#sir Tristan

[queer-ragnelle]

Beginner’s Guide to Medieval Arthuriana

Just starting out at a loss for where to begin?

Here’s a guide for introductory Medieval texts and informational resources ordered from most newbie friendly to complex. Guidebooks and encyclopedias are listed last.

All PDFs link to my Google drive and can be found on my blog. This post will be updated as needed.

Pre-Existing Resources

Hi-Lo Arthuriana

♡ Loathly Lady Master Post ♡

Medieval Literature by Language

Retellings by Date

Films by Date

TV Shows by Date

Documentaries by Date

Arthurian Preservation Project

The Camelot Project

If this guide was helpful for you, please consider supporting me on Ko-Fi!

Medieval Literature

Page (No Knowledge Required)

The Vulgate Cycle | Navigation Guide | Vulgate Reader

The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle

The Marriage of Sir Gawain

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight

The Welsh Triads

Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

Squire (Base Knowledge Recommended)

The Mabinogion

Four Arthurian Romances by Chrétien de Troyes

King Artus | scan by @jewishlancelot

Morien

Knight (Extensive Knowledge Recommended)

The History of The King's of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth

Alliterative Morte

Here Be Dragons (Weird or Arthurian Adjacent)

The Crop-Eared Dog

Perceforest | A Perceforest Reader | PDF courtesy of @sickfreaksirkay

Wigalois | Vidvilt

Guingamor, Lanval, Tyolet, & Bisclarevet by Marie of France

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

Grail Quest

Peredur (The Mabinogion)

The Story of the Grail + 4 Continuations by Chrétien de Troyes

Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach

The Crown by Heinrich von dem Türlin (Diu Crône)

The High Book of The Grail (Perlesvaus)

The History of The Holy Grail (Vulgate)

The Quest for The Holy Grail Part I (Post-Vulgate)

The Quest for The Holy Grail Part II (Post-Vulgate)

Merlin and The Grail by Robert de Boron

The Legend of The Grail | PDF courtesy of @sickfreaksirkay

Lancelot Texts

Knight of The Cart by Chretien de Troyes

Lanzelet by Ulrich von Zatzikhoven

Spanish Lancelot Ballads

Gawain Texts

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight

The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle

The Marriage of Sir Gawain

Sir Gawain and The Lady of Lys

The Knight of The Two Swords

The Turk and Sir Gawain

Perilous Graveyard | scan by @jewishlancelot

Tristan/Isolde Texts

Béroul & Les Folies

Prose Tristan (The Camelot Project)

Tristan and The Round Table (La Tavola Ritonda) | Italian Name Guide

The Romance of Tristan

Tristan and Iseult by Gottfried von Strassburg

Byelorussian Tristan

Educational/Informational Resources

Encyclopedias & Handbooks

Warriors of Arthur by John Matthews, Bob Stewart, & Richard Hook

The Arthurian Companion by Phyllis Ann Karr

The New Arthurian Encyclopedia by Norris J. Lacy

The Arthurian Handbook by Norris J. Lacy & Geoffrey Ashe

The Arthurian Name Dictionary by Christopher W. Bruce

Essays & Guides

A Companion to Chrétien de Troyes edited by Joan Tasker & Norris J. Lacy

A Companion to Malory edited by Elizabeth Archibald

A Companion to The Lancelot-Grail Cycle edited by Carol Dover

Arthur in Welsh Medieval Literature by O. J. Padel

Diu Crône and The Medieval Arthurian Cycle by Neil Thomas

Wirnt von Gravenberg's Wigalois: Intertextuality & Interpretation by Neil Thomas

The Legend of Sir Lancelot du Lac by Jessie Weston

The Legend of Sir Gawain by Jessie Weston

[ladyjuquia]

This was Tristan half of the time in his Legends/Tales

Art by @dailyarturia

[gawrkin]

The Superhuman Feats of the Knights of the Round Table (And it's not even all of their feats!)

Arthur: (The Overall Strongest)

Historia Brittonum

Culwch and Olwen

Historia Regum Britannia (Geoffrey nerfs Arthur)

Torec (From King Arthur in the Medieval Low Countries)

Le Morte D'Arthur (Arthur nerfed again)

Idylls of the King

Kay and Bedivere (Both from Pa Gur)

[...[

[...]

Kay (Note: this doesn't take into account his superpowers)

[...]

Bedivere

Lancelot (focusing mostly on Vulgate, as Lance has a TON of feats everywhere that it would take an entire post)

Vulgate Cycle - Lancelot in Val Sans Retour, killing Morgan's Dragons

Vulgate Cycle - Lancelot fighting for Bagdemagus

Vulgate Cycle - A knight's POV of Lancelot fighting for Bagdemagus

Vulgate Cycle - Lancelot as the Red Knight

Vulgate Cycle - Gawain's POV on Lancelot disguised as The Red Knight

Tavola Ritonda

Gawain (not accounting for his Solar-based strength)

[...]

De Ortuu Waluuanii

Diu Crone

Tristan (Another character with superpowers and magic, but we'll keep it short)

Tavola Ritonda Bonus: Tristan can JUMP really, really high while injured:

I

Le Morte D'Arthur

[grail-lifesupport]

@caer-gai not quiiite on prompt but Tristan and Dinadan bought Palamedes a questing beast.

it’s his new favourite

(visiting knights prompt: Sir Palamedes knight of the Questing Beast)

[genesisguidline]

Sir Tristan the Cold and Juno Steel

I‘ve been having visions since I first heard Sir Tristan and found out he was voiced by Joshua Ilon.

currently listening to the second citadel s4

[rainbluealoekitten]

LISTEN. I know "cunte" means "compte" so "tale/story" and the last 2 lines basically translate to "between those who tell stories / and speak of the tale of Tristan" BUT you cannot tell me this doesn't read like "and they talk of cunty tristan"

[kulttuurinkurittama]

Harmony

I've wanted to draw an organistrum since I saw corvus corax live at a medieval festival and now I got to with the help of Tristan and Dinadan. I actually really do not like Tristan so I gave him a dumb mustache as revenge lol.

[oneshoulderangel]

Referencing that one time they were all in prison together and Palomides had to mind a sick Tristan.

Tristan has no memory of this, and even if he did, he’d deny it.

[noughticalcrossings]

He Completely Lost His Heart To Her

Palamedes gazed at her so much that Tristan noticed it and realised from his behaviour that he loved her with all his heart. Before that Tristan had often looked at Iseut and she pleased him very much, but not in a way which made him fall in love with her. However, when he saw Palamedes was so infatuated with Iseut that he said he would die if he did not have her, Tristan for his part said that Palamedes would certainly never have her if he could help it…

Thus Tristan concieved a mortal hatred for Palamedes, and Palamedes for Tristan

- The Romance of Tristan, trans. Renée L. Curtis

[reignsan]

Servant Summer Festival 2023 trailer.

[sickfreaksirkay]

look at this illustration of sir tristram on his journey to avalon..... imagine arriving at avalon in this sick ass swan boat i just know all the other dead knights would be soo jealous

[queer-ragnelle]

Jaufre | More quotes at Arthuriana Daily

[dullyn]

One thing that is both lovely and frustrating about the Arthurian legends is the fact that since there are so many different authors, not a lot lines up. Like it offers such wild plot lines and in depth explorations of different characters, but at some point you become confused on where some interactions even come from. The perfect example of this is the tale of Tristan and Iseult, something from the twelfth century that is older than the existence of the character of Lancelot, and something that predates the Vulgate Cycle. The story essentially establishes Tristan as a character and as a brilliant knight. However, he is not Arthur’s knight in the tale, instead Arthur only makes a brief appearance as a third party judge, and he is simply King Mark’s nephew and favored knight. Well until he gets caught having an affair with Iseult and it all goes downhill and he suffers from the plot device of the Sails of Theseus. However, in the Prose Tristan and other later adaptations he is the best friend of Lancelot and Arthur’s second best knight and a noble guy, etc. I guess the point of this whole thing is that it always screws with my head when I stare at the multiple versions of the same character and have to reconcile that they are all true and real and right cause it’s literature and stories are meant to adapt and change. That’s the beauty of it as a genre, but sometimes I wish there was just one definitive timeline.

[secretly-sirens]

I totally don't cry about doomed love narratives.

*reads the tale of Tristan and Iseult*

*sobs*

[gawrkin]

The Arthurian Heroes' Classes and Stats

(From AD&D 1st Edition's Deities and Demigods)(Link, HERE)

(Disclaimer: I am neither a player of nor an expert on D&D/AD&D. Just thought everyone should see this)

(EDIT: Link to a new post covering AD&D's 2nd edition's character stats, HERE)