ritain" or
Legends of Arthur, became popular, and Geoffrey of Monmouth freely
made use of his imagination to fill up the early history of Britain,
for his so-called history is in reality a prose romance, whence later
writers drew themes for many a tale.

Walter Map, born on the border of Wales in 1137, is credited with the
no longer extant Latin prose romance of Lancelot du Lac, which
included the Quest of the Holy Grail and the Death of Arthur. Besides
Wace's Brut, we have that of Layamon, and both poets not only explain
how Britain's name is derived from Brut,--a member of Priam's family
and refugee from Troy,--but go on to give the history of other early
kings of Britain, including Arthur. They often touch the true epic
note,--as in the wrestling match between Corineus and the giant,--use
similes drawn from every-day life, and supply us with legends of King
Lear and of Cymbeline.

It was toward the end of the twelfth century that Arthur reached the
height of his renown as romantic hero, the "matter of Britain" having
become international property, and having been greatly enriched by
poets of many climes. By this time Arthur had ceased to be a king of
Britain, to become king of a fairy-land and chief exponent of
chivalric ideals and aims.

To name all the poets who had a share in developing the Arthurian
Legend would prove an impossible task, but Nennius, Gildas, Geoffrey
of Monmouth, Wace, Layamon, Benoit de St. Maur, Chrestien de Troyes,
Marie de France, Hartmann von der Aue, and Wolfram von Eschenbach
have, in English, French, and German, helped to develop the "matter of
Britain," and have managed to connect it with "the matter of France."

During the age of metrical romances (1200 to 1500), all the already
extant cycles were remodelled and extended. Besides, not only were
Greek and Latin epics translated so as to be within reach of all, but
one country freely borrowed from another. Thus, the French romances of
Huon de Bordeaux and of the Four Sons of Aymon found many admirers in
England, where the former later supplied Shakespeare with some of the
characters for a Midsummer Night's Dream. It was to offset the very
popular romance of Alexander, that some patriotic poet evolved the
romance of Richard Coeur de Lion, explaining how this king earned his
well-known nickname by wrenching the heart out of a lion!

Some of these romances, such as Flores and Blancheflour, have "the
voluptuous qualities of the East," m