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ARTHUR (Fr. Arius)

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 682 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ARTHUR (Fr. See also:Arius) , the central See also:hero of the See also:cycle of See also:romance known as the Matiere de Bretagne (see ARTHURIAN See also:LEGEND). Whether there was an historic Arthur has been much debated; undoubtedly for many centuries after the See also:appearance of See also:Geoffrey of See also:Monmouth's Historia Britonum (circ. 1136), the statements therein recorded of a mighty monarch, who ruled over See also:Britain in the 5th—6th centuries, and carried his conquests far afield, even to the See also:gates of See also:Rome, obtained See also:general, though not universal, See also:credence. Even in the 12th See also:century there were some who detected, and derided, the fictitious See also:character of Geoffrey's " See also:History." As was naturally to be expected, the pendulum swung to the other extreme, and in a more See also:critical See also:age the existence of Arthur was roundly denied. The truth probably lies midway between the two. The words of See also:Wace, the See also:Norman poet who translated the Historia into See also:verse, are here admirably to the point. Speaking of the tales told of Arthur, he says: " Ne tot meneunge, ne tot veir, Ne tot See also:fable, ne tot saveir, Tant ont li conteor See also:conte, Et li fableor tant fable See also:Por for contes embeleter Que tout ont fait fable sembler."' The See also:opinion now generally accepted by scholars is that the See also:evidence of See also:Nennius, whose Historia Britonum preceded that of Geoffrey by some 400 years, is in the See also:main to be relied on. He tells us that Arthur was See also:Dux bellorum, and led the armies of the See also:British See also:kings against the Saxon invaders, whom he defeated in twelve See also:great battles. Tune Arthur pugnabat cum regibus Britonum, sed ipse dux erat bellorum. The traditional site of these battles covers a very wide See also:area, and it is supposed that Arthur held a See also:post analogous to that of the general who, under the See also:Roman occupation, was known as Comes Britanniae, and held a roving See also:commission to defend the See also:island wherever attacked, in contradistinction to the Dux Britanniarum, who had See also:charge of the forces in the See also:north, and the Comes Littoris Saxonici, whose task it was to defend the See also:south-See also:east See also:line. The Welsh texts never See also:call Arthur gwledig (See also:prince), but amheradawr (Latin imperator) or See also:emperor, a See also:title which would be bestowed on the highest See also:official in the island.

The truth thus appears to be that, while there was never a See also:

King Arthur, there was a noted chieftain and general of that name. If we say that he carried on a successful See also:war against the See also:Saxons, was probably betrayed by his wife and a near kinsman, and See also:fell in See also:battle, we have stated all which can be claimed as an See also:historical See also:nucleus for his legend. It is now generally admitted that the See also:representation of Arthur as See also:world conqueror, Welt-Kaiser, is due to the See also:influence of the See also:Charlemagne cycle. In the 12th century the Matiere de See also:France was waning, the Matiere de Bretagne waxing in popularity, and public opinion demanded that the central figure of the younger cycle (for whatever the date of the subject See also:matter, as a See also:literary cycle the Arthurian is the younger) should not be inferior in dignity and importance to that of the earlier. When we add to this the fact that the writers of the 12th century represented the personages and events of the 6th in the garb, and under the conditions, of their own See also:time, we can understand the See also:reason of the manifold difficulties which beset the study of the cycle. But into the figure of Arthur as we know him, other elements have entered; he is not merely an historic See also:personality, but at the same time a survival of pre-historic myth, a hero of romance, and a See also:fairy king; and all these threads are See also:woven together in one fascinating but bewildering See also:web. It is only possible here to summarize the leading features which may be claimed as characteristic of each phase. Mythic.—Certain elements of the See also:story point to Arthur as a culture hero; as such his name has been identified with the Mercurius Artaius of the Gauls. In this role he slays monsters, the See also:boar Twrch Trwyth, the See also:giant of Mont St See also:Michel and the Demon See also:Cat of Losanne (See also:Andre de See also:Coutances tells us that Arthur was really vanquished and carried off by the Cat, but that one durst not tell that See also:tale before Britons!). He never, it should be ' Nor all a See also:lie, nor all true, nor all fable, nor all known, so much have the story-tellers told, and the fablers fabled, in See also:order to embellish their tales, that they have made all seem fable. noted, rides on purely chivalric ventures, such as aiding distressed damsels, seeking the See also:Grail, &c. His expeditions are all more or less warlike.

The story of his youth belongs, as See also:

Alfred Nutt (Folk-See also:lore, vol. iv.) has shown, to the See also:group of tales classified as the See also:Aryan See also:Expulsion and Return See also:formula, found in all Aryan lands. Numerous See also:parallels exist between the Arthurian and See also:early Irish heroic cycles, notably the Fenian or Ossianic. This Fenian cycle is very closely connected with the Tuatha de Danaan, the See also:Celtic deities of vegetation and increase; See also:recent See also:research has shown that two notable features of the Arthurian story, the See also:Round Table and the Grail, can be most reasonably accounted for as survivals of this Nature See also:worship, and were probably parts of the legend from the first. Romantic.—The character of Arthur as a romantic hero is, in reality, very different from that which, mainly through the popularity of See also:Tennyson's Idylls, See also:English See also:people are wont to suppose. In the earlier poems he is practically a See also:lay figure, his See also:court the point of departure and return for the knights whose adventures are related in detail, but he himself a passive spectator. In the See also:prose romances he is a monarch, the splendour of whose court, whose riches and generosity, are the admiration of all; but morally he is no whit different from the knights who surround him; he takes See also:advantage of his bonnes fortunes as do others. He has two sons, neither of them See also:born in wedlock; one, Modred, is alike his son and his See also:nephew. In certain romances, the Perlesvaus and See also:Diu Crone, he is a veritable roi faineant, over-come by See also:sloth and luxury. Certain traits of his story appear to show the influence of See also:Northern romance. Such is the story of his begetting, where tither takes upon him the See also:form of Gorlois to deceive Yguerne, even as Siegfried changed shapes with See also:Gunther to the undoing of Briinnhilde. The See also:sword in the See also:perron (See also:stone See also:pillar or See also:block), the withdrawal of which proves his right to the See also:kingdom, is the sword of the Branstock. Morgain carries him off, mortally wounded, to See also:Avalon, even as the Valkyr bears the Northern hero to Valhal.

Phoenix-squares

Morgain herself has many traits in See also:

common with the Valkyrie; she is one of nine sisters, she can See also:fly through the See also:air as a See also:bird (See also:Swan See also:maiden) ; she possesses a marvellous ointment (as does Hilde, the typical Valkyr). The See also:idea of a slumbering hero who shall awake at the See also:hour of his See also:country's greatest need is world-wide, but the most famous instances are Northern, e.g. Olger Danske and See also:Barbarossa, and depend ultimately on an See also:identification with the gods of the Northern See also:Pantheon, notably See also:Thor. W. Larminie cited an instance of a See also:rhyme current in the Orkneys as a See also:charm against nightmare, which confuses Arthur with Siegfried and his winning of the Valkyr. Fairy.—We find that at Arthur's See also:birth (according to See also:Layamon, who here differs from Wace), three ladies appeared and prophesied his future greatness. This incident is also found in the first continuation to the See also:Perceval, where the prediction is due to a See also:lady met with beside a See also:forest See also:spring, clearly here a See also:water fairy. In the See also:late romance of La Bataille de Loquifer Avalon has become a purely fairy kingdom, where Arthur rules in See also:conjunction with Morgain. In Huon de See also:Bordeaux he is See also:Oberon's See also:heir and successor, while in the romance of Brun de la Montagne, preserved in a unique MS. of the Bibliotheque Nationale, we have the curious statement that all fairy-haunted places, wherever found, belong to Arthur: " Et touz See also:ces lieux faes Sont Artus de Bretagne." This brief See also:summary of the leading features of the Arthurian tradition will indicate with what confused and complex material we are here dealing. (See also ARTHURIAN LEGEND, GRAIL, See also:MERLIN, ROUND TABLE; and See also:CELT: Celtic literature.) Texts. Historic:—Nennius, Historia Britonum; H. Zimmer, Nennius Vindicatus (See also:Berlin, 1893), an examination into the credibility of Nennius; Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Britonum (See also:translations of both histories are in See also:Bohn's Library) ; Wace, the See also:Brut (ed. by See also:Leroux de Lincey) ; Layamon (ed. by See also:Sir Fred.

See also:

Madden). Romantic :—Merlin—alike in the See also:Ordinary, or See also:Vulgate (ed. See also:Sommer), the See also:Suite or " Huth " Merlin, the 13th century Merlin (ed. by G. See also:Paris and J. See also:Ulrich), and the unpublished and unique version of Bibl. nat. fonds See also:francais, 337 (cf. Freymond's See also:analysis in Zeitschrift See also:fur See also:franz. Sprache, xxii.)—devotes considerable spaceto the elaboration of the material supplied by the See also:chronicles, the beginning of Arthur's reign, his See also:marriage and See also:wars with the Saxons: The See also:imitation of the Charlemagne romances is here evident ; the Saxons See also:bear names of Saracen origin, and camels and elephants appear on the See also:scene. The Morte Arthur, or Mort au roi Artus, a metrical romance, of which a unique English version exists in the See also:Thornton collection (ed. for Early English See also:Text Society), gives an See also:expanded See also:account of the passing of Arthur; in the See also:French prose form it is now always found incorporated with the See also:Lancelot, of which it forms the concluding See also:section. The remains of the Welsh tradition are to be found in the See also:Mabinogion (cf. Nutt's edition, where the stories are correctly classified), and in the Triads. See also:Professor Rhys' Studies in the Arthurian Legend are largely based on Welsh material, and may be consulted for details, though the conclusions See also:drawn are not in See also:harmony with recent research. These are the only texts in which Arthur is the central figure; in the great bulk of the romances his is but a subordinate role.

(J. L.

End of Article: ARTHUR (Fr. Arius)

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