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La matiere de Bretagne is a name given collectively to the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain; especially King Arthur and his knights and their association to the Grail. It is the link between the Grail stories and the legends of both King Arthur and Joseph of Arimathea and their connection to Glastonbury, the Island of Avalon, which is central to this investigation. The legend of King Arthur at Glastonbury is primarily derived from Geoffrey of Monmouth's mention of King Arthur's arrival at the Island of Avalon after his fatal fight with Mordred. It is the later bogus disinterment of King Arthur's manufactured grave at Glastonbury, which establishes Glastonbury's synonymy with Avalon. This volume sets out to show how the abbot of Glastonbury, Henry Blois, used Geoffrey of Monmouth as a nom de plume and concocted the epic tale from Brutus to Arthur which is now known as the 'History of the Kings of Britain' and was responsible for composing the Prophecies of Merlin"
Historical Works from Medieval Wales is the fourth volume in The Library of Medieval Welsh Literature series. It introduces readers to the genre of medieval Welsh historical texts on the basis of a broad selection of annotated passages, which range from an account of the legendary origin of Britain to the fall of the last native prince. Each passage is preceded by an introductory paragraph indicating the source and relating it to its wider historical and literary context. The selections are accompanied by a substantial introduction, extensive linguistic notes, and a full glossary. The introduction discusses gemeral features of medieval historiography, as well as the manuscripts and edited wo...
Based on an analysis of a variety of early medieval writings from Britain, including De Excidio et Conquestu Brittaniae by the Briton Gildas, the early Welsh collection of stanzas commonly referred to as Y Gododdin, and the Venerable Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, his Historia Abbatum and Chronica Maior, Strategies of Identity Construction provides evidence of an active and productive medieval discourse of ethnic and political identity construction in Britain. The book demonstrates that different gentes, even competing peoples, use the same strategies to construct and communicate their identities. This phenomenon is not only visible when comparing the different writings which...
Did King Arthur really exist? The oldest manuscripts refer to him as a "Lord of Battle" who emerged soon after the Roman Empire crumbled. But what would be the origin of all these stories that turned a war leader into a king, an emperor, a legend... even a god? What if Arthur was really a deity similar to Zeus and Odin, with his roots in the rich Celtic mythology of the British Isles? A study of Arthurian myths reveals Britain's most legendary king as an ancient Sun God, known by many different names in the myths of Wales and Ireland. Even his Knights of the Round Table, and his sister Morgan le Fay can all be identified as ancient Gods and Goddesses of earth, sea and sky. Their survival in Arthurian legend stands as a shining testament of a story far more ancient, but by no means lost to us...