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