Arthurian romance
Knights and quests
Arthurian romance refers to medieval narrative literature centered on King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table—tales of chivalry, quests, courtly love, and supernatural adventure.
The genre flourished in twelfth- and thirteenth-century France and England, producing works like those of Chrétien de Troyes and the prose Lancelot cycle.
Characters such as Lancelot, Guinevere, Gawain, and the search for the Holy Grail remain cultural touchstones: The novel draws heavily on Arthurian romance.
- CamelotLegendary British royal seat
- courtly loveChivalric romantic ideal
- ExcaliburMythic British blade
- Holy GrailLegendary cup from scripture
- Fisher KingArthurian wounded grail keeper
Sir Lancelot · Lady of the Lake · chivalry · knight errant · damsel in distress · Morgan le Fay · Avalon · Merlin · Tristan and Isolde · Sir Gawain · Mordred · Sir Galahad · Geoffrey of Monmouth · enchanted forest · Green Knight · loyalty · betrayal · Guinevere
Arthurian romanceAnglo-Saxon Chronicle
Medieval English historical annals
historiography · annals · realist fiction · court records · eyewitness testimony
Arthurian romancepicaresque
Rascally adventure narrative style
mock-heroic · naturalism · literary realism · Don Quixote · satire
Arthurian romanceNorse saga
Old Scandinavian heroic narrative
Ramayana · beast fable · Beowulf · picaresque · social realism
Arthur, romance, romances, romantic, romantically, romanticism, romanticize, romanticized, unromantic