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Pridwen
Pridwen was, according to the 12th-century writer Geoffrey of Monmouth, King Arthur's shield; it was adorned with an image of the Virgin Mary. Geoffrey's description of it draws on earlier Welsh traditions found in ''Preiddeu Annwfn'', ''Culhwch and Olwen'', and the ''Historia Brittonum''. The shield is also named and described by Wace, Layamon, Roger of Wendover and Robert of Gloucester among other medieval writers, and it directly inspired the description of Sir Gawain's shield in ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight''. Geoffrey of Monmouth King Arthur's shield Pridwen appears in the 1130s in Geoffrey of Monmouth's largely fictitious ''Historia Regum Britanniae''. Before fighting a battle near Bath, in Somerset, Arthur ''Pridwen'' has been interpreted as meaning "white face", "fair face", "blessed form" or "precious and white". The name was taken from Welsh tradition, Arthur's ship in ''Preiddeu Annwfn'' and ''Culhwch and Olwen'' being called ''Prydwen''; it was perhap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prydwen
''Prydwen'' plays a part in the early Welsh poem ''Preiddeu Annwfn'' as King Arthur's ship, which bears him to the Celtic otherworld Annwn, while in ''Culhwch and Olwen'' he sails in it on expeditions to Ireland. The 12th-century chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth named Arthur's shield after it. In the early modern period Welsh folklore preferred to give Arthur's ship the name ''Gwennan''. ''Prydwen'' has however made a return during the last century in several Arthurian works of fiction. ''Preiddeu Annwfn'' Arthur's ship makes an early appearance in ''Preiddeu Annwfn'' ("The Spoils of Annwn"), a Welsh mythological poem of uncertain date (possibly as early as the 9th century or as late as the 12th) preserved in the Book of Taliesin. The meaning of the poem is in many places obscure, but it seems to describe a voyage in ''Pridwen'' to Annwn, the Celtic otherworld, to rescue a prisoner held there. It includes two lines translated by John K. Bollard as And again later ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Excalibur
Excalibur () is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. It was associated with the Arthurian legend very early on. Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone (the proof of Arthur's lineage) are not the same weapon, though in some modern incarnations they are either the same or at least share their name. In Welsh, it is called ''Caledfwlch''; in Cornish, ''Calesvol'' (in Modern Cornish: ''Kalesvolgh''); in Breton, ''Kaledvoulc'h''; and in Latin, ''Caliburnus''. Several similar swords and other weapons also appear in this and other legends. Forms and etymologies The name ''Excalibur'' ultimately derives from the Welsh Caledfwlch (and Breton ''Kaledvoulc'h'', Middle Cornish ''Calesvol''), which is a compound of ' "hard" and ' "breach, cleft". Caledfwlch appears in several early Welsh works, including the prose tale ''Culhwch and Olwen'' (c. 11th–12th century). The name was later ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Culhwch And Olwen
''Culhwch and Olwen'' ( cy, Culhwch ac Olwen) is a Welsh tale that survives in only two manuscripts about a hero connected with Arthur and his warriors: a complete version in the Red Book of Hergest, c. 1400, and a fragmented version in the White Book of Rhydderch, c. 1325. It is the longest of the surviving Welsh prose tales. Overview Dating The prevailing view among scholars was that the present version of the text was composed by the 11th century, making it perhaps the earliest Arthurian tale and one of Wales' earliest extant prose texts,The Romance of Arthur: An Anthology of Medieval Texts in Translation, ed. James J. Wilhelm. 1994. 25. but a 2005 reassessment by linguist Simon Rodway dates it to the latter half of the 12th century. The title is a later invention and does not occur in early manuscripts. Editions Lady Charlotte Guest included this tale among those she collected under the title ''The Mabinogion''. Synopsis Culhwch's father, King Cilydd son of Celyddon, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avalon
Avalon (; la, Insula Avallonis; cy, Ynys Afallon, Ynys Afallach; kw, Enys Avalow; literally meaning "the isle of fruit r appletrees"; also written ''Avallon'' or ''Avilion'' among various other spellings) is a mythical island featured in the Arthurian legend that first appeared in Geoffrey of Monmouth's influential 1136 ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' as a place of magic where King Arthur's sword Excalibur was made and later where Arthur was taken to recover from being gravely wounded at the Battle of Camlann. Since then, the island has become a symbol of Arthurian mythology, similar to Arthur's castle of Camelot. Avalon was associated from an early date with mystical practices and magical figures such as King Arthur's half-sister Morgan, cast as the island's ruler by Geoffrey and some of the later authors inspired by him. Certain Briton traditions maintain that Arthur is an eternal king who had never truly died but would return, and the particular motif of his rest in Morg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthurian Legend
The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Western story cycles recalled repeatedly in medieval literature, together with the Matter of France, which concerned the legends of Charlemagne, and the Matter of Rome, which included material derived from or inspired by classical mythology. History The three "Matters" were first described in the 12th century by French poet Jean Bodel, whose epic ' ("Song of the Saxons") contains the line: The name distinguishes and relates the Matter of Britain from the mythological themes taken from classical antiquity, the "Matter of Rome", and the tales of the Paladins of Charlemagne and their wars with the Moors and Saracens, which constituted the " Matter of France". King Arthur is the chief subject of the Matter of Britain, along with stories relate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English period. Scholarly opinion varies, but the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' specifies the period when Middle English was spoken as being from 1150 to 1500. This stage of the development of the English language roughly followed the High to the Late Middle Ages. Middle English saw significant changes to its vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and orthography. Writing conventions during the Middle English period varied widely. Examples of writing from this period that have survived show extensive regional variation. The more standardized Old English language became fragmented, localized, and was, for the most part, being improvised. By the end of the period (about 1470) and aided by the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in 14 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matthew Paris
Matthew Paris, also known as Matthew of Paris ( la, Matthæus Parisiensis, lit=Matthew the Parisian; c. 1200 – 1259), was an English Benedictine monk, chronicler, artist in illuminated manuscripts and cartographer, based at St Albans Abbey in Hertfordshire. He wrote a number of works, mostly historical, which he scribed and illuminated himself, typically in drawings partly coloured with watercolour washes, sometimes called "tinted drawings". Some were written in Latin, others in Anglo-Norman or French verse. His ''Chronica Majora'' is an oft-cited source, though modern historians recognise that Paris was not always reliable. He tended to glorify Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and denigrate the pope. However, in his ''Historia Anglorum'', Paris displays a highly negative view of Frederick, going as far as to describe him as a "tyrant" who "committed disgraceful crimes". Life and work In spite of his surname and knowledge of the French language, Paris was of English birth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flores Historiarum
The ''Flores Historiarum'' (Flowers of History) is the name of two different (though related) Latin chronicles by medieval English historians that were created in the 13th century, associated originally with the Abbey of St Albans. Wendover's ''Flores Historiarum'' The first ''Flores Historiarum'' was created by St Albans writer, Roger of Wendover, who carried his chronology from the Creation up to 1235, the year before his death. Roger claims in his preface to have selected "from the books of catholic writers worthy of credit, just as flowers of various colours are gathered from various fields." Hence he also called his work ''Flores Historiarum''. However, like most chronicles, it is now valued not so much for what was culled from previous writers, as for its full and lively narrative of contemporary events from 1215 to 1235, including the signing of Magna Carta by King John at Runnymede. The book has survived in one thirteenth-century manuscript in the Bodleian Library (Dou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
De Principis Instructione
''De principis instructione'' (''Instruction for a Ruler'') is a Latin work by Gerald of Wales. It is divided into three "Distinctions". The first contains moral precepts and reflections; the second and third deal with the history of the later 12th century, with a focus on the character and acts of king Henry II of England and especially his disputes with the kings of France, Louis VII and Philip II and with his own four sons, Henry the Young King, Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany, Richard, count of Poitou and John Lackland. Gerald was learned in classical, Biblical and medieval Latin literature and in this work cites the Bible, Servius (the commentator on Virgil), Gildas, the ''Itinerarium Regis Ricardi'' and many other works. Contents #First distinction. Topics include Britain as a land fertile in tyrants; the Picts and Scots; old English laws about shipwrecks; the recent discovery of King Arthur's tomb in the isle of Avalon; King Edward the Confessor; the virtues of King Louis VII ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerald Of Wales
Gerald of Wales ( la, Giraldus Cambrensis; cy, Gerallt Gymro; french: Gerald de Barri; ) was a Cambro-Norman priest and English historians in the Middle Ages, historian. As a royal clerk to the king and two archbishops, he travelled widely and wrote extensively. He studied and taught in France and visited Rome several times, meeting the Pope. He was nominated for several bishoprics but turned them down in the hope of becoming Bishop of St Davids, but was unsuccessful despite considerable support. His final post was as Archdeacon of Brecon, from which he retired to academic study for the remainder of his life. Much of his writing survives. Life Early life Born at Manorbier Castle in Pembrokeshire, Wales, Gerald was of mixed Normans, Norman and Welsh people, Welsh descent. Gerald was the youngest son of William Fitz Odo de Barry (or Barri), the common ancestor of the De Barry family of Ireland, a retainer of Arnulf de Montgomery and Gerald de Windsor, and one of the most powerfu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Of Rennes
William of Rennes, OP was a French friar in the Dominican Order, was a poet, theologian and expert on canon law. William was a Breton born in Thorigné in the thirteenth century. William wrote an "Apparatus ad summam Raymundi", a set of annotations to the ''Summa de casibus poenitentiae'' of Raymond of Peñafort. A '' summa'' is a summary of academic theology and canon law. In 1235 William argued that the baptism without the parental consent of Jewish children was suitable as Jews had a "servile status before Christians", he maintained that just as slaves have no parental rights due to their status, this fact also held true for the Jews, and as such the forced conversion of Jewish children was acceptable. William wrote the Arthurian epic ''Gesta Regum Britanniae'', in Latin hexameters, which he completed just after 1236. It is similar to the ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' by Geoffrey of Monmouth and was meant to rival the epic ''Alexandreis'' by Walter of Châtillon The ''Gesta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gesta Regum Britanniae
The ''Gesta Regum Britanniae'' ( la, Deeds of the Kings of Britain) is a Latin epic poetry, epic written at some time between 1235 and 1254, and attributed to a Breton monk, William of Rennes. The ''Gesta'' is fundamentally a versification of Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' in Latin epic hexameters. It retains Geoffrey's overall sequence and structure, but expands upon those elements and stories which had the greatest dramatic potential, while treating other sections more cursorily. William omits the ''Prophecies of Merlin'' section of the ''Historia'', as Wace did in his earlier ''Roman de Brut''. William may have read Geoffrey's ''Vita Merlini'', but otherwise does not intrude any elements of the (by then very copious) Arthurian legend into his adaptation of the ''Historia''. The form of the ''Gesta'' was inspired by Walter of Châtillon's ''Alexandreis''. It is divided into ten books, each of which is prefaced by a terse summary of its contents, also in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
