Layamon (fl. a.d. 1198–1207), producing the first of the Arthurian legends to be composed in English, but who effectively mixed some native Celtic folk traditions into his saga.

In thirteenth century Germany Gottfried von Strassburg and Wolfram von Eschenbach added to the saga. In the fourteenth century, in England, two more important developments were made with The Alliterative Morte d’Arthur (ca. 1360) and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (ca. 1370). Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is regarded as the greatest single Arthurian legend in Middle English writing and introduces two major motifs—the “Beheading Game” and the “Temptation to Adultery.” The authors of both pieces are anonymous.

However, neither was original and both were borrowed from Celtic mythology. The “Beheading Game” appears in the Red Branch Cycle with Cúchulainn, in the role of Gawain, being invited to behead Uath Mac Imoman during the “Feast of Bricriu.” In another version, it is Cú Roí who invites the Ulster warriors to cut off his head on condition that he be allowed to cut their heads off at the appointed time.

The tales involving a “Temptation to Adultery” are many and popular.

In the fifteenth century, Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur gave the ultimate shape to the saga that William Caxton chose for printing in 1485.

In modern times, from Tennyson’s Idylls of the King through to tales by William Morris, John Masefield, Mark Twain, and T. H. White’s classic The Once and Future King (1958), Arthurian stories have become almost countless, their appeal timeless.

It is perhaps ironic that the deeds of a remote Celtic chieftain of the sixth century, fighting to turn back the Anglo-Saxon invasion and the creation of England out of part of Celtic Britain, should have inspired stories that have featured in the literatures of many countries for at least ten decades.

Artio

Gaulish goddess, found on a bronze from Berne and probably cognate with Art (Irish for “bear”), because the goddess sits before a huge bear, offering fruit to it.

Artur

[I] A son of Nemed who led his people in battle against the Fomorii at Cramh Ros.