Overview

The Historical Arthur and The Gawain Poet: Studies on Arthurian and Other Traditions delves into the origins of Arthur and reveals the author of the famous Gawain Manuscript. Its first part contains evidence for the Arthur of film and legend as a real person, a Celtic commander (not a king) who fought battles in North Britain during the terrible volcanic winter of 536-7, before dying a hero's death in a conflict on Hadrian's Wall. Its second part moves on to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, an Arthurian poem on magic, near-death, and near-seduction. Its author has always been unknown, but Dr. Breeze uses arguments of the US scholar Ann W. Astell to date the text to 1387 and name the poet as Sir John Stanley (d. 1414), a Cheshire and Lancashire grandee. He can now be recognized as an artist of genius, comparable to Chaucer himself. What is said in this book on John Stanley and his circle thus allows the greatest advance in Arthurian Studies since 1934, when Walter Oakeshott discovered the Winchester Malory amongst manuscripts of an English school library.

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9781666929546

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These well-argued essays address some of the most contentious questions in mediaeval literary history, including the historicity of King Arthur and the authorship of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Problems like these demand a combination of historical, literary, and linguistic abilities rarely found together in this age of specialization. Fortunately Andrew Breeze has those abilities, and is widely read and unfailingly lucid too. Anyone who wants from now on to dissent from the views he expresses here is going to have to be able to show why. -- Peter Field, Bangor University Based upon his broad scholarship and his command of languages and history, Professor Breeze convincingly affirms the historicity of Arthur and presents a compelling argument identifying Sir John Stanley as the most likely candidate to be the Gawain poet. This book, written with Professor Breeze's characteristic verve and engaging wit, is fundamental reading for anyone interested in the date and place of composition of the four major works attributed to the Gawain poet. -- Prof. Jerome Mandel, Professor Emeritus, Tel Aviv University

Author Information

Andrew Breeze is professor of philology at the University of Navarra.

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