Q 01/05

In Le Morte d'Arthur, which woman traps Arthur's wizard beneath a rock?

A) Isolde

B) Nimue

C) Enid

D) Blanchefleur

Answer · why

B) Nimue

Nimue: she kept him close until she had learned all she wanted from him, then shut him in for good.

Q 02/05

Which composer wrote the music for John Dryden's 1691 semi-opera King Arthur?

A) Thomas Arne

B) Henry Purcell

C) John Blow

D) William Byrd

Answer · why

B) Henry Purcell

Henry Purcell: in his preface Dryden admitted he had altered his first design so as not to offend the government of the day.

Q 03/05

Who is King Arthur's wife?

A) Isolde

B) Guinevere

C) Elaine

D) Lynette

Answer · why

B) Guinevere

Guinevere: one of the earliest tales about her, the Life of Gildas, has her carried off by a king called Melwas.

Q 04/05

Who is King Arthur's father?

A) Gorlois of Cornwall

B) Lot of Orkney

C) Uther Pendragon

D) Ban of Benwick

Answer · why

C) Uther Pendragon

Uther Pendragon: in one telling he took his name after a star with a dragon-shaped ball of fire foretold his reign.

Q 05/05

Which knight's affair with Arthur's queen was introduced in The Knight of the Cart?

A) Yvain

B) Lancelot

C) Tristan

D) Perceval

Answer · why

B) Lancelot

Lancelot: the poem retold an older tale of the queen's abduction and made Lancelot both her rescuer and her lover.