SOURCE: Gerould, Gordon Hall. “King Arthur and Politics.” Speculum: A Journal of Mediaeval Studies 11, no. 1 (1927): 33-51.

In the following essay, Gerould contrasts William's Deeds of the English Kings, Henry Huntingdon's History of the English, and Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain in an effort to understand the political significance of the appearance of the Arthurian legend in the twelfth century.

There is nothing new in the statement that Geoffrey of Monmouth was inspired to write his great Historia Regum Britanniae by other considerations than a passion for historical truth; nor is there any doubt in the minds of scholars that it was owing to the influence of this book, direct and indirect, that the Arthurian stories leapt into general literary popularity just at this time.¹ In all the writing about these matters, however, I cannot find that anyone has ever suggested a line of inquiry...