Matter of Britain
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The Matter of Britain is the body of Medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany, and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great story cycles recalled repeatedly in medieval literature, together with the Matter of France, which concerned the legends of Charlemagne, and the Matter of Rome, which included material derived from or inspired by classical mythology.
History[edit]
The three "Matters" were first described in the 12th century by French poet Jean Bodel, whose epic La Chanson des Saisnes ("Song of the Saxons") contains the line:
Ne sont que III matières à nul homme atandant,
De France et de Bretaigne, et de Rome la grant.
"Not but with three matters no man should attend:
Of France, and of Britain, and of Rome the grand."
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". Arthur is the chief subject of the Matter of Britain, along with stories related to the legendary kings of the British, as well as lesser-known topics related to the history of Great Britain and Brittany, such as the stories of Brutus of Troy, Coel Hen, Leir of Britain (King Lear), and Gogmagog.[citation needed]
Themes and subjects[edit]
Legendary history of Britain[edit]
It could be said that the legendary history of Britain was created partly to form a body of patriotic myth for the country. Several agendas thus can be seen in this body of literature.
The Historia Brittonum, the earliest known source of the story of Brutus of Troy, may 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 Britain 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 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 Welsh 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 Welsh sea-god Llŷr (see also the Irish sea-god Ler). Various Celtic deities have been identified with characters from Arthurian literature as well: for example Morgan le Fay was often thought to have originally been the Welsh goddess Modron (cf. the Morrígan). 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 was interested in the legendary history of Britain, and was 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.[citation needed] These tales also figure in Raphael Holinshed's The Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, which also appears in Shakespeare's sources for Macbeth.
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 Gabrán mac Domangairt especially incorporates elements of both those histories.
Arthurian cycle[edit]
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 have intrigued many later authors. 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 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 20th century reconstructed versions.
The work of Jessie Weston, in particular From Ritual to Romance, traced Arthurian imagery through Christianity to roots in early nature worship and vegetation rites, though this interpretation is no longer fashionable.[1]
Additionally, it is possible to read the Arthurian literature in general, and that concerned with the Grail tradition in particular, as an allegory of human development and spiritual growth (a theme explored by mythologist Joseph Campbell amongst others).
Characters[edit]
Legendary kings and founders[edit]
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Arthur and his entourage[edit]
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Knights of the Round Table[edit]
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Other important figures[edit]
Noteworthy authors[edit]
Medieval[edit]
| Author | Century | Œuvres |
|---|---|---|
| Béroul | 12th | Tristan |
| Chrétien de Troyes | 12th | Erec and Enide, Cligès, Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart, Yvain, the Knight of the Lion, Perceval, the Story of the Grail |
| Geoffrey Chaucer | 14th | The Canterbury Tales |
| Geoffrey of Monmouth | 12th | Historia Regum Britanniae |
| Gottfried von Strassburg | 13th | Tristan |
| Hartmann von Aue | 12th | Erec, Ywain |
| Layamon | 13th | Brut |
| Thomas Malory | 15th | Le Morte d'Arthur |
| Marie de France | 12th | The Lais of Marie de France: Lai de Yonec, Lai de Frêne, Lai de Lanval (...) |
| Nennius | 9th | Historia Brittonum |
| Robert de Boron | 12th | Estoire dou Graal |
| Taliesin | 6th | Book of Taliesin |
| Thomas of Britain | 12th | Tristan and Iseult |
| Wace | 12th | Roman de Brut, Roman de Rou |
| Wolfram von Eschenbach | 12th | Parzival |
| Raoul de Houdenc | 12th | Meraugis de Portlesguez |
| Païen de Maisières | 13th | La Demoiselle à la Mule (also called La Mule sans Frein) |
| Rustichello da Pisa | 13th | Roman de Roi Artus, Gyron le courtois, Meliadus de Leonnoys (Meliadus) |
| Ulrich von Zatzikhoven | 13th | Lanzelet |
Anonymous[edit]
| Œuvres | Century |
|---|---|
| L'âtre périlleux (on Gawain) | 13th century |
| Blandin de Cornouaille | 14th century |
| Le Chevalier à l'Épée | |
| Le Chevalier au Papegau | |
| La Demoiselle à la Mule | 12th century |
| Folie Tristan d'Oxford | 12th century |
| Gliglois (hero who enters the service of Gawain) | |
| Hunbaut | |
| Life of Caradoc | |
| The Lancelot-Grail Cycle | 13th century |
| The Mabinogion (medieval Welsh) | |
| The Post-Vulgate Cycle | 13th century |
| Les Merveilles de Rigomer (Lancelot, Gawain and 58 knights) | 13th century |
| Perlesvaus ou le Haut Livre du Graal | 13th century |
| Le Roman de Jaufré | |
| Sir Gawain and the Green Knight | 14th century |
| Prose Tristan | |
| Stanzaic Morte Arthur | 14th century |
| Alliterative Morte Arthur | 14th–15th century |
Modern[edit]
See also[edit]
- Battle of Badon
- Chivalry
- Corineus
- English historians in the Middle Ages
- Glastonbury
- Historical basis for King Arthur
- Holy Grail
- Knights of the Round Table
- List of Arthurian characters
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail (film)
- Excalibur (film)
- Pendragon (fiction series)
- Sites and places associated with Arthurian legend
- The Faerie Queene (poem)
- The Mists of Avalon (book)
References[edit]
Footnotes[edit]
- ^ Surette, Leon (Summer 1988). "The Waste Land and Jessie Weston: A Reassessment". Twentieth Century Literature. 34 (2): 223–244.
Sources[edit]
- Pearsall, Derek (2005). Arthurian Romance: a short introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link) ISBN 9780631233206
- Green, D.H. (2005). The Beginnings of Medieval Romance: Fact and fiction, 1150–1220. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link) ISBN 9780521049566
- Dover, Carol, ed. (2005). A Companion to the Lancelot-Grail Cycle. Boydell & Brewer.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link) ISBN 9781843842453
External links[edit]
- The Camelot Project contains a large selection of Arthurian etexts from the sixth to the early 20th centuries
- International Arthurian Society
- Arthurian Resources: King Arthur, History and the Welsh Arthurian Legends - detailed and comprehensive academic site, includes numerous scholarly articles, from Thomas Green of Oxford University
- Arthuriana - the only academic journal solely concerned with the Arthurian Legend with a selection of resources and links
- The Medieval Development of Arthurian Literature - from H2G2
- The Camelot Project at the University of Rochester - provides valuable bibliographies and freely downloadable versions of Arthurian texts
- Celtic Literature Collective - provides texts and translations (of varying quality) of Welsh medieval sources, many of which mention Arthur
- The Heroic Age - an online peer-reviewed journal which includes regular Arthurian articles, especially the first issue
- Arthurian Folklore - a website detailing Welsh Arthurian folklore
- Vortigern Studies - a collection of articles on King Arthur by various Arthurian enthusiasts
