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172-542: Below is a summary based on the ms. A version, after Lavaud & Nelli's 1960 translation into modern French, and Ross G. Arthur's English translation. Chapter names approximately follow the latter. After a short eulogy to the court of King Arthur , the poet dedicates his work to the young King of Aragon, who has recently defeated God's enemies, possibly the Saracens in Spain. The poem proper begins. The court of King Arthur

344-475: A historical figure . His name also occurs in early Welsh poetic sources such as Y Gododdin . The character developed through Welsh mythology , appearing either as a great warrior defending Britain from human and supernatural enemies or as a magical figure of folklore, sometimes associated with the Welsh otherworld Annwn . The legendary Arthur developed as a figure of international interest largely through

516-429: A 'no smoke without fire' school of thought ... The fact of the matter is that there is no historical evidence about Arthur; we must reject him from our histories and, above all, from the titles of our books." Some scholars argue that Arthur was originally a fictional hero of folklore—or even a half-forgotten Celtic deity—who became credited with real deeds in the distant past. They cite parallels with figures such as

688-752: A Celtic origin, being a Latinization of a hypothetical name *Artorījos , in turn derived from an older patronym *Arto-rīg-ios , meaning "son of the bear/warrior-king". This patronym is unattested, but the root, *arto-rīg , "bear/warrior-king", is the source of the Old Irish personal name Artrí . Some scholars have suggested it is relevant to this debate that the legendary King Arthur's name only appears as Arthur or Arturus in early Latin Arthurian texts, never as Artōrius (though Classical Latin Artōrius became Arturius in some Vulgar Latin dialects). Others believe

860-535: A French cleric and chronicler named Hériman of Tournai about 1145, but referring to events occurring in 1113, mentions the Breton and Cornish belief that Arthur still lived. In 1191 the alleged tomb of Arthur was identified in an obviously orchestrated discovery at Glastonbury Abbey . Whereas numerous scholars have argued that this could have been due to the Abbey wanting to stand out with an illustrious tomb, or to

1032-465: A better fit could be made to the wooden club by giving the eye of the mace head the shape of a cone and using a tapered handle. The Shardanas or warriors from Sardinia who fought for Ramses II against the Hittites were armed with maces consisting of wooden sticks with bronze heads. Many bronze statuettes of the times show Sardinian warriors carrying swords, bows and original maces. Persians used

1204-746: A central flaw in his otherwise ideal society". Arthur's role in these works is frequently that of a wise, dignified, even-tempered, somewhat bland, and occasionally feeble monarch. So, he simply turns pale and silent when he learns of Lancelot's affair with Guinevere in the Mort Artu , whilst in Yvain, the Knight of the Lion , he is unable to stay awake after a feast and has to retire for a nap. Nonetheless, as Norris J. Lacy has observed, whatever his faults and frailties may be in these Arthurian romances, "his prestige

1376-671: A club-like mace at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 in the Bayeux Tapestry , the idea being that he did so to avoid either shedding blood or bearing the arms of war. In the 1893 work Arms and Armour in Antiquity and the Middle Ages , Paul Lacombe and Charles Boutell state that the mace was chiefly used for blows struck upon the head of an enemy. Eastern European maces often had pear shaped heads. These maces were also used by

1548-616: A common subject in literature and art. The development of the medieval Arthurian cycle and the character of the "Arthur of romance" culminated in Le Morte d'Arthur , Thomas Malory 's retelling of the entire legend in a single work in English in the late 15th century. Malory based his book—originally titled The Whole Book of King Arthur and of His Noble Knights of the Round Table —on the various previous romance versions, in particular

1720-493: A criminal. They had tried to seek help at the court of King Arthur, but in vain. Jaufre apologises, but says he is unable to help them. Melian arrives to meet them with his prisoner, Taulat, and they all return to Monbrun. Jaufre confides his plans of matrimony to Melian. Melian agrees to the marriage, and confirms this with Brunissen. Taulat departs for the castle where he will be kept prisoner. Melian, Augier, Jaufre and Brunissen depart for Arthur's court at Cardeuil. They arrive at

1892-501: A desire of the Plantagenet regime to put an end to a legendary rival figure who inspired tenacious Celtic opposition to their rule, it may also have been motivated by how the Arthurian expectations were highly problematic to contemporary Christianity. The longing of the return of a mighty immortal figure returning before the end of time to re-establish his perfect rule, not only ran against basic Catholic tenets but could even threaten

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2064-434: A few motifs and names, but there can be no doubt of the extent to which a legend born many centuries ago is profoundly embedded in modern culture at every level." Mace (bludgeon) A mace is a blunt weapon , a type of club or virge that uses a heavy head on the end of a handle to deliver powerful strikes . A mace typically consists of a strong, heavy, wooden or metal shaft, often reinforced with metal, featuring

2236-481: A fundamentally English character and hero. The completion of the conquest was one of the factors that shifted storytellers away from the Welsh roots of the original tales. The popularity of Geoffrey's Historia and its other derivative works (such as Wace 's Roman de Brut ) gave rise to a significant numbers of new Arthurian works in continental Europe during the 12th and 13th centuries, particularly in France. It

2408-437: A head made of stone, bone, copper, bronze, iron, or steel. The head of a mace can be shaped with flanges or knobs to increase the pressure of an impact by focusing the force on a small point. They would bind on metal instead of sliding around it, allowing them to deliver more force to an armored opponent than a traditional mace. This effect increased the potential for the mace to injure an armored opponent through weak spots in

2580-410: A historical Arthur. Partly in reaction to such theories, another school of thought emerged which argued that Arthur had no historical existence at all. Morris's Age of Arthur prompted the archaeologist Nowell Myres to observe that "no figure on the borderline of history and mythology has wasted more of the historian's time". Gildas 's 6th-century polemic De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae ( On

2752-448: A horned beast larger than any bull, with a shaggy red ( Occitan : saur " sorrel ") coat, a pugnosed snout, large eyes, and long teeth. When Arthur grabs the beast by the horns, his hands become stuck. The beast then carries him off, and dangles him over the edge of a cliff. The knights of the Round Table, at the base of the cliff, are alarmed, and one knight suggests firing an arrow at the beast. However, as this could also kill Arthur, it

2924-421: A hunger-stricken old lady sitting under a pine tree, who tries to bar Jaufre’s way, but he passes anyway. Approaching a chapel, he is stopped by a demonic black knight, who attacks him without cause. They fight all day and all night, until a hermit comes out of the chapel the following morning and dispels the demon. The hermit explains that the old lady had had a giant as a husband, who had wrought destruction across

3096-486: A jape, they all return to King Arthur's court at Cardeuil. A young man arrives at the court of King Arthur and begs the King to knight him and grant him his first wish. King Arthur agrees to do so. Then a knight named Taulat de Rougemont arrives at the court. He suddenly stabs one of Arthur’s knights in the stomach in front of Queen Guinevere , and leaves. The young man who had just arrived asks to follow this knight and avenge

3268-515: A kind of club, hammer, or " hoe handle/stick"). Possibly influenced by Latin mattiobarbulus ("type of javelin "), mattiarius ("soldier armed with said javelin"), from mataris, matara (" Gallic javelin"), from a Gaulish or Celtic word. The mace was developed during the Upper Paleolithic from the simple club , by adding sharp spikes of either flint or obsidian . In Europe, an elaborately carved ceremonial flint mace head

3440-573: A later dating is the fact that James I did not really win his first battle against "those who do not believe in God" (presumably the Saracens), and the poem is quite explicit about this point. Alfonso, by contrast, who was king as a teenager and defeated the Muslims of Spain in 1169, was also a patron of troubadours. This would make the first part if the poem as old as the early 1170s. A later dating however

3612-519: A mace capable of penetrating armour is the flanged mace. The flanges allow it to dent or penetrate thick armour . Flange maces did not become popular until after knobbed maces. Although there are some references to flanged maces ( bardoukion ) as early as the Byzantine Empire c. 900 it is commonly accepted that the flanged mace did not become popular in Europe until the 12th century, when it

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3784-626: A mace. See the articles on the Narmer Macehead and the Scorpion Macehead for examples of decorated maces inscribed with the names of kings. The problem with early maces was that their stone heads shattered easily and it was difficult to fix the head to the wooden handle reliably. The Egyptians attempted to give them a disk shape in the predynastic period (about 3850–3650 BC) in order to increase their impact and even provide some cutting capabilities, but this seems to have been

3956-409: A meadow, where there is a fountain. A young girl can be heard crying for help: her lady is drowning in the fountain. Jaufre runs to her aid, tries to lift the lady out of the fountain with his lance, but fails. The young girl then pushes him into the fountain. Jaufre disappears underwater. Melian, Brunissen and Augier presume him to have drowned. They all despair and mourn Jaufre's death. Jaufre, however,

4128-458: A poem found in the Black Book of Carmarthen , " Pa gur yv y porthaur?" ("What man is the gatekeeper?"). This takes the form of a dialogue between Arthur and the gatekeeper of a fortress he wishes to enter, in which Arthur recounts the names and deeds of himself and his men, notably Cei (Kay) and Bedwyr (Bedivere). The Welsh prose tale Culhwch and Olwen ( c.  1100 ), included in

4300-636: A relatively minor character in these French prose romances; in the Vulgate itself he only figures significantly in the Estoire de Merlin and the Mort Artu . During this period, Arthur was made one of the Nine Worthies , a group of three pagan, three Jewish and three Christian exemplars of chivalry. The Worthies were first listed in Jacques de Longuyon 's Voeux du Paon in 1312, and subsequently became

4472-485: A role in ceremonial practices over time, including some still in use today. The ceremonial mace is a short, richly ornamented staff often made of silver, the upper part of which is furnished with a knob or other head-piece and decorated with a coat of arms. The ceremonial mace was commonly borne before eminent ecclesiastical corporations , magistrates , and academic bodies as a mark and symbol of jurisdiction. Ceremonial maces are important in many parliaments following

4644-448: A second knight to summon Jaufre. Jaufre is woken again, attacks the second knight, and forces him to retreat, thinking that he and the seneschal are one and the same. The chatelaine then sends out a third knight. Jaufre is woken again, attacks him, and forces him to retreat, thinking that he, the second knight and the seneschal are one and the same. The chatelaine then sends out all of her knights, who seize Jaufre and carry him inside. Jaufre

4816-631: A short-lived improvement. A rounded pear form of mace head known as a "piriform" replaced the disc mace in the Naqada II period of pre-dynastic Upper Egypt (3600–3250 BC) and was used throughout the Naqada III period (3250–3100 BC). Similar mace heads were also used in Mesopotamia around 2450–1900 BC. On a Sumerian Clay tablet written by the scribe Gar.Ama, the title Lord of the Mace

4988-475: A splendid white lance suspended from a beech tree. A dwarf is guarding the lance, and threatens to hang Jaufre if he touches it. The dwarf's master, the Knight of the White Lance, arrives, and threatens Jaufre with the same fate. Jaufre fights the knight, conquers, and hangs him in the same manner as he would have been hanged himself. The dwarf prays for mercy and Jaufre commands him to carry the white lance to

5160-507: A stabbing fashion), though auxiliaries from Syria Palestina were armed with clubs and maces at the battles of Immae and Emesa in 272 AD. They proved highly effective against the heavily armoured horsemen of Palmyra. During the Middle Ages metal armour such as mail protected against the blows of edged weapons. Though iron became increasingly common, copper and bronze were also used, especially in iron-deficient areas. One example of

5332-446: A third knight who is injured but has not yet died of his wounds. The wounded knight claims to have been wounded by Estout de Verfeuil. Jaufre continues on his way, and finds a band of 40 men who say that they are Estout's prisoners. When Estout arrives, Jaufre fights him, and conquers. Estout begs for mercy, and Jaufre spares him, sending him and his 40 prisoners to the court of King Arthur. Jaufre continues on his voyage, and comes across

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5504-478: A variety of maces and fielded large numbers of heavily armoured and armed cavalry (see Cataphract ). For a heavily armed Persian knight , a mace was as effective as a sword or battle axe . In fact, Shahnameh has many references to heavily armoured knights facing each other using maces, axes, and swords. The enchanted talking mace Sharur made its first appearance in Sumerian/Akkadian mythology during

5676-443: A warm reception at Monbrun. The seneschal then returns to Monbrun without Jaufre, to inform Brunissen of Jaufre's imminent arrival. Brunissen leaves the castle to meet Jaufre, presenting him with a flower. They enter Monbrun, and have a feast. That evening, neither Jaufre nor Brunissen can sleep for thinking of each other. Brunissen, in particular, thinks of famous lovers, and tells herself that she will be bold. The following day, Jaufre

5848-719: A whole, with "Arthur's Court" sometimes substituted for "The Island of Britain" in the formula "Three XXX of the Island of Britain". While it is not clear from the Historia Brittonum and the Annales Cambriae that Arthur was even considered a king, by the time Culhwch and Olwen and the Triads were written he had become Penteyrnedd yr Ynys hon , "Chief of the Lords of this Island", the overlord of Wales, Cornwall and

6020-437: A young girl he has abducted. Jaufre fights him and conquers, recognises that the girl is Augier's daughter, and takes her on horseback in the direction of her father's house. Before they get to Augier's castle, however, they pass the castle of the tortured knight. As eight days have passed, Taulat has returned to inflict his monthly torture. Yet Jaufre provokes him, fights, and conquers. Taulat begs Jaufre's mercy, but Jaufre lets

6192-514: Is also openly available in electronic format. The first modern translation was by Jean-Bernard Mary-Lafon  [ fr ] published 1856, illustrated with twenty woodcut engravings by Gustave Doré , using the abridged ms. B text printed in Raynouard's Lexique Roman . The Mary-Lafon translation was set in English that same year by Alfred Elwes , printed in London as Jaufry the Knight and

6364-473: Is also the main source of the material used in the Arthurian spoof Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975). Retellings and reimaginings of the romance tradition are not the only important aspect of the modern legend of King Arthur. Attempts to portray Arthur as a genuine historical figure of c.  500 , stripping away the "romance", have also emerged. As Taylor and Brewer have noted, this return to

6536-485: Is assembled in the hall at Cardeuil  [ fr ] (i.e. Carlisle ) for the feast of Pentecost, but King Arthur declares that no one shall eat until an adventure has occurred. When no adventure appears, King Arthur goes into the Forest of Brécéliande in search of it. He finds a maiden crying beside a mill, who pleads Arthur for help from a beast which raids the mill and eats all her wheat flour. Arthur enters to find

6708-414: Is decided that they should take a safer option: all the assembled knights strip bare and use their clothes to create a soft landing-mattress to cushion Arthur’s fall if the beast should drop him. The beast outwits the knights, and simply moves further along the cliff. The beast then springs from the cliff, metamorphosing into a knight, and both he and Arthur land safely. With the king's abduction exposed to be

6880-408: Is discovered missing. Brunissen is furious that her men have let him escape. She rebukes her seneschal and sends him off to find Jaufre. Jaufre, in the meantime, passes a cowherd from Monbrun, who has laid out a table with an array of sumptuous food. The cowherd asks Jaufre to join him, but Jaufre refuses. The cowherd insists, and Jaufre eventually accepts the invitation. Jaufre asks him the reason for

7052-745: Is either marginalised or even missing entirely, with Wagner 's Arthurian opera Parsifal providing a notable instance of the latter. Furthermore, the revival of interest in Arthur and the Arthurian tales did not continue unabated. By the end of the 19th century, it was confined mainly to Pre-Raphaelite imitators, and it could not avoid being affected by World War I , which damaged the reputation of chivalry and thus interest in its medieval manifestations and Arthur as chivalric role model. The romance tradition did, however, remain sufficiently powerful to persuade Thomas Hardy , Laurence Binyon and John Masefield to compose Arthurian plays, and T. S. Eliot alludes to

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7224-406: Is finally successful). The character of Yder is derived from a Welsh deity, Yder being derived from Edern ap Nudd . King Arthur King Arthur ( Welsh : Brenin Arthur , Cornish : Arthur Gernow , Breton : Roue Arzhur , French : Roi Arthur ), according to legends , was a king of Britain . He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as

7396-435: Is immediately attracted to Brunissen's beauty, and Brunissen is also secretly attracted to Jaufre. She permits him to sleep in the great hall, as long as he is watched over by her knights. He throws himself onto the bed, fully armed. Brunissen is unable to sleep for thinking of Jaufre. The watchman gives a sign, and the knights all begin to lament. Jaufre asks the reason for this, at which all the knights start to beat him, but he

7568-401: Is impossible to determine whether this passage is original or a later interpolation, but John Koch's view that the passage dates from a 7th-century or earlier version is regarded as unproven; 9th- or 10th-century dates are often proposed for it. Several poems attributed to Taliesin , a poet said to have lived in the 6th century, also refer to Arthur, although these all probably date from between

7740-443: Is listed in the year 3100 BC. The Assyrians used maces probably about nineteenth century BC and in their campaigns; the maces were usually made of stone or marble and furnished with gold or other metals, but were rarely used in battle unless fighting heavily armoured infantry. An important, later development in mace heads was the use of metal for their composition. With the advent of copper mace heads, they no longer shattered and

7912-593: Is never—or almost never—compromised by his personal weaknesses ... his authority and glory remain intact." Arthur and his retinue appear in some of the Lais of Marie de France , but it was the work of another French poet, Chrétien de Troyes , that had the greatest influence with regard to the development of Arthur's character and legend. Chrétien wrote five Arthurian romances between c.  1170 and 1190. Erec and Enide and Cligès are tales of courtly love with Arthur's court as their backdrop, demonstrating

8084-420: Is not harmed because he is still wearing his armour. After this, Jaufre is unable to sleep for thinking of Brunissen. On the stroke of midnight, the watchman again gives a sign and the knights begin to lament. Jaufre plans to escape. When the lamentations have stopped, he gets up, finds his horse, and leaves, still unaware of Brunissen’s secret love for him. When, at dawn, the watchman gives a sign to lament, Jaufre

8256-610: Is one dissenter from this view, believing that Geoffrey's narrative is partially derived from a lost source telling of the deeds of a 5th-century British king named Riotamus , this figure being the original Arthur, although historians and Celticists have been reluctant to follow Ashe in his conclusions. Whatever his sources may have been, the immense popularity of Geoffrey's Historia Regum Britanniae cannot be denied. Well over 200 manuscript copies of Geoffrey's Latin work are known to have survived, as well as translations into other languages. For example, 60 manuscripts are extant containing

8428-409: Is suggested by the likely influence of the romances by Chrétien de Troyes. It could be interpreted that, ignoring a previous failed expedition to Peníscola, the poet refers to the sensational conquest of Majorca in 1229-1231, when king James was in his early twenties. Among the camp who supported the earlier dating was scholar Rita Lejeune , who ventured to suggest that the romance may have been one of

8600-416: Is taken aback at the beauty of Augier's daughter. The following day, Augier asks Jaufre to stay longer, but Jaufre insists that he must depart. Accompanied by Augier and his sons for the start of his journey, Jaufre asks them again the reason behind the lamentation. Initially threatening him, Augier eventually tells Jaufre that he will find the answer if he goes to the neighbouring castle and presents himself to

8772-436: Is taken through the fountain to an underground world. The lady who had feigned drowning turns out to be the same one who had asked for Jaufre's help several days before, to no avail. In spite of the ruse, Jaufre promises to defend the lady's castle against the criminal, Felon d'Auberue. Felon arrives with a fascinating hunting bird. Jaufre is insulted by Felon, attacks him, and is victorious. Felon delivers himself up to Jaufre and

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8944-575: Is the true lord of the land, to be flogged up a steep hill until all his wounds open. When, after a month, the wounds have healed, Taulat returns to inflict the same injuries again. The encampment is made up of men who have attempted to save the injured knight from this fate. The lamentations are those of the tortured man's true vassals, who cry with the hope that the injured man may one day be delivered to them. The elder lady tells Jaufre that Taulat's next visit will be in eight days' time, so Jaufre departs, promising to return in eight days. Jaufre comes across

9116-449: Is timid, and Brunissen speaks. Neither is willing to express their feelings directly, until Jaufre passionately admits his love for Brunissen. Brunissen says she would like to get married under the auspices of King Arthur. Jaufre and Brunissen go to the castle of Brunissen's lord, Melian de Monmelior. Before they arrive, they are accosted by two young ladies in tears, who say that in four days' time one of them will have yield their castle to

9288-506: The Brut y Brenhinedd , Welsh-language versions of the Historia , the earliest of which were created in the 13th century. The old notion that some of these Welsh versions actually underlie Geoffrey's Historia , advanced by antiquarians such as the 18th-century Lewis Morris, has long since been discounted in academic circles. As a result of this popularity, Geoffrey's Historia Regum Britanniae

9460-534: The Historia Brittonum ( History of the Britons ) and Annales Cambriae ( Welsh Annals ), saw Arthur as a genuine historical figure, a Romano-British leader who fought against the invading Anglo-Saxons some time in the late 5th to early 6th century. The Historia Brittonum , a 9th-century Latin historical compilation attributed in some late manuscripts to a Welsh cleric called Nennius , contains

9632-657: The British victory at Badon Hill, attributed to Arthur by Nennius. The monks of Glastonbury are also said to have discovered the grave of Arthur in 1180. The other text that seems to support the case for Arthur's historical existence is the 10th-century Annales Cambriae , which also link Arthur with the Battle of Badon. The Annales date this battle to 516–518, and also mention the Battle of Camlann , in which Arthur and Medraut (Mordred) were both killed, dated to 537–539. These details have often been used to bolster confidence in

9804-577: The Gothic Revival reawakened interest in Arthur and the medieval romances. A new code of ethics for 19th-century gentlemen was shaped around the chivalric ideals embodied in the "Arthur of romance". This renewed interest first made itself felt in 1816, when Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur was reprinted for the first time since 1634. Initially, the medieval Arthurian legends were of particular interest to poets, inspiring, for example, William Wordsworth to write "The Egyptian Maid" (1835), an allegory of

9976-470: The Historia ' s account and to confirm that Arthur really did fight at Badon. Problems have been identified, however, with using this source to support the Historia Brittonum ' s account. The latest research shows that the Annales Cambriae was based on a chronicle begun in the late 8th century in Wales. Additionally, the complex textual history of the Annales Cambriae precludes any certainty that

10148-517: The Historia Brittonum while rejecting the implication in the same work that they were fought against Anglo-Saxons, and that there is no textual justification for separating Badon from the other battles. Several historical figures have been proposed as the basis for Arthur, ranging from Lucius Artorius Castus , a Roman officer who served in Britain in the 2nd or 3rd century, to sub-Roman British rulers such as Riotamus , Ambrosius Aurelianus , and

10320-534: The Holy Grail . Pre-eminent among these was Alfred Tennyson , whose first Arthurian poem " The Lady of Shalott " was published in 1832. Arthur himself played a minor role in some of these works, following in the medieval romance tradition. Tennyson's Arthurian work reached its peak of popularity with Idylls of the King , however, which reworked the entire narrative of Arthur's life for the Victorian era . It

10492-575: The Inca Empire used maces with bone, stone or copper heads and wooden shafts. The quauholōlli was used in Mesoamerica. Maces in Asia were most often steel clubs with a spherical head. In Persia, the "Gorz" (spherical-head mace) served as a primary combat arm across many eras, most often being used by heavy infantry or Cataphracts. In India a form of these clubs was used by wrestlers to exercise

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10664-719: The Kentish Hengist and Horsa , who may be totemic horse-gods that later became historicised. Bede ascribed to these legendary figures a historical role in the 5th-century Anglo-Saxon conquest of eastern Britain . It is not even certain that Arthur was considered a king in the early texts. Neither the Historia nor the Annales calls him " rex ": the former calls him instead " dux bellorum " (leader of wars) and " miles " (soldier). Details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of Welsh mythology , English folklore and literary invention, and most modern historians writing about

10836-559: The Life of Saint Gildas , written in the early 12th century by Caradoc of Llancarfan , Arthur is said to have killed Gildas's brother Hueil and to have rescued his wife Gwenhwyfar from Glastonbury. In the Life of Saint Cadoc , written around 1100 or a little before by Lifris of Llancarfan, the saint gives protection to a man who killed three of Arthur's soldiers, and Arthur demands a herd of cattle as wergeld for his men. Cadoc delivers them as demanded, but when Arthur takes possession of

11008-601: The Matter of Britain . In Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a leader of the post-Roman Britons in battles against the Anglo-Saxons in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. He first appears in two early medieval historical sources, the Annales Cambriae and the Historia Brittonum , but these date to 300 years after he is supposed to have lived, and most historians who study the period do not consider him

11180-831: The Orkney Islands . After twelve years of peace, Arthur sets out to expand his empire once more, taking control of Norway, Denmark and Gaul . Gaul is still held by the Roman Empire when it is conquered, and Arthur's victory leads to a further confrontation with Rome. Arthur and his warriors, including Kaius (Kay), Beduerus (Bedivere) and Gualguanus (Gawain), defeat the Roman emperor Lucius Tiberius in Gaul but, as he prepares to march on Rome, Arthur hears that his nephew Modredus (Mordred)—whom he had left in charge of Britain—has married his wife Guenhuuara (Guinevere) and seized

11352-496: The Queste del Saint Graal and the Mort Artu , which combine to form the first coherent version of the entire Arthurian legend. The cycle continued the trend towards reducing the role played by Arthur in his own legend, partly through the introduction of the character of Galahad and an expansion of the role of Merlin. It also made Mordred the result of an incestuous relationship between Arthur and his sister Morgause , and established

11524-566: The Romanz du reis Yder . Another feature in common between the two romances is the motif of a blow to the stomach associated with a queen: in the Yder this takes the form of a kick delivered to rebuff the (apparently) amorous advances of a queen (the wife of King Ivenant) in the context of a chastity test, while (as noted above) in Jaufre, the blow is the (unexplained) stabbing of a knight (by Taulat) in

11696-503: The U.S. Congress ), universities and other institutions have ceremonial maces and continue to display them as symbols of authority. They are often paraded in academic, parliamentary or civic rituals and processions. The modern English word mace entered Middle English from Old French mace, ("large mallet / sledgehammer , mace") itself from a Vulgar Latin term *mattia or *mattea (cf. Italian mazza, "club, baton, mace"), probably from Latin mateola (uncertain, possibly

11868-532: The Westminster system . They are carried in by the sergeant-at-arms or some other mace-bearers and displayed on the clerks' table while parliament is in session to show that a parliament is fully constituted. They are removed when the session ends. The mace is also removed from the table when a new speaker is being elected to show that parliament is not ready to conduct business. Maces may also be carried before clergy members in church processions, although in

12040-460: The 21st century, the legend continues to have prominence, not only in literature but also in adaptations for theatre, film, television, comics and other media. Traditionally, it was generally accepted that Arthur was an historic person, originally an ancient British war commander, and, at least, from the early twelfth century, a king. There was, however, much discussion regarding his various deeds, and contemporary scholars and clerics generally refuted

12212-646: The 8th and 12th centuries. They include "Kadeir Teyrnon" ("The Chair of the Prince"), which refers to "Arthur the Blessed"; " Preiddeu Annwn " ("The Spoils of Annwn"), which recounts an expedition of Arthur to the Otherworld; and "Marwnat vthyr pen[dragon]" ("The Elegy of Uther Pen[dragon]"), which refers to Arthur's valour and is suggestive of a father-son relationship for Arthur and Uther that pre-dates Geoffrey of Monmouth. Other early Welsh Arthurian texts include

12384-608: The Arthur myth (but not Arthur) in his poem The Waste Land , which mentions the Fisher King . In the latter half of the 20th century, the influence of the romance tradition of Arthur continued, through novels such as T. H. White 's The Once and Future King (1958), Mary Stewart 's The Crystal Cave (1970) and its four sequels, Thomas Berger 's tragicomic Arthur Rex and Marion Zimmer Bradley 's The Mists of Avalon (1982), in addition to comic strips such as Prince Valiant (from 1937 onward). Tennyson had reworked

12556-444: The Arthurian annals were added to it even that early. They were more likely added at some point in the 10th century and may never have existed in any earlier set of annals. The Badon entry probably derived from the Historia Brittonum . This lack of convincing early evidence is the reason many recent historians exclude Arthur from their accounts of sub-Roman Britain . In the view of historian Thomas Charles-Edwards , "at this stage of

12728-490: The Arthurian legend were not entirely abandoned, but until the early 19th century the material was taken less seriously and was often used simply as a vehicle for allegories of 17th- and 18th-century politics. Thus Richard Blackmore 's epics Prince Arthur (1695) and King Arthur (1697) feature Arthur as an allegory for the struggles of William III against James II . Similarly, the most popular Arthurian tale throughout this period seems to have been that of Tom Thumb , which

12900-797: The Fair Brunissende (1856), with an American edition printed in New York (1857). Ross G. Arthur's English translation follows the ms. A text. In the 16th century, the Occitan romance was adapted into French prose by Claude Platin, who incorporated elements of another romance, Renaud de Beaujeu 's Le Bel Inconnu . The resulting mélange was published under the title L'hystoire de Giglan filz de messire Gauvain qui fut roy de Galles. Et de Geoffroy de Maience son compaignon, tous deux chevaliers de la Table ronde (Lyons, Claude Nourry  [ fr ] c. 1530). But Schofield found that 1539 edition

13072-625: The Germanic invaders. This trend towards placing Arthur in a historical setting is also apparent in historical and fantasy novels published during this period. Arthur has also been used as a model for modern-day behaviour. In the 1930s, the Order of the Fellowship of the Knights of the Round Table was formed in Britain to promote Christian ideals and Arthurian notions of medieval chivalry. In

13244-553: The Kings of Britain ), written in the 1130s. The textual sources for Arthur are usually divided into those written before Geoffrey's Historia (known as pre-Galfridian texts, from the Latin form of Geoffrey, Galfridus ) and those written afterwards, which could not avoid his influence (Galfridian, or post-Galfridian, texts). The earliest literary references to Arthur come from Welsh and Breton sources. There have been few attempts to define

13416-642: The Moldavian ruler Stephen the Great in some of his wars (see Bulawa ). The mace is also the favourite weapon of Prince Marko , a hero in South Slavic epic poetry. The pernach was a type of flanged mace developed since the 12th century in the region of Kievan Rus' , and later widely used throughout the whole of Europe . The name comes from the Slavic word pero ( перо ) meaning feather , reflecting

13588-477: The North. In addition to these pre-Galfridian Welsh poems and tales, Arthur appears in some other early Latin texts besides the Historia Brittonum and the Annales Cambriae . In particular, Arthur features in a number of well-known vitae (" Lives ") of post-Roman saints , none of which are now generally considered to be reliable historical sources (the earliest probably dates from the 11th century). According to

13760-736: The Ruin and Conquest of Britain ), written within living memory of Badon, mentions the battle but does not mention Arthur. Arthur is not mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle or named in any surviving manuscript written between 400 and 820. He is absent from Bede 's early-8th-century Ecclesiastical History of the English People , another major early source for post-Roman history that mentions Badon. The historian David Dumville wrote: "I think we can dispose of him [Arthur] quite briefly. He owes his place in our history books to

13932-611: The Saxons found in the 9th-century Historia Brittonum , along with the battle of Camlann from the Annales Cambriae and the idea that Arthur was still alive . Arthur's status as the king of all Britain seems to be borrowed from pre-Galfridian tradition, being found in Culhwch and Olwen , the Welsh Triads, and the saints' lives. Finally, Geoffrey borrowed many of the names for Arthur's possessions, close family , and companions from

14104-400: The Saxons he fights in the Historia Brittonum , but the majority are supernatural, including giant cat-monsters , destructive divine boars , dragons, dogheads , giants, and witches. The second is that the pre-Galfridian Arthur was a figure of folklore (particularly topographic or onomastic folklore) and localised magical wonder-tales, the leader of a band of superhuman heroes who live in

14276-545: The United States, hundreds of thousands of boys and girls joined Arthurian youth groups, such as the Knights of King Arthur, in which Arthur and his legends were promoted as wholesome exemplars. However, Arthur's diffusion within modern culture goes beyond such obviously Arthurian endeavours, with Arthurian names being regularly attached to objects, buildings, and places. As Norris J. Lacy has observed, "The popular notion of Arthur appears to be limited, not surprisingly, to

14448-605: The United States, with such books as Sidney Lanier's The Boy's King Arthur (1880) reaching wide audiences and providing inspiration for Mark Twain 's satire A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889). Although the 'Arthur of romance' was sometimes central to these new Arthurian works (as he was in Burne-Jones's "The Sleep of Arthur in Avalon", 1881–1898), on other occasions he reverted to his medieval status and

14620-573: The Vulgate Cycle, and appears to have aimed at creating a comprehensive and authoritative collection of Arthurian stories. Perhaps as a result of this, and the fact that Le Morte D'Arthur was one of the earliest printed books in England, published by William Caxton in 1485, most later Arthurian works are derivative of Malory's. The end of the Middle Ages brought with it a waning of interest in King Arthur. Although Malory's English version of

14792-628: The Welsh Medraut into the villainous Modredus, but there is no trace of such a negative character for this figure in Welsh sources until the 16th century. There have been relatively few modern attempts to challenge the notion that the Historia Regum Britanniae is primarily Geoffrey's own work, with scholarly opinion often echoing William of Newburgh 's late-12th-century comment that Geoffrey "made up" his narrative, perhaps through an "inordinate love of lying". Geoffrey Ashe

14964-491: The Welsh kings Owain Ddantgwyn , Enniaun Girt, and Athrwys ap Meurig . However, no convincing evidence for these identifications has emerged. The origin of the Welsh name "Arthur" remains a matter of debate. The most widely accepted etymology derives it from the Roman nomen gentile (family name) Artorius . Artorius itself is of obscure and contested etymology. Linguist Stephan Zimmer suggests Artorius possibly had

15136-489: The animals, they turn into bundles of ferns. Similar incidents are described in the medieval biographies of Carannog , Padarn , and Eufflam, probably written around the 12th century. A less obviously legendary account of Arthur appears in the Legenda Sancti Goeznovii , which is often claimed to date from the early 11th century (although the earliest manuscript of this text dates from the 15th century and

15308-471: The arguments are conclusive. One clue for dating is the dedication of the work to the young King of Aragon (also the Count of Barcelona), who has been identified variously as Alfonso II (r. 1162–1196), Peter II (r. 1196–1213), or James I (r. 1213–1276). Depending on the scholar, the dates assigned to the work span the reigns of these three monarchs, anywhere from c. 1170 to 1225/1230, or even later. Against

15480-481: The armor, and even damage plate armor by denting it, potentially binding overlapping plates and impeding the wearer's range of motion. Medieval historian and re-enactor Todd Todeschini (AKA Todd Cutler) demonstrated this effect with period accurate equipment in a series of tests on video. Maces are rarely used today for actual combat, but many government bodies (for instance, the British House of Commons and

15652-596: The arms and shoulders. They have been known as gada since ancient times. During the Mughal era, the flanged mace of Persia was introduced to South Asia. The term shishpar is a Persian phrase which literally translates to "six-wings", to refer to the (often) six flanges on the mace. The shishpar mace was introduced by the Delhi Sultanate and continued to be utilized until the 18th century. Trench raiding clubs used during World War I were modern variations on

15824-621: The boar there named Troy(n)t. Finally, Arthur is mentioned numerous times in the Welsh Triads , a collection of short summaries of Welsh tradition and legend which are classified into groups of three linked characters or episodes to assist recall. The later manuscripts of the Triads are partly derivative from Geoffrey of Monmouth and later continental traditions, but the earliest ones show no such influence and are usually agreed to refer to pre-existing Welsh traditions. Even in these, however, Arthur's court has started to embody legendary Britain as

15996-465: The case of the Roman Catholic pope and cardinals, they have largely been replaced with processional crosses . Maces are also used as a parade item, rather than a tool of war, notably in military bands. Specific movements of the mace from the drum major will signal specific orders to the band they lead. The mace can signal anything from a step-off to a halt, from the commencement of playing to

16168-524: The child, following the leper into his master's house. Inside, Jaufre interrupts the master leper on the verge of raping the maiden. This villain is of gigantic stature and armed with a heavy mace . Jaufre vanquishes this foe, cutting a span of his sleeve, severing his arm, gashing his leg, and beheading him. But during combat, Jaufre suffers head injury from the dropping mace, and a final kick renders him unconscious. The maiden revives him by splashing water on his face, and Jaufre in his stupefied state mistakes

16340-515: The classic motifs of the Arthurian legend, although the Lancelot of the prose Lancelot ( c.  1225 ) and later texts was a combination of Chrétien's character and that of Ulrich von Zatzikhoven 's Lanzelet . Chrétien's work even appears to feed back into Welsh Arthurian literature, with the result that the romance Arthur began to replace the heroic, active Arthur in Welsh literary tradition. Particularly significant in this development were

16512-552: The collective lamentations, and the cowherd reacts violently: he attacks Jaufre, slaughters his cows, and smashes his cart. Jaufre rides away, but remains disconcerted. Jaufre is offered hospitality by the sons of a man called Augier d'Essart. When Jaufre asks the reason for the collective lamentations, the sons initially attack Jaufre. Then they beg Jaufre's pardon and renew their invitation of hospitality, which Jaufre accepts. Their father, Augier, welcomes Jaufre into his home. Augier had been an old friend of Jaufre's father Dovon. Jaufre

16684-417: The court of King Arthur. Jaufre continues, but a sergeant on foot bars the way. He demands Jaufre to forfeit his horse and his armour before passing, which Jaufre refuses to do. The sergeant then throws three barbs at Jaufre, but they miss. So the sergeant jumps on Jaufre's horse and wrestles with him. Jaufre cuts off his arms and legs, then frees the 25 men the sergeant had held prisoner, and sends them all to

16856-414: The court of King Arthur. Jaufre encounters another man, who tells him to go no further: a dangerous leper is in the neighborhood, who has killed a knight and kidnapped the maiden (daughter of a Norman count) being escorted. Jaufre is offended by the informant for presuming he would cower at such news. Just then, an underling leper is seen carrying away an infant from his mother, and Jaufre goes off to rescue

17028-409: The cut off. University maces are employed in a manner similar to parliamentary maces. They symbolize the authority and independence of a chartered university and the authority vested in the provost . They are typically carried in at the beginning of a convocation ceremony and are often less than half a meter high. Like many weapons from feudal times, maces have been used in heraldic blazons as either

17200-404: The eldest of the two ladies who are caring for an injured man. She will explain the reason and will tell Jaufre where he can find Taulat. Jaufre passes an encampment before arriving at the neighbouring castle. Jaufre approaches the elder of the two women, who informs him of the reason behind the lamentations: once a month for seven years, Taulat has forced the injured man, who they care for and who

17372-472: The end of the novel is, "in the tradition of magical hibernation when the king or mage leaves his people for some island or cave to return either at a more propitious or more dangerous time", (see King Arthur's messianic return ). Powys's earlier novel, A Glastonbury Romance (1932) is concerned with both the Holy Grail and the legend that Arthur is buried at Glastonbury . The romance Arthur has become popular in film and theatre as well. T. H. White's novel

17544-474: The enquiry, one can only say that there may well have been an historical Arthur [but ...] the historian can as yet say nothing of value about him". These modern admissions of ignorance are a relatively recent trend; earlier generations of historians were less sceptical. The historian John Morris made the putative reign of Arthur the organising principle of his history of sub-Roman Britain and Ireland, The Age of Arthur (1973). Even so, he found little to say about

17716-524: The epic of Ninurta . The Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata describe the extensive use of the gada in ancient Indian warfare as gada-yuddha or 'mace combat'. The ancient Romans did not make wide use of maces, probably because of the influence of armour, and due to the nature of the Roman infantry's fighting style which involved the Pilum (spear) and the Gladius (short sword used in

17888-559: The first datable mention of King Arthur, listing twelve battles that Arthur fought. These culminate in the Battle of Badon , where he is said to have single-handedly killed 960 men. Recent studies question the reliability of the Historia Brittonum . Archaeological evidence in the Low Countries and what was to become England shows early Anglo-Saxon migration to Great Britain reversed between 500 and 550, which concurs with Frankish chronicles. John Davies notes this as consistent with

18060-448: The first modernisation of Malory's great compilation of Arthur's tales was published in 1862, shortly after Idylls appeared, and there were six further editions and five competitors before the century ended. This interest in the "Arthur of romance" and his associated stories continued through the 19th century and into the 20th, and influenced poets such as William Morris and Pre-Raphaelite artists including Edward Burne-Jones . Even

18232-475: The first narrative account of Arthur's life. This work is an imaginative and fanciful account of British kings from the legendary Trojan exile Brutus to the 7th-century Welsh king Cadwallader . Geoffrey places Arthur in the same post-Roman period as do Historia Brittonum and Annales Cambriae . According to Geoffrey's tale, Arthur was a descendant of Constantine the Great . He incorporates Arthur's father Uther Pendragon , his magician advisor Merlin , and

18404-519: The form of pernach that resembled a fletched arrow . Pernachs were the first form of the flanged mace to enjoy a wide usage. It was well suited to penetrate plate armour and chain mail . In the later times it was often used as a symbol of power by the military leaders in Eastern Europe . The cultures of pre-Columbian America used clubs and maces extensively. The warriors of the Moche state and

18576-435: The fountain in the meadow. In the morning, chariots, knights, and the lady of the underground kingdom appear from out of the fountain. Jaufre and Mélian distrustfully prepare themselves against attack, but the lady promises them her goodwill, and erects great tents where they can enjoy a nuptial meal. The lady offers Jaufre the tent as a gift, and casts a magic spell on him to protect him against savage beasts; she gives Brunissen

18748-627: The full title: La coronica (sic.) de los nobles caualleros Tablante de Ricamonte y de Jofre hijo del conde Donason ). It proved popular and underwent a number of reprints in chapbook format into the 19th century. The Spanish prose was in turn translated into Tagalog verse in the Philippines. Material from the Spanish version was also incorporated into Portuguese chapbooks of the 18th century, compiled by António da Silva. The cruel knight Taulat de Rougemont also appears (as Talac de Rougemont) in

18920-472: The gift of pleasing everyone who sees her, whatever she says or does; she gives Mélian the assurance that he will never be a prisoner again; she offers their entourage a chariot full of gold and precious objects. After Jaufre thanks her, the lady tells Jaufre her name: she is the Fairy of Gibel of the castle of Gibaldar (i.e. Morgan le Fay as ruler of Mongibel ). Brunissen, Jaufre and Mélian depart. At Monbrun,

19092-416: The great French romances was popular, there were increasing attacks upon the truthfulness of the historical framework of the Arthurian romances – established since Geoffrey of Monmouth's time – and thus the legitimacy of the whole Matter of Britain . So, for example, the 16th-century humanist scholar Polydore Vergil famously rejected the claim that Arthur was the ruler of a post-Roman empire, found throughout

19264-450: The humorous tale of Tom Thumb , which had been the primary manifestation of Arthur's legend in the 18th century, was rewritten after the publication of Idylls . While Tom maintained his small stature and remained a figure of comic relief, his story now included more elements from the medieval Arthurian romances and Arthur is treated more seriously and historically in these new versions. The revived Arthurian romance also proved influential in

19436-543: The knights and ladies, who tear their clothes to shreds in their desperation. The knights talk of slaughtering cattle to lure the bird down to earth. The bird, however, takes Arthur back to the castle and metamorphoses into the magician knight. The king pardons, and sends for all the master tailors to come to his court and make lavish clothes to replace those torn to shreds. Eventually, they all retire to bed. Departing from Cardeuil, Mélian, Jaufre and Brunissen are accompanied part-way by Arthur and Guinevere. At night, they camp by

19608-440: The lady of the castle. Jaufre pardons him, and has his wounds staunched. They dine in the magical underground world that evening, with the lady promising to return Jaufre to Brunissen the following day. The lady makes Felon give Jaufre the bird, to present to King Arthur. They set off the following morning, and return to the upper world through the same fountain. Augier, Melian, Brunissen, and her seneschal are overjoyed. The lady from

19780-431: The lady's cause, so she leaves. Presenting himself to King Arthur, Taulat confesses his guilt and Arthur and Guinevere pardon him. However, as Jaufre had allowed the tortured knight to decide Taulat's fate, he is condemned for seven years to undergo the same torture as he had inflicted on others. Meanwhile, Jaufre arrives at Augier's castle with Augier's daughter. Augier, with his sons, comes out to meet Jaufre, lamenting at

19952-402: The land. When an adversary killed her husband, she feared for her life, and evoked the demon of the black knight to guard her and her two sons. One of her sons had been a leper, and had just been killed; the other son was a giant, and had gone off in search of his brother's killer (Jaufre), to return in eight days. Jaufre says that he will wait for him at the hermitage. The giant arrives, bearing

20124-417: The locations of his battles as well as the place and date of his death (in the context of the extreme weather events of 535–536 ), but his conclusions are disputed. Other scholars have questioned his findings, which they consider are based on coincidental resemblances between place-names. Nicholas Higham comments that it is difficult to justify identifying Arthur as the leader in northern battles listed in

20296-539: The loss of his daughter and not recognising her because she looks so beautiful on Jaufre's palfrey. Jaufre is sorry to hear of the loss of Augier's daughter, but presents him with the girl on his palfrey as a replacement. Augier recognises his daughter, and gives Jaufre a warm welcome. In spite of Augier's insistence that he should stay, Jaufre departs the following day for Brunissen’s castle, escorted part-way by Augier. Brunissen's seneschal, who had been sent off in search of Jaufre, meets Jaufre and Augier, and promises Jaufre

20468-470: The magician Merlin , Arthur's wife Guinevere , the sword Excalibur , Arthur's conception at Tintagel , his final battle against Mordred at Camlann , and final rest in Avalon . The 12th-century French writer Chrétien de Troyes , who added Lancelot and the Holy Grail to the story, began the genre of Arthurian romance that became a significant strand of medieval literature . In these French stories,

20640-413: The maiden for the enemy, strikes her a blow (with his fist) which would have proven lethal had it been his unsheathed sword in hand. Jaufre is unable to leave the lepers’ house because it is enchanted, but extracts the secret of how to break the enchantment from the underling leper, whom he catches part way in the process of killing infants. Jaufre chops off the underling's hand (adding the taunt he will make

20812-484: The marriage. On the eighth day, 100,000 knights from all across the kingdom invited by King Arthur arrive with their ladies. The Welsh archbishop says mass and marries Jaufre and Brunissen. Afterwards, dinner is served. Whilst jesters are playing and singing, a knight cries 'to arms!' and describes an enormous bird which nearly made off with him. King Arthur goes to see what is the matter on his own, on foot. The bird lifts King Arthur in its talons and flies around, in sight of

20984-626: The medieval "chronicle tradition" of Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Historia Brittonum is a recent trend which became dominant in Arthurian literature in the years following the outbreak of the Second World War , when Arthur's legendary resistance to Germanic enemies struck a chord in Britain. Clemence Dane 's series of radio plays, The Saviours (1942), used a historical Arthur to embody the spirit of heroic resistance against desperate odds, and Robert Sherriff's play The Long Sunset (1955) saw Arthur rallying Romano-British resistance against

21156-651: The medieval mace. They were homemade mêlée weapons used by both the Allies and the Central Powers . Clubs were used during night time trench raiding expeditions as a quiet and effective way of killing or wounding enemy soldiers. Makeshift maces were also found in the possession of some football hooligans in the 1980s. In 2020 China–India skirmishes personnel of People's Liberation Army Ground Force were seen using makeshift maces (batons wrapped in barbed wire and clubs embedded with nails). Maces have had

21328-463: The modern Mabinogion collection, has a much longer list of more than 200 of Arthur's men, though Cei and Bedwyr again take a central place. The story as a whole tells of Arthur helping his kinsman Culhwch win the hand of Olwen , daughter of Ysbaddaden Chief-Giant, by completing a series of apparently impossible tasks, including the hunt for the great semi-divine boar Twrch Trwyth . The 9th-century Historia Brittonum also refers to this tale, with

21500-423: The most famous Welsh poetic references to Arthur comes in the collection of heroic death-songs known as Y Gododdin ( The Gododdin ), attributed to the 6th-century poet Aneirin . One stanza praises the bravery of a warrior who slew 300 enemies, but says that despite this, "he was no Arthur" – that is, his feats cannot compare to the valour of Arthur. Y Gododdin is known only from a 13th-century manuscript, so it

21672-435: The most significant effect of this great outpouring of new Arthurian story was on the role of the king himself: much of this 12th-century and later Arthurian literature centres less on Arthur himself than on characters such as Lancelot and Guinevere , Percival , Galahad , Gawain , Ywain , and Tristan and Iseult . Whereas Arthur is very much at the centre of the pre-Galfridian material and Geoffrey's Historia itself, in

21844-680: The name Arthur from Arcturus , the brightest star in the constellation Boötes , near Ursa Major or the Great Bear. Classical Latin Arcturus would also have become Art(h)ur when borrowed into Welsh, and its brightness and position in the sky led people to regard it as the "guardian of the bear" (which is the meaning of the name in Ancient Greek) and the "leader" of the other stars in Boötes. Many other theories exist, for example that

22016-457: The name has Messapian or Etruscan origins. That Arthur never died but is awaiting his return in some remote spot, often sleeping, is a central motif connected to the Arthurian legends. Before the twelfth century there are, as in the Englynion y Beddau , reference to the absence of a grave for Arthur suggests that he was considered not dead and immortal, but there is no indication that he

22188-412: The narrative focus often shifts from King Arthur himself to other characters, such as various Knights of the Round Table . The themes, events and characters of the Arthurian legend vary widely from text to text, and there is no one canonical version. Arthurian literature thrived during the Middle Ages but waned in the centuries that followed, until it experienced a major resurgence in the 19th century. In

22360-626: The narratives of Arthur found in medieval materials. American authors often rework the story of Arthur to be more consistent with values such as equality and democracy. In John Cowper Powys 's Porius: A Romance of the Dark Ages (1951), set in Wales in 499, just prior to the Saxon invasion, Arthur, the Emperor of Britain, is only a minor character, whereas Myrddin (Merlin) and Nineue , Tennyson's Vivien, are major figures. Myrddin's disappearance at

22532-495: The nature and character of Arthur in the pre-Galfridian tradition as a whole, rather than in a single text or text/story-type. A 2007 academic survey led by Caitlin Green has identified three key strands to the portrayal of Arthur in this earliest material. The first is that he was a peerless warrior who functioned as the monster-hunting protector of Britain from all internal and external threats. Some of these are human threats, such as

22704-613: The offence committed, but Arthur's seneschal Kay mocks him, saying that this is a drunken boast. The young man insists that that is not the case, and begs King Arthur to let him follow Taulat. King Arthur initially refuses, but when the young knight reminds Arthur of his promise to grant him his first wish, Arthur agrees. King Arthur asks the young knight his name. He announces that he is Jaufre, son of Dovon. Jaufre departs on horseback, saying that he will not eat, drink, or sleep until he has caught Taulat de Rougemont. On his way, Jaufre comes across two knights who have been killed. He comes across

22876-481: The origin of the name Arthur , as Artōrius would regularly become Art(h)ur when borrowed into Welsh. Another commonly proposed derivation of Arthur from Welsh arth "bear" + (g)wr "man" (earlier *Arto-uiros in Brittonic) is not accepted by modern scholars for phonological and orthographic reasons. Notably, a Brittonic compound name *Arto-uiros should produce Old Welsh *Artgur (where u represents

23048-512: The others he saved to seek King Arthur's court. Jaufre, continuing on his way, enters the gardens of a castle called Monbrun. He is so tired he decides to sleep on the grass. This stops the birds in the garden from singing. The chatelaine, Brunissen, who is usually lulled to sleep by the birdsong, is furious, and sends her seneschal to investigate who the intruder is. The seneschal brusquely wakes Jaufre, so Jaufre attacks him and forces him to retreat. Jaufre goes back to sleep. The chatelaine sends out

23220-780: The people come out to welcome Jaufre, Brunissen and Melian. Jaufre promises to defend the inhabitants of Monbrun loyally. The old woman, who is mother of the leper and giant Jaufre killed, says that she will no longer bar the path with magic. Jaufre allows her to keep her possessions. The following day they hold a feast at Monbrun; in the evening, all the knights retire, except for Mélian and his entourage. Jaufre and Brunissen eventually retire to bed. The next morning, Mélian jokes about consummation. They hear mass and have lunch, before Mélian departs to impose his punishment on Taulat. Jaufre asks Mélian to let Taulat go without punishment this first time. Mélian takes his leave, and Jaufre lives happily ever after at Monbrun. The poet ends by asking God to pardon

23392-444: The period do not think that he was a historical figure . Because historical documents for the post-Roman period are scarce, a definitive answer to the question of Arthur's historical existence is unlikely. Sites and places have been identified as "Arthurian" since the 12th century, but archaeology can confidently reveal names only through inscriptions found in secure contexts. The so-called " Arthur stone ", discovered in 1998 among

23564-415: The popular medieval belief in his extreme longevity and future return. From the eighteenth century onwards, there has been academic debate about the historicity of Arthur, the consensus today being that if there was any possible historic figure person behind the many Arthurian legends, he would have been completely different from the portrayal in any of these legends. One school of thought, citing entries in

23736-464: The popularity of Geoffrey of Monmouth 's fanciful and imaginative 12th-century Historia Regum Britanniae ( History of the Kings of Britain ). Geoffrey depicted Arthur as a king of Britain who defeated the Saxons and established a vast empire. Many elements and incidents that are now an integral part of the Arthurian story appear in Geoffrey's Historia , including Arthur's father Uther Pendragon ,

23908-523: The portrayal of Arthur and his world built upon the foundations he had laid. Perceval , although unfinished, was particularly popular: four separate continuations of the poem appeared over the next half century, with the notion of the Grail and its quest being developed by other writers such as Robert de Boron , a fact that helped accelerate the decline of Arthur in continental romance. Similarly, Lancelot and his cuckolding of Arthur with Guinevere became one of

24080-516: The possibility of his return without overtly criticizing anyone's beliefs. After the 1191 discovery of his alleged tomb, Arthur became more of a figure of folk legends, found sleeping in various remove caves all over Britain and some other places, and at times, roaming the night as a spectre, like in the Wild Hunt . The familiar literary persona of Arthur began with Geoffrey of Monmouth 's pseudo-historical Historia Regum Britanniae ( History of

24252-481: The post-Galfridian medieval "chronicle tradition", to the horror of Welsh and English antiquarians. Social changes associated with the end of the medieval period and the Renaissance also conspired to rob the character of Arthur and his associated legend of some of their power to enthrall audiences, with the result that 1634 saw the last printing of Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur for nearly 200 years. King Arthur and

24424-435: The pre-Galfridian Welsh tradition, including Kaius (Cei), Beduerus (Bedwyr), Guenhuuara (Gwenhwyfar), Uther (Uthyr) and perhaps also Caliburnus (Caledfwlch), the latter becoming Excalibur in subsequent Arthurian tales. However, while names, key events, and titles may have been borrowed, Brynley Roberts has argued that "the Arthurian section is Geoffrey's literary creation and it owes nothing to prior narrative." Geoffrey makes

24596-457: The presence of Queen Guinevere. Under the name Tablante de Ricamonte it is Taulat (and not Jofre) who is given the role of eponymous protagonist in the Spanish prose version of Jaufre . Some light may be cast on the antecedents of Talac/Taulat by the fact that, in Yder it is at Rougemont that Yder finally encounters his father, Nuc , for whom he has been searching from the outset, in an effort to remedy his bastardy (and in which endeavour he

24768-424: The quintessential focus on the longing for the return of Jesus. This was further aggravated by how the stories about Arthur sometimes invoked more emotions than biblical tales. Decades of elite critique of the popular conviction among otherwise pious Catholic Celts in Britain and Brittany had done nothing in way of suppressing these beliefs, whereas the orchestration of Arthur's physical remains effectively eliminated

24940-455: The recurring theme of Arthur as a cuckold , and Perceval, the Story of the Grail , which introduces the Holy Grail and the Fisher King and which again sees Arthur having a much reduced role. Chrétien was thus "instrumental both in the elaboration of the Arthurian legend and in the establishment of the ideal form for the diffusion of that legend", and much of what came after him in terms of

25112-596: The role of Camelot , first mentioned in passing in Chrétien's Lancelot , as Arthur's primary court. This series of texts was quickly followed by the Post-Vulgate Cycle ( c.  1230–40 ), of which the Suite du Merlin is a part, which greatly reduced the importance of Lancelot's affair with Guinevere but continued to sideline Arthur, and to focus more on the Grail quest. As such, Arthur became even more of

25284-406: The romance tales of Arthur to suit and comment upon the issues of his day, and the same is often the case with modern treatments too. Mary Stewart's first three Arthurian novels present the wizard Merlin as the central character, rather than Arthur, and The Crystal Cave is narrated by Merlin in the first person, whereas Bradley's tale takes a feminist approach to Arthur and his legend, in contrast to

25456-408: The romances he is rapidly sidelined. His character also alters significantly. In both the earliest materials and Geoffrey he is a great and ferocious warrior, who laughs as he personally slaughters witches and giants and takes a leading role in all military campaigns, whereas in the continental romances he becomes the roi fainéant , the "do-nothing king", whose "inactivity and acquiescence constituted

25628-545: The ruins at Tintagel Castle in Cornwall in securely dated 6th-century contexts, created a brief stir but proved irrelevant. Other inscriptional evidence for Arthur, including the Glastonbury cross , is tainted with the suggestion of forgery. Andrew Breeze argues that Arthur was a historical character who fought other Britons in the area of the future border between England and Scotland, and claims to have identified

25800-506: The shift away from the heroic world of the Welsh and Galfridian Arthur, while Yvain, the Knight of the Lion , features Yvain and Gawain in a supernatural adventure, with Arthur very much on the sidelines and weakened. However, the most significant for the development of the Arthurian legend are Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart , which introduces Lancelot and his adulterous relationship with Arthur's queen Guinevere , extending and popularising

25972-411: The short vowel /u/) and Middle/Modern Welsh *Arthwr , rather than Arthur (where u is a long vowel /ʉː/). In Welsh poetry the name is always spelled Arthur and is exclusively rhymed with words ending in -ur —never words ending in -wr —which confirms that the second element cannot be [g]wr "man". An alternative theory, which has gained only limited acceptance among professional scholars, derives

26144-431: The sources that Chrétien de Troyes drew upon. But that prospect is discounted by the majority of scholars, who believe rather that Jaufre was a work by poet(s) who came afterwards and gained "intimate knowledge" Chrétien's works. The literary style also points to a later date, for instance, King Arthur is portrayed in somewhat negative light, and a "certain stiflement of adventures". There are two complete manuscripts of

26316-552: The story of Arthur's conception, in which Uther, disguised as his enemy Gorlois by Merlin's magic, sleeps with Gorlois's wife Igerna (Igraine) at Tintagel , and she conceives Arthur. On Uther's death, the fifteen-year-old Arthur succeeds him as King of Britain and fights a series of battles, similar to those in the Historia Brittonum , culminating in the Battle of Bath. He then defeats the Picts and Scots before creating an Arthurian empire through his conquests of Ireland, Iceland and

26488-610: The tales began to be told in prose. The most significant of these 13th-century prose romances was the Vulgate Cycle (also known as the Lancelot-Grail Cycle), a series of five Middle French prose works written in the first half of that century. These works were the Estoire del Saint Grail , the Estoire de Merlin , the Lancelot propre (or Prose Lancelot , which made up half the entire Vulgate Cycle on its own),

26660-560: The text is now dated to the late 12th to early 13th century). Also important are the references to Arthur in William of Malmesbury 's De Gestis Regum Anglorum and Herman's De Miraculis Sanctae Mariae Laudunensis , which together provide the first certain evidence for a belief that Arthur was not actually dead and would at some point return , a theme that is often revisited in post-Galfridian folklore. Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae , completed c.  1138 , contains

26832-815: The text: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale , français 2164 (designated A ), illustrated, dating from c. 1300; and Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, français 12571 (designated B ), an early 14th-century exemplar by an Italian copyist. Five fragments have also survived. Among modern editions, those that use ms. A as the base text include Clovis Brunel  [ fr ] 's (1943), as well as René Lavaud and René Nelli 's (1960) with facing translation in modern French. The ms. B text appeared in an abridged form (c. 8900 lines) in Raynouard 's Lexique Roman (1838), but later published complete in Hermann Breuer edition (1925). A critical text using B as base by Charmaine Lee (2006)

27004-508: The three Welsh Arthurian romances, which are closely similar to those of Chrétien, albeit with some significant differences: Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain is related to Chrétien's Yvain ; Geraint and Enid , to Erec and Enide ; and Peredur son of Efrawg , to Perceval . Up to c.  1210 , continental Arthurian romance was expressed primarily through poetry; after this date

27176-474: The throne. Arthur returns to Britain and defeats and kills Modredus on the river Camblam in Cornwall, but he is mortally wounded. He hands the crown to his kinsman Constantine and is taken to the isle of Avalon to be healed of his wounds, never to be seen again. How much of this narrative was Geoffrey's own invention is open to debate. He seems to have made use of the list of Arthur's twelve battles against

27348-440: The tortured knight decide Taulat’s fate. Taulat's wounds are staunched, and he is carried to the court of King Arthur. Jaufre asks Taulat to tell Kay that Jaufre will get revenge for the way Kay mocked him. Jaufre and Augier's daughter continue on their way. Meanwhile, Taulat arrives at the court of King Arthur just as a young lady arrives, asking for Arthur's knights' protection against a criminal, but no one steps forward to champion

27520-445: The underground world apologises to Brunissen for kidnapping Jaufre. Melian says that they will depart for Cardeuil at dawn. In front of the castle of Cardeuil, ten knights are cajoling Kay into coming outside. When Jaufre arrives, he punishes him for his mockery, knocking him off his horse with a peacock/horn, and forcing him to walk back into the castle. Jaufre introduces Brunissen to Guinevere. Arthur and Guinevere agree to preside over

27692-413: The vulgar gesture no more), but spares his life, once he learns that the underling was acting under orders, collecting a full tub of the children's blood for the master to bathe in as purported cure. The house crumbles once it loses its enchantment, and Jaufrey declares he will resume his pursuit of Taulat, who killed a knight "right before Queen Guilalmier (Guinevere)", instructing the leper, the maiden, and

27864-483: The wilds of the landscape. The third and final strand is that the early Welsh Arthur had a close connection with the Welsh Otherworld, Annwn . On the one hand, he launches assaults on Otherworldly fortresses in search of treasure and frees their prisoners. On the other, his warband in the earliest sources includes former pagan gods, and his wife and his possessions are clearly Otherworldly in origin. One of

28036-405: The writer of the work, and be favourable to the one who "achieved" (completed) it. Jaufré is quite possibly the product of two anonymous authors, "the one who commenced the work and the one who completed it" referred to in the explicit to the work. The laudatory passages to the King of Aragon on vv. 2616–2630 may be the demarcation where the second poet intervened to continue the tale. But none of

28208-586: Was actually published by "Hilles et Jaques Huguetan frères" in Lyons. Plantin's version was later given an 18-page summary entitled "Geoffroy de Mayence" in the Bibliothèque universelle des romans  [ fr ] (1777) by the Comte de Tressan . A 16th century Spanish prose version also appeared, commonly referred to as Tablante de Ricamonte  [ es ] in shorthand (first published 1513 under

28380-632: Was adapted into the Lerner and Loewe stage musical Camelot (1960) and Walt Disney 's animated film The Sword in the Stone (1963); Camelot , with its focus on the love of Lancelot and Guinevere and the cuckolding of Arthur, was itself made into a film of the same name in 1967. The romance tradition of Arthur is particularly evident and in critically respected films like Robert Bresson 's Lancelot du Lac (1974), Éric Rohmer 's Perceval le Gallois (1978) and John Boorman 's Excalibur (1981); it

28552-466: Was concurrently developed in Russia and Mid-west Asia. Maces, being simple to make, cheap, and straightforward in application, were quite common weapons. It is popularly believed that maces were employed by the clergy in warfare to avoid shedding blood ( sine effusione sanguinis ). The evidence for this is sparse and appears to derive almost entirely from the depiction of Bishop Odo of Bayeux wielding

28724-458: Was enormously influential on the later medieval development of the Arthurian legend. While it was not the only creative force behind Arthurian romance, many of its elements were borrowed and developed (e.g., Merlin and the final fate of Arthur), and it provided the historical framework into which the romancers' tales of magical and wonderful adventures were inserted. During the ongoing conquest of Wales by Edward I , he attempted to make King Arthur

28896-478: Was expected to return in this poem. From the early twelfth century onwards several sources report about a popular belief in the return of King Arthur, although most often critically and mockingly presented. His future return is first mentioned by William of Malmesbury in 1125: "But Arthur's grave is nowhere seen, whence antiquity of fables still claims that he will return." In the "Miracles of St. Mary of Laon" ( De miraculis sanctae Mariae Laudunensis ), written by

29068-475: Was first published in 1859 and sold 10,000 copies within the first week. In the Idylls , Arthur became a symbol of ideal manhood who ultimately failed, through human weakness, to establish a perfect kingdom on earth. Tennyson's works prompted a large number of imitators, generated considerable public interest in the legends of Arthur and the character himself, and brought Malory's tales to a wider audience. Indeed,

29240-527: Was not, however, the only Arthurian influence on the developing " Matter of Britain ". There is clear evidence that Arthur and Arthurian tales were familiar on the Continent before Geoffrey's work became widely known (see for example, the Modena Archivolt ), and "Celtic" names and stories not found in Geoffrey's Historia appear in the Arthurian romances . From the perspective of Arthur, perhaps

29412-513: Was one of the artifacts discovered in excavations of the Neolithic mound of Knowth in Ireland, and Bronze Age archaeology cites numerous finds of perforated mace heads. In ancient Ukraine , stone mace heads were first used nearly eight millennia ago. The others known were disc maces with oddly formed stones mounted perpendicularly to their handle. The Narmer Palette shows a king swinging

29584-514: Was told first through chapbooks and later through the political plays of Henry Fielding ; although the action is clearly set in Arthurian Britain, the treatment is humorous and Arthur appears as a primarily comedic version of his romance character. John Dryden 's masque King Arthur is still performed, largely thanks to Henry Purcell 's music, though seldom unabridged. In the early 19th century, medievalism , Romanticism , and

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