Definition
The term for the large body of material relating to King Arthur and his court. Whether or not there was an actual, historical King Arthur, existing sometime in the sixth century A.D., remains a subject of debate among historians. The legendary figure appears to have originated in Celtic (either Irish or Welsh) folklore, spreading to England, and from there to the European continent.
By the 12th century, the legend was sufficiently established for Geoffrey of Monmouth to include Arthur in his History of the Kings of Britain (1136) and to single him out as the greatest of these monarchs. Geoffrey's account portrayed Arthur's court in Camelot as a model of the ideal knightly society. Geoffrey's version of the legend was adapted by the Norman writer Wace in his Roman de Brut (ca. 1155). Wace's version introduced the motif of the Round Table, at which Arthur's knights gathered, its shape ensuring that no one would have a privileged position over the others. In the hands of the trouvère poet Chrétien de Troyes, the legend became immortalized in the stories of the pursuit of the Holy Grail, and the love affair of Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere. The popularity of Chrétien's innovations gave birth to a number of long verse romances that elaborated the legend further, placing the stories within the courtly love tradition.In the 15th century, Sir Thomas Malory, in good English fashion, toned down the love interest to celebrate Arthur as a wise and just ruler. Malory's Morte D'Arthur (edited and published in 1485 by the English printer William Caxton) details the reign, the death, and the promised return of the "once and future king." Malory's version consists of eight romances that, taken together, make up the story as it has come down to later generations. It recounts the story of Arthur's ascension to the throne after pulling the sword Excalibur from a stone; his famous victories; his court at Camelot; the feasts of the Knights of the Round Table; the love affair of Lancelot and Guinevere; the quest for the Grail; the treachery of Arthur's illegitimate son, Sir Mordred; Arthur's death; and his final resting place on the island of Avalon.In the 19th century, Alfred, Lord Tennyson's retelling of the legend, The Idylls of the King (1859–85), enjoyed enormous popularity, resulting in a revival of medievalism in art and literature, particularly among the pre-Raphaelites. In the 20th century, the publication of T. H. White's The Once and Future King (1958) brought the legend to a wide audience. White's book was adapted by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe as the musical Camelot (1960), a version of the legend that has become identified with the administration of John F. Kennedy.
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