Access to King Arthur
I teach a course “King Arthur in Europe” in two versions, one subtitled “The Search for the Holy Grail,” the other “Lancelot.”
Both emphasize the pan-European character of Arthurian literature as it developed from its Celtico-French beginnings (so to call them) in the 12th century and spread during the rest of the Middle Ages to involve just about every vernacular literature of Western Europe.
Common to both versions are the following topics, here listed in more or less chronological order.
- The Arthur of History: goings on in the British isles in the 5th century AD
- Celtica: how Celtic narrative elements fed into Arthurian romance
- Troubadour Love Lyric: the ideal of “courtly love” (fin’ amors)
- 12th-century French Literary Genres: that contributed somehow to the mix
- Chansons de geste
- Romans d’antiquité
- Geoffrey of Monmouth: his groundbreaking (pseudo-) History of the Kings of England
- Marie de France: the lady who gave us the Breton lay
- Chrétien de Troyes: the creator of the genre of Arthurian romance
- Arthurian Cycles: the next generation
Also relevant to both versions:
The “The Search for the Holy Grail” version in addition focuses on these texts:
- Chrétien de Troyes’s Perceval, or the Story of the Grail
- Robert de Boron’s Joseph of Arimathea, or the Romance of the Story of the Grail
- The Vulgate Cycle’s Quest of the Holy Grail
- Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival
The “Lancelot” version, for its part, covers in addition:
- The Celto-Continental story of Tristan & Iseut
- The Islamic Legend of Layla & Majnun
- Ulrich von Zatzikhoven, Lanzelet
- Chrétien de Troyes’s Lancelot, or The Knight of the Cart
- Portions of the Vulgate Cycle dealing with Lancelot, including
- The Death of King Arthur
- Selections from Sir Thomas Malory
Leave a Comment