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  • The Metamorphoses of Empire in the Arthurian Tradition
  • Kathryn Hume (bio)

We are not surprised when a fantasy king conquers foreign lands and adds to his holdings. Acquiring territory is more likely to generate adventures than reforming the justice system or improving roads. For an essentially mythical king such as Arthur, any sort of conquest and any sort of empire is possible. Given, however, that Arthur (insofar as he existed) was apparently a Romano-British war leader and then, in later tales, became king of England and even overlord of his entire island, British listeners and readers through the ages would presumably have had some sense of the actual territorial possibilities. Why, then, should we find so rich an array of completely fantastic empires that writers attached to Arthur from 1136 to the present in England-oriented Arthuriana? What triggers the changes in these imaginary realms? Although one could identify many more variations than I have, I would like to analyze several broadly defined eras and their varied projected empires. The early and late medieval periods give us epic and romance empires, respectively. From Spenser to Tennyson, we get genealogical and moral ideals; the former translates Roman imperium northward, and the latter produces an empire bizarrely governed by chastity. From the late nineteenth century through the world wars, we get ethical concerns over imperial use of power and attempts to historicize Arthur as the heroic resister of vicious colonizers—the opposite of an empire builder. In the later twentieth century, we will see a conflicting array of further ahistorical empires.1

The Seeds of the Arthurian Myth

Y Gododdin, the Welsh Triads, Gildas, and Nennius include references to Arthur or to Ambrosius Aurelianus and battles associated with Arthur.2 With Geoffrey of Monmouth's extended "history" (1136), empire enters the Arthurian story. That history was sufficiently grandiose that even some medieval readers doubted its accuracy. Alfred of Beverley wondered [End Page 619] why Geoffrey offered no supporting evidence for his elaborate account of continental conquest. Ranulf Higden, who had read chronicles from various European nations before composing his own history in the fourteenth century, was deeply suspicious of Arthur's conquering Europe, since none of the continental chronicles ever mentioned it.3 Geoffrey claimed to draw on Welsh sources, and a few Welsh chronicles and stories might have fed the account of Arthur conquering Gaul and Italy down to the walls of Rome.4

Two historical figures, Riothamus and Macsen Wledig, suggest models for continental conquests.5 Both did lead expeditions into Gaul. Riothamus is dated about AD 470; he was a Romano-British war leader who marched with Roman troops against the Goths. He was apparently betrayed and is last known in the vicinity of Avallon in Burgundy. Macsen Wledig, or Magnus Maximus, rose to power in Britain and became Western Roman emperor 383–88; he was defeated by Theodosius I and executed. In The Mabinogion, the "Dream of Macsen Wledig" includes his triumphal (and nonhistorical) winning of Rome. The notion of Arthur's invading the continent and even besieging Rome does have these garbled precedents.6

Fantastic Continental Empire: 1136 to the Latter Part of the Fourteenth Century

The Arthur of these early epic treatments is known chiefly for his continental conquests, and as these have no historical basis, they constitute the first fantastic empire. This territorial expansion characterizes the Arthurian world for Geoffrey of Monmouth, Wace, and La3amon, and it dominates the Alliterative Morte Arthure.7 While executing this grand conquest, Arthur is betrayed at home by Mordred and the queen. Arthur and Mordred go down in mutual destruction, though Arthur is taken off to Avalon, either to die or mysteriously to become the once and future king.8

If we look at documentable history during the period in which these early accounts of Arthur were written, we see the figures we think of as "English" kings repeatedly winning and losing portions of France. Shortly after 1066, Normandy, Brittany, and Maine were attached to the crown but were mostly lost to France by 1092; England regained Normandy by 1130. During the approximate time of Wace (ca. 1155), England had gone from holding a relatively small part of...

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