Irish Mythology in the Arthurian Legend

5.2 King Arthur in History and Legend

Although the Arthurian legend has survived to our times and is widely popular among readers and scholars not only in the English speaking parts of the world but in other countries as well, the origin and historicity of its main hero, the legendary King Arthur, are still questioned and covered to a certain extent with mystery. Was he a real historical figure living in the fifth and sixth centuries in Britain, at his castle Camelot and fighting the Picts and Scots? Or is he only a legendary literary figure created for the nationalistic purpose so that Great Britain could have its own national hero? These questions have occupied the minds of numerous historians for many decades and yet they have not agreed on the fact whether there was a real historical Arthur or not. As Lewis Jones remarks: “Neither date nor place of birth can be assigned to him any more than a place of burial, while undiscovered yet is the seat of that court where knights, only less famous than himself, sought his benison and behest” (2).

The historical records are scarce, often incomplete, inaccurate and obscure. There is no single source of historical evidence saying that such a person as King Arthur definitely existed or not. Lewis Jones in his introductory chapter says that “Arthur remains but a shadowy apparition, clothed in the mists of legend and stalking athwart the path of history” (2). Our only sources of information about the legendary King Arthur are fragments found in different historical and literary sources which may help us create our own picture of the whole issue.

As has already been said in the previous sub-chapter, King Arthur or simply a person called Arthur is first mentioned in Historia Brittonum, an early historical account of the history of Britons and the work of a ninth-century Welsh historian Nennius, who gives an account of twelve battles in which Arthur fought against the Saxons. Arthur is mentioned here not as a king but as a dux belorum which could be translated as a war or military leader. Of all battles mentioned here, the most famous is the twelfth battle on Mount Badon which was allegedly very successful for Arthur. As Norris Lacy and Geoffrey Ashe say: “By Nennius’s time, it has become a battle of Arthur’s, his crowning triumph. But the Arthur who triumphs is incredible, slaying nine hundred and sixty men single-handed” (Lacy 15). Although Arthur could really fight in this battle the number of the killed enemies seems to be very unrealistic. Moreover, Lewis Jones in his book King Arthur in History and Legend points out that it is difficult if not entirely impossible to locate the exact places of the twelve battles described by Nennius: “An even more difficult problem than the determination of Arthur’s rank is the identification of the twelve battlefields mentioned in Nennius’s record” (19). It is therefore difficult to say whether Nennius’s history can be taken seriously or to what degree it can be relied upon. On the other hand, according to Lewis Jones, it is “the fullest notice of Arthur’s military exploits to be found in any chronicle before that of Geoffrey of Monmouth” (14).

The earlier historians and chroniclers such as Gildas, a monk living in the sixth century, or Bede, an Anglo-Saxon historian living in the eight century and the author of the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, do not mention anyone named Arthur in their works at all. Moreover, the Anglo-Saxon chronicle does not mention him either. Gildas, however, speaks at least of Mount Badon but thanks to his reluctance to mention any names, the participation of King Arthur in the battle of Mount Badon cannot be confirmed: “Gildas’s testimony is sufficient warrant that some time during the first decade of the sixth century a battle was fought against the Saxons at a place called Badon Hill, in which Brittons were the victors” (Jones 1914, 22) However, Gildas “makes no reference whatever to Arthur’s achievements in this, or any other, encounter with the Saxons” (ibid.). The battle at Badon as well as Arthur’s name are also mentioned in the Annales Cambriae, Welsh chronicles of about the tenth century. And according to Norris Lacy the mention of Arthur in the Annales can be taken as credible: “Since everybody else mentioned in the Annales Cambriae seems to have been real, the mention of Arthur and Medraut [his enemy] suggests that they were, too” (17). Another author who gives us a fuller account of Arthur’s life and deeds in his twelfth-century work Historia Regum Brittaniae (Histories of the Kings of Britain) is Geoffrey of Monmouth whose work was dealt with in greater detail in the previous section of this work.

As far as the historical point of view is concerned the scholars are divided between those who support the idea of a real Arthur and those who completely reject it. Even the archaeological evidence is not very helpful in this case for in this field of historical research names are mentioned only rarely so the only way to find out some evidence of Arthur’s life is to look at the archaeological findings in his assumed birthplace in Tintagel in south-west England or at his alleged tomb in Glastonbury abbey. Although we do not know whether Arthur was really born in Tintagel, the archaeological excavations in that place showed that it used to be occupied by a sizeable group of people (Lacy 47-8). The case of Glastonbury is interesting as well, for the supposed tomb of Arthur and his wife Guinevere was found there in the twelfth century during the reconstruction of the abbey. It is, however, more difficult to prove it historically for until the twelfth century none of the early historians or chroniclers ever mentions the place. It can be only assumed that the human remains found there could belong to Arthur and Guinevere but they as well did not have to, this still remains to be found out in a possible further research.

Historical records locate the Arthurian period in the fifth and the sixth centuries AD, the time of the Saxon invasion to Great Britain that was settled by the Britons at that time. According to Keneth Jackson “the anti-Saxon effort was led for a time by someone called Artorius who made a strong impression, a ‘commander of genius’ probably based in the southwest, within striking distance of the major Saxon settlements” (quoted in Lacy 31). There are, however, some scholars who speak of Arthur as a northern war-leader and still others disclaim his connection with any real historical figure altogether. However, as Lewis Jones suggests “It will not do […] to dismiss summarily all Arthurian traditions as so many old wives’ tales. They are too widespread and persistent not to have some basis of solid fact underlying them” (5).

In fact, in British history do appear several figures that could have possibly been either the historical Arthur or could at least serve as models for the Arthurian legends. After Britain broke away from the Roman Empire, at the beginning of the fifth century, its inhabitants, the Britons, had to face the invasion of foreign tribes of Angles, Saxons and Jutes, collectively called the Saxons, coming from the Germanic lands. Britain was governed at that time by a high king known as Vortigern. He invited more Saxons to his land because he believed that they would help him fight the Picts who, however, later united with the Saxons and raided the lands of the Britons instead of helping them fight their enemies. After the death of Vortigern, Britons were looking for new leaders that would fight the Saxons and during that time Ambrosius Aurelianus came to the British Isles. He was a skillful war-leader fighting the Saxon invasion and allegedly, according to Gildas, taking part in the battle at Mount Badon as well. He was probably in the service of king Rhiotamus and could be one of the possible candidates for the model for the Arthurian legend. Rhiotamus was probably a king of Britons, a successor to Vortigern: “They call him not only the ‘King of the Britons’ but Rhiotamus. This latinizes a British form Rigotamos, which would have meant ‘supreme king’ or ‘supremely royal’ (Lacy 8). He as well could serve as a model for the figure of Arthur.

There is also another person who could serve as a model for Arthur and that is Lucius Artorius Castus who was a Roman army commander in the second century AD. Although there is a time gap between his activity and the Arthurian age, he could have been remembered by the people and serve as a model for another commander who came after him and who could be nicknamed “second Artorius” (Lacy 35).

The historical records thus do not help us much in finding out the real identity of the legendary King Arthur. His origin and life will thus probably remain a mystery forever. This, on the other hand helps to foster the interest in the Arthurian legend and the whole Arthurian topic as such and it might bring new and interesting findings in the future.

5.3 Modern Adaptations and Interpretations of the Arthurian Legend

The popularity of King Arthur and his court and the knights of the Round Table did not end with the printing of Malory’s book in the fifteenth century. Although the interest in the topic was less intensive during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it did not die out and the legend remained popular until these days. The interest in the Arthurian legend underwent two significant revivals, one in the nineteenth century and the other in the second part of the twentieth century. Since the middle of the twentieth century there have appeared numerous literary as well as film adaptations of the Arthurian legend and Arthur has appeared in other works of art as well. It seems, however, that there is still place for new interpretations and adaptations of the Arthurian topic. Why is it so popular and has so many readers and admirers even in the modern times? Norris Lacy offers an answer that “This legend attracts us by its combination of high seriousness and good fun” (271). Moreover, it offers its readers “a clear sense of moral direction and include an evocation of a past ‘golden age’ when the world seemed to work as it was supposed to work, or at least, if it did not, Arthur had both the vision and the power to put it right” (ibid.).

The most famous adaptations of the whole legend are, among other less well-known works, probably the books by T.H. White and Marion Zimmer Bradley together with the film versions of the life of the legendary king and his knights. T.H. White inspired by the Arthurian legend wrote a fantasy novel called The Once and Future King in 1958. It is based on the original storyline of King Arthur’s life but it was written in a modern style, influenced by the horrors of the Second World War. Another modern literary adaptation appeared in 1982 when Marion Zimmer Bradley published her novel The Mists of Avalon. Influenced by postmodernism and the 1970s wave of feminism, Bradley treats the Arthurian material from a more feminist point of view than other authors. She tells the story from the perspective of the female characters, which shifts the traditionally central male characters rather to the background of the story. The work focuses more on the characters of Morgaine, Guinevere, Igraine and Vivian with the main protagonist being Morgaine, Arthur’s half-sister and powerful sorceress. Bradley not only orientates her focus on the female characters but she also, as Norris Lacy points out, “emphasizes the unsettling effect of a society poised between Druidic and Christian ideologies” (178) warning thus the readers against the fanatic belief and devotion to any religious institution especially Christianity which tends to prefer men over women, who are often seen as marginal figures alongside their male partners. Bradley’s work was turned into a film of the same name in 2001.

Many other film adaptations of the Arthurian material have been made as well, among others can be for example named John Boorman’s Excalibur shot in 1981 based closely on Malory’s interpretation of the legend or the humoristic interpretation of the Arthurian topic called Monty Python and the Holy Grail made by the directors Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam in 1975. Last but not least can be mentioned the most recent Arthurian movie called simply King Arthur that was shot by the American director Antoine Fuqua in 2004 showing its audience the Arthurian legend from quite an innovatory as well as controversial point of view.

6. Instances of Celtic Mythology in the Arthurian Legend

As has been already shown in the previous chapter the legend of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table has developed for many centuries and occupied the minds of many readers as well as many scholars till these days. It has been studied from various points of view, yet some aspects found in the legend are still the subject of scholarly debate and remain to be clarified. This work will not clear up the whole problematic of the Arthurian legend; it will only try to bring some light into the matter, especially into the issue of the traces of Celtic mythology and culture in the legends of King Arthur. More specifically, it will try to find some instances of the Celtic heritage in the medieval stories.

6.1 Christianity versus Mythology

The Arthurian legend is often thought of as a Christian story. This is however true only to a certain extent. Although the story contains many Christian symbols and the heroes behave like true Christians, it has most probably developed from pagan Celtic roots which will be shown later on several examples. Although the Arthurian legend is not a direct descendant of the Celtic parents, they are rather “remote relatives” (Loomis 1933, 418), there is a certain relationship that can be found between them. This is further supported by the research of a well-known American Arthurian scholar Roger Sherman Loomis who says: “The Grail legend is a composite of a hundred Celtic tales and motifs, often quite independent of each other, and woven into a lovely and mysterious, but quite inharmonious tapestry” (Loomis 1933, 419). It can be assumed, on the basis of this short quote, that there is some connection between the world of Celts and the world of the Arthurian legend, yet the links are often not visible at first sight and must be searched for.

Celtic mythology has been already dealt with earlier in this work; however, its main features can be repeated here. Mythology played an important part in the lives of the Celts and mirrored their harmony with and interest in the natural world, their connection with the world of the dead as well as their belief in many different gods and goddesses who often accompanied mythological heroes such as Cú Chulainn on their journey through life. Some of the features and motifs of Celtic mythology survived in the stories and traditions of the descendants of the Celtic people and thus found their way into the Arthurian legend although it was written several hundred years after the heyday of the Celtic culture on the British Isles. Its main features have been so deeply rooted in the culture of the people living in Wales and Ireland that it could not have been so easily replaced and forgotten with the arrival of Christianity. This was true especially in Ireland where “Christianity of the people was merely on the surface [and] much pagan superstition remained, even among the professing Christians, and the druids still and long after retained great influence” (Joyce 51). This was further supported by the law system as well; the law was exercised by the judges called brehons, and was based mainly on the laws of nature and Christianity could enrich it but not interfere with it (Moody 32).

People remembered and retold the old pagan stories and kept their old traditions even long after Christianity became the new dominant religion in Wales and Ireland. Christianity in early Ireland and Wales thus remained different to a certain extent from its continental counterpart. This happened due to the relative isolation of both countries from other countries which enabled the surviving pagan Celtic world influence the new coming Christian culture. For example, it was quite normal for a Celtic man to have more than one woman at the same time which was later manifested in the Arthurian legend through the relationship between Lancelot and Queen Guinevere, whose love would have been accepted and tolerated in the old pagan society but which was taken as unacceptable in the Christian world.

The main story of the legend of King Arthur was composed during the twelfth century first by Geoffrey of Monmouth who gave it the basic shape, then by Chrétien de Troyes who introduced Lancelot and above all the concept of the Holy Grail into the story and who at the same time, in the words of Jean Frappier, “allowed the paganism of a very old myth to remain but created around it an atmosphere of Christian spirituality” (Frappier in Loomis 1959, 190), and finally it was consolidated by Malory’s version of the story in the fifteenth century which is probably the most widely known among readers nowadays. Although the stories are dated back to the High and Late Middle Ages, the times of the supremacy of Christian faith in Europe, it is supposed by numerous scholars that “an ancient myth of Celtic origin forms the basis for the story” (Frappier in Loomis 1959, 177). On condition that the above quoted words are true let us try to cast a closer look at some of the examples of the presence of Celtic elements in the legends.
6.2 Celtic Elements in the Arthurian Legend

The Holy Grail

At first let us look at probably the most important and at the same time the most mysterious concept of the whole Arthurian legend, the Holy Grail. It was introduced into the Arthurian legend by Chrétien de Troyes in the twelfth century and since then it has been one of the most important motifs of the legends. Why is it so? How did it become part of the story and what is its purpose in the story, what does it symbolize there?

Today it is thought of as a cup, a Christian symbol of the Last Supper of Christ. The vessel was given by Pilate to Joseph of Arimathea who later filled the cup with Christ’s blood and took his body from the cross and put it into a grave. The character of Joseph of Arimathea was introduced into the story only later by Frenchman Robert de Boron in his romance Joseph d’Arimathie composed at the end of the twelfth century. However, the connection between the Saint Grail and the body of Christ had already been there before the emergence of Joseph of Arimathea and has its origin probably in the French text Conte del Graal (The Story of the Grail) by Chrétien de Troyes who first introduced the Holy Grail (or grail) as a vessel containing the body of Christ (cors) at the beginning of the twelfth century.

The existence of the Holy Grail as it is known today was most probably caused by a misinterpretation of the French word li cors. The old French word li cors could mean either “a body or corpse” but there was another meaning of the form li cors and that was “a horn” which could either refer to the magic drinking horn of Bran or the cauldron of Rhydderch, magic vessels from Welsh and Irish mythology that gave plenty of food and drink to anyone who asked for it or needed it (Loomis 1991, 58-62). The confusion of the two words could easily happen for the horn of plenty was not much known in France at those times but the concept of the sacred body of Christ was widespread: “The French were totally unfamiliar with the conception of a sacred drinking horn and were certain to misunderstand the word cor, nominative cors, when used in such associations” (Loomis 1933, 431).

The Grail can also be connected to one of the magic talismans that Tuatha Dé Danann brought with them when coming to Ireland. As has already been said they brought with them four talismans: “the stone of Fál which shrieked under a lawful king; the spear of Lugh which ensured victory; the sword of Nuadu from which none could escape; and the cauldron of the Daghda from which none would go unsatisfied” (Mac Cana 58). The cauldron as such was of special importance for the Celtic people for it appears at various places in their mythology. In Welsh mythology it for example appears as the cauldron of wisdom in the History of Taliesin in which Taliesin, called by his original name Gwion Bach, has to stir a magical drink of wisdom made by the witch called Ceridwen who made it for her ugly and dull son. However, after Gwion puts his finger with three drops of the beverage into his mouth, he becomes wise and has to run away in order to escape the angry witch. During his flight he transforms himself into different animals and finally becomes a grain. When the witch, in the shape of a hen, eats him she gets pregnant and gives birth to a child whom she throws into water. It is a boy and he is saved by a fisherman and when he grows up becomes a famous bard called Taliesin. (Guest, vol. III 117-143). The cauldron appears in Welsh mythology as well, as the cauldron of Bendigeidfran (or Bran) which has the ability to return life to men killed in a fight or in a battle and which was already described in the chapter dealing with Welsh mythology.

The cauldron, either as a symbol of plenty or wisdom, thus seems to play an important role in the world of the Celts, for it was a special object which satisfies many but cannot be owned by everyone. Similarly to the magic cauldron of Dagda, the Irish god of Tuatha Dé Danann, “the Grail cannot be bought nor acquired by means of power. It can be found only by him, who has been chosen by heaven”⁹(Clarus 233). In the Celtic tradition it gives food only to those who are worthy of it; a parallel to this can be seen in Galahad in the Arthurian legend, who is the only person who can get near the Grail for he is the only unblemished knight of the Round Table, because he is the “true servant of Christ […] [who] possesses the virginity of the white lily together with the virtue of the burning rose: qualities of the Holy Ghost” (Malory 1962, 425) and therefore is the only successful knight in the quest for the Holy Grail.

The quest for the Holy Grail can be seen not only from the Christian point of view as a crusade aimed at getting the holy vessel but it can be perceived as a quest of the humankind for the restoration of peace and beauty in the world. As John Mathews argues: “The quest of Arthur’s knights is very much our own quest for the wholeness” (56). It has its roots in Celtic society, for as has already been mentioned in chapter three, the Celts believed in the unity of king and land and when a king was wounded this unity was disturbed and therefore he could not rule any longer and had to be replaced by a new king so that the prosperity of land was ensured. This can be illustrated for example on the story of Nuadu, the king of Tuatha Dé Danann who had to be replaced on the throne by Bres after he lost one of his arms in a battle. When he finally obtained a new hand made of silver he could return to the throne and replace Bres who was a weak and mean ruler (MacKillop 171-172). The health and well-being of the king was for the Celtic people a symbol of the prosperity of the whole land. The parallel with the maimed king clearly offers itself here for the knights of the Round Table have to find the grail and heal the maimed king in order to restore the prosperity of their land (Matthews 54-56).

There is another character appearing in the stories of the Holy Grail that shows its connection with the land and with the Celtic mythology as well. This is the Bearer of the Grail, who is portrayed either as a beautiful girl or as a loathly damsel or an ugly hag. There is a parallel with the hideous hag representing the sovereignty of Ireland who after being kissed changes into a beautiful woman and the man who was so brave to kiss her could become the king of the land such as Niall Noígiallach, the founder of the Irish dynasty of Uí Néill (MacKillop 92). According to Irish mythology the king had to marry the sovereignty of land in order to be able to reign the country. The importance of the role of the sovereignty for the Celtic people is obvious and therefore her task could be easily transformed into the role of the Bearer of the Grail in the Arthurian romance.

Morgan le Fay

Another woman that was inspired by Celtic mythology is Arthur’s half-sister Morgan le Fay. She first appears in the text of Vita Merlini by Geoffrey of Monmouth as the ruler of the island of Avalon (also known as the Island of Apples) where she is known for her healing abilities. In the later Malory’s text she is not only Arthur’s sister but also a powerful sorceress who tries to cause harm to her brother and his kingdom throughout most of his life but who finally helps him after he is mortally wounded in the battle with Mordred and takes him with her to the island of Avalon where he is said to be living till these days and waiting for the right time to return back to Britain.

She is a powerful woman, once an enemy of her brother Arthur, once his helper. She has also many lovers but when she wants to seduce Lancelot, she is refused which only strengthens her hatred of Arthur and his court (Malory 1962, 120-121). This story has a clear parallel in the relationship between the Irish hero Cú Chulainn and the Celtic goddess of war Morrígan who tries to seduce him and when refused with the hero’s words that he does not have time for women becomes his enemy (MacKillop 112).

There is also a close analogy between Morgan and Modron, the mother of Mabon from the Welsh story of Kulhwch and Olwen, who was stolen from his mother when he was only three days old and since then nobody has seen him and it is one of Kulhwch’s tasks to find him and bring back. Modron is the daughter of Avallach, wife of Urien and mother of Mabon and Owein. Similarly, Morgan is the daughter of Avalloc and has a son Yvain with Urien (Loomis 1945, 190). Their similar family relations can imply that there is a link between these two women. This further leads to the connection with Matrona, a Celtic goddess from which the Welsh Modron was derived. Matrona was “The Divine Mother” goddess who was also the goddess of the rivers, giving for example the name to the French river Marne (Mac Cana 33).

There is also a certain possibility that Morgan could have been derived from another goddess of Celtic origin and that is Morrígan, the goddess of war who often appears as a triple goddess in the shape of Badb, Macha, or Morrígan (MacKillop 112). However, although the similarity of Morgan’s name with that of Morrígan would suggest their connection, there is little evidence for their relationship and therefore it cannot be taken into consideration here.
Avalon

The attention can be now turned to the place where Morgan le Fay lives and that is the mythical Avalon or the Island of the Apples as Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Vita Merlini calls it. This mythical island has its roots in the Celtic mythology as well. The island of Avalon where Arthur was taken after the battle of Camlan is a magical and mystical place shrouded in mist where fairies live. It probably has its counterpart in the Celtic otherworld that was often placed on an island, especially in the case of the Irish Celts (MacKillop 151). As has been already mentioned in chapter three the otherworld played an important role in the life of the Celtic people for they believed in the immortality of their souls and the otherworld was only a kind of transition place between their old life and a new one (Green 105). They imagined it as a land of eternal youth where “sickness and decay are unknown. It is a land of primeval innocence where the pleasures of love are untainted by guilt. Its women are numerous and beautiful […]. It is filled with enchanting music from bright-plumaged birds […]. And it has abundance of exquisite food and drink, and magic vessels of inexhaustible plenty” (Mac Cana 123). The Celts believed that such a land can be found either under the ground in the so called sídh, or on an unknown island far away in the sea or under the sea (MacKillop 148). The mortals could sometimes enter it, especially during Samhain when the gates of the otherworld opened and the inhabitants of both worlds could visit the world of their neighbours. The mortals had to be careful, however, for the time in the otherworld runs differently; they often spent there even several hundred years and when they returned back to the world of the mortal people, they suddenly became very old and died. This was for example the case of Oisín, one of the heroes of Irish mythology, who after meeting a beautiful girl called Niam goes with her to Tír na nÓg, the land of eternal youth and the kingdom of her father. They live there together happily for some time but when Oisín returns back to his homeland he does not obey Niam’s warning not to touch the ground and after he does so he turns into a three-hundred-year-old man and dies soon (Gregory 288-290). In Irish mythology there can be found another similar tale telling a story of Bran mac Febail and his men who set out to find the Land of Women described to them by a mysterious woman from the otherworld as a land full of joy and eternal summer. It seems that it is Emain Ablach, the Land of Apples, which is the realm of the sea-god Manannán mac Lir. They embark on a ship and after some time find the land and spend some time there. What they think is a year is in fact several years and when one of the men returns back to Ireland and steps ashore, he immediately becomes a heap of ashes as if he had already been dead for many years (MacKillop 139-141).

Avalon shares many signs with the Celtic otherworld. It is a mythical island where women live and where the wounded Arthur is taken in order to be healed. According to the legend he is not dead but living in Avalon and waiting for the right time for his return to Britain. This resembles Oisín’s or Bran’s story for they all spend some time in the land of eternal youth without getting older.

The name of the island is often connected with Emain Ablach, or the Land of Apples, the kingdom of Manannán mac Lir. As Loomis points out the Irish word ablach means ‘rich in apple trees’ and this might be the origin of the name Avalon (Loomis 1959, 66). It is also sometimes connected with the name of Avallach, the father of Modron who has been associated with Arthur’s sister Morgan. It is called the island of Avallach which in Welsh is the ynys avallach or Ynys Affalon (ibid.). The island’s connection with Avallach and his daughter Modron could further support the association between Modron and Morgan.

Moreover, the role of apples in Classical mythology as the fruit symbolizing fertility, immortality, love and eternal youth, as pointed out by A.H. Krappe in his article Avallon, could have further supported the connection between Avalon and the kingdom of the Irish god Manannán mac Lir.
King Arthur

What about the character of King Arthur himself? Did he have any Celtic roots? The historicity of Arthur has been already discussed in chapter five of this work; let us now look at the mythological roots of the main character of the Arthurian legend.

Arthur’s name appears in some of the Welsh poems originating in the sixth or seventh century but written down only during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries after Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae was written in 1136 (Jackson in Loomis 1959, 12). What is more important is the fact that his name, together with the names of some of his knights can be found in several stories of Celtic origin such as Kulhwch and Olwen, Rhonabwy’s Dream or Peredur that are part of the Welsh Mabinogion. In the story of Kulhwch and Olwen Arthur is the helper of his nephew Kulhwch who needs his aid in order to be able to fulfill the tasks Olwen’s father Ysbaddaden gave him when he proposed to Olwen. Arthur agrees and they together set out for a journey and finally, with the help of Arthur and magic, Olwen manages to do and get all the things Ysbaddaden asked for. Not only Arthur but some of his knights, namely Kay and Bedivere, here as Cei and Bedwyr, appear in the story as well. However, neither Arthur nor his men are the same as the readers know them from later stories.

Arthur’s role in Rhonabwy’s Dream and in Peredur is none too significant, he is a character that is rather in the background of the stories, yet his presence is important for it is one of the first literary mentions of Arthur on the British Isles.

The story of Peredur is significant rather for its connection to the story of the grail. It has been suggested by T.W. Rolleston that Peredur might be the model for the character of Perceval in the earliest versions of the grail legends (Rolleston 130). Peredur, similarly to Perceval is a son of a widowed mother and although his mother does not wish so, he joins the knights at Arthur’s court. After some time he comes to visit two men who turn out to be his uncles. At the house of one of them he witnesses a strange thing: two young men enter the room carrying a bleeding spear, and they are followed by two maidens carrying a plate with a severed human head. Peredur, likewise Perceval, fails to ask about the meaning of all that which causes that his lame uncle could not be healed. Later, Peredur finds out that the head belonged to his cousin and that he was killed by the spear which also wounded one of his uncles (Ellis and Lloyd 72-137). The resemblance between the two stories is probably not a mere chance, it can be assumed that the two heroes must be related in some way and that the Welsh story of Peredur was used later by Chrétien de Troyes as a source of inspiration for the grail legend.

King Arthur himself could have his counterpart in Celtic mythology as well, as suggested by Proinsias Mac Cana in his Celtic Mythology. He tries to compare Arthur with Fionn mac Cumhaill, the main hero of the Fionn Cycle, but the only similarities he shows are that both Fionn and Arthur are successful warriors followed by a group of their warriors or knights, both are wise rulers and both have visited the otherworld (Mac Cana115). However, it is not possible to claim that King Arthur has his counterpart in the Irish Fionn mac Cumhaill only on the basis of this information. It is an interesting idea yet it still needs to be further researched.

The only parallel in the stories of these two rulers that could be taken as significant is the love triangle both heroes are caught in. The love relationship between Fionn, his future wife Gráinne and her lover Diarmaid, which has already been described in chapter three of this work, could have served as a source of inspiration for the situation of King Arthur and his wife Guinevere who, although being married to Arthur, loves one of his best knights, Sir Lancelot, who no matter how loyal he tries to be to King Arthur, shares her feelings. The motif of a love triangle consisting of an aging man, his younger and good-looking rival and the woman both of them love is, as Miranda Green points out, a typical element of the old Celtic myths (26) and appears in several other stories such as Deirdre and the Sons of Uisnech (Neeson 137-180) which tells a story of Deirdre and Naoise who fall in love but have to elope together for Deirdre should become the wife of king Conchobar. They live in Scotland for some time and when they return home Naoise is killed and Deirdre has to live with Conchobar and finally kills herself as well. Another story of a love triangle can be found in Irish mythology as well. It is called The Wooing of Étaín (Gantz 37-59) and it tells a story of Étaín, Midir and his wife Fuamnach who hates Étaín and in order to get rid of her, transforms her into the shape of a purple fly but despite of that Midir and Étaín eventually find the way to each other again. James MacKillop adds that the roots of the love triangle tradition can be traced even further into history to the Roman mythology in which the love triangle between the war-god Mars, the goddess of love Venus and her lover Adonis can be found (274).
Mordred

Not only King Arthur but also his son Mordred seems to have his roots in Celtic mythology. Mordred appears already in Geofrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Brittanniae and since then he has been described as being Arthur’s illegitimate son whom he conceived unknowingly with his half-sister Morgause. Later, Arthur hears a prophecy saying that he will be destroyed by a male child born on the first of May and so he decides to get rid of all boys born on that day by putting them on a ship sailing to the sea. Mordred is however saved and later returns to his father’s court in order to get hold of Arthur’s throne as well as his wife in the king’s absence. Finally, they face each other in the fatal battle of Camlan in which both are lethally wounded, Mordred dies and Arthur is taken to Avalon by Morgan in order to be healed there.

The birth of Mordred on the first of May can be seen as a parallel to the birth of the Welsh bard Taliesin, who was already mentioned in this chapter, and who was also born on May Day. He tastes the magic beverage of the witch Ceridwen for which she wants to kill him. She then chases him in various shapes and finally eats him as a little grain in the shape of a hen. Ceridwen gets pregnant and Taliesin is reborn; but because of his beauty she is unable to kill him and sends him to the sea instead. Taliesin is saved by a fisherman who brings him up and later becomes a famous poet and bard (Guest, vol. III 117-143). Here, another parallel with Mordred’s birth-story can be seen.

As has been suggested by Amy Varin in her article Mordred, King Arthur’s Son there is another story of Welsh origin that can in a way be seen as a parallel to the story of Mordred. It is called Math, the Son of Mathonwy and it has already been dealt with in the chapter concerning Welsh mythology, let us therefore sum it up here only briefly. It tells the story of Math and his two treacherous brothers Gwydion and Gilfaethwy who rape his foot-holder Goewin in whose lap Math has to rest his feet in order to be able to reign the country. When looking for a new foot-holder Math is offered Gwydion’s sister Arianrhod who when tested for her virginity gives birth to two sons, Dylan and Lleu Llaw Gyffes. Dylan leaves for the sea immediately after his birth and Lleu is raised by Gwydion who proclaims to be his father (Guest, vol. III 80-107).

The parallel between Mordred and Lleu can be, according to Varin, seen in their incestuous origin for both were conceived by a brother and a sister, there is also a similarity between Mordred being sent to the sea and Dylan’s departure for the sea after his birth. She also suggests Mordred’s similarity with Lui Lavada (or the Irish god Lug) from the Irish Mythological Cycle who was prophesied to kill his grandfather Balor which then really happened and which could have been taken as a model for the story of Arthur and Mordred (Varin 171).

Although one cannot be wholly sure of Mordred’s origin, it can be assumed that he has at least some Celtic roots for as Roger Loomis points out: “The legend of Mordred is saturated with Celtic lore” (Loomis 1997, 341). Moreover, in several Welsh triads there appears the name of Medraut which has been claimed to be the possible model for Mordred as well (Loomis 1959, 47).

Gawain

There is another character of the Arthurian legend that is probably of Celtic origin and therefore will be discussed here. It is Sir Gawain, one of King Arthur’s best knights. He is sometimes connected with the Welsh Gwri, the son of Pwyll and Rhiannon (Loomis 1997, 331) or with Gwalchmei who appears in the Welsh story of Kulhwch and Olwen where he is regarded as Arthur’s nephew similarly to Gawain in the Arthurian legend (Lacy 320). Gawain’s Celtic origin might also be supported by his appearance in the romance of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight¹⁰, which belongs to the Arthurian cycle and where the famous beheading game is played between Gawain and the Green Knight. The Green Knight comes one day to Arthur’s court and proposes a beheading game: if one of the knights dares to behead him he will return the blow a year later. Gawain accepts and cuts off the Knight’s head who picks it up and leaves. A year later Gawain comes to the Green Chapel, the Green Knight’s abode, where he spends three days at the end of which he should be beheaded himself. Instead, the Green Knight only wounds him slightly on the neck as a symbol for Gawain’s imperfection because he secretly kept the magic sash the Green Knight’s wife gave him.

The beheading game is not a new concept appearing only in Gawain’s story. It can also be found in the Irish story called Bricriu’s Feast (Gantz 219-255) which could have served as a source of inspiration for the story described above. Gawain’s counterpart here is Cú Chulainn, the hero of Bricriu’s Feast who accepts the challenge of one of the guests at the feast held by Bricriu and beheads him agreeing that he would be beheaded the next day. The following day Cú Chulainn puts his head on the block of wood waiting for the deadly blow. He is however saved and becomes the bravest man in Ireland.

The popularity of the motif of beheading can be traced back to Celtic mythology in which the cult of the head played an important role. The head was taken as a symbol of human power and spirituality and therefore it was the most important part of the body. It was usual for warriors to behead their dead enemies and to keep their heads as a talisman and symbol of the warrior’s strength and bravery (Clarus 49). The beheading game can thus be seen as another Celtic element in the Arthurian legend.

Excalibur

The roots of Arthur’s famous sword Excalibur can be traced back to Celtic mythology as well. Arthur’s legendary weapon appears already in the Welsh story of Kulhwch and Olwen where it is called Caledfwlch which was later renamed by Geoffrey of Monmouth to Caliburn (or Caliburnus) (Parry in Loomis 1959, 84) to be later reshaped into today’s form Excalibur.

There are in fact two swords that are connected with King Arthur. One of them is the sword he gets by pulling it out of a stone, which made him the rightful king of the country and the other one is Excalibur which he gets from the Lady of the Lake and which he returns to her after being wounded at the battle of Camlan. In some versions of the legend the two swords are identical, but in most versions they are different.

As has already been said Excalibur was given to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake and then thrown back into the lake by Bedivere after Arthur was wounded in the battle with Mordred. The lake plays an important role here which has its origin in the Celtic times when lakes, streams and rivers were special places. It is well- known that the Celts were closely connected with the natural world around them and therefore they worshipped various gods and goddesses connected with the land, hills, rivers and lakes. Water was of special importance for the Celtic people for “Water was perceived as both the life-giving as well as life-taking element. It was often the central theme of many myths and cults of the Celtic people”¹¹ (Green 73). The divinities connected with water of all shapes were always goddesses: it was for example Bóand after whom the river Boyne is called, Sinann, the daughter of the god of the sea Manannán mac Lir, after whom the river Shannon is called or Sulis who was connected with the healing springs of Bath (MacKillop 38). The presence of the Lady of the Lake in the Arthurian legend could thus be explained as being derived from the Celtic tradition and as being an echo of one of the Celtic water-goddesses.

The motif of casting the sword back into the lake has its roots in Celtic culture as well. The Celts believed that rivers and lakes were the sources of vital powers and they highly respected them and worshiped them. Therefore, they often used lakes as storage places for their treasures, they also brought votive gifts such as weapons, jewelry or even chariots to them (Green 73-75). A similarity between the act of returning of Excalibur back to the Lady of the Lake and the Celtic tradition of votive gifts and worship of water can be seen here.

The origin of the other sword that was pulled by Arthur out of the stone, or rather the origin of the stone, could be found in the ancient Celtic times as well. The stone with the sword in it plays an important role in determining the future king. This can be compared with Lia Fáil or “the stone of fate”, one of the four talismans of Tuatha Dé Danann which they brought to Ireland. According to mythology this magical stone was able to shriek loudly when a person supposed to be the king was sitting on it. A certain parallel can therefore be seen between the role of the shrieking stone of Tuatha Dé Danann and the stone with the sword in the Arthurian legend.

The other talismans of Tuatha Dé Danann appeared in a way in the Arthurian legend as well. Apart from the stone of fate, Tuatha Dé Danann brought with them the magic sword of Nuadu which could not be defeated and can remotely serve as an inspiration for Excalibur as well, then they brought the cauldron of Dagda that could feed any number of people and has its parallel in the Holy Grail and finally there was Lugh’s spear which was undefeatable and could have been taken as a model for the bleeding spear in the grail castle as has already been suggested by R.S.Loomis (Loomis 1991, 79).

This chapter was aimed to find some elements of Celtic mythology and culture in the Arthurian legend and although there is still place for some uncertainties and speculations, some things remain certain. One of them is the fact that the legend of King Arthur is an interesting piece of literature because its authors were able to skillfully combine both the elements of the old Celtic world with the medieval Christian world and thinking. Another fact is that several instances and traces of Celtic mythology can be found in the legends of King Arthur. Although they are often not visible at first sight, it must be admitted that the legend was influenced by the Celtic tradition and that it borrowed several concepts from it.

The later influence of Christianity and chivalric romance was only natural development for after the arrival of the Germanic tribes of Angles, Saxons and Jutes to the British Isles the dominant Celtic culture was marginalized and gradually replaced by a new, predominantly Christian, concept of thinking which finally overshadowed it. Thanks to the monastic scribes and scholars the old myths have nevertheless remained alive and could find their way to other literary works as well as be preserved to our days.

7. Conclusion

The world today is full of technological innovations, machines and computers that should make our life easier and faster, but they make it also more stressful and remote from everyday life, other people and above all, the world of nature all around us. People start to forget what it fells like to walk on a meadow full of blooming flowers or through autumnal forest ablaze with colours and country air. We also start to forget what our ancestors believed in and what their life values were. There are, however, some people who start to feel the need to return back to their roots, to find out more about their ancestors and their world, their beliefs, customs, rituals and gods. They start to be bored with the virtual reality of today and turn back to nature and move to the countryside and try to live in harmony with nature. The growing popularity of eco-farms and various alternative communities are a proof of this development. The revival of interest in Celtic culture in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries is another example of the need of modern people to return back to their roots; people again start to celebrate winter and summer solstice as well as spring and autumn equinox as a reminder of the past Celtic customs.

The Celtic people knew all we try to learn and restore today. They lived in harmony with the natural world around them; they worshipped trees, forests, hills, seas and rivers. They venerated gods of such places and offered them gifts in the form of weapons, jewellery or animals. Although they might seem to be the so called “primitive” people from our “civilized” point of view, they were, however, people of great wisdom with close ties to nature, in whose culture women were almost equal to men; they were also successful warriors, traders and skilled artists; in addition to that they were able to work with iron thanks to which they became quite technologically advanced. All that is known about their culture comes either from archaeological material or from their mythological stories that survived to our days thanks to the work of monastic scribes after Christianity spread on the British Isles. Although they sometimes misinterpreted or made changes in the old pagan stories for they either did not understand what they were transcribing or because it did not suite their Christian beliefs, their work is invaluable for without them we would not know much of what is known today of the lives and beliefs of the Celtic people. As there are not many historical records concerning the life of the Celts on the British Isles, their mythology is a valuable source of information from which we learn many facts about the life of the Celts. It mirrors the values, beliefs and customs of the people; it shows the importance of the otherworld for example, the head-hunting cult, the role of women in their society, their interconnectedness with the environment, it also shows us the life of warriors as well as the life of ordinary people. The stories are interesting even today, several hundred years after they were written down and even longer after they were composed. It is not only because they are source of information about the life of the Celts, they are also full of wisdom and they bring us closer to the natural and spiritual world that is so distant for contemporary people.

Not only does the world and myths of the Celtic people attract the attention of today’s people. The sustained interest in the Arthurian legend is remarkable. The first mentions of Arthur come from Nennius’s work from the ninth century, later elaborated by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the twelfth century and most importantly by Chrétien de Troyes and Thomas Malory in the fifteenth century. It is interesting to see that their stories have remained popular till these days and that they still attract a wide range of readership as well as the attention of the academic circles. What lies behind the immense popularity of the legend? Is it its chivalry, courtly love or the need to escape from our civilization to the fairytale-like world of knights and their ladies? Maybe it is the mysteriousness of the legend that attracts the attention of people, or the “very inability to explain it adequately” (Lacy 272). It has been studied by various scholars from various points of view, yet we are still not sure whether the legendary King Arthur was a real historical figure or not, whether Glastonbury, Tintagel or Avalon were really places connected with his life and deeds or whether it is only a product of the imagination of several writers. This work tried to answer some of these questions as well as to give an answer to the question of the relationship between the legend and Celtic mythology.

The Arthurian legend, although being composed mainly during the Middle Ages, shows some similarities with the Celtic mythological stories. Thanks to their relative isolation the Celts living in the area of today’s Great Britain and Ireland were able to keep their traditions and beliefs longer than the continental Celts. Even long after the arrival of Christian faith to the realm of the insular Celts the druids and storytellers kept the Celtic myth alive so that it could find its way into other stories as well; it can be said that this was the case of the Arthurian legend for the research has shown that it has been influenced by the old pagan myth to a certain extent. The mythological elements present in the legend are often not visible at first sight but after a closer look certain similarities between the legend and Celtic mythology emerge. One of the examples is the connection between the Holy Grail and the mythical cauldron of the Irish god Dagda, both of which can feed many people but cannot be owned by everyone. The cauldron as such played an important role in Celtic mythology in general, which is illustrated by its appearance in the Welsh story of Taliesin as the cauldron of wisdom or as the cauldron of rebirth of Bendigeidfran in the story of Branwen as well as by the Gundestrup cauldron found in the nineteenth century in Denmark. Another example of the similarity between Celtic mythology and the Arthurian legend is the character of Morgan le Fay, the sister of Arthur and a powerful sorceress who shares many similarities with the Celtic goddess Modron whose origin could be found in Matrona, the Celtic goddess of rivers. Morgan le Fay’s home on the island of Avalon has its roots in Celtic mythology as well, being derived either from Emain Ablach, the Land of Apples and the kingdom of Mannanán mac Lir or from the Celtic otherworld with which it shares several characteristics. King Arthur’s son Mordred shares similar fate with the Welsh hero Taliesin as well as with Lui Lavada from the Irish Mythological Cycle. Similarly, Gawain is sometimes connected with Gwri, the son of Rhiannon and Pwyll or with Gwalchmei who can be found in the story of Kulhwch and Olwen as Arthur’s nephew. Finally, there is the sword Excalibur that has its counterpart in Celtic mythology as well. It already appears in the Welsh tale of Kulhwch and Olwen as Arthur’s sword Caledfwlch renamed later by Geoffrey of Monmouth to Caliburn from which there was only short way to Excalibur.

This work could not, however, give answers to all questions concerning the legend of King Arthur and its Celtic roots. It has, nonetheless, tried to contribute to the clarification of this problematic field and to find at least some similarities between the two areas. Yet, there is still vast space for further research of the area and although it has been researched by many scholars so far, none have come with any final version of the story of the origin of the legend as well as the historicity of King Arthur yet. It is therefore possible that although we try, we will never be able to uncover the imaginary veil and solve all the mysteries surrounding the legend and its origin. Maybe, it should remain so, for mystery belongs to the legend and to its possible Celtic roots as well.

Bibliography

Works Cited and Consulted:

Arthurian Chronicles: Represented by Wace and Layamon. London: J.M. Dent, 1912.

Bradley, Marion Zimmer. Mlhy Avalonu. Trans. Dana Vlčková. Praha: Knižní klub,

2001.

Brantlinger, Patrick. Crusoe's Footprints: Cultural Studies in Britain and America. New

York: Routledge, 1990.

Campbell, Joseph. Proměny Mýtu v Čase: Vývoj Mýtů od Raných Kultur až po

Středověké Legendy. Trans. Hana Loupová. Praha: Portál, 2000.

Chadwick, Nora. The Celts. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books,  1970.

Chrétien de Troyes. Arthurian Romances. Trans. W.W. Comfort. London: Dent, 1975.

Clarus, Ingeborg. Keltské Mýty: Člověk a Jeho "Jiný Svět". Trans. Jan Hlavička.

Praha: Vyšehrad, 2001.

Dumézil, Georges. Mýty a Bohové Indoevropanů. Trans. Ivo Budil. Praha: Institut pro

středoevropskou kulturu a politiku, 1997.

Filip, Jan. Celtic Civilization and Its Heritage. Praha: Academia, 1976.

Gantz, Jeffrey. Early Irish Myths and Sagas. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1981.

Geoffrey of Monmouth. Histories of the Kings of Britain. Trans. Sebastian Evans.

London: J.M. Dent, [19--?].

Green, Miranda. Keltské mýty. Trans. Michal Kovář. Praha: Lidové noviny, 1998.

Gregory, Lady. Irish Mythology. London: Bounty Books, 2004.

Guest, Lady Charlotte. The Mabinogion. Vol. 2. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1902.

---. The Mabinogion. Vol. 3. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1902.
Hemming, Jessica. “Reflections on Rhiannon and the Horse Episodes in Pwyll.”

Western Folklore 57. 1 (1998). 30 Aug. 2010