Legends from Medieval Times

Article By Gádor Rubias

leg·​end | \ˈle-jənd \

(noun; from Latin legendus, “Something which ought to be read”)

1. “A story coming down from the past, especially one popularly regarded as historical, although not verifiable.” (Merriam Webster, n.d.)

2. “A story or narrative that lies somewhere between myth and historical fact and which, as a rule, is about a particular figure or person.” (Cuddon, 2012)

3. “Traditional story, or group of stories, told about a particular person or place (...) They resemble folktales in content (...), but they are associated with a particular locality or person, and are told as a matter of history.” (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2000)

As what usually happens with literary terms, the word “legend” has been given several definitions by a variety of sources and authors- all of them attempting to demarcate it from myths, fairy tales, and historical events. This task can prove quite tricky when faced: as legends have been around for centuries, it is necessary to study them through historical sources. Which source tells a historical fact, and which crafts beautiful historical fiction in a good-hearted attempt at embellishing reality or unifying the several existing versions of how, when, why, and what happened?

More often than not, solid evidence and archaeological remains allow us to tell fact from fiction, guiding our imagination. But “often” means that sometimes it is difficult to draw the line between the real and the imaginary. There is a gray area between fact and fiction, where one bleeds into the other. Where what is real is given a fantastical turn, and what never happened is spoken of as factually true.

The aforementioned gray area is precisely what we call “legends”. These are plausible stories that cannot be verified through reliable sources, or that do not meet the criteria for being taken as real, historical events. Originally a term associated only with tales about saints, legends can be easily confused with folktales and myths. These two subgenres do share certain traits and contents with legends, but cannot be considered synonyms to the latter.

Folktales, like legends, often talk about supernatural events or otherworldly beings, and may include mythological elements or explanations of the natural phenomena. But they are not, unlike legends, associated with a particular locality or person (Cuddon, 2012). Neither are they told as plausible. Instead, folktales are widespread across several places, and often vary from one to the next one. Mermaids are an example of this, having appeared in many cultural stories from all over the world.

On the other hand, myths often serve the same purpose as certain legends: filling in a historical gap. They are set in old times, and their main raison d’être is the need to explain the origin of something—usually, cosmic forces and the natural order of the world. Across all cultures, from Babylon to the indigenous tribes in the Amazonian rainforest, myths have attempted to describe how the world works, relying on supernatural figures and godly beings. They are anchored in religious beliefs in order to validate one through the other—for example, the Ancient Greeks explained the seasons with the myth of Persephone and Hades (Childs & Fowler, 2006). Legends, though, are stories set in either recent times or some point of known history, that talk about people and their actions. Sometimes they are based on facts, unlike myths. Still, they are not historical truth, as sometimes they change historical events or narrate something that the people mentioned might not have actually done.

Nonetheless, legends are plausible, featuring events that are technically possible. They could have happened, could have been true—thus, they can be deceiving when trying to tell them apart from actual history. Some have, in fact, been taken as factual truths for a long time. A good example is King Arthur of Britain, which is included in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s “The History of the Kings of Britain” as a real monarch. In these pseudo-historical chronicles, known also as Historia regum Britanniae, goddesses such as Diana, heroes such as Aeneas, and angels play a decisive role in the shaping of Britain’s history (Monmouth, 1966). Until the XVI century, the Historia was taken as historical truth, far-fetched though it might sound to us. They are still very useful when it comes to studying history—only, they are so in a very different way.

According to Guerber (1993), legends are valuable as historical resources because of the world they depict. The Middle Age was a troublesome transition from the Ancient Age to the Modern Age; it stands out as an epoch in which old ideals were being replaced by new ones, and in which society was changing under realities such as Christianity, feudalism, knighthood, the crusades, or the Black Death. While all these changes took place, figures known as bards, troubadours, minstrels, and scalds traveled the land to tell people about them. Stories of mighty kings and golden-hearted heroes were passed on orally from one generation of these figures to the next one. Told to the rich and the poor alike, these stories integrated several elements from ordinary life in the Middle Age, which we know of nowadays precisely because of legends.

They can even help us discover what the socio-political context was like. As stated by Keen (1961) regarding the outlaw legends, “the thrill of the outlaw legends comes from the fact that they celebrate the deeds of those who were ‘agin’ the law (...); herein lies the historical significance”. Which is to say that this type of legend gives us clues regarding how people felt about the society they were living in. Outlaw legends (among which stands out that of Robin Hood) revolve around the life and deeds of people who refused to abide by the law. The fact that outlaw figures such as Robin were celebrated as popular heroes hints at how the existing order was not of everyone’s liking. When one digs deeper into these orders that were fought against by said outlaws, what one finds is often enough a tyrannical system, sustained by unfair laws made by, and for, social elites (Keen, 1961).

Even if they are not to be taken for factual truth, legends are still valuable. They have become a part of popular culture, as well as inspiration for hundreds of creators. Legend-themed books, TV shows, films, video games, songs, and musicals continue to be released nowadays. The legends themselves have survived up to the present day as reminders that our world can only get through with the help of the brave, the kind, and the fair—all of which are necessary to battle injustice, oppression, and fear.

Sources

Childs, P., & Fowler, R. (Eds.). (2006). Mythos. In The Routledge Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York, United States of America: Routledge.

Cuddon, J. A. (2012). A dictionary of literary terms and literary theory (5th ed.). West Sussex, United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons.

Keen, M. H. (1961). The Outlaws of Medieval Legend. New York, United States of America: Routledge.

Legend. (2000). In The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (Eds.), Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/art/legend-literature

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Legend. In Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Retrieved August 12, 2020, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/legend

Monmouth, G. (1966). The history of the kings of Britain (L. G. Thorpe, Ed.). Harmondsworth, United Kingdom: Penguin.