Arthurian romances

Abstract

Introduction: The Normans, who like the English were Teutonic in origin, had, after establishing themselves in Normandy, so completely adopted and also improved upon the civilization of the Gaul and the Roman that scarcely an outward trace of their origin remained. They had become “the most courtly, cultured, art loving, and capable race in Europe; and when, in 1066, they conquered England, they were foremost in instituting chivalry.” Their poets sang of battle, love and heroism. Of these songs, the Arthurian Romances were most popular. “Arthur as a personality belongs to the Celtic traditions of Great Britain and Brittany.” His name is familiar to “the first murmurs of British song.” In style and spirit these songs were not Scandinavian, but French and Southern. Celtic, German, English and French writers worked to produce them, and this in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, flooded all Europe. “These legends were in the care of the Welsh bards until the time of Henry II, when they seem to have passed over to charge of the monks of Glastonbury”.