The Mammoth Book of King Arthur (69 page)

More recent events also had their echoes in the Arthurian saga. Henry had probably the most argumentative, ungrateful brood of children granted to any English king. They would all eventually
rise up against him, prompted by the selfish Henry, known as the “Young King”, though he would never actually reign, whom Henry II crowned as his successor in June 1170 and again
in
August 1172. The Young King was unsatisfied with his grant of lands and authority and, urged on by his mother Eleanor, and by Louis VII of France, who saw this as an
opportunity to defeat his old enemy, he rebelled against his father during the summer of 1173. He was supported in this by William Marshal, who also believed that the Young King had been treated
badly by his father. Henry II soon came to realize that Eleanor had played a key part in this and had her imprisoned, first in Normandy and later, once all the rebellion had been quashed, in Old
Sarum. There was even an invasion of England by forces from Flanders under the control of Robert, earl of Leicester, though it was a weak affair and soon defeated. If Robert had sought to be
Mordred, he failed dismally.

Henry II and Eleanor were ideal models for Arthur and Guenevere. Not only were they great devotees of the Arthurian legends but their lives often mirrored the tales. There was even a great
irony, in that Henry almost disowned his legitimate sons whom he came to regard as “bastards”, whereas the one son who remained loyal to him and was very supportive during the rebellion
was his eldest illegitimate son Geoffrey, then bishop of Lincoln and later archbishop of York. The one who ought to have become Mordred was Henry’s greatest friend, whilst the sons he had
once adored were all Mordreds in their hearts.

Eleanor’s role as Guenevere continued to be followed to the letter. She was still in prison in England when Marie commissioned Chrétien to write his story of Lancelot and Guenevere.
She would not be released until after Henry II’s death in 1189, and the one sent to effect that release under instruction from Richard I was none other than William Marshal.

There is no evidence that William had an affair with Eleanor – he was too much the doyen of chivalry – though rumours arose, long after her death and completely false, that she had
borne him a child. He remained intensely loyal to her for the rest of her life. Curiously, there was an incident in 1181 that further echoed the Lancelot story. The popularity of the Marshal caused
the inevitable envy amongst others at court and a cabal formed against him. Rumours circulated that William was having an affair with the Young King’s wife, Marguerite of France (daughter of
Louis VII). William was distraught over the rumours and demanded of
the Young King that he be allowed to fight in single combat anyone who would oppose him and if he lost he
would be hanged for his crime. No one took up the challenge and the incident was laid to rest. William would go on to be Regent of England during the infancy of Henry III. He died in 1219 at the
age of 73, having taken the habit as a Templar knight in his final days.

3. The Lancelot romances

The following are the Arthurian romances in which Lancelot features as the primary character. His Grail Quest is covered separately in the previous chapter.

LE CHEVALIER DE LA CHARRETE (The Knight of the Cart),
Chrétien de Troyes (French,
c
1177) 7,134 lines.

The first story to mention Camelot and the first with Lancelot as the hero. At the outset a knight comes to Arthur’s court saying that he holds many knights, nobles and
ladies captive. He agrees to release them only if a knight escorts the Queen through the woods and can defeat Meleagant. Kay volunteers but is defeated and taken captive, with Guenevere, to
Meleagant’s castle at Gorre. Gawain sets out in pursuit and meets a knight who has himself done battle with Meleagant and whose horse is now near to death. Gawain does not recognise this
knight as Lancelot. He gives Lancelot Kay’s horse. Lancelot catches up with Meleagant’s men but again his horse is killed. Lancelot meets a dwarf who agrees to take him in his cart to
where the queen is held captive. Lancelot hesitates briefly because carts were used to convey criminals and he believes this will tarnish his reputation. Gawain is also offered a ride in the cart
but refuses and follows on horseback.

They learn where the Queen is held prisoner. There are two ways in, via an underwater bridge or via a sword bridge. Gawain takes the underwater bridge while Lancelot heads to the sword bridge.
He has several encounters on this journey, including a mystical episode in a monastery where he discovers the future graves of various knights and also learns of a magnificent tomb in which is
buried one “who will deliver all those trapped in the kingdom from which none escapes.” Lancelot is able to lift the
slab to this tomb, though it needed the
strength of ten. The monk is astonished and asks for Lancelot’s name, but Lancelot will not reveal it. At this point Lancelot has a mystical vision of becoming the saviour of mankind, an
early hint of the Grail story, but Chrétien does not pursue it, and it needed to wait for the Vulgate version to be explored in detail.

Lancelot has several temptations placed before him to stop him completing his quest but, aided by a young damsel, he makes it to and across the sword bridge. Meleagant challenges Lancelot to a
duel which is postponed for a day to allow Lancelot’s wounds to heal. The next day they are evenly matched but Lancelot’s wounds hamper him. It is only then that someone in the crowd
names him and, encouraged by the Queen, Lancelot defeats Meleagant but at the Queen’s wish spares his life. Lancelot is surprised to find that the Queen rebuffs him and only later learns that
it is because he had hesitated in getting into the cart and that his pride had come before his duty to the Queen. Later she relents and shares a night of passion with Lancelot, though it is Kay who
is accused of adultery.

Meleagant is infuriated that Lancelot had spared him and challenges him to fight again a year hence. Before that time Meleagant captures Lancelot and incarcerates him in a tower without doors or
windows. Lancelot is unable to fight the duel and Meleagant claims he is a coward. The damsel who had previously helped Lancelot tracks him down and secures his release. He returns to Camelot and
fights and kills Meleagant.

The final section, from Lancelot’s imprisonment, was completed by Godefroi de Leigny. Chrétien tells us that he was commissioned to write the piece by Marie de Champagne but
something happened to stop him. The whole story is clearly an allegory about a knight overcoming temptation and pride in order that he can at last find union with Christ, in this case portrayed by
Guenevere as the Virgin Mary. Since Chrétien followed this with the tale of Perceval he may have set Lancelot aside to rework the idea with the Grail.

LANZELET,
Ulrich von Zatzikhoven (Swiss, soon after 1194), 9,400 lines.

Apparently based on an Anglo-Norman book given to Ulrich by Hugh de Morville, though its provenance is not known. It differs significantly from the Lancelot tradition drawn upon
by Chrétien and others.

The story begins along the lines of the “fair unknown” motif. Lanzelet is abducted when only two years old and is ignorant of his parentage. He is raised in the kingdom of a
water-fey until he is fifteen, when she releases him on condition that he seeks revenge against a powerful knight who had wronged her long ago. Lanzelet slaughters his way through several lords,
the prize being their lands and their daughters. One of them, Iblis, at some stage becomes his wife, even though Lanzelet continues his conquests. Now that he is of age, Lanzelet receives word from
his mother and discovers his identity and that he is related to King Arthur. Word of his activities has reached Arthur and first Walwein (Gawain) and then Arthur go in search of him. At
Arthur’s court Lanzelet champions Ginover against the evil knight Valerin, but there is no adulterous love. Later, when Valerin abducts Ginover, Lanzelet is involved in her recovery, though
it is achieved mostly through the help of the wizard Malduc.

LANCELOT DO LAC,
anon. (French, soon after 1215)

This is the original version of what was expanded as the prose
Lancelot
and incorporated into what became called the Vulgate Cycle, and is treated below. This version
ends with the death of Galahut after the war with Arthur but does not include the adventure with Morgan le Fay or the conception of Lancelot’s son Galahad.

→ The Scottish adaptation,
Lancelot of the Laik
(late 1480s) is a hybrid of this and the Prose
Lancelot.
It omits the early adventures and the war between
Arthur and Galiot (Galehaut)
and expands a political discourse which is but a few lines in the original into a much longer argument which alludes to the prevailing conditions
in Scotland.

PROSE LANCELOT,
anon. (French, soon after 1215)

This is the first of three romances, sometimes called the
Roman de Lancelot
, which together with
Queste del Saint Graal
and
Mort Artu
form what is usually
referred to as the
Lancelot-Grail.
Though probably written by separate authors, these three seem to have been planned as a whole, perhaps by one unifying mind, though the scale of
collaboration is uncertain. A decade or so later two further romances were added,
Estoire del Saint Graal
and
Merlin
, and together all five were known as the Vulgate Cycle, though at
the time it was completed it seems to have been called
L
’
Estoire de Lancelot.

At the start we are introduced to Lancelot’s father, Ban king of Banwick, in France. Later in the story Banwick is associated with Bourges, though Malory subsequently says it was Bayonne.
We also learn that Lancelot’s mother is descended from the house of David. Their son is called Galahad, and whilst the author tells us that the name Lancelot will be explained, it is not. Ban
was a vassal of Uther Pendragon and had assisted in driving King Claudas out of his lands, which were known as the Waste Lands. However, after Uther’s death Claudas seeks revenge, regains his
lands and destroys Ban’s castle. Ban dies of a broken heart. On hearing of his death his brother Bors also dies, leaving two sons, Lionel and Bors the Younger.

The next day a woman arrives and takes Lancelot. She is Niniane, a fey who learned the magic arts from Merlin and who lives in a magical lake. Bors and Lionel in the meantime are looked after
first by Pharien, a former vassal of Bors’s father, and later by Claudas. Claudas believes he is all-powerful and considers attacking Arthur but first visits him in disguise. He is impressed
with what he sees. Arthur has not been king for long and has only recently married Guinevere. He is still in battle
against the rebel kings, in particular King Yon of Little
Ireland (Corin Corley has suggested this means the Isle of Man but it may also mean Dál Riata), King Aguissant of Scotland (later described as Arthur’s cousin) and the King of Galone
(perhaps Galloway). Claudas returns to consider his plans.

In the meantime Lancelot is maturing. There is a lengthy description of his physical beauty including a forward reference to a remark by Guinevere that “if I were God, I should have made
Lancelot just as he is.” One of Niniane’s maidens, Saraide, is sent to collect Lionel and Bors, and arrives in time to find them in conflict with Claudas, during which Claudas’s
only son is killed. Saraide turns the boys into hounds and the King’s hounds into boys, and in the confusion is able to smuggle the boys away to the Lake where they are raised with
Lancelot.

When Lancelot reaches eighteen he wishes to be a knight and the Lady of the Lake agrees to take him to King Arthur’s court, though not before she tells him what she knows of the virtues of
knighthood and chivalry. She also imparts some clues about the Grail, referring to Joseph of Arimathea and his son Galahad, and also to King Pelles of that line and his brother Alain. She decks
Lancelot out in white and silver and gives him a magic ring that will break enchantments and help him find her again.

A retinue of over forty leave for Arthur’s court, crossing to England to arrive at
Floudehoug
, which might possibly be Fleet, near Weymouth. It takes them four days to travel to a
castle called Lawenor, which is 22 leagues from Camelot. This may be Lavernock, near Cardiff in South Wales, which at the time
Lancelot
was composed was known as
Lawernach.
The writer
describes Camelot as a town, not simply a castle. When Arthur leaves to go hunting he exits by the Welsh Gate, suggesting that Camelot was close to Wales.

The Lady of the Lake hands Lancelot over to King Arthur who puts him in the care of Yvain to train him in the knightly arts. Ever impatient, Lancelot (whose name is still not revealed) states
that he wishes to be knighted the next day. The court finds amusement in this, though Gawain can see the champion in him. Guinevere is puzzled by him, recognising that he is inhibited in her
presence. He later asks if he may be her knight and she agrees.
At the knighting ceremony Arthur forgets to give Lancelot his new sword and Lancelot later receives his sword
from the Queen, so placing him under an obligation to her.

Lancelot immediately volunteers for a challenge to fight on behalf of the Lady of Nohaut against the King of Northumberland who is after her land. He easily accomplishes this task even though he
had been wounded in a confrontation on his way north. He also has to contend with Kay interfering with the combat.