The Matter of Britain Podcast: history and legend of King Arthur and his knights

The story of Tristan and Iseult was very popular in the middle ages, and their tragic love affair was retold by many authors. This episode considers the “common branch” of Tristan narratives, exemplified by Béroul and Eilhart von Oberge.

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The Welsh version of Chretien's story of Yvain, found in the Red Book of Hergest.

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The fourth of Chretien de Troyes' romances, Yvain, or the Knight with the Lion, continues the exploration how to balance love and adventure, as Yvain tries to win his way back into his wife's favor after coming home late. Like, a whole year late.

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Alongside Perceval, Chretien's story of Lancelot was the most influential of his romances on later Arthurian lore. This narrative introduces Lancelot and the adulterous relationship with Queen Guinevere that will eventually undo Arthur's kingdom. The story itself, however, is simply a knightly adventure of romance, enchantment, and impractical bridge design.

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Marie de France was one of the most popular writers of Breton lais in the 12th century, and some of these mention King Arthur or Arthurian characters. Like romances, Marie's lais are written in rhyming octosyllabic meter, but they are shorter, more like short stories than novels. This episode looks at the lais of "Lanval", "Chevrefoil", "La Fresne", "Equitan", "Guigemar", "Eliduc" and "Yonec", and considers what they say about love and relationships.

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Chrétien de Troyes' romance Cligès follows two stories: the story of the Greek knight Alexander and his love Soredamors, and then the story of their son Cligès, who falls in love with his uncle the Emperor's wife. With more internal monologue than just about any other romance, Cligès acts as a kind of discourse on love.

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Geraint and Enid is a Welsh version of Erec and Enide. This episode takes a look at how the story changed between the two versions.

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Erec and Enide is the first of Chrétien de Troyes' romances, and we see the focus shift away from Arthur himself to the brave deeds and relationship drama of his knights and their ladies.

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This episode looks at the Roman de Brut by Norman poet Wace and the English poem Brut by Layamon. Both follow from Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae. We also take a look at Gerald of Wales, and his account of the discovery of the Arthur and Guinevere's tomb at Glastonbury Abbey.

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This episode looks at the Geoffrey of Monmouth’s 1136 text on the history of the kings of Britain, the first work to describe Arthur’s life in detail. We also take a quick look at Caradoc’s The Life of Gildas.

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