Two larger stories intermesh in the Matter of Britain. One concerns Camelot, usually envisioned as a doomed utopia of chivalric virtue, undone by the fatal flaws of Arthur and Sir Lancelot. The other concerns the quests of the various knights to achieve the Holy Grail; some succeed (Galahad, Parsifal), and others fail (Lancelot). The mediaeval tale of Arthur and his knights is full of Christian themes; those themes involve the destruction of human plans for virtue by the moral failures of their authors, and the quest for an important Christian relic. Finally, the relationships between the characters invited treatment in the tradition of courtly love, such as Lancelot and Guinevere, or Tristan and Isolde. In more recent years, the trend has been to attempt to link the tales of King Arthur and his knights with Celtic mythology, usually in highly romanticized, early twentieth century reconstructed versions.
ArthurianLegend, group of tales in several languages that concern the legendary King Arthur of the Britons, his realm, and the knights of his inner circle.
The Arthurian story is not only retold and reinterpreted, it is also regularly recast in science fiction and fantasy, in political tracts and social satire, and in light comedies and serious efforts to depict the sometimes dark realities of the medieval world.
Arthurian art, like the literature devoted to the legend, became less popular after the Middle Ages ended in the 15th century, but, again like the literature, it experienced a dramatic rebirth in the 19th century and has flourished ever since.
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