174
K
ing Arthur has a semi-
historical status as the
warlord who ruled Britain
during a period of chaos created by
the departure of Roman forces from
Britain. The Welsh Christian monk
Nennius, who wrote the Historia
Brittonum (“History of the Britons”)
in c. 828 ce, was the first to mention
Arthur, writing about him as the
victorious leader of 12 battles
that culminated in one at Mount
Badon (c. 490 ce) against the
invading Angles, Jutes, and Saxons.
The cleric Geoffrey of Monmouth
later included a wily warrior King
Arthur in his Historia Regum
Britanniae (“History of the Kings
of Britain,” 1136 ce), in which the
king conquered Denmark, Iceland,
Norway, Gaul, and more.
The Arthurian legend enjoyed
a surge in popularity in the 12th
century thanks to the Queen of
England, Eleanor of Aquitaine,
who, inspired by the romantic
stories of knights and chivalry,
brought troubadours into her court
to tell Arthurian tales. One of the
most famous contributions to thelegend came from Thomas Malory,
who wrote his version from inside
London’s Newgate Prison. Malory
based his 1485 work Le Morte
d’A r t hu r (“The Death of Arthur”)
on such sources as The Alliterative
Morte Arthure (a Middle English
poem from c. 14 0 0 ce), the Vulgate
Cycle (a series of 13th-century
French romances), and the works
of the poet Chrétien de Troyes.Fateful conception
Le Morte d’Arthur was split into 21
books by printer William Caxton in- The first concerns the events
that lead to Arthur becoming King
of Britain. Fate dictated every
aspect of Arthur’s life—even his
conception, which was aided by
the dark arts of the wizard Merlin.
Arthur’s father, King Uther
Pendragon, had been obsessed
with Igraine, the wife of a Cornish
THE LEGEND OF KING ARTHUR
IN BRIEF
THEME
Kingship and heroic questSOURCES
Le Morte d’Arthur (“The Death
of Arthur”), Sir Thomas Malory,
14 8 5 ce.SETTING
Southwest Britain,
late 5th–early 6th century ce.KEY FIGURES
Arthur King of Britain, a great
warrior with a loyal following
of knights. He became king
after proving himself by
drawing a sword from a stone.Merlin A sorcerer and later
advisor to King Arthur.Mordred A rthur’s i l legitimate
son by his half-sister; Mordred
usurped the throne and later
killed his father.Guinevere A rthur’s w ife,
who committed adultery with
the knight Lancelot.Lancelot du Lac A knight of
the Round Table, who was in
love with Guinevere.The ruins of Tintagel Castle remain
today. This castle was built in the 13th
century ce, but archaeological findings
suggest it was the site of an impressive
fortress in the time of Arthur.Arthur himself was the
military commander.
Historia Brittonum
Nennius, Welsh monk (c. 828 ce)US_172-177_King_Arthur.indd 174 01/12/17 4:23 pm
175
duke named Gorlois. To avoid
Uther’s advances, Igraine hid in
Tintagel Castle, on a precipice on
the Cornish coast. Merlin struck
a deal with Uther: he would make
Uther look like Gorlois and spirit
him into Igraine’s chamber if Uther
agreed to hand over the foretold
child of the union to Merlin to raise
as he saw fit. The deed was done
and, according to Malory, Arthur
was conceived three hours after
Gorlois’s death in battle. Because
the widowed Igraine then married
Uther, this meant that Arthur could
later claim legitimacy.
As Uther had agreed, he gave
the baby to Merlin, who took
Arthur away to be raised by Sir
Ector, a “true and faithful” knight
with a son, Kay, about Arthur’s own
age. Arthur was raised ignorant of
his parentage—which later proved
his undoing. Arthur lusted after
and eventually slept with King Lot’s
wife, Morgause, who was also the
daughter of Igraine and Gorlois.
With this affair, Arthur committed
conscious adultery but also
unconscious incest. Their union4 square feet (0.4 square meters)
in size appeared in a London
churchyard, with a steel anvil in
the middle of it. A fine sword was
stuck in the anvil, and the blade
was inscribed with gold letters that
read, “Whoso pulleth out this sword
of this stone and anvil, is rightwise
king born of all England.” It was
destined to be taken from the stone
only by the true king.
The Archbishop of Canterbury
called for a tournament, hoping
that this would shine some light on
who the rightful king was. Even the
strongest men could not withdraw
the sword from the anvil. Many
knights, including Ector’s son, Sir
Kay, went to London hoping to
prove their worth. Upon arrival,
however, Kay lost his sword, and
sent Arthur to fetch another.
Noticing the sword in the stone,
but unaware of its significance, ❯❯See also: The labors of Herakles 72–75 ■ Aeneas 96–101 ■ The Kalevala 160 – 63 ■ The cattle raid of Cooley 166–67NORTHERN EUROPE
The gallant Galahad, one of the
three knights to hold the Holy Grail,
pulls Excalibur from a stone to prove
his worth—just as Arthur himself once
did—as the king and his court look on.Thomas Malory
The author of Le Morte d’Arthur
was born in 1416, the son of Sir
John Malory of Newbold Revel,
Warwickshire. Raised a country
gentleman, Thomas Malory
inherited the family title and
estate in 1434. He was an
educated man, yet by 1451 he
was serving time in prison for
an astonishing array of violent
crimes, including robbery,
extortion, and rape. It is likely
that he used his time in
prison—several stretches
amounting to 10 years—towrite his work, sometimes
described as the first English
novel. Malory finished Le Morte
d’Arthur in 1469, and had it
printed by William Caxton
in 1485.
The identity of Thomas
Malory has long been the
subject of debate. While most
today believe that the Malory
of Le Morte d’Arthur was the
man from Warwickshire, the
lack of information supplied
by Malory himself led some
19th-century scholars suggest
that he was actually a
Welsh poet.led to the conception of a bastard
son, Mordred, who Merlin had
prophesied would destroy Arthur
and all his knights.The sword in the stone
Despite being Uther’s son, Arthur
did not become king through a
simple process of succession.
Instead, he had to prove his worth.
According to Malory, one day after
the death of Uther, a great stoneHe shall be king and
overcome all his enemies;
and he shall be long king
of all England, and have
under his obeisance Wales,
Ireland, and Scotland.
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