DOI: 10.22281/2413-9912-2021-05-02-150-156

IMPACT OF CHRISTIANITY ON DEVELOPMENT OF KING ARTHUR LEGENDS IN THE KNIGHT LITHERATURE OF MIDDLE AGES

The article deals with the actual problem of cultural contact for modern historical knowledge on the example of the origin and development of the legends about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The main purpose of the research is to reflect the understanding of historically important images and symbols of European society through the subjective ideas, thoughts and intentions of a person of the Middle Ages. The main method of research is the socio-cultural approach, focused on the relations of people of the time, characterized by cultural diversity. Christianity in the Arthurian legends of the Middle Ages was one of the elements that had a significant impact on their formation and further development. This was influenced by the early and peaceful Christianization of the British Isles, as well as the cultural and religious contact of the Celtic settlers with the population of Armorica. This article examines two branches of the development of Arthurianism, the Christian origins of the legend of the Holy Grail, as well as the influence of Christian morality and homiletics on the plot-forming motifs of the medieval chivalric novel. In the course of the study, it is traced what influence on the development of the Arthurian cycle, in addition to the ancient Celto-Welsh tradition, was exerted by the early Christianization of the British Isles and how the combination of these factors turned Arthurian into a significant cultural tradition of European civilization.

Keywords: Celts, Christianity, Joseph of Arimathea, religious contact, King Arthur, the Breton branch of the Arthurians, Robert de Boron, Chretien de Troyes, the Grail, chivalrous romance.

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Academician I.G. Petrovskii Bryansk State University (Russia)

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