The Arthurian mythos is expansive and requires an insane amount of research to master. Fortunately, we’ve put together a list of resources to help you out. This is our list of the best Arthurian resources and reference books out there.
What’s on this List of Arthurian Resources?
This list consists primarily of reference books to help you learn more and more about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Once you make it through these books, you’ll know most of the scholarship on the subject. We’ve also included a number of documentaries and some really great websites to help you out.
Where to start?
This list can be a lot to swallow, as it’s a lot to read. We HIGHLY recommend starting with the Arthurian Handbook, which will give you a great overview of the subject. The Illustrated Encyclopedia is pretty great too. After that the documentaries are a great way to familiarize yourself with the subject on a somewhat basic level. Then you’ll be ready to dive into the heavier books to learn even more about the Arthurian Legends.
We hope you enjoy this timeline! If you like it, you might want to consider visiting our Arthurian Legends Hub. Check it out!
And if you see any significant resource you think we should add, don’t hesitate to let us know!
| # | Get It | Name | Media | Author/Director | Date | Series | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Check Price | The Tristan Legend | Book | Sigmund Eisner | 1969-01-01 | Reference Books | |
| 2 | Check Price | The Discovery of King Arthur | Book | Geoffrey Ashe | 1985-01-01 | Reference Books | |
| 3 | Check Price | The Quest for Arthur's Britain | Book | Geoffrey Ashe | 1987-01-01 | Reference Books | |
| 4 | Check Price | The Legend of King Arthur in Art | Book | Muriel Whitaker | 1990-09-01 | Reference Books | |
| 5 | Check Price | Illustrated Encyclopedia of Arthurian Legend | Book | Ronan Coghlan | 1995-01-01 | Reference Books | |
| 6 | Check Price | The Use of Arthurian Legend in Hollywood Film | Book | Samuel J. Umland, Rebecca A. Umland | 1996-10-30 | Reference Books | |
| 7 | Check Price | King Arthur in Legend and History | Book | Richard White | 1997-01-01 | Reference Books | |
| 8 | Check Price | The Arthurian Handbook | Book | Norris Lacy, Geoffrey Ashe, Debra Mancoff | 1997-10-01 | Reference Books | |
| 9 | Check Price | The Arthurian Name Dictionary | Book | Christopher W. Bruce | 1998-12-01 | Reference Books | |
| 10 | Check Price | King Arthur in America | Book | Alan Lupack | 1999-05-01 | Reference Books | |
| 11 | Check Price | Celtic Legends - Arthurian Legends | Television | 1999-12-01 | Documentaries | ||
| 12 | Check Price | Appropriating King Arthur | Book | Elisabeth Michelsson | 1999-12-10 | Reference Books | |
| 13 | Check Price | Arthurian Legends on Film and Television | Book | Bert Olton | 2000-04-01 | Reference Books | |
| 14 | Check Price | The World of King Arthur | Book | Christopher Snyder ( | 2000-11-01 | Reference Books | |
| 15 | Check Price | Legends of King Arthur | Television | Nikolai Tolstoy | 2001-01-01 | Documentaries | |
| 16 | Check Price | Arthur's Britain | Book | Leslie Alcock | 2002-02-26 | Reference Books | |
| 17 | Check Price | King Arthur in Popular Culture | Book | Donald L. Hoffman | 2002-03-20 | Reference Books | |
| 18 | Check Price | Cinema Arthuriana | Book | Kevin J. Harty | 2002-08-26 | Reference Books | |
| 19 | Check Price | King Arthur's Britain | Film | Timothy Copestake | 2004-01-01 | Documentaries | |
| 20 | Check Price | King Arthur: The Truth Behind the Legend | Film | Liam Dale | 2004-01-01 | Documentaries | |
| 21 | Check Price | The Holy Grail | Book | Richard Barber | 2004-04-09 | Reference Books | |
| 22 | Check Price | Britain AD: King Arthur's Britain | Television | Timothy Copestake | 2004-09-06 | Documentaries | |
| 23 | Check Price | The Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend | Book | Alan Lupack | 2005-08-11 | Reference Books | |
| 24 | Check Price | The Arthur of the French | Book | Glyn S. Burgess, Karen Pratt | 2006-04-01 | Reference Books | |
| 25 | Check Price | The Arthur of the Welsh | Book | Rachel Bromwich | 2008-11-01 | Reference Books | |
| 26 | Check Price | The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend | Book | Elizabeth Archibald, Ad Putter | 2009-10-12 | Reference Books | |
| 27 | Check Price | The Arthur of Medieval Latin Literature | Book | Siân Echard | 2011-07-15 | Reference Books | |
| 28 | Check Price | The Arthur of the Germans | Book | W. H. Jackson, S. A. Ranawake | 2012-02-15 | Reference Books | |
| 29 | Check Price | The Arthur of the English | Book | W. R. J. Barron | 2012-02-15 | Reference Books | |
| 30 | Check Price | The Romance of Arthur | Book | Norris Lacy | 2013-01-25 | Reference Books | |
| 31 | Check Price | The New Arthurian Encyclopedia: New edition | Book | Norris J. Lacy, Geoffrey Ashe, Sandra Ness Ihle, Marianne E. Kalinke, Raymond H. Thompson | 2013-09-05 | Reference Books | |
| 32 | Check Price | Arthurian Legend in the Seventeenth Century | Book | Roberta Florence Brinkley | 2014-08-13 | Reference Books | |
| 33 | Check Price | The Arthur of the North | Book | Marianne E. Kalinke | 2015-11-20 | Reference Books | |
| 34 | Check Price | Romance of the Grail: The Magic and Mystery of Arthurian Myth | Book | Joseph Campbell | 2015-12-15 | Reference Books | |
| 35 | Check Price | King Arthur: The Legend | Film | John Geraint | 2016-01-01 | Documentaries | |
| 36 | Check Price | King Arthur's Lost Kingdom | Film | Kenny Scott | 2019-03-27 | Documentaries | |
| 37 | Check Price | King Arthur: The Man Who Conquered History | Book | Caleb Howells | 2019-08-01 | Reference Books | |
| 38 |  | The Camelot Project | Web | Various | Ongoing | Online Resources | |
| 39 | | Arthuriana.org | Web | Various | Ongoing | Online Resources | |
| 40 | | King Arthur Wiki | Web | Various | Ongoing | Online Resources |
Arthurian Bibliography
- Norris Lacy, Geoffrey Ashe, Debra Mancoff – The Arthurian Handbook (Second Edition)
- Alan Lupack – The Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend
- Ronan Coghlan – The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Arthurian Legends
- Anonymous – Lancelot-Grail, the French Vulgate
- Sir Thomas Malory – Le Morte d’Arthur
See also my ever-expanding list of primary and secondary sources.
