Arthur King of Britain History Chronicle

by Richard L. Brengle

Arthur King of History, Romance, Chronicle & Criticism by Brengle, Richard L., ed.. 8vo.

Genres: Arthurian, History, Criticism

440 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

Reviews

[Michael McGrath · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are looking for an Arthurian anthology of key medieval texts, something that would give you a feel for the breadth of that legend, I’m afraid to say that I still have not found it. This volume by Prentice-Hall narrows the selections to focus on the figure of Arthur himself. Had Brengle kept his focus a bit tighter, I may have rated this higher, but the selections do leave something to be desired. If you are going to have stories from the Mabinogion, which focus on other Arthurian characters besides Arthur, then let’s have Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which is arguably one of the best Arthurian romances ever set to pen (or quill).

Still, I do see the merits of this volume. I was delighted by Brengle’s first selections from history and pseudo-history. He does cut an impressive swath from Gildas, Nennius, and even an interesting piece by Giraldus Cambrensis concerning Arthur’s tomb. I have often heard this alluded to in other Arthurian works, but it was wonderful to read the source itself. This is one of the merits of this anthology in that Brengle presents the sources and stays out of the way, adding a reader friendly mini-anthology of critical essays by scholars in the third section of the volume. These essays seemed more aimed at summarizing Arthurian traditions and pointing to sources and differences, the most interesting being the differences to be discovered in reading Geoffrey of Monmouth, Wace and Layamon, selections of which are included in the second part of the book, albeit in somewhat dated translations. Of course, I would perhaps point my would-be scholars and students towards the Lewis Thorpe translation, reasonably priced available in e-book format (please do not get confused with the plethora of horribly formatted 99 cent editions with dated translations that often plague the ebook market).

Although, Brengle does present somewhat dated translations of Geoffrey of Monmouth, it is nice to have it pared down to the Arthurian sections alongside Wace and Layamon in the same volume the accompanying concise essays at the end of the book. While Brengle also gives us selections from both the Alliterative and Stanzaic versions of the Morte, which are also of value here and serve to help bridge the earlier selections into what would find it’s enduring form in Malory. It is precisely the rather thick Malory selection (almost a third of the book) that does offset the value for me, as I think most literature courses would have to assign this work in the Norton or Oxford abridgment. Malory is just that inescapable and towering that to have him in such a truncated form undercuts the value of this text. At the end of the book, there are study questions and topics for research, which some teachers may find helpful (I do not).

Of course, this tome was put together in 1964 and was perhaps aimed at undergraduate history majors as an overview of Arthur in pseudo-history and romance. Other anthologies such as The Romance of Arthur (which I have yet to tackle) or Richard Barber’s Arthurian Legends (which goes beyond medieval sources) could not supplant this textbook, as the aims of each are different. Somehow, I fear, a comprehensive Arthurian anthology remains ever elusive and teachers will experience a bit of frustration of cutting their own swath through Arthurian texts currently in print, while neglecting materials such as the earlier selections in Brengle and collected essays which are best served in an anthology format.

[Adelaide Mcginnity · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an academic book that I cannot really recommend for the lay reader. While it is interesting, in some regard, to see the progression of the Arthurian legend from the earliest annals to the tropes of the later romances, when read sequentially, the various variations on the same themes become gradually less and less like a Rashomon and more like the repetitive chorus of a pop song.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

We are watching Dorsey Armstrong's lecture series on Great Courses, so I had to get this out to review. Lots of good articles in here and the excerpts a well selected. I don't get the footnotes. My edition marks the numbers but there are no notes to be found. Maybe there was a second volume to this? Something else to research.

[Sarah Stevens · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided to read this book in an attempt to understand how much of the Arthurian tales are historical, how much is extrapolated, and how much is simply modern day recastings. It was a good primer for the different literature sources of Arthurian legend, and the essays at the end were somewhat useful in giving me a glimpse of the debate and difficulty in ascertaining exactly what is truth and what is romanticized fiction.

I only give this text three stars because it is not really a good general read. It is very much a textbook/classroom aid and not designed to be a standalone type of book. So it's good for someone who has an academic interest, but not for any other audience.

[Thom Dunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

First Part titled "History and Pseudo-History includes pertinent sections from Gildas, Bede, Nennius, Annales Cambriae, Wm. of Malmesbury, Giraldus Cambrensis and Ralph Higdon. Part II, Chronicle and Romance has chapters from Mabinogion to Malory---all followed by 100 pages of critical essays and apparatus.