The Cambridge History of Arthurian Literature and Culture Medieval Arthurian Literatures and Cultures
Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Arthurian Literature and Culture
- The Cambridge History of Arthurian Literature and Culture
- The Cambridge History of Arthurian Literature and Culture
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I The Early Arthur
- Part II Arthurian Literary Developments
- 5 Chrétien de Troyes
- 6 Arthur in Latin, Anglo-Norman and English Chronicles Prior to 1500
- 7 French Arthurian Verse Romance after Chrétien de Troyes
- 8 The Old French Vulgate and Post-Vulgate Cycles
- 9 Non-Cyclical French Arthurian Prose Romances
- 10 Arthurian Alliterative Poetry in English, 1250–1550
- 11 Middle English Arthurian Verse Romances
- 12 Sir Thomas Malory
- 13 Arthur in the Prose Brut Chronicle Tradition
- 14 Arthur in the Northern Lands
- 15 Arthur in the Medieval Low Countries
- 16 Arthur in Medieval Germany
- 17 Arthurian Literature in Medieval Central and Eastern Europe
- 18 Arthur in Irish, Scots, Cornish and Breton
- 19 The Iberian Arthur in the Middle Ages
- 20 Arthur in Medieval Italy
- Part III Cross-Cultural Medieval Arthur
- Part IV Imaging the Medieval Arthur
- Index
- References
13 - Arthur in the Prose Brut Chronicle Tradition
from Part II - Arthurian Literary Developments
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 January 2026
Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Arthurian Literature and Culture
- The Cambridge History of Arthurian Literature and Culture
- The Cambridge History of Arthurian Literature and Culture
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I The Early Arthur
- Part II Arthurian Literary Developments
- 5 Chrétien de Troyes
- 6 Arthur in Latin, Anglo-Norman and English Chronicles Prior to 1500
- 7 French Arthurian Verse Romance after Chrétien de Troyes
- 8 The Old French Vulgate and Post-Vulgate Cycles
- 9 Non-Cyclical French Arthurian Prose Romances
- 10 Arthurian Alliterative Poetry in English, 1250–1550
- 11 Middle English Arthurian Verse Romances
- 12 Sir Thomas Malory
- 13 Arthur in the Prose Brut Chronicle Tradition
- 14 Arthur in the Northern Lands
- 15 Arthur in the Medieval Low Countries
- 16 Arthur in Medieval Germany
- 17 Arthurian Literature in Medieval Central and Eastern Europe
- 18 Arthur in Irish, Scots, Cornish and Breton
- 19 The Iberian Arthur in the Middle Ages
- 20 Arthur in Medieval Italy
- Part III Cross-Cultural Medieval Arthur
- Part IV Imaging the Medieval Arthur
- Index
- References
Summary
The vast Prose Brut tradition, derived as it is from Galfridian pseudo-history, but with the continuations found in the Anglo-Norman, Latin and then Middle English chronicles, benefits from the integration of Arthurian pseudo-history and some elements of romance into the history of the ‘English nation’. It becomes the bestselling English history in the Middle Ages, attesting to the enormous popularity of Arthur’s reign not just among those interested in the chivalric ethos and courtly love, but in how the land was governed through the centuries. The Prose Brut was copied anonymously for the vast majority of the extant corpus across the three languages of medieval England, but even more importantly, was owned and read by a cross-section in society, enjoyed among the middle classes, and clearly produced, at least in part, commercially. It was one of the first texts printed by William Caxton and went through seventeen editions in the first few decades of the printing press in England.
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- The Cambridge History of Arthurian Literature and CultureMedieval Arthurian Literatures and Cultures, pp. 284 - 302Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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