Literature

Gesta Regum Anglorum, or De Gestis Regum Anglorum (On) Deeds of Kings of England/(the English), or (The) Chronicle(s)/History of Kings of England by  William of Malmesbury Authorship and Content of Gesta This work is an early 12th Century (AD 1125) history of the Kings of England by an Anglo-Norman cleric, William of Malmesbury (born c … Read more

The Lai’s Subject and Sources Chevrefoil is a Breton lai by the mediæval poet Marie de France.  A lai is a mediæval type of short tale in French literature that is usually in octosyllabic (eight-syllable) verse, often connected with King Arthur or the Round Table.  Typically, Chevrefoil is the eleventh poem in the collection called … Read more

Here begins the Life of Illtud, Abbot. The Beginnings of Illtud and his Kinship to Arthur According to Vita Sancti Iltuti, written anonymously in the late Eleventh Century AD (or c 1140, or in the 1190s), Illtud was the son of “Bicanus”, a “British prince” (§1 – section one of this Vita), and a “cousin” … Read more

The Chronology of Vita Sancti Gildae To understand the significance and influence of Vita Sancti Gildae, one must examine the evidence for the year of Gildas’ birth, the date of the Battle of Badon Hill (supposedly the same year as the birth of Gildas), and the date of the writing of De Excidio et Conquestu … Read more

Introduction to the Text, its Summary, and its Manuscript Tradition Erec (Erek, Ereck) is a poem written by Hartmann von Aue in Middle High German rhyming couplets. According to Joachim Bumke (2006), this poem is thought to be the earliest of Hartmann’s narrative works and dates from c AD 1185.  A version of Chrétien de … Read more

Érec et Énide is the second of Chrétien de Troyes’ five romance poems, completed late Twelfth Century AD (c AD 1170).  It is one of the four completed works by Chrétien, the other three being Lancelot, or Le Chevalier de la Charrete (Lancelot, or The Knight of the Cart), Cligès, and Yvain, or Le Chevalier … Read more

Introduction to the Poem: Structure and Technique Cligès is a poem by the mediæval French poet Chrétien de Troyes, dating from the late 12th Century AD (c 1176).  It is the third of Chrétien’s five Arthurian romances; Lancelot, or Le Chevalier de la Charrete (Lancelot, or The Knight of the Cart); Érec et Énide (Erec … Read more

An Outline of the Cycle’s Contents The Robert Cycle, or Robert de Boron’s Cycle, is also known as La Grant Estoire dou Graal (The Grand History of the Grail), or Roman du Graal (Romance of the Grail), or Livre du Graal (Book of the Grail), or Le Petit Cycle du Graal (The Lesser Cycle of … Read more

The Faerie Queene is a masterpiece of Renaissance literature, and a great Arthurian story with Faeries and Dragons.