King Arthurs Foundational 12th Century Legend: History, Summary, and Analysis

Geoffrey of Monmouth's legendary History of the Kings of Britain is one of the foundational texts of the medieval Arthurian tradition. This video introduces Geoffrey's depiction of Arthur by looking at the historical context in which Geoffrey wrote, summarizing Arthur's story, and considering some interpretations of Geoffrey's representation of King Arthur's legend.


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Sources:

Dalton, Paul. "The Topical Concerns of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britannie: History, Prophecy, Peacemaking, and English Identity in the Twelfth Century," Journal of British Studies 44, no. 4 (2005): 688-712.

Faletra, Michael A. “Narrating the Matter of Britain: Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Norman Colonization of Wales.” The Chaucer Review 35, no. 1 (2000): 60–85.

Geoffrey of Monmouth, The History of the Kings of Britain: The First Variant version. Translated by D. B Burchmore. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 2019.

Geoffrey of Monmouth, The History of the Kings of Britain. Edited by Michael D. Reeve, Translated by Neil Wright. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2007.

Howlett, D. R. "The Literary Context of Geoffrey of Monmouth: An Essay on the Fabrication of Sources." Arthuriana 5, no. 3 (1995): 25-43.

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
03:09 Historical Context of Geoffrey's Britain
06:24 Geoffrey's Personal Bio?
08:51 Summary of Arthur's Legend in Geoffrey's History
27:09 Is Geoffrey a Bad Historian?
29:02 A Literary Interpretation of Geoffrey's Arthur
36:32 How to Support the Channel and Outro

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