WRITERS OF THE ARTHURIAN LEGEND

Beroul
(Twelfth century) A French writer, author of an Anglo-Norman Tristan romance.

Boece, Hector
(Died 1536) A Scottish historian. His Scotonum Historia contains some Arthurian information written from an anti King Arthur standpoint.

Chrétien de Troyes
(Twelfth century) A French poet, of whom few biographical details survive. He wrote several Arthurian romances: Le chevalier de charette (also known as Lancelot), Cligés, Le chevalier au lion (also called Yvain), Le conte de graal (also called Perceval) and Erec et Enide.

The first 'Continuations of Chrétien appeared about 1200, due to the fact that Chrétien himself left Le conte de graal unfinished. The second came in the thirteenth century, and there were also continuations by Gerbert and Manessier which also appeared in the thirteenth century.

Dryden, John
(1631-1700) An English poet whose opera, King Arthur (1691), borrows little from Arthurian legend, having Arthur in love with a blind girl, Emmeline, who is also loved by Arthur's enemy, the Saxon, Oswald. The music for the opera was by Henry Purcell (died 1695).

Eilhart von Oberge
(Twelfth century) Author of Tristant, a version of the story of Tristan and Iseult.

Geoffrey of Monmouth
(Twelfth century) Author of two important Latin works of Arthur. The first, Historia Regum Brittaniae, deals with a mythical history of Britain and features a substantial Arthurian section. Geoffrey claimed his source was a British work. The Historia introduced Arthur to the learned world. The second work, Vita Merlini, is written in verse and tells of Merlin's madness and of his adventures.

Gerbert
(Thirteenth century) Author of a continuation to Chrétien de Troyes's Perceval.

Gottfried von Strassburg
(Thirteenth century) Author of a German romance of Tristan. No details of Gottfried's life are known.

Hartmann von Aue
(Twelfth century) The author (perhaps Rhenish) of two Arthurian romances in German, Erec and Iwain.

Heinrich von dem Türtin
(Thirteenth century) A German poet, author of Diu Crône, a Grail romance in which Gawain is the hero.

Heywood, Thomas
(Seventeenth century) Author of the Life of Merlin.

John of Glastonbury
(Fourteenth century) Author of a Latin history of Glastonbury which includes Arthurian material.

Malmesbury, William of
An English chronicler (c. 1090-c. 1143) who became a monk in the monastery at Malmesbury and, in due course, became librarian and precentor. He took part in the council at Winchester in 1141 against King Stephen. His Gesta Regum Anglorum provides a lively history of the Kings of England from the Saxon invasion until 1126, and the Historia Novella brings down the narrative to 1142. His Gesta Pontificum is an ecclesiastical history of the bishops and chief monasteries of England to 1123. Other works are an account of the church at Glastonbury and lives of Saint Dunstan and Saint Wulfstan.

Malory, Thomas
(Fifteenth century) A knight, author of Morte d'Arthur, which for many English readers is the classic Arthuriad. It was printed by Caxton in 1485. Of Malory's life itself, little can be said with certainty.
A fifteenth-century knight about whose life little can be said with any certainty. He is most famous as the author of the Le Morte d'Arthur, printed by Caxton in 1485, and for many the classic Arthuriad. Caxton's preface to this work states that Malory was a knight, that he finished the work in the ninth year of the reign of King Edward IV (1470), and that he 'reduced' it from a French book. It is possible that he was the Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel, Warwickshire, whose quarrels with a neighbouring priory and (probably) Lancastrian politics led to his imprisonment. Of Caxton's black-letter folio, only two copies now exist. An independent manuscript was discovered at Winchester in 1934. Le Morte d'Arthur is the best prose romance in English and was a happy attempt to give epic unity to the whole mass of French Arthurian romance.

Marie de France
(Twelfth century) A French poetess, author of two Arthurian romances - Chevrefueil and Lanval.

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A twelfth-century (fl. c. 1160-1190) French poetess and authoress of two Arthurian romances - Chevrefueil and Lanval. Born in Normandy, she spent most of her life in England, where she wrote her Lais some time before 1167 and her Fables some time after 1170. She translated into French the Tractatus de Purgatorio Sancti Patricii (c. 1190), and her works contain many classical allusions. The Lais, her most important work, comprises fourteen romantic narratives in octosyllabic verse based on Celtic material.

Nennius
The name given to the author of the Historia Brittonum, a Latin work of perhaps the ninth century. The work is clumsily put together.

Robert de Boron
(fl. 1200) The Burgundian author of two important Arthurian romances; Joseph d'Arimathie, which deals with the Grail, and Merlin. He may have written the Didot Perceval. Few details of Roberts life are known.

Rusticiano de Pisa
(fl 1298) An Italian writer who produced a Compilation of Arthurian romances. He is also known for writing down Marco Polo's Travels, at the latters dictation.

Spenser, Edmund
(1553-99) English poet. Though not much read in modern times, he was esteemed the Virgil of his day and has enjoyed a great popularity amongst other poets. His unfinished epic allegory, The Faerie Queen, features Arthur, as yet uncrowned.

Thomas
(Twelfth century) Author of the Anglo-Norman Tristan.

Ulrich von Zatzikhoven
(fl 1200) The German or Swiss author of Lanzelet. This version of the Lancelot story differs markedly from that of Chrétien.

Vulgate Version
(Thirteenth century) A collection of verse consisting of the Prose Lancelot, the Queste del Sainte Graal, and its prelude, the Estoire del Sainte Graal, the Mort Artu, the Vulgate Merlin and the Vulgate Merlin Continuation.

Wace, Robert
(Twelfth century) The author of the French Roman de Brut, which features a considerable Arthurian section and which mentions the Round Table for the first time. Wace was born in Jersey and wrote a number of other works.

Wirnt von Grafenberg
(Thirteenth century) The German, or possibly Bavarian, author of Wigalois, a romance about Gawain's son.

Wolfram von Eschenbach
(fl. 1200) A German poet who was the author of Parsifal, a work dealing with the Grail Quest. Wolfram claims a writer named Kyot as his source, but Kyot's existence has been seriously questioned. Wolfram is also remembered as the author of a number of other works.