.73–95, ISBN 978-0-7083-1107-3 .Higham 2002, pp.11–37, has a summary of the debate on this point.; Davies, John (1993). A history of Wales. Internet Archive. London: Allen Lane the Penguin Press. p.133. ISBN 978-0-7139-9098-0. Morris, Rosemary (1982). The Character of King Arthur in Medieval Literature. Boydell & Brewer. ISBN 0815328656 . Retrieved 26 February 2014. Carley, J. P. (1984), "Polydore Vergil and John Leland on King Arthur: The Battle of the Books", Arthurian Interpretations (15): 86–100 .

The popularity of Geoffrey's Historia and its other derivative works (such as Wace's Roman de Brut) gave rise to a significant numbers of new Arthurian works in continental Europe during the 12th and 13th centuries, particularly in France. [77] It was not, however, the only Arthurian influence on the developing " Matter of Britain". There is clear evidence that Arthur and Arthurian tales were familiar on the Continent before Geoffrey's work became widely known (see for example, the Modena Archivolt), [78] and "Celtic" names and stories not found in Geoffrey's Historia appear in the Arthurian romances. [79] From the perspective of Arthur, perhaps the most significant effect of this great outpouring of new Arthurian story was on the role of the king himself: much of this 12th-century and later Arthurian literature centres less on Arthur himself than on characters such as Lancelot and Guinevere, Percival, Galahad, Gawain, Ywain, and Tristan and Iseult. Whereas Arthur is very much at the centre of the pre-Galfridian material and Geoffrey's Historia itself, in the romances he is rapidly sidelined. [80] His character also alters significantly. In both the earliest materials and Geoffrey he is a great and ferocious warrior, who laughs as he personally slaughters witches and giants and takes a leading role in all military campaigns, [81] whereas in the continental romances he becomes the roi fainéant, the "do-nothing king", whose "inactivity and acquiescence constituted a central flaw in his otherwise ideal society". [82] Arthur's role in these works is frequently that of a wise, dignified, even-tempered, somewhat bland, and occasionally feeble monarch. So, he simply turns pale and silent when he learns of Lancelot's affair with Guinevere in the Mort Artu, whilst in Yvain, the Knight of the Lion, he is unable to stay awake after a feast and has to retire for a nap. [83] Nonetheless, as Norris J. Lacy has observed, whatever his faults and frailties may be in these Arthurian romances, "his prestige is never—or almost never—compromised by his personal weaknesses... his authority and glory remain intact." [84] The story of Arthur drawing the sword from a stone appeared in Robert de Boron's 13th-century Merlin. By Howard Pyle (1903) [85] Rahtz, Philip (1993), English Heritage Book of Glastonbury, London: Batsford, ISBN 978-0-7134-6865-6 . The Annales Cambriae ( Welsh Annals) and the Annals of Ulster record the conversion of a certain Constantine; these may be a reference to the Cornish saint and therefore to the historical figure. [9] Several subsequent religious texts refer to Constantine, generally associating him with Cornwall, often specifically as its king. The Life of Saint David says that Constantine, King of Cornwall, gave up his crown and joined Saint David's monastery at Menevia. The Vitae Petroci includes an episode in which Saint Petroc protects a stag being hunted by a wealthy man named Constantine, who eventually converts and becomes a monk. Here Constantine is not said to be king, but a 12th-century text referring to this story, the Miracula, specifically names him as such, further adding that upon his conversion he gave Petroc an ivory horn that became one of the saint's chief relics. [10] A number of other traditions attested across Britain describe saints or kings named Constantine, suggesting a confusion and conflation of various figures. [11]

Recent reviews

King Arthur 'was real, wasn't a king... and lived in Strathclyde' ". The Independent. 3 September 2015 . Retrieved 30 December 2015. ; Higham, Nicholas J. (2018). King Arthur: The Making of the Legend. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. pp.262–63. ISBN 978-0-300-21092-7. ; "537 and Camlann (Flint Johnson, University of Wisconsin - River Falls)". researchgate.net . Retrieved 19 April 2021. Blaess, Madeleine (1956). "Arthur's Sisters". Bulletin Bibliographique de la Société Internationale Arthurienne. 8: 69–77. It depicts people being so consumed by jealously that they kill people who previously were their friends. It also contains a level of warfare violence that is appropriate for the subject matter. Whatever his sources may have been, the immense popularity of Geoffrey's Historia Regum Britanniae cannot be denied. Well over 200 manuscript copies of Geoffrey's Latin work are known to have survived, as well as translations into other languages. [74] For example, 60 manuscripts are extant containing the Brut y Brenhinedd, Welsh-language versions of the Historia, the earliest of which were created in the 13th century. The old notion that some of these Welsh versions actually underlie Geoffrey's Historia, advanced by antiquarians such as the 18th-century Lewis Morris, has long since been discounted in academic circles. [75] As a result of this popularity, Geoffrey's Historia Regum Britanniae was enormously influential on the later medieval development of the Arthurian legend. While it was not the only creative force behind Arthurian romance, many of its elements were borrowed and developed (e.g., Merlin and the final fate of Arthur), and it provided the historical framework into which the romancers' tales of magical and wonderful adventures were inserted. [76] Romance traditions During the 12th century, Arthur's character began to be marginalised by the accretion of "Arthurian" side-stories such as that of Tristan and Iseult, here pictured in a painting by John William Waterhouse (1916) And I felt this was a tale about family, friendships, betrayal, lost love, revenge, forgiveness and faith. It had epic battles, magic, and loads of adventure!

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