The Arthur Of The English

This first comprehensive treatment of Arthurian literature in the English language up until the end of the Middle Ages is now available for the first time in paperback. English people think of Arthur as their own – stamped on the landscape in scores of place-names, echoed in the names of princes even today. Yet some would say the English were the historical Arthur’s bitterest enemies and usurpers of his heritage. The process by which Arthurian legends have become an important part of England’s cultural heritage is traced in this book. Previous studies have concentrated on the handful of chivalric romances, which have given the impression that Arthur is a hero of romantic escapism. This study seeks to provide a more comprehensive and insightful look at the English Arthurian legends and how they evolved. It focuses primarily upon the literary aspects of Arthurian legend, but it also makes some important political and social observations.

The book is a comprehensive survey of medieval and early modern Arthurian literature in the Scandinavian countries The book analyses the transmission of a foreign courtly literature in the non-courtly culture of Iceland The book surveys the acculturation of foreign narrative and style to indigenous literary forms in the North

The Romance of Arthur, James J. Wilhelm’s classic anthology of Arthurian literature, is an essential text for students of the medieval Romance tradition. This fully updated third edition presents a comprehensive reader, mapping the course of Arthurian literature, and is expanded to cover: key authors such as Chrétien de Troyes and Thomas of Britain, as well as Arthurian texts by women and more obscure sources for Arthurian romance extensive coverage of key themes and characters in the tradition a wide geographical range of texts including translations from Latin, French, German, Spanish, Welsh, Middle English, and Italian sources a broad chronological range of texts, encompassing nearly a thousand years of Arthurian romance. Norris J. Lacy builds on the book’s source material, presenting readers with a clear introduction to many accessible modern-spelling versions of Arthurian texts. The extracts are presented in a new reader-friendly format with detailed suggestions for further reading and illustrations of key places, figures, and scenes. The Romance of Arthur provides an excellent introduction and an extensive resource for both students and scholars of Arthurian literature.

Little, if anything, is known historically of Arthur, yet for centuries the romances of Arthur and his court dominated the imaginative literature of Europe in many languages. The roots of this vast flowering of the Arthurian legend are to be found in early Welsh tradition, and this volume gives an account of the Arthurian literature produced in Wales, in both Welsh and Latin, during the Middle Ages. The distinguished contributors offer a comprehensive view of recent scholarship relating to Arthurian literature in early Welsh and other Brythonic sources. The volume includes chapters on the 'historical' Arthur, Arthur in early Welsh verse, the legend of Merlin, the tales of Culhwch ac Olwen, Geraint, Owain, Peredur, The Dream of Rhonabwy and Trystan ac Esyllt. Other chapters investigate the evidence for the growth of the Arthurian theme in the Triads and in the Historia Regum Britanniae of Geoffrey of Monmouth, and discuss the Breton connection and the gradual transmission of the legend to the non-Celtic world. The volume, which is unique in offering a comprehensive discussion of the subject, will appeal widely to medievalists, to Welsh and Celtic scholars, and to those non-specialists who have felt the fascination of the figure of Arthur and wish to know more.

This major reference work is the fourth volume in the series "Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages". Its intention is to update the French and Occitan chapters in R.S. Loomis’ "Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages: A Collaborative History" (Oxford, 1959) and to provide a volume which will serve the needs of students and scholars of Arthurian literature. The principal focus is the production, dissemination and evolution of Arthurian material in French and Occitan from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. Beginning with a substantial overview of Arthurian manuscripts, the volume covers writing in both verse (Wace, the Tristan legend, Chretien de Troyes and the Grail Continuations, Marie de France and the anonymous lays, the lesser known romances) and prose (the Vulgate Cycle, the prose Tristan, the Post-Vulgate Roman du Graal, etc.).

From the twelfth century onwards the legends of King Arthur and his knights, including the Tristan legend, spread across Europe, producing a vast range of adaptations and new stories. German and Dutch literature were of central importance in this expansion of Arthurian material from the 12th to 16th century. This title deals with this topic.

This is the first comprehensive book on the Arthurian legend in medieval and Renaissance Italy since Edmund Gardner’s 1930 The Arthurian Legend in Italian Literature. Arthurian material reached all levels of Italian society, from princely courts with their luxury books and frescoed palaces, to the merchant classes and even popular audiences in the piazza, which enjoyed shorter retellings in verse and prose. Unique assemblages emerge on Italian soil, such as the Compilation of Rustichello da Pisa or the innovative Tavola Ritonda, in versions made for both Tuscany and the Po Valley. Chapters examine the transmission of the French romances across Italy; reworkings in various Italian regional dialects; the textual relations of the prose Tristan; narrative structures employed by Italian writers; later ottava rima poetic versions in the new medium of printed books; the Arthurian-themed art of the Middle Ages and Renaissance; and more. The Arthur of the Italians offers a rich corpus of new criticism by scholars who have brought the Italian Arthurian material back into critical conversation.