This book presents the manuscript of the original poem, from the Ireland Blackburne MS. The composition is from some time between the late 14th and late 15th century. Originally published in 1984, this book introduces the manuscript with historical details and discussion of its language, structure and sources, including a bibliography of related studies. After the poem is a comprehensive notes section and glossary.
This book presents the manuscript of the original poem, from the Ireland Blackburne MS. The composition is from some time between the late 14th and late 15th century. Originally published in 1984, this book introduces the manuscript with historical details and discussion of its language, structure and sources, including a bibliography of related studies. After the poem is a comprehensive notes section and glossary.
This first comprehensive treatment of Arthurian literature in the English language up until the end of the Middle Ages is now available for the first time in paperback. English people think of Arthur as their own – stamped on the landscape in scores of place-names, echoed in the names of princes even today. Yet some would say the English were the historical Arthur’s bitterest enemies and usurpers of his heritage. The process by which Arthurian legends have become an important part of England’s cultural heritage is traced in this book. Previous studies have concentrated on the handful of chivalric romances, which have given the impression that Arthur is a hero of romantic escapism. This study seeks to provide a more comprehensive and insightful look at the English Arthurian legends and how they evolved. It focuses primarily upon the literary aspects of Arthurian legend, but it also makes some important political and social observations.
Presenting selections from medieval Latin, Welsh, English, French and German literature, Richard White traces the Arthurian legend from the earliest mentions of Arthur in Latin chronicles to Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. Many of these selections are translated here for the time into English. Bringing together an extensive range of diverse material which reveals the development of the figure of Arthur, this anthology enables the reader to understand how the Arthurian legend developed over a period of more than five hundred years. King Arthur in Legend and History also includes a chronology of key Arthurian texts, an appendix of the Arthurian Courts, a list of sources, suggestions for further reading and bibliography. Also inlcludes five maps.
A comprehensive encyclopedia of characters, places, objects, and themes found in the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round table. Draws from all significant source between Gildas' De Excidio Britanniae written about 540 AD and Tennyson's 19th-century Idylls of the King, including versions from throughout Europe. The entries range from a short identifying sentence to nearly ten pages for the king himself. Each is referenced to a source, which are presented in a endtable showing author and tit date, form, and langua description; keywords from the entries; and recent editions, a vital bit of information such references usually neglect. The cross-referencing is fairly good, often done as a full entry identifying a name as a variant of another, so the lack of an index is not a problem. Distributed in the US by Taylor and Francis. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
A survey of critical attention devoted to Arthurian matters. This book offers the first comprehensive and analytical account of the development of Arthurian scholarship from the eighteenth century, or earlier, to the present day. The chapters, each written by an expert in the area under discussion, present scholarly trends and evaluate major contributions to the study of the numerous different strands which make up the Arthurian material: origins, Grail studies, editing and translation of Arthurian texts, medieval and modern literatures (in English and European languages), art and film. The result is an indispensable resource for students and a valuable guide for anyone with a serious interest in the Arthurian legend. Contributors: NORRIS LACY, TONY HUNT, KEITH BUSBY, JANE TAYLOR, CHRISTOPHER SNYDER, RICHARD BARBER, SIAN ECHARD, GERALD MORGAN, ALBRECHT CLASSEN, ROGER DALRYMPLE, BART BESAMUSCA, MARIANNE E. KALINKE, BARBARA MILLER, CHRISTOPHER KLEINHENZ, MURIEL WHITAKER, JEANNE FOX-FRIEDMAN, DANIEL NASTALI, KEVIN J. HARTY NORRIS J. LACY is Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of French and Medieval Studies at Pennsylvania State University.
Today, popular imagination peoples the Middle Ages with damsels in distress and knights riding to their rescue. Of such knights, King Arthur and his companions are the most celebrated. It is certainly true that this is the time when the Arthurian story took shape and Arthurian literature flourished, and that most medieval historians included him in their histories of Britain, though some did so with a considerable degree of scepticism. But how widely was this literature known in its own day? How much credence did people generally place in this king who supposedly once ruled England? To answer these questions, Christopher Dean looks at medieval and Renaissance Arthurian literature in detail, and also examines contemporary chronicles and histories, chivalric theory and practice, popular myths and legends, folk-lore and place-names. The result is to show dramatically that Arthur was not at all as well known as popular belief today fancies. As a historical figure he was early discredited; had it not been for his artificial revival by the Tudor monarchy and the furor caused by the attack upon him by the 'foreigner' Polydore Vergil, which incensed many patriotic Englishmen, his credibility might have disappeared much sooner than it did. Except for Malory's work, medieval Arthurian literature, which often exists in no more than single manuscripts, did not have large audiences. And after 1500, only Edmund Spenser and Thomas Hughes attempted to write seriously on Arthurian themes. Among the ordinary citizens of England, Arthur was hardly known at all, any popular knowledge of him being almost entirely restricted to Wales, Devon, and Cornwall. Elsewhere in Britain the much more familiar figure was Robin Hood. For all the strength of the Arthurian legend as the ultimate medieval knight, he is essentially a modern hero.
