Elements of the Arthurian Tradition in Harry Potter
Both heroes exist to save their people from doom. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, who authored Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain) in 1136, Arthur ‘led his troops against the Saxons, who were still making trouble in various parts of the country, and after various vicissitudes he defeated them on a hill outside Bath, wielding a wonderful sword called Caliburn’1 (Ashe, ‘Quest’).
Hidden Manna and the Holy Grail: The Psychedelic Sacrament in Arthurian Romance
Scholars are generally agreed that Arthurian wonder tales like “Cullhwch and Olwen” must have been widely distributed in Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany in advance of the Norman conquest of England in 1066. Belief in a living Arthur was then in the air.
Arthurian Material in a Late-Medieval French Miscellany: Poitiers, Bibliothèque Municipale, ms. 215
The evidence concerning the ownership of this manuscript is tantalizingly fragmentary. Its beautifully decorated borders contain the initials AM in monogram and the Old French devise “Ie n’en voy nul jusques au trespas” in banderoles.
Coconuts in Camelot: Monty Python and the Holy Grail in the Arthurian Literature Course
Student enthusiasm for Monty Python’s film contrasts with the noticeably more restrained stance of scholarly opinion which, while rarely omitting to mention the film’s existence in discussions of cinematic Arthuriana, has relatively little to say about the actual film.
Chivalry, Adultery, Ambiguity: The Image of Tristan and Isolde in Medieval Art
Tristan and Isolde is an Arthurian legend, the origins of which predate Arthur’s Roundtable. Scholars generally agree that the story of Tristan and Isolde is Celtic in origin.
Who gave King Arthur “a crippling blow”? It was St. George, argues scholar
One of the key figures associated with the Middle Ages in England has been King Arthur, the legendary ruler who was made popular in medieval romances and chronicles. But in a recent lecture, Professor Henrietta Leyser argues that the Arthurian legend declined sharply in the later Middle Ages, replaced by a new hero emerged for the English people – St.George the Dragonslayer.
‘Have This Horse’: The Role of Horses and Horsemanship in Medieval Arthurian Literature
Sir Thomas Malory takes advantage of the horse, and horsemanship in general, to illustrate the upheavals brought about within his culture, and also within the individual, by violence and warfare.
Perception of Women of the Arthurian Legend in the Middle Ages and in the Twentieth Century
The first chapter of my thesis provides a chronological account of the development of female characters in the Arthurian legend. The chapter begins with Celtic myths from which the legend originated, the role of women in Celtic religion and society is described as well as the extent to which the Celtic aspects of the legend have been preserved…
Female Discourses: Powerful and Powerless Speech in Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur
Verbal interactions of female characters of Le Morte Darthur are analyzed in various instances of speech behavior, such as advice, apology, conflict managing, complaining, nagging and teasing.
The Winter Solstice Season and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Does the season of the dark and the increasing day correspond to our own journeys into the dark and a celebration of light with new understanding and strengthened connectedness? Perhaps there is more than a bit of Pluto symbolism in our activities of the winter solstice.
Guinevere, the Superwoman of Contemporary Arthurian Fiction
In a perceptive article published in 1987, Elisabeth Brewer explores attempts by early twentieth-century dramatists and more recent novelists to transform Guinevere from a peripheral into a central figure in the Arthurian story.
Chicks with Swords: Power and Agency in the Morte D’arthur
Upon first glance, Malory’s Morte Darthur appears to be a boy’s book. It is packed with blood, sword fighting, kings, knights, battles and more battles.