The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend

An overview of how the legend of Arthur and his Knights evolved from the earliest documentary sources to Spamalot.

Elizabeth Archibald (Edited by), Ad Putter (Edited by)

9780521677882, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 10 September 2009

286 pages, 1 b/w illus. 1 map
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.4 cm, 0.46 kg

'The welcome new addition to the authoritative Cambridge Companion series traces Arthurian narrative from history through pseudo-history to romance, and on into the post-medieval centuries. … Ad Putter's chapter on the twelfth century is a masterpiece of compression …' The Times Literary Supplement

For more than a thousand years, the adventures of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table have been retold across Europe. They have inspired some of the most important works of European literature, particularly in the medieval period: the romances of Chrétien de Troyes, Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. In the nineteenth century, interest in the Arthurian legend revived with Tennyson, Wagner and Twain. This Companion outlines the evolution of the legend from the earliest documentary sources to Spamalot, and analyses how some of the major motifs of the legend have been passed down in both medieval and modern texts. With a map of Arthur's Britain, a chronology of key texts and a guide to further reading, this volume itself will contribute to the continuing fascination with the King and his many legends.

Chronology
Introduction Ad Putter and Elizabeth Archibald
Part I. Evolution: 1. The early Arthur: history and myth Ronald Hutton
2. The twelfth-century Arthur Ad Putter
3. The thirteenth-century Arthur Jane H. M. Taylor
4. The fourteenth-century Arthur John Burrow
5. The fifteenth-century Arthur Barry Windeatt
6. The Arthur of the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries Rob Gossedge and Stephen Knight
7. The Arthur of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries Norris Lacy
Part II. Themes: 8. Questioning Arthurian ideals Elizabeth Archibald
9. Arthurian ethics Jane Gilbert
10. Imperial Arthur: home and away Andrew Lynch
11. Love and adultery: Arthur's affairs Peggy McCracken
12. Religion and magic Corinne Saunders
13. Arthurian geography Robert Allen Rouse and Cory James Rushton
Further reading
Index.

Subject Areas: Literature: history & criticism [DS]