Tapestry showing Arthur as one of the Nine Worthies, wearing a coat of arms often attributed to him (c. 1385)
"But Arthur's grave is nowhere seen, whence antiquity of fables still claims that he will return.”
William of Malmesbury in 1125
“Yet some men say in many parts of England that King Arthur is not dead, but had by the will of our Lord Jesu into another place; and men say that he shall come again, and he shall win the holy cross.”
― Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur
One day King Arthur will return to save England. It’s a motif recurring in English literature since Old English. King Arthur, like Jesus Christ, will be resurrected, and return when the land needs him most. Many cultures have their own myths of the king asleep in the mountains, ready to be awoken when the time is right. It’s a romantic idea and one that has inspired many retellings. Some legends say Arthur is buried beneath the abbey in Glastonbury, that he ruled from Avalon. Landmarks associated with Arthurian legend abound in Britain, from South Wales to Tintagel to Winchester.
The conception of King Arthur derives from folklore and literary invention and there is no evidence King Arthur and his round table ever existed. Even so, the enduring appeal of the story tells us something about the value of myth. War, uncertainty, divisive politics, the climate crisis; we are forever longing for a song to awaken the land.
Arthurian Romances - Chrétien de Troyes
“Through their kisses and caresses they experienced a joy and wonder the equal of which has never been known or heard of. But I shall be silent...; for the rarest and most delectable pleasures are those which are hinted at, but never told.”
― Chrétien de Troyes
Chivalrous knights on quests to save damsels in distress, young men who defeat monsters and are knighted at the royal court, romantic love comparable to the divine. These are all now are tropes in the fantasy genre, and have been retold and retold, but in Medieval Europe this type of story was new and exciting. Chrétien de Troyes, writing in 12th century France, wrote about King Arthur, Perceval and contributed Lancelot to the mythology. He incorporated into his stories courtly love, popularised in Provençal poetry. Chrétien’s stories are often seen as precursors to the modern novel.
The Mabinogion - Anon
“So they took the blossoms of the oak, and the blossoms of the broom, and the blossoms of the meadow-sweet, and produced from them a maiden, the fairest and most graceful that man ever saw. And they baptised her, and gave her the name of Blodeuwedd.”
― Mabinogion, The Mabinogion, from the Llyfr Coch O Hergest, and Other Ancient Welsh Mss.
For those who have read Chrétien’s tales, many of the stories here will be familiar. The Mabinogion, written in Old Welsh, is the pinnacle of Wales’ rich literary history. With its shapeshifting animals, sorcerers and fierce female characters, it is believed that some of these stories are inspired by pre-Christian precedents in Celtic folklore. Historians consider Culhwch and Olwen and The Dream of Rhonabwy important as they potentially preserve older stories with were told orally before the Medieval period, filling in gaps in what is often speculative archeology. They tell of an Arthur quite different to the one central to the myth of a heroic age.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Translated by J. R. R. Tolkien and later Simon Armitage, among others, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is one of the better known—and most discussed—Arthurian stories. This 14th-century middle English chivalric romance tells the tale of how Sir Gawain, a knight of Arthur’s Round Table, accepted a challenge from a mysterious Green Knight. J. R. R. Tolkien said the Green Knight was the "most difficult character" to interpret in Sir Gawain. In English folklore, green was traditionally associated with nature, fertility and rebirth; it has also been associated with witchcraft and devilry. Sir Gawain also contains the first recorded use of the word pentagle in English, which some academics have linked to magical traditions.
The History of the Kings of Britain - Geoffrey of Monmouth
"I have not been able to discover anything at all on the kings who lived here before the Incarnation of Christ, or indeed about Arthur and all the others who followed on after the Incarnation. Yet the deeds of these men were such that they deserve to be praised for all time.”
—Geoffrey of Monmouth, The History of the Kings of Britain
Geoffrey of Monmouth chronicles the lives of the kings of England, from Brutus who slayed the giants to King Arthur. Geoffrey helped popularise the King Arthur myth, telling the story of how Merlin’s magic spell spurred Arthur’s conception, through to Arthur’s conquest of Northern Europe and his defeat of Mordred. The strange thing about The History of the Kings of England (or Historia Regum Britanniae) is that it blends history and myth. Potentially taken as historical until the 16th century, it is now considered a valuable piece of medieval literature.
Le Morte Darthur - Thomas Mallory
"Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is rightwise king born.”
Published in 1485, Le Mort d’Arthur is yet another reworking of Arthurian legend, featuring Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table. For many future writers inspired by Arthurian legend, this is often the principle source. Mallory places emphasis on the Christian idea of ‘divine right to rule.’
Les Lais de Marie de France
A lai, or lay, is a form of short story from medieval English and French literature; it’s a rhyming tale of courtly love and chivalry, often featuring Celtic motifs. These Breton lais were written in the late 12th century by a female writer, Marie de France. Little is known about Marie except she was born in France and wrote in England. She was likely a contemporary to Chrétien de Troyes and several of her lais mention King Arthur.
The Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend by Alan Lupack
This is a good critical history of Arthurian legend in literature through to contemporary pop culture, including art, music and film. The book is easy to navigate with chapters dedicated to characters and particular stories that come up again and again, including the Grail quest and the story of Tristan and Isolt. Recommended reading as a companion to the original texts.
Excalibur (1981 film)
Merlin : You brought me back. Your love brought me back. Back to where you are now. In the land of dreams.
Arthur : Are you a dream, Merlin?
Merlin : A dream to some.
Arguably the best film re-telling of the King Arthur legend, John Boorman’s epic historical fantasy adaptation stars Helen Mirren, Liam Neeson, Nicol Williamson and Nigel Terry, among others. Based on Le Mort d’Arthur, it also borrows from other stories. Legend has it King Arthur pulled the legendary sword Exalibur from the stone. Later he was gifted the sword by the lady of the lake, a reminder of his heroic destiny and divine right to rule. This is the journey of the sword. A 2011 study by Jean-Marc Elsholz demonstrated how closely the film Excalibur was inspired by the Arthurian romance tradition. Boorman emphasised the film is about mythical truth, not historical truth: "That's what my story is about: the coming of Christian man and the disappearance of the old religions which are represented by Merlin. The forces of superstition and magic are swallowed up into the unconscious."
King Arthur's Enchantresses: Morgan and Her Sisters in Arthurian Tradition By Carolyne Larrington
Written by a fellow in Medieval Literature at St John’s College Oxford, this book focuses on the enchantresses of Arthurian Romances, from Morgan le Fay (sometimes Morgana) to the Lady of the Lake, and their enduring magic. Morgan(a)’s potential connection to Celtic or pre-Celtic deities, like the Morrigan, is briefly touched upon.
King Arthur: Myth-Making and History by N. J. Higham
Through studying the enduring myth of King Arthur we can see how myths change on each re-telling. N. J. Higham explores how historians and writers from the Middle Ages to the present day have portrayed Arthur differently, with an in-depth examination of The History of the Britons and the Welsh Annals. The author asks important questions about the political and cultural reasons for the evolution of King Arthur and the weaponisation of myth. It raises important questions about the myths we tell today and how they shape our beliefs and consumer behaviour. It also emphasises the importance of myth in inspiring people.
Last words: ‘the power of myth’
This last book is particularly pertinent as we look for solutions in a world in strife, from the climate crisis to gross inequality and suffering. There is an ongoing discussion regarding the value of myth and storytelling in world building.
Yuval Noah Harari in his international bestselling non-fiction book, Homosapiens, wrote: ‘Large numbers of strangers can cooperate successfully by believing in common myths. Any large-scale human cooperation – whether a modern state, a medieval church, an ancient city or an archaic tribe – is rooted in common myths that exist only in people’s collective imagination.’ So myths help us cooperate. We may well be able, through telling stories that inspire people to do good (and dismantling those which cause divisiveness), to change the world, or our little corner of it.
Mythology is and has been weaponised to serve political means, but at its core there is something that strives toward something akin to a universal truth. Joseph Campbell, in the Power of Myth, said it best: “Mythology is not a lie, mythology is poetry, it is metaphorical. It has been well said that mythology is the penultimate truth—penultimate because the ultimate cannot be put into words. It is beyond words. Beyond images, beyond that bounding rim of the Buddhist Wheel of Becoming. Mythology pitches the mind beyond that rim, to what can be known but not told.” If we choose our re-tellings wisely, from these ever-enduring stories, we may still find a song to awaken the land.