Experiencing Arthur on site in medieval and early modern England

If you’ve been to Glastonbury or Tintagel, you’ll know that Arthurian tourism is thriving today – but medieval and early modern people also had their interest in Arthur piqued when visiting Arthurian sites. These sites – abbeys and churches, castles and towns – were often carefully managed, and mediated through human guides and media such as informative boards (tabulae), wall paintings, and stained glass. By reading across material and textual evidence, we can trace the influence that locative experiences at Arthurian sites had on the wider Arthurian tradition in the later Middle Ages and afterwards. 
 
Dr Mary Bateman is Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Bristol. Mary Bateman is Lecturer in Medieval Literature at the University of Bristol. Her central research focus is the reception and afterlives of the Arthurian tradition and other British mythologies, though she has also published widely on such subjects as trans-European medieval romance, manuscript and book history, and even medievalism in early modern ale culture. Her recent book, Local Place and the Arthurian Tradition in England and Wales 1400-1700 (Boydell & Brewer, 2023) was recently awarded the Dhira B. Mahoney prize for by the International Arthurian Society