Longmans’ Class-Books of English Literature
TALES OF KING ARTHUR
AND
THE ROUND TABLE
ADAPTED FROM
THE BOOK OF ROMANCE
BY
ANDREW LANG
WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES, ETC., BY
J. C. ALLEN
AND
TWENTY ILLUSTRATIONS BY
H. J. FORD
NEW IMPRESSION
LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
FOURTH AVENUE & 30TH STREET, NEW YORK
BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS
1918
All rights reserved
INTRODUCTION
The tales of King Arthur and his Knights are of Celtic origin.The Celts were the people who occupied Britain at the timewhen the history of the country opens, and a few words arenecessary to explain why the characters in the stories act andspeak as though they belonged to a later age.
It is believed that King Arthur lived in the sixth century,just after the Romans withdrew from Britain, and when theBritons, left to defend themselves against the attacks of themarauding Saxons, rose and defeated them at Mount Badon,securing to themselves peace for many years. It was probablyabout this time that King Arthur and his company of Knightsperformed the deeds which were to become the themes ofstories and lays for generations afterwards.
In olden times, it was the custom of minstrels and story-tellersto travel through the land from court to court, tellingof tales of chivalry and heroism, and for many centuries thetales of King Arthur formed the stock from which the story-tellerdrew.
In this way the stories came to be handed down from father toson, in Brittany (whose people are of the same family as theWelsh) as well as in Wales and England, and by this meansalone were they prevented from being lost. But in the reignsof Henry II. and Richard I., they were set down on paper,and so became literature. Before this, however, a Britishwriter had written out some of the tales, and from him as wellas from the lips of the bards and story-tellers of their owngeneration, the writers in the time of Henry II. were able tocollect their information.
Now, it will be remembered that the second and thirdcrusades were being carried on during the reigns of Henry II.and Richard I., and many English and French Knights weretherefore fighting in the fields of Palestine.
The story-teller, whose living depended on the welcome hisstories met with, instead of telling them according to tradition,altered them to suit the tastes of his hearers. Thus, the oldheroes of tradition were placed upon prancing horses, clothedin coats of mail, and armed with lances as if they had beenvassals of King Henry or King Richard. And in this way thestory-teller called up before the minds of the listeners pictures ofdeeds of chivalry, such as husbands and brothers were performingfor the Christian faith in far-off Palestine. The writers ofthe time, both English and French, set them down as theyh