Arthurian legend

Symbol: Excalibur—the Sword in the Stone

Culture: English/Welsh

Mother: Igraine

Father: Uther Pendragon

Siblings: Varies by author—half-sisters Anna, Morgawse or Morgause, Brimisent, Elaine or Blasine, Morgan le Fay

Children: Varies by author—sons: Amr or Amhar; Llacheu; Gwydre; Duran; Loholt; Boore; Mordred or Medraut

The Arthurian legend is one of the foundation myths of British literature. These myths constitute a cycle of stories and medieval romances in both prose and poetry. All these tales center on the legendary King Arthur; his fortress city, Camelot; his Knights of the Round Table; his magician/teacher Merlin; his wife Guinevere; and her adulterous affair with one of Arthur’s knights, Sir Lancelot. The stories fit into most definitions of myth or legend, but there is evidence that Arthur, at least, is based on a real historical figure.

The legend of King Arthur begins with his birth. But the tales extend through the quest for the Holy Grail—the cup used by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper—and on to the end of the fellowship at the Round Table, the king’s own death, and the destruction of his kingdom. The Arthurian legend is the central element of the so-called Matter of Britain, which is an all-encompassing title given to the medieval literature that is associated with Britain. The stories are among the most durable and most popular of all time. In television series and movies alone, around 125 productions have been based on the legends in one way or another. The books, comics, plays, poems, and other renditions of the Arthurian tales that have been produced over the centuries are numberless.

In Mythology

The best-known version of King Arthur’s story is Le Morte d’Arthur by Thomas Malory, which was written in 1470 CE. The manuscript opens with the words, "It befel in the dayes of Vther pendragon when he was kynge of all Englond" (Malory, Sir Thomas; n. pag.), and then it continues to tell the story of Uther Pendragon, the high king of England, and his love for Igraine, the wife of Gorlois, the Duke of Cornwall. Uther Pendragon turned to the magician Merlin for help in fulfilling his desire.

The result was Arthur, who was born of Igraine before she and Uther Pendragon eventually married. The technically illegitimate child was given to Merlin for protection. Merlin’s fears were realized when Uther Pendragon died without a known heir. To prevent civil war, Merlin announced that a divine test had been established to determine the rightful king. In front of the cathedral would be a great stone topped with an anvil, and set in the anvil was a great sword. No one other than the true king would be able to remove the sword.

Many men, both great and small, attempted to remove the sword, but none succeeded until Arthur easily drew it from the stone. He became king and reigned with Merlin’s help.

Arthur became a fearsome war leader, defeating Britain’s enemies with his great sword, Excalibur, which was given to him by the Lady of the Lake. Yet like the other great knights who gathered around him, he was also a model of chivalry. Arthur established his headquarters at Camelot, a castle in Wales, and married a beautiful woman named Guinevere. He also created a fellowship of honorable knights, calling his council the Round Table and emphasizing his egalitarian goals by having no head of the table. However, Arthur was the undisputed king.

His finest knight was Sir Lancelot, who was Arthur’s favorite. But Lancelot and Guinevere fell in love, and their affair was one of the factors that eventually destroyed Arthur’s kingdom. Another was Arthur’s illegitimate son, Mordred. Under a spell woven by his half-sister Morgause (in some versions of the story, this was Morgan le Fay). Arthur conceived Mordred without knowledge of his incest, but the sin still led to his downfall.

The nation would not enjoy peace for long. When Arthur discovered Lancelot’s adulterous affair with Guinevere, her lover fled, and she was sentenced to death, as the law required. Lancelot returned to rescue her. Arthur’s absence during this conflict enabled Mordred to usurp the throne.

Arthur learned of his bastard’s treason and attempted to regain control of his kingdom. In a great battle at Camlann (Salisbury Plain), Arthur killed Mordred. But Mordred managed to strike a ferocious blow in return.

A group of women, including le Fay, took the mortally stricken king to the island of Avalon. In some versions of the story, Arthur recovered and returned to Britain, but in Malory’s poem, he died.

Origins and Cults

An eighth-century CE historian named Nennius referred to Arthur as dux bellorum, which means "a military ruler" (that is, not "a king"). Some scholars have concluded that the historical Arthur was a warlord or mercenary knight who resisted the Saxon incursions into Britain in the years following the departure of the Romans. Nennius says that Arthur won a series of twelve battles against the Saxons, ending with a decisive victory at Mount Badon. Because he could not have been at all twelve battles at the same time, this account is impossible, so the Arthurian legend probably began with the earliest tales of the exploits of a real warrior.

Legendary tales of Arthur and his knights probably were told in Wales before the year 1000 CE. One of the earliest sources is a Welsh monk named Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose Historia Regum Brittanniae (History of British Kings, ca. 1135-38) provides the first complete Arthurian story. Geoffrey’s Arthur defeats a Roman army in France but is mortally wounded while fighting against a rebellion led by his traitorous nephew Mordred.

A second important early source of the Arthurian legend is a French writer named Chrétien de Troyes. Using Celtic sources in the twelfth century to develop five adventure stories about the king, de Troyes introduced the love affair between Guinevere and Lancelot as well as the quest for the Holy Grail. At about the same time, another French poet, Robert de Boron, produced a trilogy that is also part of the Arthurian legend. One of the three poems is titled "Merlin," and it was written about the year 1200.

The final origin texts are called The Vulgate Cycle, a series of Arthurian tales that are believed to have been assembled by Cistercian monks between 1215 and 1235. These tales led naturally to Malory’s prose rendition of the stories and included books about the Holy Grail, Lancelot, Merlin, and "La Mort (de Roi) Artu." Malory drew upon all of these sources when he created the definitive version of the legend more than two hundred years later.

Bibliography

Ackroyd, Peter. The Death of King Arthur: Thomas Mallory’s Le Morte d’Arthur: A Retelling. New York: Viking, 2011. Print.

Brinkley, Roberta Florence. Arthurian Legend in the Seventeenth Century. New York: Routledge, 2016. Print.

Campbell, Joseph. Romance of the Grail: The Magic and Mystery of Arthurian Myth. Novato: New World Library, 2015. Print.

Kerven, Rosalind. Arthurian Legends. Swindon: National Trust, 2011. Print.

Malory, Sir Thomas. William Caxton Edition of Le Morte Darthur by Syr Thomas Malory. University of Michigan Humanities Text Initiative, 1997. Web. 31 Jan. 2016. <http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/MaloryWks2>.

Malory, Thomas. Le Morte D’Arthur: The Winchester Manuscript. Oxford: Oxford Paperbacks, 2008. Electronic.

Malory, Thomas, and Stephanie Budin. Le Morte D’Arthur: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. San Diego: Canterbury Classics, 2015. Electronic.

White, T.H. The Once and Future King. New York: Ace, 1987. Print.