And of course you also had the Biblical influence dating back to the first century middle-eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. The imaginations of Christianized Europeans from that time forth were filled with visions of the armies of God wearing the armor of the Lord and wielding the sword of the Lord and doing battle with dark powers and evil in high places. This evil from above was sometimes represented in The Apocalypse [Revelations] as a fantastic Beast with the parts of different animals, or as a great red dragon.
And of course for the princess you had the 'bride of Christ' in the New Testament. This bride was the body-politic or kingdom of the faithful who's allegience was to God and to God alone. In the Old Testament it was the Israelites. In the NT it was Christians.
In the parables Jesus is the Groom awaiting marriage to a bride. Other parables depict him as a King awaiting the inheritance of a Kingdom. In both cases the parables were referring to the changing of the guard from the Old Testament administration and relationship between God and the twelve tribes of Israel to the new administration or New Kingdom and relationship between Christ and Christians [represented originally by the 12 apostles and the twelve embassies or churches mentioned in the New Testament]. Note the round table consisted of 12 knights as well. No coincidence there.
As for the Arthurian legends as we've come to know them today I'd say they were also largely influenced by the myths and legends and culture of European paganism as well. Particularly Celtic which is neither Anglo-saxon nor French-Norman but something older perhaps Pictish [similar to the Basque region of Europe which claims an older origin than the dominant European groups.]
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Originally Posted by manikus
As an aside, the tales of Arthur predate the stories of knights fighting dragons, which didn't start appearing until after the first crusade. 
Also, the stories originate from different ethnic groups. The Arthurian tales are Anglo and/or Saxon in origin and the knight and dragon stories (I keep forgetting the princess, I guess you can tell which I always thought about more  ) are French in origin. |