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203-678: King Arthur 's shield Pridwen appears in the 1130s in Geoffrey of Monmouth 's largely fictitious Historia Regum Britanniae . Before fighting a battle near Bath , in Somerset , Arthur lorica tanto rege digna indutus, auream galeam simulacro draconis insculptam capiti adaptat, humeris quoque suis clipeum uocabulo Pridwen, in quo imago sanctae Mariae Dei genitricis inpicta ipsum in memoriam ipsius saepissime reuocabat. Accinctus etiam Caliburno gladio optimo et in insula Auallonis fabricato, lancea dextram suam decorat, quae nomine Ron uocabatur. donned

406-499: A hauberk worthy of a mighty king, placed on his head a golden helmet engraved with the image of a dragon and shouldered his shield called Pridwen, on which was depicted Mary, the Holy Mother of God , to keep her memory always before his eyes. He also buckled on Caliburnus , an excellent blade forged on the isle of Avallon , and graced his hand with his spear, called Ron. Pridwen was the name of King Arthur's shield. The name

609-429: 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

812-752: 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

1015-535: 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

1218-746: 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

1421-416: A character composed of obvious inconsistencies of virtue and evil." Nevertheless, according to Arthurian scholar Ryan Harper, considering Gawain's many varied (and for most part positive) medieval portrayals, Gawain may perhaps best be described as the Arthurian everyman , a character who often functions on a very human scale, failing and succeeding, but learning and progressing as well. It is this last that

1624-672: A character seen by some as inconsistent, and by others as a believably flawed hero. Gawain is the first to declare that he "shall laboure in the Queste of the Sankgreall" but really embarks on the Grail quest in order to gain more magical meals and drinks ( metys and drynkes ) from it rather than from a religious zeal or to save the Fisher King 's kingdom. One of Malory's other French sources was L'âtre périlleux ( The Perilous Cemetery ),

1827-616: 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

2030-563: A corruption of the Breton form of this name, Walcmoei. Gawain's precursor, Gwalchmei son of Gwyar, was a hero of Welsh mythology and clearly a major figure of the now largely lost oral tradition. His popularity greatly increased after foreign versions, particularly those derived from Geoffrey of Monmouth 's Historia Regum Britanniae , became known in Wales. The Gwyar (meaning "gore" or "spilled blood/bloodshed" ) in Gwalchmei ap Gwyar

2233-501: 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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2436-515: 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." Gawain Gawain ( / ˈ ɡ ɑː w eɪ n , ˈ ɡ æ -, - w ɪ n , ɡ ə ˈ w eɪ n / GA(H) -wayn, -⁠win, gə- WAYN ), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Arthurian legend , in which he

2639-620: A figure of international interest largely through 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 ,

2842-533: 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

3045-439: A giant serpent that turns out to be just a form of fairy princess, the daughter of Morgan le Fay (Fata Morgana) who then becomes his secret lover; their relationship, once revealed, makes both of them into enemies of Guinevere (who is jealous of Gawain after having been spurned), Arthur, and Morgan all at once. Other women of Gawain include Lady Bloisine who plots to murder Gawain in bed before genuinely falling in love with him in

3248-653: A great healer, as shown in Chrétien's Perceval , Valvens Þáttr , Parzival , Walewein , and the Dutch Lancelot Compilation (in the stories Moriaen , Die Riddere metter Morwen , Walewein ende Keye , and Lancelot en het Hert met de Witte Voet ). In many romances, Gawain is depicted as a model for chivalric attributes. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , for example, where he is described as "this fine father of breeding", Gawain receives

3451-410: 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

3654-555: A horse towards Mordred himself, and the two strike one another down from their horses with their lances. Gawain then attempts to cut Mordred's throat, but Mordred stabs him through the helmet. (As Mordred is portrayed there more sympathetically than in most other works, he later gives a sorrowful eulogy to his dead brother, calling him the best and most glorious of knights.) In the French verse Mort Artu attachment to Didot-Perceval  [ fr ] , Gawain attempts to disembark during

3857-422: A larger role. In the 1954 adaptation of Prince Valiant , he is a somewhat boorish, though noble and good-natured, foil for his squire and friend, Valiant . He plays his traditional part in the 1963 film Sword of Lancelot (played by George Baker ), seeking revenge when Lancelot kills his unarmed brother Gareth, but ultimately coming to Lancelot's aid when he uncovers Mordred's responsibility. Sir Gawain and

4060-507: A leader in the family blood feud against the clan of King Pellinore and his initially close friendship with another great knight, Sir Lancelot, which becomes a bitter rivalry when he seeks vengeance for the death of his brothers. In this tradition, featured in Le Morte d'Arthur , Gawain's sinful ways and his unforgiving nature inadvertently lead to the fall of Arthur and the Round Table, and ultimately his own death by Lancelot's hand. Gawain

4263-460: A masculine warrior culture, and shows the ways in which the masculine world can be subverted by female wiles. This undertone of homoeroticism between Gawain and Sir Bertilak underscores the strength of male homosocial bonds, and the fact that sex never occurs reinforces ideals of the masculine chivalric code. Gawain's character in the poem is said to be founded on a deep Christian belief in Christ and

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4466-563: A poem about Gawain's rescue of a woman from a demon. Malory's version of Gawain's demise follows the Vulgate. Gawain's two sons and his brothers, except for Mordred, end up slain by Lancelot and his followers. Their death unleashes the vindictive hostility of Gawain towards his former friend, drawing Arthur himself into a war with Lancelot, first in Britain and then in France. Gawain's rage is so great that he refuses to cease fighting even after

4669-458: 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

4872-571: A previous encounter). This turns his friendship with Lancelot into hatred, and his desire for vengeance causes him to draw Arthur into a war with Lancelot in France. In the king's absence, Mordred usurps the throne, and the Britons must return to save Britain. Meanwhile, Gawain is mortally wounded by Lancelot himself after a long duel. King Arthur, his uncle in this version of the tale, becomes very distraught as he mourns his death. The Vulgate Mort Artu has Gawain's dead body carried to Camelot , where he

5075-773: A prominent figure in the Arthurian pantheon. Hartmann von Aue 's Erec is the first to mention Gawain's offspring, listing one "Henec the Skillful, son of Gawain" ( Henec suctellois fil Gawin ), among the Knights of the Round Table. Thomas Malory credits Gawain with three sons through the Lady of Lys, a sister of Bran de Lys/Lis (or "Brandles" in the Middle English The Jeaste of Syr Gawayne ); they are named Florence, Lovell, and Gingalain . Both Lovell (Lioniel) and Gingalain (Guinglain) have previously appeared in

5278-484: A quest to learn the fate of Merlin in the Vulgate Merlin Continuation , she curses him with a spell that turns him into a hideous dwarf, but later restores him to his real form after he passes a test to save her from an apparent rape in an arranged "damsel in distress"-style scenario. In some versions of the legend, Gawain would have been the true and rightful heir to the throne of Camelot, after

5481-581: 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

5684-547: A supporting role, some works feature Gawain as the main character. Vera Chapman 's The Green Knight (1975) and Anne Crompton's Gawain and Lady Green (1997) offer modern retellings of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight . Gwalchmei is the protagonist in Gillian Bradshaw 's Celtic-tinged Hawk of May (1980) and its sequels. Gawain is a major character in The Squire's Tales series by Gerald Morris , in which he

5887-603: A sword fight: Lancelot, Hector , Bors , his own brother Gaheris (replaced with Percival by Malory), Tristan , and Morholt . In Perceval and some other later stories, he is the other wielder of Arthur's magic sword Excalibur ; in the Alliterative Morte Arthure , he has a sword named Galuth, which bears the name Galatine in Malory's version of the Roman War episode. His knowledge of herbs also makes him

6090-719: 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

6293-494: A worldly and faithless knight in his Idylls of the King (1859–1885). Similarly, T. H. White 's novel The Once and Future King (1958) follows Malory, but presents Gawain as more churlish than Malory's torn and tragic portrayal. In contrast, Thomas Berger 's Arthur Rex (1978) portrays Gawain as open-minded and introspective about his flaws, qualities that make him the Round Table's greatest knight. Though he usually plays

Pridwen - Misplaced Pages Continue

6496-628: Is King Arthur 's nephew and one of the premier Knights of the Round Table . The prototype of Gawain is mentioned under the name Gwalchmei in the earliest Welsh sources. He has subsequently appeared in many Arthurian tales in Welsh, Latin, French, English, Scottish, Dutch, German, Spanish, and Italian, notably as the protagonist of the Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight . Other works featuring Gawain as their central character include De Ortu Waluuanii , Diu Crône , Ywain and Gawain , Golagros and Gawane , Sir Gawain and

6699-562: Is Gawain's younger brother (by Lot, originally) or half-brother (by Arthur, later) in almost every text in which he figures since Geoffrey of Monmouth. Traditionally, Gawain, of all Arthur's knights, is known for his courteousness, compassion, and humility. In Gawain: His Reputation, His Courtesy and His Appearance in Chaucer's Squire's Tale , B. J. Whiting collected quantitative evidence of these qualities being stronger in Gawain than in any of

6902-473: 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

7105-558: Is also the subject of burlesque humor, as in the parody Le Chevalier à l'épée ( The Knight with the Sword ). In the variants of the Bel Inconnu ( Fair Unknown ) story, he is the father of the hero. Mériadeuc  [ fr ] , also known as Le Chevalier aux deux épées ( The Knight of Two Swords ), contrasts the adventures of Gawain with these of the eponymous Mériadeuc, his former squire . Another notable squire of Gawain

7308-422: Is cavalier toward the quest of the Grail; he hates Lamorat, first, because he fears that Lamorat may discover that he had killed Pellinor, second, because Lamorat defeats him, and third, because Lamorat is having an affair with his mother; he throws Lamorat's head down on the path after cutting it off; he is worse than Breuz-sans-Pitie [...] Surely an abundance of evil for one small man to perform! Madden considered

7511-745: 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

7714-401: 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

7917-1567: Is known by different names and variants in different languages. The character corresponds to the Welsh Gwalchmei ap Gwyar (meaning "son of Gwyar"), or Gwalchmai , and throughout the Middle Ages was known in Latin as Galvaginus , Gualgunus ( Gualguanus , Gualguinus ), Gualgwinus , Walwanus ( Walwanius ), Waluanus , Walwen , etc.; in Old French (and sometimes English) primarily as Gavain ( Gavaine ) and also as Gauvain ( Gauvaine ), Gauvan ( Gauvayn ), Gauven ( Gauvein / Gauveyn ), Gavan ( Gavane ) or Gavayn ( Gavayne ); in Middle High German as Gâwein or Gâwân ; in Italian dialects as Gavino , Galvagin or Galvano ; in Old Spanish as Galván ; in Old Portuguese as Galvam or Galvão ; and in Middle English also as Gawaine , Gawan ( Gawane ), Gawayn ( Gawayne ), Gawein ( Gaweine ), Gaweyn ( Gaweyne ), Gauwein ( Gauweine ), Gauweyn ( Gauweyne ) or Wawen ( Wowen ), among many other forms and spellings. The later forms are generally assumed to derive from

8120-527: Is likely the name of Gwalchmei's mother, rather than his father, as is the standard in the Welsh Triads . Gwyar appears as a daughter of Amlawdd Wledig in one version of the hagiographical genealogy Bonedd y Saint . The 14th-century fragment Birth of Arthur , a Welsh text that adapts scenes from Geoffrey, substitutes Gwyar for Anna, Geoffrey's name for Gawain's mother, the Queen of Orkney . His father

8323-531: Is more powerful than him; Arthur and Kay meet Gawain on his way but he unhorses them both. Gawain then arrives at Arthur's court, but the king rejects him despite learning of the knight being his nephew. In response, Gawain vows that he will do what Arthur's entire army could not do. The occasion comes when the Lady of the Castle of Maidens sends to Arthur for aid, having been abducted by a pagan king who wants to force marriage on her. Arthur and his forces go to fight

Pridwen - Misplaced Pages Continue

8526-740: Is named as Emyr Llydaw (Emperor of Brittany), that is Budic II of Brittany . There, Gwalchmei is given three sisters: Gracia, Graeria, and Dioneta, the last of which being a counterpart of Morgan . Early references to Gwalchmei include the Welsh Triads; the Englynion y Beddau ( Stanzas of the Graves ), which lists the site of his grave; the Trioedd y Meirch ( Triads of the Horses ), which praises his horse named Keincaled (known as Gringolet in

8729-593: 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

8932-610: 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

9135-403: Is perhaps most important in any overall consideration of Gawain as character. Sometimes he is the best knight, and sometimes not, but even as he fails he can learn from his mistakes, and sometimes becomes a better knight because of them. Ultimately, it may be this unusual capacity for character development, rooted in but not limited to his familial relationship with Arthur, that has made Gawain such

9338-494: Is placed in the tomb of his dear brother Gaheriet (Gaheris). Gawain's death in a battle against Mordred is described in detail in the English Alliterative Morte Arthure . Upon reaching land after returning to Britain from the continent, Gawain wreaks great slaughter on his enemies, killing the king of Gothland among others, before being surrounded on a hill. Breaking out, he pushes forward on

9541-471: Is portrayed as a skilled knight, immensely loyal to Arthur, and an intelligent, kind-hearted, and occasionally sarcastic. Morris included many legends involving Gawain in the second book, The Squire, His Knight, and His Lady (1999), drawing in particular from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight . An aged Gawain is one of the central characters in Kazuo Ishiguro 's novel The Buried Giant (2015). In

9744-409: Is sentenced to burn at the stake and Arthur deploys his best knights to guard the execution, Gawain nobly refuses to take part in the deed, even though his brothers will be there. But when Lancelot returns to rescue Guinevere, a battle between Lancelot's and Arthur's knights ensues, and Gawain's brothers Gareth and Gaheris are killed (Agravain, too, is killed by Lancelot, either on this occasion or in

9947-460: Is supposed to have lived, and most historians who study the period do not consider him 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

10150-692: Is the also eponymous protagonist of Gliglois  [ fr ] . For the English and the Scottish, Gawain remained a respectable and heroic figure, becoming the subject of several romances (a dozen in English, besides the likes of the Anglo-Norman Romanz du reis Yder ) and lyrics in the dialects of their nations, such as the Middle Scots poem Golagros and Gawane . Important Gawain romances in English include The Awntyrs off Arthure ( The Adventures of Arthur ), Syre Gawene and

10353-608: Is the eldest and is explicitly described as the most handsome of them by the Vulgate Lancelot ), Gawain also has sisters in different settings. These include an unnamed sister whom he rescues (along with her unnamed husband and children) from a giant in Chrétien's Yvain ; two sisters named Soredamors (Cligés' mother) and Clarissant in Chrétien's Cligés ; an unnamed sister abducted by Gorvain Cadru in Hunbaut ; and Elainne in

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10556-622: Is the progeny of Gawain and a fairy called Blanc(h)emal, and Gawain is himself rescued by the fay Lorie in The Marvels of Rigomer  [ fr ] ( Les Merveilles de Rigomer ). The mother of Gawain's son in Wigalois is known as Florie, likely another version of Lorie from Rigomer ; she also appears as Floree, daughter of King Alain of Escavalon , in the Livre d'Artus . The Italian romance La Pulzella Gaia has Gawain fight and defeat

10759-538: Is the protagonist who achieves the Grail and heals the Fisher King , also features a minor character of "the other Gawain": his lookalike, Aamanz. Gawain is notably the hero of one of the greatest works of Middle English literature, the alliterative poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , where he is portrayed as an excellent, but human, knight. Here, Gawain strongly resembles the Irish mythological hero Cuchulainn . In

10962-458: Is thus attached to no woman in particular. As such, he is the champion of all women, and through this reputation, he has avoided the name-pairing seen in tales of Erec (with Enide ), Tristan (with Iseult), and Lancelot (with Guinevere). Nevertheless, Gawain has had wives in the course of Arthurian literature, albeit he is always introduced as yet unmarried at the beginning of any such story. In The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle , he marries

11165-476: Is too late). He is also responsible for the deaths of more of his fellow Round Table companions, including the young King Bagdemagus of Gorre, whom he accidentally kills during a tournament. The Vulgate Mort Artu even says Gawain had killed some of his fellow Knights of the Round Table in the grand quest for the Grail, which he turned out to be unworthy to achieve. When Gawain does reach the Grail Castle , he

11368-644: Is unable to restore the Grail Sword, unlike his role in Perceval , and is actually more interested in the Grail Maiden than in the holy relic, failing to even spot it there. In a symbolic later scene, it is her son and the new destined Grail hero, the blessed virgin knight Galahad , who will draw the sword in the stone at Camelot, after Gawain failed in the task. In the end, Gawain's unwillingness to forgive Lancelot leads to his own death and contributes to

11571-470: Is unfair, cowardly and cruel in battle; he was once good but is so no longer; he is one of the worst knights in the world; he kills out of hate, envy or to get possession of a woman; he is rebuked by Gaheriet, Tristram, and Driant; he is defeated or discomfited by Arthur, Belinant, Blioberis, Brehus, Driant, Erec, Lamorat, Palamedes, Perceval and Tristram; he kills, usually treacherously, Bademagus, Driant, Erec, Lamorat, Meraugis, Pellinor, and Yvain l'Avoutre; he

11774-402: 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

11977-412: 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

12180-550: 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

12383-503: The Duke of Burgundy . Gregory enters the lady's service and succeeds in winning back her lands, after which he unwittingly marries his own mother. Later romances, however, abandon the motif of Gawain being brought up, unknown, in Rome. In the Suite du Merlin attributed to Robert de Boron , a marriage between King Lot and a daughter of Ygerne ( Igraine , Arthur's mother) is part of the negotiations arranging for Arthur's father Uther Pendragon 's marriage to Ygerne; Gawain must be thus about

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12586-514: 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

12789-418: 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

12992-462: 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

13195-420: 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

13398-601: 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

13601-509: 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

13804-605: 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

14007-416: The Post-Vulgate Cycle , and even outright villainous in the Prose Tristan , resulting in his conflicting characterization in Le Morte d'Arthur . While he was originally known for his religious piety, here, he becomes a symbol of secular knighthood and thus a major object of criticism by the authors of French prose cycles. Two important plotlines shed light on Gawain's redefined characterization: his being

14210-444: 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

14413-400: The Triads of the Horses . The singling out of Gwalchmei as Most Courteous evokes his role in the Mabinogion , where he regularly serves as an intermediary between King Arthur 's court and stranger knights. An early Welsh romance Culhwch and Olwen , composed in the 11th century (though not recorded until the 14th), and eventually associated with the Mabinogion , ascribes to Gwalchmei

14616-508: The Tristan mainly responsible for Gawain's ill fame, and although Miss Weston thought that the Queste might well be the culprit, if sheer weight of calumny be any criterion, then we must agree with Madden. After the Tristan , indeed, the remaining prose romances seem to direct no more than pin-pricks at Gawain. Malory's Gawain, following the later French prose depictions, also "emerges as

14819-637: The Virgin Mary . Conversely, in the Vulgate Queste del Saint Graal he is used as a very symbol of the unfitness of secular knighthood. Here, Gawain is blamed for his irreligion and is shown to indulge in rather purposeless killing: as, for example, when he mortally wounds his relative and a fellow Knight of the Round Table, Yvain the Bastard , in one of the many random jousting duels for no particular reason (failing to even recognise him until it

15022-596: The chivalric aspect he would take in later literature, wherein he favours courtliness and love over martial valor. Several later works expand on Geoffrey's mention of Gawain's boyhood spent in Rome, the most important of which is the anonymous Medieval Latin De Ortu Waluuanii Nepotis Arturi ( The Rise of Gawain, Nephew of Arthur ), which describes his birth, boyhood, and early adventures leading up to his knighting by his uncle. Beginning with

15225-532: The "Fair Unknown" Gingalain , himself a popular hero of Arthurian romance. In the early Welsh texts, Gawain is portrayed as a formidable but courteous and compassionate warrior, fiercely loyal to his king and his family. He is known as a friend to young knights, a defender of the poor and the unfortunate, and as the "Maidens' Knight", a rescuer of women as well—in more than one variant of the Castle of Maidens theme. Other notable recurring motifs include his learned healing skills, his special swords that may include

15428-501: The 11th-century Norman conquest of England . William recounts how Arthur's nephew, a renowned Post-Roman Briton soldier celebrated for his bravery, tirelessly fought against the Saxons led by Hengest 's brother: "He deservedly shared in his uncle's praising, because he prevented the fall of his collapsing country for many years." William also noted uncertainty regarding the manner of his death: "There, as certain people claim, he [Walwen]

15631-460: 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

15834-646: 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

16037-549: 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

16240-444: 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

16443-410: The Arthurian legend in general, are often heavily indebted to Malory; White's The Once and Future King also exerts a heavy influence. Gawain appears as a supporting character in films such as Knights of the Round Table (1953, played by Robert Urquhart ) and Excalibur (1981, played by Liam Neeson ), all of which draw on elements of Gawain's traditional characterizations. Other films give Gawain

16646-490: 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

16849-465: The Carle of Carlisle , L'âtre périlleux , La Mule sans frein , La Vengeance Raguidel , Le Chevalier à l'épée , Le Livre d'Artus , The Awntyrs off Arthure , The Greene Knight , and The Weddynge of Syr Gawen and Dame Ragnell . In Arthurian chivalric romance literature, Gawain is usually depicted as King Arthur's closest companion and an integral member of the elite Round Table . In

17052-532: The Carle of Carlyle ( Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle ), and The Avowyng of Arthur ( The Avowing of Arthur ). The Middle Dutch romances by Penninc and Pieter Vostaert, the Roman van Walewein  [ nl ] ( Story of Gawain ), held at Leiden University Libraries , and Walewein ende Keye ( Gawain and Kay ), are both dedicated primarily to Gawain. The Middle High German romance Diu Crône ( The Crown ) by Heinrich von dem Türlin, in which Gawain

17255-526: The Dutch name Walewein (attested in Flanders and France c. 1100) was earliest, suggesting it entered Britain during the large settlement of Flemings in Wales in the early 12th century. However, most scholarship supports a derivation from Gwalchmei, variants of which are well attested in Wales and Brittany . Bromwich, Joseph Loth , and Heinrich Zimmer all trace the etymology of the continental versions to

17458-590: The First Continuation to Chrétien's Perceval and in the Livre d'Artus . Gingalain is the only of them to play a significant role in further works, as the eponymous protagonist of Renaud de Beaujeu 's Old French romance Le Bel Inconnu ( The Fair Unknown ), as well as of the Middle-English romance Libeaus Desconus and of its Middle High German version Wigalois (titled after Gingalain's name) by Wirnt von Grafenberg . Besides those children,

17661-717: The Fourth Continuation of Perceval , Ydain (Ydeine) who pledges to love him for life after he rescues her in La Vengeance Raguidel and the Roman van Lancelot , and the haughty and cruel Arcade who loves Gawain but he gives her up to the young Pelleas after helping him win her over in the Prose Lancelot . Arcade is renamed as Lady Ettarde in Malory's version with no happy end for her; his Le Morte d'Arthur also mentions Gawain having once been in

17864-570: 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

18067-498: The Green Knight film adaptation starred Dev Patel as Gawain in The Green Knight (2021). The character has appeared in a number of stage productions and operas, mostly interpretations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight . Particularly notable among them is the 1991 opera Gawain , with music by Harrison Birtwistle and a libretto by David Harsent . Gawain furthermore appeared in a number of video games, including as

18270-458: The Green Knight has been adapted to film several times, including 1973's Gawain and the Green Knight (played by Murray Head ) and 1984's Sword of the Valiant (played by Miles O'Keeffe ), both directed by Stephen Weeks; neither film was well reviewed and both deviate substantially from the source material. A 1991 television adaptation by Thames Television , Gawain and the Green Knight ,

18473-412: The Green Knight story include The Turke and Sir Gawain . In possibly Thomas Malory 's The Weddynge of Syr Gawen and Dame Ragnell ( The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle ), his wits, virtue, and respect for women frees his wife, a loathly lady , from her curse of ugliness. The Child Ballads include a preserved legend in a positive light: The Marriage of Sir Gawain , a fragmentary version of

18676-501: 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

18879-580: The Modena manuscript of the Didot Perceval . In Parzival , he has two sisters named Cundriê and Itonjê and a sole younger brother named Beacurs (the King of Norway and a Knight of the Round Table who marries King Bagdemagus 's niece Antonie). In some Welsh adaptations of Historia Regum Britanniae and in The Birth of Arthur , King Hoel is his half-brother from their mother's first marriage. Mordred

19082-477: 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

19285-605: The Plain". Not all scholars accept the gwalch derivation. John Koch suggests the name could be derived from a Brythonic original *Wolcos Magesos , "Wolf/Errant Warrior of the Plain." Others argue that the continental forms do not ultimately derive from Gwalchmei . Roger Sherman Loomis suggests a derivation from the epithet Gwallt Avwyn , found in the list of heroes in Culhwch and Olwen , which he translates as "hair like reins" or "bright hair". Lauran Toorians proposes that

19488-536: The Pope steps in and issues a bull to end the violence between Arthur's and Lancelot's factions. Following Mordred's betrayal, Gawain wages two wars against both Mordred and Lancelot. He twice challenges Lancelot to a duel, but each time loses and asks Lancelot to kill him. Lancelot refuses and grants him mercy before leaving. The mortally injured Gawain later writes to Lancelot, repenting of his bitterness, asking for his help against Mordred, and for forgiveness for splitting

19691-584: The Queen of the Isles swears she will marry only Gawain. In Diu Crône , Gawain marries Amurfina, a niece of Arthur's stepfather (here named Gansguoter) who wins Gawain from her own younger sister Sgoidamur through the use of a magic bridle and a love potion. Gawain also often appears as intimately associated with a supernatural female figure from the Otherworld or the Fairyland . The hero of Le Bel Inconnu

19894-523: The Round Table. Following his death, Gawain also appears in Arthur's dream vision to tell him to wait thirty days for the reconciled Lancelot to return to Britain before fighting Mordred. Consequently, Arthur sends Lucan and Bedivere to make a temporary peace treaty, but the bloody final conflict ensues anyway. Upon his eventual arrival, Lancelot weeps at Gawain's tomb for two nights. In his editorial preface to Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur , William Caxton wrote that those visiting Dover Castle can still "see

20097-736: 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

20300-497: 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

20503-400: 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

20706-545: 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

20909-605: 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

21112-572: The Virgin Mary's image was taken by Geoffrey from the 9th-century Historia Brittonum , which describes a battle "in the castle of Guinnion, in which Arthur carried the image of saint Mary the perpetual virgin on his shoulders". In transferring it to Arthur's shield Geoffrey created the first example in all literature of religious symbolism on a shield. In the Roman de Brut , the Norman poet Wace 's expanded translation of Geoffrey's Historia ,

21315-573: 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

21518-487: The Welsh Gwalchmei . The element Gwalch means hawk , and is a typical epithet in medieval Welsh poetry . The meaning of mei is uncertain. It has been suggested that it refers to the month of May ( Mai in Modern Welsh), rendering "Hawk of May", although Rachel Bromwich considers this unlikely. Kenneth Jackson suggests the name evolved from an early Common Brittonic name * Ualcos Magesos , meaning "Hawk of

21721-628: 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

21924-543: 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

22127-611: The action. This suggests he was added to the romance later, likely under the influence of the Welsh versions of Geoffrey's Historia . He also appears in Peredur fab Efrawg ( Peredur son of Efrawg ), part of the Mabinogion , where he aids the hero Peredur in the final battle against the nine witches of Caer Loyw . A similar motif was mentioned by the 16th-century Welsh scholar Sion Dafydd Rhys in an unrecorded oral tale in which Gwalchmei destroyed three evil witch-sisters, wives of

22330-489: 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

22533-565: The best-known versions of the legend, he is the son of Arthur's sister Morgause and King Lot of Orkney and Lothian . Here, his younger brothers (or half-brothers) are Agravain , Gaheris , Gareth , and the infamous Mordred . However, his familial relations and upbringing are recorded differently in various accounts, although they often involve a story of Gawain unknowingly being raised in foster care in Rome before returning to Britain to reunite happily with his biological relatives. His many children from his numerous wives and lovers include

22736-561: 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

22939-477: The castle where, unknown to him, live his grandmother (King Arthur's mother), his own mother, and his sister. Gawain becomes the castle's lord, and it would be likely that he would unknowingly marry either his mother or his sister, but Gawain discovers who the women are. In a variant included in the Gesta Romanorum , a Gawain-like character named Gregory comes to a castle where his mother dwells, besieged by

23142-468: The child to a knight named Gawain the Brown ( Gauvain li Brun ) who baptises the infant with his own name, puts the infant Gawain in a cask with a letter explaining who the child is, and sets him adrift on the sea. The cask is found by a fisherman and his wife. Sometime after Gawain is ten years of age, his foster-father vows to make a pilgrimage to Rome if he recovers from his severe illness. When he undertakes

23345-515: 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

23548-580: The cursed Ragnelle, and in giving her "sovereignty" in the relationship, lifts the spell laid upon her that had given her a hag-like appearance. In Parzival , Gawain marries Orguelleuse, the widow of the Duke of Logres. (In Perlesvaus , the mad Orguelleuse instead unsuccessfully plots to kill Gawain and then to entomb herself with him; she is called the Maiden of the Narrow Wood in Hunbaut .) In Mériadeuc ,

23751-701: The downfall of Arthur's kingdom. In the Post-Vulgate Cycle, Gawain's character is further blackened, influenced by being portrayed as a villain in the Prose Tristan . He is now bloodthirsty and often murderous. Among important Knights of the Round Table whom Gawain is said to have killed during and after the Grail quest are King Pellinor's son Aglovale , King Lac's son Erec , and King Esclabor 's son Palamedes (resulting in Escablor's own death from grief). Earlier, Gawain and his brothers are also

23954-403: The earlier French epic poem La Bataille Loquifer  [ fr ] , appearing together with Arthur and Morgan in Avalon, where they are all still alive hundreds of years later. Les Enfances Gauvain , based in part on De Ortu Waluuanii , tells of how Arthur's sister Morcades ( Morgause ) becomes pregnant by Lot, at this point a mere page in King Arthur's court. She and Lot secretly give

24157-472: 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

24360-474: 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

24563-497: The eponymous hero of Beaudous by Robert de Blois is the son of Gawain by the king of Wales's unnamed daughter, who is known only as the Lover ( Amie ). She might be the same as the also unnamed daughter of King Tradelmant of North Wales, a hitherto virgin who becomes pregnant by Gawain out of wedlock in the Prose Lancelot . Since Gawain is known in multiple tales as the "Knight of Maidens" (French: Chevalier as Damoisels ), his name

24766-542: The famed Caliburn (Excalibur), and his mighty warhorse named Gringolet . In the later version of his legend, he possesses superhuman strength connected to a day and night cycle, adding to his already outstanding martial prowess and making him an invincible swordsman around noon, when the sun is at its height. However, Gawain's glowing portrayal diminishes in the Vulgate Cycle , which favours Lancelot and, especially, Galahad . His character turns markedly ignoble in

24969-470: The feet of the image of the Virgin Mary before going into battle. Pridwen was named as the shield of King Arthur in the chronicle called Flores Historiarum , both in the original version written by Roger of Wendover and in the adaptation by Matthew Paris . 13th century elaborations on the tradition of Arthur's shield recorded in the Vatican recension of the Historia Brittonum tell us that this image

25172-617: The feud between Gawain and Pellinor and his sons is very important in the Post-Vulgate Cycle and the Prose Tristan , but not a trace of it is found in the Lancelot-Grail Cycle or in any earlier known tale, some of which picture Lot as still alive long after Gawain becomes a knight. In many works outside the Lancelot-Grail -derived tradition in which Gawain has only his now-familiar four brothers (among whom he

25375-611: 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

25578-448: 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

25781-527: 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

25984-427: The five works of Chrétien de Troyes in the second half of the 12th century, Gawain became a very popular figure in Old French chivalric romances . Chrétien features Gawain as a major character and establishes some characteristics that pervade later depictions, including his unparalleled courteousness and his way with women. His romances set the pattern often followed in later works in which Gawain serves as an ally to

26187-568: The giants previously slain by Arthur, killing them within their castles through his cunning, as they could not be defeated otherwise, due to their powers. Gwalchmei himself appears as a giant in Welsh folklore. The first known references to Gawain outside Wales began to appear in the first half of the 12th century. William of Malmesbury writes, in his Gesta Regum Anglorum of around 1125, that "Walwen's" grave had been uncovered in Pembrokeshire hundreds of years after his death, following

26390-416: 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

26593-450: 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

26796-424: The kisses of Lady Bertilak with discretion, at once not wanting to insult her by refusing her advances and not wanting to betray the hospitality of her husband. Based on the bargain to give each other their respective daily gains, Gawain must give the kisses he receives from Lady Bertilak to Sir Bertilak . This allusion serves to reinforce chivalric ideals of religious, martial, and courtly love codes, especially in

26999-417: 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

27202-528: 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,

27405-527: The manga Four Knights of the Apocalypse (2022), a sequel to Seven Deadly Sins , Gawain is a member of the eponymous Knights, portrayed as female, a hugely muscular and prideful niece of Arthur. He is also depicted in multiple episodes of BBC's Merlin (2008–2012), where he is a Knight of the Round Table under King Arthur. In this adaptation he is loyal to King Arthur and portrayed as a cocky, funny, and skilled knight. Film portrayals of Gawain, and

27608-626: 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

27811-463: 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

28014-423: 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

28217-413: The most popular character of all Arthurian knights in the entire genre, their authors characterise him variously. In some of these "Gawain romances", such as La Vengeance Raguidel (or Messire Gauvain ) and La Mule sans frein (perhaps also written by Chrétien himself), he is the hero. In others, such as Meraugis de Portlesguez and Hunbaut  [ fr ] , he aids the hero. Sometimes he

28420-435: 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

28623-680: 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

28826-402: 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

29029-471: 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

29232-626: 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

29435-495: 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

29638-481: 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

29841-472: The other Knights of the Round Table , counting the words "courteous", "courtesy", and "courteously" being used in reference to Arthur's nephew as 178 times in total, more than for all the other knights in Arthurian literature. The Prose Lancelot describes Gawain as the most handsome of his brothers and notably gracious towards poor people and to societal outcasts such as lepers; the one time when he fails to properly greet an unknown maiden ( Viviane ) while on

30044-643: The pagan army but lose, yet Gawain single-handedly succeeds and returns with the Lady and with the pagan king's head. Arthur is finally forced to publicly accept the knight's worth, and Lot and Anna formally acknowledge Gawain as their son. Similar to this tale are the stories of the Castle of Wonders, found in Diu Crône , Chrétien's Perceval , Wolfram von Eschenbach 's Parzival , and the Norse Valvens þáttr ( The Tale of Gawain ), wherein Gawain comes to

30247-444: 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

30450-618: The pilgrimage, he takes his foster-child with him to Rome. There a clerk reads the knight's letter, understands that the boy is of high birth, and the Pope takes Gawain as his own foster-son. Accounts similar to this can be found in Perlesvaus , the Gesta Romanorum , and many other texts. In De Ortu Waluuani , the young Gawain, trained as a Roman cavalry officer, undertakes a duel to determine whether Rome or Persia should possess Jerusalem . On his way, Gawain and his men defeat

30653-473: The pirate king Milocrates and his brother Buzafarnam, rescuing the Roman Emperor's niece whom Milocrates has abducted. In Jerusalem, he fights the giant Persian champion Gormund and slays him after three days of single combat. He is then sent to King Arthur with the proof of his birth. Arthur's queen, here named Gwendoloena and possessing prophetic powers, warns Arthur of the coming of a knight of Rome who

30856-516: The poem, he must go to the titular Green Knight to, presumably, be killed by the Knight. Gawain does this as it pertains to a deal made between the two without knowing that it is all a test by the Knight. He is cited in Robert Laneham 's letter describing the entertainments at Kenilworth in 1575, and the recopying of earlier works such as The Greene Knight suggests that a popular English tradition of Gawain continued. Different variants of

31059-415: 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

31262-471: 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

31465-516: 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

31668-481: 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

31871-465: The power of the lustful witch Hellawes . In the Prose Lancelot , Gawain also expressed his desire to himself become the most beautiful lady so he could be loved by the mysterious Black Knight (Lancelot appearing incognito). Gawain features frequently in modern literature and media. Modern depictions of him are often heavily influenced by Malory, though characterizations are inconsistent. Alfred Tennyson adapted episodes from Malory to present Gawain as

32074-435: 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

32277-523: The protagonist and a model of knighthood to whom others are compared. However, in Chrétien's later romances, especially Lancelot, le Chevalier de la Charrette ( Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart ) and Perceval ou le Conte du Graal ( Perceval, the Story of the Grail ), the eponymous heroes Lancelot and Percival prove morally superior to Gawain, who follows the rules of courtliness to the letter rather than

32480-424: 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

32683-403: 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

32886-427: The reign of King Arthur. The Vulgate Mort Artu says Gawain had been baptised as an infant by a miracle-working holy man, also named Gawain. The other Gawain named the boy after himself, and who announced the following day that every day at noon, at the hour of the baptism, his power and strength would increase. His recurring status of a solar hero, as well as some of his other traits and adventures, especially within

33089-421: 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

33292-406: 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

33495-408: 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

33698-431: 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

33901-459: The same age as Arthur, or even older. In the Vulgate Merlin , he first appears as a young squire in his father's kingdom. Gawain, his brother Gaheris, and a number of other squires, most of them sons or kindred of the kings who at this time are rebelling against King Arthur, come together and defend the land of Logres against the Saxons while Arthur is away aiding King Leodegan ( Leodegrance ) against King Rion ( Rience ), after which Arthur knights

34104-460: The same place where Lancelot had wounded him and falls dead during a single combat with a knight named Turinoro, who also dies. Thomas Malory's English compilation work Le Morte d'Arthur is based mainly, but not exclusively, on French works from the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate Cycles. Here Gawain partly retains the negative characteristics attributed to him by the later French authors, and partly retains his earlier positive representations, creating

34307-441: The same relationship with Arthur that Gawain is later given: he is the son of Arthur's sister and one of his leading warriors. However, he is mentioned only twice in the text, once in the extensive list of Arthur's court towards the beginning of the story, and again as one of the "Six Helpers" whom Arthur sends with the protagonist Culhwch on his journey to find his love Olwen . Unlike the other helpers, he takes no further part in

34510-416: The sea landing at Dover when one of Mordred's Saxon allies fatally strikes him in the head through an unlaced helmet; a similar account is told in the English Stanzaic Morte Arthur . In the Italian romance La Tavola Ritonda , having been defeated in his duel with Lancelot, Gawain takes part in resisting an attack by Lancelot's friend and ally, Sir Turinoro of Cartagina , when he is struck on his head in

34713-409: The shield after the manner of a heraldic blazon. In the later 13th century the Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester , another heir of the Brut tradition, mentioned Arthur's shield (under the name þridwen ) along with its Marian image. In the 1190s the churchman Gerald of Wales , mentioning Arthur's shield without naming it in his De principis instructione , added the detail that Arthur would kiss

34916-409: The shield's name is given as Priven. He interprets Geoffrey's words as meaning that the representation of the Virgin was inside the shield, not outside as a heraldic device, and he assures us that bearing the shield Arthur ne sembla pas cuart ne fol , "didn't seem cowardly or crazy". In Layamon 's Brut the shield's name is again Pridwen, and he tells us that inside it the image of the Virgin Mary

35119-455: 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

35322-411: 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

35525-446: The skull of [Sir Gawaine], and the same wound is seen that Sir Launcelot gave him in battle." Finally, there are versions in which Gawain does not die. In Jean des Preis 's Belgian Ly Myreur des Histors , Arthur, defeated and wounded in his last battle with Mordrech (Mordred), goes with Gawain in a boat to the magic isle of Avalon for them to be healed there by the king's sister Morgaine (Morgan). The surviving Gawain also features in

35728-652: The slayers of King Pellinor and his sons Driant and Lamorat . Although Gawain still has a reputation for being one of the best and most courteous knights in the world, this is a sham, as he is often secretly a rapist of damsels and a killer of good knights, no better than his brother Agravain. When the mighty and holy Grail knight Perceval asks Gawain if he had killed his father Pellinor, Gawain simply lies and denies it out of fear of Perceval. The Guiron le Courtois section of Palamedes explains Gawain's many great cruelties being caused by his grief at being surpassed by other knights after not regaining his full strength following

35931-404: The spirit. Chrétien's story of Gawain's cousin Yvain , Yvain ou le Chevalier au Lion ( Yvain, the Knight of the Lion ), was translated into Middle English as Ywain and Gawain . Gawain is also prominent in the continuations of Perceval , in particular the First Continuation and Perlesvaus . An influx of romances written in French appeared in Chrétien's wake. While Gawain stands out as

36134-581: The squires. During this time, Gawain notably saves their mother Belisent (Morgause) and the infant Mordred from being kidnapped by the Saxon king Taurus. This account is revised in the later Post-Vulgate Merlin , where King Lot fights against Arthur but his forces are defeated and he himself is killed by King Pellinor ( Pellinore ), one of King Arthur's allies. Gawain first appears as an eleven-year-old boy at Lot's funeral and swears to avenge his father's death on Pellinor, praying that he may never be known for knightly deeds until he has taken vengeance. The story of

36337-585: The story of The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle . The Lancelot-Grail (Vulgate Cycle) depicts Gawain as a proud and worldly knight and the leader of his siblings, who demonstrates through his failures the danger of neglecting the spiritual in favor of the material world. On the grand Grail Quest, his intentions are always the purest, but he is unable to use God's grace to see the error of his ways. Later, when his brothers Mordred and Agravain plot to destroy Lancelot and Queen Guinevere by exposing their love affair, Gawain tries to stop them. When Guinevere

36540-501: 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

36743-421: 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),

36946-506: 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

37149-401: 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

37352-418: 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

37555-429: The time when King Lot and Arthur began a war with Norway, and that he had previously served Pope Sulpicius in Rome. Gawain later plays a major role as one of the leaders in Arthur's victorious war against the Romans, having personally started this great conflict by killing the Roman envoy Caius (Gaius Quintilianus) who had insulted him and Arthur. Geoffrey's Gawain is depicted as a supreme warrior (even calling him and Hoel

37758-419: The two "warriors than whom no better had ever been born" ) and potential heir to the throne until he is tragically struck down by the forces of his traitorous brother Mordred (Modredus) at Richborough , during an attempted sea landing that turned into a disaster. Geoffrey's work was immensely popular and was adapted into many languages. The Norman version by Wace , the Roman de Brut , ascribes to Gawain

37961-443: The variants of the Green Knight tale, suggest that Gawain may have been originally a Welsh counterpart of the Irish mythology hero Cú Chulainn , and also led to scholarly hypothesis according to which Gawain's figure could be derived from a Celtic sun god or perhaps a son of such deity. The Post-Vulgate narration tells how, in great part due to his supernatural strength, there have been only six knights whom Gawain failed to defeat in

38164-403: The war with Galehaut . Such a new popular image originating in the late Old French romance tradition prompted the historical audience of The Wife of Bath's Tale to identify the story's rapist-knight character as Gawain. B. J. Whiting writes in Gawain: A Casebook : There would be no point in summarizing the Tristan , but some examples of Gawain's depravity must be cited. He is a traitor; he

38367-416: 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

38570-519: The works of medieval French authors); and Cynddelw 's elegy for Owain Gwynedd , which compares Owain's boldness to that of Gwalchmei. In the Welsh Triads, Triad 4 lists him as one of the "Three Well-Endowed Men of the Isle of Britain" (probably referring to his inheritance); Triad 75 describes him as one of the "Three Men of the Island of Britain who were Most Courteous to Guests and Strangers"; and Triad 91 praises his fearlessness. Some versions of Triads 42 and 46 also praise his horse Keincaled, echoing

38773-406: Was igrauen mid rede golde stauen , "engraved with red gold stencilling". Elsewhere he adds the detail that Arthur's shield was made of olifantes bane , "elephant ivory". The Gesta Regum Britanniae , a 13th-century Latin versification of Geoffrey's Historia attributed to William of Rennes , differs from earlier versions in representing the picture of the Virgin Mary as being on the outside of

38976-405: Was Geoffrey of Monmouth's version of Gawain in the Historia Regum Britanniae , written around 1136, that brought the character to a wider audience. As in the Welsh tradition, Geoffrey's Gawain (Gualguanus) is the son of Arthur's sister, here named Anna, and her husband is Lot (Loth), the prince of Lothian and one of Arthur's key supporters. Geoffrey mentions that Gawain was twelve years old at

39179-447: Was a king of Britain . He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as 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

39382-528: 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

39585-542: Was both more faithful and better received. Gawain's more recent film and television portrayals include the roles of Robert Gwyn Davin in First Knight (1995), Anthony Hickox in Prince Valiant (1997), Sebastian Roché in Merlin (1998), Noah Huntley in The Mists of Avalon (2001), Joel Edgerton in King Arthur (2004), Eoin Macken in Merlin (2008), Clive Standen in Camelot (2011), Matt Stokoe in Cursed (2020), and Takahiro Mizushima in Fate/Extra Last Encore (2020). Another Sir Gawain and

39788-511: Was brought back from Jerusalem by Arthur. In imitation of King Arthur's Pridwen the 14th-century Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight has its hero Gawain paint the Virgin Mary inside his shield, so that quen he blusched þerto, his belde neuer payred , "when he looked thereto, his heart never lessened". King Arthur King Arthur ( Welsh : Brenin Arthur , Cornish : Arthur Gernow , Breton : Roue Arzhur , French : Roi Arthur ), according to legends ,

39991-458: 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

40194-478: 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

40397-423: 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,

40600-404: 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

40803-529: Was taken from Welsh tradition, Arthur's ship in Preiddeu Annwfn and Culhwch and Olwen being called Prydwen ; it was perhaps borrowed by Geoffrey because of its appropriateness to a picture of the Virgin Mary as "white face", "fair face", "blessed form" or "precious and white". The list of weapons finds a parallel in Culhwch and Olwen , where Arthur swears by his shield Wynebgwrthucher (perhaps meaning "face of evening"), his spear Rhongomiant , his knife Carnwennan , and his sword Caledfwlch . The motif of

41006-446: 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

41209-408: Was wounded by his enemies, and cast forth from a shipwreck; by others, it is said that he was killed by his fellow citizens at a public feast. Therefore, knowledge of the truth falls in doubt, although neither of these stories would fail in defense of his fame." He also describes Walwen as a former ruler of Galloway , which he says was still called Walweitha centuries later in his times. However, it

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