Matter of Britain

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The Arthurian legend or  the Matter of Britain is  a name given collectively to the legends that concern the Celtic and  legendary history of the British Isles, especially those focused on King Arthur and  the knights of the Round Table. The 12th century French poet Jean Bodel created the name in the following lines of his epic Chanson de Saisnes:

Ne sont que iii matières à nul homme atandant,

De France et de Bretaigne, et de Rome la grant.

(translation: "There are  but 3 literary cycles that no one should be without: the matter of France, of Britain, and  of great Rome". Jean Bodel, Chanson de Saisnes)

The name distinguishes and  relates the Matter of Britain from the mythological themes taken from classical antiquity, the "matter of Rome", and  the tales of the paladins of Charlemagne and  their wars with the Moors and  Saracens, which constituted the "matter of France". While Arthur is  the chief subject of the Matter of Britain, other lesser-known legendary history of the British Isles, including the stories of Brutus of Britain, Old King Cole, King Lear, and   and  Magog">Gogmagog, is  also included in the subjects covered by the Matter of Britain: see King of the Britons.

[ and  subjects">edit] Themes and  subjects

[edit] Legendary history of Britain

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Artist Britton LaRoche. In Welsh legend, Arthur's sword is  known as Caledfwlch.

The legendary history of Britain was created in part to create a body of patriotic myth for the island. Several agendas appear in this body of literature.

The Historia Britonum, the earliest known source of the story of Brutus of Britain, seems to have  been devised to create a distinguished genealogy for a number of Welsh princes in the 9th century. Traditionally attributed to Nennius, its actual compiler is  unknown; it  exists in several recensions. This tale went on to achieve greater currency because its inventor linked Brutus to the diaspora of heroes that followed the Trojan War, and  thus provided raw material which later mythographers such as Geoffrey of Monmouth, Michael Drayton, and  John Milton could draw upon, linking the settlement of the British Isles to the heroic age of Greek literature, for their several and  diverse literary purposes. As such, this material could be used for patriotic mythmaking just as Virgil linked the mythical founding of Rome to the Trojan War in The Æneid. Geoffrey of Monmouth also introduced the fanciful claim that the Trinovantes, reported by Tacitus as dwelling in the area of London, had a name he interpreted as Troi-novant, "New Troy".

More speculative claims link Celtic mythology with several of the rulers and  incidents compiled by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniæ. it  has been suggested, for instance, that Leir of Britain, who later became Shakespeare's King Lear, was originally the Irish sea-god Lir. Various Celtic deities have  been identified with characters from Arthurian literature as well: Morgan le Fay was often thought to have  originally been the Irish goddess Mórrígan. Many of these identifications come from the speculative comparative religion of the late 19th century, and  have been questioned in more  recent years.

William Shakespeare seems to have  been deeply interested in the legendary history of Britain, and  to have  been familiar with some of its more  obscure byways. Shakespeare's plays contain several tales relating to these legendary kings, such as King Lear and  Cymbeline. it  has been suggested that Shakespeare's Welsh schoolmaster Thomas Jenkins introduced him to this material, and  perhaps directed him to read Geoffrey of Monmouth. These tales also figure in Raphael Holinshed's The Chronicles of England, Scotland, and  Ireland, which also appears in Shakespeare's sources for Macbeth. A Welsh schoolmaster appears as the character Sir Hugh Evans in The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Other early authors also drew from the early Arthurian and  pseudo-historical sources of the Matter of Britain. The Scots, for instance, formulated a mythical history in the Picts and  the Dál Riata royal lines. While they do eventually become factual lines, unlike those of Geoffrey, their origins are  vague and  often incorporate both aspects of mythical British history and  mythical Irish history. The story of Gabhran especially incorporates elements of both those histories.

[edit] The Arthurian cycle

The Arthurian literary cycle is  the best known part of the Matter of Britain. it  has succeeded largely because it  tells two interlocking stories that many later authors have  been intrigued by. One concerns Camelot, usually envisioned as a doomed utopia of chivalric virtue, undone by the fatal flaws of Arthur and  Sir Lancelot. The other concerns the quests of the various knights to achieve the Holy Grail; some succeed (Galahad, Percival), and  others fail (Lancelot).

The medieval tale of Arthur and  his knights is  full of Christian themes; those themes involve the destruction of human plans for virtue by the moral failures of their characters, and  the quest for an  important Christian relic. Finally, the relationships between the characters invited treatment in the tradition of courtly love, such as Lancelot and  Guinevere, or   and  Iseult">Tristan and  Iseult. In more  recent years, the trend has been to attempt to link the tales of King Arthur and  his knights with Celtic mythology, usually in highly romanticized, early twentieth century reconstructed versions.

[ and  subjects">edit] Characters and  subjects

[ and  founders">edit] Legendary kings and  founders

• Brutus of Britain
• Corineus
• Old King Cole
• Cymbeline
• Leir of Britain (Shakespeare's King Lear)
• Cassibelanus
• Caradocus
• Aurelius Ambrosius
• Uther Pendragon
• Cadwallader

[ and  his entourage">edit] Arthur and  his entourage

• King Arthur
• the Round Table
• Guinevere, wife of Arthur
• Excalibur, Arthur's magic sword
• Uther Pendragon, father of Arthur
• Camelot, Arthur's capital
• Mordred, Arthur's heir and  enemy
• Avalon, Arthur's resting place

[edit] Knights of the Round Table

• Lancelot
• Galahad
• Tristan
• Gawain
• Percival
• Bors
• Geraint
• Gareth
• Kay
• Lamorak
• Gaheris
• Bedivere
• Agravaine
• Sagramore

[edit] Other important figures

• Merlin
• Morgan le Fay
•  and  the Green Knight">The Green Knight
• Sir Ector
• The Lady of the Lake

[edit] Noteworthy authors

[edit] Medieval

• Béroul
• Chrétien de Troyes
• Geoffrey Chaucer
• Geoffrey of Monmouth
• Hartmann von Aue
• Layamon
• Thomas Malory
• Marie de France
• Nennius
• Robert de Boron
• Taliesin
• Thomas of England
• Wace
• Wolfram von Eschenbach

[edit] Modern

• René Barjavel
• Marion Zimmer Bradley
• Bernard Cornwell
• Michael Drayton
• Hal Foster
• Parke Godwin
• Raphael Holinshed
• David Jones
• Debra A. Kemp
• Stephen Lawhead
• Rosalind Miles
• William Shakespeare
• Edmund Spenser
• John Steinbeck
• Mary Stewart
• Alfred, Lord Tennyson
• Mark Twain
• Charles White
• T. A. Barron
• T. H. White
• Jack Whyte
• Charles Williams

[edit] Anonymous

• The Lancelot-Grail Cycle
• The Mabinogion
•  and  the Green Knight">Sir Gawain and  the Green Knight
• The Post-Vulgate Cycle
• The Prose Tristan

[edit] See also

• Ancient mysteries
• Holy Grail
• The Mists of Avalon
• Corineus
• Glastonbury
• Mons Badonicus
• Breton romance
• Chivalry
• The Faerie Queene
• Knights of the Round Table
• List of Arthurian characters
•  and  places associated with Arthurian legend">Sites and  places associated with Arthurian legend
• Historical basis for King Arthur
• English historians in the Middle Ages
•  and  the Holy Grail">Monty Python and  the Holy Grail

[edit] References

• Derek Pearsall, Arthurian Romance: a short introduction, Blackwell, Oxford, 2005
• D. H. Green, The Beginnings of Medieval Romance: Fact and  fiction, 1150-1220, CUP Cambridge 2005
• Carol Dover (ed), A Companion to the Lancelot-Grail Cycle, Boydell & Brewer, 2005

[edit] External links

• Historia Britonum (Latin) at The Latin Library
• Historia Britonum (English)
• Brut by Layamon (Middle English)
• The Chronicles of England, Scotland, and  Ireland by Raphael Holinshed (partial)
• The History of Britain by John Milton
• The Camelot Project contains a large selection of Arthurian etexts from the sixth to the early twentieth century
• Timeless Myths - Arthurian Legends