Drawing on a range of approaches in cultural, gender and literary studies, this book presents Chrétien de Troyes's Erec et Enide as a daring and playful exploration of scandal, terror and anxiety in court cultures. Through an interdisciplinary reading, it locates Erec et Enide, the first surviving Arthurian romance in French, in various contexts, from broad cultural and historical questionings such as medieval vernacular 'modernity's' engagement with the weight of its classical inheritance, to the culturally fecund and politically turbulent histories of the families of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II Plantagenet. Where previous accounts of the tale have not uncommonly presented Chrétien's poem as a decorous 'resolution' of tensions between dynastic marriage and fin'amors, between personal desire and social duty, this reading sees these forces as in permanent and irresolvable tension, the poem's key scenes haunted - whether mischievously or traumatically - by questions and skeletons from various closets.

Inventively retold and vividly illustrated, these stories describe the perilous and thrilling adventures of King Arthur and his knights in that glorious age of chivalry and honor. 41 illustrations.

This seminal new study explores how and why historians and writers from the Middle Ages to the present day have constructed different accounts of this well-loved figure. N. J Higham offers an in-depth examintaion of the first two Arthurian texts: the History of the Britons and the Welsh Annals. He argues that historians have often been more influenced by what the idea of Arthur means in their present context than by such primary sources King Arthur: Myth-making and History illuminates and discusses some central points of debate: * What role was Arthur intended to perform in the political and cultural worlds that constructed him? * How did the idea of King Arthur evolve? * What did the myth of Arthur mean to both authors and their audiences? King Arthur: Myth-making and History is fascinating reading for anyone interested in the origins and evolution of the Arthurian legend.

The renowned and illustrious tales of King Arthur, his knights and the Round Table pervade all European vernaculars, as well as the Latin tradition. Arthurian narrative material, which had originally been transmitted in oral culture, began to be inscribed regularly in the twelfth century, developing from (pseudo-)historical beginnings in the Latin chronicles of "historians" such as Geoffrey of Monmouth into masterful literary works like the romances of Chrétien de Troyes. Evidently a big hit, Arthur found himself being swiftly translated, adapted and integrated into the literary traditions of almost every European vernacular during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. This Handbook seeks to showcase the European character of Arthurian romance both past and present. By working across national philological boundaries, which in the past have tended to segregate the study of Arthurian romance according to language, as well as by exploring primary texts from different vernaculars and the Latin tradition in conjunction with recent theoretical concepts and approaches, this Handbook brings together a pioneering and more complete view of the specifically European context of Arthurian romance, and promotes the more connected study of Arthurian literature across the entirety of its European context.

Arthurian expert Sir James Knowles brings together fourteen tales of King Arthur and his knights, inspired by Alfred, Lord Tennyson's first four 'Idylls of the King'. Here is a fascinating journey through the land of ancient England where magic, mystery and warring factions come together in cataclysmic fashion. Beginning with the finding of the wizard Merlin, Sir James recounts the discovery of the legendary sword Excalibur, King Arthur's victory over the Saxons and his marriage to the beautiful Guinevere, as well as his battles against armies from Europe and his evasion of Queen Morgan's attempts to kill him with a magic garment. Tales include: • The Prophecies of Merlin and the Birth of Arthur • The Miracle of the Sword and Stone • The Lady of the Lake • The Founding of the Round Table • The Adventures of Sir Gawain Revealing the escapades of the Knights of the Round Table, such as Lancelot, Bedivere, Bors, Modred, Tristram and Galahad, as they seek to protect Arthur's kingdom, we discover how these fabled figures found their destiny. ABOUT THE SERIES: Arcturus Classic Myths and Legends brings together beautiful retellings of mythologies from different traditions, from Celtic to Native American.

From Occitan poetry to Francophone writing produced in the Caribbean and North Africa, from intellectual history to current films, and from medieval manuscripts to bandes dessinées, this History covers French literature from its beginnings to the present day. With equal attention to all genres, historical periods and registers, this is the most comprehensive guide to literature written in French ever produced in English, and the first in decades to offer such an array of topics and perspectives. Contributors attend to issues of orality, history, peripheries, visual culture, alterity, sexuality, religion, politics, autobiography and testimony. The result is a collection that, despite the wide variety of topics and perspectives, presents a unified view of the richness of French-speaking cultures. This History gives support to the idea that French writing will continue to prosper in the twenty-first century as it adapts, adds to, and refocuses the rich legacy of its past.

This co-written book challenges assumptions about Chrétien as the author of a canon of works. In a series of exchanges, its five authors reassess the relationship between lyric and romance, between individuality and social conditions, and between psychology and medieval philosophy.

Giants are a ubiquitous feature of medieval romance. As remnants of a British prehistory prior to the civilization established, according to the Historium regum Britannie, by Brutus and his Trojan followers, giants are permanently at odds with the chivalric culture of the romance world. Whether they are portrayed as brute savages or as tyrannical pagan lords, giants serve as a limit against which the chivalric hero can measure himself. In Outsiders: The Humanity and Inhumanity of Giants in Medieval French Prose Romance, Sylvia Huot argues that the presence of giants allows for fantasies of ethnic and cultural conflict and conquest, and for the presentation—and suppression—of alternative narrative and historical trajectories that might have made Arthurian Britain a very different place. Focusing on medieval French prose romance and drawing on aspects of postcolonial theory, Huot examines the role of giants in constructions of race, class, gender, and human subjectivity. She selects for study the well-known prose Lancelot and the prose Tristan, as well as the lesser known Perceforest, Le Conte du papegau, Guiron le Courtois, and Des Grantz Geants. By asking to what extent views of giants in Arthurian romance respond to questions that concern twenty-first-century readers, Huot demonstrates the usefulness of current theoretical concepts and the issues they raise for rethinking medieval literature from a modern perspective.

The secrets of Arthurian history revealed