Depending on how you first encountered him, you probably think of King Arthur either as a wild war-painted barbarian stealing horses, or as a refined knight in armor espousing chivalry and courtly love. If we're going strictly historical, it's likely the real man (if he existed) was closer to the first image, though he may have been more enlightened than his fellow clansmen.
He definitely wasn't the half-wild, half-Romanized dual-sword-wielding postmodern Pelagian disciple represented by Clive Owen in the 2004 film King Arthur. Pelagius and King Arthur would never have met, and the timeline's all wrong. Neither Arthur nor his knights (whether Celtic brigands or armored Normans) would have used Far Eastern or modern fighting techniques.
Geoffrey of Monmouth is generally accepted (or accused) as the codifier of the Arthur legends and the author of the first written account. It's hard to make a historical case for Arthur from his History of the Kings of Britain, however, because he includes weird stuff like two dragons asleep beneath England, a prophet named Merlin who sees the future, and Arthur's conquest of all Europe.
Old Geoff inspired the Arthurian romance writers like Sir Thomas Malory, Chretien de Troyes, and Wolfram von Eschenbach. They fit the wild, fierce Arthur of Geoffrey and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight into the courtly love context, emphasizing the relationship of Guinevere and Lancelot, the Round Table, and Arthur's purity.
Modern writers took the myth in a different direction. Indirectly prompted by deconstructionism, authors explored the "historical" Arthur, the crazy bearded axe-bearing petty Western chieftain who swooped out of Wales to wreak havoc on his neighbors and unite Britain temporarily. Some of them made it a funny story—notably T.H. White in his brilliant The Once and Future King.
There's also the King-Arthur-as-modern-social-commentary version made famous by Mark Twain. He combines the knights in shining armor, untutored Celt, and bust-your-gut-hilarious versions to point out the hypocrisy and sometimes outright idiocy of Medieval society. If he deliberately misinterprets Arthurian British culture for the sake of his narrative, he's forgiven: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is one of the funniest and most poignant books ever written.
In a sense, all these are correct visions of Arthur. He exists as myth, and that is his legacy to literature and history. Medieval writers Christianized the story, making Arthur a Christ-type destined to deliver his people in their hour of darkest need. This is his ultimate place, the legendary folk hero representing everything to be admired in his culture of origin.
Whichever King Arthur you prefer, whether the knight in shining armor, the Monty Python doofus, or the pagan warlord in skins, we offer the books you want. We also carry texts interpreting Arthur, looking for the historical figure, and claiming no such historical figure exists. The legend of King Arthur remains one of the greatest stories of all time, and we hope you'll spend at least as much time reading them for the sheer joy of it as you will delving into their historical background.
Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews
here.
*******************************************************
We're s l o w l y in process of converting this page to a classics comparisons page, on which we hope to compare attributes of numerous King Arthur retellings. We currently have these versions to look through:
- Tales from King Arthur, edited by Andrew Lang, illustrated by Walter Crane, E. F. Brickdale, and H. J. Ford (1902)
- King Arthur Quartet, written and illustrated by Howard Pyle (1902-1910)
- Story of King Arthur and His Knights (1902)
- Story of the Champions of the Round Table (1905)
- Story of Sir Launcelot and His Companions (1907)
- Story of the Grail and the Passing of Arthur (1910)
- King Arthur for Boys, by Henry Gilbert, illustrated by Frances Brundage (1919)
- King Arthur and His Knights: A Noble and Joyous History by Philip Schuyler Allen, illustrated by Mead Schaeffer and John R. Neill (1926)
- King Arthur and His Knights by Elizabeth Lodor Merchant (1929)
- Once and Future King, by T.H. White (1939)
- King Arthur and His Noble Knights, by Mary MacLeod, illustrated by Henry Pitz (1949)
- King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table, by Roger Lancelyn Green, illustrated by Lotte Reiniger (1953)
- King Arthur and the Round Table, by Alice M. Hadfield, illustrated by Donald Seton Cammell (1953)
- Stories of King Arthur and His Knights, by Barbara Leonie Picard, illustrated by Roy Morgan (1955)
- King Arthur and His Knights, by Henry Frith, illustrated by Henry C. Pitz (1955)
- King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, by Emma Gelders Sterne and Barbara Lindsay, illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren (1962)
- Sword at Sunset, by Rosemary Sutcliff (1963)
- Legends of King Arthur, by Janyce L. Minnton, illustrated by Bruno Frost (1965)
- King Arthur Septet by Constance Hieatt
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, illustrated by Walter Lorraine (1967)
- Knight of the Lion, illustrated by Joseph Low (1968)
- Knight of the Cart, illustrated by John Gretzer (1969)
- Joy of the Court, illustrated by Pauline Baynes (1971)
- Sword and the Grail, illustrated by David Palladini (1972)
- Castle of Ladies, illustrated by Norman Laliberte (1973)
- Minstrel Knight, illustrated by James Barkley (1974)
- Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights, by John Steinbeck (1976)
- Book of Merlyn, by T.H. White, illustrated by Trevor Stubley (1977)
- King Arthur Trilogy by Rosemary Sutcliff
- Sword and the Circle: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (1981)
- Light Beyond the Forest: The Quest for the Holy Grail, illustrated by Shirley Felts (1980)
- Road to Camlann: The Death of King Arthur, illustrated by Shirley Felts (1981)
- Tales of King Arthur, by James Riordan and illustrated by Victor Ambrus (1982)
- King Arthur, by Norma Lorre Goodrich (1986)
- Pendragon Cycle by Stephen R. Lawhead
- Taliesen
- Merlin
- Arthur
- Pendragon
- Grail
- Of Swords and Sorcerers: The Adventures of King Arthur and His Knights, by Margaret Hodges and Margery Evernden, illustrated by David Frampton (1993)
- Arthur: High King of Britain, by Michael Morpurgo and illustrated by Michael Foreman (1994)
- Merlyn and the Making of a King, by Margaret Hodges, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman (2004)
Arthur Reference books:
Did you find this review helpful?