The succeeding centuries, great as they were in English writers of
genius, paid little attention to Arthur. Milton and Dryden made little
use of the legends. Stories of ancient chivalry lost their vogue, novels
were becoming popular and the poets chose themes closer to their own
times and point of view. Not until the nineteenth century did Arthur
come into his own again. Then the Victorian poets turned to him for
inspiration. William Morris wrote _The Defence of Guenevere_, and a host
of lesser poets tried their hands on similar themes. Swinburne told the
story of _Tristram of Lyonesse_ and the _Tale of Balen_, and James
Russell Lowell composed his beautiful poem _The Vision of Sir Launfal_.
Matthew Arnold wrote _Tristram and Iseult_. In 1850 Richard Wagner, the
great German composer, produced his opera _Lohengrin_, and followed it
with _Tristan und Isolde_ and _Parsifal_. These tell the old stories in
somewhat new form, and follow the early French romances rather than
Malory.

But the true descendant of Chrétien de Troies and Malory was Alfred
Tennyson. The great work of this poet’s life was his _Idylls of the
King_, one of the finest achievements of English literature. He owed his
inspiration chiefly to Malory. “The vision of Arthur as I have drawn
him,” Tennyson said to his son, “had come upon me when, little more than
a boy, I first lighted upon Malory.” He covered almost the entire field
of the legends. The _Idylls of the King_ are _The Coming of Arthur_,
_Geraint and Enid_, _Merlin and Vivien_, _Lancelot and Elaine_, _The
Holy Grail_, _Pelleas and Ettarre_, _Balin and Balan_, _The Last
Tournament_, _Guinevere_, and _The Passing of Arthur_.

Tennyson gives to the stories far more allegory, far more philosophy
than the early poets gave them. His age was interested in philosophy and
so, as was the case with each of the earlier poets, Tennyson handled the
legends after the fashion of his own times. In his pages we see the
characters as actual men and women, subtly drawn, concerned with right
and wrong far more than with mere knightly adventures. Arthur and
Lancelot and Guinevere hold the center of the stage, and it is the fate
of these three that provides the great moving motive of the poems.

To Tennyson we owe the most nearly perfect version of the story that
dates back to a dim and legendary England. What verse more beautiful
than his to tell of chivalry?

“Then, in the boyhood of the year,
Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere
Rode thro’ the coverts of the deer,
With blissful treble ringing clear.
She seem’d a part of joyous Spring:
A gown of grass-green silk she wore,
Buckled with golden clasps before;
A light-green tuft of plumes she bore
Closed in a golden ring.”

In beauty and dignity and human interest Tennyson gives us the great
world of Arthurian legend in its most perfect form.

Malory’s _Morte Darthur_ was not Tennyson’s only source for the stories
of his Idylls. The adventures of Geraint he took from the _Mabinogion_,
a collection of mediæval Welsh tales translated with great charm and
accuracy by Lady Charlotte Guest, and published in 1838. Also, though to
a very limited extent, he drew some of his incidents from the history of
Geoffrey of Monmouth and the other early writers of chronicles.

The great panorama of stories that we group together under the title of
_King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table_, when they are told in
prose, are usually taken from Malory’s book, the _Morte Darthur_,
condensed in size, for Malory was frequently verbose, and related in
more modern English. In this volume we have used as a basis the version
prepared by Sir James Knowles, which is an abridgment of Malory’s work
as it was printed by Caxton, with a few additions from Geoffrey of
Monmouth and other sources. To this we have added the story of Sir
Gawain and the Maid with the Narrow Sleeves, which comes originally from
the poem of _Perceval_ by Chrétien de Troies.

The stories seem naturally to group themselves into four divisions, The
Coming of Arthur and the Founding of the Round Table, The Adventures of
the Champions of the Round Table, Sir Galahad and the Quest of the Holy
Grail, and The Passing of Arthur. Into these come all the great
characters of the legends and all the surpassing adventures of the king
and his knights.

The story of how a half-barbarous British Chieftain became the greatest
king of mediæval chivalry is a romance in itself. To him poets and
chroniclers of all lands added one valorous knight after another, one
amazing adventure on top of another, until the result was the greatest
collection of legends that have gathered about any king in history. The
story of the origin and growth of these world-famous legends is told in
a most delightful book, _The Arthur of the English Poets_, by Howard
Maynadier, and those who wish to get the historical background of King
Arthur should turn to its pages.

Those who love brave and knightly deeds, those who love the gorgeous
trappings of mediæval romance, come to the story of Arthur and his Round
Table, of Lancelot and Perceval and Galahad and Gawain, of Guinevere and
Elaine, and of the Quest for the Holy Grail, and there shall be found
the glories that you seek. The king and his knights ride out from
Camelot. Here shall you join them on their great adventures!

RUPERT S. HOLLAND.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

THE COMING OF ARTHUR AND THE FOUNDING OF THE ROUND TABLE

I MERLIN FORETELLS THE BIRTH OF ARTHUR

II THE CROWNING OF ARTHUR AND THE SWORD EXCALIBUR

III ARTHUR DRIVES THE SAXONS FROM HIS REALM

IV THE KING’S MANY AND GREAT ADVENTURES

V SIR BALIN FIGHTS WITH HIS BROTHER, SIR BALAN

VI THE MARRIAGE OF ARTHUR AND GUINEVERE AND THE FOUNDING OF THE ROUND
TABLE

VII THE ADVENTURE OF ARTHUR AND SIR ACCOLON OF GAUL

VIII ARTHUR IS CROWNED EMPEROR AT ROME