Skip to main content

Update: 12/4/17

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 my readership, such that it is, that I have added a short post on Bede to the already existing Gildas post.  I have added it complete with bullet points for your perusal.  I would also like to announce an upcoming "Who is Arthur" post that will, I hope, act as a bit of an overview for my blog.

For my next literature post I will be discussing Nennius's History of the Britons along with the Annals of Wales.

Hope to see you soon!
Joe

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Chretien de Troyes Part 5: The Knight of the Cart

The Knight of the Cart As we move to the final two of Chretien's works,  The Knight of the Cart  and  Perceval , you will discover two interesting things.  First, these last two works were unfinished by Chretien.  Second, both of these works would become his two most important creations with far reaching influence of both distance and time!   In regards to this work in particular, I could safely say that most people have heard of Lancelot and some of those have even heard of Guinevere and their affair.  Could the same be said of Sir Kay and Sir Bedevere the two warriors that have been tied with Arthur since some of the earliest stories?  Nope.  Probably not.  And yet, this is the very first mention of Lancelot while Sir Kay and Sir Bedivere continue as characters from well before Lancelot to current times.  Why is this? Well, this is probably the sauciest of Chretien's works.  Each of his works up to this point invol...

Chretien de Troyes Part 4: Yvain, or The Knight with the Lion

Yvain, or The Knight with the Lion We now shift from Cliges, what you now should know as my least favorite of Chretien's Arthurian tales, to Yvain, my favorite.  My reasons are admittedly weak and without any real critical merit, but they are my opinions all the same.  I will, however defend my opinions below and you can judge for yourself.  First, though, we should do a quick review of the material. The tale begins in Arthur's court where a knight named Calogrenant is telling a tale of his own defeat that he has kept secret many years.  He tells of a giant that directed him to a spring. When he arrived at this spring he sprinkled some water on a stone using the dipper provided.  As he does this a huge storm crops up and a knight rides out and shamefully defeats him in combat.  Of course when Arthur's court hears of this they all wish to ride out to find this wondrous spring.  Yvain, Calegrenant's own cousin, wants to avenge him and instead sneak...

Update: Chretien de Troyes

Update Hello all.  After re-reading some of my earlier writing on Chretien de Troyes' works I feel that I am not handling the material well.  As the works get longer, it no longer makes sense to write everything that happens in the works episode by episode.  Chretien's works are 80 pages on average which causes me to do two pages of pure summary before I even discuss the work.  Some of the upcoming works such as the Perceval continuations and the Vulgate Lancelot make these works, and even modern epics, pale in comparison.  Reading multiple pages of non-stop summary makes for pretty dry reading.  It was so terrible that I decided to re-write my article on The Knight of the Cart before even posting it.  In retrospect I should have had more insightful discussions rather than summary.  I need to reach back to my college days and reconsider how to approach the material.  I also am not having much fun doing it this way. Moving forward I am ...