Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend »

Elizabeth Archibald is Professor of Medieval Literature at the University of Bristol.

Ad Putter is Reader in English Literature at the University of Bristol.

An overview of how the legend of Arthur and his Knights evolved from the earliest documentary sources to Spamalot.

Acknowledgements vii

Notes on Contributors ix

Frequently Cited Sources and Abbreviations xii

A Selective Chronology xv

Map of Arthurian Britain xix

Introduction Ad Putter Elizabeth Archibald 1

Part I Evolution 19

1 The early Arthur: history and myth Ronald Hutton 21

2 The twelfth-century Arthur Ad Putter 36

3 The thirteenth-century Arthur Jane H. M. Taylor 53

4 The fourteenth-century Arthur J. A. Burrow 69

5 The fifteenth-century Arthur Barry Windeatt 84

6 The Arthur of the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries Rob Gossedge Stephen Knight 103

7 The Arthur of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries Norris J. Lacy 120

Part II Themes 137

8 Questioning Arthurian ideals Elizabeth Archibald 139

9 Arthurian ethics Jane Gilbert 154

10 Imperial Arthur: home and away Andrew Lynch 171

11 Love and adultery: Arthur's affairs Peggy Mccracken 188

12 Religion and magic Corinne Saunders 201

13 Arthurian geography Robert Allen Rouse Cory James Rushton 218

Further Reading 235

Index 253