Arthurian legend

Arthurian legend

The Arthurian legend (French légende arthurienne), also known as the Arthurian myth or Arthuriana, is the best-known part of the Matter of Britain. The "historical" (but already containing fantasy elements) Arthurian content of Geoffrey and his successors (notably Wace), along with Welsh and Breton tales (notably the Mabinogion), including the now-lost oral traditions and unrecorded troubadour works, became the foundation for writers of Arthurian chivalric romances. Many, more or less fantastical, stories in verse and prose came out from France and later England (due to its close ties with France), as well as other mostly Western European countries, in the sub-genre known as the Arthurian romance that first emerged in Northern France during the second half of the 12th century.