[by William Leonard]
There have been may works dedicated to an era of European history known as the Dark Ages and the Middle Ages. It was in this time period that there arose a legend of a knight who pulled an enchanted sword from a stone, and quested across the land of Britain to restore law, order, and peace, and sought the Holy Grail, the cup which was used at the Last Supper and caught the blood of Christ at the Crucifixion. This legend has grown over time to include the journeys of many knights who joined the first, who was hailed as king by Divine Providence. The common world would know these as the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
While the tales are fantastical, they ring with truth-but how much truth? This is the line of thought for the scholarly journal, Arthuriana. It strives to peel back the shrouds of mystery and unveil the actual facts behind the myths of King Arthur and his knights. What are all the geographical locations of the settings and places mentioned in the tales? What was Arthur’s genuine nationality of birth-English which would have been the Picts and Woads of the northern regions, or Roman at the time of the collapse of the Empire, the construction of Hadrian’s Wall, and the subsequent withdrawal of that Empire, or was he some other nationality? Was Arthur even real, or was he a fictional character created by the needs of the people over the years-or was he truly a collection of works, prescribed to a single man whether fictional or genuine?
Without going into too much detail, one example of this would be the character of Merlin, the wizard with an owl named Archimedes (an obvious reference to the Greek who ran through the streets stark naked shouting Eureka to many a startled passerby when he discovered irrefutable scientific proof of the concept of pressure in the bathtub), and the effect of Merlin as an advisor.
In particular, refer to the article titled “Ruled by merlin: Mirrors for Princes, Counseling Patterns, and Malory’s ‘Tale of King Arthur.’” This article, written by Louis J. Boyle, focuses on Malory’s emphasis on Merlin as an infallible advisor, and that his actions show the contradictory nature of counseling patterns for monarchs and nobles advocated the advice texts of the speculum pricipis tradition. In layman terms, words, it shows that the way Merlin gives advice, while infallible for the sake of story, is in fact a paradox when compared to how a king should have gotten advice—from a council of advisors, which is how the Romans did things and subsequently wrote them down in some dusty tome in Latin consulted by rulers.
In specific detail, on page 53 of the article, it states that fifteenth-century readers were sometimes reading Malory’s text almost literally alongside advice texts (such as the speculum principis); it later states that by logical progression that contemporary audiences of Malory may have been assessing Arthur’s actions regarding counseling patterns in light of what the advice books actually said about how a king should handle counseling situations. Thus, these audiences and those who subsequently read these works, can deduce the contradictions between the infallible Merlin, and the actual practicality of the laws of council as the Romans conceived.
In conclusion, there are many articles, and they all have focus in such field—specific, detailed manners of scholastic examination of the Arthur Legend. It is advised to read these if in fact one should wish to understand the legend better.
English Research Sources 