Product Description
For more then eight centuries, poets and writers have been telling stories about King Arthur. From lost legends and scraps of history, from facts and folklore, has been fashioned one of the greatest epics in all literature, full of the world's splendours, heroic loves and spiritual quests. This anthology is a celebration of the magical and mysterious world founded on the figure of an obscure Welsh princeling, of Arthur's exploits in literature, of his far-famed knights and their ladies, of all the high trappings of romance.Here for the first time is a single volume which gives the reader an idea of the power and range of Arthurian literature from its beginnings to the present day. All the great Arthurian writers are represented, from France, Germany and England, and the text is complemented by a superb selection of full colour illustrations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

great book!
I loved this book! I had to do a reaserach project on Arthurain legends and this bookr really satisfied my need for knowlege. i leaned of many differnt arthurain legends in detail. it was a great book to read ... Read more

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The Arthurian Annals are the unique and definitive bibliography of over 750 years of the Arthurian tradition in English. The fruit of over 20 years' research, they are a chronological and descriptive lisitng of Arthurian literature and related material from the Middle Ages to 2000. They list over 11,000 works in all media, from Malory to The Mists of Avalon. Types of works covered include fiction, poetry, drama; editions and translations of medieval works; children's literature; history and folklore, esoterica (including New Age works with Arthurian connections); Arthurian art, music, films, television, and comics.Each entry contains full bibliographical information, an account of the Arthurian content of the work, and an overview of the work's publication or performance history. A separate index volume provides eight separate guides to assessing and ordering the information in the Annals, with indexes of People: authors, editors, translators and illustrators; Characters; Titles; Genres; and Keywords and more.Since the Middle Ages the Arthurian legend has held a place in the Western cultural tradition similar to that of Classical mythology - as a body of stories, characters, themes and symbols capable of adaptation to changes in cultural values while preserving a continuity of subject matter. The Arthurian Annals document the tradition chronologically in all its manifestations in English from before 1250 to 2000. They are broad in scope, embracing both the literary classics of the tradition and lesser known works: plays, poems, adaptations, and sequels. This unique work constitutes a genealogy of the tradition in English in all its manifestations -- there is nothing comparable to it in print.The Arthurian Annals are a unique and unrivalled resource for research in Arthurian and Medieval studies. It will find its market in academic libraries in the Anglophone world, particularly in the US, and its readership among academics, students, writers and enthusiasts of the tradition. ... Read more

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This unique Encyclopedia highlights the world of King Arthur from its origins in dark Age Britain to the present day. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Good, but huge
This work's primary selling point is that it's very complete.And its biggest drawback is that . . . it's very complete.There's more material in this volume than you can ever put to use.You come away from a straight read feeling overwhelmed, and you come away from a skimming or a search bysubject feeling like you missed something.Still, if you're looking forspecific material on something relating to King Arthur, this is probablyyour best bet.If you're looking to be entertained by the Arthurian story,buy yourself a copy of The Once And Future King.

Basic to all serious study on the topic
If you are serious about studying the Arthurian legends, you need this book.If you have no other reference work, this should be the one on your shelf.Lacy & Co. deserve heaps of praise on their heads for thisvolume!It covers aspects of the legends themselves in differing countriesand in different eras.It covers art work.It covers music.It coversparticular characters.It covers theories relating to the backgrounds tothe legends, both historical and folklorical.The entries are readable,clear, and give lots of information so that you can follow up on any giventopic.I cannot praise this book enough!Every library should have a copy(including many personal libraries...).

A must have for any collection.
This is the new, updated edition of The New Arthurian Encyclopedia published in hardcover in 1991.As with the older version, it provides more than 500 new entries that cannot be found in the 1986 Arthurian Encyclopedia.The update also contains a 40-page section compiling the various addendums that have appeared in The Arthurian Yearbook since 1991.It is disappointing to note, however, that these new items were not incorporated into the main work.

Arranged alphabetically, the Encyclopedia remains the most invaluable reference resource for the Arthurian Legend.Each entry is written and signed by a scholar of Arthurian studies, and is followed, where necessary, by a short bibliography.The index is much easier to use than the one in the original volume.A must have for any collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

GILDAS - The Ruin of Britian and Other Works
The Ruin of Britain, written in 540 AD, is not what we would consider history yet is the only surviving narrative 'history' of the 5th century Britain.Gildas mentions only a few names (from his time) in the entire text however, he states his purpose for writing was not to write a history but rather to fiercely denunciate the rulers and churchmen of the day.Thankfully, historians known enough of the period from other references/sources to understand Gildas' comments.

Historical Background:
In 410 the Emperor, since the Roman Empire was on verge of collapse, instructed England to provide their own defense and government.Initially, the rulers were successful in fending off attacks from neighbors but fatefully, Vortigen invited in Saxons who in 441 rebel and capture Britain.An British counter rebellion begins and supposedly after 30 years (under Ambrosius and 'Arthur') they defeat the Saxons (English) at Baldon hill.However, this victory had destroyed most remnants of Roman institutions (Villas destroyed, farmland pillaged, etc).Soon after Gildas' death, the Saxons rebel again and establish control - that lasted until Harold's defeat in 1066.

Gildas' Purpose:
The victorious British, after defeating the Saxons, ruled well for a generation but in Gildas' time power had passed to war lords who exploited the church and overrode law.It is this anarchy that Gildas' denunciates.He supports his argument about the decrepitudes of society (especially the clergy) with Biblical quotes and offers 'patters for better priest.'What is perhaps the most important aspect of this source is its ramifications.Instead of reforming society, mass numbers opted out (i.e. founded monasteries) completely reinvigorating the monastic movement that was mainly defunct in Gildas' time.

Pros and Cons of Volume:
The introduction is brief and concise however, it could be supported by more examples to illustrate important conclusions.The most obvious being the monastic movement supposedly spawned by this text.The section on Gildas' Latin is very welcome as well as the inclusion of the actual Latin text.An index of biblical quotations is very helpful as well as a list of names (since Gildas' only names one individual this list clarifies Gildas' references to others).Gildas, although he does not refer to Authur, was used as a source for later Arthurian legend since many concluded that Ambrosius was Arthur.A fascinating source which is fun to read ('as the Romans went back home, there eagerly emerged from the coracles that had carried them across the sea-valleys the foul hordes of Scots and Picts, like dark throngs of worms who wriggle out of narrow fissures in the rock when the sun is high and the weather grows warm).Thankfully, the text is supported and explained by a good introduction.

Excellent edition
Gildas is probably most important today because of his connection to Arthurian legend. The Ruin of Britain (De Excidio Britanniae) contains the first mention of the Battle of Badon Hill, where traditionally Arthur met his death. But--Arthur is usually placed in the late 400s (Malory puts the Grail Quest in the year 454, others later). This means that when Gildas was writing, ca. 540, the late 400s were still within living memory. And Gildas makes no mention of Arthur. The great hero of the Ruin is Ambrosius Aurelianus. This is really all the proof anyone needs that Arthur never existed. To forget a great leader so soon would be like a modern person not knowing FDR or Churchill. King Arthur is an amalgam of several people, including Aurelius. Yet Gildas' work is the basis for many later legends, and is thus an essential text for anyone interested in Arthur.

This edition has the complete text of the Ruin, fragments of letters from Gildas, and his penitential. All of these are presented in English in the first half of the book, with the original Latin in the second half. The text is numbered by paragraph and line, so it's easy to cite from.

There are other editions of Gildas, but none are complete, and none that I know of contain the Latin. If you want to read Gildas, this is the edition to have. ... Read more

Product Description
`This introduction to Morte Darthuroutlines the book's basic character, followed by a study of the key concepts of love, loyalty, sin and shame. Malory's approach to his material is discussed, as are his sources, and his individual contribution; finally, Maloryand his book are placed in their historical context. Published in 1988 as Reading the Morte Darthur. ... Read more

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In British Sources of the Abduction and Grail Romances, Flint Johnson sets out to explore the possibility that familiar Arthurian stories, which have come down to us through Medieval romance, may contain relics of lost Welsh literary sources from the fifth or sixth century. ... Read more

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P.J.C. Field, Professor of English at the University of Wales (Bangor), is a distinguished Arthurian scholar and vice president of the International Arthurian Society. Although he is an expert in medieval literature in general, much of his scholarly life has been devoted to Malory's Le Morte Darthur; he has published many groundbreaking books and articles on Arthurian subjects, including The Life and Times of Sir Thomas Malory (1993), which used numerous previously unexamined documents to probe Malory's personal, social, and political contexts, and offered a new identification of Malory himself. He is currently preparing a comprehensive new edition of the Morte. The essays in this volume seek to mark Professor Field's contribution to Arthurian and other scholarship. The chapters range over the whole field of Arthurian vernacular texts and include new studies of early French and German texts as well as an analysis of the impact of Arthurian materials on Galician-Portuguese poetry. Many provide new insights into Malory's text and sources, and these culminate in reflections on Malory's impact on one later American reader, Mark Twain. Collectively the chapters on Malory substantiate a claim that has been at the core of Professor Field's scholarship: that Malory is a keen and critical reader of his source texts, and that he is a powerful stylist. ... Read more

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This study on bastardy in Chaucer or Malory, takes a feminist and new historical approach to the subject, applying an illuminating critical methodology to "The Canterbury Tales" and the "Morte D'Arthur". It shows that Chaucer is empowering illegitimacy by demonstrating that a woman born illegitimately, like the Miller's Wife, can nonetheless lead a normal life emotionally and financially. Malory goes even further, portraying important knights like Arthur, Torre, Borre, Elayne le Blank, Gylberte the Bastarde, Mordred, and Galahad as powerful bastards. The author draws attention to Malory's positive portrayal of the bloodlines, heredity, heraldry, and history, of the fine bastards in his Morte. ... Read more

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This study innovatively explores how Malory’s Morte Darthur responds to available literary vernacular Arthurian traditions—the French defined as theoretical in impulse, the English as performative and experimental. Negotiating these influences, Malory transforms constructions of masculine heroism, especially in the presentation of Launcelot, and exposes the tensions and disillusions of the Arthurian project. The Morte poignantly conveys a desire for integrity in narrative and subject-matter, but at the same time tests literary conceptualizations of history, nationalism, gender and selfhood, and considers the failures of social and legal institutionalizations of violence, in a critique of literary form and of social order.
... Read more

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In 1981 the first Arthurian Bibliographyappeared, an exhaustive alphabetical author-listing of all critical material recorded in the standard Arthurian bibliographies up to 1978. This was followed in 1983 by the second volume, giving full indexes by topic, key-word and individual work/author to form a complete subject-index of every topic in Arthurian literature. Summaries and reviews were also indicated where they existed. Arthurian Bibliography IIIupdates this invaluable reference work for Arthurian scholars to 1992. Compiled from the BBSIA, it conveniently contains both author-listing and subject-index in one volume. ... Read more

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This volume offers for the first time a comprehensive collection of all the ancient Greek and Latin sources needed to deal with figures answering to names like Arktouros, Ardus, and Artorius, where the bearers seem to have some kind ofArthuriancharacter.It challenges proponents of later British Arthurs to explain or explain away various Classical antecedents to the Arthurian tradition.This collection includes text and translation of over one hundred short texts concerning Arthur-figures, enabling Medieval scholars to examine for themselves the basis for claims ofArthurshipbefore the age of the historical Gildas.A detailed commentary is provided to introduce classicists to the Medieval tradition and vice-versa.The new texts raise as many questions as they answer; but for that very reason serious students of Arthurian origins cannot afford to ignore them. ... Read more

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The Morte Darthur is both a representative of the traditions of Arthurian literature, and a complex response to its stock themes and motifs. This book offers a new reading of the principles by which the Morte Darthur is structured, looking at the ways in which Malory deploys the Arthurian tradition and received narratives as both redactor and translator. The sources are considered in particular detail, and the additions and deletions which Malory makes to them: central to the investigation is the ways in which the fifteenth-century work on the one hand conserves thirteenth-century narratives such as Le Mort le Roi Artu, yet on the other reconstitutes it as something new, an approach which differs from the current critical trend of considering the Morte mainly in relation to its contemporary milieu. In so doing, the author develops a theory of `symbolic structure' to account for the principles of generation and combination of narrative elements in Malory, looking at the ways in which entire narratives can be put into motion by the power of a symbol such as Balin's sword, or the grail itself.Dr ELIZABETH EDWARDS teaches at the University of King's College, Halifax, Nova Scotia. ... Read more

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These studies look at Malory's Morte Darthur as both literature and history. Insights into warfare and into contemporary attitudes to violence and the depredations of war are balanced by considerations of the literary context of the Morte, both with regard to the manuscript tradition of 'grete bokes', and the first printed version. Current critical attitudes to the Morte are also examined, with the suggestion that Malory's intentions have been both imperfectly realised and understood. D. THOMAS HANKS Professor of English, Baylor University Many aspects of Malory's Morte Darthur reflect contemporary literary and social issues, and it is this topic which forms the focus for the eight essays in the volume, all by leading Malory scholars. Terence McCarthy suggests that the Morte was a book that came at the wrong time, and which we have admired for the wrong reasons. Andrew Lynch and D. Thomas Hanks Jr argue that Malory questions his culture's ideology of arms; Karen Cherewatuk and Kevin Grimm discuss the manuscript and printed contexts of the Morte. Robert Kelly examines some of the political elements of the Morte; Ann Elaine Bliss points out the role of processions in Malory's time and in the Morte; and P.J.C. Field compares the Morte's final battle to elements of the Battle of Towton (1461), finding strong similarities between the two. ... Read more

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This book sets Malory's Morte Darthur in the context of the political concerns that he shared with the fifteenth-century gentry readers for whom he wrote his book; the author draws widely on their correspondence and reading material, but looks particularly at the political content of contemporary miscellanies owned, commissioned and read by the gentry. She shows how the themes of political governance and royal succession, which are of primary importance in contemporary historical chronicles and genealogies, informed the political thinking of Malory's readers; and demonstrates how debates over ideas of worship, fellowship, lordship, and counselling indicate a process of changes in the gentry's political attitudes and values, their sense of identity, and also their response to the Arthurian story. Dr RALUCA L. RADULESCU is research associate at the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Trinity College, Dublin. ... Read more

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This study of Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur centres on its main narrative interest and expressive medium, armed combat. In the analysis of the discourse of fighting, some repeated descriptive preoccupations -to do with name, vision, blood, emotion and gesture - are examined as `needs of meaning' with relevance for the whole text, and related to political, religious, genealogical, sexual and medical views of Malory's period. Andrew Lynch's exploration of the powerof `name' as public reputation in the Mortechallenges the usual reading of Malory's adventures, and he goes on to survey Malory reception and the attempts of earlier critics to moralise the fights in terms he sees as inappropriate. His discussion of the narrative vision and thematics of combat covers the whole text, but places special emphasis on the stories of knight-errantry, and particularly the often neglected Book of Sir Tristram. ... Read more

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A comprehensive reference source for Arthurian studies, The Arthurian Name Dictionary is a comprehensive encyclopedia of characters, places, objects, and themes found in the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The volume makes available, for the first time, a complete catalogue of these names, drawn from all significant Arthurian sources between Gildas's De Excidio Britanniae (the first "Arthurian" source, written c. 540) and Tennyson's nineteenth-century Idylls of the Kin (which began the modern era of Arthurian literature)
Covers all of Arthurian-informative, detailed, and extensive, The enormous number of characters and places in the vast body of literature called Arthuriana confounds even the most learned Arthurian scholars. The Arthurian Name Dictionary contains names extracted from over 250 original Arthurian texts. Its pages include information on characters such as Lancelot and Gawain; places such as Camelot and Camlann; objects such as Excalibur and the Holy Grail; and themes such as the Sword-in-the-Stone and the Beheading Game. Each entry provides a complete, accurate description of the name, including, when possible, the origins or historical basis of the name, and any counterparts with different names in other sources. Major characters and themes are discussed extensively, and their evolution through the series of texts is carefully traced
Offers more coverage than previous encyclopedias and dictionaries on Arthurian, The Arthurian Name Dictionary outdoes previous encyclopedias and dictionaries concerned with Arthurian subjects by including a far greater number of sources, by including a far greater number of names from those sources, and by discussing each name in far greater detail. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Bravo from Green Knight Publishing!
Christopher Bruce's encyclopaedic work is a magnificent compendium of all of the major 6th to 19th century Arthurian sources.

As a publisher of books and games based on the original Arthurian sources, I have turned to this book not as my 'Bible', but as a sort of 'Bible Concordance'. Which stories can I find Percival (or his many alternative names) occurring in?

I found this book to be worth ten, if not a hundred times its cover price in terms of compiling years of research into a single treasury of Arthurian knowledge.

A masterful melding of medieval lore!
I was amazed to discover how young this first time author is.He has produced a profoundly complete and thoroughly researched scholarly work that is a "must read" for any student of the Aurthurian Legends. Mr. Bruce has researched even the most obscure references and stories ofArthur and the other characters associated with the legend.Thank you foryour excellent work.

Bravo!
Mr. Bruce has certainly done a wonderful job compiling volumes of information into one comprehensive work. It would be difficult to find a more complete reference. A must-have guide for any Arthurian-lover'slibrary, as well as an interesting book for any reader to peruse.

Magnifique!
As an avid Arthurian reader, I am amazed at the completeness of this wonderful reference.Nowhere have I ever seen such a valid and thorough resource.My son has loaned me his copy but I am looking forward to addingone of my own to my library.It is hard to believe that anyone couldcompile such a great volume so masterfully! Bravo, Mr. Bruce! ... Read more

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The essays in this volume, some reprinted in their original form and some extensively revised, are concerned with the Arthurian traditions associated with Glastonbury Abbey. Certain of the essays are analytic and others provide editions of hitherto unknown texts. They all examine ways in which legendary materials and historical facts interconnected in the process by which Glastonbury Abbey came to present itself, nationally and internationally, as the custodian of King Arthur's relics and the burial place of Joseph of Arimathea, and the importance, political and ecclesiastical, that it derived from the connection. ... Read more

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Although the legends of Arthur have been popular throughout Europe from the Middle Ages onwards, the earliest references to Arthur are to be found in Welsh literature, starting with the Welsh-Latin Historia Brittonum which dates from the ninth century. Here, O. J. Padel provides an overall survey of references to Arthur and emphasizes the importance of understanding the character and purpose of the texts in which allusions to Arthur occur. ... Read more