Arthur

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Arthur. King Arthur and his circle are creations of medieval writers drawing on history, folklore, mythology, and imagination. Though British in his historical dimension, as a figure of legend and romance Arthur belongs to European culture and has been transplanted to that of America. Arthurian material has been continually reshaped and developed, reflecting aspects of contemporary life, morality, and aspirations. The literature is vast, embracing literary scholarship, historical and archaeological investigations of British responses to the Anglo-Saxon invasions, fiction, and enthusiastic attempts to identify sites and persons.

The ‘real’ Arthur is a hero referred to in the British poem the Gododdin (c.600), in the 9th-cent. Nennius' Historia Brittonum (as victorious ‘leader of battles’, including Mount Badon, against Anglo-Saxons), and in two entries in the 10th-cent. Annales Cambriae. The original warlord, who defies identification, was developed by the 9th- and 10th-cent. Welsh into a great Welsh victor. British tradition from areas conquered by the Anglo-Saxons had migrated to unconquered Wales, and the 9th and 10th cents. saw both Welsh cultural revival and a prospect of Welsh success against the English. An inspirational national figure was needed. His manufacture both used and influenced early Welsh poetry. Arthur grew into a ruler and hero, possibly absorbing other heroes.

Welsh tradition in turn contributed to oral traditions in Cornwall, and in Brittany, where it came to be believed that he still lived. It was probably Breton bards who were responsible for the Round Table motif.

But Arthur and his world were definitively formed in the 1130s by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his fictional History of the Kings of Britain. In this, Arthur is the ideal king, conqueror of much of Europe, attacking even Rome. Finally defeated and mortally wounded, he is borne to Avalon. Geoffrey's purposes perhaps included justifying the desire of the current rulers of England to be independent of France, and consoling the Welsh for English domination by giving them a glorious history.

Arthur's court proved a magnet for heroes and their deeds, and in much Arthurian material Arthur's own profile is low, his function that of a reference point. The legend of Tristan and Isolde, one of the most popular, was tacked on to Arthur's. Other tales, however, developed out of it. The Grail element, combining Celtic traditions of magical testing-vessels and blessed food-producing horns with Christian sentiment, first crystallized in French. Chrétien of Troyes in the 1170s and 1180s also introduced courtly love, made the Round Table a centre of chivalry, and identified Arthur's capital as Camelot. The first treatment in (Middle) English was Layamon's Brut (late 12th cent.), which introduced the element of faerie. The greatest English production was the late 14th-cent. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

The cult of chivalry was a European phenomenon. Arthurian romances portrayed its ideals, and some of its organization and trappings. Arthurian characters and deeds were emulated in tournaments, sometimes in Arthurian dress, and in ceremonial, as in Edward III's foundation of the Order of the Garter. The material had a religious element, yet the ethos was not ecclesiastical; the lesson was that the path of the Christian knight could lead to salvation, and one of its implicit ideas was that of crusade. Arthurian matters could be politically useful. Honour paid by Edward I to what were apparently bones of Arthur and Guinevere, at Glastonbury in 1278, was flattering to the Welsh, while emphasizing that hope for a Messianic delivery from him was pointless.

In the early modern period the popularity of Arthurian material declined. Changes in war, government, and economy made the chivalrous, aristocratic knight obsolete and the Renaissance made classical literature more popular. It survived in the English-speaking world because of Sir Thomas Malory. His work, completed about 1469, retailed the story as a tragedy. It was printed in 1485 by Caxton, who saw it as a moral, didactic work, as the Morte Darthur.

Henry VII exploited Welsh interest, naming his elder son Arthur, and making him prince of Wales in 1489, but Arthur's significance under the Tudors was chiefly in pageantry and in literature. He featured in some pageant decorations, but there was little attempt to connect him with Tudor monarchs. There was some drama and poetry, and Arthur was taken up by Edmund Spenser in his Faerie Queene. Shakespeare, however, gave him no attention.

Arthur's historicity had not been accepted by everyone. William of Newburgh, Gerald of Wales, and Ranulf Higden were openly critical of Geoffrey of Monmouth's history, but Geoffrey carried the day until the late 16th cent. The Italian Polydore Vergil had sparked controversy in his Anglica historia, written at Henry VII's request and published in 1534. John Leland defended Arthur against him in 1544. Scottish perception was subtly different. Hector Boece's History of the Scots (1526) incorporated some reworkings, mostly to Arthur's detriment, as if Arthur were an Englishman and offensive to Scottish pride. The development of historical scholarship was fuelled in part by perceptions that Anglo-Saxon history might yield support for protestantism and the break with Rome, and that the ancient British might have been rather like the indigenous people of the recently discovered New World.

Arthurian romance was next popular in the 19th cent., though Dryden wrote a play which was set to music by Purcell. Sir Walter Scott and William Wordsworth wrote some Arthurian material, but the boom began with Tennyson's poems, from 1832, based on Malory. Tennyson's characters often symbolize particular qualities, and his works are moralizing. Other Arthurian writers include Algernon Swinburne, William Morris, Matthew Arnold, and (satirically) the American Mark Twain.

Emphases similar to those in literature have been apparent in the visual arts. Most Arthurian art has been in the Gothic style, with a consistent range of images. The medieval period generated manuscript illumination, sculptured decoration of churches, tiles, misericords, caskets, embroidery, objets d'art, and frescos, in England and on the continent. Tristan and Isolde was the most popular legend, particularly with women in convents. The Round Table now in Winchester castle was built probably for Edward I, and painted for Henry VIII. Above a Tudor rose is Arthur, originally with Henry's face, and royal symbols. Early modern art preferred secular, contemporary themes, and neglected the elements with Roman catholic implications, the Grail quests.

Nineteenth-cent. didacticism found numerous expressions, including the decoration (1851–64) of the Queen's Robing Room in the new palace of Westminster with Arthurian scenes, in fresco, to illustrate moral qualities. Arthurian scenes were also used for the Oxford Union murals in 1857, undertaken by a group of Pre-Raphaelite artists, who produced many Arthurian works. In general Arthur seldom appears; he is eclipsed as a hero by Galahad and Lancelot, and the most influential of Tennyson's poems were The Lady of Shalott and Elaine.

In the 20th cent. Arthurian settings and circles proved an enduring theme for novelists and poets of very different kinds. British musical treatments include works by Boughton, Bax, Parry, and Elgar. There have been a number of films.

Many attempts have been made to identify Arthurian sites. Through the ages Camelot has been located at Cadbury (where an Iron Age hill-fort was a centre of British power in the late 5th cent.), Caerleon, Colchester, Winchester, Tintagel, and, recently and controversially, near Stirling. The origin of Arthur's association with Cornwall is not clear. According to Welsh tradition, Kelliwic, possibly Killibury castle, was his base. Dozmary Pool and Loe Pool are associated with the Lady of the Lake. Castle Dore and Tintagel (with their late 5th- and early 6th-cent. secular aristocratic dwellings) are ‘identified’ as settings for Tristan and Isolde. Glastonbury (where the Tor was occupied in the Dark Ages) was associated in the mid-12th cent. with an abduction of Guinevere, and became identified with Avalon. In 1190 or 1191 the monks ‘discovered’, fraudulently, the burial of Arthur and Guinevere, and in the mid-13th cent. they added Joseph of Arimathea, with whom the Holy Grail was associated, to their history. The enduring resonance of Arthurian romance was underlined in the hopeful application to John F. Kennedy's presidency of the USA of the name of Camelot.

A. E. Redgate

Bibliography

Barber, R. , King Arthur: Hero and Legend (Woodbridge, 1986);
Morris, R. , The Character of King Arthur in Medieval Literature (Cambridge, 1982);
Whitaker, M. , The Legends of King Arthur in Art (Woodbridge, 1990).

Arthur. The British hero ‘King Arthur’, of medieval international romance, legend, pseudo-history, and poetry. As Arthur was the most popular figure in European literature from the 12th to the 15th centuries, and because speculations about his origins and possible historicity have been endless, the study of his persona and associations fills libraries. The earliest written evidence for Arthur is in Welsh sources: Gildas, who wrote the Latin history De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae before AD 547; the 9th-century Historia Brittonum, formerly attributed to Nennius; and the Annales Cambriae, compiled c.950–1000. These fragments suggest to learned commentators that the beginnings of the Arthurian character lay in British (i.e. Brythonic, antecedent to the modern Welsh) resistance to Saxon encroachments after the withdrawal of Roman forces (c.449–600). Welsh commentators, eager to accept Arthur as one of their own, have presented etymologies for Arthur's name to compete with several from other languages. Among the most plausible are arth [bear] = (g)wr [hero]; this is further supported by Arthur's association with the constellation Ursa Major, ‘Great Bear’. A second nomination is arddhu, ‘very black’; this is further supported by Arthur's association with theblack raven or chough. A writer who was not keen on the Welsh contributed most to what we now know as the dramatic character; this was Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose widely read Historia Regum Britanniae (c.1136) freely adapted several Welsh sources, including Nennius and others now lost.

In the following century several writers, including Wace of Jersey, Layamon, and Chrétien de Troyes, added new dimensions both to the character of Arthur and to the whole of Arthurian literature; of these, Chrétien appears to have made the greatest use of Celtic sources. In this same century appeared the anonymous Welsh prose romance Culhwch ac Olwen, which despite its charm was apparently not known outside Wales until the 19th century. Other Welsh Arthurian narratives followed that have been conventionally bound with the Mabinogi since its first translation in 1848. These are known under their Welsh titles, Breuddwyd Rhonabwy [The Dream of Rhonabwy], Owain [The Lady of the Fountain], Peredur, and Geraint ac Enid. From the time of Geoffrey, according to T. G. Jones, Arthur tended to be folkloric in Welsh narrative and legendary in the Triads. In Welsh tradition Arthur's activities are centred in south-east Wales and Cornwall. Less well known is the Scottish claim for Arthur's identity, which in 1989 was supported by Burke's Peerage. Arthur's Seat (a place-name found elsewhere in Britain) is an 822-foot hill near the centre of Edinburgh. And from the beginning of the 13th century the literary character of Arthur had a life of its own in nations beyond the Celtic lands.

Although the claims for the Celtic origin of Arthuriana made by R. S. Loomis in Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance (1927) are now widely disputed, a number of striking parallels do exist between Celtic and Arthurian narratives. Examples include Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Breton instances, as well as Welsh. Those figures most often thought to resemble Arthur include: Fionn mac Cumhaill, Conchobar mac Nessa, Eochaid Airem, Gwydion, Angus Óg, and Ogma. If these figures are not originals from which Arthurian copies were made, they certainly evoke a comparable ambiance and resonance. Some commentators have argued that post-12th-century Celtic narratives may themselves have been influenced by international Arthurian examples. Regardless of the merits of either side of the debate on origins, it must be admitted that a character called Arthur or Arthur of Britain also appears in Irish folklore collected from oral sources. He has little of the personality of the Arthur of Arthurian romance, and seems instead only to be a rapacious invader, much as another invader called ‘King of the World’ may evoke a peasant conception of the Holy Roman Emperor.

From the vast bibliography of Arthuriana a few items will be especially useful for Celticists. See the essays of K. H. Jackson, A. O. H. Jarman, I. L. Foster, R. Bromwich, and E. Hoepffner in R. S. Loomis (ed.), Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages (Oxford, 1959); G. D. West, An Index to Names in Arthurian Romances (Toronto, 1975); Jean Markale, Le Roi Arthur et la société celtique (Paris, 1976); and King Arthur: King of Kings (London, 1977); Joy Chant, The High Kings: Arthur's Celtic Ancestors (New York, 1981). Also to be consulted are V. M. Lagoria and M. L. Day (eds.), King Arthur Through the Ages (2 vols., New York, 1989); N. J. Lacy (comp.), The Arthurian Encyclopedia (New York, 1986); E. Reiss, L. H. Reiss, and B. Taylor (eds.), Arthurian Legend and Literature: An Annotated Bibliography (2 vols., New York, 1983); Rachel Bromwich and A. O. H. Jarman (eds.), The Arthur of the Welsh (Cardiff, 1991); and the Bulletin Bibliographique of the International Arthurian Society, published annually. See also MERLIN; AVALON; CAMELOT; TRISTAN; PREIDDIAU ANNWFN [The Spoils of Annwfn].

Arthur King Arthur and his circle are creations of medieval writers drawing on history, folklore, mythology, and imagination. Arthurian material has been continually reshaped and developed, reflecting aspects of contemporary life, morality, and aspirations. The ‘real’ Arthur is a hero referred to in the British poem the Gododdin (c.600), in the 9th‐cent. Nennius' Historia Brittonum, and in two entries in the 10th‐cent. Annales Cambriae. The original warlord, who defies identification, was developed by the 9th‐ and 10th‐cent. Welsh into a great Welsh victor. Welsh tradition in turn contributed to oral traditions in Cornwall, and in Brittany, where it came to be believed that he still lived. It was probably Breton bards who were responsible for the Round Table motif. But Arthur and his world were definitively formed in the 1130s by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his fictional History of the Kings of Britain. In this, Arthur is the ideal king, conqueror of much of Europe, attacking even Rome. Finally defeated and mortally wounded, he is borne to Avalon.

Arthur's court proved a magnet for heroes and their deeds, and in much Arthurian material Arthur's own profile is low. The legend of Tristan and Isolde, one of the most popular, was tacked on to Arthur's. Other tales, however, developed out of it. The Grail element, combining Celtic traditions of magical testing‐vessels and blessed food‐producing horns with Christian sentiment, first crystallized in French. Chrétien of Troyes in the 1170s and 1180s also introduced courtly love, made the Round Table a centre of chivalry, and identified Arthur's capital as Camelot. The first treatment in (Middle) English was Layamon's Brut (late 12th cent.), which introduced the element of faerie. The greatest English production was the late 14th‐cent. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

The cult of chivalry was a European phenomenon. Arthurian romances portrayed its ideals, and its organization and trappings. Arthurian characters and deeds were emulated in tournaments, sometimes in Arthurian dress, and in ceremonial, as in Edward III's foundation of the Order of the Garter. Arthurian matters could be politically useful. Honour paid by Edward I to what were apparently bones of Arthur and Guinevere, at Glastonbury in 1278, was flattering to the Welsh, while emphasizing that hope for a Messianic delivery from him was pointless.

In the early modern period the popularity of Arthurian material declined. It survived in the English‐speaking world because of Sir Thomas Malory, whose work, completed about 1469, retailed the story as a tragedy. It was printed in 1485 by Caxton as the Morte Darthur. Henry VII exploited Welsh interest, for example naming his elder son Arthur, and making him prince of Wales in 1489, but Arthur's significance under the Tudors was chiefly in pageantry and literature. There was some drama and poetry, and Arthur was taken up by Edmund Spenser in his Faerie Queene. Shakespeare, however, gave him no attention.

Arthurian romance was next popular in the 19th cent., though Dryden wrote a play which was set to music by Purcell. Sir Walter Scott and William Wordsworth wrote some Arthurian material, but the boom began with Tennyson's poems, from 1832, based on Malory. Tennyson's characters often symbolize particular qualities, and his works are moralizing. Other Arthurian writers include Algernon Swinburne, William Morris, Matthew Arnold, and (satirically) the American Mark Twain. In the 20th cent. Arthurian settings and circles were an enduring theme for novelists and poets of very different kinds. British musical treatments include works by Boughton, Bax, Parry, and Elgar. There have been a number of films.

Many attempts have been made to identify Arthurian sites. Through the ages Camelot has been located at Cadbury (where an Iron Age hill‐fort was a centre of British power in the late 5th cent.), Caerleon, Colchester, Winchester, Tintagel, and, recently and controversially, near Stirling. The origin of Arthur's association with Cornwall is not clear. Castle Dore and Tintagel (with their late 5th‐ and early 6th‐cent. secular aristocratic dwellings) are ‘identified’ as settings for Tristan and Isolde. Glastonbury was associated in the mid‐12th cent. with an abduction of Guinevere, and became identified with Avalon. In 1190 or 1191 the monks ‘discovered’ the burial of Arthur and Guinevere, and in the mid‐13th cent. they added Joseph of Arimathea, with whom the Holy Grail was associated, to their history.

Arthur ♂ Of Celtic origin. King Arthur was a British king of the 5th or 6th century, about whom virtually no historical facts are known. He ruled in Britain after the collapse of the Roman Empire and before the coming of the Germanic tribes, and a vast body of legends grew up around him in the literatures of medieval Western Europe. His name is first found in the Latinized form Artorius; it is of obscure etymology. The spelling with -th- was popular among the gentry families of West Yorkshire in the late 1400s, even before Henry VII, who may have hoped to capitalize on the legend, gave the name to his son. It remained in regular use in some areas and its popularity exploded in the early 19th century, largely as a result of the fame of Arthur Wellesley (1769–1852), Duke of Wellington, the victor at the Battle of Waterloo and subsequently prime minister. Further influences were Tennyson's Idylls of the King (1859–85), and the widespread Victorian interest, especially among the Pre-Raphaelites, in things medieval in general and in Arthurian legend in particular.

Short form: Art.

Arthur a legendary king of Britain, historically perhaps a 5th or 6th century Romano-British chieftain or general. Stories of his life, his court at Camelot, the exploits of his knights such as Lancelot and the quest for the Holy Grail, were developed by Malory, Chrétien de Troyes, and other medieval writers.

According to the traditional stories Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon, was brought up in ignorance of his birth, but proved his identity as the king's son when he pulled the sword (Excalibur) from the stone. Guided by Merlin, he ruled Britain wisely, but in the end his leadership was fatally weakened by the adulterous love of his wife Guinevere and friend Lancelot, and Arthur himself was forced to fight a last battle against his nephew Mordred and his supporters. Fatally wounded, he was taken by barge to Avalon, so that his body was never found; he is thus one of the legendary heroes who may return to his kingdom should the need arise.
Arthur's Seat is a hill overlooking Edinburgh from the east, traditionally associated with Arthur.

Arthur Legendary British king who was said to rule the Knights of the Round Table. Two medieval chroniclers, Gildas and Nennius, tell of Arthur's fighting against the invading West Saxons and his final defeat of them at Mount Badon (possibly Badbury Hill, Dorset) in the early 6th century. However, some consider these sources unreliable and a modern view is that Arthur was a professional soldier in service to the British kings after the Roman occupation. Geoffrey of Monmouth's 12th century Historia Regum Brittaniae, based on Nennius and Welsh folklore, gave the legend – with the Round Table, Camelot, Lancelot, Guinevere, and the Holy Grail – the form in which it was transmitted through the Middle Ages. Malory's Morte D'Arthur (1470) was based on Monmouth's version.

Arthur Traditionally king of Britain, historically perhaps a 5th- or 6th-century Romano-British chieftain or general. His life and court have become the focus for many romantic legends in various languages, including the exploits of adventurous knights and the quest for the Holy Grail. The stories were developed and recounted by Malory, Chrétien de Troyes, and others; the Norman writer Wace (12th century) mentions the ‘Round Table’, which enabled the knights to be seated in such a way that none had precedence. Arthur's court was at Camelot, a place variously located by writers and historians in Wales, Somerset, Cornwall, and Winchester.

Arthur king of Britain: see Arthurian legend .

Arthur ♂ (French) Celtic.

Arthur •Cather • naphtha •anther, panther, Samantha •Arthur, MacArthur, Martha •ether, Ibiza •Tabitha • Hiawatha • author • Gotha •Luther • Gunther • Agatha • Golgotha •Bertha, Jugurtha