The essays in this volume comprise expanded versions of papers given at the XXIIIrd Triennial Congress of the International Arthurian Society held in Bristol in July 2011. It was agreed that there would not be a volume of proceedings, but that Arthurian Literature and Arthuriana would jointly consider all submissions, and publish selections of essays. Arthuriana is publishing four special issues of which the first, on ecocriticism, the natural world, landscapes and geography, and the second, on Merlin, have already appeared as volumes 23.1 and 23.2 (2013). The editors of the two journals have worked most amicably and productively together, and we are very grateful to Dorsey Armstrong for her efficiency and good fellowship.

There were six conference themes at Bristol: Arthurian ideals and identities; late Arthurian romance; narrative techniques and styles; Arthurian manuscripts and early printed editions; Arthurian images and iconography; and the supernatural and spirituality in the Arthurian world. We publish here contributions to several of these themes, including two of the plenary lectures, which bookend this volume. Many of the essays focus on late medieval versions of the legend, a somewhat neglected area until recently; Christine Ferlampin-Acher discussed whether fourteenth- and fifteenth-century French Arthurian romances represent autumn or Indian summer in her plenary (forthcoming in the Bibliographical Bulletin of the International Arthurian Society).

Volume 30 begins with Helen Fulton's plenary lecture on magic and the supernatural in Welsh literature.