Photo credit: “The Accolade” (1901) by Edmund Blair Leighton
Ah, Arthurian Literature. Arthurian Literature as a tradition spans well over a millennia, arguably beginning with our earliest surviving literary or oral traditional references of Arthur (Yn Goddodin, Historia Brittonum, and The Mabinogion to name a few) in the 9th century onwards to modern day masterpieces like T.H. White’s The Once and Future King (1958). The genre is full of daring, romance, comedy, and tragedy, and is bigger than the figure of Arthur himself, arguably relating to the telling of tales of high chivalry in the style of Medieval Romance. This list will encompass the wide definition of Arthurian Literature.
1. Le Morte D’Arthur (1485) (The Death of Arthur) by Sir Thomas Mallory.
This somewhat hodgepodge collection of stories regarding King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable is long, rambling, and is hardly the best example of medieval romance, but Sir Thomas Mallory (himself a knight with a personal tale involving robbery, roving, adultery, and castle jail break) seemed to take relish in the stories of Arthurian daring-do. The book is an expansive collection of stories and serves as a fitting introduction to the medieval tradition of Arthur.
2. The Mabinogion (12-13th centuries) by oral and scribal tradition.
This compilation of Welsh stories most likely of the oral tradition is a good look at early version of King Arthur. Arthur has had the opportunity to live through early medieval oral tradition, high medieval romance, Victorian armor-polishings and modern reconstructions. This has produced a very complex structure. The Mabinogion is part of that earliest of known traditions.
3. The Once and Future King (1958) by T.H. White.
This is perhaps the definitive modern Arthurian Masterpiece. Truly an epic, the book follows Arthur’s life with great humor, tragedy, and tenderness. Keeping with the structure of the medieval romance, White re-works the tales with modern sensibilities and yet holds true to a spirit of wonderment and sorrow. While the second half might be the weakest, I set down the book knowing I had encountered a truly masterful piece of storytelling.
4. Yvain, the Knight of the Lion (12th century) by Chrétien de Troyes.
Of all the medieval writers of Arthurian Romance, Chrétien de Troyes perhaps achieved the greatest level of style. A French writer, Chrétien de Troyes wrote a number of Arthurian style romances in poem form, my favorite being Yvain, the Knight of the Lion. Yvain befriends a lion, who accompanies him on his adventures. A tale full of love, lots of jousting, and general chivalry, it is full of the Arthurian tropes that make Arthurian literature so recognizable and ready for comic portrayal.
5. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (14th Century) by Unknown.
Sir Gawain is the first book on the list that is about the exploits not of Arthur himself but of one of the Knights of the Roundtable, Sir Gawain. This book survives in an illuminated manuscript that I had the great pleasure of seeing in the British Museum. Truly a classic of medieval adventure and visual art, Sir Gawain captures the essence of a knight of the round table traveling on deeds of daring, meeting fair maidens, and overcoming formidable foes.
6. Idylls of the King (1859-1885) by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, the well known Victorian poet, scribed quite a collection of Arthurian poems including classics like “The Lady of Shalott.” This is the dominant contribution to Arthurian literature from the Victorian age and is the go-to for anyone who likes classic poetry an Arthur.
7. Tristan (12-13th century) by Gottfriend von Strassburg.
The tragic Tristan and Iseult legend has been treated extensively by many authors. It is one of the great medieval stories, fully indulging in tragedy and flirting with (or embracing) adultery as so many Arthurian stories did. Two lovers separated, one married to a king, the other a knight fighting with honor and tormented by shame. Gottfried engineers the story both in style and narrative better than any other writer I have read, and it is truly a tragedy of literature that he never finished the full saga. Again, this saga is not so much about Arthur, but it exists in the same imaginative landscape.
8. The Pendragon Cycle (series, 20th century) by Stephen R. Lawhead.
Lawhead’s re-telling of Arthurian legend focuses a lot on the Celtic origins of Arthur’s stories, intermixing other Celtic tales and legends. If you’re looking for an Arthur tale with Celtic painted blue with woad and the transition between paganism and Christianity, Lawhead’s rendition may be for you.
9. Historia Brittonum (ca. 828) by maybe Nennius. This is an early medieval historical account (Medieval history was sometimes as much about telling a good story as anything else) that includes information about Arthur. If you want to go back to the early tellings of Arthurian lore, this is one of your major stops.
10. Y Goddodin (7th-11th centuries, maybe) by the bard Aneirin (or so the story goes). This is a elegy recounting the brave deeds and names of a group of warriors who died at a doomed battle in Britain. It arguably contains one of the earliest if not the earliest reference to Arthur (one of the warriors is compared to him, if this is true). This is not a story about Arthur, but it is a fantastic literary work, the kind that would have been sung by a bard in the glow of a fire-lit mead-hall. It does not get the attention that it deserves.
0 comments