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The best part of Medieval English Lit class, where one could become catatonic from reading Piers Plowman, was studying the many versions of the story of King Arthur. I have loved T.H. White’s The Once and Future King since I saw Walt Disney’s The Sword in the Stone, and I enjoyed reading the sources of the tales, including Geoffrey of Monmouth, Chretien de Troyes, the Mabinogion, and later, Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur.

These source materials do not figure in Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur, not that we expected them to. The movie is blithely unaware that it takes place in the Middle Ages. There is no point in reviewing this King Arthur, which is the laddie movie reunion of Charlie Hunnam and Aiden “Littlefinger” Gillen of Queer As Folk. Monty Python and the Holy Grail is more faithful to the sources (seriously). So is John Boorman’s Excalibur, though the acting makes it campy (Merlin, please). So are Robert Bresson’s meditative Lancelot du Lac and its very colorful tights, and in its way, Terry Gilliam’s The Fisher King. We will not mention any TV series.

If you’re interested in the Arthurian tales I recommend, apart from T.H. White, Mary Stewart’s The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, and The Last Enchantment; and Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain. Stewart’s series focuses on Merlin the wizard, his history and fate. The Prydain books are not about Camelot, but they draw on some of the same myths. What these books have in common is a sense of grandeur and regret. Wonders end, glory fades, but not all is lost. (I haven’t read The Mists of Avalon, which has its proponents.)

Some parts in the tales that I love, that are not in the movie.

1. Uther Pendragon was the warrior-king who united the tribes of Britain, with the wizard Merlin as his counselor. King Uther lusted after Igraine, wife of Gorlois the Duke of Cornwall. He besieged their castle at Tintagel, but the defences were too strong. Finally Merlin came up with a cunning plan. He had Gorlois called away, then he cast a spell so that Uther looked and sounded exactly like Gorlois. Then Uther went into the castle and had his way with Igraine.

Chretien de Troyes, image from Wikimedia Commons.

2. The result of that night was Arthur. Gorlois was slain in battle. Uther married Igraine and became stepfather to her daughters, Morgan and Morgause. Merlin took the infant Arthur to keep him safe from Uther’s enemies.

3. King Uther choked to death on a chicken bone. At his death England was plunged into civil strife.

4. Arthur was raised as a ward in the house of Sir Hector, who had a son, Kay. Arthur had no idea of his parentage. There’s a lovely section in T.H. White where Arthur, nicknamed Wart, wanders into the forest and finds the hut of Merlin. Merlin trains him by transforming him into different animals.

5. One day there appeared a massive stone with a sword stuck in it. The inscription on the stone said that whoever could pull the sword out was the rightful King of Britain. All the aspiring chieftains tried, and failed.

The Beguiling of Merlin by Edward Burne Jones

6. Kay went to join a tournament with Arthur as his squire. Arthur realized he had forgotten Kay’s sword at home, and went looking for another one. He saw the sword in the stone and pulled it out. (In some versions the sword in the stone is Excalibur; in others Excalibur is a different sword, given to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake.)

7. Of course the chieftains weren’t going to let some nobody rule over them, not even after Merlin told them who he was. So Arthur had to win a war.

8. When Arthur was at last enthroned in Camelot, he was seduced by a beautiful woman, who became pregnant. The woman was his half-sister, Morgause. The child would be Mordred, who would go to war with his father.

9. Then the story really picks up. Guinevere, The Knights of the Round Table, Lancelot, infidelity, the enchantment of Merlin, the Quest for the Holy Grail, the Fisher King, the war against Mordred.

The Death of Arthur by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

10. Many years later, when King Arthur is dying, he bids Sir Bedivere throw his sword Excalibur into the lake. Sir Bedivere can’t bring himself to throw away Excalibur, so he hides the sword and tells the king that he’s done it. Arthur asks him to describe what happened, and he knows that Bedivere is lying. On the third try Bedivere tosses the sword in the lake, and a hand comes out of the water and catches Excalibur.

The Arthurian myths are why I love The Lord of the Rings, and now Game of Thrones.