Arthurian Narrative in the Latin Tradition

Arthurian literature is a popular field, but most of the published work focuses on the vernacular tradition. This book, uniquely, looks at Latin Arthurian works. Geoffrey of Monmouth is treated at length and this is the first book to put him in a context which includes other Latin histories, monastic chronicles, saints’ lives and other Latin prose Arthurian narratives. Like Geoffrey’s works, most can be associated with the Angevin court of Henry II and by placing these works against the court background, this book both introduces a new set of texts into the Arthurian canon and suggests a way to understand their place in that tradition. The unfamiliar works are summarized for the reader, and there are extensive quotations, with translations, throughout. The result is a thorough exploration of Latin Arthurian narrative in the foundational period for the Arthurian tradition.

• First study of the whole of the Latin Arthurian tradition • Deals at length with well-known figures such as Geoffrey of Monmouth and Andreas Capellanus • Provides crucial background to any study of the Arthurian tradition, in whatever language

Acknowledgments; Note on translations; Introduction: Latin Arthurian narrative and the Angevin court; 1. ‘The Anger of Saturn shall fall’: Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia regum Britannie and the limits of history; 2. ‘This is that Arthur’: chronicle responses to Arthur; 3. ‘Are you the only uncivilized knight produced by sweet Britain?’: Arthurian episodes and knightly conduct; 4. ‘Understanding the thing as it is’: De Ortu Waluuanii and the challenge of interpretation; 5. ‘Dies fantastica’: the Historia Meriadoci and the adventure of the text; 6. ‘When I have done you will be little the wiser’: Arthur and Gorlagon, Vita Merlini, and parody; Conclusion; ‘A wise man may enjoy leisure’: the place of Latin Arthurian literature; List of works cited; Index.

‘Professor Echard gives exemplary treatment to a fascinating subject … Her argument is succinct and intelligent, her scholarship up to date, and her footnotes a mine of information.’ Review of English Studies