List of Figures

xi

List of Tables

xii

Acknowledgments

xiii

Abbreviations

xv

General Introduction

1

Chapter 1: Myth and Theory

7

1.1. The Meaning of Myth

7

1.2. An Overview of Lévi-Strauss’ Approach to Myth

9

1.3. Lévi-Strauss’ View of Underlying Structure

10

1.4. Structural Play and Repetition

13

1.5. Myth and History

15

1.6. Binaries, Balance, and Twins

20

1.7. From the Goatsucker to the Grail

21

1.8. Neostructuralist Theory

22

1.9. A Neostructuralist Method for Analysis

24

Chapter 2: The Context of the Material

27

2.1. The Manuscript Sources

28

2.2. Life in Fourteenth-Century Wales

32

2.3. Lordship in Fourteenth-Century Wales

35

2.4. The Uchelwyr

37

2.5. Texts, Editions, and Manuscripts

40