begin quotes from Brittania Editors
Geoffrey Of Monmouth
Geoffrey Of Monmouth (died 1155) was a medieval English chronicler and bishop of St. Asaph (1152), whose major work, the Historia regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), brought the figure of Arthur into European literature.
In three passages of the Historia Geoffrey describes himself as “Galfridus Monemutensis,” an indication that he probably came from Monmouth. Possibly of Breton descent, he appeared as witness to a number of documents in Oxford during the period 1129–51. Geoffrey alleges that the Historia was translated from a “very old book in the British tongue” brought by Walter, archdeacon of Oxford, from Brittany. This seems a pure fabrication, but it is clear that Geoffrey was for most of his life an Oxford cleric, closely connected with Walter and sharing with him a taste for letters. He may have been an Augustinian canon in the secular college of St. George, Oxford, of which Walter was provost.
The Historia regum Britanniae, published sometime between 1135 and 1139, was one of the most popular books of the Middle Ages, although its historical value is almost nil. The story begins with the settlement of Britain by Brutus the Trojan, great-grandson of Aeneas, and by the Trojan Corineus, the eponymous founder of Cornwall, who exterminate giants inhabiting Britain. Then follow the reigns of the early kings down to the Roman conquest; here are found such well-known episodes as those of Locrine and Sabrina, the founding of Bath by Bladud and of Leicester by Leir (Lear), and the division of Leir’s kingdom between the two ungrateful daughters. The story of the Saxon infiltration during the reign of the wicked usurper Vortigern, of the successful resistance of the Saxons by Vortimer, and of the restoration of the rightful line, followed by the great reigns of Aurelius and his brother Uther Pendragon, leads up to the account of Arthur’s conquests, the culminating point of the work. Chapters 106–111 introduce the enchanter Merlin, who predicts, in an obscure and apocalyptic manner, the future political history of Britain. These chapters were first published separately, before 1136, and dedicated to Alexander, bishop of Lincoln. They gave rise to the genre of political prophecies attributed to Merlin. Probably between 1148 and 1151, Geoffrey produced a poem in ornate Latin hexameters, the Vita Merlini, which portrays a Merlin whose adventures are based on genuine Celtic material about a madman with a gift for divination.
- Died:
- 1155
- Notable Works:
- “Historia regum Britanniae”
- Subjects Of Study:
- Arthurian legend
- King Arthur
- Merlin
Denounced from the first by sober historians, Geoffrey’s fictional history nevertheless had an enormous influence on later chroniclers. Romanticized versions in the vernacular, the so-called Bruts, were in circulation from about 1150. Writers of the later Middle Ages gave the material a wide currency; and indeed Geoffrey’s influence was at its greatest after the accession of the Tudors. The text, with an English translation, was published in 1929 by Acton Griscom and Robert Ellis Jones. J.J. Parry produced an edition of the Vita Merlini in 1925.
King Arthur
Who is King Arthur?
Was King Arthur a real person?
When did stories about King Arthur become popular?
King Arthur, legendary British king who appears in a cycle of medieval romances (known as the Matter of Britain) as the sovereign of a knightly fellowship of the Round Table. It is not certain how these legends originated or whether the figure of Arthur was based on a historical person. The legend possibly originated either in Wales or in those parts of northern Britain inhabited by Brythonic-speaking Celts. (For a fuller treatment of the stories about King Arthur, see also Arthurian legend.)
Assumptions that a historical Arthur led Welsh resistance to the West Saxon advance from the middle Thames are based on a conflation of two early writers, the religious polemicist Gildas and the historian Nennius, and on the Annales Cambriae of the late 10th century. The 9th-century Historia Brittonum, traditionally attributed to Nennius, records 12 battles fought by Arthur against the Saxons, culminating in a victory at Mons Badonicus. The Arthurian section of this work, however, is from an undetermined source, possibly a poetic text. The Annales Cambriae also mention Arthur’s victory at Mons Badonicus (516) and record the Battle of Camlann (537), “in which Arthur and Medraut fell.” Gildas’s De excidio et conquestu Britanniae (mid-6th century) implies that Mons Badonicus was fought in about 500 but does not connect it with Arthur.
- Also called:
- Arthur or Arthur Pendragon
Early Welsh literature quickly made Arthur into a king of wonders and marvels. The 12th-century prose romance Culhwch and Olwen associated him with other heroes, and this conception of a heroic band with Arthur at its head doubtless led to the idea of Arthur’s court.
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-century verse romance, the Merlin, by Robert de Boron, that had told of Arthur’s birth and childhood and his winning of the crown by drawing a magic sword (see Excalibur) from a stone. The writer of the Vulgate cycle turned this into prose, adding a pseudo-historical narrative dealing with Arthur’s military 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-Vulgate Grail romance (c. 1240), combined Arthurian legend with material from the Tristan romance.
- Related Topics:
- romance
No comments:
Post a Comment