Dr Mary Bateman

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168 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Mar 2025 last heard Mar 2025

Dr Mary Bateman’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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You're Dead to Me · Legends of King Arthur: from medieval literature to modern myth · 7 Mar 2025 podcast

Okay, so we haven't spoken much today about the period between the 16th and 19th centuries, and that's because a lot of people think of this as an Arthurian nadir. No one is interested in Arthur, no one is writing about Arthur. And actually, this is the time when you see some of the weirdest and funniest texts being written about Arthur.

I'm going to give two examples today, but there are tons of others. Two of my favourites. The first is a little pamphlet published by a famous balladeer called Martin Parker, A Famous History of King Arthur. 1660, so just on the cusp of monarchic restoration.

And it seems fairly normal until you delve into his massive list of Arthur's knights, which alongside Garway and Lancelot includes names like Sir Doggery, Sir Bored, Sir Frisky and Sir Bigot.

And I love this because people talk about Parker and this particular text as examples of royalist propaganda and it just goes to show how even the more sober Arthurian genres at this time are becoming playful. There's some tongue-in-cheek stuff going on here. It's not attempting to be history anymore and because of that things get a lot more diverse and interesting.

Because we mentioned Hull earlier, did you know that there is a Merlinic prophecy, a prophecy supposedly attributed to Merlin about Kingston upon Hull and its invasion by parliamentary forces? Lots of people don't and I don't know why you would. But I find it really funny that Merlin, who is a royal advisor...

is co-opted as a prognosticator, as a prophet for parliamentarianism, you know, around the Civil War period. I just find that completely wonderful. And a great testament to how even in this nadir, things can continue to be reinvented.

We seem to share the knowledge between us, which I love. Everyone has something a bit different.

Thank you so much. This has been great.

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