Arthurian and related Texts

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Alfred, Lord Tennyson - The Idylls of the King  The Victorian poet, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, based his twelve poem 'Idylls of the King' (1859-85) on the Morte D'Arthur ....read the full text here .....download in pdf eBook format

Le Morte D'Arthur - Thomas Malory    Edited and first published by William Caxton in 1485, Sir Thomas Malory's unique and splendid version of the Arthurian legend tells an immortal story of love, adventure, chivalry, treachery, and death......read the full text here .....download in pdf eBook format

The Mabinogion is a collection of Welsh folk tales, the earliest extant copy of which dates from the thirteenth century. However much of the material is considerably older with the four stories of the first group recording memories of ancient Celtic mythology ...read the full text here .....download in pdf eBook format

'Preiddeu Annwfn' - 'The Spoils of Annwyn'  The Book of Taliesin is a collection of prophetic, religious and historical poems ostensibly written by the sixth century Welsh bard Taliesin. The earliest surviving copy has been dated to 1275. Experts agree that some, but not all, of the material included in the book of Taliesin originated in the sixth century. The poems include 'Preiddeu Annwfn' - 'The Spoils of Annwyn'

Sir Gawain and the Green knight - Jesse Weston  Brave, chivalrous, loyally faithful to his plighted word, scrupulously heedful of his own and others' honour, Gawain stands before us in this poem. We take up Malory or Tennyson, and in spite of their charm of style, in spite of the halo of religious mysticism in which they have striven to enwrap their characters, we lay them down with a feeling of dissatisfaction. How did the Gawain of their imagination, this empty-headed, empty-hearted worldling, cruel murderer, and treacherous friend, ever come to be the typical English hero? ....read the full text here .....download in pdf eBook format

Gildas De Excidio Britonum   This book is the only substantial source which survives from the time of the Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britain and is the only contemporary Arthurian source that can be examined today ......read the full text here .....download in pdf eBook format

online Poems

Edgar Allen Poe - The Raven   Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore--
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.....read the full poem here

William Blake - Jerusalem    And did those feet in ancient time

Walk upon England's mountains green?

And was the holy Lamb of God

On England's pleasant pastures seen?....read the full poem here

Notes

Geoffrey of Monmouth - The History of the kings of Britain "The much-maligned Geoffrey of Monmouth, Archdeacon of Monmouth and later Bishop of St.Asaph's, first popularized King Arthur's story, around 1139, in his "History of the Kings of Britain"....read more here .....download in pdf eBook format

Chretien de Troyes   Chrétien de Troyes wrote five Arthurian romances in the last part of the twelfth century;- ‘Erec et Enide’, ‘CligÚs’, ‘Le Chevalier de la Charrette’ (Lancelot), ‘Le Chevalier au Lion’ (Yvain – Owain) and ‘Le Conte du Graal’ (Perceval);the last was left unfinished on his death in, apparently, 1191.........read more

Robert de Boron - Roman de l'Estoire du Graal    In the Prose Romances, the 'La Queste del Saint Graal' and the 'Estoire del Saint Graal' , written in the thirteenth century Joseph of Arimathea is presented as the ancestor of Lancelot and Galahad.  The Estoire adds to the story of Joseph, bringing him to Britain as an evangelist, and carries the history of the Grail and its successive keepers almost down to Arthur's time.....read more

Robert de Boron – ‘Joseph of Arimathea’    One of the earliest Grail Romances, the poem called ‘Joseph of Arimathea’, was composed by Robert de Boron  between 1180 and 1199. The village of Boron is beside MontbÚliard near the modern Franco -Swiss border. This may have been his property, his birthplace, both, or neither!... read more

The Quest for the Sangreal - La Queste del Saint Graal   ‘La Queste del Saint Graal’ is part of the group of tales called the Vulgate Cycle of which ‘L’Estoire del Saint Graal’ is the first. La Queste is generally believed to have been compiled by Cistercian monks in the first quarter of the thirteenth century.... read more

Sone du Nansai    The 'Sone de Nansai' tells of the adventures that befall the hero, Sone, after he enters the service of Alain, king of Norway. Alain is a manifestation of Arawn lord or head of Annwn and Norway is a confusion of Llychlynn which first meant ' the fabulous land beneath the lakes or waves of the sea' (Rhys) (Arthurian Legend,II). but when the Norse sea raiders began to ravage the coasts it became the name for the land of fiords or Norway.....read more

Wolfram von Eschenbach - Parzival    Wolfram von Eschenbach wrote the poem "Parzival" sometime between 1200 and 1210. Wolfram was a Bavarian, knighted by one of the Counts von Henneberg at Massfeld near Meiningen. He was a legendary figure even in his own time. Well known from his lyrics, he is supposed to have been one of the founders of the mastersingers. Wolfram von Eschenbach was present with the German contingent at the siege of Damietta in Egypt during the fifth crusade where he may have been impressed by the actions of the military orders, esp. the Templars ...read more

Welsh Triads   'The Triads are a peculiar species of poetical composition, of which the Welsh bards have left numerous examples. They are enumerations of a triad of persons, or events, or observations, strung together in one short sentence. This form of composition, originally invented, in all likelihood, to assist the memory, has been raised by the Welsh to a degree of elegance of which it hardly at first sight appears susceptible..... read more

Robert Graves  - The White Goddess    Robert Graves, the late British poet and novelist, was also known for his studies of the mythological and psychological sources of poetry. With The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth, Graves was able to combine many of his passions into one work. While the book is so poetically written that many of the passages amount to prose poems, it is also frequently plot driven enough to feel like a novel, and it is rich with scholarly insight into the deep wells of poetry.... read more

Apocrypha    The Apocrypha is the name given to those books which for various reasons are included /excluded from differing versions of the Bible; Hebrew Bible, Orthodox Christian Bible, King James Bible etc....read more

Navigation of St. Brendan    A historical early Irish Christian, St. Brendan, was born in Tralee c. 484 or 486 AD. He had a reputation as a traveller or wanderer and he is reputed to have visited St. Columba at Hinda (Argyle) on which visit he may have founded a Scottish monastery. ....read more

Jason and the Golden Fleece    Jason  The adventures of Jason and the Argonauts and their search for the Golden Fleece is one of many legends concerning a heroic quest for a golden apple. The Greek word for sheep - 'melon'-  can also mean apple. The Golden Fleece' can be translated as  'The Golden Apple' .....read more