The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend Edited by Elizabeth Archibald and Ad Putter Frontmatter More Information

Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-67788-2 - The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend Edited by Elizabeth Archibald and Ad Putter Frontmatter More information

The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend

For more than a thousand years, the adventures of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table have been retold across Europe. They have inspired some of the most important works of European literature, particularly in the medieval period: the romances of Chrétien de Troyes, Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Malory’s Morte Darthur. In the nineteenth century, interest in the Arthurian legend revived with Tennyson, Wagner and Twain. The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend outlines the evolution of the legend from the earliest documentary sources to the musical Spamalot, and analyses how some of the major motifs of the legend have been passed down in both medieval and modern texts. With a map of Arthur’s Britain, a chronology of key texts and a guide to further reading, this volume will contribute to the continuing fascination with King Arthur and his many legends.

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org More information Frontmatter Edited byElizabethArchibaldandAdPutter 978-0-521-67788-2 - The CambridgeCompanion Cambridge UniversityPress © inthis webservice CambridgeUniversity Press to theArthurianLegend

Frontispiece The Sleep of King Arthur in Avalon by Edward Burne-Jones. By permission of the Museo De Arte De Ponce, Puerto Rico. www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-67788-2 - The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend Edited by Elizabeth Archibald and Ad Putter Frontmatter More information

THE CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO THE ARTHURIAN LEGEND

EDITED BY ELIZABETH ARCHIBALD AND AD PUTTER

© in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-67788-2 - The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend Edited by Elizabeth Archibald and Ad Putter Frontmatter More information

cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 8ru, uk

Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521677882

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2009

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data The Cambridge companion to the Arthurian legend / [edited by] Elizabeth Archibald and Ad Putter. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-521-86059-8 1. Arthurian romances – History and criticism. 2. English literature – Middle English, 1100–1500 – History and criticism. 3. Romances, English – History and criticism. I. Archibald, Elizabeth, 1951– II. Putter, Ad. III. Title. pr328.c36 2009 820.9Ł351–dc22 2009020686

isbn 978-0-521-86059-8 hardback isbn 978-0-521-67788-2 paperback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements page vii Notes on Contributors ix Frequently Cited Sources and Abbreviations xii A Selective Chronology xv Map of Arthurian Britain xix

Introduction 1 Ad Putter and Elizabeth Archibald

P A R T I Evolution 19 1 The early Arthur: history and myth 21 Ronald Hutton

2 The twelfth-century Arthur 36 Ad Putter

3 The thirteenth-century Arthur 53 Jane H. M. Taylor

4 The fourteenth-century Arthur 69 J. A. Burrow

5 The fifteenth-century Arthur 84 Barry Windeatt

6 The Arthur of the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries 103 Rob Gossedge and Stephen Knight

contents

7 The Arthur of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries 120 Norris J. Lacy

PART II Themes 137 8 Questioning Arthurian ideals 139 Elizabeth Archibald

9 Arthurian ethics 154 Jane Gilbert

10 Imperial Arthur: home and away 171 Andrew Lynch

11 Love and adultery: Arthur’s affairs 188 Peggy McCracken

12 Religion and magic 201 Corinne Saunders

13 Arthurian geography 218 Robert Allen Rouse and Cory James Rushton

Further Reading 235 Index 253

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Our greatest debt is to our contributors, who responded admirably to our request to describe such rich material so succinctly. Norris Lacy also gave us useful editorial advice. We are grateful to Amanda Hopkins for copy-editing an advanced draft of this book, to Cory Rushton for help in compiling the further reading section, to Gareth Griffth for producing the index, and to the University of Bristol for supporting their work through awards from the Arts Faculty Research Fund and the Tucker-Cruse Fund. We thank Linda Bree for commissioning this volume; she and Maartje Scheltens supplied much valuable advice and support, and Tom O’Reilly oversaw the production most efficiently. We are grateful to David Cox for producing the map of Arthurian Britain. Geraldine Stoneham was the ideal copy-editor, and saved us from many infelicities and inconsistencies. We dedicate this volume to the memory of Derek and Elisabeth Brewer, both distinguished Arthurians.

elizabeth archibald ad putter

vii

NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

elizabeth archibald is Professor of Medieval Literature in the English Department at the University of Bristol. Her publications include Apollonius of Tyre (1991), Incest and the Medieval Imagination (2001), and A Companion to Malory, co-edited with A. S. G. Edwards (1996). She is currently working on macaronic literature and on bathing in the Middle Ages.

john burrow is Fellow of the British Academy and Emeritus Professor at the University of Bristol. He is the author of many studies of medieval English literature, including A Reading of ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’ (1965), Medieval Writers and Their Work (1982) and most recently The Poetry of Praise (2008).

jane gilbert is Senior Lecturer in French at University College London, and a comparatist working in English, French, and modern theory. She is currently completing a monograph on the interface between life and death in medieval French and English literature.

rob gossedge is a Lecturer in English Literature at Cardiff University. He has recently published articles on Welsh modernism and the reception of Arthurian literature in the post-medieval period. He is currently finishing a book on British rewritings of the Matter of Britain in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

ronald hutton is Professor of History at the University of Bristol, and author of twelve books, including Witches, Druids and King Arthur: Studies in Paganism, Myth and Magic (2003).

stephen knight is Distinguished Research Professor in English Literature at Cardiff University. He has written widely on medieval and

notes on contributors

modern themes, including King Arthur and Robin Hood; his latest book, Merlin: Knowledge and Power, will be published in 2009.

norris j. lacy is the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of French and Medieval Studies at Pennsylvania State University. He is an Honorary President of the International Arthurian Society and has been knighted by the French gov- ernment. His many Arthurian publications include The Craft of Chrétien de Troyes (1980), The New Arthurian Encyclopedia (3rd edn, 1996), The Arthurian Handbook (2nd edn, 1997), and A Companion to Chrétien de Troyes (2005, co-edited with Joan Tasker Grimbert).

andrew lynch is Professor of English and Cultural Studies, and Director of the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, at the University of Western Australia. His publications include Malory’s Book of Arms (1997) and numerous articles and book chapters on medieval Arthurian literature and its modern afterlives.

peggy mccracken is Professor of French and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan. She is the author of The Romance of Adultery: Queenship and Sexual Transgression in Old French Literature (1998) and The Curse of Eve, the Wound of the Hero: Blood, Gender, and Medieval Literature (2003).

ad putter is Professor of Medieval English Literature at the University of Bristol. He is the General Editor of the series Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, and has published widely in the area of medieval literature. His books include Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and French Arthurian Romance (1995), An Introduction to the Gawain Poet (1996), and (with Judith Jefferson and Myra Stokes) Studies in the Metre of Alliterative Verse (2007).

robert allen rouse teaches medieval literature and culture at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of The Idea of Anglo- Saxon England in Middle English Romance (2005), and co-author with Cory Rushton of The Medieval Quest for Arthur (2005). He is currently working on a study of the role of geography in the romance narratives of medieval England.

CORY JAMES RUSHTON is Assistant Professor of English at St Francis Xavier University, Canada. He co-authored The Medieval Quest for Arthur with Robert Rouse (2005), and has published numerous articles on the Arthurian

notes on contributors

legend and romance. He co-edited (with Amanda Hopkins) The Erotic in the Literature of Medieval Britain (2007). Forthcoming publications include A Companion to Middle English Romance (co-edited with Raluca Radulescu), and Disability and Medieval Law: History, Literature, Society.

corinne saunders is Professor in the Department of English Studies in the University of Durham and is the English editor of the journal Medium Ævum. She is the author of The Forest of Medieval Romance (1993), Rape and Ravishment in the Literature of Medieval England (2001), and Magic and the Supernatural in Medieval English Romance: Ideas and Imaginings (forthcoming 2009). She has edited and co-edited numerous volumes, including A Companion to Romance (2004), Cultural Encounters in the Romance of Medieval England (2005), and A Concise Companion to Chaucer (2006).

jane taylor is Emeritus Professor of French at Durham University. An Honorary President of the International Arthurian Society, she has worked extensively on medieval French literature, especially on Arthurian romance and lyric poetry, as well as on translation. Her latest book, The Making of Poetry: Late Medieval Poetic Anthologies, was published in 2007.

barry windeatt is Professor of English in the University of Cambridge, and Fellow and Keeper of Rare Books at Emmanuel College. His research focuses on the imaginative literature, visual culture and contemplative traditions of medieval England in a European context. As Director of the Cambridge ‘Medieval Imaginations’ Project he has created a website for research and teaching on text and image in later medieval England (www. english.cam.ac.uk/medieval/).

FREQUENTLY CITED SOURCES AND ABBREVIATIONS

Frequently Cited Sources The primary texts and critical studies listed below are mentioned so frequently by our contributors that they are cited in both text and footnotes only by author and/or short title, and by page/chapter/line number, as appropriate. When a contributor refers to a different edition of one of these primary texts, full details are given in a footnote. In the case of Malory, where numerous different editions are widely used by scholars and students, Caxton’s book and chapter divisions are included after the page numbers in square brackets.

Primary Texts and Translations Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer, The Riverside Chaucer, ed. Larry D. Benson (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987; Oxford University Press, 1988) Kibler Chrétien de Troyes, Arthurian Romances, trans. William W. Kibler (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1991); this translation is cited by page number. The textual history of Chrétien’s romances is complex; for ease of reference, line numbers are taken from the editions of Chrétien’s romances in the series Classiques français du moyen âge: Erec et Enide, ed. Mario Roques (1981); Le Chevalier au lion (Yvain), ed. Mario Roques (1978); Le Chevalier de la charrete (Lancelot), ed. Mario Roques (1978); Cligés, ed. Alexandre Micha (1978); Le Conte du Graal (Perceval), ed. F. Lecoy, 2 vols. (1984) Lacy Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, gen. ed. Norris J. Lacy, 5 vols. (New York and London: Garland, 1993–6) Lancelot Lancelot: roman en prose du XIIIe siècle, ed. Alexandre Micha, TLF, 9 vols. (Geneva: Droz, 1978–83)

xii

frequently cited sources and abbreviations

Malory Malory, Sir Thomas, The Works of Sir Thomas Malory [Morte Darthur], ed. Eugène Vinaver, 3rd edn rev. P. J. C. Field, 3 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990) Mort Artu La Mort le roi Artu, ed. Jean Frappier, TLF, 3rd edn (Geneva: Droz, 1964) Sir Gawain Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, ed. J. R. R. Tolkien and E. V. Gordon, 2nd edn rev. Norman Davis (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967) Tennyson Alfred Lord Tennyson, Idylls of the King, ed. J. M. Gray (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1983; repr. 1996) Thorpe Geoffrey of Monmouth, History of the Kings of Britain, trans. Lewis Thorpe (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1966) Twain Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur’s Court, ed. Justin Kaplan (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971; repr. 1986)

Secondary Sources The ongoing series Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, series editors †W. R. J. Barron and Ad Putter, is indispensable for the study of the Arthurian legend; it updates and expands Loomis’s 1957 volume of the same title (ALMA – see below). Some if not all of the volumes listed below are relevant to every chapter in this book, and should be consulted for information about editions of primary sources and critical studies of spe- cific texts and topics. AoE The Arthur of the English: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval English Life and Literature, ed. W. R. J. Barron, Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages 2 (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1999) AoF The Arthur of the French: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval French and Occitan Literature, ed. Glyn S. Burgess and Karen Pratt, Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages 4 (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2006) AoG The Arthur of the Germans: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval German and Dutch Literature, ed. W. H. Jackson and S. A. Ranawake, Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages 3 (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2000) AoW The Arthur of the Welsh: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval Welsh Literature, ed. Rachel Bromwich, A. O. H. Jarman and Brynley Roberts, Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages 1 (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1991)

xiii

frequently cited sources and abbreviations

Other Abbreviations ALMA Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, ed. R. S. Loomis (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957) BBIAS Bibliographical Bulletin of the International Arthurian Society CFMA Classiques français du moyen âge EETS Early English Text Society o.s. Original Series e.s. Extra Series PMLA Publications of the Modern Language Association of America SATF Société des anciens textes français STS Scottish Text Society TLF Textes littéraires français

xiv

A SELECTIVE CHRONOLOGY

This chronology of the most important landmarks in the history of Arthurian legend and literature is very selective, especially in relation to post-medieval material (art, music and drama as well as literature), where we have focused on the English tradition. Many dates, particularly in earlier periods, are approximate, and there is great uncertainty about the dating of Welsh Arthurian texts, some of which are believed to have had a long oral tradition before being committed to writing. Fuller overviews and further details about individual entries can be found in the chronological survey chapters of this Companion. Readers may also wish to consult reference works such as The New Arthurian Encyclopaedia, ed. Lacy, and The Arthurian Annals, ed. Nastali and Boardman (see Further Reading).

455–75 Arthur’s reign, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth 516(?518) Date of battle of Mount Badon in Annales Cambriae 537(?539) Date of Arthur’s last battle in Annales Cambriae c. 548 Gildas, De Excidio Britanniae: mentions battle of Mount Badon 7th century? Gododdin: mentions Arthur 830 Nennius, Historia Brittonum: records battles of Arthur c. 950 Annales Cambriae: mentions battle of Camlann where Arthur and Mordred fell 11th century Probable time of composition of the earliest Arthurian tales from The Mabinogion (Peredur, Culhwch and Olwen) and Latin saints’ lives from Wales c. 1105 Modena Cathedral archivolt depicting Arthurian scenes c. 1135 Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain): includes account of Arthur’s life

a selective chronology

c. 1150 Geoffrey of Monmouth, Vita Merlini (Life of Merlin) 1155 Wace, Roman de Brut: translates Geoffrey’s Historia; first mention of Round Table c. 1169–81 Chrétien de Troyes, Arthurian romances: first mention of Camelot, Grail, and Lancelot’s love for Guinevere c. 1180–1205 Hartmann von Aue translates Chrétien’s romances into German c. 1185 Andreas Capellanus, De Amore: treatise on courtly love with Arthurian episode c. 1190 Renaut de Beaujeu, Le Bel Inconnu: Fair Unknown romance about Gawain’s son 1191 Exhumation of Arthur and Guinevere’s tomb at Glastonbury Abbey ?later 12th century De Ortu Waluuanii: Latin Gawain romance later 12th century Béroul, Tristan: Arthur present at trial vindicating Iseut c. 1210 Laʒamon, Brut: first English version of Arthurian history (based on Geoffrey of Monmouth and Wace) Guillaume le Clerc, Fergus: romance parodying Chrétien, set in Scotland Robert de Boron: first cycle of Grail romances Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival: German Grail romance c. 1215–30 Vulgate Cycle (Lancelot-Grail Cycle): vast French Arthurian prose romance-history including Lancelot, Queste del Saint Graal and Mort Artu, later supple- mented by Estoire del Saint Graal and Merlin c. 1235–40 Post-Vulgate Cycle (Roman du Graal): French prose reworking of Vulgate Cycle c. 1250 Prose Tristan: French fusion of Tristan legend with Arthurian stories c. 1260 Penninc and Pieter Vostaert, Roman van Walewein: Dutch Gawain romance 1290 Edward I hosts Round Table tournament at Winchester and commissions Round Table early 14th century Dutch Lancelot-compilation: part of Vulgate Cycle plus interpolated Dutch romances c. 1340 Perceforest: vast French prose romance merging legends of Alexander and Arthur Tavola Ritonda: Italian Arthurian compilation c. 1380 Alliterative Morte Arthure (Middle English)

xvi

a selective chronology

c. 1390 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales: allusions to Arthurian characters 1430s John Lydgate, Fall of Princes (based on Boccaccio and Laurent de Premierfait): includes rise and fall of Arthur c. 1450 Burgundian prose adaptations of Chrétien’s Erec and Cligés c. 1457–64 John Hardyng’s Chronicle (2 versions): includes Grail quest 1469–70 Sir Thomas Malory completes Le Morte Darthur c. 1481–92 Ulrich Fuetrer, Buch der Abenteuer: German Arthurian compilation 1485 First printed edition of Malory by William Caxton 1486 Henry VII names eldest son Arthur 1534 First printed edition of Polydore Vergil’s Anglica Historia: questions historicity of Arthurian legend 1587 Thomas Hughes, The Misfortunes of Arthur: Senecan tragedy 1590–6 Publication of Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene: includes Prince Arthur 1613 Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion: includes Arthurian ‘history’ 1691 Henry Purcell and John Dryden, King Arthur: The British Worthy (opera) 1695 Richard Blackmore, Prince Arthur: verse epic 1730–1 Henry Fielding, Tom Thumb: satire set at Arthurian court 1765 Percy’s Reliques: includes Arthurian tales and ballads 1813 Sir Walter Scott, The Bridal of Triermain: Arthurian episode 1816 First reprinting of Malory since 1634 1829 Thomas Love Peacock, The Misfortunes of Elphin: satire set in sixth-century Wales 1832 Alfred Lord Tennyson, The Lady of Shalott: Tennyson’s first Arthurian poem 1836–46 Lady Charlotte Guest translates The Mabinogion 1848 Foundation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood 1858 William Morris, The Defence of Guenevere 1859–85 Tennyson, Idylls of the King

xvii

a selective chronology

1865 Richard Wagner, Tristan und Isolde 1881–98 Edward Burne-Jones, The Sleep of Arthur in Avalon (cover illustration and frontispiece) 1882 Wagner, Parsifal 1889 Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in the Court of King Arthur 1903 Edwin Porter, Parsifal: first Arthurian film 1920 Jessie Weston, From Ritual to Romance: anthropolog- ical study of romance motifs 1922 T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land 1923 Thomas Hardy, The Famous Tragedy of the Queen of Cornwall 1927 Rodgers and Hart, A Connecticut Yankee (musical) 1938 T. H. White, The Sword in the Stone; reprinted 1958 as the first part ofThe Once and Future King 1949 International Arthurian Society founded 1958–9 John Steinbeck, The Acts of King Arthur (published 1976): retelling of Malory 1960 Lerner and Loewe, Camelot (musical) 1967 Joshua Logan, Camelot (film) 1970–9 Mary Stewart, The Merlin Trilogy 1965–77 Susan Cooper, The Dark is Rising series 1974 Robert Bresson, Lancelot du Lac (film) 1975 Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, Monty Python and the Holy Grail (film) 1978 Thomas Berger, Arthur Rex Eric Rohmer, Perceval le Gallois (film) 1981 John Boorman, Excalibur (film) 1982 Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon 1982–5 Camelot 3000: sci-fi Arthurian comic strip 1984 Mary Stewart, The Wicked Day David Lodge, Small World 1995 Jerry Zucker, First Knight (film) 2004 Antoine Fuqua, King Arthur (film) 2005 Eric Idle and John Du Prez, Spamalot (musical)

xviii

+-#.+$( +$-$(

Loch North Sea Lomond

$(.+"# Eildon Hills d e '.+"# R. Twe Caledonian Wood (Celidon) &(0$% +! +2 +-#.+ - $+ ),0& +&$,& +$(, && (+$-# $#')( -- +$%

)+% $(",-)(.*)(.&& R. H um $++& b er

("& , 2 (")+ Snowdonia # ,- + $(, '+2, Wash e h )--$("#' T Lake Bala n le Riv G e R. r S e +2,-02-# v e r n )+ ,- + Prescelly Mountains +'+-# ( +-#.+, / )(').-# &). ,- + )&# ,- + Forest +& )( of Dean 1!)+ +$ " ( 0*)+- $ $("-)( ,-'$(,- + ,-& R &(+!( + $!! . T Bristol Channel -# hames )( )( -)( # (" .(,- + .$& !)+ ' ,.+2 )/ + &,-)(.+2 $(# ,- + .+2 ,-& .+2 $(-" & &."#- + +$ " $(", ' &!)+ l e ) '$( ,-& )+ n a n e C h T h

Arthurian Britain

xix