The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum - View Single Post - Tolkien'a "Fall of Arthur" to be published: confirmed

William Cloud Hicklin · 10-08-2012, 04:01 PM

does Tolkien use the older legends as his source & avoid the Christian dimension at all?

Apparently T more than anything was inspired by a Middle English poem (of course!), the 14th-c. Alliterative Morte Arthure, with secondary influence from the Stanzaic Morte Arthur. The former was based closely on Geoffrey of Monmouth, an essentially military legend, together with the early Middle English Brut of Layamon; whereas the latter was based on a French original and incorporates the trovere traditions like Lancelot and the love-triangle.

So, yes, these would be fully Christian--as were ALL the Arthurian legends; the very earliest documents were written by monks, and after all represented the perspective of the Romanized and thus Christian Britons against the pagan Saxons.

10-08-2012, 04:01 PM	#5
William Cloud Hicklin Loremaster of Annúminas Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2,324	does Tolkien use the older legends as his source & avoid the Christian dimension at all? Apparently T more than anything was inspired by a Middle English poem (of course!), the 14th-c. Alliterative Morte Arthure, with secondary influence from the Stanzaic Morte Arthur. The former was based closely on Geoffrey of Monmouth, an essentially military legend, together with the early Middle English Brut of Layamon; whereas the latter was based on a French original and incorporates the trovere traditions like Lancelot and the love-triangle. So, yes, these would be fully Christian--as were ALL the Arthurian legends; the very earliest documents were written by monks, and after all represented the perspective of the Romanized and thus Christian Britons against the pagan Saxons. __________________ The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didn’t know, and when he didn’t know it.