Presenting selections from medieval Latin, Welsh, English, French and German++ literature, Richard White traces the Arthurian legend from the earliest mentions of Arthur in Latin chronicles, to Geoffrey of Monmouth's first major contribution to Arthurian legend, to Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. Many of these selections have previously been available only to scholars and are translated here for the first time into English.

Bringing together an extensive range of diverse material which reveals the development of the figure of Arthur, this anthology enables the reader to understand how the Arthurian legend developed over a period of more than five hundred years. King Arthur in Legend and History also includes a chronology of key Arthurian texts, an appendix of the Arthurian Courts, a list of sources, suggestions for further reading and bibliography.