Acta Universitatis Danubius. Communicatio, Vol 5, No 1 (2011)
Dark Ages Religious Conflicts and their Literary Representations: The Winter King, by Bernard Cornwell
Abstract
This paper analyses the religious situation in Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries as reflected in Arthurian literature. This reflection usually depicts religious strife which brought a political division between the British kingdoms. This, in turn, provoked the final defeat against the Anglo-Saxons. Four religious creeds will be dealt with: the native Celtic religion and the cults that the Romans brought with them from the Eastern Mediterranean, including Christianity and the mysteries of Isis and Mithras. All of them are represented in Bernard Cornwell’s trilogy The Warlord
Chronicles. We will concentrate on how these creeds influenced the lives of Britons in the age
represented and exemplified in the first book of Conrnwell’s trilogy, The Winter King. Despite the
fact that religion has always been one of the most common topics in Arthuriana, modern literature
deals with it in a different way to previous texts, linking it with history and politics.
Chronicles. We will concentrate on how these creeds influenced the lives of Britons in the age
represented and exemplified in the first book of Conrnwell’s trilogy, The Winter King. Despite the
fact that religion has always been one of the most common topics in Arthuriana, modern literature
deals with it in a different way to previous texts, linking it with history and politics.
References
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