Arthurian Legend - Britannica Online Encyclopedia

9/1/24, 3:45 PM Arthurian legend -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia
Arthurian legend
Arthurian legend, the body of stories and medieval romances, known as the matter of Britain, centring on
the legendary king Arthur. Medieval writers, especially the French, variously treated stories of Arthur’s birth,
the adventures of his knights, and the adulterous love between his knight Sir Lancelot and his queen,
Guinevere. This last situation and the quest for the Holy Grail (the vessel used by Christ at the Last Supper
and given to Joseph of Arimathea) brought about the dissolution of the knightly fellowship, the death of
Arthur, and the destruction of his kingdom.
Stories about Arthur and his court had been popular in Wales before the 11th century; European fame came
through Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia regum Britanniae (1135–38), celebrating a glorious and triumphant
king who defeated a Roman army in eastern France but was mortally wounded in battle during a rebellion at
home led by his nephew Mordred. Some features of Geoffrey’s story were marvelous fabrications, and certain
features of the Celtic stories were adapted to suit feudal times. The concept of Arthur as a world conqueror
was clearly inspired by legends surrounding great leaders such as Alexander the Great and Charlemagne.
Later writers, notably Wace of Jersey and Lawamon, filled out certain details, especially in connection with
Arthur’s knightly fellowship (the Knights of the Round Table).
Using Celtic sources, Chrétien de Troyes in the late 12th century made Arthur the ruler of a realm of marvels
in five romances of adventure. He also introduced the themes of the Grail and the love of Lancelot and
Guinevere into Arthurian legend. Prose romances of the 13th century explored these major themes further. An
early prose romance centring on Lancelot seems to have become the kernel of a cyclic work known as the
Prose Lancelot, or Vulgate cycle (c. 1225).
The Lancelot theme was connected with the Grail story through
Lancelot’s son, the pure knight Sir Galahad, who achieved the
vision of God through the Grail as fully as is possible in this life,
whereas Sir Lancelot was impeded in his progress along the
mystic way because of his adultery with Guinevere. Another
branch of the Vulgate cycle was based on a very early 13th-
Sir Bedivere and the sword Excalibur century verse romance, the Merlin, by Robert de Boron, that had
told of Arthur’s birth and childhood and his winning of the
Sir Bedivere returning Excalibur,
Arthur's sword, to the lake from which crown by drawing a magic sword (see Excalibur) from a stone.
it came, illustration by Aubrey The writer of the Vulgate cycle turned this into prose, adding a
Beardsley for an edition of Sir Thomas pseudo-historical narrative dealing with Arthur’s military
Malory's Le Morte Darthur.
exploits. A final branch of the Vulgate cycle contained an
account of Arthur’s Roman campaign and war with Mordred, to
which was added a story of Lancelot’s renewed adultery with
Guinevere and the disastrous war between Lancelot and Sir
Gawain that ensued. A later prose romance, known as the post-
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9/1/24, 3:45 PM Arthurian legend -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia
Vulgate Grail romance (c. 1240), combined Arthurian legend

with material from the Tristan romance.
The legend told in the Vulgate cycle and post-Vulgate romance

was transmitted to English-speaking readers in Thomas Malory’s
late 15th-century prose Le Morte Darthur. At the same time,
there was renewed interest in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia,
Merlin and the future King Arthur
and the fictitious kings of Britain became more or less
Merlin taking away the infant Arthur, incorporated with official national mythology. The legend
illustration by N.C. Wyeth in The Boy's
remained alive during the 17th century, though interest in it was
King Arthur, 1917.
by then confined to England. Of merely antiquarian interest
during the 18th century, it again figured in literature during
Victorian times, notably in Alfred Tennyson’s Idylls of the King.
In the 20th century an American poet, Edwin Arlington
Robinson, wrote an Arthurian trilogy, and the American novelist
Thomas Berger wrote Arthur Rex (1978). In England T.H. White
retold the stories in a series of novels collected as The Once and
death of Arthur and Mordred
Future King (1958). His work was the basis for Camelot (1960),
The death of Arthur and Mordred, a musical by Alan Lerner and Frederick Loewe; a film, also
illustration by N.C. Wyeth in The Boy's
called Camelot (1967), was derived from the musical. Numerous
King Arthur, 1917.
other films have been based on the Arthurian legend, notably
John Boorman’s Excalibur (1981) and the satirical Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975).
The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Adam
Augustyn.
Citation Information
Article Title: Arthurian legend
Website Name: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Date Published: 01 August 2024
URL: https://www.britannica.comhttps://www.britannica.com/topic/Arthurian-legend
Access Date: September 01, 2024
https://www.britannica.com/print/article/37033 2/2

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9/1/24, 3:45 PM Arthurian legend -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia

Vulgate Grail romance (c. 1240), combined Arthurian legend

The legend told in the Vulgate cycle and post-Vulgate romance

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