Medieval "Best Seller" list - The popularity of Arthurian legend and Geofrey of Monmouth

We are often told that Geoffrey was one of the most popular writers of the middle ages. How do we put this in context? There are two rough rules of thumb to judge the influence of a medieval writer - how often he is referenced or quoted and the number of manuscripts that have survived of his works.

The latter method can be used to provide a sort of crude medieval best seller list which makes for very interesting reading indeed. (This list is an ongoing project which I will be updating.)

Geoffrey of Monmouth
Historia 215 manuscripts [a third of these found in continental Europe].


Historians

Martin of Opava, Chronicon pontificum et imperatorum, c. 1260 over 400 manuscripts
Bede, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum - around 150 copies
William of Malmesbury, De gestis regum Anglorum - 35 copies c. 1125
popular and frequently quoted from both in England on the continent
Henry of Huntingdon 25 copies ms ( Later edition includes account of Geoffrey's history after 1139)
Robert de Torigni chronicle 18 copies (Quoted Henry of Huntingdon account of Geoffrey's history in his chronicle.)
William of Newburgh 9 copies (later influenced Augustian and Cisterican chroniclers)
[Geoffrey's only real critic for a long period William's criticisms of Geoffrey are frequrently quoted as if they mean something - in fact as the manuscript count shows William was in terms of influence and reputation completely irrelevant in the medieval period. His attack on Geoffrey is more to do with credulity walking dead English Bede ]
Gildas, De excidio et conquestu Britanniae. Four full manuscripts,
Pseudo, Nennius, Historia Brittonum

Placed aside these contemporary chronicles Geoffrey's success becomes even more apparent. What makes it more interesting is to compare Geoffrey to other works.

Arthurian Romances

Vulgate cycle more than 100 manuscripts
Chretien de Troyes - forty-four surviving manuscripts of his works (ten of them illuminated)
32 complete 12 fragmentary
Marie de france, Lays - 4 manuscripts 1 complete

Medieval Literature in general
[I selected works generally seen as being fairly popular in the period.]

Jacobus de Voragine, Legenda Aurea (Golden Legend) c 1267 around 900-1000 manuscripts
Dante, Divine Comedy (1308- 1321) more than 825 ms
Guillaume de Lorris (circa 1230) ‘Roman de la Rose’ over 300 manuscripts
Travels of Sir John Mandeville , eleven languages , least three hundred manuscripts in various versions (around 1371)
Navigatio Brendani around 120 manuscripts
Chaucer, Canterbury Tales - eighty manuscripts survive, of which fifty-five are complete


Conclusion

Geoffrey is not just the most successful historian of his generation, and the originator of much Arthurian tales to follow, but is perhaps the most successful British writer of the medieval period whose work was summarized in many other later historians and passed into popular thought.

Obviously chance plays a large part in the survival of medieval manuscripts it has been guessed the survival rate of manuscripts is around one in 5 or one in 7.


Data from:
Historical Writing in England by Antonia Gransden
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Stonehenge Book pulped

English Heritage forced to pulp its aptly titled Ghastly Book Of Book Of Stonehenge over crass errors
Daily Mail, UK - 11 Oct 2008
An entry about 5th Century king Aurelius Ambrosius – believed to be the historical basis for King Arthur – mistakenly called him Aureole Ambrosias, a spelling error that appears to have been copied from the internet.

King Arthur expedition - Rennes Brittany

Writeups on this major exhibition which has a variety of manuscripts and art on display till Jan 09.

Apollo Magazine - King Arthur: a legend in the making

On the trail of the Holy Grail in Brittany
Sunday Sun, UK - 12 Oct 2008

The Telegraph had its own take on the exhibit:

King Arthur is propaganda, say French - Telegraph

Punk Arthur in 1976

King Arthur awakes and becomes a punk in this interesting sounding novel.

Glen's first novel puts King Arthur in 1976
Leamington Spa Today, UK -9 Oct 2008

What does Celtic King Arthur have in common with bell-bottoms, Harold Wilson and Starsky and Hutch?

Absolutely nothing. Which is exactly what makes Leamington man Glen Batchelor's first novel Waking Lloegr so unusual.

The story opens when Arthur awakes after 1,500 years to find himself in the middle of the striking, inflation-ridden, punk influenced Leamington of 1976.

Displeased to find Britain over-run by his enemy the Anglo-Saxons - now known as the English - Arthur is even more disappointed to discover that his beloved sword Excalibur has been melted down and transformed into an electric guitar.

The enraged king takes it upon himself to get rid of the one of the country's most popular bands, The Sex Pistols, and forms his own punk rock group so he once again is the ruler.

Mr Batchelor said: "They say everyone has a novel in them and so I wanted to fill mine with all my passions - Celt, punk, Leamington and Wales. Even my 1968 Puch M125 is in there."

The 46-year-old Lee Road resident began writing the novel in 2005. He said: "I have always been interested in ancient British history and King Arthur in particular. But so many novels about King Arthur have been done, so I decided to make mine humorous."

Mr Batchelor, who works as an electric meter reader, enjoys reading comedy books himself, naming two of his favourite authors as Malcolm Price and Jasper Fforde.

Although he was born in Deppers Bridge and spent his first 21 years there before moving to Leamington in 1983, his great-grandfather was Welsh, and he has felt a strong connection with Wales all his life. Waking Lloegr identifies some serious issues that he feels "quite passionate" about.

He explained: "Many of the Arthurian legends were originally written in Welsh and the language was used by most of the English for a long time. The idea is that, by the 70s, I figured it was time that this language was reinstated. I think the Welsh have been bullied by the English for many years and it's about time for the worm to turn."

Waking Lloegr is available to order at www.lulu.com or by contacting Mr Batchelor on 314609 or emailing glenbatchelor@btinternet.com

BBC Merlin

The new Merlin series is moderately watchable as family entertainmnt but doesn't look like it will be a classic version of the legend. The whole idea of making the cast into squabbling teenagers is obviously aimed at a family audience and draws on Harry Potter. It would have bn more interesting if they could have turned it into a fight between Christianity and Paganism because of the series premise that magic is illegal but obviously such a serious motif was not in keeping with the idea of the series

BBC - Merlin - Keep the magic secret.

However the BBC2 Wales documentary summarized here Merlin - The Legend was fairly good summary of the legend besides deciding to drag in the Nazis for no reason. Why ? The Nazi's were fascinated by Arthurian legend but it was the knights they idolized not Merlin as far as I am aware. It was filmed in Caerleon and in Carmarthen. It fautd Dr Juliette Wood who recently wrote a new book on the Grail.