King Arthur's Journey from Myth to History and Back Again

Stories about King Arthur have been used as tools of political, religious and cultural propaganda for more than a thousand years. In this video, I discuss how Arthurian literature has been used for centuries to shape both public opinion and history. And in a companion video to follow this one, I’ll discuss what I think are some of the most memorable and essential retellings of the Arthurian Saga.
0:51 Was Arthur Real?
1:43 Early Mythmaking
2:24 Myth as Propaganda
4:01 From Myth to History
5:05 Arthur as Cultural Catalyst
9:02 The Matter of Britain Goes Abroad
11:21 Arthur as Religious Parable
12:25 Arthur Loses His Luster
13:02 Romantic Backlash
14:58 Arthur as Allegory
15:55 Arthur as Realistic Fiction
Links to some of my other videos about SFF history:
A History of Gnome Press - • Modern Science Fiction...
A History of Arkham House - • Arkham House: The Grea...
The Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series - • The Ballantine Adult F...
A Tribute to Lord Dunsany - • The 20th Century Renai...
A History of Science Fiction Anthologies - • Why Short Story Anthol...
Who Put the "Punk" in Steampunk? - • Who Put the "Punk" in ...
------------------------------
I have a Ko-Fi.com page if you enjoy my videos and would like to buy me a cup of coffee: ko-fi.com/thelibraryladder
Art Credits:
N.C. Wyeth
Howard Pyle
Frank Schoonover
Gustaf Tenggren
Aubrey Beardsley
Stanley Arthurs
William James Aylward
H.J. Ford
Harry G. Theaker
Maria Kirk
Gustave Dore
Florence Mary Anderson
Gertrude Hammond
W. Rainey
Rowland Wheelwright
Alan Lee
Julek Heller
Mariusz Cozic
Music Credtis:
Hero's Theme by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
#fantasy #literature #booktubesff #booktube

[@thelibraryladder]

After many unforeseen delays and tribulations, I've finally finished this video. A companion video discussing more than a dozen of what I consider the most memorable and enjoyable versions of Arthur's story will be coming soon (really!). Thanks for your patience, everyone!

[@andrewdavis9675]

I’d be curious to know if you have read any of Bernard Cornwells Arthurian books called the Warlord Chronicles.

[@thelibraryladder]

@@andrewdavis9675 I have read them, and they'll be among the books featured in my next video.

[@alvarolopezrodriguez3255]

Question: we will hear from Moorcock multiverse sooner or later? It is not a problem if it takes time, but I would like to see more about it. Thanks for all your work and welcome back😁😁😁

[@kublatard]

That was excellent - can`t wait for part two - great to see you back

[@thelibraryladder]

@@alvarolopezrodriguez3255 I'm going to continue making videos tracing Moorcock's Eternal Champion saga -- the early Elric stories will be the focus of the next one -- but there are several other videos in my production queue, so it probably will be a few months before I get to it. Thanks for asking!

[@themangog7900]

Waking up to a new Library Ladder video is like randomly finding 20 bucks. It always makes my day! Also thank you for including artist creddits. There's so many amazing illustrations in your videos that i've never seen before and as someone who is big into illustration I greatly appreciate it!

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! After uploading the video, I realized that I forgot to include a few artists in the credits. I've updated the list in the video description.

[@ArborealOreo]

Bridger, you never disappoint! The walk through Arthurian literature was great, but let's cut down to brass tax: we gotta hear those stories summarized by your dulcet tones. I can't wait.

[@arthur8013]

My TBR grows exponentially larger every time you release a video but it's the price i pay for getting to watch your excellent videoes!

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! There are a handful of truly excellent Arthurian novels I'll be featuring in my next video and that I hope people will read.

[@Hellblazer1138Audio]

One of my favorite lectures I have of Joseph Campbell's is about the Grail legends. It's a little over 4 hours and it sounds like someone brought one of those mini cassette recorders since some of the bits are cut off when a tape is changed. It might have even been done over a couple of days. He goes into a lot of detail about how the Celtic fairy stories were incorporated into the Arthurian legends.

[@ktk44man]

Oh my God I love your channel for it's amazing depth of audiobooks

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks for sharing that! I re-read The Mabinogion and an old book of Celtic fairy stories last year alongside various Arthurian novels (many to be discussed in my next video). The overlap between them was very apparent, although their focus tended to be rather different. One might analogize it to how a lot of Christmas traditions have their origins in pagan customs and rituals that were co-opted to reduce conflict.

[@Hellblazer1138Audio]

@@thelibraryladder I wish I could point you to a copy but I don't know where I got the lecture; it's different from the couple in his official audio collections. I can't wait for the next video!

[@_jared]

What a wonderful surprise. I love King Arthur, so this is a special treat. I'm excited for your second Arthur video!

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks, Jared! The second video might contain a few surprises. Some of my favorite Arthurian novels are overlooked classics that aren't as well-known today as they once might have been.

[@s.davidcox7523]

I just finished Jared's latest video before looking up this one. I knew the library ladder was back! I appreciate both you guys.

[@FutureMythology]

Absolutely fascinating exploration! This journey from myth to history and back again truly highlights the enduring allure and mystique surrounding King Arthur. Engaging storytelling and insightful analysis throughout. Great work!

[@thelibraryladder]

Thank you! I had a lot fun making this video.

[@raspberrymilkshake5782]

Exited for the next video! The Once and Future King has to be my absolute favorite book, looking forward to see you discuss that and I'm sure recommending some more obscure gems

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! It's difficult to overstate the impact White's classic has had on the popular perceptions of the Arthur saga.

[@codycummins4]

Yes sir! He’s back! Love your videos. Definitely worth the wait.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I'm very glad to be back, and there's more to come.

[@SolarLabyrinth]

Well worth the wait and excited for the follow-up video. Tales of Arthur will always hold a special place in my heart. I have felt a strange connection to them from the time I was a kid.

[@thelibraryladder]

You and me both!

[@thepiper14]

Everytime i think i need a video of certain type of books, you make it! Thank you for make such wonderful videos!

[@thelibraryladder]

Thank you! I'm very happy to be of service. I enjoy making these videos.

[@TheTrueRandomGamer]

Glad to have you back.

[@glockensig]

Just wondered yesterday when you would post another (Great) video!!

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I've been away for a while, so it's nice to be making new videos again.

[@fluorescentartichoke8361]

Beautiful, your production and editing combined with your choice of colourful illustration turns your narrative into art. Thank you for the time you spent on this.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thank you! KZbin is a visual medium, so I try to tell visual stories. Finding images that match my narrative is one of the greatest challenges I contend with every time I make a video. (Compiling and organizing the many visual elements typically is the most time-consuming part of my video production process.) It's a fun challenge, though, that in this case was simplified somewhat by my large collection of illustrated editions of Arthurian stories.

[@phillipcarson2544]

Looking forward to the next video. My personal favorites growing up were the Mary Stewart books, the Sam Neil Merlin miniseries and the film Excalibur.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! Great choices.

[@GazmendCeno]

Finally you’re back! Glad to click again in this channel.

[@Verlopil]

Your videos are always worth the wait! I took a class on the development of the Arthurian legends in college and really enjoyed it. I've read many books on the theme and I can't wait to see all of your recommendations so I can find ones I've missed.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I barely scratched the surface of Arthurian literary history in this video. My main goal was to set the stage for the upcoming companion video by showing that what most people today think of as the "Arthur story" is just one of a great many variations created for different purposes over the course of more than a thousand years. More recently, there have been some terrific retellings of the saga written in the past several decades that approach it from very different directions.

[@xpallodoc1147]

Can’t wait for the next video and really enjoyed this video

[@thelibraryladder]

Thank you!

[@kingdomkreep]

The soft-spoken scholar returns with another cool subject. I very much appreciate your direct laying out of the subject with key references that really help with any further explorations one would want. I have the Gormenghast trilogy now thanks to your previous video and is on my soon to read pile. excited for the next video.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thank you! I'm so glad you've enjoyed my videos and found new authors in them to explore. I hope my next one (with recommendations of enjoyable King Arthur retellings) gives you more to explore.

[@keithdonohue4631]

This is a great video. Thanks! I am really looking forward to your next one!

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it. The companion video coming soon will have more practical suggestions for readers and less history. :D

[@ryliejohnson580]

Welcome back. Glad I could be a part of the auction you hosted some time ago. Got some really fine rare books thanks to you.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! It feels great to be back. I'm glad you found some great books at the auction.

[@cheez-whizz123]

Love your channel. Keep posting amazing videos

[@thelibraryladder]

Thank you! I have more coming soon.

[@funpolice4416]

Excellent. I also want to thank you for pointing me toward The Terror from the Simmons video.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

[@orsino88]

I’m thrilled you’re back. I read a lot of the Arthur texts- a LOT- over-preparing for a course in Arthurian literature, and I’ll be so pleased to compare notes with you about the 20th century versions of the Matter of Britain.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I'm very glad to be back and working on the follow-up video to this one. I hope to have it ready in a few days. I quite enjoyed reading dozens of Arthurian retellings over the past year (many of which I had read years ago, and several others were new to me). I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't get tired of the story -- many of the modern authors did a nice job of making their versions feel unique and fresh.

[@BookishChas]

This was an incredibly thorough and yet concise history of Arthur Bridger. Thank you for this. I enjoyed hearing how the themes and uses of the myth have changed over time.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thank you, Chas! I'm fascinated by how literature has been used for millennia as more than just entertainment, and Arthur's stories were some of the most consequential.

[@krosenow]

I was just trying to find this channel!! Totally fixed my error in not subscribing and looking forward to the Arthurian series Thank you again for all exposure to the “classics” or “fundamentals”from sci fi to fantasy that would not always be on my radar. Hope you have a wonderful day!

[@thelibraryladder]

Thank you! I'm so glad you find my videos useful.

[@evanmcclellan7267]

Great video! There's something about Arthurian lore that's just so much fun. On a side note, I have to thank you for tuning me in to my new favorite depiction of Lancelot in Kay's Fionovar Tapestry. The fight scene between Lancelot and a you-know-what was well worth the price of admission.

[@thelibraryladder]

I agree! I'm including a section on Arthur-adjacent novels in my next video, and Fionavar is one of them. Kay's version of Lancelot isn't my favorite, but I think it's a great one.

[@samuelleask1132]

A top tier video as always!

[@bobbypaycheque]

So good that you're back. Missed ya

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks!

[@nyarparablepsis872]

That was brilliant and I learned a lot. It is amazing that basically the same process happened a few thousand years earlier with "king Gilgameš". Books about Arthur and his companions were a great part of my mindscape as a child, since the local library had lots of different stories. I still have my beloved "Iwain der Ritter mit dem Löwen" :) Are you planning to more such videos? If you do, I am absolutely here for it! History AND literature AND the most calming voice on youtube - what a mix.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thank you! Gilgamesh is great comparison. I have more videos like this one planned. I enjoy learning about and discussing the histories of various literary genres.

[@Sirbringabel]

Loved this, and great to see you back in the subscription feed as always. Only small note is that 11:40 when you talk about the Malory adaption you include a portrait generally agreed to be of William Shakespeare - minor detail in the grand scheme of the video though

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! (Alas, the peril of relying on an online database to obtain historical portraits. Who knew an internet source could be so unreliable? I should have recognized it as young Will, though. [SMH])

[@PeculiarNotions]

Another great video. I'm looking forward to the next one.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thank you! I hope to have the second video uploaded within the next couple of weeks.

[@StevenEverett7]

I found this to be very interesting and extremely well presented. Thank you for your time and effort.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thank you! I had a lot of fun making this video (and reading around two dozen adaptations of the Arthur legend for my next video -- coming soon).

[@StevenEverett7]

@@thelibraryladder I'm looking forward to it!

[@quentandil]

I'm eager to watch the second part!!

[@phillipcarson2544]

You’re back!!

[@thelibraryladder]

It's great to be back!

[@RedFuryBooks]

This was a fantastic (and informative) video! I occasionally see someone post about how they don't like the Arthurian Legend but I can never get enough of it. I really look forward to that next video to see what gems I need to add to the list!

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks, Josh! One of the things I hope to accomplish with this video and the next one is to help people understand that the Arthurian Legend isn't an unchanging, monolithic construct. Although the Malory version of the story might seem a little tired and trite today, the overall Arthurian oeuvre actually was (is) very vibrant and constantly evolving, with different events and characters and outcomes taking center stage in various retellings. Arthur could be a hero, a villain, a fool or a NPC, depending on the author's vision of the story (and the same goes for the rest of the saga's characters). It truly was (is) a Choose Your Own Adventure story. Some of my favorites are the one's that deviate the most from Malory's version. I feel confident that you'll enjoy many/most of them.

[@RedFuryBooks]

I love the reinventions in some of the more modern works - such as Cornwell's brilliant interpretation of Lancelot!

[@thelibraryladder]

My favorite take on Lancelot!

[@RedFuryBooks]

Same! It's inventive but 100% plausible.

[@secretsauceofstorycraft]

As always, its worth the wait!!! 😊

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks, Whitney! It feels good to be back.

[@JLchevz]

So interesting, thanks for the video!!!

[@booksandocha]

Wonderful video, once again. I'm pretty familiar with the Arthurian tales and their many versions, but your presentation pulled the whole development nicely together. I'm very much looking forward to the next video for your take on these stories, and maybe even some reflections on how their popularity has shifted in recent decades (I seem to remember them having something of a peak in the 1990s or so, but I'm not all that familiar with works from the 2010s onwards). Also the influence of Arthurian tales and their surrounding mythology on the development of fantasy as a modern literary genre itself is a fascinating subject.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks for your thoughtful comment! The popularity of the Arthurian tales does seem to seem to be somewhat cyclical -- alternating perhaps between kid-focused and adult-focused periods of interest. There were quite a few Arthur retellings for adults in the 1980s and 90s, while the 2000s and 10s had more children's (and manga) adaptations. My hope is to renew reader interest in some of those stories, particularly the ones that are more historically based or that are derived from literary sources that predate Malory (whose version might feel a little too familiar).

[@josephd5879]

Great video. Looking forward to the essential reads.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I hope to have the companion video up by the end of next week.

[@AN-jz3kf]

Good content as always! As for your follow up video: Idylls of the King is absolutely great for a fan of Arthurian legend

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I completely agree about Idylls. [Spoiler: It's part of my next video.]

[@wordfullyyours]

Love these videos. Great information!

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I so glad you enjoyed it. I had fun making it.

[@juanmorales9738]

Where have you been? Wonderful video. It helps I like the Arthur story. Looking forward to part 2.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! It feels great to be back.

[@davidnance9462]

We missed your insight. Never disappointed to see your videos.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I've missed being able to make videos. I'm very glad to be back.

[@JosephReadsBooks]

This video was fantastic! I will be coming back to it again and again for information about Arthur's origins. You have done the booktube community a huge service in making this. I knew so little of this information. That was humbling. I'm looking forward to your follow up video. My hardcover collection of Mary Stewart's Arthur novels may get some use 😂. I have been wanting to dive into Arthurian novels but I have no idea where to start.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks, Joseph! I hope your Mary Stewart books get read soon. They're terrific (and not a bad place to start with Arthurian fiction ... but more on that in my next video).

[@ChantMacleod]

Thank you for making me smarter than I was when I woke up this morning. Your videos are always appreciated!

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! Making myself a little bit smarter is a goal I set for myself every day. :D

[@BradLad56]

Athurian legends are some of the best mythology there is. So many characters that still have a presence today in some form. Btw, i don't know if you've heard of ASMR but you've definitely got a voice for it.

[@frankb821]

An entertaining and concise encapsulation of the always intriguing Arthurian legend. I like to believe it was based on a real dude, but then again, I'm 47 and still read "Choose your Own Adventure" books with my wife, so take that for what it is...;)

[@benja6902]

While browsing, a new edition of Sir Thomas Mallory's book 'The Death of King Arthur: The Immortal Legend,' jumped off the shelf. It has beautiful medieval cover art - even the bookseller noticed it. I also found a collection of 'Prince Valiant' comics.

[@thelibraryladder]

The Prince Valiant comics played an important role in preserving the popularity of Arthurian legends among younger readers in the 1930s and 40s, setting the stage for Arthur's resurgence in the 1950s and 60s (via T.H. White's revised omnibus edition of The Once and Future King and its adaptations: Disney's The Sword in the Stone, and the musical Camelot).

[@billbagnall7125]

Excellent and insightful video, as always.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thank you!

[@jodell86]

The long game has begun. By the time anyone suspects a thing, "Bridger" (totally a talking ladder) will have a beard as long as Merlin, and the takeover of humanity will be past the point of no return...Another great video as always!

[@rickkearn7100]

There's a bestselling book in here, TLT, and you're just the person to write it. This was a very eloquent encapsulation of how the Arthurian legend has proliferated over the centuries, and to me, it is testimonial to the power of the human imagination, the mainspring that makes us tick. Well done sir! Cheers.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thank you! I barely scratched the surface with this video, but I hope I managed to convey that the familiar legend of Arthur is but one strand of a very large and tangled knot. Some of the books I'll be discussing in my next video represent other strands that portray Arthur's story very differently.

[@clairisaphoinix23]

Welcome back !😊

[@thelibraryladder]

Thank you! I'm very happy to be back and working on new videos.

[@wileyschmitt]

Cool! Look forward to the next video, and even though the stories of King Arthur have always interested me all I can remember reading of Arthur were the series of books by Stephen R Lawhead, and that was a while back, but I thought they were pretty good/fun at the time, so I look forward to your recommendations. Hope you've been well, and are you going to have any more live stream book auctions coming up? :)

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I'll be discussing the Lawhead series in my next video (he had a very distinctive take on the Arthur legends). I'm doing well. I've just been consumed with other work for the past few months, so I've fallen behind in my video upload plans. I don't have any book auction plans in the immediate future, but I'll probably do a couple in the coming months to clear out some extra copies of books that deserve new homes.

[@NevsBookChannel]

Hooray for a new Library Ladder video! 🎉

[@yw1971]

7:54 - BTW King Lear had Celtic origins, where he was known as Lyr. I think scholars today agree that Geoffrey didn't just invent but gathered existing myths & legends (some of which did survived). Also there's the Holy Grail tradition, that came probably from the Crusades.

[@thomasanthony5021]

This made my day.. HUGE Arthur reader here.. Bernard Cornwell’s trilogy is my favorite.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! In my opinion, Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles is one of the best additions to the Arthurian oeuvre, but it's not my favorite. Stay tuned to find out in my next video... :D

[@thomasanthony5021]

@@thelibraryladder why am I reading your comment and hearing your awesome voice in my head as I read it?

[@ryansullivan5854]

Nice to see you back. I loved Arthurian mythos as a kid - so many amazing stories. I have to admit, Arthur wasn’t even my favorite.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! After reading dozens of Arthurian novels, I've concluded that nearly all of the best ones (in my opinion) feature Arthur in a supporting role rather than as a main POV character. There are a couple of novels, though, that are very notable exceptions to that, which I'll highlight in my upcoming video.

[@DafyddBrooks]

Dioch Yn Fawr for talking about this as Ive been collecting different editions on the ledgend of Arthur recentley. 3:55 thats been very helpful knowing that, cheers I found myself a signed copy by Chris Ridell and Kevin Crossley Holland called 'Arthur the always king' in water stones the other week. Water stones hides signed copys in their store some times ;) I'm gonna try and go to Tintagel Castle in Cornwall this summer and see the statue Gallos, you should your self if you ever get to England one day. 'The kid who would be king' is a nice twist on the tale, I highly recommend that movie, its smart! Great as always, I need to catch up on all your videos now as its been a while :) Your choice of pictures are great as usual too :)

[@thelibraryladder]

Thank you! I've never visited the Arthurian landmarks such as Tintagel, Glastonbury Tor and the Iron Age hillforts in southern England, but I hope to do so some day. I wish Waterstones had a location near me. Great bookstore.

[@Rachel-xr9gy]

Great video!

[@thirdspacemaker9141]

Clicked so fast when I saw a new Library Ladder video! 🎉

[@thelibraryladder]

Yay! Thank you!

[@samm8190]

I spy Taliesin! That’s one of my favorite retellings! I love how much bigger the story is than simply the Arthur story. It’s more about the fall of Atlantis and the rise of England as its civilization begins to flower. Lawhead also finds fantastic ways to weave history, speculation and legend and weave it into one narrative.

[@thelibraryladder]

Good eyes! I'll be discussing Lawhead's series in my next video.

[@matthewconstantine5015]

Good timing for me. After two years of start & stop reading, I just finished Le Morte d'Arthur last week. Thanks for the video and the knowledge.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! That's quite an accomplishment. I've never managed to read Malory's text in its entirety. I prefer the more modern retellings of his work (such as John Steinbeck's faithful modern language version).

[@matthewconstantine5015]

@@thelibraryladder It was not an easy read and only sporadically interesting or entertaining. Thanks for the heads-up. I acquired a copy of White's Once & Future King, but I'm going to need a break before I try that. I'll keep my eye out for the Steinbeck.

[@orsino88]

A thought to which I’m sure I’ll return when I see your next entry-there’s a huge structural problem with the Arthurian narrative. His rise to eminence is marvelous (Uther and swords and Ladies and so on); his end is heartbreaking (betrayal by his nearest and dearest, death and the end of his dream). But in the middle-? Revising tax laws? Judging tournaments? No wonder some even of the medieval texts resort to depicting King Arthur as a bored grouch. And hence, of course, the rise of all those heroes and all those wild adventures to fill the gap-Gawain, Galehaut, Perceval, Galahad, Lancelot, to name just the most obvious. It’s always fascinating to see how poets and writers, from the 12th century to now, tackle the problem.

[@thelibraryladder]

You're right about the structural problem. Another approach used by several of the modern authors is to use large time jumps in the narrative to skip over sizeable portions of Arthur's period of rule. A few of the more history-focused authors do cover Arthur's reign, but they also take more creative license by ignoring many elements of the Geoffrey-Chretien-Malory traditions.

[@hanscandersen]

How have you uploaded two videos in the last 3 weeks and KZbin never alerted me? Looking forward to watching both, love the beard. (It's Thomas, by the way, from our recent email correspondence.)

[@thelibraryladder]

Hi, Thomas. YT gives subscribers the option to specify whether they want to receive notifications. I think the default is for limited notifications, but you can choose to be notified of all channel updates by going to the channel and clicking on the drop-down menu on the Subscribe button. :)

[@corradobenin117]

Grazie per il tuo lavoro, posso seguirti solo con il traduttore perché non conosco l'inglese in maniera soddisfacente, ma nonostante questo riesco ad apprezzare il tuo ritmo e la gradevole intonazione di voce.

[@thelibraryladder]

Grazie! Sono molto felice che ti sia piaciuto. Inserisco personalmente i sottotitoli in inglese per garantire una traduzione accurata in altre lingue come l'italiano.

[@davebrzeski]

Excellent, informative video.

[@thelibraryladder]

Thank you!

[@davidbooks.and.comics]

Always an education...thank you!

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[@K_E_Robin]

Would love to know more of the earliest iteration of the Brythonic Warrior-King! The mention of a much more warlike and ruthless Arthur gave me an idea for something in the veins of Robert E. Howard, minus the deeply problematic stuff.

[@thelibraryladder]

I believe REH almost certainly drew inspiration from early Celtic/Brythonic myths. Unfortunately, there aren't many contemporaneous records of that mythic period. Much of what we know today is filtered through adaptations written centuries later by people with their own political, cultural and religious agendas, so it's hard to know what's accurate. In recent decades, a few authors have written Arthurian adaptations that draw from his roots as a Brythonic warrior-king. I'll discuss some of them in my next video.

[@sultanmalik9808]

OH MY GOD you can't just describe the perfect book for me WITHOUT NAMING IT

[@thelibraryladder]

Have patience . . . all will be revealed in time. :D

[@sylvanyoung]

Physics 🤔 and myth 🤨 . Sounds like we are going into a bit of A A Attanasios world . I await such . Ps after a much felt absence....wellcome back sir .👍

[@Alkemisti]

I have largely lost my interest in Arthurian legends, because he feels overused in fiction these days . . . but this video made me appreciate them again. I would gladly read a book where Arthur fights vampires with quantum weapons.

[@thelibraryladder]

After reading (or re-reading in some cases) nearly two dozen different Arthurian adaptations over the past year, I can confirm that there's a lot of overlap among many of them, but I was really surprised by how different some of them are -- interpreting the legends in very unusual and often very enjoyable ways.

[@Dan-sm5bi]

Another banger!

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks!

[@user-fl7by8in5o]

Good video 👍

[@thelibraryladder]

Thanks! I plan to mention some of the manga versions of Arthur in my next video, but I won't be discussing them at length.

[@CamvanAken]

Please read The Fionavar Tapestry books -Guy Gavriel Kay. It's one of the most beautiful adaptations of the Arthurian material I've yet encountered in a lifetime of devouring books scholarly and fictive on Arthur and Co.

[@thelibraryladder]

Great suggestion! I'm a huge fan of GGK (three of my earliest videos are about him), and I think the Arthurian elements are some of the best parts of the Fionavar trilogy. In my upcoming companion video to this one, I'm including a section on books I categorize as Arthur-adjacent, and I'll be featuring Fionavar in that group.

[@NonAnonD]

we are so back

[@dbensdrawinvids8390]

Huh, and here I was just wrapping up a Pendragon tabletop campaign. Neat little coincidence there.

[@mercster]

I discovered Pyle's work as an older gradeschooler... it was quite difficult for me to read then. (Pyle's estimation of the prose adolescent boys might be able to understand was probably outmoded by the late 1980s.) But I always thought it was a great adaptation.

[@mercster]

And the artwork was great!

[@thelibraryladder]

Of the adaptations from the Romantic Era revival period, Pyle's is my favorite, although the prose can be a little dense and stilted, which was typical for works from that period. I think his best work, though, was as an illustrator (and as a teacher of other illustrators who later became famous, such as N.C. Wyeth, Frank Schoonover, William James Aylward, Stanley Arthurs and Jessie Willcox Smith -- four of whom have Arthurian artwork featured in this video along with Pyle's).

[@budgethornet7498]

Why did you use a imagery commonly associated with Shakespeare for introduction Thomas Malory? Great video of course!

[@thelibraryladder]

[Facepalm] Because the image database I pulled it from listed it as a portrait of Malory. If you can't trust an online database, who can you trust? :D (I did think he looked familiar, but didn't make the connection with young Will. Thanks for pointing out my error.)

[@budgethornet7498]

@@thelibraryladder no worries! Sorry for my poorly worded commented. I 'd just woken up and saw your vid and just had to watch. Keen for part 2!

[@mathiashaddoxx8398]

LETS GOOOOOO HES BACK YALL!!!

[@Evan-nb6mr]

I was just wanting a little video about books and look who's back just in time...

[@one_punch_puritan4696]

I'm interested to see which stories you pick! Will CS Lewis', "That Hideous Strength," be included since it has so many connections to the Arthur mythos?

[@thelibraryladder]

THS falls into an Arthur-adjacent category that I'll be highlighting in my next video. Thanks!

[@pantheon777]

I wanted to hear more detail about the one that has Kali and The Morrígan as the same deity, and also the ones that tie into Robin Hood and the Fey folk

[@pantheon777]

But amazing video as always

[@thelibraryladder]

I discuss them more in my follow-up video about various Arthurian retellings that I recommend. :)

[@kavanpuranik98]

Can you do one above choose your adventure type books next? Thanks

[@thelibraryladder]

Great suggestion! I'll add it to my ever-lengthening list of planned videos. :D I don't know when I'll get to it, though, as I have several other videos currently in the works, and my production process is slow.

[@coffemuse]

Many thanks for this wonderful video. I searched all the illustrator's names you credit but couldn't find the painting of the knight reading with the book beside him. (Please don't tell me it's AI... )

[@thelibraryladder]

Thank you! I love that illustration, and I wish I could tell you the artist's name, but I couldn't find an attribution for it. It's not AI-created, but the artists' signature at the bottom of the painting (I think it might be cropped out in the video) is illegible. The last name definitely starts with W, and the first name appears to start with L, although I'm not 100% sure -- it might be a stylized C, I or T. I found the image here: knightstemplar.co/sir-galahad-the-purest-knight-of-arthurs-round-table/

[@coffemuse]

@@thelibraryladder Thank you for that! And I'm so glad it was painted by a human!

[@swoop2386]

Anyone know the source of the Poseidon painting on the left at 9:28? It looks incredible

[@thelibraryladder]

It's from a 1929 edition of The Odyssey published for children that was illustrated by N.C. Wyeth. I agree that it's gorgeous. Wyeth has long been my favorite illustrator.

[@MagusMarquillin]

Is the Mabinogion (I need to find a nice copy of it) the only surviving account of pre Geoffry Arthur myths? I believe Bede had something on him, but not very mythological. I collect Arthurian stories old and new, because I've long loved the film of Excalibur (1981), Merlin (1998), and a computer adventure game called "Conquests of Camelot" (1989) that is no slouch narratively and really great. Funnily though, I've yet to read a single Arthur book since there's so many versions. I've recently found a lavishly illustrated Morte D'Arthur (edited by John Matthews), or should I start earlier with the French romances, or History of the Kings, or the Mabinogian and watch it get built piece by piece? Or would those versions lack the Romance of Mallory, and feel like a deconstruction? Or would aged Mallory fail to enchant me as well as White, Stewart, Bradley, or even Pyle or Knowles? It's like I'm afraid to disenchant myself with the wrong first book. This video was great as always, a good history lesson, but I would have liked more of your thoughts on how well these older tales hold up for you. Is there room for that in your second video? Cheers

[@thelibraryladder]

There are a few accounts of Arthur that predate The Red Book of Hergest (which compiled many of the oral stories that later became known as The Mabinogion), but not many, and their references to Arthur are fleeting. There are early chronicles by the monks Gildas and Nennius, and a few anonymous ones such as the Annales Cambrias, as well as some surviving story fragments that lack attribution. There's also a poem (Preiddeu Annwn) attributed to Taliesin that briefly describes an expedition Arthur took to the Otherworld. The original Charlotte Guest translation of The Mabinogion from the 1800s is the most common edition available today. It can be a chore to read, though. There's a recent translation by Sioned Davies that's much more modern in style, which I'd recommend instead. My favorite retelling of The Mabinogion, though, is the series of four linked novels Evangeline Walton wrote between 1936 and 1974 that smooth over the disjointed and episodic aspects of the original stories. Ballantine published them in mass market paperback form in the 1970s, and Overlook Press published an omnibus hardcover and trade paperback edition about 20 years ago (I recommend this one if you can find it). As to my recommendations on Arthurian starting points, you're anticipating my next video, in which I'll discuss pros and cons of reading some of the early texts (in some cases, I've read them so viewers won't have to), and also which of the modern retellings are most faithful to the romantic spirit of Malory (even as some deviate significantly from Malory's plot traditions). In this first video, my primary goal was to introduce the idea that what we think of as the (perhaps tired and trite) traditional Arthur narrative is just one of many different interpretations that have been around for more than a millennia. I hope it will help to make sense of the wide range of more recent retellings that draw upon different versions from history.

[@gendor5199]

I do want to know how Merlin used Quantum Physics to take Arthur to Yggdrasil to tell Wotan to be less relevant.

[@user-fl7by8in5o]

Will you include King Arthur from fire force

[@user-fl7by8in5o]

Will you include King Arthur from seven deadly sins

[@user-fl7by8in5o]

Will you include King Arthur from fate

[@Siderite]

The Arthurian Cinematic Universe

[@thelibraryladder]

The Star Wars Expanded Universe might be an apt comparison as well, considering how the debate over what is canon and what is legend has shifted over time.

[@CreationBrosZone-km5be]

The European Aristocracy comes from the Ancient Near East -- they're all Phoenician.

[@user-cq6wg7gk3j]

The best modern adaptation of Arthurian literature is the one where he’s a kawaii anime girl.

[@dorudon7774]

Most art(good or bad) is propaganda in some way, shape, or form.

[@thelibraryladder]

From a certain vantage point, I suppose the same could be said about most forms of expression, including speech. :D

[@netwitchtatjana4661]

Or: The ruling mythology is the mythology of the rulers.

[@adamnesico]

Courtly love from moorish Spain? Proof? The book about love in alAndalus say nothing about court love, people lived under strict sexual segregation, any public courting of females was forbidden.

[@thelibraryladder]

During the Crusades and in commerce with Moorish Spain, French nobles and traders were exposed to passionate (and often erotic) Arabic poetry as well as Islamic mystical philosophy that treated love as something special, demanding faithful service. Those influences provided some of the inspiration and impetus for the emergence of courtly love in France in the Middle Ages. See, e.g., www.jstor.org/stable/27704899; wechronicle.com/family/exploring-courtship-and-weddings-in-medieval-spanish-society-moors-christians-and-courtly-love/; www.britannica.com/art/courtly-love.

[@Beastlango]

I love how the people of the renaissance claimed to become rational and rejected superstition, yet brought back a lot of pagan thought and actions like witch hunting and burning. Definitely a reminder to watch our hubris when it comes to believing we are smart or rational.

[@Buy_YouTube_Views_Gain_Fame301]

I'm all ears when I watch your videos ��

[@HideAndRead]

Personally gearing up to start reading and exploring the Grail myths, this is a happy synchronicity!

[@thelibraryladder]

Perfect timing! I hope my next video is helpful.