Introduction 1

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Introduction 1 NOTES Introduction 1 . Siân Echard, Arthurian Narrative in the Latin Tradition , Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature 36 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998 ), p. 14; Helen Cooper, The English Romance in Time: Transforming Motifs from Geoffrey of Monmouth to the Death of Shakespeare (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004 ), pp. 26–27; Anne F. Sutton and Livia Visser-Fuchs, “The Dark Dragon of the Normans: A Creation of Geoffrey of Monmouth, Stephen of Rouen, and Merlin Silvester,” Quondam et Futurus: A Journal of Arthurian Interpretations 2.2 ( 1992 ): 2 [1–19]. 2 . Julia Briggs discusses the Vortiger and Uther Pendragon plays per- formed by Philip Henslowe’s company as well as William Rowley’s The Birth of Merlin and Thomas Middleton’s Hengist , “New Times and Old Stories: Middleton’s Hengist ,” Literary Appropriations of the Anglo-Saxons from the Thirteenth to the Twentieth Century , ed. Donald Scragg and Carole Weinberg, Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England 29 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000 ), pp. 108–9 [107–21]. 3 . For evidence supporting a late 1138 date for Geoffrey’s HRB , see Wright, introduction to HRB Bern , p. xvi [ix-lix] and John Gillingham, “The Context and Purposes of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain ,” Anglo-Norman Studies 13 (1991 ): 100 n5 [99–118]. 4 . Clarke, introduction to VM , p. vii [vii-50]; Echard, Arthurian Narrative , p. 218. 5 . Lee Patterson, Negotiating the Past: The Historical Understanding of Medieval Literature (Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1987 ), pp. 160, 201, 170, and 187; Virgil, Aeneid in Eclogues, Georgics, Aeneid I-VI , trans. H. Rushton Fairclough (London: William Heinemann; New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1926 ) and Aeneid VII-XII and the Minor Poems , trans. H. Rushton Fairclough (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd., 1950). 6 . Eneas: roman de XIIe siècle ( Le roman d’Eneas ), ed. J.-J. Salverda de Grave, Les classiques français du moyen âge 44 and 62, 2 vols. (Paris: Librairie Honoré Champion, 1925–29); Chrétien de Troyes, Erec et Enide , ed. Mario Roques, Les classiques français du moyen âge 80 142 NOTES (Paris: Librairie Honoré Champion, 1955); Alliterative Morte Arthure: A Critical Edition , ed. Mary Hamel (New York & London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1984 ). 7 . Maureen Fries, “Boethian Themes and Tragic Structure in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia regum Britanniae ,” in The Arthurian Tradition: Essays in Convergence , ed. Mary Flowers Braswell and John Bugge (Tuscaloosa and London: The University of Alabama Press, 1988 ), pp. 29–30 and 37 [29–42]. 8 . Susan M. Shwartz, “The Founding and Self-Betrayal of Britain: An Augustinian Approach to Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia regum Britanniae ,” Medievalia et Humanistica n.s. 10 ( 1981 ): 34 and 48 [33–53]. 9 . Laura D. Barefield, “Gender and the Creation of Lineage in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia regum Britanniae ,” Publications of the Medieval Association of the Midwest 9 (2002 ): 1–3 [1–14]. 10 . Stephen Knight, Arthurian Literature and Society (London: Macmillan, 1983), p. 58. 11 . Knight, Arthurian Literature , pp. 60–63. 12 . Knight, Arthurian Literature , p. 59. 13 . Michelle R. Warren, History on the Edge: Excalibur and the Borders of Britain, 1100–1300 (Minneapolis, MN and London: University of Minnesota Press, 2000 ), p. 46. 14 . Warren, History on the Edge , pp. 35, 37–38, 45–47, and 49. 15 . Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, Of Giants: Sex, Monsters, and the Middle Ages , Medieval Cultures 17 (Minneapolis, MN and London: University of Minnesota Press, 1999), pp. 46–47. 16 . Cohen, Of Giants , p. 46. 17 . Cooper acknowledges the HRB ’s importance, The English Romance in Time , pp. 26–27. 18 . Cooper, The English Romance in Time , pp. 23, 191, 24, 74, 129, 184, and 405. 19 . In Cooper’s The English Romance in Time , there are three mentions of Geoffrey as an author (pp. 27, 412, and 414) along with one reference to The Prophecies of Merlin (p. 191), three pages on which The History of the Kings of Britain is discussed (pp. 23–24 and 405), and three on which The Life of Merlin is discussed (pp. 74, 129, and 184). 20 . Cooper notes Geoffrey’s “endlessly inventive spawning of legends” that enabled many romancers to add their own “quasi-historical mate- rial,” his use of the Troy legend that later enabled the Elizabethans to advance “nationalist agendas,” and his inclusion of both Leir and Arthur that led to both Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur and Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene , The English Romance in Time , p. 24. See Sir Thomas Malory, The Works of Sir Thomas Malory , ed. Eugène Vinaver, rev. P. J. C. Field, 3rd edn., 3 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990 ) and Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , ed. A. C. Hamilton, Hiroshi Yamashita, Toshiyuki Suzuki, and Shohachi Fukuda, 2nd edn. (New York: Longman, 2006 ). NOTES 143 21 . Lori J. Walters, introduction to Lancelot and Guinevere: A Casebook , ed. Lori J. Walters, Arthurian Characters and Themes 4 (New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1996; repr. New York: Routledge, 2002 ), p. xv [xiii-lxxx]. 22 . Susann Samples, “Guinevere: A Re-appraisal,” in Lancelot and Guinevere: A Casebook , ed. Lori J. Walters, Arthurian Characters and Themes 4 (New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1996 ; repr. New York: Routledge, 2002 ), pp. 219–20 [219–28]. 23 . Samples, “Guinevere,” in Lancelot and Guinevere , ed. Walters, p. 220. 24 . Samples concludes, “Thus, in History Geoffrey devotes little attention to the courtship, and the marriage of Guinevere and Arthur is never developed. This lack of interaction between Guinevere and Arthur is also mirrored in Geoffrey’s description of knights and ladies at Arthur’s court, where the entourages are segregated: Arthur has a following of brave and noble warrior-knights, and Guinevere, of fair and lovely ladies. During a banquet, the knights eat in one hall, the ladies in another; and later, two separate masses are sung to accommodate the knights and ladies,” “Guinevere,” in Lancelot and Guinevere , ed. Walters, pp. 219–20. 25 . Peter Korrel, An Arthurian Triangle: A Study of the Origin, Development and Characterization of Arthur, Guinevere and Modred (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1984 ); Charlotte A. T. Wulf, “A Comparative Study of Wace’s Guenevere in the Twelfth Century,” in Arthurian Romance and Gender , ed. Friedrich Wolfzettel (Amsterdam and Atlanta, GA: Rodopi, 1995 ), pp. 66–78; Fiona Tolhurst, “The Britons as Hebrews, Romans, and Normans: Geoffrey of Monmouth’s British Epic and Reflections of Empress Matilda,” Arthuriana 8.4 ( 1998): 69–87 and “The Once and Future Queen: The Development of Guenevere from Geoffrey of Monmouth to Malory,” Bibliographical Bulletin of the International Arthurian Society 50 ( 1998): 272–308; and Fiona Tolhurst Neuendorf, “Negotiating Feminist and Historicist Concerns: Guenevere in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia regum Britanniae ,” Quondam et Futurus: A Journal of Arthurian Interpretations 3.2 (1993 ): 26–44. 26 . J. S. P. Tatlock, “Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Motives for Writing His Historia ,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 79.4 ( 1938): 695 and 701 [695–703]. 27 . J. S. P. Tatlock, The Legendary History of Britain: Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia regum Britanniae and Its Early Vernacular Versions (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1950), pp. 286–88. 28 . Antonia Gransden, Historical Writing in England c. 550 to c. 1307 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1974), pp. 202–4. 29 . Gransden, Historical Writing , pp. 206 and 208. 30 . Gransden, Historical Writing , p. 208. 31 . Martin B. Shichtman and Laurie A. Finke, “Profiting from the Past: History as Symbolic Capital in The Historia regum Britanniae ,” Arthurian Literature 12 ( 1993): 22 [1–35], republished as Chapter 2 of King Arthur 144 NOTES and the Myth of History (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2004 ), pp. 35–70 citing Gransden, Historical Writing , pp. 207–8. 32 . Shichtman and Finke, “Profiting from the Past,” pp. 22–27. 33 . Patterson, Negotiating the Past , pp. 8–9 and 77. 34 . Maureen Fries, “Female Heroes, Heroines and Counter-Heroes: Images of Women in Arthurian Tradition,” in Popular Arthurian Traditions , ed. Sally K. Slocum (Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1992), pp. 5–17. 35 . Fries, “Female Heroes,” in Popular Arthurian Traditions , ed. Slocum, p. 15. 36 . Donald L. Hoffman argues that Malory’s Guenevere appears to retain a bit of the magical power that might once have been hers as the Giant’s Daughter and eventually takes on mystical power as she leads Lancelot to salvation, while Malory’s Morgan turns out to be a potentially parodic goddess and finally a healer; this situation makes Guenevere a potential counter-heroine and Morgan an imperfect counter-hero, “Guenevere the Enchantress,” Arthuriana 9.2 (1999 ): 31, 33, and 34 [30–36]. 37 . Joan Cadden, Meanings of Sex Difference in the Middle Ages: Medicine, Science, and Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), p. 2. 38 . Judith M. Bennett, “Medievalism and Feminism,” Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies 68 (1993 ): 322 [309–31]. 39 . Jean Blacker argues for her “belief in the referentiality of historical nar- rative” in the Middle Ages, The Faces of Time: Portrayal of the Past in Old French and Latin Historical Narrative of the Anglo-Norman Regnum (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994), pp. xiii-xiv while Nancy F. Partner approaches historical narrative in a similar manner, Serious Entertainments: The Writing of History in Twelfth-Century England (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1977). 40 . Nancy F. Partner, “No Sex, No Gender,” Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies 68 (1993 ): 443 and 423–33 [419–43]. 41 . Oxford English Dictionary Online , entry for ‘feminism, n.,’ accessed March 1, 2011 http://dictionary.oed.com/. 42 . Ruth Evans and Lesley Johnson, introduction to Feminist Readings in Middle English Literature: The Wife of Bath and All Her Sect , ed.
Recommended publications
  • Queen Guinevere
    Ingvarsdóttir 1 Hugvísindasvið Queen Guinevere: A queen through time B.A. Thesis Marie Helga Ingvarsdóttir June 2011 Ingvarsdóttir 2 Háskóli Íslands Hugvísindasvið Enskudeild Queen Guinevere: A queen through time B.A. Thesis Marie Helga Ingvarsdóttir Kt.: 060389-3309 Supervisor: Ingibjörg Ágústsdóttir June 2011 Ingvarsdóttir 3 Abstract This essay is an attempt to recollect and analyze the character of Queen Guinevere in Arthurian literature and movies through time. The sources involved here are Welsh and other Celtic tradition, Latin texts, French romances and other works from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Malory’s and Tennyson’s representation of the Queen, and finally Guinevere in the twentieth century in Bradley’s and Miles’s novels as well as in movies. The main sources in the first three chapters are of European origins; however, there is a focus on French and British works. There is a lack of study of German sources, which could bring different insights into the character of Guinevere. The purpose of this essay is to analyze the evolution of Queen Guinevere and to point out that through the works of Malory and Tennyson, she has been misrepresented and there is more to her than her adulterous relation with Lancelot. This essay is exclusively focused on Queen Guinevere and her analysis involves other characters like Arthur, Lancelot, Merlin, Enide, and more. First the Queen is only represented as Arthur’s unfaithful wife, and her abduction is narrated. We have here the basis of her character. Chrétien de Troyes develops this basic character into a woman of important values about love and chivalry.
    [Show full text]
  • Fulgor V1i3 Taler.Pdf (181.9Kb)
    BOOK REVIEWS Manuel Vázquez Montalbán (2003). Erec y Enide. Ed. Debolsillo: Barcelona. 253 pages (in Spanish) ISBN 84-9759-445-2 (vol. 511/1) reviewed by Fiona Taler (Flinders University) This review is offered in memory of don Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, who died tragically in Bangkok on 17 October 2003 on his return home after a lecture tour of Australia and New Zealand. His kindness, intelligence and ever present humour during his visit to Flinders University are fondly remembered. The use of myth to illustrate the malaise of present day society is neither new nor original in contemporary literature, but it is not often attended by analysis of such scholarly splendour as it is within this text. Vázquez Montalbán’s novel Erec y Enide is named after the work of the same name by Chrétien de Troyes (ca. 1175), in which the adventures of Geraint (Erec) are narrated as he drives his unfortunate wife, Enid (Enide) through innumerable dangers in order to prove his love for her as well as his valour as a knight of Arthur’s round table. In Vázquez Montalbán’s novel, Chrétien’s text is the most elaborately worked, but it is not the only Arthurian myth represented. The novel draws upon the story of Lancelot and Guinevere, the philosophy of Percival and, insistently, the forbidden love between Tristan and Iseult, in order to illustrate the inevitable and complete isolation of the individual within what one would normally consider a well integrated society. Thus, upon reflecting on the Arthurian world through the rich pages of Erec y Enide, one is made aware of the futility of knightly endeavour and, by analogy, of the futility of endeavour in the contemporary world.
    [Show full text]
  • THE KINGS and QUEENS of BRITAIN, PART I (From Geoffrey of Monmouth’S Historia Regum Britanniae, Tr
    THE KINGS AND QUEENS OF BRITAIN, PART I (from Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae, tr. Lewis Thorpe) See also Bill Cooper’s extended version (incorporating details given by Nennius’s history and old Welsh texts, and adding hypothesised dates for each monarch, as explained here). See also the various parallel versions of the Arthurian section. Aeneas │ Ascanius │ Silvius = Lavinia’s niece │ Corineus (in Cornwall) Brutus = Ignoge, dtr of Pandrasus │ ┌─────────────┴─┬───────────────┐ Gwendolen = Locrinus Kamber (in Wales) Albanactus (in Scotland) │ └Habren, by Estrildis Maddan ┌──┴──┐ Mempricius Malin │ Ebraucus │ 30 dtrs and 20 sons incl. Brutus Greenshield └Leil └Rud Hud Hudibras └Bladud │ Leir ┌────────────────┴┬──────────────┐ Goneril Regan Cordelia = Maglaurus of Albany = Henwinus of Cornwall = Aganippus of the Franks │ │ Marganus Cunedagius │ Rivallo ┌──┴──┐ Gurgustius (anon) │ │ Sisillius Jago │ Kimarcus │ Gorboduc = Judon ┌──┴──┐ Ferrex Porrex Cloten of Cornwall┐ Dunvallo Molmutius = Tonuuenna ┌──┴──┐ Belinus Brennius = dtr of Elsingius of Norway Gurguit Barbtruc┘ = dtr of Segnius of the Allobroges └Guithelin = Marcia Sisillius┘ ┌┴────┐ Kinarius Danius = Tanguesteaia Morvidus┘ ┌──────┬────┴─┬──────┬──────┐ Gorbonianus Archgallo Elidurus Ingenius Peredurus │ ┌──┴──┐ │ │ │ (anon) Marganus Enniaunus │ Idvallo Runo Gerennus Catellus┘ Millus┘ Porrex┘ Cherin┘ ┌─────┴─┬───────┐ Fulgenius Edadus Andragius Eliud┘ Cledaucus┘ Clotenus┘ Gurgintius┘ Merianus┘ Bledudo┘ Cap┘ Oenus┘ Sisillius┘ ┌──┴──┐ Bledgabred Archmail └Redon └Redechius
    [Show full text]
  • Cordelia''s Portrait in the Context of King Lear''s
    Paula M. Rodríguez Gómez Cordelias Portrait in the Context of King Lears... 181 CORDELIAS PORTRAIT IN THE CONTEXT OF KING LEARS INDIVIDUATION* Paula M. Rodríguez Gómez** Abstract: This analysis attempts to show the relations between the individual psyche and the contents of the collective unconscious. Following Von Franzs analytical technique, the tragic action in King Lear will be read as an individuation process that will rescue archetypal contents and solve existential paradoxes that cause an imbalance between the ego and the self, leading to self-destruction. Once communication is eased and balance is restored, the transformation-seeking process that engaged the design of the play itself becomes resolved, and events can be led to a conventional tragic resolution. Jungian analysis will therefore provide a critical framework to unveil the subconscious contents that tear the character of the king between annihilation and survival, the anima complex that affects the king, responding thus for the action of the play and its centuries-old success. Keywords: collective unconscious, myth, individuation, archetype, tragedy, anima. Resumen: Este análisis pretende sacar a la luz las relaciones entre la psyche individual y los contenidos del inconsciente colectivo. Siguiendo la técnica analítica de Von Franz, la acción trágica de King Lear será entendida a través del proceso de individuación que revierte sobre los contenidos arquetípicos y resuelve las paradojas existenciales que cau- san el desequilibrio entre ego y self. Una vez que la comunicación es facilitada y el equilibrio psíquico recuperado, el proceso transformativo que afecta la génesis de la trama se resuelve y el argumento alcanza una resolución convencional.
    [Show full text]
  • Actions Héroïques
    Shadows over Camelot FAQ 1.0 Oct 12, 2005 The following FAQ lists some of the most frequently asked questions surrounding the Shadows over Camelot boardgame. This list will be revised and expanded by the Authors as required. Many of the points below are simply a repetition of some easily overlooked rules, while a few others offer clarifications or provide a definitive interpretation of rules. For your convenience, they have been regrouped and classified by general subject. I. The Heroic Actions A Knight may only do multiple actions during his turn if each of these actions is of a DIFFERENT nature. For memory, the 5 possible action types are: A. Moving to a new place B. Performing a Quest-specific action C. Playing a Special White card D. Healing yourself E. Accusing another Knight of being the Traitor. Example: It is Sir Tristan's turn, and he is on the Black Knight Quest. He plays the last Fight card required to end the Quest (action of type B). He thus automatically returns to Camelot at no cost. This move does not count as an action, since it was automatically triggered by the completion of the Quest. Once in Camelot, Tristan will neither be able to draw White cards nor fight the Siege Engines, if he chooses to perform a second Heroic Action. This is because this would be a second Quest-specific (Action of type B) action! On the other hand, he could immediately move to another new Quest (because he hasn't chosen a Move action (Action of type A.) yet.
    [Show full text]
  • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight As a Loathly Lady Tale by Lauren Chochinov a Thesis Submitted to the Facult
    Distressing Damsels: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as a Loathly Lady Tale By Lauren Chochinov A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba In partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of English University of Manitoba Winnipeg, Manitoba Copyright © 2010 by Lauren Chochinov Library and Archives Bibliothèque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l’édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-70110-2 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-70110-2 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non- L’auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l’Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non- support microforme, papier, électronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L’auteur conserve la propriété du droit d’auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation.
    [Show full text]
  • Structure, Legitimacy, and Magic in <Em>The Birth of Merlin</Em>
    Early Theatre 9.1 Megan Lynn Isaac Legitimizing Magic in The Birth of Merlin Bastardy, adultery, and infidelity are topics at issue in The Birth of Merlin on every level. Unfortunately, most of the critical examination of these topics has not extended beyond the title page. In 1662 Francis Kirkman and Henry Marsh commissioned the first known printing of the play from an old manuscript in Kirkman’s possession. The title page of their version attributes the play to Shakespeare and Rowley, and generations of critics have quarreled over the legitimacy of that ascription. Without any compelling evidence to substantiate the authorship of Shakespeare and Rowley, many critics have tried to solve the dilemma from the other end. Just as in the play Merlin’s mother spends most of the first act inquiring of every man she meets whether he might have fathered her child, these scholars have attempted to attribute the play to virtually every dramatist and combination of dramatists on record. Beaumont, Fletcher, Ford, Middleton, and Dekker, among others, have all been subjected to the literary equivalent of a blood-test; analyses of their spelling and linguistic preferences have been made in an effort to link them to The Birth of Merlin.1 Unlike the hero of the drama, however, the play itself is still without a father, though it does have a birthdate in 1622, as has been demonstrated be N.W. Bawcutt.2 Debates over authorship are not particularly uncommon in early modern studies, but the question of who fathered the legendary Merlin, the topic of the play, is more unusual and more interesting.
    [Show full text]
  • 550 to 559 How Maelgwn Became King After the Taking of the Crown
    550 to 559 How Maelgwn Became King After the taking of the crown and sceptre of London from the nation of the Cymry, and their expulsion from Lloegyr, they instituted an enquiry to see who of them should be supreme king. The place they appointed was on the Maelgwn sand at Aber Dyvi; and thereto came the men of Gwynedd, the men of Powys, the men of South Wales, of Reinwg of Morganwg, and of d Seisyllwg. And there Maeldav the elder, the son of Ynhwch Unachen, chief of Moel Esgidion in Meirionydd, placed a chair composed of waxed wings under Maelgwn; so when the tide flowed, no one was able to remain, excepting Maelgwn, because of his chair. And by that means Maelgwn became supreme king, with Aberfraw for his principal court; and the earl of Mathraval, and the earl of Dinevwr, and the earl of Caerllion subject to him; and his word paramount over all; and his law paramount, and he not bound to observe their law. And it was on account of Maeldav the elder, that Penardd acquired its privilege, and to be the eldest chansellor-ship. Caradoc of Llancarfan. The Life of St Gildas Crossing the Channel, he spent seven years most successfully in further studies in Gaul. At the end of the seventh year he returned to Great Britain with a great mass of books of all kinds. As the reputation of this highly distinguished stranger spread, scholars poured in to him from all sides. From him they heard the science of the Seven Disciplines most subtly explained, by which doctrine students change into teachers, under the teacher's honour.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction: the Legend of King Arthur
    Department of History University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire “HIC FACET ARTHURUS, REX QUONDAM, REXQUE FUTURUS” THE ANALYSIS OF ORIGINAL MEDIEVAL SOURCES IN THE SEARCH FOR THE HISTORICAL KING ARTHUR Final Paper History 489: Research Seminar Professor Thomas Miller Cooperating Professor: Professor Matthew Waters By Erin Pevan November 21, 2006 1 Copyright for this work is owned by the author. This digital version is published by McIntyre Library, University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire with the consent of the author. 2 Department of History University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Abstract of: “HIC FACET ARTHURUS, REX QUONDAM, REXQUE FUTURUS” THE ANALYSIS OF ORIGINAL MEDIEVAL SOURCES IN THE SEARCH FOR THE HISTORICAL KING ARTHUR Final Paper History 489: Research Seminar Professor Thomas Miller Cooperating Professor: Matthew Waters By Erin Pevan November 21, 2006 The stories of Arthurian literary tradition have provided our modern age with gripping tales of chivalry, adventure, and betrayal. King Arthur remains a hero of legend in the annals of the British Isles. However, one question remains: did King Arthur actually exist? Early medieval historical sources provide clues that have identified various figures that may have been the template for King Arthur. Such candidates such as the second century Roman general Lucius Artorius Castus, the fifth century Breton leader Riothamus, and the sixth century British leader Ambrosius Aurelianus hold high esteem as possible candidates for the historical King Arthur. Through the analysis of original sources and authors such as the Easter Annals, Nennius, Bede, Gildas, and the Annales Cambriae, parallels can be established which connect these historical figures to aspects of the Arthur of literary tradition.
    [Show full text]
  • Religion and Religious Symbolism in the Tale of the Grail by Three Authors
    Faculty of Arts English and German Philology and Translation & Interpretation COMPARATIVE LITERATURE: RELIGION AND RELIGIOUS SYMBOLISM IN THE TALE OF THE GRAIL BY THREE AUTHORS by ASIER LANCHO DIEGO DEGREE IN ENGLISH STUDIES TUTOR: CRISTINA JARILLOT RODAL JUNE 2017 ABSTRACT: The myth of the Grail has long been recognised as the cornerstone of Arthurian literature. Many studies have been conducted on the subject of Christian symbolism in the major Grail romances. However, the aim of the present paper is to prove that the 15th-century “Tale of the Sangrail”, found in Le Morte d’Arthur, by Thomas Malory, presents a greater degree of Christian coloration than 12th-century Chrétien de Troyes’ Perceval and Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival. In order to evaluate this claim, the origin and function of the main elements at the Grail Ceremony were compared in the first place. Secondly, the main characters’ roles were examined to determine variations concerning religious beliefs and overall character development. The findings demonstrated that the main elements at the Grail Ceremony in Thomas Malory’s “The Tale of the Sangrail” are more closely linked to Christian motifs and that Perceval’s psychological development in the same work conflicts with that of a stereotypical Bildungsroman, in contrast with the previous 12th-century versions of the tale. Keywords: The Tale of the Grail, Grail Ceremony, Holy Grail, Christian symbolism INDEX 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • THE PRINCE of WALES and the DUCHESS of CORNWALL Background Information for Media
    THE PRINCE OF WALES AND THE DUCHESS OF CORNWALL Background Information for Media May 2019 Contents Biography .......................................................................................................................................... 3 Seventy Facts for Seventy Years ...................................................................................................... 4 Charities and Patronages ................................................................................................................. 7 Military Affiliations .......................................................................................................................... 8 The Duchess of Cornwall ............................................................................................................ 10 Biography ........................................................................................................................................ 10 Charities and Patronages ............................................................................................................... 10 Military Affiliations ........................................................................................................................ 13 A speech by HRH The Prince of Wales at the "Our Planet" premiere, Natural History Museum, London ...................................................................................................................................... 14 Address by HRH The Prince of Wales at a service to celebrate the contribution
    [Show full text]
  • MINUTES of the 69 MEETING of AYNHO HISTORY SOCIETY HELD at the VILLAGE HALL, AYNHO on WEDNESDAY 25 JUNE 2014 Present
    MINUTES OF THE 69th MEETING OF AYNHO HISTORY SOCIETY HELD AT THE VILLAGE HALL, AYNHO ON WEDNESDAY 25th JUNE 2014 Present: - Peter Cole - Secretary. There were apologies from Rupert Clark due to work commitments 1. Chairman and Treasurer's Report In Rupert’s absence Peter reported that Middleton Cheney is holding a photographic exhibition on Saturday 19th July from 2pm to 4.30pm in All Saints Church, entitled “The Village – Then and Now”. There will be about 50 photos of Middleton Cheney taken between 1900 and 1930, accompanied by photos of the same view taken today. 2. Royal Mistresses Roger Powell The talk covers the period from 1509 to the present day, and concentrates on people who were royal mistresses for at least ten years. Indeed one was a mistress for 36 years. In many cases from a psychological point of view she was not just an object of desire but she more or less became a second wife, and sometimes even a mother to the king. The origin of the role in the early days of the Middle Ages derives from the many loveless royal marriages, as for kings the main reason for a marriage was to secure or maintain an alliance to build his empire or strengthen his position against enemies. Once a queen had given the king one or two heirs, he would forget or even abandon her and take a mistress. In England a royal mistress did not become a feature of court society until the 17th century. In France they had been around in the mid-1600s, but it took a while before England followed suit.
    [Show full text]