The Arthurian legend

See the texts of Historia regum Britanniae and the Mabinogion

Index

Pre-Troyes:

Marie from France:

Chrétien de Troyes, Robert de Boron and Anonymous:

Post-Troyes:

The Mabinogions:

The three romances (Y Tair Rhamant):

The context

The political situation:
In the fifth century, the Romans settled in Great Britain and dominated the island, even if the Scots (people Celtic from Ireland which will end up, in the sixth century, by settling on the west coast of Scotland) and the Picts (pre-Celtic people of Scotland), among others, remain rebellious.
But, from 486, with the conquests of Clovis and the invasions of the Vandals, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, the Roman empire weakens strongly in its western part. The Romans then lost interest in Great Britain to concentrate on the defense of the Empire, which did not prevent its fall in the 490s.
The Saxons (ancient people Germanic which had extended to the south and had carried out raids in Gaulle, newly arrived in Great Britain) take advantage of this to try to seize the whole island. 

Internal conflicts:
The various leaders Bretons and Welsh are then divided by incessant quarrels, and spend their time fighting among themselves, without much success.
All these kings, applying for a unifying throne, suffer from a problem of legitimacy: the various invasions have resulted in a great diversity of peoples and cultures in the kingdom. No chief manages to make himself recognized throughout the kingdom, and by all the peoples. There is, therefore, no supreme leader, much less a king, who commands all the people of Great Britain.
But faced with the significant threat of invasion from the Saxons, they all fall under the banner of a man named Artorius.
This warrior, probably born around 470-475 in Cornwall, is the leader of a highly mobile band of mercenary horsemen. Everyone sees him as the only person capable of standing up to the invader. 

Artorius in power:
Artorius is therefore appointed commander-in-chief of the new army and, all united, the Breton and Welsh kings win, somewhere in the south-west of England around 500-518, a great victory which stops the invader for forty of years. This is the Battle of Mount Badon (or Bath, or Badbury).
When Artorius finds death in a great battle, near Camelford in Cornwall, around 540-542, it is the end of Breton independence: at the end of the century, the Saxons occupy three quarters of the island. .
Artorius's body is secretly buried at Glastonbury by his lieutenants, who are keen to hide his death so as not to demoralize the troops. 

The results :
Faced with the invasion, thousands of Bretons crossed the sea to settle in the Armorican peninsula, to which they give the name of Brittany. They find there compatriots who have arrived since the fourth century. They remain in very close contact with the Bretons who remained on the island. Both keep alive the memory of Artorius and make him a king, which he never was in reality.
On the other hand, the problem of legitimacy still arises, and even more so, after the seizure of power by William the Conqueror (1027-1087), Duke of Normandy, in 1066. The king is a Norman, a minority people. And this situation is all the more boring as the rival dynasty does not have this problem: the Capetians present themselves as the descendants of Charlemagne.
To compensate for this great disadvantage, the Normans encourage clerics to spread what is already the legend of Arthur (Roman name for Artorius), and more particularly the myth of his dormition and his imminent return, with the aim of allying himself with the Welsh and defeating the Anglo-Saxons. 

The creation of the myth:
At first, therefore, the legend says that Arthur is not dead. Seriously wounded during the battle of Camlann, he was transported by his sister, the fairy Morgana, to the island of Avalon, where he is being treated, waiting to be able to return to take the head of his people: it is Breton hope.
But Henry II (1133-1189) will finally confiscate the legend of Arthur, by presenting himself as his legitimate heir, and put an end to Breton hope. For propaganda purposes, he asks for language romance of the Historia Regum Britanniae, commissioned in 1138 by his father, for the same purpose, from Geoffrey of Monmouth.
The king, inside his kingdom, needs the support of the Bretons against the Saxons who do not accept Norman domination. But the Bretons are not ready to rally to the Plantagenets banner because of Breton hope.
The novel, in three parts, ends with the description of Arthur's reign: his accession to the throne, his marriage, the creation of the Round Table, until the death of the sovereign.
Finally, in 1191, we discovered the tombs (and the skeletons) of Arthur and Guinevere in the cemetery of the abbey. As for the Isle of Avalon, she is identified with Glastonbury Abbey. This puts an end to Breton hope. 

The extension of the myth:
Around 1100, the legend is so present and strong that the bards graft myths folklore, geographical particularities, Christian traditions and small later local heroes (Yvain for example), …
In two or three centuries, therefore, Arthur has become the pivot around which revolves a whole system of independent stories originally, and this set ends up forming a vast and rich reservoir, an immense and inexhaustible myth.
It was Robert Wace, in his Roman de Brut, in 1155, who gave the myth a courteous color. Arthur becomes the ideal monarch, a model of humanity, valor, generosity and delicacy. He was also the first to mention the Round Table, a political symbol of courteous society.
The Arthurian legend is, from the end of the eleventh century, disseminated throughout Europe, and even beyond, by the professional storytellers who accompany the armies leaving for the Holy Land on the occasion of the first two crusades.

The legend

Arthur's birth:
Arthur is the son of King Uter Pendragon and Duchess Ygerne of Cornwall.
His mother had been married once to Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall and vassal of Uter. Thanks to Merlin, one evening Uter takes on the appearance of the duke and sleeps with Ygerne. During this same night the duke dies in a skirmish outside his castle. Uter then marries Ygerne.
According to the authors, Arthur is entrusted at his birth either to Merlin, who demanded this gift in payment for his services and will raise him as a knight in ignorance of his origins, or to Ectorius and Flavilla, loyal and just vassals. , who then raised him with their son Keu.

Accession to the throne:
When Uter dies, the succession turns out to be a thorny and painful problem because he has no legitimate son.
But at the end of the mass, after the burial, we discover on the forecourt of the cathedral a sword stuck in an anvil and a rock. There is an inscription that only the rightful king can pull the sword from the stone. Many knights try the test, but the sword remains in its place. It is only several years later that a teenager manages to extract it: it is Arthur 
There are two versions here:
According to the first, the barons refuse to recognize the authority of this adolescent. Eventually, Merlin steps in to reveal that Arthur is the son of Uter and Ygerne, therefore the rightful heir to the throne.
According to the second, Arthur arrives voluntarily to obtain what is rightfully his. And it is he himself who reveals, in front of an audience of amazed knights, his origins, confirmed by Ygerne and Merlin, present at this scene.
Other differences take place when accepting the new king, sometimes the battle is tough and Arthur must prove his worth, other times he is welcomed with joy, like a liberator. 

The pacification of the kingdom:
While many barons were waging war against Arthur, refusing to take the oath to him, the Saxon invaders took advantage of the situation to enter the kingdom. The rebellious barons then realize the danger they pose to the kingdom and reconcile with Arthur.
The young king turns out to be a wise general and an outstanding knight. Moreover the younger generation, the sons of the barons, had already joined the party of the young king. The barons make their submission to Arthur and crush the Saxons with his help.
It was during this turbulent period that Arthur met Guinevere. He comes to the aid of the king of Carmelide who was threatened by giants and Saxons (again there are many variations). Guinevere is the daughter of this vassal king. Arthur marries her and this confirms the end of the warlike epic and sanctions the opening of an era of peace and prosperity. This is the final sign of his legitimacy as sovereign.
Other texts tell that King Arthur, at the beginning of his reign, had helped the King ofScotland Leodegraunce against the Irish, and that the latter, to thank him, offered him his daughter Guinevere in marriage. Merlin initially opposes this union since he knows that Guinevere is in love with Lancelot, the most prestigious of the Knights of the Round Table. But Merlin finally gives his blessing, and during the ceremony, he offers the Round Table to Arthur as a wedding gift. 

The round table :
Then come twelve years of peace where the adventures of the Knights of the Round Table take place. Arthur ceases to be the central hero of the stories, he is surrounded by a certain number of characters:
Keu the seneschal, Gauvain, Agravain, Gaheriet, Guerrehet, Sagramor, Lancelot du Lac, Perceval le Welsh, Bohort, Lionnel, Galaad, Mordret…
Mordred is Arthur's son, whom he had with Morgane, his half-sister (without knowing that they were brother and sister), when he was still only a squire.
To support his sovereignty, Arthur possesses Excalibur, the magic sword of Avalon which testifies to his friendship with the people of the fairies. It also gives him a significant power: as long as he fights with it, he will never lose a lot of blood, just a few drops.
The number of the knights of the round table varies according to the moment and the stories, being able to go from 12 to 150. These knights are united by feelings of indissoluble brotherhood. Breaking this solidarity will lead to the final battle. 

The quest for the Grail:
The Grail, according to legend, is the chalice from which Christ drank during the last meal with the apostles. This chalice would have contained his blood after the crucifixion.
The Holy Grail once appears to the Knights of the Round Table, covered in a white cloth amid dazzling light. When the knights see this light, they are all speechless and a spicy smell spreads.
Following this appearance, Merlin intervenes and explains to the whole assembly that this cup is an essential element for harmony between men, that one of the knights of the Round Table must find it and look at what it contains to keep the world running.
The quest for the Holy Grail is the most difficult and greatest quest of the time of King Arthur, many knights have returned empty-handed. King Arthur thought that the loyalty and nobility of his knights would never be the same without the illustrious relic of the Holy Grail and he was not mistaken: several of them died before Galahad managed to look into the chalice and bring peace to Camelot.

The death of the king:
King Arthur goes with his army to the continent. There are 2 versions to this event:
The oldest indicates that he marched on Rome, which had dared to demand tribute from Great Britain to the Empire.
During his absence Mordred seizes the kingdom with the help of the Saxons. He is crowned king and marries Guinevere. Arthur and his army return. It is then the final combat between the armies of Arthur and Mordred on the plain of Salisbury.
The second version is more romantic: Lancelot is surprised with Guinevere. Arthur, flouted and betrayed by the two beings he loves most in the world, orders Lancelot to be killed and Guinevere to be burned alive. He then pursues his rival, who has come to save the queen on the day of the execution, to Brittany, stronghold of Lancelot, where a gigantic battle develops, opposing the Knights of the Round Table to each other.
Be that as it may, all the characters in the legend find death in combat. Cador, Duke of Cornwall, becomes King of Great Britain. Guinevere meanwhile takes the veil at Amesbury.

Authors, books and miscellaneous

Authors

* Chrétien de Troyes
* Geoffroy de Monmouth
* Marie of France
* Robert Wace
* Robert de Boron
* Pagan of Maisières
* Raoul de Houdenc
* Rusticello from Pisa
* Thomas Malory
* Ulrich von Zatzikhoven
* Wolfram von Eschenbach

Anonymous books

* The Perilous Hearth
* Blandin de Cornouaille
* The Knight of the Sword
* The Knight at Papegau
* The Lady with the Mule
* Gliglois
* Hunbaut
* The Book of Caradoc
* The Wonders of Rigomer
* Perlesvaus or the High Grail Book
* The Roman de Jaufré

Characters

King Arthur's entourage
* Uther Pendragon, father of Arthur
* Ygraine, Ygerne, Ygène, mother of Arthur, wife of the Duke of Cornwall
* Guinevere, wife of Arthur
* Morgane, half-sister of Arthur
* Merlin, "the enchanter", magician, Myrddin in Welsh
* Viviane, known as "The Lady of the Lake"
* Mordred, son of Arthur and Morgause
* Morgause, or Anna

The Knights of the Round Table
* King Arthur
* Galahad (Gilead, Galahad the Valiant)
* Gauvain
* Lancelot (Lancelot du Lac, Le Chevalier de la Charrette)
* Lionel
* Perceval (Parsifal, Perceval le Gallois)
* Yvain (Owain)
* Bohort l'Essillié (Bohor, Bors)
* Bedivere (Bedwir)
* Keu (Kay, Kai)
* Mordred
* Gaheris
* Gareth
* Geraint
* Lamorak of Gulis
* Tristan (Tristram)
* Sagramor
* Accolon
* Leodegrans
* Girflet
* Caradoc
* Calogrenant
* Hunbaut
* Agravain

Other characters
* Brisène
* Caelia
* Claudas
* Dindrane
* Elaine
* Gorlois
* Gwynn ap Nudd
* Iseult, Iseut
* Joseph of Arimathea
* Lot, King of Orkney (or Orcadia)
* March
* Nimue
* Oberon
* Palamedes
* Pelleas
* Pellinore
* Vortigern, Urtigernus in Latin
* The Green Knight
* The Red Knight
* The Fisher King

Places and objects
* Brocéliande
* Camelot, or Camaloth, capital of Arthur
* Avalon
* Excalibur, Arthur's magic sword
* The Holy Grail
* The round table