The Cambridge Manuals of Science and Literature KING ARTHUR IN HISTORY AND LEGEND CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS London: FETTER LANE, E.C. C. F. CLAY, MANAGER [Illustration] Edinburgh: 100 PRINCES STREET Berlin: A. ASHER AND CO. Leipzig: F. A. BROCKHAUS New York: G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS Bombay and Calcutta: MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. _All rights reserved_ KING ARTHUR IN HISTORY AND LEGEND BY W. LEWIS JONES, M.A. Professor of the English Language and Literature, University College of North Wales, Bangor Cambridge: at the University Press 1914 _First Edition_, 1911 _Second Edition_, 1914 _With the exception of the coat of arms at the foot, the design on the title page is a reproduction of one used by the earliest known Cambridge printer, John Siberch, 1521_ PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION This little book is an attempt to trace, in as clear and summary a form as possible, the origin and growth of King Arthur’s historical and literary renown, and follows, largely, the lines of a chapter contributed by me to the first volume of _The Cambridge History of English Literature_. Although I have had, necessarily, to refer to much literary matter which is purely mythological, I have not sought to give any account of the speculations of those who in our own time have endeavoured to reconstruct and interpret the myths and beliefs of pre-historic Celtic heathendom. Nor have I made more than the briefest allusion to the subsidiary legends which, mainly through the agency of French romantic scribes, came to be associated with Arthur’s name, and to be included in “the matter of Britain” as it emerged out of the age of high romance. The book deals, all but exclusively, with King Arthur himself, as he is known to chroniclers, romancers and poets. My obligations to particular writers will be found recorded in the paginal notes. I must, however, express here my special indebtedness to the writings of Sir John Rhys and the late Mr Alfred Nutt. To Mr Nutt, in particular, whose tragic and untimely death last year was a grievous loss to Celtic scholarship, I owe much private help and suggestion. In one or two chapters of the book--the second and the third, more especially--I have reproduced, almost _verbatim_, a few short passages from articles of mine which have appeared in _The Quarterly Review_, and in the Transactions of the London Cymmrodorion Society. W. LEWIS JONES. BANGOR, _July 1911_. PREFATORY NOTE TO SECOND EDITION In this edition a few slight changes and corrections have been made in the text. The “Additional Notes” at the end of the book (pp. 138-140) supply a few omissions apparent in the first edition, some of which were pointed out to the author by his reviewers. W. L. J. _July 1914._ CONTENTS PAGE