The Stories of the Man

Author's Note: I am intending to update this and also fix the problems with citing, when I was working on this I was required to use footnotes (which in the opinion of this English major are a waste of time) and they got lost in the transfer. Hopefully I will have time to update it soon. I want to add contemporary writings and movies. If anyone has any suggestions for things to include they would be greatly accepted. I did get an A on this paper.


For hundreds of years, storytellers have been spinning yarns about a man named Arthur. This is not just any Arthur though, this is King Arthur, the man who is the "Once and Future King" according to T.H. White. No concrete data has ever proved that King Arthur was a historical figure, but many authors and screenwriters have used his legends as a basis for their work. It is suspected that there was a man named Arthur who lived and reigned in England at the end of the Dark Ages but if all the legends about this man are true, he must have been half-god. Why is he still so popular today, especially when (if Geoffrey of Monmouth's dates are correct) it has been one thousand seven hundred and eighty-six years since his crowning in 212?

After a study, not only of Geoffrey of Monmouth's work, but many other works, and a look at some of the books written about these works, it appears that Arthur's popularity has nothing to do with whether or not he actually lived. It has to do with the elements of his legend. The writings of Monmouth, Graeme Fife, E.K. Chambers, and Richard L. Brengle fully support the idea of his legend precipitating his popularity. Arthur's popularity is not because he is a historical figure but because he is a human hero; a hero that despite his heroic qualities readers can still relate to him.

Almost everyone knows the bare bones of the Arthurian Legends. Uther is King of Britain and desires Yagraine, the duchess of Cornwall. With the help of Merlin, Uther disguises himself as Yagraine's husband and lays with her. Her husband is killed in a fight and Uther weds Yagraine. Arthur is born about eight months later and Merlin spirits him away. In most versions, Arthur is raised by Sir Ector as his son with Merlin not always in attendance. When he is 15, Arthur pulls the sword, Excalibur or Caliborn, from the stone and, as Merlin intended, is crowned King of Britain. In some versions, he is acknowledged by his real father and in others he is not. It is here that he first meets his older half-sister, Morgana or Morgan Le Fay. In some versions he also has two other sisters, Mourgase and Anna, and a brother, Cador. Cador appears in almost all the legends, but not always as Arthur's brother. As soon as he is crowned, Arthur must immediately rout the Saxons to protect his kingdom and succeeds. He marries Gwenivere and she brings him the idea of the Round Table. Now the knights begin to gather until all, including Sir Gaheris, Sir Galahad, Sir Gareth, Sir Gawain, Sir Kay, Sir Lancelot du Lake, Sir Mordred, Sir Pellinore, Sir Percival, and Sir Uriens of Gore were assembled. Mordred is Arthur's illegitimate son, his mother was also Arthur's sister. There are various well-known stories about Arthur and his knights, including but not limited to: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the acquirement of Excalibur, the exploits of Lancelot and his son, Galahad, and the love affair between Lancelot and Gwenievre. Gwenievre is kidnapped by Sir Melligrance and Lancelot rescues her. Mordred accuses her of being a traitor (because of her affair with Lancelot) and she is sentenced to be burned at the stake but Lancelot again rescues her. Lancelot is banished and Gwenievre goes to a convent. Arthur and Mordred meet in a final battle. Mordred is killed but he manages to mortally wound Arthur first. Arthur instructs Sir Benedieve to throw Excalibur into the lake and then the Lady of the Lake arrives to take Arthur away to Avalon where he either dies or recovers and is waiting for his time to return (depending on the legend being read).

"The fascination of Arthur the King is perennial" but what makes it so lasting? Could it be that in Arthurian Legend, good and evil are completely defined? Once a person reads any of the legends, it is immediately clear who is not on Arthur's side (despite Gwenivere and Lancelot's affair, they are still on Arthur's side; they don't mean to hurt him). Or could it be that despite the legendary attributes of the characters, they are only human? The Queen's champion cannot help but fall in love with her, despite his words; "'But you're still the wife of my best friend and king. How can I ever be a good knight when I love another man's wife?'"

Arthur first appears in Welsh poetry, including the elegy Gododdin (circa 600) and the Mirabilia (circa 800) but once Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote The History of the Kings of Britain (1135-1150), this book was considered the fundamental source for all Arthurian Legend. Geoffrey writes "Arthur was a young man only fifteen years old; [when he is crowned] but he was of outstanding courage and generosity, and his inborn goodness gave him such grace that he was loved by almost all the people." Geoffrey was referring to the man Arthur, not the legend Arthur but Arthur's personal attributes has much to do with his popularity; "For Arthur is both the hero and the human: a towering commander with a tragic destiny, a matchless champion with failing strength against the wearing of time." It is these human attributes that endure him to the public, so much so that people return time and time again to him.

It is "The vast and unique body of history, pseudo-history, chronicle, and romance of King Arthur [that] has fascinated poets, storytellers, scholars, and readers for centuries." Arthur and his knights have not stagnated in history but as the legends have been written and re-written, they have grown. From "his very first appearance in the twelfth century romances, all subsequent ages have cast him in their mould." In fact Lancelot was not even in the earliest writings about Arthur but was added later by the French romantics. At first Arthur and his men were a band of warriors but the English saw when the legends returned from their growth on the Continent, "that the King's court had grown from a small, fierce band of Roman Briton warriors repelling the hated Saxons to a large chivalrous entourage of British and Continental knights searching for love or mere adventure."

It was not just the French and Germans that changed the legend though. Sit Thomas Malory "harked back to Arthur's golden time when the island basked in a glorious peace" during the Wars of the Roses when he wrote his classic, Le Morte d'Arthur (1460). Malory names what he considers to be the nine worthies of the world in his introduction to this book, including Arthur among them. As "Perhaps the best and most enduring of all the nine worthies, he [Arthur] differs from the rest in that history rather blushes at the mention of his name. Legend, on the other hand, brags much of him."

Legend has been bragging about Arthur for many years and has only become more popular as time has passed. The Forever King (1992) by Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy, Stephan Lawhead's Pendragon Cycle (including the most recent book, Grail [1997]), Black Horses for the King by Anne McCaffrey, Mary Stewart's The Prince and the Pilgrim (1996), Merlin and the Dragons (1995) and The Dragon Boy (1990) by Jane Yolen, In the Shadow of the Oak King (1991) by Courtway Jones and even The Wizard of 4th Street (1987) by Simon Hawke (which began his series with Modred) are just a few of the more recent books that have been published. When Arthur was first written about, he "was all things to all Kings. To all lesser nobles, too, he enshrined the noblest ideal; to all knights the truest virtue. He symbolized heroic resistance to dark forces, invading barbarians, for all the world minions of the Devil himself. Above everything else, Arthur provided a shining example to those Christian princes who journeyed east on their pilgrimage of blood to do combat with the pagans in the sign of the Cross. Arthur was the most glorious hero that any hero-worshipper could hope to emulate.

Now in an age where 'knights in shining armor' are pretty much a thing of the past, Arthur is still as popular, if not more so, than he was in the time when knights were commonplace. The reason for his undying popularity is not as much a mystery as his existence.

One of the reasons for this popularity may be the resurgence of interest in things of the past. The Renaissance Festivals that have sprung up all around the country have something to do with this resurgence. At least two Ren Fests (one in Georgia and one in Kansas City) use the legends of King Arthur to form the background of their festivals. Kansas City's website states, "Lord and Lady Leodegrance and Merlin the Wizard have arranged for this Festival with the purpose of finding a King...it has been many years since a leader has worn the crown." The introduction goes on with the beginning of the legend with the story of the Sword in the Stone and concludes with "perhaps there shall even be a new King crowned by day's end." The use of Arthurian Legend as a basis for a Ren Fest may seem historically inaccurate but, as the directors answer to that is "We are an entertainment event first, an historical event second. The Renaissance era spanned hundreds of years and was a time of great celebration. A celebration of arts, the mind, and the human spirit. It encouraged all that is good in society. With that in mind, the King Arthur legend is a perfect fit."

Judith B. Rosenfeld, a former English teacher and school librarian in Maryland, reads the King Arthur legends with her former and current students to "discover why the stories have lasted almost fifteen hundred years and why they are still being read and enjoyed today." Their conclusion? It is not the weapons, battles, or lovers that forms the core of the popularity (although they do contribute) but that "the individual personalities that are so fascinating. Although their lives were influenced by fate, by magic, and by unknown forces, they made important decisions for themselves."

King Arthur may not have been a historical figure but his popularity has continued through-out the ages despite the questions surrounding his origins. It is not the legends that promote this popularity but the individual characters and events. Arthur himself contributes to this popularity because he is a human hero, not the perfect all knowing hero that is in some many other stories. It is the fact that the characters make their own decisions despite the outer influences. It is also the fact that the stories have changed and grown over the years instead of becoming stagnated. All these factors contribute to Arthur's popularity and I think that my grandchildren's children will be reading these same stories long after we are all gone.

Bibliography

Brengle, Richard L.. Arthur, King of Britain: History, Romance, Chronicle, & Criticism.... New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1964.

Chambers, E.K.. Arthur of Britain. Cambridge: Speculum Historiale. New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 1964.

Fife, Graeme. Arthur the King. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., 1991.

Monmouth, Geoffrey of. The History of the Kings of Britain. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1966. Translated by Lewis Thorpe.

Rosenfeld, Judith B. "Of King Arthur." The Horn Book Magazine. July/August 1992: 501-503.

Tyler, Jenny, ed. Tales of King Arthur. New York: Scholastic, Inc., 1994.


Website: www.surfrite.com/renn/spring/index.html. Printed Monday April 20, 1998 at Raritan Valley Community College.