Writers of the Arthurian Legend

1. Ariosto, Ludovico | 1474-1533
   Author of Orlando Furioso. [More]

   
   

2. Bek of Castleford, Thomas | 14^th century
   A Yorkshireman who wrote a verse chronicle of British, Scottish, and English history ca 1327. [More]

   
   

3. Beroul | Béroul | 12^th century
   Author of Tristan romance, written in Anglo-Norman French. [More]

   
   

4. Biket, Robert | Béroul | 12^th century
   Author of the 580-line Lai du cor ('The Lai of the Horn'). [More]

   
   

5. Boccaccio, Giovanni | 1313-1375
   An Italian writer. [More]

   
   

6. Boece, Hector | Died 1536
   A Scottish historian. His Scotonum Historia contains some Arthurian information written from an anti King Arthur standpoint.

   
   

7. Boiardo, Matteo Maria | 1441-1494
   A poet. [More]

   
   

8. Brother Robert
   He translated a Norwegian version of Tristan. [More]

   
   

9. Capellanus, Andreas
   Author of De Amore (Latin prose, ca. 1185). [More]

   
   

10. Capgrave, John | 1393-1464
    Author of several works. [More]

    
    

11. Caradoc of Llancarfan | 12^th century
    Author of the Vita Gildae ('Life of St. Gildas'). [More]

    
    

12. Caxton, William | c. 1422-1491
    William introduced printing to England. [More]

    
    

13. Chaucer, Geoffrey | 1340?-1400
    Author. [More]

    
    

14. Chestre, Thomas | 14^th century
    Generally conceded to be the author of Libeaus Desconus and Sir Launfal. [More]

    
    

15. Chrétien de Troyes | 12^th century
    A French poet who wrote several Arthurian romances. [More]

    
    

16. Colin, Philipp, and Claus Wisse | 14^th century
    Between 1331 and 1336, they translated and adapted two of the French continuators of Chrétien's Perceval, Wauchier de Denain and Manessier, into German. [More]

    
    

17. Dante Alighieri | 1265,1321
    A Medieval poet. [More]

    
    

18. Dryden, John | 1631-1700
    An English poet who wrote the opera King Arthur in 1691. [More]

    
    

19. Eilhart von Oberge | 12^th century
    Author of a version of the story of Tristan and Iseult. [More]

    
    

20. Geoffrey of Monmouth | Galfridus Artur, etc | c. 1100-c. 1155
    Author of two important Latin works of Arthur. [More]

    
    

21. Gerbert | 13^th century
    Author of a continuation to Chrétien de Troyes's Perceval.

    
    

22. Gottfried von Strassburg | 13^th century
    Author of a German romance of Tristan. No details of Gottfried's life are known.

    
    

23. Hartmann von Aue | c. 1170-1215
    A German (perhaps Rhenish) poet of the Middle High German period and a participant in the Crusade of 1197. He is the author of two Arthurian romances, Erec and Iwain, both of which closely follow the works of Chrétien de Troyes.

    
    

24. Heinrich von dem Türtin | 13^th century
    A German poet, author of Diu Crône, a Grail romance in which Gawain is the hero.

    
    

25. Heywood, Thomas | c. 1574-1641
    The seventeenth-century author of Life of Merlin. Born in Lincolnshire, the son of a clergyman, he was educated at Cambridge and was writing plays by 1596. Up to 1633 he had a large share in the composition of 220 plays. Twenty-four of them have survived.

    
    

26. John of Glastonbury | Flourished c. 1340
    Author of a Latin history, Cronica Sive Antiquitates Glastoniensis Ecclesie (Chronicles or Antiquities of the Glastonbury Church), the story of Glastonbury Abbey. The work includes Arthurian material. He used William of Malmesbury's De Antiquitate Glastonie Ecclesie as a source.

    
    

27. Layamon | Flourished c. 1200
    A Worchestershire poet and priest at Ernley (now Areley Regis) on the Severn near Bewdley. In c. 1200 he wrote an alliterative verse chronicle, the Anglo-Saxon Brut or Brut d'Angleterre. It is an important work in the history of English versification, as it is the first poem written in Middle English.

    
    

28. Malmesbury, William of | c. 1090-c. 1143
    An English chronicler who became a monk in the monastery at Malmesbury. [More]

    
    

29. Malory, Thomas | c. 1415/1418-1471
    A knight, author of Morte d'Arthur, which for many English readers is the classic Arthuriad. [More]

    
    

30. Marie de France | 12^th century
    A French poetess and authoress of two Arthurian romances. [More]

    
    

31. Nennius | Nemnius, Nemnivus | 9^th century
    The name given to the author of the Historia Brittonum, a Latin work of perhaps the ninth century. The work is clumsily put together. Nennius was a Welsh monk who lived in Wales and is considered to be a legend himself.

    
    

32. Robert de Boron | Flourished 1200
    The Burgundian author of two important Arthurian romances. [More]

    
    

33. Rusticiano de Pisa | Rustichello da Pisa | Flourished 1290
    An Italian writer. [More]

    
    

34. Scharfenberg, Albrecht von | Flourished 1270
    Author of Der jüngere Titurel, composed around 1270. [More]

    
    

35. Shakespeare, William | 1564-1616
    Shakespeare is perhaps the best-known playwright ever to have lived. [More]

    
    

36. Spenser, Edmund | 1552/1553-1599
    English poet. [More]

    
    

37. Thomas | 12^th century
    Author of the Anglo-Norman Tristan.

    
    

38. Ulrich von Zatzikhoven | Flourished 1200
    The German or Swiss author of Lanzelet. This version of the Lancelot story differs markedly from that of Chrétien.

    
    

39. Wace, Robert | c. 1110-after 1174
    Author of the French Roman de Brut. [More]

    
    

40. Wirnt von Grafenberg | 13^th century
    The German, or possibly Bavarian, author of Wigalois, a romance about Gawain's son.

    
    

41. Wolfram von Eschenback | c. 1160/1180-c. 1220
    German knight and poet who was the author of Parsifal, a work dealing with the Grail Quest. [More]