King Arthur

Essay submitted by Unknown

There has been a lot of material written about the legendary King Arthur and although

he has been a popular figure inliterature for over 800 years, not a lot is known about

the real Arthur. It is believed that Arthur was a 5the-century British King named

Riothamus (meaning "high king") who ruled from 454 - 470 A.D. and led an army into

Gaul where he was defeated by the Goths of Burgundy. Two men by the names of

Jordanes (6the century) and William (11the century) contributed to the legend of

Arthur. Their input was perhaps the real basis of future adaptations of the story. Arthur

appeared in literature as a national hero in a book written in Latin by Geoffrey of

Monmouth called Historia Regum Britanniae (meaning History of the Kings of Britain). he

book supposedly covered history from 1200 B.C. to 689 A.D. Geoffrey includes many

sources of information with his work but most scholars believe it to be a fictional

bibliography added only to give his book some credibility. Therefore his work is

considered to be literature not factual history. Geoffrey is the one responsible for the

portrayal of Arthur as a splendid King who conquered the British Isles and much of

Europe Introduced by Geoffrey are Guenevere, Merlin, information about Arthur's

strange birth and death and the concept of chivalry. Due to the tremendous popularity

of Geoffrey's book, authors like Robert Wace and Chretien de Troyes continued on with

the development of King Arthur and his life, adding yet more detail and depth to the

story. Robert Wace concentrated on the Arthurian aspect of the story while Chretien

concentrated on the romantic aspect of Arthur's life. Some of the new elements added

include d the Round Table, courtly love and the love affair between Lancelot and

Guenevere. In 1205 A.D. Layamon wrote the first English version of the King Arthur

stories with a distinctly British perspective. Another nationalistic version of the story

was Morte Arthure. This version was centered around fighting and action diminishing

many of the character's parts, like Lancelot for instance. Perhaps the most widely

accepted story of Arthur was written in 1485 by Sir Thomas Malory. Malory combines

aspects of Wace, Chretien, Geoffrey and Layamon, expands on Arthur's court by adding

short stories about some of Arthur's most important knights and writes of the collapse

of the Round Table.