"most critics consider the Gawain Poet an unknown."
"What is known today about the poet is general. J. R. R. Tolkien and E.V. Gordon, after reviewing the text's allusions, style, and themes, concluded in 1925: "
'He was a man of serious and devout mind, though not without humour; he had an interest in theology, and some knowledge of it, though an amateur knowledge perhaps, rather than a professional; he had Latin and French and was well enough read in French books, both romantic and instructive; but his home was in the West Midlands of England; so much his language shows, and his metre, and his scenery."
"The manuscript of Gawain is known in academic circles as Cotton Nero A.x., following a naming system used by one of its owners, the 16th century Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, a collector of Medieval English texts"
"Now held in the British Library, it has been dated to the late 14th century, meaning the poet
was a contemporary of Geoffrey Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales,
though it is unlikely that they ever met, and the
Gawain poet's English is considerably different from Chaucer's."
"he ferde as freke were fade
and oueral enker grene"
"The earliest known story to feature a beheading game is the 8th-century Middle Irish tale Bricriu's Feast.
This story parallels Gawain in that, like the Green Knight, Cú Chulainn's antagonist feints three blows with the axe before letting his target depart without injury.
A beheading exchange also appears in the late 12th-century Life of Caradoc, a Middle French narrative embedded in the anonymous First Continuation of Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail. "
"In the first branch of the medieval Welsh collection of tales known as The Four Branches of the Mabinogi, Pwyll exchanges places for a year with Arawn, the lord of Annwn (the Otherworld). "
"After the writing of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, several similar stories followed. The Greene Knight (15th–17th century) is a rhymed retelling of nearly the same tale.
In it, the plot is simplified, motives are more fully explained, and some names are changed. "
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fled_Bricrenn
"Fled Bricrenn (Old Irish "Bricriu's Feast") is a story from the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology.
Bricriu, an inveterate troublemaker, invites the nobles of the Ulaid to a feast at his new bruiden (hostel, banquet hall) at Dún Rudraige (Dundrum, County Down), where he incites three heroes, Cúchulainn, Conall Cernach, and Lóegaire Búadach, to compete for the "champion's portion" of the feast.
The three heroes perform several feats, and travel to Connacht to be judged by Ailill and Medb, and to Munster to be judged by Cú Roí; on each occasion, Cúchulainn is proclaimed champion, but the other two refuse to accept.
Eventually, back at Emain Macha, the three heroes are each challenged by a giant churl to cut off his head, on the condition that they allow him to cut off their heads in return. "
The story dates from the 8th century and is found in several manuscripts, including the Lebor na hUidre (c. 1106).
"Lebor na hUidre (Middle Irish: [ˈl͈ʲevor nˠə ˈhuiðʲrʲə], LU)
the Book of the Dun Cow (MS 23 E 25) is an Irish vellum manuscript dating to the 12th century.
It is the oldest extant manuscript in Irish.
It is held in the Royal Irish Academy and is badly damaged: only 67 leaves remain and many of the texts are incomplete. It is named after an anachronistic legend that it was made from the hide of a dun cow by Saint Ciarán of Clonmacnoise."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebor_na_hUidre
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"Cad Goddeu (Middle Welsh: Kat Godeu, English: The Battle of the Trees) is a medieval Welsh poem preserved in the 14th-century manuscript known as the Book of Taliesin.
The poem refers to a traditional story in which the legendary enchanter Gwydion animates the trees of the forest to fight as his army. "
"The poem then breaks into a first-person account of the birth of the flower-maiden Blodeuwedd, and then the history of another one, a great warrior, once a herdsman, now a learned traveller, perhaps Arthur or Taliesin himself. "
'Blodeuwedd
(Welsh pronunciation: [blɔˈdɛɨwɛð]; Welsh "Flower-Faced", a composite name from blodau "flowers" + gwedd "face"),
is married to Lleu Llaw Gyffes in Welsh mythology.
She was made from the flowers of broom, meadowsweet and oak by the magicians Math and Gwydion, and is a central figure in Math fab Mathonwy, the last of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi."
"Blodeuwedd" means "owl" in the language of today. And it is because of that there is hostility between birds and owls, and the owl is still known as "Blodeuwedd"."
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