BRUT (1189–99) has a strong Welsh overtone and a
sense of the supernatural; his Arthur is a fi erce warrior-
king. Clearly, Layamon’s goal was to establish the Eng-
lishness of both Arthur and the land.
Geoffrey of Monmouth and Layamon drew upon
Celtic, especially Welsh, accounts of Arthur, which
depicted him as an ideal soldier and a hero. Arthur is
alluded to in many early Welsh poems, such as Y
GODODDIN, a mixture of military realism and heroic
ideology; “Canu Aneirin”; and three poems from The
Black Book of Carmarthen, one of which names his fol-
lowers. “Preiddeu Annwn” in The Book of Taliesin relates
how the poet accompanied Arthur to the otherworld to
get the magic cauldron called the Head of Annufn.
Three other poems in the collection refer to widespread
legends, as do many Welsh Triads (catalogues of heroic
and romantic materials that serve as mnemonics for
storytellers). The Mabinogin contains the tale “Culwch
ac Olwen,” in which Arthur is depicted as a king of a
well-known court with an established reputation for
valor. This prose is the fi rst to take a common folktale
and put it in an Arthurian context, illustrating Arthur’s
early popularity. Arthur is also depicted not as an
active warrior but, rather, as a king whose court is a
center for other knights, giving Arthur symbolic stat-
ure. Both these trends are developed in later works
from all cultures.
In early hagiographies of British saints (see HAGIOG-
RAPHY), Arthur is a rex tyrannus, a king who terrorizes
the church and is defeated by saintly heroes. These
texts refl ect a collision of Celtic and Anglo-Norman
cultures, ultimately prioritizing the values of the
church over secular power. In the Life of St Cadoc, writ-
ten ca. 1075, Arthur is a petty tyrant. In the Life of St
Gildas, he is portrayed as the king of the whole of Brit-
ain. Guinevere is carried off by Melwas and impris-
oned, and Arthur fi nds her after a year of searching. In
the Life of St Carantac, Arthur is a drunk who keeps
spilling his cups.
An infl uential version of the Arthur legend was cre-
ated by Chrétien de Troyes. Taking his lead from Wace,
he wrote fi ve verse ROMANCEs between 1160 and 1190,
transforming the Arthur material into elegant tales of
CHIVALRY and COURTLY LOVE. These were prized by audi-
ences who had a newly acquired belief that human
emotion is important for inspiring noble behavior.
Chrétien was the fi rst to develop roles for Lancelot and
Percival, who, together with Tristan, became the most
important fi gures in French and continental texts
thereafter. The English redactors changed the empha-
sis of his romances, concentrating on war and chivalry
rather than courtly love. An important English adapta-
tion of his Yvain is Ywain and Gawain.
MARIE DE FRANCE, writing in England from ca. 1160
to ca. 1180, popularized the genre of Breton lais (LAYs).
Her lais have an air of simplicity and elegance, and two
are connected with Arthur. A charming example is
“LANVAL,” which was reworked on four occasions, once
by Thomas Chestre. This is a tale of wish fulfi llment,
with Arthur depicted as a roi fainéant (do nothing king),
fronting a court pervaded by false values, sexual cor-
ruption, and injustice. It examines the oppositions of
public/private, masculinity/femininity, court/forest, and
the knight/king relationship.
Sometime between 1215 and 1230, the Vulgate
Cycle (or Lancelot-Grail Cycle) was compiled under
the infl uence of Cistercian teaching. These works gath-
ered all the stories concerning Arthur and his court
into one vast, chronological cycle. It takes its lead from
Chrétien de Troyes, and consists of the 13th century
works Lancelot, Queste del Saint Graal, Le Morte le Roi
Artu, and the later prequels of Estoire del Saint Graal
and Estoire de Merlin. The Tristan legend was added as
Le Roman de Tristan de Leonais, ca. 1225–35, and Suite
de Merlin (ca. 1230–40) completed the cycle with an
expanded role for Merlin. In this cycle, Lancelot has a
greater role than Arthur, with his courtesy, prowess,
and honor underpinned. His failure to win the Grail is
perceived as the folly of secular chivalry. This set the
course for subsequent French Arthurian works, which
all tend to focus on chivalric love, and the Germanic
tradition, which highlights the Grail, Percival, and the
need for piety.
In English works, Gawain remains Arthur’s foremost
knight, having on the whole a greater role than Arthur
himself. Another popular fi gure is Merlin. Highlighted
by Geoffrey of Monmouth, he has four romances
almost entirely devoted to him in Middle English: Of
Arthour and Merlin (1250–1300), Lovelich’s Merlin (ca.
1430), the prose Merlin (ca. 1450), and the prose30 ARTHURIAN LITERATURE