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Whether earlier Arthurian romances existed in Scots is not known
C. B
significance of female characters. Despite the great differences con culture between the two small European nations of Scotland and Catalonia, this comparative study of their reception of the Matter of Britain through the sensitivo of French literature will turn up surprising correspondences. It provides us with verso useful perspective on the methodology of the Scottish adaptations and helps us preciso understand how and why both traditions change the thematic focus of French romances within their historical contexts. First we must examine the Arthurian tradition con Scotland, and, because it is less well known, the whole cultural context of the romances sopra Catalonia. Mediante Scotland, the two surviving Arthurian texts con Middle Scots – Golagros and Gawane and Lancelot of the Laik – were composed during the fifteenth century. 4 The fact that these two works were written sopra the specific political and historical context of the century after the Wars of Independence, when the figure of King Arthur had been reshaped by the kings of England preciso accommodate their claims over Scotland, bivalent attitude towards the legendary monarch.5 While politically he is verso very problematic character, in literary terms he is still one of the major heroes of late medieval romance, deployed as a speculum segno asiame in principis as sopra most European literatures.6 The fact that the first successors of the much-praised Nene I – David II and Lolo II – were rather weak sovereigns might explain why later Scottish literature shows such a developed interest mediante discussions of good kingship. (más…)