I'm writing my final English paper for the semester (early British Lit) and I'm trying to draw connections between the Ulster cycle and the Matter of Britain. I've always thought of Arthur as a part of the Irish tradition, though this semester seemed to suggest otherwise. We only did a fly-by of Cu Chulainn before skipping over the rest of Irish mythology, so I want to revisit the topic on my own and do it justice.
Here's where I'm at: I understand that The Matter of Britain is largely (if not entirely) independent from any of the "four cycles" of Irish mythology. This can be seen in the fact that Irish mythology hearkens back to druidism and the Tuatha de Dannan, whereas Arthurian legend is rooted in Christian tradition. That said, I have to imagine that the cultural overlap between the two bodies of work means that there are some allusions in either one to the other. I feel like elements such as the lady of the lake or Morgain le Fey allude to older Celtic myths, but I can't find any scholarly resources to support that stance. I'm also trying to get a foundation so I can speak intelligently about said Irish myths.
What I'm looking for is any direct reference to any major Celtic figures or themes in the Matter of Britain, OR (less likely) any mention of Arthurian myth in any of the Irish cycles. I pegged the Ulster cycle earlier because my understanding is that the Ulster deals more with lineages and kings, but that's just me pitching to the ballpark. If no direct allusions can be found, then I'd like to try and highlight some common elements or themes between the two, and analyze where they come from and why they're important. Any help would be appreciated!
So, following up on my old post, now that I've had some success. Resources weren't as scarce as I thought, I just had to to some digging. First off is a book called The Grail: From Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol By Roger Loomis. Next up is a master's thesis by Lucie Duzbabova from 2010 exploring this very topic.
Basically, Irish mythology is likely to be 1000 years older, if you start with the Celts coming to Ireland. BUT, it was all oral for the majority of history. Since Irish mythology was only ever written down in the 11th century by Christian scribes, there are technically older written accounts of Arthur than there are any Irish figures. With this in mind, there are some interesting parallels between the Arthurian Cycle and several of the Irish Cycles. But, these are more broad strokes that come from aspects of Irish and Welsh culture that all overlap.
As a final note, I would encourage everyone to look up the myth of Cesair and her three Arks. It's a fascinating example of how traditional Celtic myths got a slathering of Christianity when they were written down, and the mindset of Cesair cracks me up. When Noah's granddaughter was denied access to the Ark, she built THREE of her own, took 50 other women, and sailed to settle Ireland.