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

The Britons are the inhabitants of the island of Britain. As such, they make up the primary characters involved in the legends of King Arthur. This makes them very interesting to us, so in this article we will examine their origins, their history, and their culture. Origins At least as early as the ninth century, the Britons had a very

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

King Arthur’s greatest enemy was not a Saxon leader. After all, Arthur defeated the Saxons. Rather, his greatest enemy was the person who actually caused the downfall of his kingdom – Mordred. Let’s find out who this Mordred was, what he did, and what we can say about him historically. Earliest Appearance Mordred appears

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

Something that many Arthurian researchers are interested in is discovering where it was that Arthur fought his battles. Normally, his twelve battles against the Saxons (as recorded in the Historia Brittonum) are the subject of investigation, but there is another major battle that Arthur is recorded as having. This is

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. 

There are several characters from the Arthurian legends who can be identified as real individuals of the fifth and sixth centuries. Owain is one of these individuals. He appears in the legends as one of Arthur’s allies, generally known as ‘Sir Ywain’ in the later romances. Let us now take a look

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,