The Birth of the Arthurian Legend
The story of King Arthur is most famously told in the medieval romance Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory, written in 1485, but the roots of the legend stretch back much further. Arthur first appeared in written records in Welsh texts from the 6th and 7th centuries. One of the earliest references to him can be found in Y Gododdin, a poem that praises a warrior who may have been Arthur or at least an inspiration for his character. In these early mentions, Arthur was not yet depicted as the king we recognize today, but rather as a warrior or leader who fought in battle, especially against the invading Saxons.
It wasn’t until the 12th century that Arthur began to emerge as the king of legend we know today. Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae (1136) was instrumental in establishing Arthur as a legendary ruler. Geoffrey’s account, though highly fictionalized, introduced many of the elements that would define the Arthurian myth, such as Merlin, Excalibur, and the Round Table.
From there, the story of King Arthur grew, as medieval poets and writers such as Chrétien de Troyes added their own interpretations. In these later works, Arthur’s kingdom, Camelot, became a symbol of chivalric ideals, and his knights, such as Lancelot, Gawain, and Galahad, embarked on noble quests, the most famous being the search for the Holy Grail. The central themes of these stories—honor, loyalty, and sacrifice—would become defining characteristics of the Arthurian legend. shutdown123