Le leggende di Re Artù e i cavalieri della Tavola Rotonda

An Arthurian romance is a tale about the legends of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table. King Arthur was a very important figure in English literature. Legends tell that he became king when he was very young. From then, under the tutelage of Merlin, he became a great king. His wish was to have an Utopian society.

Elementi fantastici e amore cortese

The legends of king Arthur are dated from the 5th century, when Britain was been invaded by the Anglo Saxons.

These stories have many fantastical and magical elements that derived from Celtic mythology. They were also influenced by courtly love, based on themes of heroism and loyalty, in fact the legends tell about a timeless world in which women were considered untouchable object of adoration, in fact courtly love is linked to the Christian idea of passion as suffering.

Temi principali delle leggende

The characters involved in these stories are knights, ladies, queens, nobles and so on.

The main themes are love (so the relationship between knight and lady), the search of adventure and the heroic combat. In these legends we can find four main themes:

origin of the magician Merlin, Arthur and Excalibur, the Round Table


Exploits of Lancelot, Lancelot and Ginevra fall in love


The research of the Holy Graal


Love of Lancelot and Ginevra, Arthur's death.

Autori delle leggende arturiane

Many authors wrote about King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, for example de Troyes, Gottfried and Wolfram.