Fairy
We find that at Arthur's birth (according to Layamon, who here differs from Wace), three ladies appeared and prophesied his future greatness. This incident is also found in the first continuation to the Perceval, where the prediction is due to a lady met with beside a forest spring, clearly here a water fairy. In the late romance of La Bastille de Loquifer Avalon has become a purely fairy kingdom, where Arthur rules in conjunction with Morgain. In Huon de Bordeaux he is Oberon's heir and successor, while in the romance of Brun de la Montagne, preserved in a unique MS. of the Bibliotheque Nationale, we have the curious statement that all fairy-haunted places, wherever found, belong to Arthur: " Et touz ces lieux fags Sont Artus de Bretagne." This brief summary of the leading features of the Arthurian tradition will indicate with what confused and complex material we are here dealing. (See also Arthurian Legend, Grail, Merlin, Round Table; and Celt: Celtic literature.) Texts. Historic : - Nennius, Historia Britonum; H. Zimmer, Nennius Vindicatus (Berlin, 1893), an examination into the credibility of Nennius; Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Britonum (translations of both histories are in Bohn's Library); Wace, the Brut (ed. by Leroux de Lincey); Layamon (ed. by Sir Fred. Madden).
Romantic
Merlin - alike in the Ordinary, or Vulgate (ed. Sommer), the Suite or " Huth " Merlin, the 13th century Merlin (ed. by G. Paris and J. Ulrich), and the unpublished and unique version of Bibl. nat. fonds francais, 337 (cf. Freymond's analysis in Zeitschrift fiir franz. Sprache, xxii.) - devotes considerable space to the elaboration of the material supplied by the chronicles, the beginning of Arthur's reign, his marriage and wars with the Saxons. The imitation of the Charlemagne romances is here evident; the Saxons bear names of Saracen origin, and camels and elephants appear on the scene. The Morte Arthur, or Mort au roi Artus, a metrical romance, of which a unique English version exists in the Thornton collection (ed. for Early English Text Society), gives an expanded account of the passing of Arthur; in the French prose form it is now always found incorporated with the Lancelot, of which it forms the concluding section. The remains of the Welsh tradition are to be found in the Mabinogion (cf. Nutt's edition, where the stories are correctly classified), and in the Triads. Professor Rhys' Studies in the Arthurian Legend are largely based on Welsh material, and may be consulted for details, though the conclusions drawn are not in harmony with recent research. These are the only texts in which Arthur is the central figure; in the great bulk of the romances his is but a subordinate role. (J. L. W.)
