Matter of Britain

"Arthurian literature" redirects here. For a bibliography, seeBibliography of King Arthur.

TheMatter of Britain(French:matière de Bretagne) is the body ofmedieval literatureandlegendarymaterial associated withGreat BritainandBrittanyand thelegendary kingsand heroes associated with it, particularlyKing Arthur.The 12th-century Welsh clericGeoffrey of Monmouth'sHistoria Regum Britanniae(History of the Kings of Britain),widely popular in its day, is a central component of the Matter of Britain.

It was one of the three great Westernstory cyclesrecalled repeatedly in medieval literature, together with theMatter of France,which concerned the legends ofCharlemagne,and theMatter of Rome,which included material derived from or inspired byclassical mythologyandclassical history.Its pseudo-chronicleandchivalric romanceworks, written both in prose and verse, flourished from the 12th to the 16th century.

Name

The three "matters" were first described in the 12th century by French poetJean Bodel,whose epicChanson des Saisnes( "Song of the Saxons" ) contains the lines:

Ne sont que III matieres a nul homme antandant:
De France et de Bretaigne et de Rome la grant

There are only three subject matters for any discerning man:
That of France, that of Britain, and that of great Rome.

The name distinguishes and relates the Matter of Britain from the mythological themes taken fromclassical antiquity,the "Matter of Rome",and the tales of thePaladinsofCharlemagneand their wars with theMoorsandSaracens,which constituted the "Matter of France".

Themes and subjects

King Arthuris the chief subject of the Matter of Britain, along with stories related to thelegendary kings of Britain,as well as lesser-known topics related to the history ofGreat BritainandBrittany,such as the stories ofBrutus of Troy,Coel Hen,Leir of Britain(King Lear), andGogmagog.

Legendary history

The legendary history of Britain was created partly to form a body of patriotic myth for the country. Several agendas thus can be seen in this body of literature. According to John J. Davenport, the question of Britain's identity and significance in the world "was a theme of special importance for writers trying to find unity in the mixture of their land's Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Roman and Norse inheritance."

Geoffrey of Monmouth'sHistoria Regum Britanniaeis a central component of the Matter of Britain. Geoffrey drew on a number of ancient British texts, including the ninth centuryHistoria Brittonum.TheHistoria Brittonumis the earliest known source of the story ofBrutus of Troy.Traditionally attributed toNennius,its actual compiler is unknown; it exists in several recensions. This tale went on to achieve greater currency because its inventor linked Brutus to the diaspora of heroes that followed theTrojan War.As such, this material could be used for patriotic myth-making just asVirgillinked thefounding of Rometo the Trojan War inThe Æneid.Geoffrey lists Coel Hen as aKing of the Britons,whose daughter, Helena marriesConstantius Chlorusand gives birth to a son who becomes the EmperorConstantine the Great,tracing the Roman imperial line to British ancestors.

It has been suggested that Leir of Britain, who later became King Lear, was originally the Welsh sea-godLlŷr,related to the IrishLer.VariousCeltic deitieshave been identified with characters from Arthurian literature as well: for exampleMorgan le Faywas often thought to have originally been the Welsh goddessModronor Irishthe Morrígan.Many of these identifications come from the speculativecomparative religionof the late 19th century and have been questioned in more recent years.

William Shakespearewas interested in the legendary history of Britain, and was familiar with some of its more obscure byways. Shakespeare's plays contain several tales relating to these legendary kings, such asKing LearandCymbeline.It has been suggested that Shakespeare's Welsh schoolmasterThomas Jenkinsintroduced him to this material. These tales also figure inRaphael Holinshed'sThe Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland,which also appears in Shakespeare's sources forMacbeth.

Other early authors also drew from the early Arthurian and pseudo-historical sources of the Matter of Britain. TheScots,for instance, formulated a mythical history in thePictishand theDál Riataroyal lines. While they do eventually become factual lines, unlike those of Geoffrey, their origins are vague and often incorporate both aspects of mythical British history andmythical Irishhistory. The story ofGabrán mac Domangairtespecially incorporates elements of both those histories.

Arthurian cycle

The Arthurianliterary cycleis the best-known part of the Matter of Britain. It has succeeded largely because it tells two interlocking stories that have intrigued many later authors. One concernsCamelot,usually envisioned as a doomed utopia ofchivalricvirtue, undone by the fatal flaws of the heroes like Arthur,GawainandLancelot.The other concerns the quests of the various knights to achieve theHoly Grail;some succeed (Galahad,Percival), and others fail.

The Arthurian tales have been changed throughout time, and other characters have been added to add backstory and expand on otherKnights of the Round Table.The medieval legend of Arthur and his knights is full of Christian themes; those themes involve the destruction of human plans for virtue by the moral failures of their characters, and the quest for an important Christian relic. Finally, the relationships between the characters invited treatment in the tradition ofcourtly love,such as Lancelot andGuinevere,orTristan and Iseult.

In more recent years, the trend has been to attempt to link the tales of King Arthur and his knights withCeltic mythology,usually in highly romanticized, 20th-century reconstructed versions. The work ofJessie Weston,in particularFrom Ritual to Romance,traced Arthurian imagery through Christianity to roots in early nature worship and vegetation rites, though this interpretation is no longer fashionable.It is also possible to read the Arthurian literature, particularly the Grail tradition, as an allegory of human development and spiritual growth, a theme explored by mythologistJoseph Campbellamongst others.

Noteworthy authors

Medieval

Author	Century	Language	Œuvres
Béroul	12th	Old Norman	Tristan
Chrétien de Troyes	12th	Old French	Erec and Enide,Cligès,Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart,Yvain, the Knight of the Lion,Perceval, the Story of the Grail
Geoffrey Chaucer	14th	Middle English	The Canterbury Tales
Thomas Chestre	14th	Middle English	Sir Launfal,Libeaus Desconus
Geoffrey of Monmouth	12th	Latin	Historia Regum Britanniae,Vita Merlini
Gottfried von Strassburg	13th	Middle High German	Tristan
Hartmann von Aue	12th	Middle High German	Erec,Iwein
Layamon	13th	Middle English	Brut
Thomas Malory	15th	Middle English	Le Morte d'Arthur
Marie de France	12th	Anglo-Norman	Laisof Marie de France:Lai de Yonec,Lai de Frêne,Lai de Lanval(...)
Nennius	9th	Latin	Historia Brittonum
Robert de Boron	12th	Old French	Merlin
Taliesin	6th	Middle Welsh	Book of Taliesin
Thomas of Britain	12th	Old French	Tristan
Wace	12th	Old Norman	Roman de Brut,Roman de Rou
Wolfram von Eschenbach	12th	Middle High German	Parzival
Raoul de Houdenc	12th	Old French	Meraugis de Portlesguez
Païen de Maisières	12–13th	Old French	La Mule sans frein
Raoul de Houdenc	13th	Old French	La Vengeance Raguidel
Rustichello da Pisa	13th	Franco-Italian	Roman de Roi Artus,Guiron le Courtois,Meliodus
Ulrich von Zatzikhoven	13th	Middle High German	Lanzelet

Anonymous

Œuvres	Century	Language
AlliterativeMorte Arthure	14th–15th	Middle English
The Awntyrs off Arthure	14th–15th	Middle English
L'âtre périlleux	13th	Old French
Le Chevalier au papegau	14th–15th	Middle French
Elucidation	13th	Old French
Floriant et Florete	13th	Old French
Folie Tristan d'Oxford	12th	Anglo-Norman
De Ortu Waluuanii	12–13th	Latin
Gliglois	13th	Old French
Hunbaut	13th	Old French
Jaufre	13th	Old Occitan
The Knight with the Sword	13th	Old French
The Knightly Tale of Gologras and Gawain	15th	Middle Scots
Lancelot-Grail Cycle	13th	Old French
Life of Caradoc	12th	Old French
Mabinogion	11th–13th	Middle Welsh
The Marvels of Rigomer	13th	Old French
Meliadus	13th	Old French
Of Arthour and of Merlin	13th	Middle English
Palamedes	13th	Old French
Perceforest	14th	Middle French
Perceval Continuations	13th	Old French
Perlesvaus	13th	Old French
Post-Vulgate Cycle	13th	Old French
ProseTristan	13th	Old French
Roman de Fergus	13th	Old French
Romanz du reis Yder	13th	Anglo-Norman
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight	14th	Middle English
StanzaicMorte Arthur	14th	Middle English
La Tavola Ritonda	15th	Tuscan
Vera historia de morte Arthuri	12th/13th	Latin

See also

• AvalonandGlastonbury
• Battle of BadonandBattle of Camlann
• Breton mythologyandCornish mythology
• English historians in the Middle Ages
• Historicity of King Arthur
• List of Arthurian characters
• List of works based on Arthurian legends
• Sites and places associated with Arthurian legend

References

Cited works

• Campbell, Joseph; Moyers, Bill (1991). "Sacrifice and Bliss".Power of Myth.Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group. pp. 113–150.ISBN978-0385418867.
• Davenport, John J. (2004)."The Matter of Britain: The Mythological and Philosophical Significance of the British Legends"(PDF).Retrieved24 May2022.
• Evans, Barry (25 October 2012)."King Arthur, Part 1: The Matter of Britain".North Coast Journal.Retrieved24 May2022.
• Flieger, Verlyn (15 October 2000)."J.R.R. Tolkien and the Matter of Britain".Mythlore.23(1).Retrieved24 May2022.
• Geoffrey of Monmouth(1966). Thorpe, Lewis (ed.).The History of the Kings of Britain.Penguin.ISBN0-14-044170-0.
• Surette, Leon (Summer 1988). "The Waste Land and Jessie Weston: A Reassessment".Twentieth Century Literature.34(2): 223–244.doi:10.2307/441079.JSTOR441079.

Further reading

• Dover, Carol, ed. (2005).A Companion to the Lancelot-Grail Cycle.Boydell & Brewer.ISBN978-1843842453.
• Green, D.H. (2005).The Beginnings of Medieval Romance: Fact and fiction, 1150–1220.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0521049566.
• Pearsall, Derek (2005).Arthurian Romance: A Short Introduction.Oxford: Blackwell.ISBN978-0631233206.

External links

• Arthurian Folklore- a website detailing Welsh Arthurian folklore
• Arthurian Resources: King Arthur, History and the Welsh Arthurian Legends- detailed and comprehensive academic site, includes numerous scholarly articles, from Thomas Green of Oxford University
• Arthuriana- the only academic journal solely concerned with the Arthurian Legend with a selection of resources and links
• Celtic Literature Collective- provides texts and translations (of varying quality) of Welsh medieval sources, many of which mention Arthur
• International Arthurian Society
• The Camelot Project- provides valuable bibliographies of freely downloadable Arthurian texts from the sixth to the early 20th centuries, from the University of Rochester
• The Heroic Age- an online peer-reviewed journal which includes regular Arthurian articles
• The Medieval Development of Arthurian Literature- fromH2G2
• Vortigern Studies- a collection of articles on King Arthur by various Arthurian enthusiasts