King Arthur's Forest

Upcoming subject:  Culhwch and Olwen Before reading Culhwch and Olwen, I thought you may want a brief overview of the Mabinogion, the book where the story is found. The Mabinogion, is an assembled book of eleven Welsh tales found in two manuscripts: The Red Book of Hergest and the White Book Of Rhydderch. Both of the manuscripts can be roughly dated to the 14th century.  However, dating the stories inside has been difficult since the stories seem to be older than the manuscripts themselves, and many from different times.  Only five of the eleven tales feature Arthur and appear to come from two traditions.  The first set are three ‘romances’: Peredur, son of Efrog, Geraint, son of Erbin, and The Lady and the Well. These three mimic the story lines of three tales by Chretien de Troyes (written 1170-1180) and feature a distinct French influence so they may be either later additions or both are based on a common source now lost.  The remaining two are olde...

The History of the Britons and the Welsh Annals As we begin to reach into the 9th and 10th centuries, we really begin to  close in on many of the works that had influenced  Geoffrey of Monmouth and his groundbreaking work Historia Regum Brittaniae.  (If you are coming in late, I advise that you read my 1st entry on this work HERE )  Of course, there is doubtful chance anyone will ever find his "very ancient book in the British tongue", if it ever existed at all, but we can at least cover the books he probably read.  We'll cover two works today I would like to start with a discussion on The History of the Britons (Historia Britionum)  written by a christian monk who identifies himself in the text as Nennius.  Written around the early 800's, Nennius repeats some of what we have seen in Bede with the villainous king Vortigern summoning the Saxon forces led by Hengest and Horsa in order to defeat the Scots and Picts.  In this part of the chronic...

Because subscribers are not updated when a new "page" is added to the blog, I have to create a blog entry to notify you.  A "page" is a resident link on the main blog Home.  This can be anything- such as a book list or a page of links...anything I want it to be.  In this case it is "how to best use this blog" whose purpose should be self explanatory.  I hope everyone finds it useful as I have given tips for every type of reader.  Here is a link if you would like to have a peek.   How To Best Use This Blog Thanks, Joe

I wanted to start giving updates to any major changes I have made to any of the previous articles or lessons that were previously posted.  This blog is a work in progress and it goes along with some of my own learning.  With that in mind I may want to self correct or improve my writing on some of my previous entries.  Naturally, I don't want to bore you with every little edit but I may, from time to time, combine things or even completely redo things. In this particular case I wanted to include an entry on Bede with my posting on Gildas.  Bede is an almost identical case as Gildas.  However, despite being an extremely important individual to medievalists, he does not have much to offer on Arthurian history.  But, like Gildas, his inclination not to mention Arthur could speak volumes about Arthur's historicity and importance or some might say his complete lack of those things..  So far there is no answer to that question.  So I want to notify m...

A few thoughts on Gildas and Bede In the mid 500's, a monk-historian by the name of Gildas put down his thoughts on five British Kings in a work called De excidio et conquestu Britanniae (On the Destruction and Conquest of Britain) sometimes shortened to "The Ruin of Britain".  This work, intended as more of a sermon than a history, claims that the invasion of the Saxons and the fall of Britain was due to the sins of the British people.  There are a few things of note that are of interest to Arthurian scholars that occur in this work.  First, this is the earliest surviving mention of the Battle of Mount Badon, the battle whose victory is later attributed to Arthur.  Secondly,  this is a major source for information regarding the Saxon invasion and Gildas attributes resistance leadership to an individual by the name of Ambrosius Aurelianus.  Lastly, Gildas does not mention Arthur, the supposed victor of "Badon Hill," at all. This lack of mention of ...

A brief glimpse of The Gododdin, the first known mention of Arthur. (excerpt) He thrust beyond three hundred, most bold,  He cut down the centre and far wing.  He proved worthy, leading noble men;  He gave from his herd steeds for winter.  He fed black crows on the fort's Wall, though he was not Arthur.  He made his strength a refuge,  The front line's bulwark, Gwawrddur. (exerpt from http://faculty.arts.ubc.ca/sechard/492godo.htm) I would like to briefly discuss the (possible) very first mention of Arthur.  You will see why I say "possible" further on in this article.   I only want to discuss this briefly because although it references Arthur, it is not about Arthur and only mentions him once.  So, this does not really qualify as a piece of Arthurian literature.  Y Gododdin  is an elegy for the slain warriors of a Celtic tribe called The Gododdin (reminder: dd makes a soft th so...

Lesson 1, Part 2: Geoffrey of Monmouth and the HRB ( Historia Regum Britanniae ) HIstory of the Kings of Britain Welcome back everyone.  I hope that everyone enjoyed their reading.  First of all you will notice in the title above that I used the abbreviation "HRB."  I did this deliberately to show you the commonly used shorthand for the book.  This will occur both inside the blog and you will see it used in other publications by other writers as well. Here's some quick links to good versions of the book, in case you are coming in late. About Geoffrey of Monmouth Very little is recorded or known about Geoffrey's life except that which he wrote himself or that which was written about him by his contemporaries.  That in itself is next to nothing so most of what is known is supposition based on what clues are there. Geoffrey was born, it is believed, in or near Monmouth, Wales around the year 1095.  It is believed that later in life he b...

Lesson 1 In the beginning.....(sort of)    Introducing a beginner to Arthurian studies can be a bit confusing.  I need to engage you, the reader, in a way that will captivate your interest and hold it through the "course." I need to do this while providing potential reading material because, for some, a few bullet points will not be immersive enough into the subject matter.  The main problem is that the earliest material in the Arthurian saga is neither engaging nor immersive to the average beginner.  Most readers would, correctly, want to tackle some stories that have more than a few lines that mention Arthur.  Keep in mind that I will provide those very same bullet points for the casual reader but I would also like to include some actual books for you to further explore.  I personally feel that the place to begin with Arthur is not the first time he appears in print but the first time he is shown as the quintessential Arthur. That place is in...

Welcome everyone to King Arthur's Forest! This is my first post and my first attempt at running a blog in at least 5 years so I hope everyone will be patient as I reformat everything.  This is as much a test as it is a dipping of the toes in the proverbial water.  I have to shake the dust off my computer and get some blood flowing back to my fingers. Why I'm here: I have started this blog with a singular purpose in mind.  I want to learn everything there is to know about King Arthur.  Not just the history or pseudo-history, not just today's version of the story, but EVERYTHING. Once I learned how weird and wild the formation of his story over the centuries was,  I could not get enough. As it turns out there is quite a bit to learn.  I had a feeling there was a lot but that is an understatement.  There is actually a monumental amount of material, about 1500 years worth to be exact.  Now, I am sure that Arthurian scholars are lamenting the ...