“Here lies Arthur, king who was, and king who will be.”
„Ovdje leži Arthur, negdašnji i budući kralj.”
So reads the inscription on King Arthur’s gravestone in Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur. Writing in the 15th century, Malory couldn’t have known how prophetic this inscription would turn out to be. King Arthur has risen again and again in our collective imagination, along with his retinue of knights, Guinevere, the Round Table, Camelot, and of course, Excalibur. But where do these stories come from, and is there any truth to them?
To je sadržaj natpisa na nadgrobnom spomeniku kralja Arthura u „Arthurovoj smrti” Thomasa Maloryja. Kad ga je u 15. stoljeću pisao, Malory nije ni slutio koliko će se proročanskim pokazati taj natpis. Kralj Arthur neprestano uskrsava u našoj kolektivnoj mašti, zajedno sa svojom viteškom svitom, Guinevere, Okruglim stolom, Camelotom i, naravno, Excaliburom. No odakle potječu te priče i ima li u njima istine?
King Arthur as we know him is a creation of the later Middle Ages, but his legend actually has its roots in Celtic poetry from an earlier time: the Saxon invasions of Britain. After the Romans left Britain in 410 CE, Saxon invaders from what’s now Germany and Denmark quickly capitalized on the vulnerability of the abandoned territory. The inhabitants of Britain fought fiercely against the invaders through several centuries of turmoil. There are hardly any written records from this time, so it’s difficult to reconstruct an accurate history. However, surviving poetry from the era gives us some clues. One of the poems, The Gododdin, contains the very first reference to Arthur, though Arthur himself doesn’t actually appear in it. It says a different warrior, named Gwawrddur, was skilled at slaying his enemies, but was no Arthur. That’s not much to go on, but whoever this Arthur was, he must’ve been the gold standard of warriors. Whether he ruled anyone, or even lived at all is, unfortunately, less clear.
Danas nam znani lik kralja Arthura plod je kasnog srednjeg vijeka, ali legenda o njemu zapravo seže do keltske poezije iz ranijeg doba: doba saksonske invazije Britanije. Nakon što su Rimljani 410. n. Kr. napustili Britaniju, saksonski osvajači iz današnje Njemačke i Danske brzo su iskoristili ranjivost napuštenog teritorija. Britanski stanovnici žestoko su se borili protiv osvajača tijekom višestoljetnih previranja. Pisanih dokaza iz tog vremena gotovo da nema, pa je teško točno rekonstruirati povijest. Ipak, preživjela poezija iz tog doba nudi nam neke tragove. U jednoj od poema, „Goddodinu”, prvi se put spominje Arthur, iako se on sam u njoj ne pojavljuje. U njoj se za ratnika po imenu Gwawrddur kaže da je vješto ubijao neprijatelje, ali ne tako vješto kao Arthur. To nam ne otkriva mnogo, no tko god da je taj Arthur bio, zacijelo je bio uzor ratnicima. Nažalost, manje je jasno je li bio vladar i je li uopće postojao.
Despite this uncertainty, references to Arthur caught the attention of an aspiring historian hundreds of years later. In 1130, Geoffrey of Monmouth was a lowly cleric with grand ambitions. Using Celtic and Latin sources, he spent years creating a lengthy chronicle titled, "The History of the Kings of Britain." The centerpiece of this tome was King Arthur.
Unatoč toj dvojbenosti, Arthurovo ime privuklo je pozornost nadobudnog povjesničara stotine godina kasnije. Godine 1130. Geoffrey od Monmoutha bio je običan klerik velikih ambicija. Služeći se keltskim i latinskim izvorima, godinama je stvarao podužu kroniku pod nazivom „Povijest britanskih kraljeva”. Središnji lik tog pozamašnog djela bio je kralj Arthur.
History is a generous term for Geoffrey’s account. Writing six hundred years after the Saxon invasions, he cobbled together fragments of myth and poetry to compensate for the almost complete lack of official records. A few of his sources contained mentions of Arthur, and some others were realistic accounts of battles and places. But many featured mythic heroes fighting long odds with the help of magical swords and sorcery. Geoffrey blended them all: A magical sword called Caledfwlch and a Roman fortress called Caerleon appeared in his source material, so Geoffrey’s Arthur ruled from Caerleon and wielded Caliburnus, the Latin translation of Caledfwlch. Geoffrey even added a wise counselor named Merlin, based on the Celtic bard Myrrdin, to Arthur’s story. If Arthur did live, he would likely have been a military leader, but a castle-bound king better fit Geoffrey’s regal history.
Nazvati Geofrreyjevu kroniku poviješću bilo bi suviše velikodušno. Pišući šesto godina nakon saksonske invazije, skrpao je fragmente mitova i poezije kako bi nadoknadio gotovo potpuni nedostatak službenih zapisa. U nekim njegovim izvorima spominjao se Arthur, a u drugima su realistično prikazane bitke i mjesta. No mnogi su govorili o mitskim herojima koji su se borili unatoč lošim izgledima, uz pomoć čarobnih mačeva i magije. Geoffrey ih je objedinio. Čarobni mač Caledfwlch i rimska utvrda Caerleon spominju se u njegovim izvorima, pa je Geoffreyjev Arthur vladao iz Caerleona i posjedovao Caliburnus, što je latinski prijevod naziva Caledfwlch. Geoffrey je čak dodao mudrog savjetnika Merlina, po uzoru na keltskog barda Myrrdina, Arthurovoj priči. Da je Arthur zaista postojao, vjerojatno bi bio vojskovođa, no kralj u dvorcu bolje se uklapao u Geoffreyjevu kraljevsku povijest.
Geoffrey’s chronicle got the attention he’d hoped for, and was soon translated from Latin into French by the poet Wace around 1155 CE. Wace added another centerpiece of Arthurian lore to Geoffrey’s sword, castle, and wizard: the Round Table. He wrote that Arthur had the table constructed so that all guests in his court would be equally placed, and none could boast that he had the highest position at the table. After reading Wace’s translation, another French poet, Chrétien de Troyes, wrote a series of romances that catapulted Arthur’s story to fame. He introduced tales of individual knights like Lancelot and Gawain, and mixed elements of romance in with the adventures. He conceived Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere’s love triangle. In addition to interpersonal intrigue, he also introduced the Holy Grail. Chrétien probably based his Grail’s powers on magical objects in Celtic mythology. He lived in the middle of the Crusades, and others imposed the preoccupations of the time on the Grail, casting it as a powerful relic from the crucifixion.
Geoffreyjeva kronika privukla je pozornost kojoj se nadao i uskoro ju je s latinskog na francuski preveo pjesnik Wace oko 1155. n. Kr. Wace je dodao još jedan značajni dio arturijanske predaje Geoffreyjevu maču, dvorcu i čarobnjaku: Okrugli stol. Napisao je da je Arthur dao napraviti taj stol kako bi svi gosti na njegovu dvoru zauzimali jednako mjesto i nitko se ne bi mogao hvalisati kako ima najbolje mjesto za stolom. Pročitavši Waceov prijevod, drugi je francuski pjesnik, Chrétien de Troyes, napisao niz romansi koje su proslavile priču o Arthuru. Uveo je pripovijesti o pojedinačnim vitezovima, npr. o Lancelotu i Gawainu, te pomiješao romantične elemente s onim pustolovnima. Smislio je Arthurov, Lancelotov i Guineverein ljubavni trokut. Uz međuljudske intrige, uveo je i Sveti gral. Nadahnuće za moći njegova grala vjerojatno su magični predmeti iz keltske mitologije. Živio je u jeku križarskih ratova i onodobne preokupacije odrazile su se u priči o gralu, koji je tako postao moćna relikvija povezana s raspećem.
Numerous adaptations in French and other languages followed from Chrétien’s work. In the course of these retellings, Caerleon became Camelot, and Caliburnus was rechristened Excalibur. In the 15th century, Sir Thomas Malory synthesized these stories in Le Morte D’arthur, the basis of many modern accounts of King Arthur.
Brojne adaptacije na francuskom i drugim jezicima proizašle su iz Chrétienova djela. U tim je prepričavanjima Caerleon postao Camelot, a Caliburnus je prekršten u Excalibur. U 15. stoljeću sir Thomas Malory objedinio je te priče u „Arthurovu smrt”, koja je temelj mnogih suvremenih prikaza kralja Arthura.
In the thousand years since Arthur first appeared in a Celtic poem, his story has transformed over and over to reflect the concerns of his chroniclers and their audiences. And we’re still rewriting and adapting the legend today. Whether or not the man ever lived, loved, reigned, or adventured, it’s undeniable that the character has achieved immortality.
Tijekom tisuću godina od prve Arthurove pojave u keltskoj poemi njegova se priča stalno mijenjala, odražavajući interese kroničara i njihove publike. I danas preinačujemo i prilagođujemo tu legendu. Čak i ako taj čovjek nikad nije postojao, volio, vladao ili doživljavao pustolovine, njegov lik neosporno je stekao besmrtnost.