Diu Crône and the Medieval Arthurian Cycle (Arthurian Studies)

"Diu Crone (The Crown) is one of the most neglected of Arthurian romances, perhaps because it does not fit into the canon of orthodox Arthurian stories: it is Gawain, not Perceval or Galahad, who achieves the Grail, and Arthur is not a predestined, assured imperial figure but a ruler who struggles through reverses and challenges as he attempts to establish his authority. The author, Heinrich von dem Turlin, creates a figure who is much more credible than the superhuman achiever of the Historia Regum Britannie and the writers who followed Geoffrey of Monmouth, showing the initial vulnerability of the Arthurian order. The eventual triumph of the court and the accolade of the Grail are all the more dramatic in this context." "Diu Crone is a bravura performance which creates a compelling new foundation myth: Camelot is transformed from its initial state of factionalism, sexual betrayal and lack of morale under an inexperienced king to one of law, order and security symbolised by the supreme resourcefulness shown by Gawain in the unflinching service of Arthur, his liege lord. It reinvents the imaginative foundation of the Arthurian ideal, and demonstrates that the ideal maintained its appeal in Germany into the later middle ages."--Jacket.