The perception of the Arthurian legend during Medieval Times and today. The Holy Grail

Abstract or Introduction

This term paper focuses on the perception of the Holy Grail and also on the represenation of the Arthurian legend in the Monty Python movie.

The Arthurian legend is one of the widest known legends of the middle ages and the story about King Arthur can be dated back to the 9th century. Then his name was first mentioned in the "Historia Brittonum", which is a Latin compilation of historical texts and events. In the "Historia Brittonum" he was described as a Roman British military leader unlike to his later image as the king of the Britons who fought against the Anglo Saxons.

The first mention of Arthur as the king of Britons was then in the 12th century by the British author Geoffrey of Monmouth in his "Historia Regum Britannie". This was also the time when the Arthurian literary circle became part of the Matter of Britain, a collective body of medieval literature and legendary material which is associated with Great Britain.

Monmouth's "Historia Regnum Britannie" functioned as the base for Robert Wace's verse history "Roman de Brut". In this text the renowned round table of king Arthur and his knights was first mentioned and also the name of the magical sword Excalibur first arose. Moreover, in the 12th century the French poet Chrétien de Troyes wrote his works based on the Arthurian legend. He added the stories about Parceval, one of Arthur's knights, and the search for the holy grail.

This research report argues that the story about Arthur and his knights never lost its significance and its fascination over hundreds of years, even up until today. Not only by actors during the middle ages, the story was used for their mystery plays, but also in the 20th century the Arthurian legend can be found in several texts and movies, one of which is Monthy Python and the Holy Grail.