“凡能从石台上拔出此剑者即为英格兰的天命之王”
——托马斯•马洛里爵士《亚瑟王之死》
“亚瑟王长眠于此 他曾经是王 未来也将是王”
“Here lies Arthur,king who was, and king who will be.”
这就是托马斯•马洛里的《亚瑟王之死》中
So reads the inscriptionon King Arthur’s gravestone
亚瑟王的墓志铭
in Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur.
该书写于15世纪
Writing in the 15th century,
马洛里不可能知道这句墓志铭
Malory couldn’t have known how prophetic
多么具有预见性
this inscription would turn out to be.
亚瑟王及其随从骑士 桂妮维亚 圆桌会议
King Arthur has risen againand again in our collective imagination,
卡米洛特 当然还有
along with his retinue of knights, Guinevere,
王者之剑 都在众人的想象中反复出现
the Round Table, Camelot, and of course, Excalibur.
但是这些故事从何而来
But where do these stories come from,
是否是以史实为参照呢？
and is there any truth to them?
亚瑟王 如我们所知
King Arthur as we know him
是中世纪后期创作出来的
is a creation of the later Middle Ages,
但其传说实际上源于
but his legend actually has its roots
更早期的凯尔特诗歌：
in Celtic poetry from an earlier time:
撒克逊人侵略不列颠的时代
the Saxon invasions of Britain.
公元410年 罗马人撤离不列颠后
After the Romans left Britain in 410 CE,
位于现在德国及丹麦所在地的撒克逊人
Saxon invaders fromwhat’s now Germany and Denmark
立马抓住其荒废城池的薄弱之处进攻
quickly capitalized on the vulnerabilityof the abandoned territory.
经过几个世纪的动荡
The inhabitants of Britain foughtfiercely against the invaders
不列颠人英勇抗敌
through several centuries of turmoil.
几乎没留下这段时间的任何纸质记录
There are hardly any written recordsfrom this time,
因此很难重现真实的历史
so it’s difficult to reconstructan accurate history.
但那时幸存的诗歌给我们留下了一些线索
However,surviving poetry from the eragives us some clues.
其中一首诗歌
One of the poems,
《高多汀》有着对亚瑟最早的记载
The Gododdin, contains the very first reference to Arthur,
尽管亚瑟并未出现在其中
though Arthur himselfdoesn’t actually appear in it.
它讲述的是另一个叫做Gwawrddur
It says a different warrior,named Gwawrddur,
擅长杀戮的战士 可他不是亚瑟
was skilled at slaying his enemies,but was no Arthur.
没有太多相关记载
That’s not much to go on,
但不论这个亚瑟是谁
but whoever this Arthur was,
他一定是战士的黄金标准
he must’ve been the gold standard of warriors.
他是否统治过 或是否活过 很遗憾 这些都不明确
Whether he ruled anyone, or even lived at all is, unfortunately, less clear.
尽管存在这种不确定性
Despite this uncertainty,
百年后 这些有关亚瑟的文献仍引起了 一位满腔抱负的历史学家的注意
references to Arthur caught the attention of an aspiring historian hundreds of years later.
1130年 来自蒙默斯的杰弗里还是个地位卑微
In 1130, Geoffrey of Monmouth was a lowly cleric
却充满雄心的传教士
with grand ambitions.
参考凯尔特人和拉丁语的文献
Using Celtic and Latin sources,
他写了一部较长篇幅的
he spent years creatinga lengthy chronicle
题为《不列颠诸王史》的编年体史书
titled,”The Historyof the Kings of Britain.”
这本书的中心就是亚瑟王
The centerpieceof this tome was King Arthur.
在杰弗里的记叙中 历史是一个“慷慨的”概念
History is a generous termfor Geoffrey’s account.
撒克逊人侵略后的600年
Writing six hundred years afterthe Saxon invasions,
他把零星的传说和诗歌拼凑在一起
he cobbled together fragmentsof myth and poetry
补上了正史缺失的那部分
to compensate for the almostcomplete lack of official records.
他的一些信息来源包括了提及亚瑟的文献
A few of his sources containedmentions of Arthur,
还有一些就是关于战争和地方的真实描述
and some others were realistic accountsof battles and places.
可是很多传说中的英雄
But many featured mythic heroesfighting long odds
在魔剑和魔法的帮助下战斗了很久
with the help of magical swordsand sorcery.
杰弗里把它们混合在一起：
Geoffrey blended them all:
于是一把名为“神剑”的剑
A magical sword called Caledfwlch
和一个叫做“卡尔雷昂”的古罗马军事要塞
and a Roman fortress called Caerleon
出现在了他的原始材料里
appeared in his source material,
杰弗里笔下的亚瑟从其统领的卡尔雷昂
so Geoffrey’s Arthur ruled from Caerleon
挥舞着王者之剑
and wielded Caliburnus,
即神剑的拉丁语翻译
the Latin translation of Caledfwlch.
杰弗里甚至在吟游诗人Myrrdin的基础上
Geoffrey even added a wisecounselor named Merlin,
在亚瑟的故事中添了一位叫作梅林的聪明顾问
based on the Celtic bard Myrrdin,to Arthur’s story.
如果亚瑟确有其人
If Arthur did live,
那么他可能是一位军事领袖
he would likely have been a military leader,
但城堡式的国王更符合杰弗里的帝王的历史
but a castle-bound king better fitGeoffrey’s regal history.
杰弗里的编年体史书 如他所愿 为之赢得了关注
Geoffrey’s chronicle got the attentionhe’d hoped for,
很快就于1155年前后
and was soon translated from Latininto French
被诗人韦斯从拉丁语翻译成法语
by the poet Wace around 1155 CE.
他还为杰弗里笔下的剑 城堡和巫师加上
Wace added another centerpiece ofArthurian lore to Geoffrey’s sword, castle,
亚瑟王传说的另一个核心：圆桌会议
and wizard: the Round Table.
他写道 亚瑟这样设计桌子
He wrote that Arthurhad the table constructed
是想让其麾下所有人都得到平等的安排
so that all guests in his courtwould be equally placed,
不会有人因位置显赫而自夸
and none could boast that he had the highest position at the table.
读完韦斯的翻译之作后
After reading Wace’s translation,,
另一位法国诗人Chrétien de Troyes
another French poet, Chrétien de Troyes
写了一系列罗曼史 让亚瑟王的故事家喻户晓
wrote a series of romancesthat catapulted Arthur’s story to fame.
他讲述了个别骑士的故事
He introduced tales of individual knights
比如兰斯洛特和高文
like Lancelot and Gawain,
在冒险中加入浪漫的元素
and mixed elements of romancein with the adventures.
他构思了亚瑟王 兰斯洛特和高文的三角恋
He conceived Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere’s love triangle.
除了他们的三角恋 还介绍了圣杯
In addition to interpersonal intrigue,he also introduced the Holy Grail.
Chrétien可能是将圣杯的力量
Chrétien probably based his Grail’s powers
建立在凯尔特神话中有魔力的物件上
on magical objects in Celtic mythology.
他活在十字军东征的中期
He lived in the middle of the Crusades,
其他人加强了当时对圣杯的关注
and others imposed the preoccupationsof the time on the Grail,
把它当做耶稣受难的强大遗物
casting it as a powerful relicfrom the crucifixion.
继Chrétien之后 大量改编出现
Numerous adaptations in Frenchand other languages
有法语的 也有其他语言
followed from Chrétien’s work.
在这样的复述中 Caerleon变成了Camelot
In the course of these retellings,Caerleon became Camelot,
Caliburnus更名为Excalibur
and Caliburnuswas rechristened Excalibur.
在15世纪
In the 15th century,
托马斯•马洛里爵士在《亚瑟王之死》中综合了这些故事
Sir Thomas Malory synthesized these stories in Le Morte D’arthur,
这是许多现在有关亚瑟王描述的基础
the basis of many modern accountsof King Arthur.
自从亚瑟王第一次出现在凯尔特诗歌中
In the thousand years since Arthur first appeared
到现在的一千年里
in a Celtic poem,
他的故事一变再变
his story has transformed overand over
反应了历史记录者及其受众的关注
to reflect the concerns of his chroniclersand their audiences.
而且我们至今仍在重写和改编这一传奇
And we’re still rewritingand adapting the legend today.
不论这个人是否活过 爱过
Whether or not the man ever lived, loved, reigned,
是否称王 是否冒险过
or adventured, it’s
不可否认的是 这个人物实现了不朽
undeniable that the character has achieved immortality.