Who was the original author of King Arthur and the Knights of the round table?

Question

I tried to find the story at my local library and came up with very little.

Answer 1

The tale of Camelot, King Arthur, and his knights is an ancient English folk tale.
You might try books on English myths and folk tales.

If you want to read a novel based on this folk tale, try "The Mists of Avalon" by Marion Zimmer Bradley. It's great!
(Also "Le Morte D'Arthur" -- a classic, but a terrible read.)

You could also watch the following movies:
"Camelot" with Richard Harris and Vannessa Redgrave (1967)
"Excalibur"
"First Knight" with Sean Connery and Richard Gere (very loosely based on the "original")

For historical information, there's always Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Arthur

Answer 2

There's a very old version by Thomas Malory called "Le Morte d"Arthur" (The Death of Arthur), which goes back several centuries--the 1470s. I'm not sure if it's the ORIGINAL original telling of the story, but it's one of the earliest versions to have it written down as a complete story in itself.

ADDENDUM; As someone else said, Arthur & the knights were legendary, and thus the stories were mostly handed down orally, so there's no way to know who originally came up with them or if there ever really was a King Arthur. Apparently an English historian named Geoffrey of Monmouth, writing in 1100s, started fleshing out the legend, and then Malory put it all together. But as you know there have been many many versions since. (Another good version for the young Arthur--the sword in the stone story--is T.H. White's "The Once and Future King".)

Answer 3

this story is of the romance genre which originally came from the french folklore.(yet the english ones are mostly a mere repetition of the french ones.)so, king arthur also is derived from the folklore as well.(but thomas malory gathered this up in his morte d'arthur and little by little other writers added elements to it.e.g.the round table.)

Answer 4

It doesn't have an original author. It's a myth (with some possible historical factuality in it), and was passed down orally for quite some time. Any "oldest book version" would not necessarily be the most accurate one.

The earliest reference is in a Welsh poem. The Gododdin (ca. 594).

Answer 5

Avalon High by Meg Cabot

lol sorry just thought that book was terribly hilarious, considering i am a King Arthur lit fan.

i remember reading in english class that the whole thing was about a warlord. yet he was immortalized in poerty and music by bards because that certain tribe didnt believe in life after death, so they keep their great men alive by always remembering them.

thus the whole thing is a lore. but Le Mort d'Arthur is the oldest one i can think of. and i agree, it is a terrible read.

Answer 6

It doesn't really have an original author. There was a real guy called Arthur who was a warlord, and the legend just built up in stages around him.

Answer 7

Just a quick note for you.
The movie Excalibur is HORRID. It's nearly as funny as Monty Python's The Quest for the Holy Grail, except its nto supposed to be. Maybe it was just me.
However, Richard Wagner did a fantastic job on the soundtrack...namely the La Fortuna main theme which is on a lot of commericaila snad in many modern movies..and now I'm rambling.

Answer 8

the other answers are right on. It's a myth and existed in story long before it was ever written down. better than the first ever written copy is by far joseph Campbell's discussions about it in his "Power of Myth" series for one, and his "hero with a thousand faces" book also. In one of them he mentions a German version that he feels is the best. I can't find it immediately for you. but the purpose of the myth is understanding it in the context of your life and Campbell's discussion of it makes that easier, due to the sheer volume of the readings he has done, than what you can do by reading just one book. and by the way Excalibur is a pretty great film.

Answer 9

Sir Thomas Mallory "Le Morte D'Artur"