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139-672: The story of his life and death are told principally in the Japanese chronicles in Kojiki (712) and Nihon Shoki (720), but also mentioned in Kogo Shūi (807) and some histories like the Hitachi no Kuni Fudoki ( 常陸国風土記 ) (721). One of his sons became Emperor Chūai , the 14th Emperor of Japan . His history is uncertain but based on the chronicles his life can be calculated. He was born circa 72 and died in 114. Details are different between

278-429: 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

417-752: 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

556-535: 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

695-746: 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

834-417: A common northeast Iranian ancestor. Kojiki The Kojiki ( 古事記 , "Records of Ancient Matters" or "An Account of Ancient Matters") , also sometimes read as Furukotofumi or Furukotobumi , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths , legends, hymns , genealogies, oral traditions , and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago ,

973-616: 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

1112-458: A community where the kami , the emperor and the people lived in harmony. Norinaga's work was carried on in different directions by his disciple Hirata Atsutane and his rivals Fujitani Mitsue (1781–1849) and Tachibana Moribe (1768–1823), who each produced commentaries and treatises on the text. The Kojiki became once more the object of scholarly focus and discussion in the Meiji period with

1251-501: 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

1390-620: 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 ,

1529-533: 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

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1668-746: A great white bird and flew away. His tomb in Ise is known as the Mausoleum of the White Plover. A statue of Yamato Takeru stands in Kenroku-en in Kanazawa , Ishikawa. Owing to the legend of Yamato Takeru's death, he is worshiped as Otori-sama (The Great Bird). Otori shrines exist throughout Japan, and every November a festival is held on a day of the Rooster known as Tori no Ichi, literally "Market of

1807-410: 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

1946-565: A national epic like Beowulf is in the English-speaking world. During the 1920s and 30s, linguist Hashimoto Shinkichi studied the phonology of the Old Japanese language , and his conclusions were applied by scholars to the study of the text. The Kojiki continued to attract the attention of academics and other specialists in the post-war period, which saw the appearance of numerous editions, translations and commentaries on

2085-458: 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

2224-463: A reappraisal of the Kojiki . Kokugaku scholars saw Japan's earliest writings as the repository of a uniquely superior Japanese identity that could be revived by recovering the ancient language they were written in; the Kojiki , by virtue of its antiquity, gained the status of a sacred text. The Kojiki came to be highly regarded that scholars such as Kada no Azumamaro and Kamo no Mabuchi – himself

2363-636: A relatively minor character in these French prose romances; in the Vulgate itself he only figures significantly in the Estoire de Merlin and the Mort Artu . During this period, Arthur was made one of the Nine Worthies , a group of three pagan, three Jewish and three Christian exemplars of chivalry. The Worthies were first listed in Jacques de Longuyon 's Voeux du Paon in 1312, and subsequently became

2502-470: A student of Azumamaro – produced annotated versions of it. The Kojiki received its most serious study and exposition in the hands of Motoori Norinaga , who obtained a copy of the Kan'ei printed edition in 1754. After meeting Mabuchi in 1763, Norinaga began to devote his efforts to an in-depth scholarly study of the text. A monumental 44-volume study of the Kojiki called Kojiki-den ( 古事記伝 , "Commentary on

2641-411: A third wife, Nunakawahime ( 沼河比売 ) of Koshi . A tiny god riding on the waves of the sea in a bean-pod appears before Ōkuninushi. A god in the form of a scarecrow named Kuebiko ( 久延毘古 ) identifies the dwarf as Sukunabikona-no-Kami ( 少名毘古那神 ), a son of Kamimusubi-no-Kami ( 神産巣日神 ), one of the three primordial Kotoamatsukami . Sukunabikona assists Ōkuninushi in his task of creating and developing

2780-719: 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

2919-611: A wide audience. The earliest printed edition of the text was the Kan'ei Kojiki ( 寛永古事記 ), published in Kyoto in 1644 ( Kan'ei 21). A second edition, the Gōtō Kojiki ( 鼇頭古事記 , " Kojiki with Marginal Notes") was printed by Deguchi (Watarai) Nobuyoshi , a priest at Ise Shrine , in 1687 ( Jōkyō 4). The birth of nativist studies ( kokugaku ) and nationalist sentiment during the Edo period saw

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3058-465: Is a condensed summary of the contents of the text, including many of the names of gods, emperors, and locations as well as events which took place in association with them. The original Japanese is included in parentheses where appropriate. Ō no Yasumaro 's preface, in the form of a dedicatory address to Empress Genmei , begins with a poem summarizing the main contents of the work. He then relates how Emperor Tenmu commissioned Hieda no Are to memorize

3197-473: 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

3336-745: 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

3475-401: 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

3614-593: 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

3753-610: 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

3892-460: 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

4031-440: Is the oldest existing manuscript. While divided into the Ise branch, it is actually a mixture of the two branches. The monk Ken'yu based his copy on Ōnakatomi Sadayo's copy. In 1266, Sadayo copied volumes one and three but did not have access to the second volume. Finally, in 1282, he obtained access to the second volume through a Urabe-branch manuscript that he used to transcribe. The Kojiki contains various songs and poems. While

4170-725: The kami ( 神 ) , and the Japanese imperial line . It is claimed in its preface to have been composed by Ō no Yasumaro at the request of Empress Genmei in the early 8th century (711–712), and thus is usually considered to be the oldest extant literary work in Japan . The myths contained in the Kojiki as well as the Nihon Shoki ( 日本書紀 ) are part of the inspiration behind many practices and unified "Shinto orthodoxy". Later, they were incorporated into Shinto practices such as

4309-437: The misogi purification ritual. It is believed that the compilation of various genealogical and anecdotal histories of the imperial (Yamato) court and prominent clans began during the reigns of Emperors Keitai and Kinmei in the 6th century, with the first concerted effort at historical compilation of which we have record being the one made in 620 under the auspices of Prince Shotoku and Soga no Umako . According to

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4448-506: The Brut y Brenhinedd , Welsh-language versions of the Historia , the earliest of which were created in the 13th century. The old notion that some of these Welsh versions actually underlie Geoffrey's Historia , advanced by antiquarians such as the 18th-century Lewis Morris, has long since been discounted in academic circles. As a result of this popularity, Geoffrey's Historia Regum Britanniae

4587-534: The Historia Brittonum ( History of the Britons ) and Annales Cambriae ( Welsh Annals ), saw Arthur as a genuine historical figure, a Romano-British leader who fought against the invading Anglo-Saxons some time in the late 5th to early 6th century. The Historia Brittonum , a 9th-century Latin historical compilation attributed in some late manuscripts to a Welsh cleric called Nennius , contains

4726-683: The Nihon Shoki , the documents compiled under their initiative were the Tennōki ( 天皇記 , also Sumera-mikoto no fumi ) or the "Record of the Emperors", the Kokki ( 国記 , also Kunitsufumi ) or the "National Record", and other "fundamental records" ( 本記 , hongi or mototsufumi ) pertaining to influential clans and free subjects. Out of these texts, only the Kokki survived the burning of Soga no Emishi 's estate (where these documents were kept) during

4865-709: 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

5004-577: The Gothic Revival reawakened interest in Arthur and the medieval romances. A new code of ethics for 19th-century gentlemen was shaped around the chivalric ideals embodied in the "Arthur of romance". This renewed interest first made itself felt in 1816, when Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur was reprinted for the first time since 1634. Initially, the medieval Arthurian legends were of particular interest to poets, inspiring, for example, William Wordsworth to write "The Egyptian Maid" (1835), an allegory of

5143-470: The Historia ' s account and to confirm that Arthur really did fight at Badon. Problems have been identified, however, with using this source to support the Historia Brittonum ' s account. The latest research shows that the Annales Cambriae was based on a chronicle begun in the late 8th century in Wales. Additionally, the complex textual history of the Annales Cambriae precludes any certainty that

5282-517: The Historia Brittonum while rejecting the implication in the same work that they were fought against Anglo-Saxons, and that there is no textual justification for separating Badon from the other battles. Several historical figures have been proposed as the basis for Arthur, ranging from Lucius Artorius Castus , a Roman officer who served in Britain in the 2nd or 3rd century, to sub-Roman British rulers such as Riotamus , Ambrosius Aurelianus , and

5421-585: 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

5560-459: The Isshi incident of 645, and was itself apparently lost soon after. The Kojiki 's preface indicates that leading families also kept their own historical and genealogical records; indeed, one of the reasons it gives for the compilation of the Kojiki is the correction of errors that had supposedly crept into these documents. According to the preface, Emperor Tenmu (reigned 673–686) ordered

5699-470: The Kamakura period (1185–1333), the work languished in obscurity such that very few people had access to the text, particularly that of the middle (second) volume. It is due to this neglect that the Kojiki is available only in comparatively late manuscripts, the earliest of which dates to the late 14th century. It was with the advent of printing in the early modern period that the Kojiki first reached

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5838-719: The Kentish Hengist and Horsa , who may be totemic horse-gods that later became historicised. Bede ascribed to these legendary figures a historical role in the 5th-century Anglo-Saxon conquest of eastern Britain . It is not even certain that Arthur was considered a king in the early texts. Neither the Historia nor the Annales calls him " rex ": the former calls him instead " dux bellorum " (leader of wars) and " miles " (soldier). Details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of Welsh mythology , English folklore and literary invention, and most modern historians writing about

5977-705: The Kojiki was mostly treated as an ancillary text. Indeed, a work known as the Sendai Kuji Hongi (also known as the Kujiki ), claimed to have been authored by Prince Shōtoku and Soga no Umako, was considered to be earlier and more reliable than the Kojiki . (Modern scholarly consensus holds the Kuji Hongi to be a Heian period forgery based on both the Kojiki and the Shoki , although certain portions may indeed preserve genuine early traditions and sources.) By

6116-534: The Kojiki was still widely seen as inferior to the Nihon Shoki until Motoori Norinaga wrote the Kojiki-den . In 1913, Tsuda Sōkichi argued in a study that the Kojiki , particularly in its earlier sections, was neither history nor myth but a document created to legitimize the rule of the imperial line. While his conclusions led to considerable controversy, his influence remains in subsequent studies of

6255-473: The Kojiki ") , composed over a 34-year period (1764–1798), was the fruit of his labor. With Norinaga, the Kojiki assumed an importance equal to the Nihon Shoki ; in fact, in his view the Kojiki was a more trustworthy source for ancient Japanese traditions than was the Shoki precisely because it was free of "Chinese mentality". He viewed the Kojiki as a true account of actual events that when read correctly, could reveal Japan in its pristine, ideal state as

6394-559: The Life of Saint Gildas , written in the early 12th century by Caradoc of Llancarfan , Arthur is said to have killed Gildas's brother Hueil and to have rescued his wife Gwenhwyfar from Glastonbury. In the Life of Saint Cadoc , written around 1100 or a little before by Lifris of Llancarfan, the saint gives protection to a man who killed three of Arthur's soldiers, and Arthur demands a herd of cattle as wergeld for his men. Cadoc delivers them as demanded, but when Arthur takes possession of

6533-831: The Orkney Islands . After twelve years of peace, Arthur sets out to expand his empire once more, taking control of Norway, Denmark and Gaul . Gaul is still held by the Roman Empire when it is conquered, and Arthur's victory leads to a further confrontation with Rome. Arthur and his warriors, including Kaius (Kay), Beduerus (Bedivere) and Gualguanus (Gawain), defeat the Roman emperor Lucius Tiberius in Gaul but, as he prepares to march on Rome, Arthur hears that his nephew Modredus (Mordred)—whom he had left in charge of Britain—has married his wife Guenhuuara (Guinevere) and seized

6672-496: The Queste del Saint Graal and the Mort Artu , which combine to form the first coherent version of the entire Arthurian legend. The cycle continued the trend towards reducing the role played by Arthur in his own legend, partly through the introduction of the character of Galahad and an expansion of the role of Merlin. It also made Mordred the result of an incestuous relationship between Arthur and his sister Morgause , and established

6811-460: 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

6950-428: The 28th of the 1st month of 712 (Wadō 5). The Kojiki is a collation of different traditions woven into a single "official" mythology, made in an attempt to justify the rule of the imperial Yamato polity and at the same time to subsume different interest groups under its wing by giving them a place and an interest in the national genealogy-mythology. Apart from furthering the imperial agenda, an increased interest in

7089-646: 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

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7228-608: The Arthur myth (but not Arthur) in his poem The Waste Land , which mentions the Fisher King . In the latter half of the 20th century, the influence of the romance tradition of Arthur continued, through novels such as T. H. White 's The Once and Future King (1958), Mary Stewart 's The Crystal Cave (1970) and its four sequels, Thomas Berger 's tragicomic Arthur Rex and Marion Zimmer Bradley 's The Mists of Avalon (1982), in addition to comic strips such as Prince Valiant (from 1937 onward). Tennyson had reworked

7367-444: 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

7506-490: 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

7645-554: The Bird". Worshipers pray for prosperity and vendors sell charms on shrine grounds known as kumade, which are miniature rakes adorned with auspicious objects like Maneki-neko or rice. Hanazono Shrine and Otori Shrine in Asakusa, Tokyo are famous for their large-scale Tori no Ichi. Larger Tori no Ichi can span multiple days and are referred to numerically as Ichi no Tori, Ni no Tori etc. Anthropologist C. Scott Littleton has described

7784-625: The Germanic invaders. This trend towards placing Arthur in a historical setting is also apparent in historical and fantasy novels published during this period. Arthur has also been used as a model for modern-day behaviour. In the 1930s, the Order of the Fellowship of the Knights of the Round Table was formed in Britain to promote Christian ideals and Arthurian notions of medieval chivalry. In

7923-501: 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

8062-477: 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

8201-736: 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

8340-443: 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

8479-400: 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

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8618-482: 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

8757-432: 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

8896-455: 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

9035-487: 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

9174-434: 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

9313-415: The Yamato Takeru legend as "Arthurian" due to some structural similarities with the King Arthur legend. Common points include the use of two magic swords, of which the first validates the authority of the hero; the leadership role of a war band; the death to an enemy after giving up the sword to a female figure; a transportation to the after world; and others. Littleton proposed that both legends descend from

9452-414: 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

9591-561: 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

9730-460: The border of Ōmi Province and Mino Province . The god cursed him with disease and he fell ill. The story above is found in the Kojiki . In the Nihonshoki version, the father and Yamato Takeru keep a good relation. Prince Takeru was also a god slayer who killed many evil deities, including the deity of the pass of Ashigara. According to traditional sources, Yamato Takeru died in the 43rd year of Emperor Keiko's reign (景行天皇43年). The possessions of

9869-459: 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

10008-493: The dead prince were gathered together along with the sword Kusanagi; and his widow venerated his memory in a shrine at her home. Some time later, these relics, including the sacred sword were moved to the current location of Atsuta Shrine . Yamato Takeru is believed to have died somewhere in Ise Province. According to the legend, the name of Mie Prefecture was derived from his final words. After death, his soul turned into

10147-535: The eastern land. He lost his wife Oto tachibana-hime during a storm when she sacrificed herself to soothe the anger of the sea god. He defeated many enemies in the eastern land, and legend has it that he and a local old man composed the first sedōka in Kai Province with Mount Tsukuba (now in Ibaraki Prefecture ) as its theme. On his return he blasphemed a local god of Mount Ibuki , which sits on

10286-472: 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

10425-474: 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

10564-559: The first datable mention of King Arthur, listing twelve battles that Arthur fought. These culminate in the Battle of Badon , where he is said to have single-handedly killed 960 men. Recent studies question the reliability of the Historia Brittonum . Archaeological evidence in the Low Countries and what was to become England shows early Anglo-Saxon migration to Great Britain reversed between 500 and 550, which concurs with Frankish chronicles. John Davies notes this as consistent with

10703-448: 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

10842-527: 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

10981-404: The framework by which Japanese history was examined in terms of the reign of emperors. In contrast to the Nihon Shoki (compiled 720), the first of six histories commissioned by the imperial court, which was modeled on Chinese dynastic histories and was intended to be a national chronicle that could be shown with pride to foreign envoys, the Kojiki is inward looking, concerned mainly with

11120-465: The genealogies and records of the imperial house years earlier, and how Genmei in turn ordered Yasumaro to compile a written record of what Are had learned. He finally concludes the preface with a brief explanation of the Chinese characters used to transcribe native Japanese words in the text and the division of the work into three volumes. Izanagi divides the world among his three children: Amaterasu

11259-416: 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

11398-465: The highest priestess of Amaterasu at Ise Grand Shrine (in Ise Province ) and grieved, "my father wishes I would die?" Princess Yamatohime-no-mikoto showed him compassion and lent him a holy sword named Ame no Murakumo no tsurugi (Kusanagi no tsurugi) , which Susanoo , the brother god of Amaterasu, found in the body of the eight-headed great serpent, Yamata no Orochi . Yamato Takeru went to

11537-641: The historical records and myths are written in a form of the Chinese language , the songs are written in Old Japanese with the Man'yōgana writing system, which uses Chinese characters only phonetically. The Kojiki is divided into three parts: the Kamitsumaki ( 上巻 , "upper volume" ) , the Nakatsumaki ( 中巻 , "middle volume") and the Shimotsumaki ( 下巻 , "lower volume") . What follows

11676-450: 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

11815-405: The introduction of Western academic disciplines such as philology and comparative mythology . The importance of the text as a work of literary value was recognized, and scholars realized that its accounts were comparable in many ways to ancient Greek and Roman myths . At the same time, however, the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki achieved a sort of scriptural status under State Shintō , which viewed

11954-426: The jealousy of his brothers, who begin to make repeated attempts on his life. Seeking refuge in a subterranean realm ruled by Susanoo called Ne-no-Katasukuni ( 根之堅洲国 ), Ōnamuji meets and falls in love with Susanoo's daughter Suseribime-no-Mikoto ( 須勢理毘売 ). Upon learning of their affair, Susanoo imposes four trials on Ōnamuji, each of which he overcame with Suseribime's help. Ōnamuji manages to outwit Susanoo and leave

12093-636: The land ( kuni-zukuri ), but eventually crosses over to the "eternal land" ( 常世国 , tokoyo no kuni ), leaving Ōkuninushi without a partner. Another deity, Ōmononushi-no-Kami ( 大物主神 ), then appears and promises to aid Ōkuninushi if he will worship him. Ōkuninushi then enshrines Ōmononushi in Mount Mimoro in Yamato Province . King Arthur King Arthur ( Welsh : Brenin Arthur , Cornish : Arthur Gernow , Breton : Roue Arzhur , French : Roi Arthur ), according to legends ,

12232-444: The latter case, he achieved this by cross-dressing as a maid attendant at a Kumaso drinking party to get close to the chieftain and stab him to death. One of the enemies he defeated praised him and gave him the title Yamato Takeru, meaning The Brave of Yamato . But Emperor Keikō's mind was unchanged. Keikō sent Yamato Takeru to the eastern land whose people disobeyed the imperial court. Yamato Takeru met his aunt Princess Yamato-hime,

12371-417: 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

12510-470: The magician Merlin , Arthur's wife Guinevere , the sword Excalibur , Arthur's conception at Tintagel , his final battle against Mordred at Camlann , and final rest in Avalon . The 12th-century French writer Chrétien de Troyes , who added Lancelot and the Holy Grail to the story, began the genre of Arthurian romance that became a significant strand of medieval literature . In these French stories,

12649-626: 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

12788-463: 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

12927-423: 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

13066-435: 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

13205-680: 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

13344-457: The name has Messapian or Etruscan origins. That Arthur never died but is awaiting his return in some remote spot, often sleeping, is a central motif connected to the Arthurian legends. Before the twelfth century there are, as in the Englynion y Beddau , reference to the absence of a grave for Arthur suggests that he was considered not dead and immortal, but there is no indication that he

13483-471: 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

13622-626: 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

13761-484: The nation's origins in reaction to the influx of foreign culture and the need for an authoritative genealogical account by which to consider the claims of noble families and to reorganize them into a new system of ranks and titles are also possible factors for its compilation. The Kojiki 's narrative establishes the Yamato line 's right to rule via myth and legend, portraying it as the progeny of heavenly deities and

13900-495: 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

14039-481: 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

14178-444: 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

14317-415: 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

14456-523: The portrayal of Arthur and his world built upon the foundations he had laid. Perceval , although unfinished, was particularly popular: four separate continuations of the poem appeared over the next half century, with the notion of the Grail and its quest being developed by other writers such as Robert de Boron , a fact that helped accelerate the decline of Arthur in continental romance. Similarly, Lancelot and his cuckolding of Arthur with Guinevere became one of

14595-516: 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

14734-481: 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

14873-435: 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

15012-424: 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

15151-458: The realm, taking his new wife Suseribime as well as Susanoo's sword, koto , and bow and arrows back with him, but not before being advised by Susanoo to change his name to Ōkuninushi-no-Kami ( 大国主神 , "Master of the Great Land"). Ōkuninushi defeats his wicked brothers and becomes the lord of Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni. Under the name Yachihoko-no-Kami ( 八千矛神 , "Eight Thousand Spears"), he takes

15290-455: The recurring theme of Arthur as a cuckold , and Perceval, the Story of the Grail , which introduces the Holy Grail and the Fisher King and which again sees Arthur having a much reduced role. Chrétien was thus "instrumental both in the elaboration of the Arthurian legend and in the establishment of the ideal form for the diffusion of that legend", and much of what came after him in terms of

15429-506: The review and emendation of clan documents and commissioned a certain court attendant ( toneri ) of exceptional memory named Hieda no Are to memorize records and oral traditions concerning the imperial lineage. Beyond this memorization, nothing occurred until the reign of Empress Genmei (reigned 707–715), who on the 18th of the 9th month of 711 ( Wadō 4) ordered the courtier Ō no Yasumaro to record what had been learned by Hieda no Are. He finished and presented his work to Empress Genmei on

15568-427: The rightful heir to the land of Japan. A good part of the latter portion of the text is spent recounting various genealogies which served not only to give the imperial family an air of antiquity (which may not necessarily reflect historical reality), but also served to tie, whether true or not, many existing clans' genealogies to their own. Regardless of the work's original intent, it finalized and possibly even formulated

15707-596: The role of Camelot , first mentioned in passing in Chrétien's Lancelot , as Arthur's primary court. This series of texts was quickly followed by the Post-Vulgate Cycle ( c.  1230–40 ), of which the Suite du Merlin is a part, which greatly reduced the importance of Lancelot's affair with Guinevere but continued to sideline Arthur, and to focus more on the Grail quest. As such, Arthur became even more of

15846-406: 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

15985-408: 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

16124-545: The ruins at Tintagel Castle in Cornwall in securely dated 6th-century contexts, created a brief stir but proved irrelevant. Other inscriptional evidence for Arthur, including the Glastonbury cross , is tainted with the suggestion of forgery. Andrew Breeze argues that Arthur was a historical character who fought other Britons in the area of the future border between England and Scotland, and claims to have identified

16263-460: The ruling family and prominent clans, and is apparently intended for internal consumption. Whereas the Nihon Shoki uses a variety of source documents (including Chinese texts), the Kojiki is apparently based on sources handed down within the court. Whereas the Nihon Shoki , owing to its status as one of the six imperial histories, was widely read and studied during the Heian period (794–1185),

16402-506: The shift away from the heroic world of the Welsh and Galfridian Arthur, while Yvain, the Knight of the Lion , features Yvain and Gawain in a supernatural adventure, with Arthur very much on the sidelines and weakened. However, the most significant for the development of the Arthurian legend are Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart , which introduces Lancelot and his adulterous relationship with Arthur's queen Guinevere , extending and popularising

16541-411: 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

16680-442: The stories contained therein as orthodox national history. Official ideology upheld as unquestionable fact the belief in the emperor's divinity and the idea of Japan as a racially superior "national body" ( kokutai ), with scholars who questioned their veracity facing the threat of censorship, forced resignation, or even trial in court. Until the Meiji era , the text's sacred nature was not known to have been questioned. However,

16819-552: The story of Arthur's conception, in which Uther, disguised as his enemy Gorlois by Merlin's magic, sleeps with Gorlois's wife Igerna (Igraine) at Tintagel , and she conceives Arthur. On Uther's death, the fifteen-year-old Arthur succeeds him as King of Britain and fights a series of battles, similar to those in the Historia Brittonum , culminating in the Battle of Bath. He then defeats the Picts and Scots before creating an Arthurian empire through his conquests of Ireland, Iceland and

16958-610: The tales began to be told in prose. The most significant of these 13th-century prose romances was the Vulgate Cycle (also known as the Lancelot-Grail Cycle), a series of five Middle French prose works written in the first half of that century. These works were the Estoire del Saint Grail , the Estoire de Merlin , the Lancelot propre (or Prose Lancelot , which made up half the entire Vulgate Cycle on its own),

17097-498: The text (particularly in post- World War II scholarship), which amounts largely to development and correction of the line of thought originally proposed by him. In reaction to Tsuda, Watsuji Tetsurō (1920) argued for a literary appreciation of the Kojiki, claiming that this gave it inner coherence. Kurano Kenji (1927) took it a step further, proposing that the Kojiki may best be compared with Western epic literature and regarded as

17236-606: The text by authors such as Kurano Kenji, Takeda Yūkichi , Saigō Nobutsuna , and Kōnoshi Takamitsu . There are two major branches of Kojiki manuscripts: Ise and Urabe. The extant Urabe branch consists of 36 existing manuscripts all based on the 1522 copies by Urabe Kanenaga. The Ise branch may be subdivided into the Shinpukuji-bon ( 真福寺本 ) manuscript of 1371–1372 and the Dōka-bon ( 道果本 ) manuscripts. The Dōka sub-branch consists of: The Shinpukuji-bon manuscript (1371–1372)

17375-560: The text is now dated to the late 12th to early 13th century). Also important are the references to Arthur in William of Malmesbury 's De Gestis Regum Anglorum and Herman's De Miraculis Sanctae Mariae Laudunensis , which together provide the first certain evidence for a belief that Arthur was not actually dead and would at some point return , a theme that is often revisited in post-Galfridian folklore. Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae , completed c.  1138 , contains

17514-508: The three Welsh Arthurian romances, which are closely similar to those of Chrétien, albeit with some significant differences: Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain is related to Chrétien's Yvain ; Geraint and Enid , to Erec and Enide ; and Peredur son of Efrawg , to Perceval . Up to c.  1210 , continental Arthurian romance was expressed primarily through poetry; after this date

17653-474: The throne. Arthur returns to Britain and defeats and kills Modredus on the river Camblam in Cornwall, but he is mortally wounded. He hands the crown to his kinsman Constantine and is taken to the isle of Avalon to be healed of his wounds, never to be seen again. How much of this narrative was Geoffrey's own invention is open to debate. He seems to have made use of the list of Arthur's twelve battles against

17792-480: The two books, and the version in Kojiki is assumed to be loyal to the older form of this legend. Prince Takeru slew his elder brother Prince Ōusu ( 大碓皇子 , Ōusu no Miko ) . His father, the emperor Keikō, feared his brutal temperament. To keep him at a distance, the father sent him to Izumo Province , today the eastern part of Shimane Prefecture , and then the land of Kumaso , today Kumamoto Prefecture . However, Takeru succeeded in defeating his enemies, and in

17931-498: The two gods each chewed and spat out an object carried by the other (Amaterasu Susanoo's sword, Susanoo Amaterasu's magatama beads) during the rite of oath-taking. Susanoo, declaring himself the winner of the contest, "raged with victory" and proceeds to wreak havoc upon Takamagahara, causing Amaterasu to hide in the Ama-no-Iwato ( 天岩戸 , the "Heavenly Rock Cave"), plunging heaven and earth into total darkness. The gods, led by

18070-483: The wilds of the landscape. The third and final strand is that the early Welsh Arthur had a close connection with the Welsh Otherworld, Annwn . On the one hand, he launches assaults on Otherworldly fortresses in search of treasure and frees their prisoners. On the other, his warband in the earliest sources includes former pagan gods, and his wife and his possessions are clearly Otherworldly in origin. One of

18209-451: The wise Omoikane-no-Kami ( 思金神 ), eventually persuade her to come out of the cave, restoring light to the world. As punishment for his misdeeds, Susanoo is thrown out of Takamagahara. A descendant of Susanoo, Ōnamuji-no-Kami ( 大穴牟遅神 ), helps a hapless hare that had been mistreated by his eighty brothers ( 八十神 , yasogami ); the hare, in turn, helps Ōnamuji win the hand of the goddess Yagamihime ( 八上比売 ) of Inaba . This earns Ōnamuji

18348-624: 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

18487-632: Was adapted into the Lerner and Loewe stage musical Camelot (1960) and Walt Disney 's animated film The Sword in the Stone (1963); Camelot , with its focus on the love of Lancelot and Guinevere and the cuckolding of Arthur, was itself made into a film of the same name in 1967. The romance tradition of Arthur is particularly evident and in critically respected films like Robert Bresson 's Lancelot du Lac (1974), Éric Rohmer 's Perceval le Gallois (1978) and John Boorman 's Excalibur (1981); it

18626-559: Was allotted Takamagahara ( 高天原 , the "Plain of High Heaven"), Tsukuyomi the night, and Susanoo the seas. Susanoo, who missed his mother and kept weeping and howling incessantly, rejects his appointed task, leading Izanagi to expel him. Susanoo then goes up to Takamagahara, claiming to wish to see his sister. When a suspicious Amaterasu went out to meet him clad in armor, Susanoo protested his innocence and proposed that they exchange oaths . Five male kami (Amaterasu's sons) and three female kami (Susanoo's daughters) come into existence when

18765-458: 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

18904-478: 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

19043-475: Was first published in 1859 and sold 10,000 copies within the first week. In the Idylls , Arthur became a symbol of ideal manhood who ultimately failed, through human weakness, to establish a perfect kingdom on earth. Tennyson's works prompted a large number of imitators, generated considerable public interest in the legends of Arthur and the character himself, and brought Malory's tales to a wider audience. Indeed,

19182-527: Was not, however, the only Arthurian influence on the developing " Matter of Britain ". There is clear evidence that Arthur and Arthurian tales were familiar on the Continent before Geoffrey's work became widely known (see for example, the Modena Archivolt ), and "Celtic" names and stories not found in Geoffrey's Historia appear in the Arthurian romances . From the perspective of Arthur, perhaps

19321-514: Was told first through chapbooks and later through the political plays of Henry Fielding ; although the action is clearly set in Arthurian Britain, the treatment is humorous and Arthur appears as a primarily comedic version of his romance character. John Dryden 's masque King Arthur is still performed, largely thanks to Henry Purcell 's music, though seldom unabridged. In the early 19th century, medievalism , Romanticism , and

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