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The survey below has been compiled from the materials of an excellent CD-ROM:
The Arthurian Tradion. King Arthur: The Myths and Reality.
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A Survey of Arthurian Literature
The first traces of the Arthurian myth belong to the oral tradition of the Celtic tribes that lived in Wales. Unfortunately, we have next to no written evidence from that time, the Welsh Mabinogion, a collection of old Celtic stories written down in the 13th century, being one of the few exceptions. The first written evidence showing a connection to Arthur can be found in the De Exidio et Conquestu Britanniae (c547) written by Gildas (d.570?) a Romano-British monk, the first of a number of "Histories of the British". Gildas does not mention Arthur though, but he tells us of the battle at Mount Badon where the British were led into the fight by Ambrosius Aurelianus, a leader of Roman descent. At this battle the invading Angles and Saxons were defeated.
The next scholar to mention this battle was Bede in his Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (c731), Bede (672-735) dates this battle to have taken place in the 44th year after the invasion of the Angles and Saxons.
Following Bede is Nennius (c800) who gives an account of the battle at Mount Badon in his Historia Britonum (9th c.) and he is the first to mention Arthur in this context as the leader of the British. Nennius tells of twelve battles that Arthur fought, the twelfth being the battle at Mount Badon.
The next step takes us well into the 12th century to Geoffrey of Monmouth (Gaufridus Monemtensis) (d.1155), and his Historia Regum Britanniae (c.1138) in which he creates the outline of the Arthurian story as it is still known today, though later authors focused on parts of the story and added elements that are not included in Geoffrey's Historia. The book begins in ancient Troy. After the fall of the city Aeneas and his followers flee and some Trojans settle in Greece, where they are enslaved by the local ruler, while others sail to the shores of Italy to settle down there. Years later Brutus, a descendant of Aeneas living in Italy, has to leave his homeland because he accidentally killed his father while hunting deer. Brutus then sails to Greece and frees the Trojans living there. He journeys on through the Mediterranean Sea in search for a new land to live in. After consulting the goddess Diana, they are directed to an island called Albion which will later become Britain, named after the founding father Brutus. The story of the British begins to unfold and after numerous kings and queens, among them such famous rulers as King Lear, the Royal line of Constantine is established, which will lead to, and end with King Arthur, whose exploits take up to half of the entire Historia. Arthur's tales culminate in his successful war against the Roman emperor Lucius and the treachery committed by Mordred and Arthur's wife Guenevere which leads to a final battle on British ground leaving hundreds of thousand dead and Arthur mortally wounded. He is then taken away to Avalon and the prophesy is made that he will return in time of need. Arthur is the once and future king of the British.
Some twenty years after Geoffrey we are at the court of Henry II (1154-1189), King of England, Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and Duke of Aquitaine, who has just married Eleanor of Aquitaine (c1122-1204). Eleanor is still known to us as a patron of literature and art. In the year 1155 the Norman-French poet Wace (c1100-c1171) presented to her his Roman de Brut, written in his native language, which is based heavily on Geoffrey's Historia. Nevertheless there are also a number of differences. Wace lays great emphasis on courtly society and behaviour. He establishes the round table, representing a knightly society based on the principles of equality and peace at court. Again the main passage in the text is about King Arthur and his court at Caerleon his knightly valours and abilities in military leadership, which demonstrates to the listener how a king should rule and behave.
Layamon's Brut (c1200) is the last of the chronicles dealt with at this point. From the mentioning of Queen Eleanor in the introductory lines of the Brut we may assume that it was composed around the year 1200. The author supplies us with some general information about his person but apart from the area near the Welsh border where he lived and his connection to the church nothing is known about him. He wrote in an early Middle English dialect and was no friend of French loanwords which he avoided and replaced by native forms. The general outline of the plot is taken from Wace, but Layamon introduced a great number of direct speech dialogues. The importance of the courts and knightly behaviour at court is no longer as prominent as it had been in Wace. The portion of the text dealing with king Arthur and his family is further enlarged and makes up more than half of the entire Brut.
The Middle English Romance tradition has been greatly influenced by medieval French literature. The Romance is one of the most influential Middle English literary genres. The most general definition of the genre would simply include a knight and his quest, but a number of historic variants can be observed in the different Middle English poems.
The earliest of these poems is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, written in the late 14th century. It is preserved in one manuscript, B.L. Cotton Nero A, in which we also find Pearl, Cleanness and Patience. Some scholars believe that all four poems have been composed by the same author who is either titled the Gawain- or Pearl-Poet. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight belongs to the tradition of the alliterative revival which flourished in the 14th century Northwest Midlands.
Concerning its contents it is quite unique, taking up the literary motive of the beheading game found in Irish and Welsh literature. The knight on the quest is Sir Gawain who is challenged by a fantastic green knight who walks away after having his head cut off, awaiting Gawain at the Green Chapel to return the blow given to him. Gawain goes on the quest and in the end finds the castle of Sir Bertilak, by whose wife he is tempted. Gawain finally finds the Green Chapel and receives his return blow, but used the help of a magic girdle. Returning to Camelot he is hailed by the Arthurian court, though Gawain himself feels he has failed his quest.
Also belonging to the alliterative revival is the Alliterative Morte Arthur, written around the year 1400. This poem is strongly based on Geoffrey's Historia concerning its plot, though the military exploits of King Arthur are the major focus of the story. We are told about the war against the Roman Empire as well as the treachery by Mordred in England while Arthur is campaigning on the continent. One of the major characters is again Sir Gawain who is killed in action against Mordred which results in a bloody final battle won by a merciless King Arthur who is mortally wounded and buried at Glastonbury Abbey. The focus of the poem is warfare and King Arthur is depicted not unlike an Anglo-Saxon warrior king conquering many realms and rewarding his knights for their loyalty.
The focus of the Stanzaic Morte Arthur, composed between 1460 and 1470, stands in grave contrast to the alliterative poem. Here the love affair between Sir Lancelot and Arthur's Queen Guenevere is the driving force of the plot. Apart from these two protagonists, Arthur himself and again Sir Gawain are the major characters. Gawain is openly opposed to Lancelot and the queen and his hate towards both of them is a prominent feature in the poem. The end though is the same as in the alliterative poem, in a final battle Gawain and Mordred are killed and Arthur mortally wounded and buried the next day. Guenevere ends up in a monastery and Lancelot lives as a hermit for the rest of his life. The Stanzaic Morte Arthur can rightfully be regarded as a tragedy, the Aristotelian principle of catharsis visibly galore.
A different approach to the Arthurian topic was chosen by Sir Thomas Malory, who probably composed his book while being in prison around the year 1470. The printed version of the book was produced by William Caxton in 1485, who also did a bit of editing on the text. The sources of Malory's work are manifold. Almost every story that had ever been connected to the Arthurian court has a chapter in the Morte Arthur. The framework was taken from Geoffrey of Monmouth but a number of episodes like the Grailquest or the story of Tristrem and Isolde were taken from other medieval Arthurian stories. This book is the most complete collection of Arthurian stories from the Middle Ages that we know of and it was used time and again by later authors as a source for their stories.
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