5世紀ごろにゲルマン大移動の最後として、大陸から英国に侵入したアングル人・サクソン人らをケルトの末裔ブリトン人が迎え撃ち、負け戦の中で雄々しく戦った勇者に アーサーの名が与えられた。歴史書に現れたアーサーの事績にトリスタン物語や聖杯伝説が融合して、12世紀にロマンス化して西欧全土に普及した。英国では15世紀にマロリー著『アーサー王の死』が、19世紀に復活して文学・絵画などに影響を与えた。
Arthurian Legends
About 5th century AD, when Angles, Saxons, and Frisians invaded Britain as the final stage of the Germanic Migration, many Britons fought against them. In the midst of losing battles, a valiant hero who took local victories against the invaders, was named Arthur. The Tristan legend and the Holy Grail legend were soon merged into Arthurian legends, which culminated in French romances by Chretien de Troyes, quickly spreading over the continent and Britain. In England, Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthur (1485), based on some French prose and English verse romances, was instrumental in the revival of the legend in the nineteenth century, and its influence continued into the present day.
