Arthur I, Duke of Brittany
Encyclopedia
Arthur I was Duke of Brittany
between 1194 and 1202. He was the posthumous
son of Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany
(d. 1186) and Constance, Duchess of Brittany
. In 1190 he was designated heir to the throne of England
and its French territory by Richard I
; the intent being that Arthur would succeed Richard — in preference to Richard's younger brother John Lackland
. Richard, Geoffrey and John were sons — third, fourth and fifth, respectively — of King Henry II of England
and Eleanor of Aquitaine
.
Nothing is recorded of Arthur after his incarceration in Rouen Castle
in 1203, and his precise fate is unknown. The mysterious disappearance of a boy possibly destined to be king of England may be likened to the later fate of Edward V
, one of the princes in the Tower
.
, Constance took more independence for Brittany. On November 11, 1190, Richard betrothed Arthur to a daughter of Tancred of Sicily
as part of their treaty. In 1194, Constance had the young Arthur proclaimed its duke as a child of seven years. However, Emperor Henry VI
conquered the Kingdom of Sicily
in the same year, so the betrothal of Arthur came to naught.
Additional bad news for Arthur was that a marriage plan, originally aiming to establish an alliance between Richard and Philip, to marry his elder sister Eleanor
to Prince Louis of France
, also failed. This event was sometimes viewed as a sign that Richard would not recognize Arthur as his heir. In 1196, Richard again nominated Arthur as his heir and summoned him, as well as his mother Constance, to Normandy. But right then, Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester, stepfather of Arthur, abducted Constance. The furious Richard marched to Brittany to rescue Arthur, who was then secretly carried to France to be brought up with Prince Louis.
When Richard died on April 6, 1199, on his deathbed he proclaimed his brother John
as his heir, fearing Arthur was too young to look after the throne. Arthur was only twelve years old at the time and much under the influence of the French king. John
immediately claimed the throne of England, but much of the French nobility were resentful at recognizing him as their overlord. They preferred Arthur, who declared himself vassal
of Philip II of France
.
recognized Arthur's right to Anjou
, Maine, and Poitou
. Upon Richard's death Arthur led a force to Anjou and Maine. From April 18, he styled himself as Duke of Brittany, Count of Anjou and Earl of Richmond. But, by the Treaty of Le Goulet
, May 1200, Philip had recognised John
as heir of his brother Richard I and King of England, and thus had formally abandoned support for Arthur's claim to the English throne. Feeling offended by Philip, Arthur fled to John and was treated kindly. However, he later became suspicious of John and fled back to Angers
. Some unidentified source said in April 1202, Arthur was again betrothed, this time to Marie of France
, a daughter of Philip II and Agnes of Andechs-Merania.
On 31 July 1202, Arthur was surprised by John's forces while besieging Mirebeau
, where he was holding as hostage his grandmother, John's mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine
. Captured by John's barons, Arthur was imprisoned at Falaise
in Normandy
, guarded by Hubert de Burgh. At this time his sister Eleanor was also captured, then imprisoned at Corfe Castle
in Dorset
. The following year Arthur was transferred to Rouen
, under the charge of William de Braose
, and then vanished mysteriously in April 1203.
. The Margam annals provide the following account of Arthur's death:
William de Braose rose high in John's favour after Arthur's disappearance, receiving new lands and titles in the Welsh Marches
, so much so that he was obviously suspected of complicity. Indeed many years later, after conflict with King John, William de Braose's wife Maud de Braose
personally and directly accused the King of murdering Arthur, which resulted in Maud and her eldest son, also William, being imprisoned and allegedly starved to death in Corfe Castle
in Dorset
. William de Braose escaped to France, where he was supposed to have published a statement on what happened to Arthur, but no copy has been found.
poet Auguste Brizeux wrote of Arthur in La chasse du Prince Arthur.
He is also the principal character of an alternative history
novel by the eccentric English writer Frederick Rolfe
('Baron Corvo'), entitled Hubert's Arthur, posthumously published by A. J. A. Symons
in 1935. The novel started as a collaboration between Rolfe and Harry Pirie-Gordon, but in the event the latter only supplied the copious heraldic
details pertaining to the characters. This is presented as the lengthy narrative of the aged Hubert de Burgh, who is supposed to have saved Arthur's life and accompanied him on crusade to the Holy Land
, where he becomes King of Jerusalem and eventually returns to England, defeats King John and kills his son Henry Plantagenet (the historical Henry III
) in single combat. The remainder of the book details the prosperous reign of King Arthur, his defeat of the Barons under Simon de Montfort
, and his eventual miraculous death. Of all Rolfe's novels this one has never been reprinted, perhaps because of the strong strain of anti-semitism
, which draws upon the myths of Christian boys martyred by Jews
, such as St. Hugh
.
In the novel Saving Grace by Julie Garwood
, the heroine finds documents relating to Arthur's murder, committed under the orders of King John, by two of King John's barons. She is married to a Scottish Laird
, Gabriel MacBain, to escape England, but is harassed by both King John's barons, and the English faction hoping to take down King John; each party unsure of how much she knows.
In Randall Garrett
's alternate-history fantasy stories, the Lord Darcy
series, Richard does not "succumb to his illness", but survives it. John Lackland never becomes king, and the Plantagenet line, descending from Arthur, continues down to the present day.
In The Devil and King John by Philip Lindsay
Arthur is killed by John in a fit of temper, but he is shown as a rebellious adolescent who did provoke John to some extent, rather than the innocent child in some versions.
have made a song about Arthur's life.
Duke of Brittany
The Duchy of Brittany was a medieval tribal and feudal state covering the northwestern peninsula of Europe,bordered by the Alantic Ocean on the west and the English Channel to the north with less definitive borders of the Loire River to the south and Normandy to the east...
between 1194 and 1202. He was the posthumous
Posthumous birth
A posthumous birth is a birth of a child after the death of a parent. A person born in these circumstances is called a posthumous child or a posthumously born person...
son of Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany
Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany
Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany and Earl of Richmond was Duke of Brittany between 1181 and 1186, through his marriage with the heiress Constance. Geoffrey was the fourth son of King Henry II of England and Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine.-Family:He was a younger maternal half-brother of Marie de...
(d. 1186) and Constance, Duchess of Brittany
Constance, Duchess of Brittany
Constance of Penthièvre was hereditary Duchess of Brittany between 1171 and 1196...
. In 1190 he was designated heir to the throne of England
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
and its French territory by Richard I
Richard I of England
Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...
; the intent being that Arthur would succeed Richard — in preference to Richard's younger brother John Lackland
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
. Richard, Geoffrey and John were sons — third, fourth and fifth, respectively — of King Henry II of England
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
and Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages. As well as being Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, she was queen consort of France and of England...
.
Nothing is recorded of Arthur after his incarceration in Rouen Castle
Rouen Castle
Rouen Castle was the castle of the town in Rouen, capital of the duchy of Normandy, now in France. It was built by Philip II of France from 1204 to 1210 following his capture of the duchy from John, duke of Normandy and king of England. Located outside the medieval town to its north, in a dominant...
in 1203, and his precise fate is unknown. The mysterious disappearance of a boy possibly destined to be king of England may be likened to the later fate of Edward V
Edward V of England
Edward V was King of England from 9 April 1483 until his deposition two months later. His reign was dominated by the influence of his uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who succeeded him as Richard III...
, one of the princes in the Tower
Princes in the Tower
The Princes in the Tower is a term which refers to Edward V of England and Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York. The two brothers were the only sons of Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville alive at the time of their father's death...
.
Early life
While Richard I was away on the Third CrusadeThird Crusade
The Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin...
, Constance took more independence for Brittany. On November 11, 1190, Richard betrothed Arthur to a daughter of Tancred of Sicily
Tancred of Sicily
Tancred was King of Sicily from 1189 to 1194. He was an illegitimate son of Roger III, Duke of Apulia, the eldest son of King Roger II, and of Emma, daughter of Achard II, Count of Lecce...
as part of their treaty. In 1194, Constance had the young Arthur proclaimed its duke as a child of seven years. However, Emperor Henry VI
Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry VI was King of Germany from 1190 to 1197, Holy Roman Emperor from 1191 to 1197 and King of Sicily from 1194 to 1197.-Early years:Born in Nijmegen,...
conquered the Kingdom of Sicily
Kingdom of Sicily
The Kingdom of Sicily was a state that existed in the south of Italy from its founding by Roger II in 1130 until 1816. It was a successor state of the County of Sicily, which had been founded in 1071 during the Norman conquest of southern Italy...
in the same year, so the betrothal of Arthur came to naught.
Additional bad news for Arthur was that a marriage plan, originally aiming to establish an alliance between Richard and Philip, to marry his elder sister Eleanor
Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany
Eleanor the "Fair Maid of Brittany", 5th Countess of Richmond , also known as Damsel of Brittany or Pearl of Brittany for her peerless beauty, was the eldest daughter of Geoffrey Plantagenet and Constance, Duchess of Brittany...
to Prince Louis of France
Louis VIII of France
Louis VIII the Lion reigned as King of France from 1223 to 1226. He was a member of the House of Capet. Louis VIII was born in Paris, France, the son of Philip II Augustus and Isabelle of Hainaut. He was also Count of Artois, inheriting the county from his mother, from 1190–1226...
, also failed. This event was sometimes viewed as a sign that Richard would not recognize Arthur as his heir. In 1196, Richard again nominated Arthur as his heir and summoned him, as well as his mother Constance, to Normandy. But right then, Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester, stepfather of Arthur, abducted Constance. The furious Richard marched to Brittany to rescue Arthur, who was then secretly carried to France to be brought up with Prince Louis.
When Richard died on April 6, 1199, on his deathbed he proclaimed his brother John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
as his heir, fearing Arthur was too young to look after the throne. Arthur was only twelve years old at the time and much under the influence of the French king. John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
immediately claimed the throne of England, but much of the French nobility were resentful at recognizing him as their overlord. They preferred Arthur, who declared himself vassal
Vassal
A vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...
of Philip II of France
Philip II of France
Philip II Augustus was the King of France from 1180 until his death. A member of the House of Capet, Philip Augustus was born at Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise, the son of Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne...
.
English invasion and Arthur's capture
PhilipPhilip II of France
Philip II Augustus was the King of France from 1180 until his death. A member of the House of Capet, Philip Augustus was born at Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise, the son of Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne...
recognized Arthur's right to Anjou
Anjou
Anjou is a former county , duchy and province centred on the city of Angers in the lower Loire Valley of western France. It corresponds largely to the present-day département of Maine-et-Loire...
, Maine, and Poitou
Poitou
Poitou was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers.The region of Poitou was called Thifalia in the sixth century....
. Upon Richard's death Arthur led a force to Anjou and Maine. From April 18, he styled himself as Duke of Brittany, Count of Anjou and Earl of Richmond. But, by the Treaty of Le Goulet
Treaty of Le Goulet
The Treaty of Le Goulet was signed by the kings John of England and Philip II of France in May 1200 and meant to settle once and for all the claims the Norman kings of England had as Norman dukes on French lands...
, May 1200, Philip had recognised John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
as heir of his brother Richard I and King of England, and thus had formally abandoned support for Arthur's claim to the English throne. Feeling offended by Philip, Arthur fled to John and was treated kindly. However, he later became suspicious of John and fled back to Angers
Angers
Angers is the main city in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France about south-west of Paris. Angers is located in the French region known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou, and its inhabitants are called Angevins....
. Some unidentified source said in April 1202, Arthur was again betrothed, this time to Marie of France
Marie of France, Duchess of Brabant
Marie of France was a daughter of Philip II of France and his disputed third wife Agnes of Merania. She was a member of the House of Capet. Marie was Duchess of Brabant by her marriage to Henry I, Duke of Brabant.- Early Life and Legitimacy :...
, a daughter of Philip II and Agnes of Andechs-Merania.
On 31 July 1202, Arthur was surprised by John's forces while besieging Mirebeau
Mirebeau
Mirebeau is a commune in the Vienne department in the Poitou-Charentes region in western France.-Demographics:-Twin towns:*Bassemyam, Burkina Faso*Membrilla, Spain*Regen, Germany*Saint-raymond, Quebec...
, where he was holding as hostage his grandmother, John's mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages. As well as being Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, she was queen consort of France and of England...
. Captured by John's barons, Arthur was imprisoned at Falaise
Falaise, Calvados
Falaise is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.-History:The town was the birthplace of William I the Conqueror, first of the Norman Kings of England. The Château de Falaise , which overlooks the town from a high crag, was formerly the seat of...
in Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
, guarded by Hubert de Burgh. At this time his sister Eleanor was also captured, then imprisoned at Corfe Castle
Corfe Castle
Corfe Castle is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. It is the site of a ruined castle of the same name. The village and castle stand over a gap in the Purbeck Hills on the route between Wareham and Swanage. The village lies in the gap below the castle, and is some eight...
in Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
. The following year Arthur was transferred to Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
, under the charge of William de Braose
William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber
William de Braose, , 4th Lord of Bramber , court favourite of King John of England, at the peak of his power, was also Lord of Gower, Abergavenny, Brecknock, Builth, Radnor, Kington, Limerick, Glamorgan, Skenfrith, Briouze in Normandy, Grosmont, and White Castle.-Lineage:William was the most...
, and then vanished mysteriously in April 1203.
Disappearance
The puzzle of Arthur's disappearance gave rise to various stories. One account was that Arthur's jailers feared to harm him, and so he was murdered by John directly and his body dumped in the SeineSeine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
. The Margam annals provide the following account of Arthur's death:
- "After King John had captured Arthur and kept him alive in prison for some time, at length, in the castle of Rouen, after dinner on the Thursday before EasterEasterEaster is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
, when he was drunk and possessed by the devil ['ebrius et daemonio plenus'], he slew him with his own hand, and tying a heavy stone to the body cast it into the Seine. It was discovered by a fisherman in his net, and being dragged to the bank and recognized, was taken for secret burial, in fear of the tyrant, to the priory of Bec called Notre Dame de Pres." (See Bec AbbeyBec AbbeyBec Abbey in Le Bec Hellouin, Normandy, France, once the most influential abbey in the Anglo-Norman kingdom of the twelfth century, is a Benedictine monastic foundation in the Eure département, in the Bec valley midway between the cities of Rouen and Bernay.Like all abbeys, Bec maintained annals...
).
William de Braose rose high in John's favour after Arthur's disappearance, receiving new lands and titles in the Welsh Marches
Welsh Marches
The Welsh Marches is a term which, in modern usage, denotes an imprecisely defined area along and around the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods...
, so much so that he was obviously suspected of complicity. Indeed many years later, after conflict with King John, William de Braose's wife Maud de Braose
Maud de Braose
Maud de Braose, Lady of Bramber was the wife of William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber, a powerful Marcher baron and court favourite of King John of England...
personally and directly accused the King of murdering Arthur, which resulted in Maud and her eldest son, also William, being imprisoned and allegedly starved to death in Corfe Castle
Corfe Castle
Corfe Castle is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. It is the site of a ruined castle of the same name. The village and castle stand over a gap in the Purbeck Hills on the route between Wareham and Swanage. The village lies in the gap below the castle, and is some eight...
in Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
. William de Braose escaped to France, where he was supposed to have published a statement on what happened to Arthur, but no copy has been found.
In literature
The death of Arthur is a vital ingredient in Shakespeare's history play King John, in which Arthur is portrayed as a child whose innocence dissuades Hubert de Burgh from committing the murder demanded by King John. However, Arthur soon dies after jumping from his place of confinement in an escape attempt. In the 19th century the BretonBreton people
The Bretons are an ethnic group located in the region of Brittany in France. They trace much of their heritage to groups of Brythonic speakers who emigrated from southwestern Great Britain in waves from the 3rd to 6th century into the Armorican peninsula, subsequently named Brittany after them.The...
poet Auguste Brizeux wrote of Arthur in La chasse du Prince Arthur.
He is also the principal character of an alternative history
Alternate history (fiction)
Alternate history or alternative history is a genre of fiction consisting of stories that are set in worlds in which history has diverged from the actual history of the world. It can be variously seen as a sub-genre of literary fiction, science fiction, and historical fiction; different alternate...
novel by the eccentric English writer Frederick Rolfe
Frederick Rolfe
Frederick William Rolfe, better known as Baron Corvo, and also calling himself 'Frederick William Serafino Austin Lewis Mary Rolfe', , was an English writer, artist, photographer and eccentric...
('Baron Corvo'), entitled Hubert's Arthur, posthumously published by A. J. A. Symons
A. J. A. Symons
Alphonse James Albert Symons was an English writer and bibliographer.In 1922, he founded the First Edition Club to publish limited editions and to organize exhibitions of rare books and manuscripts. In 1924 he published a bibliography of first editions of the works of Yeats, and in 1930 he founded...
in 1935. The novel started as a collaboration between Rolfe and Harry Pirie-Gordon, but in the event the latter only supplied the copious heraldic
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
details pertaining to the characters. This is presented as the lengthy narrative of the aged Hubert de Burgh, who is supposed to have saved Arthur's life and accompanied him on crusade to the Holy Land
Holy Land
The Holy Land is a term which in Judaism refers to the Kingdom of Israel as defined in the Tanakh. For Jews, the Land's identifiction of being Holy is defined in Judaism by its differentiation from other lands by virtue of the practice of Judaism often possible only in the Land of Israel...
, where he becomes King of Jerusalem and eventually returns to England, defeats King John and kills his son Henry Plantagenet (the historical Henry III
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
) in single combat. The remainder of the book details the prosperous reign of King Arthur, his defeat of the Barons under Simon de Montfort
Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester
Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, 1st Earl of Chester , sometimes referred to as Simon V de Montfort to distinguish him from other Simon de Montforts, was an Anglo-Norman nobleman. He led the barons' rebellion against King Henry III of England during the Second Barons' War of 1263-4, and...
, and his eventual miraculous death. Of all Rolfe's novels this one has never been reprinted, perhaps because of the strong strain of anti-semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
, which draws upon the myths of Christian boys martyred by Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
, such as St. Hugh
Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln
Hugh of Lincoln was an English boy, whose death prompted a blood libel with ramifications that reach until today. Hugh is known as Little Saint Hugh to distinguish him from Saint Hugh, otherwise Hugh of Lincoln. The style is often corrupted to Little Sir Hugh...
.
In the novel Saving Grace by Julie Garwood
Julie Garwood
Julie Garwood is an American writer of over twenty-five romance novels in both the historical and suspense subgenres. Over thirty million copies of her books are in print, and she has had at least 15 New York Times Bestsellers...
, the heroine finds documents relating to Arthur's murder, committed under the orders of King John, by two of King John's barons. She is married to a Scottish Laird
Laird
A Laird is a member of the gentry and is a heritable title in Scotland. In the non-peerage table of precedence, a Laird ranks below a Baron and above an Esquire.-Etymology:...
, Gabriel MacBain, to escape England, but is harassed by both King John's barons, and the English faction hoping to take down King John; each party unsure of how much she knows.
In Randall Garrett
Randall Garrett
Randall Garrett was an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was a prolific contributor to Astounding and other science fiction magazines of the 1950s and 1960s...
's alternate-history fantasy stories, the Lord Darcy
Lord Darcy (omnibus)
Lord Darcy is a 1983 omnibus collection of two previous fantasy collections and one fantasy novel by Randall Garrett featuring his alternate history detective Lord Darcy, published by Doubleday as a selection in its Science Fiction Book Club. The component books had originally been published in...
series, Richard does not "succumb to his illness", but survives it. John Lackland never becomes king, and the Plantagenet line, descending from Arthur, continues down to the present day.
In The Devil and King John by Philip Lindsay
Philip Lindsay
Philip Lindsay was an Australian writer, who mostly wrote historical novels. He was the son of Norman Lindsay, an Australian artist. He moved to England in the 1930s and most of his novels were written there...
Arthur is killed by John in a fit of temper, but he is shown as a rebellious adolescent who did provoke John to some extent, rather than the innocent child in some versions.
In music
In 1912 the Breton composer Joseph-Guy Ropartz composed a symphonic poem, La Chasse du Prince Arthur (Prince Arthur's Hunt) after the poem by Brizeux. The Breton folk-rock band Tri YannTri Yann
Tri Yann is a French band from Nantes , who play folk rock music drawing on traditional Breton folk ballads.The band was founded in 1970 by Jean Chocun, Jean-Paul Corbineau and Jean-Louis Jossic – all of whom remain members – hence the suggested name of Tri Yann an Naoned , Jean and Yann being...
have made a song about Arthur's life.