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Caitlin Matthews On The Return Of King Arthur and the Mabinogion
Caitlin Matthews on King Arthur and the Mabinogion
Could you tell us what the Mabinogion is and some history behind it and the author of it?
CM: We do not know who wrote the Mabinogion, which of course is a name that was coined by Lady Charlotte Guest who in 1847, with the help of two clergymen, made the translation of portions of the medieval Red Book of Hergest and the White Book of Rhydderch in which these myths are told. No-one imagined that this country could have such treasures, since books in Welsh were beyond the cynosure of most scholars in England. One scholar posited recently that these tales were written by Princess Gwenllian of Deuheubarth (d.1136), daughter of Grufudd ap Cynan, King of Gwynedd, but there’s not been much enthusiasm in the academic world for this theory. The stories are already transcriptions of transcriptions of orally told bardic myths, in most instances.
King Arthur is the King of the Land and pretty much the embodiment of the son of God on Earth during these times to me. In your own eloquent words how would you describe King Arthur metaphysically and historically what do we know of him?
CM: Arthur has the components of a semi-divine being like Heracles: he is a mortal man with human failings, he consorts with heroes of human and otherworldly kind, he visits the otherworld and is visited and gifted by it. He is not one figure but an amalgam of many different visions. John and I wrote about this shifting portrait in King Arthur: History and Legend, published by the Folio Society. Any historical Arthur figure of 5-6th centuries was already in receipt of heroic legends that predated that time, which is why the Mabon underlay is so important. He is a guardian of the land on behalf of Sovereignty, which is why we remember that he will come again when the land needs him. Everyone in Britain knows this fact. This doesn’t necessarily mean a man called Arthur will be reborn but that the spirit of Arthur comes again.
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http://www.examiner.com/article/caitlin-matthews-on-king-arthur-and-the-mabinogion?cid=db_articles
