The Scots and Medieval Arthurian Legend edited by Rhiannon Purdie and Nicola Ryan (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS107 the wofks he discusses. The latter parr ofhis essay moves much further afield to the medieval British community's gradual ceding to the monareh its powef to punish offenders. In the final piece, David Hay builds on Megan McLaughlin's 1990 study ofwomen warriors and investigates the legal range ofwomen's authority as military commanders in canon law. Only Crachiolo emphasizes the possibility of pleasure associated with reading about orviewingrhe spectacle ofpain, its ability to titillate as well as repulse—a reason violence is ubiquitous and problematic in every age and makes it hard to locate any form as particularly 'medieval.' These essays form a worthwhile volume rhat needs to be reckoned with in discussions of how violence means in medieval society. CHRISTINE M. ROSE Portland State University RHiANNON PURDiE and Nicola Ryan, eds., The Scots andMedievalArthurian Legend. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2005. Pp. ix, 156. isbn: 1-84384-036-7. $80. The editors frame this collection of essays with the question: 'What exactly is the relationship between Arthur's world and the teal tetritories of England, Wales and Scotland?' (1). And, indeed, the great strengrh of rhis collection is its ttuly interdisciplinary attempt to articulate an answer, including essays that are exacting studies ofmanuscript transmissions, comparative literary studies, and ethno-political studies. Elizabeth Archibald tfaces the LancelotoftheLaik authof's sources, his work's participation in several genres, and its possible reception, and Priscilla Bawcutt executes a textual analysis ofSirLamwell, including a new edition ofthat text. Tony Hunt, Andrew King, and Sergi Mainer productively place the Scottish Arthur in conversation with, respectively, Anglo-Norman and Irish texts, EarlyModern English drama, and the matièrede Bretagne as it appeats in Catalan literature. But it is in the ethno-political essays that the importance ofthe Scottish Arthur inArthurian tradition as a whole becomes the most clear. The first essay sets the tone of this collection, which challenges any reductionist notions about the homogeneous reception of Atthut across rhe 'Celric' culrures, making this volume a necessary balancing voice in Arthurian scholarship. Juliette Wood examines the reception ofGeoffrey ofMonmouth's Historia and its deployment by Scottish literarycircles over several hundred years by contrasting irs use in rhat othef member ofrhe 'Celtic fringe,' Wales. Wood suggests that the 'fluidity' ofthe Galfridian vision ofArthur and his role in British history allows the Welsh to use Arthur to argue for inclusion with the larger geo-political world ofEngland, but allows the Scots to comment on issues ofsovereignty and independence, displaying a more 'ambivalent and sometimes contradictory' attitude towafds Arthur because of the denial of the legitimate, and Scottish, heir to the crown of Britain, Gawain. Rhiannon Purdie reminds us that 'national character' is not located simply in a text's language or its circulation history, but rathet in 'outlook, theme(s), and the cultural frames of references embedded in it' (96). Pufdie reads the author of Golagros and Gawane as blending 'togethef international Arthurian tradition with local Scottish 1?8ARTHURIANA interests to covet the entire spectrum of Scotland's uniquely complex reception of Arthurian legend' (107). Cory J. Rushton's essay examines Malory's deployment of ethnicity in his Morte Darthur to participate in the cultural discussion in England about the 'Scottish problem.' Rushton suggests that Malory, conrrasting 'with English opinion during the reign ofEdward I. . .saw the Scots as neithef despicable nor easily conquered. They were dangerous' (110). Nicola Royan's contribution details the use ofArthur in two historical texts, Andrew Wyntoun's Original Chronicle (c.1412) and the Scottis Originale (c. 1513), and two literary texts, John Barbour's Bruce (c. 1375) and Hary's Wallace (c. 1485). Comparing the genres ofhistory and literature, Royan argues that Barbour and Hary use Arthut 'to support their heroes' and rhe historiographers 'use him to redefine the relationship between Scottish and British' (54), allowing us to read Arthur as justifying 'assertions of authority, whethef they be on behalf of the doomed Wallace, or the triumphant James VT (54). Thea Summerfield's contribution argues that Piefre de Langtoft's Chronicle is an AngloNorman 'text offering evidence on the same subject as the official [Latin] records' rhat 'is rich in Arthurian references' and was possibly performed at an event...