Tea at Trianon: Literature and the Arthurian Legends

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, February 6, 2023

Literature and the Arthurian Legends

From The Collector:

Literature is the main form of expression of Arthurian lore. The first mentions of Arthur appear in early poems, such as the Y Goddodin and early chronicles. After, he appeared mostly in fiction, stepping from history into myth. Due to this evolution, we can speak of two versions of the legendary king. The first one is a warrior king of the post-roman period, in the early 5th century CE. The second Arthur is the classical hero of the medieval period, an entity that encompasses medieval values and the image of a medieval king.

The first appearance of the Celtic warlord Arthur, a “dux bellorum” is in the Historia Brittonnum, written in the 9th century by Nennius. He based his text on earlier Latin authors, such as Gildas and Bede. Here, Arthur wins twelve battles against the Saxons with the help of other local warlords. Gildas, while not mentioning Arthur directly, describes the Battle of Badon, fought by the Britons against the Saxons. Comparable to Waterloo or Trafalgar, the Battle of Badon is significant because it paused the Saxon invasion for almost a generation. Other texts link Arthur to this battle, such as the Welsh Annals. The entry for the year 516 CE mentions Arthur’s involvement. (Read more.)