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Shades of Camlann

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(Source: Alliterative Morte Arthur)

Seriously, this is such a supervillain quote by Arthur.

Though... I wonder what he means by "going over the Great Sea to avenge the 'Knight' who was murdered on the Cross"?

If he means going over to the Holy Land, I wouldn't want to imagine what constitutes as "avenging Christ", given what Arthur does here in Alliterative...

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In just under the wire but apparently it’s Make a Terrible Comic Day!

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just found out in medieval france, having a lion on your coat of arms was so prevalent that there was literally a colloquial proverb to clown on knights for being basic and not having a real coat of arms. the hate game was so strong back then. imagine medieval hate anons

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The Dialogue of Arthur and the Eagle, also known as The Dialogue of Arthur and Eliwlod, is probably my favorite Welsh text for its implications wrt Arthur's character.

While it's more or less an ecclesiastical text that casts Arthur into the archetypal role of a pagan king asking questions of the clergy (think Guthrum in The Last Kingdom), I feel like it also adds some nuance to his character if we were to take it into consideration regarding the whole of his character within the Welsh corpus. Especially when in other works he's highly irreverent towards gods and higher authorities - that in and of itself a marked departure from Geoffrey of Monmouth's Arthur, who carries the image of the Virgin Mary on his shield.

It's a bit of an outlier for several reasons, but you can see the bridge being built between pre- and post-Galfridian Arthur.

In The Dialogue of Arthur and the Eagle, Arthur spots an eagle atop an oak in Cornwall: an already odd sight but for the fact that the eagle talks, later revealing itself to be his deceased nephew Eliwlod. When Arthur hears of this, he immediately asks if the "battle-slaughter" was good to Eliwlod, reflecting his values:

You can see the gears turn in his head turn as Eliwlod instructs him on how to give up his old pursuits of self-glory and pursue a Christian way of life instead. His paganness or his secularness, for lack of a better term, isn't completely scrubbed out here; it's evident in such passages as

It's fascinating to see this push-and-pull, back-and-forth kind of dynamic. Arthur is like "ehh I'm kinda pressing X to doubt God's mightiness because I'm pretty mighty myself" in one stanza, only to turn around and ask what God will do with his retinue in the next. It implies concern for his men, as well as a certain degree of open-mindedness that he might not otherwise show. Because tbh I am rather inclined to believe his open-mindedness here may be in part because the eagle introduced itself as a relation.

However, considering how often modern Arthurian novels pit paganism and Christianity against each other, it's refreshing to see, well. A dialogue, rather than a one-sided tract. Arthur patiently hears the eagle's answers and forms logical questions based on the responses he is given.

The intelligence behind the questions Arthur poses and the eloquence of his verse further cement his status as a bard. Listed in the Triads as one of the "Three Frivolous Bards of the Island of Britain," he is occasionally seen composing englyns; once to insult Cai in Culhwch and Olwen:

And from thence they both went to Gelli Wic, in Cornwall, and took the leash made of Dillus Varvawc's beard with them, and they gave it into Arthur's hand. Then Arthur composed this Englyn-- Kai made a leash Of Dillus son of Eurei's beard. Were he alive, thy death he'd be. And thereupon Kai was wroth, so that the warriors of the Island could scarcely make peace between Kai and Arthur. And thenceforth, neither in Arthur's troubles, nor for the slaying of his men, would Kai come forward to his aid for ever after.

...and again to praise his three favorite "battle-horsemen" in Welsh Triad 18 (translated by Rachel Bromwich):

TRIAD 18 WR. Three Favourites of Arthur's Court, and Three Battle-Horsemen: they would never endure a PENTEULU over them. And Arthur sang an ENGLYN: These are my Three Battle-Horsemen: and Lludd of the Breastplate, and the Pillar of the Cymry, Caradawg.

It's nice to see his ability to spit bars being given its proper due again, especially when he's usually praised for his physical feats and fame, which the eagle also does.

The fact that Arthur praises the eagle for its speech in turn ties into my pet theory that Arthur is exceedingly generous towards family but can be hella rude to everybody else lol.

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My maternal Grandmother has sadly passed away. God be with her.

Wont be posting today and tomorrow.

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(Source: Thirteen Treasures of Britain, found on Wikipedia.org)

(Source: Vita Merlini, by Geoffrey of Monmouth)

Hmm...

A Brythonic King who, alongside his fellow kings, was known for opposing the Saxon encroachment and winning major battles.

He owned a magic sword which can only be wielded by the worthy and had a wife whose name began with the word "Gwen" who was implied to have been adulterous.

He also happened to be associated with a prophet named "Merlin" (albeit through the aforementioned wife).

Merlin probably had serious case of Deja Vu.

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We love miracle infrastructure

Extremely delighted that the author of the first Perceval continuation has the exact same concerns I have always had about the perpetually bleeding lance ie "where does all the blood go though"

Gawain, left there all alone, covered his face with his mantle, deeply troubled and disturbed by the wonder he'd beheld. He didn't know what to do with himself, or what would become of him. But despite his fear he summoned up his strength and courage and uncovered his eyes. Up and down the hall he looked, but he couldn't see a soul: he was alone with the bier — and a lance, standing upright in a silver vase. And this lance was bleeding, the red blood streaming all around the shaft and dripping into the vessel. From there it ran into a golden pipe, and on into another pipe of glittering green emerald that took it from the hall — though Gawain knew nothing of this; he had no idea what became of it.

— The First Perceval Continuation, trans Nigel Bryant

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fox crested knight riding a cat (allegory of gluttony)

Etymachia, Germany 1420

London, Wellcome Library, MS.49, fol. 53v

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Just imagining a peaceful scene:

Morgause having a picnic with all her daughters and daughters-in-law and just... chatting. Gossiping and what not.

All the juicy deets on the Orkney bros and the elder Morgause' expressing her life experiences to Ragnelle, Guinevak, Lynette, Lyonesse and Laurel...

(Okay maaaybe a little bit of mischief and shenanigans, but still)

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The eternal struggle between "I want to explore these characters in a new light" and "I want to remain as true to the original spirit of these characters as possible".

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Culhwch.info has been down yet again so if you want to read Culhwch and Olwen or just want to dip your toes in welsh arthuriana, I strongly suggest reading it from here, it includes annotations and explanations for everything so if you're new to arthuriana in general, this website is great to check out.

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The Fell-minded Fay-woman

(From the Uncompleted Fall of Arthur, by the one and only J. R. R. Tolkien)(LINK)

[....]

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*(This is Lancelot mulling about his affair with Guinevere)

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*(Above: The outlines for the conclusion of Lancelot and Guinevere's story, as reported by Chirstopher Tolkien)

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Knight on thy lap

Tip jar

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(Source: Vita Merlini, by Geoffrey of Monmouth)

I wonder what his tax policy was...

Anyway, Merlin as a ruler, on top of being a prophet (at least before he went crazy). Ignoring some historical weirdness for the sake of fun, it could make for an amusing story of Merlin running his own petty kingdom separate from all the shenanigans at Camelot.

EDIT: Oh, and we also can't forget Merlin being a married man. It's kinda sad how Merlin ended it ngl:

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I all of sudden got curious to know how many people Gawain gets involved in the Arthurian legends and...

He's not losing his time. I think he has the biggest list of all the characters.