Morte D’Arthur was written between 1469 and 1470. It contains a combination of nearly every Arthurian manuscript, and is a work of literary genius. It is probably the best known of all Arthurian tales. It begins with the mythical story of King Arthur’s birth and ends with the destruction of the Round table and the deaths of King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, and Sir Lancelot, who is Arthur’s best knight and the queen’s lover. The bulk of the work is taken up with the separate adventures of the Knights of the Round Table, and how they relate to King Arthur. In the end the story turns to legend when King Arthur asks Sir Bedivere to throw his sword in the river and mystical ladies gather him and take him away (Jarman 104-105).
King Arthur was the hero of many legends and stories of the middle ages. According to legend, Merlin, the wizard, arranged for the birth of Arthur by bringing together King Uther Pendragon and Igrayne, Duchess of Cornwall. Igrayne was the wife of one of his barons, and Merlin’s magic transforms Uther into the likeness of her husband, and Arthur is born of this union. This Arthur is associated with the magic and supernatural, while others are more closely related to myths. Raised in secrecy away from his father’s court, Arthur succeeded to Uther’s throne at the age of fifteen. He did this by proving his royalty and chastity by drawing the famous magic sword, Excalibur, from a stone (Ashe 77). First and foremost of his followers were the Knights of the Round Table. King Arthur was worthy of such admiration, both as a king and as a warrior.
With his wife Guinevere, Arthur established his court in Camelot with the Knights of the Round Table as his companions and Merlin, as his advisor. Arthur dispensed aid and honor from his court and his empire was filled with chivalry and courtly love. Sir Lancelot was a model of fidelity, braver, frailty in love and repentance. However, he had to flee Camelot when King Arthur learned of his affair with Queen Guinevere. This event brought about that dissolution of the knightly fellowship, and eventually the destruction of the kingdom (Ashe 78).
There are also legends that tell us that Arthur was a wise and powerful king who ruled from a giant and glorious castle, who also commanded the loyalty of hundreds of men (Green 1). Many of the writers wrote stories of Arthur and his knights, telling of their adventures and of their courtly love (Geocities 2). He was also the one whom everyone looked up to and trusted to pass judgement if they had a dispute. Often he was put on a pedestal as the symbol of what a knight could only hope to achieve in their lives.
In Geoffrey of Monmouth King Arthur has a magical sword, Caliburn, and a powerful fortune-teller on his side, Merlin. Geoffrey tells the story that Arthur conquers half of the known world, including defeating a Roman Emperor along the way. Most of this story has been proven to have been made up, however, the fact remains that it hasn’t been proven that the rest is also a farce (Green 2).
The earliest mention of Arthur in an extant source comes from the beginning of the seventh century in a long Welsh poem, “Y Goddodin.” It alludes that Arthur is a great warrior. The most important early source for Arthur’s deeds is Historia Brittonum written by the monk Nennius in the ninth century. It tells of twelve great battles that Arthur fought, and where they were, however, the locations are hard to come by these days. The Annales Cambriae also mention Arthur’s’ victory at Mount Badan, and record the Battle of Camlan. In the eleventh century Welsh prose Culhwech and Olwen present Arthur as a world conqueror. It also contains the first reference to his wife, Guinevere, his retinue of warriors and Excalibur, his sword. Likely authors have exaggerated his deeds in order to make him a stronger person. He is likely to have been a bona fide war hero, a man who led his countrymen to victory time and time again (Dumville 16).
As the legend writers searched for deeper meanings, they found the Holy Grail, and with it they found sin. Arthur was said to have conceived a son out of wedlock and Guinevere was said to have consummated her complicated and disastrous affair with Lancelot. With the Holy Grail, the symbol of true knightly goodness, the picture of Arthur as all that is good and right was weakened. As the legend writers tied a knight’s goodness to piety, they tied Arthur’s fate inextricably to a bad end, the king who was the symbol of prosperity of the nation and the land was sick because he sinned against God (Koch 245).
In conclusion, the truth about King Arthur may never be known. There is no solid proof that he even existed. King Arthur is often made to be the protagonist while he has other followers. Even though most of the stories regarding King Arthur are fictitious, readers can often get an idea of what the stories are trying to communicate. There are many stories that depict King Arthur as a real person, and those that depict him as a mythical character with special powers. However, it can be said that the stories that are created about King Arthur are, for the most part, enjoyable and enticing. Many English poets and writers, such as Edmund Spenser, John Milton, Walter Scott, Alfred Tennyson, and William Morris used Malory’s book about King Arthur as a source for their own writing and Richard Wagner based some of his operas on Arthurian tales. King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table are not forgotten even today. As of today, there are many films that can be traced to have an Arthurian theme.
Works Cited
-Ashe, G. 1986: The Arthurian Encyclopedia (New York) Pages 76-78.
-Bromwich, R. 1983: Celtic Elements in Arthurian Romance (Cambridge) Pages 41-55
-Dumville, D.N. 1986: Arthurian Literature 6 (Cambridge) Pages 1-26.
-Geocities: A Man for the Ages-Arthur, King or Battle Commander/ www.geocities.com
-Green, T. 1999: Arthurian Characters/ www.users .globalnet.co.uk.
-Jarman, A.O.H. 1983: The Legend of Arthur in the Middle Ages (Cambridge) Pages. 99-112.
-Koch, J.T.1996: Medieval Arthurian Literature: A Guide to Recent Research (New York) Pages 239-322.
-Abrams. 2000: Malory, T. 7th Century: Morte D’Arthur Pages 421-439
