Arthur

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• Arthur
• of Britain

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Overview

• Eras of British History
• Stone Age Bronze Age
• Celtic conquest
• Roman conquest
• Anglo-Saxon invasion origin of England
• Retreat of Roman-Britains
• The Emergence and Evolution of Arthurian Texts
• Geoffrey of Monmouth (12th century)
• Chrétien de Troyes romances. Introduces
  Lancelot, Perceval, Camelot, and the grail, not
  the Holy Grail. (12th century)
• Sir Thomas Malory (15th century)
• Alfred, Lord Tennyson (19th century) /
  Pre-Raphaelite Art
• Mary Stewart, Rosemary Sutcliff, Marian Zimmer
  Bradley (20th century)

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Stone Age - Bronze Age Britain

• 4700 2000 BCE
• 2200 700 BCE

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The Celts 500 BCE - 400 CE
1850 bronze sculpture by Thomas Thornycroft
commerating Boudicca (aka Boadicea), queen of the
British Iceni, who led an unsuccessful revolt
against the Romans in AD 60-61.
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Celtic Hill forts

• Maiden Castle, Dorset

Shropshire Hill Fort
Maiden Castle, Dorset
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Celtic Religion

• Druidism (?Merlin)
• Worship out-of-doors
• Magic and supernatural
• Gaelic Fertility festivals
• Beltane Samhain

Merlin and Nimue by Gustav Dore Tennysons Idylls
of the King
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Celtic Iron Age
Celtic sword, La Téne

• Introduction of iron weapons
• Science of metalurgy ? wizardry

Detail from the Sigurd Portal, University of Oslo
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Roman Britain55 BCE 43 410 CE

• Advanced civilization high standard of living
• Pax romana

Caesar Exhorts Ridpath
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Hadrians Wall
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Artorius

• Dux bellorum
• Sarmatian cavalry
• of 6th Legion
• Lucius Artorius Castus

Antoine Fuquas King Arthur, 2004
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Saxon invasions 400 600 CE

• Years of crisis
• Scotti (Irish), Picts,
• Saxons
• Collapse of civilization
• Time for a hero

From David Days King Arthur, 1999
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Retreat of the Red Dragon people

• Emblem of Celtic Britons

From David Days King Arthur, 1999
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Dragon-Slayers St. George and Beowulf

• Anglo-Saxon view
• English legends

Rogier van der Weyden, Saint George and the
Dragon, 1432-1435
Drawing by Laszlo Matulay in By His Own Might
The Battles of Beowulf, by Dorothy Hosford
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Dark Age Britain

• Blackout in historical record
• Gildas (c. 540)
• Bede (731)
• Nennius (c. 800)

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Oral Tradition ? written Texts

• Breton (Less Britain, Brittany, Armorica) emigres
• Irish, Cornish, and Welsh bards, French jongleurs
• 12th century written texts
• Geoffrey of Monmouths History of Britain
• Mabinogion
• Chrétien de Troyess Knight of the
  Cart, etc.
• Marie de Frances lais

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Geoffrey of MonmouthHistory of the Kings of
Britain (1136)

• Uther, Ygerna, Merlin, Guenevere (Ganhumara),
  Mordred, Gawain, Bedwyr, Kay
• Tintagel
• Red White Dragons
• Avalon
• Stonehenge

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Chrétien de Troyes romances

• Court of Countess Marie de Champagne, daughter of
  Eleanor of Aquitaine (1160-1181)
• Courtly Love
• Introduces Lancelot, Perceval, Camelot, and the
  grail, not the Holy Grail. (12th century)

Meeting on the Turret Stairs (1864) by Frederick
William Burton
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Sir Thomas MaloryLe Morte Darthur (1485)

• Malory, the Knight Prisoner
• Compilation of French and English sources
• The hoole booke of kyng Arthur of his noble
  knyghtes of the rounde table
• Practical chivalry
• Moral order

John Mulcaster Carricks La Mort d'Arthur
(1862)
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Alfred, Lord TennysonIdylls of the King (1859)

• Inspiration for Pre-Raphaelite art
• The Lady of Shalott

Sir Galahad the Nun by Julia Margaret Cameron
The Lady of Shalott by John Waterhouse
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T. H. WhiteThe Once and Future King (1958)

• Comedy with serious political implications in
  post-WWII era
• Basis for Disneys The Sword in the Stone and
  Lerner and Loewes Camelot

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Contemporary Novels

• Sword at Sunset (1963)
• by Rosemary Sutcliff
• The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last
  Enchantment (1979), and The Wicked Day (1983)
• by Mary Stewart
• The Mists of Avalon (1982)
• by Marion Zimmer Bradley

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