WeRead Powered by ReaderPub
King Arthur in history and legend cover

King Arthur in history and legend

Chapter 10: BIBLIOGRAPHY
Open in WeRead

About This Book

A scholarly survey traces the origin and development of the Arthurian tradition from the earliest historical notices and Welsh legend through Geoffrey of Monmouth and medieval chroniclers to the flowering of romance and later English literature. It examines surviving records and vernacular tales, considers the impact of French romantic scribes, distinguishes historical conjecture from literary invention, and shows how chroniclers, romancers, and poets combined sources to form the composite legendary figure. The work concludes with bibliographic guidance and additional notes on texts and scholarship.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

[The following list comprises only a brief selection of books likely to be of most use and interest to the English reader. Welsh, French and German authorities are left entirely out of account.]

Six Old English Chronicles. Translated by J. A. Giles. Bohn’s Series. (Contains useful translations of Gildas, Nennius, and Geoffrey of Monmouth.)

Geoffrey of Monmouth. History of the Kings of Britain, translated by Dr Sebastian Evans. The Temple Classics (Dent).

The Four Ancient Books of Wales. Edited, with translations, by Dr W. F. Skene. Edinburgh, 1868.

The Mabinogion. Translated by Lady Charlotte Guest. The best popular edition is that of A. Nutt, and is especially valuable for his critical notes at the end.

Layamon’s Brut. Edited by Sir F. Madden. 3 vols. London, 1847.

Malory’s Morte Darthur. Edited, in 3 vols., by H. O. Sommer (Nutt).

—— With introduction by Sir J. Rhys (Dent).

—— Edited, with introduction, by Sir E. Strachey (Macmillan—Globe Series).

Dickinson, W. H. King Arthur in Cornwall.

Fletcher, R. H. The Arthurian Matter in the Chronicles (Harvard Studies and Notes, 1906).

Maccallum, M. W. Tennyson’s Idylls and Arthurian Story.

Newell, W. W. King Arthur and the Table Round. Boston, 1897. (Contains excellent summaries of Chrétien de Troyes poems.)

Nutt, Alfred. Celtic and Mediæval Romance. (Popular Studies in Mythology and Folklore.)

—— Legends of the Holy Grail. (Popular Studies, etc.)

—— Studies in the Legend of the Holy Grail (1888).

Rhys, Sir John. The Arthurian Legend (1891).

—— Celtic Folklore (1901).

Schofield, W. H. English Literature, from the Norman Conquest to Chaucer.

Squire, Charles. The Mythology of the British Islands.

Stephens, Thomas. The Literature of the Kymry (1872).

Weston, Jessie L. King Arthur and his Knights. (Popular Studies in Mythology and Folklore.)

—— The Legend of Sir Gawain (1897), and other works included in Nutt’s ‘Grimm Library’.