Is there any truth to the King Arthur legends? - Alan Lupack

Translator: Nika Lakošeljac Reviewer: Matej Divjak

“Here lies Arthur, king who was, and king who will be.”

»Tukaj počiva Artur, kralj, ki je bil, in kralj, ki bo.«

So reads the inscription on King Arthur’s gravestone

Tako pravi napis na nagrobniku kralja Arturja

in Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur.

v knjigi Arturjeva smrt Thomasa Maloryja.

Writing in the 15th century,

Ko je Malory to zapisal v 15. stoletju,

Malory couldn’t have known how prophetic this inscription would turn out to be.

ni mogel vedeti, kako preroški bo postal ta napis.

King Arthur has risen again and again in our collective imagination,

Kralj Artur se je znova in znova porodil v naši skupni domišljiji,

along with his retinue of knights,

skupaj s svojim spremstvom vitezov,

Guinevere,

Guinevere,

the Round Table,

okroglo mizo,

Camelot,

Camelotom

and of course, Excalibur.

in seveda Excaliburjem.

But where do these stories come from, and is there any truth to them?

Ampak od kod prihajajo te zgodbe in ali je v njih kaj resnice?

King Arthur as we know him is a creation of the later Middle Ages,

Kralj Artur, kot ga poznamo, je stvaritev poznega srednjega veka,

but his legend actually has its roots in Celtic poetry from an earlier time:

ampak legenda o njem ima dejansko korenine v keltski poeziji iz zgodnejšega časa:

the Saxon invasions of Britain.

časa saksonske invazije Britanije.

After the Romans left Britain in 410 CE,

Po tem, ko so Rimljani zapustili Britanijo v letu 410 našega štetja,

Saxon invaders from what’s now Germany and Denmark

so saksonski osvajalci iz današnjega ozemlja Nemčije in Danske

quickly capitalized on the vulnerability of the abandoned territory.

hitro izkoristili ranljivost zapuščenega ozemlja.

The inhabitants of Britain fought fiercely against the invaders

Prebivalci Britanije so se srdito borili proti osvajalcem

through several centuries of turmoil.

preko več nemirnih stoletij.

There are hardly any written records from this time,

Iz tistega časa imamo zelo malo zapisov,

so it’s difficult to reconstruct an accurate history.

zato je težko pravilno rekonstruirati zgodovino.

However, surviving poetry from the era gives us some clues.

Kljub temu nam ohranjena poezija iz tega obdobja poda nekaj namigov.

One of the poems, The Gododdin, contains the very first reference to Arthur,

Ena izmed pesmi, "The Gododdin", čisto prvič omeni Arturja,

though Arthur himself doesn’t actually appear in it.

čeprav sam Artur dejansko ne nastopa v njej.

It says a different warrior, named Gwawrddur,

Pravi, da je bil drugi bojevnik z imenom Gwawrddur

was skilled at slaying his enemies, but was no Arthur.

izurjen v ubijanju svojih sovražnikov, ampak vseeno ni bil tako dober kot Artur.

That’s not much to go on,

To nam ne pove veliko,

but whoever this Arthur was,

ampak kdorkoli je bil ta Artur,

he must’ve been the gold standard of warriors.

je moral veljati za zlati standard bojevnikov.

Whether he ruled anyone, or even lived at all is, unfortunately, less clear.

Žal pa ni jasno, ali je komu vladal ali če je sploh živel.

Despite this uncertainty,

Kljub negotovosti

references to Arthur caught the attention of an aspiring historian

so omembe Arturja, stoletja kasneje, pritegnile

hundreds of years later.

pozornost ambicioznega zgodovinarja.

In 1130, Geoffrey of Monmouth was a lowly cleric with grand ambitions.

Leta 1130 je bil Geoffrey iz Monmoutha skromen duhovnik z velikimi ambicijami.

Using Celtic and Latin sources,

Več let je uporabljal

he spent years creating a lengthy chronicle

keltske in latinske vire in tako ustvaril

titled, "The History of the Kings of Britain."

dolgo latinsko kroniko z naslovom “Zgodovina britanskih kraljev”.

The centerpiece of this tome was King Arthur.

Glavni junak je bil kralj Artur.

History is a generous term for Geoffrey’s account.

Zgodovina je radodarno ime za Geoffreyjevo pripoved.

Writing six hundred years after the Saxon invasions,

Pisal je šesto let po saksonski invaziji,

he cobbled together fragments of myth and poetry

zbral je odlomke mitov in poezije

to compensate for the almost complete lack of official records.

ter s tem skušal nadomestiti skoraj popolno pomanjkanje uradnih zapisov.

A few of his sources contained mentions of Arthur,

Nekaj njegovih virov je omenjalo Arturja,

and some others were realistic accounts of battles and places.

drugi so bili resnični opisi bitk in krajev.

But many featured mythic heroes fighting long odds

Ampak veliko jih je predstavljalo mitične junake, ki so se bojevali,

with the help of magical swords and sorcery.

kljub majhnemu upanju za zmago s pomočjo čarobnih mečev in čarovnije.

Geoffrey blended them all:

Geoffrey je združil vse skupaj:

A magical sword called Caledfwlch

magični meč Caledfwlch

and a Roman fortress called Caerleon appeared in his source material,

in rimljansko utrdbo Caerleon, ki sta se pojavila v njegovi izvirni literaturi,

so Geoffrey’s Arthur ruled from Caerleon and wielded Caliburnus,

zato je Geoffreyjev Artur vladal iz Caerleona in vihtel Caliburnus,

the Latin translation of Caledfwlch.

latinski prevod Caledfwlcha.

Geoffrey even added a wise counselor named Merlin,

Geoffrey je Arturjevi zgodbi dodal pametnega svetovalca Merlina,

based on the Celtic bard Myrrdin, to Arthur’s story.

ki je osnovan na keltskem pesniku Myrrdin.

If Arthur did live, he would likely have been a military leader,

Če je Artur res živel, je bil najverjetneje vojaški vodja,

but a castle-bound king better fit Geoffrey’s regal history.

ampak Geoffreyjevi veličastni zgodovini je bolj ustrezal lik kralja iz gradu.

Geoffreyjeva pripoved je pritegnila pozornost, na katero je upal,

Geoffrey’s chronicle got the attention he’d hoped for,

and was soon translated from Latin into French

in kmalu jo je pesnik Wace okoli leta 1155 n.š.

by the poet Wace around 1155 CE.

prevedel iz latinščine v francoščino.

Wace added another centerpiece of Arthurian lore to Geoffrey’s sword,

Wace je dodal še eno značilnost Arturjevemu izročilu o Geoffreyjevem meču,

castle,

and wizard:

gradu

in čarovniku:

the Round Table.

okroglo mizo.

He wrote that Arthur had the table constructed

Zapisal je, da je Artur dal zgraditi mizo zato,

so that all guests in his court would be equally placed,

da bi bili vsi gostje na njegovem dvoru enakovredni,

and none could boast that he had the highest position at the table.

in da se ne bi nihče mogel hvaliti z višjim položajem pri mizi.

After reading Wace’s translation, another French poet, Chrétien de Troyes,

Po branju Waceovega prevoda, je še en francoski pesnik, Chrétien de Troyes,

wrote a series of romances that catapulted Arthur’s story to fame.

napisal serijo ljubezenskih romanov, ki so katapultirali Arturjevo zgodbo v slavo.

He introduced tales of individual knights like Lancelot and Gawain,

Predstavil je zgodbe posameznih vitezov, na primer Lancelota in Gawaina

and mixed elements of romance in with the adventures.

in zmešal elemente romantike s pustolovščinami.

He conceived Arthur,

Ustvaril je Arturjev,

Lancelot,

Lancelotov

and Guinevere’s love triangle.

in Guineverin ljubezenski trikotnik.

In addition to interpersonal intrigue, he also introduced the Holy Grail.

V medčloveške spletke je vnesel še sveti gral.

Chrétien probably based his Grail’s powers on magical objects in Celtic mythology.

Chrétien je najbrž temeljil moč grala na magičnih predmetih iz keltske mitologije.

He lived in the middle of the Crusades,

Živel je sredi Križarskih vojn

and others imposed the preoccupations of the time on the Grail,

in drugi so postavili skrbi časa na gral

casting it as a powerful relic from the crucifixion.

in mu tako dodelili vlogo mogočne relikvije iz časa križanja.

Numerous adaptations in French and other languages

Sledile so številne priredbe Chrétienovega dela

followed from Chrétien’s work.

v francoščini in drugih jezikih.

In the course of these retellings, Caerleon became Camelot,

Med temi priredbami je Caerleon postal Camelot,

and Caliburnus was rechristened Excalibur.

in Caliburnus se je prekrstil v Excalibur.

In the 15th century,

V 15. stoletju

Sir Thomas Malory synthesized these stories in Le Morte D’arthur,

je Sir Thomas Malory združil zgodbe v »Arturjevo smrt«,

the basis of many modern accounts of King Arthur.

ki je osnova številnih sodobnih pripovedi o Kralju Arturju.

In the thousand years since Arthur first appeared in a Celtic poem,

V tisočih letih odkar se je Artur prvič prikazal v keltski pesmi,

his story has transformed over and over

se je njegova zgodba kar naprej spreminjala,

to reflect the concerns of his chroniclers and their audiences.

da bi odražala zainteresiranost njegovih kronistov in njihovih občinstev.

And we’re still rewriting and adapting the legend today.

Še danes to legendo predelujemo in prilagajamo.

Whether or not the man ever lived,

Ne glede na to, ali je ta mož kdaj živel,

loved,

reigned,

ljubil, vladal ali živel pustolovsko,

or adventured,

it’s undeniable that the character has achieved immortality.

je nedvomno, da je njegov lik postal nesmrten.