A Conversation for Arthurian Literature from the Middle Ages to the Victorians
Arthurian Literature in Medieval Literatur
Blackberry Cat , if one wishes to remain an individual in the midst of the teeming multitudes, one must make oneself grotesque Started conversation Oct 16, 2003
Nice overview of the subject.
Could do with some mention of the main works from the period - eg those by Geoffrey of Monmouth, Thomas Malory,
and Chretien de Troyes.
Arthurian Literature in Medieval Literatur
Warlock Cat of the Feline Mercenary Army. Posted Oct 16, 2003
Oh my, someone who knows history of lit.
Not the only one then!
Do u wnt to start a thread on this, and hows ur Chaucer?
Arthurian Literature in Medieval Literatur
Blackberry Cat , if one wishes to remain an individual in the midst of the teeming multitudes, one must make oneself grotesque Posted Oct 16, 2003
Would love to but all my books on the subject are in storage. Sadly Chaucer remains on my must get around to reading one day.
Arthurian Literature in Medieval Literatur
Warlock Cat of the Feline Mercenary Army. Posted Oct 16, 2003
Well I dont think he'll complain!
Arthurian Literature in Medieval Literatur
Blackberry Cat , if one wishes to remain an individual in the midst of the teeming multitudes, one must make oneself grotesque Posted Oct 16, 2003
Have watched one of the modern versions on the Beeb at the moment. Won't let it put me off reading the original one day.
Arthurian Literature in Medieval Literatur
Warlock Cat of the Feline Mercenary Army. Posted Oct 16, 2003
Being a boring old fart, I know him well. Well worth reading once or twice, and keeping handy in case u meet a fool like me. Then u can show up my lack of knowledge! Where u based? 05:50 in uk here.
Arthurian Literature in Medieval Literatur
Blackberry Cat , if one wishes to remain an individual in the midst of the teeming multitudes, one must make oneself grotesque Posted Oct 16, 2003
Hi, just left you a gift at the FMA 
.
I'm based in Cardiff so just be pleased it wasn't a 
.
Arthurian Literature in Medieval Literatur
Warlock Cat of the Feline Mercenary Army. Posted Oct 16, 2003
Miaow, let me go and check it. Back in a bit!
Arthurian Literature in Medieval Literatur
Warlock Cat of the Feline Mercenary Army. Posted Oct 16, 2003
Just checked, and dragons and cats are misunderstood by all others, so we stick together Purr Flame Purr. All Dragons welcome to join the FMA.
Arthurian Literature in Medieval Literatur
Blackberry Cat , if one wishes to remain an individual in the midst of the teeming multitudes, one must make oneself grotesque Posted Oct 16, 2003
Great stuff. Suppose I should change my name to something like Psuedo-Cat.
Arthurian Literature in Medieval Literatur
Warlock Cat of the Feline Mercenary Army. Posted Oct 16, 2003
As 08:27 hrs here have to go to bed, but keep in touch.
Check out my site - Camelot?? in spring
Arthurian Literature in Medieval Literatur
Blackberry Cat , if one wishes to remain an individual in the midst of the teeming multitudes, one must make oneself grotesque Posted Oct 17, 2003
OK, Warlock Cat, you inspired me. Instead of sleeping today I went home, dredged my memories and rummaged through my books. A brief overview of the main threads in medieval Arthurian literature coming up. Its 10 years since I last did any serious reading on the subject and the only book I found was the King Arthur Pendragon FRPG
so please excuse any mispellings, wild generalisations, or glaring errors in the following.
The Tradition: The Mabinogion
Old Welsh tales, pre-dating the Norman conquest. Arthur, Cei(Kay), and Gwalmachai(Arthur) make their literary debut. Arthur is more of a warrior and chieftain than king.
"History of the Kings of Britain", by Geoffrey of Monmouth
A fanciful retelling of pre-Norman British history from the arrival of the fleeing Trojans on these shores. Began the fashion for Arthurian literature in medieval Europe. Arthur is put firmly in his place as king of Britain. He also defeats the Romans and French in continental wars.
The French Tradition
There is probably a Breton tradition as they claim to have been home to the "real Arthur" when everyone knows he was really Welsh
. Sadly I know nothing about that. The French tradition I am refering to introduced concepts such as chivalry and courtly romance
. The best known writer of this tradition was Chretien de Troyes (Ok, I admit it. I can't remember any of the others) who introduced the character of Lancelot.
The German Tradition
Unpronounceable and unspellable author names like Wolfram von Eisenbach (or similar) and an obsession with the Grail Quest (which I have never understood) make this my least favourite thread of Arthurian literature.
The English Tradition
Best-known samples of this are the folktale "Sir Gawaine and Dame Ragnell" and the poem "Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight". Written in unfashionable English they were
earthier and more magical than the courtly French romances. Sir Gawaine remains the favourite character of
English authors (he has always been my favourite knight).
"Le Morte D'Arthur" by Sir Thomas Malory
The definitive version, or at least the one that dominated our image of Arthur until recently when modern
authors began rewriting everything, going back to earlier
versions, and inventing their own. The main influences on Malory were Geoffrey de Monmouth and the French tradition. He wrote it whilst imprisoned around the time of the Wars of the Roses.
I hope this will be of some interest to someone.
The best "cheat" guide to the subject (non-academic) I've come across is the "King Arthur Companion" by Phyllis Ann Kerr, first published by Chaosium and recently republished by Green Knight Publishing. It was
written for role-players so don't be intimidated and don't expect too much.
Arthurian Literature in Medieval Literatur
Warlock Cat of the Feline Mercenary Army. Posted Oct 17, 2003
Goodness gracious me, someone who talks sense, and knows what they're on about.
Will be off line for a while, but check out the convs.. from my site to get txt no & snail adrs.. Its all there, and I have nothing to hide
Find the SM address and I'll write if u want to discuss.
Key: Complain about this post
Arthurian Literature in Medieval Literatur
- 1: Blackberry Cat , if one wishes to remain an individual in the midst of the teeming multitudes, one must make oneself grotesque (Oct 16, 2003)
- 2: Warlock Cat of the Feline Mercenary Army. (Oct 16, 2003)
- 3: Blackberry Cat , if one wishes to remain an individual in the midst of the teeming multitudes, one must make oneself grotesque (Oct 16, 2003)
- 4: Warlock Cat of the Feline Mercenary Army. (Oct 16, 2003)
- 5: Blackberry Cat , if one wishes to remain an individual in the midst of the teeming multitudes, one must make oneself grotesque (Oct 16, 2003)
- 6: Warlock Cat of the Feline Mercenary Army. (Oct 16, 2003)
- 7: Blackberry Cat , if one wishes to remain an individual in the midst of the teeming multitudes, one must make oneself grotesque (Oct 16, 2003)
- 8: Warlock Cat of the Feline Mercenary Army. (Oct 16, 2003)
- 9: Warlock Cat of the Feline Mercenary Army. (Oct 16, 2003)
- 10: Blackberry Cat , if one wishes to remain an individual in the midst of the teeming multitudes, one must make oneself grotesque (Oct 16, 2003)
- 11: Warlock Cat of the Feline Mercenary Army. (Oct 16, 2003)
- 12: Blackberry Cat , if one wishes to remain an individual in the midst of the teeming multitudes, one must make oneself grotesque (Oct 17, 2003)
- 13: Warlock Cat of the Feline Mercenary Army. (Oct 17, 2003)
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