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I recalled how the law was first composed in the
Hebrew language, and thereafter, when the Greeks
learned it, they translated it all into their own
language, and all other books as well. And so too the
Romans, after they had mastered them, translated
them all through myriad interpreters into their own
language.… Therefore it seemed better to me …
that we too should turn certain books which are the
most necessary for all men to know into a language
that we can all understand.
Alfred’s educational program was designed primarily to
help him govern, but one of its legacies is the relatively
large quantity of literary, historical, legal, spiritual, and
political writing in English (about 30,000 lines of poetry
and about ten times as much prose) that has survived,
almost all of it in manuscripts from the tenth and
eleventh centuries. Under Alfred the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle was probably begun; to this year-by-year
historical record we owe a great deal of our knowledge
of the period.
The authority of even the most capable and
ambitious rulers in the early Middle Ages was seldom
able to survive long after their deaths. More often than
not family feuding would undo much of what had been
accomplished, as happened when fighting among
Charlemagne’s three sons led to the tripartite division of
the Carolingian empire. Alfred had rather better luck
with his descendants, who were able to consolidate his
accomplishments and even extend them somewhat; his
descendant Edgar (r. 959–75) commanded the
allegiance of all of the most important English lords,
had ties to the most important families on the
continent, and had in his control all senior church
appointments. Under the weaker leadership of the next
generation, however, in particular Æthelred II (r.
978–1016), and in the face of a renewed series of Viking
attacks (dramatically depicted in the poetic Battle of
Maldon, written some time after the actual battle in
991), the allegiance of the great lords and landholders to
the king loosened, and the shameful decline of the
English nobility described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
culminated in the Danish King Cnut (r. 1016–35)
taking the English throne.
The end of the tenth century was by no means
entirely a period of decline, however; it was also a time
of such literary figures as the homilist and grammarian
Ælfric, the archbishop Wulfstan, and the scholar
Byrhtferth of Ramsey; during these years a number of
deluxe decorated manuscripts were produced, and
important works such as the Rule of St. Benedict and
the Gospels were translated into English. It is a tribute
to the strength of Alfred’s reforms that much of the
administrative, military, and church structures he had
put into place survived the conquest of England by a
Danish king—as, indeed, they would in part survive the
conquest fifty years later by the Normans. That these
conquests did not cause more destruction than they did
must also be attributed in part to the fact that these
invading cultures were far from alien to English culture.
In the centuries between the early Viking invasions and
the reign of Cnut, Christianity had reached Scandinavia;
whereas the early Vikings had raided and destroyed
monasteries, Cnut was a Christian who continued to
support the monasteries much as Alfred and his
descendants had done. Similarly, while the Vikings had
conquered Normandy in the early tenth century, by the
time the Normans invaded Britain in 1066, the Viking
culture of Normandy had largely been assimilated to
that of Christian France.
England after the Norman Conquest
The Normans and Feudalism
The Norman Conquest of England in 1066 was the
next in the long series of invasions and migrations—
Celts, Romans, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Vikings—
that have shaped English culture. That it has held a
special place as a focal point in English history is no
doubt partly due to its timing, almost exactly at the
point where many scholars see larger forces creating a
dividing line between the early and the later Middle
Ages. French language and culture never threatened to
extinguish the existing Anglo-Saxon culture and English
language, although they did exert enormous and lasting
influence on them. The contrast with the Anglo-Saxon
migrations is striking: these effectively and permanently
imposed an English culture on Britain, while conquest
by the Normans never permanently imposed French
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From the Bayeux Tapestry (late eleventh century). This object is actually an embroidered banner, around 20 inches high and 230
feet long, rather than a woven tapestry. It was probably created by English embroiderers, who were particularly skilled in this kind
of work. This section of the tapestry shows the Norman ships landing at Pevensy, Sussex, 28 September; several ships have already
landed on the beach, and horses are being unloaded from another ship that has just arrived. The text of the tapestry at this point
(translated from the Latin) reads as follows: Here the horses are getting out of the ships. And here the soldiers [hurry to Hastings
to seize supplies].
culture on England. But the Norman invasion helped to
change Britain in fundamental ways—most obviously in
language, but also in social and economic structure.
For all its far-reaching consequences, the invasion
itself was a relatively modest affair. When Harold was
crowned as king following the death of King Edward,
the succession was disputed by William, Duke of
Normandy, who settled the matter militarily; with a
force probably numbering no more than 8,000, he
crossed the Channel and soon defeated and killed
Harold in a day-long battle just outside Hastings. His
victory brought England under the rule of a Frenchspeaking king with substantial territorial claims in
France, a situation that would persist for roughly the
next three hundred years. Despite this obvious shift, and
despite the triumphant narrative of the Bayeux Tapestry
(probably made within a generation of the battle for a
Norman patron), the effects of the Conquest,
particularly as it was viewed at close range rather than
years later, apparently did not always loom so large. In
this connection it is interesting to compare the five
different accounts in different manuscripts of the AngloSaxon Chronicle that have come down to us. At one
extreme is the remarkably brief account of a scribe
writing at Winchester in the manuscript known as the
Parker MS: “In this year King Edward died and Earl
Harold succeeded to the kingdom, and held it forty
weeks and one day; and in this year William came and
conquered England. And in this year Christ Church was
built and a comet appeared on 18 April.” By contrast, a
scribe writing a generation or more later in Peterborough presents a much fuller account of how Harold
was forced to fight a Norse invader in the north of the
country before meeting William at Hastings, and
conveys more of the immediate effects of William’s
conquest. Yet even here one has the sense that the death
of a local abbot is regarded as being of almost as much
importance as the Norman invasion:
And King Harold was informed [of the victory of a
Norse king near the town of York], and he came
with a very great force of English men and met him
at Stamford Bridge, and killed him and Earl Tostig
and valiantly overcame all the invaders. Meanwhile
Count William landed at Hastings on Michaelmas
Day, and Harold came from the north and fought
with him before all of the army had come and there
he fell and his two brothers Gyrth and Leofwine;
and William conquered this country, and came to
Westminster, and Archbishop Aldred consecrated
him king, and people paid taxes to him, and gave
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him hostages and afterwards bought their land. And
Leofric, Abbot of Peterborough, was at that campaign and fell ill there, and came home and died
soon after, on the Eve of All Saints. God have mercy
on his soul. In his day there was every happiness and
every good at Peterborough, and he was beloved by
everyone, so that the King gave to Saint Peter and
him the Abbacy of Burton and that of Coventry
which Earl Leofric, who was his uncle, had built,
and that of Crowland and that of Thorne. And he
did much for the benefit of the monastery of
Peterborough with gold and silver and vestments
and land, more indeed than any before or after him.
Significant here is the mention of people paying taxes to
William and “buying” their lands. William exacted
tribute from the conquered both in the immediate
aftermath of his invasion and on an ongoing basis,
keeping as much as a fifth of English lands for himself
and dividing much of the rest among members of his
family and the barons who had supported him, who in
turn maintained their own followers. While neither the
lords nor the peasants of Anglo-Saxon England had held
legal title to their land in quite the way that we conceive
of it today, they had in practice exercised rights over
that land similar to those that we would describe as the
rights of ownership. Under the Normans, by contrast,
nobles held the land that they occupied not on any
permanent basis but as part of a system of exchange.
The king granted land to a nobleman as a fief; in return
for the right to its use the nobleman was obliged to
perform services for the king, including making
payments at various times and providing armed knights
whenever the king might demand them. The nobleman,
in his turn, would grant land—again, as a fief—to a
knight, who in return would owe to the nobleman
military service and other dues. The knight would
typically retain a substantial portion of this land, and
then divide the rest among the peasantry. There were
obligations in the other direction, as well: knights were
obliged to provide protection for the peasantry, nobles
for the knights, and the king for the nobles. The
relationship at each level was, in theory at least, entirely
voluntary and often publicly proclaimed, with the
“vassal” (or holder of the fief) kneeling and promising
homage and fealty to his lord, and a kiss between the
two then sealing their mutual obligation.
The institution of this new system was marked in a
unique way by William through the compilation of the
Domesday Book (so-called in reference to the “Day of
Judgment” at the end of the world), an extraordinary
survey on a county-by-county basis of all the lands held
by the king and by his vassals, recording all the
obligations of the landholders. Without the sort of
commitment to record-keeping and enforcement that
the Domesday Book represented (a commitment made
possible, it must be said, by the underlying social order
inherited from the Anglo-Saxons), the Normans might
not have succeeded to such a great degree in imposing
a new network of obligation on the conquered people.
It must be noted, however, that the Domesday Book
was seldom used to settle disputes or clarify ownership—the two functions for which, one might suppose,
such a comprehensive census would be undertaken—in
the first century of its existence. The eleventh-century
ability to make records outpaced the development of a
system in which to exploit them, and it would take some
time before the mechanisms of government could make
efficient use of such burdensome archives of documents.
It has been argued that the Domesday Book, for all the
impressive bureaucracy that brought it about, reflects a
mistaken idea of the nature of written obligations:
William may have imagined that the island of Britain
could be granted to him by a written charter, like any
other piece of land, and that recording the disposition of
property and population would somehow fix them
permanently in that state. But even if Domesday was
more symbolic than useful, the imposition of feudal
obligations was fairly thorough in England; the AngloSaxon nobles were quickly assimilated, dispossessed, or
killed, leaving William in effective control of England.
The Norman conquests of Wales and Scotland,
however, were much slower and more piecemeal, and
the Anglo-Norman kings never exercised very much
control over Ireland.
The late eleventh century in England saw the arrival
of the Jews as well as the French invaders. Christian
disdain for moneylending—although there were
certainly Christian usurers—and the exclusion of Jews
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from some other professions meant that Jews tended to
become strongly associated with, and very important in,
the financial workings of the kingdom. In the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries, until their expulsion in 1290,
they served at times as a financial last resort for the king;
their relatively unprotected status as non-Christians
made them vulnerable to much more severe forms of
taxation and the abrogation of debts incurred by
Christians but never repaid. Another important
development of the later eleventh century, which would
become much more central to civic life in the late
Middle Ages, was the rise of guilds—initially merchant
guilds that exercised a monopoly over the trade in a
particular area, but later craft guilds that established
regulations allowing them to control who could practice
a given craft and that offered social and financial support to their members, as well as regulating the quality
of production. While guilds and confraternities of some
description, often purely religious in orientation, had
existed since perhaps the seventh century, they became
increasingly important in the course of the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries, particularly in England, and their
rise coincided with the growth of urban centers and of
new forms of religious devotion.
Henry II and an International Culture
If William was the key figure in establishing Norman
and feudal rule in England, his great-grandson Henry II
(r. 1154–89) was the key figure in its preservation and
extension through the later Middle Ages. Henry’s
coming to the throne in 1154 brought to an end almost
twenty years of civil war under the disputed kingship of
Stephen, in the course of which barons and church
leaders had taken advantage of the collapse of royal
authority to expand local powers. Many of them began
to encroach on land claimed by the Crown, and to build
private castles to protect their domains. Henry put a
stop to these practices, taking back the lands, tearing
down the castles, and reorganizing royal authority in a
fashion that was increasingly supported by standardized
records and documents. Central authority over legal
matters, which had previously been largely restricted to
capital cases, was now extended to legal matters of all
sorts; the first legal textbook was composed in Henry’s
reign. The expansion of the Crown’s legal control came
in part at the expense of the church, and provoked one
of the most famous incidents of Henry’s reign, his clash
with Thomas Becket (1118–70), Archbishop of
Canterbury, who wanted the clergy to retain their right
to be tried in church courts independent of the secular
legal system. The Archbishop was subsequently murdered, allegedly on the orders of Henry, an event that
exercised a tremendous hold on the contemporary
imagination. As John of Salisbury tells the story (in the
earliest surviving account of the murder, written in
1171), Becket was standing before the altar when the
knights who had come in pursuit of him arrived and
told him that it was his time to die. John writes:
Steadfast in speech as in spirit, he replied: “I am
prepared to die for my God, to preserve justice
and my church’s liberty. But if you seek my
head, I forbid you on behalf of God almighty
and on pain of anathema to do any hurt to any
other man, monk, clerk or layman, of high or
low degree.… I embrace death readily, so long as
peace and liberty for the church follow from the
shedding of my blood.” … He spoke, and saw
that the assassins had drawn their swords; and
bowed his head like one in prayer. His last words
were “To God and St. Mary and the saints who
protect and defend this church, and to the
blessed Denis, I commend myself and the
church’s cause.” … A son’s affection forbids me
to describe each blow the savage assassins struck,
spurning all fear of God, forgetful of all fealty
and any human feeling. They defiled the
cathedral and the holy season with a bishop’s
blood and with slaughter.
It remains unclear whether or not Henry ordered
Becket’s murder. What is clear is that the outcry was so
great that Henry was forced to perform public
penance—and to accept that the church would, to some
extent, remain outside the realm of royal authority.
Becket’s martyrdom created the Canterbury shrine that
was the destination of Chaucer’s pilgrims, among many
others.
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Plan for Canterbury Cathedra l, c. 116 0. Canterbury Cathedra l, the se at of the Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the
English Church, is a kind of time capsule of Christianity in Britain since Anglo-Saxon times. The earliest church known
to have stood on this site was that of St. Augustine of Canterbury, who arrived as a missionary in 597 C E ; traces of this
building are believed to lie beneath the current structure. An Anglo-Saxon church was built over that of Augustine in the
ninth or tenth century; it was destroyed by fire in 1 067 and rebuilt by the N orm ans sh ortly afterward, and this construction
still forms the basic fabric of the existing church, although it was modified and decorated further in the succeeding
centuries. The plan shows the extensive monastic buildings as well as the cathedral itself. The lines shown connecting the
buildings represent the plumbing system. At the top left the vineyard and orchard are indicated. The murder of St. Thomas
Becket, then Archbishop, in the Cathedral’s altar, made C anterbury a major pilgrimage shrine.
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centuries, Lincoln Cathedral shows some of the classic
features of both Romanesque and Gothic architecture. The
Gothic Galilee Porch dates from c. 1230.
Durham Cathedral, begun in 1093, is regarded as one
of the finest examples of Norman architecture in
Europe; this style, a form of the Romanesque, is
characterized by round arches (as here, along the sides
of the nave) and vast but relatively spare interiors.
Durham also displays some features (such as the
pointed vaulting) that came to characterize the Gothic
style of many later cathedrals.
Lincoln Cathedral, Galilee Porch. Begun in 1072 and
substantially rebuilt in the late twelfth and early thirteenth
Salisbury Cathedral (thirteenth century). With a spire of 404
feet, this was until the 1960s the tallest building in England.
It is a classic example of the high Gothic style, with its
pointed arches, flying buttresses to support a higher vault, and
greater intricacy of design, including decorative features such
as exterior sculpture and stained glass windows.
If Henry’s extension of the power of the English
throne throughout the realm was unprecedented—
though not, as the example of Becket suggests, entirely
unopposed—so too was his extension of that power
beyond the British Isles. Like previous Anglo-Norman
monarchs, Henry controlled much of what is now
northern France as well as England. With his marriage
to Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152 he had acquired control
of much of southern France; he also exerted control over
most of Scotland and Wales, and in 1171 he invaded
and took control of Ireland, where he quickly imposed
the same feudal structures and judicial system on the
Irish people as he had on the English. Despite England’s
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political control over Ireland—which itself was of
varying strength over the next centuries—there was
relatively little cultural assimilation, and the English
nobles ruling in Ireland formed to a large extent a selfcontained enclave. Like Scotland and Wales, with which
it formed intermittent alliances, Ireland throughout this
period pursued its own political strategies in the British
Isles and on the continent. And despite the efforts of
Henry and the kings who followed him, the English
presence in France was far less enduring than its
presence in Ireland. By 1453, at the close of the
Hundred Years’ War between France and England, the
port town of Calais was the only remnant of English
control over France.
Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine sailing across the
English Channel. Detail of illustration from Matthew
Paris, Historia Major (c. 1240). The king and queen
made the crossing many times as they traveled between
their French and English kingdoms.
The period around the Norman Conquest also
coincided with important developments in learned
culture. England had produced outstanding scholars at
various points in the early Middle Ages—among them
Bede, the Latin poet Aldhelm, Ælfric, Byrhtferth, and
most famously Alcuin of York, a monk who became
master of Charlemagne’s palace school—and in the
eleventh century was home to the illustrious Anselm of
Bec (1033–1109), one of the founders of scholastic
thought, whose career demonstrates the international
culture of the church and the schools, both of which
used Latin, an international language. Born in Italy,
Anselm became abbot of a monastery in Normandy and
was eventually appointed Archbishop of Canterbury—
the leading church position in England. His development of the ontological argument for the existence of
God in his Why God Became Man (starting from the
premise that God is that than which nothing greater can
be conceived) is a good example of scholastic ways of
thinking, proceeding on the basis of deductive logic to
new theological conclusions. While there were outstanding individual thinkers at this time, however, the
universities were still in their infancy; in most of
Europe, schools had existed for the most part only in
association with cathedrals or monasteries and their
chief purpose was to provide training for clerics. In the
wake of monastic and ecclesiastical reform in the tenth
and eleventh centuries, these schools began to expand
their curricula to provide a more highly educated clergy
at all levels. Already by the end of the eleventh century
there was some form of instruction taking place at
Oxford, and by the end of the twelfth century it was a
substantial enough center of learning to have attracted
its first foreign student and to benefit when Henry II
forbade English scholars to study at the University of
Paris. The University of Bologna was also already in
existence at this time, and these three were soon
followed by others across Europe.
The British Isles in the twelfth century also saw the
rise of new modes of historical writing, including works
such as William of Malmesbury’s Gesta Regum Anglorum
or “Deeds of the English Kings,” Henry of Huntingdon’s Chronicle, and Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia
Regum Britanniae or “History of the Kings of Britain.”
These writers’ approach to history emphasized, as their
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titles suggest, the deeds of kings and the rise and fall of
nations; in this they departed from predecessors more
interested in depicting the Christian framework of
history. The period also illustrates the political uses of
literature. While Henry II—unlike, for example, King
Alfred—is not particularly remembered for his own
literary activities, numerous works in Anglo-Norman are
associated with him as a patron or dedicatee, and his
desire to solidify and extend his claims on both French
and English lands was one of the things that made him
an important figure for literary history. Henry and his
descendants are known as the Angevin (or Plantagenet)
kings, a reference to Henry’s father, Geoffrey “Plantagenet” of Anjou, and this designation accurately represents their ongoing political and cultural interest in
France. Henry’s reign saw the production and wide
dissemination of numerous literary and historical works
that proved foundational for British literature, especially
the development of the Arthurian legend.
Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History, completed around
1139, offers an account of the history of the realm going
back to its mythical Trojan founder, Brutus (from
whom the name Britain supposedly derived), and
provided the foundation for the Arthurian stories of the
later Middle Ages. Henry II, the descendant of
Normans who, like the mythical British under Arthur,
had battled the Saxons for control of Britain, was only
the first in a long line of kings to find this legend, with
its potential to offer an authoritative and legitimizing
history, an appealing subject; Arthur’s imperial ambitions, as told in this version of the tale, also offered a
supposed historical precedent for English claims to rule
on the continent.1 Geoffrey’s History was popular
throughout Europe, and in the British Isles alone was
translated into Middle Welsh, Anglo-Norman, and
Middle English. The Anglo-Norman version Brut, by
the poet Wace, was dedicated to Henry’s queen, Eleanor
of Aquitaine, a further suggestion of the story’s royal
allure. Later in the century, French authors—most
notably Chrétien de Troyes (c. 1150–90)—inserted into
the legendary history of Arthur episodes that focused on
Although the Normans may have liked to associate themselves
with the British side in the Arthurian legends, Welsh poets of the
time, whose culture was the more direct descendant of the early
British, cast the Normans in the role of the despised English.
1
the individual achievements of knights and on romantic
(sometimes adulterous) love, creating a considerably
greater role for female characters. Their works took their
name from the language in which they were written,
roman (French, from which we derive the modern
literary term romance as well as the name for the
romance languages), as opposed to Latin, a choice that
reflected the growing audience for vernacular poetry in
the European courts.
A form closely related to the romance, and also
written in the vernacular, was the Breton lay, a short
narrative with, usually, a significant element of the
marvelous and a central emphasis on a romantic
relationship rather than large-scale political or military
events. The lays’ emphasis on the supernatural, which is
often attributed to their origin in the Celtic culture of
Brittany, is reminiscent at times of the early twelfthcentury prose tales of the Mabinogi from medieval
Wales—which, however, also show notable chivalric and
courtly features. By far the most famous medieval lays
are those by an Anglo-Norman author who calls herself
simply “Marie” and who apparently wrote in England in
Henry’s time; her twelve short tales—two of which are
set in the world of Arthurian legend—offer particularly
careful attention to women’s roles in the conflicts of
loyalty that often characterize romance narratives, and
are among the relatively few medieval works by a named
female author. The Marie who wrote the lays is usually
identified with the “Marie de France” who composed a
collection of fables and an account of a knight’s
visionary journey to purgatory. Romance and the lays
took some time to make their way into English;
Layamon translated Wace’s Brut into English around
the turn of the thirteenth century, but most Middle
English romances date from the late thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries, probably reflecting the linguistic
tendencies of their primary audience, the Frenchspeaking nobility, before the fourteenth century.
As had happened centuries earlier in the wake of
Alfred’s rule, royal authority was scaled back under
Henry’s successors, who included two of his sons: first
Richard I (the Lionheart), who ruled from 1189 to
1199, and then John, who ruled until 1216. In order to
raise money in his struggle against Philip II of France for
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territory on the continent, John imposed extraordinary
taxes on English barons and other nobles; the barons
rebelled and forced the king to sign a document setting
out the rights and obligations both of the nobles and of
the king himself, and making explicit that the king was
not to contravene these customary arrangements without
consulting the barons. The document also reaffirmed the
freedom of the English church, particularly the freedom
from royal interference in the election of bishops or other
officeholders. Under this “great charter” or Magna Carta,
the power of the king was for the first time limited by the
terms of a written document.
Th e Th irteenth Century
The year 1215 was momentous in medieval Europe. In
addition to the signing of Magna Carta—whose
ultimately far-reaching effects were at the time felt only
in England—this year witnessed the Fourth Lateran
Council, a major gathering of church leaders under the
guidance of the energetic Pope Innocent III. Lateran IV
represented an extraordinarily wide-ranging attempt to
unify Christian practice and raise standards of Christian
observance. The canons of the Council covered almost
all aspects of Christian life, and their effects on both
religious practice and religious instruction resounded
through the rest of the Middle Ages. Christians from
now on were required to confess their sins formally and
receive Communion at least once a year, and the
sacrament of the altar was officially declared to involve
transubstantiation, meaning that the body and blood of
Christ were actually present in, rather than merely
represented by, the bread and wine consecrated at the
Mass (a doctrine that became a matter of serious
dispute, however, in later medieval England). A new
network of regulation was put into place to govern
marriages, with secret marriages prohibited and marriage
itself declared a sacrament.
Associated with the increased emphasis on the
importance of priests administering sacraments to the
faithful were increased efforts to ensure that members of
the clergy were educated and competent; one of the
canons involved the maintenance of cathedral schools
free to clerics. Bishops were required to preach in their
dioceses or ensure that there were others who could do
so in their stead, and clergy were forcefully reminded of
the requirement of clerical celibacy. Individual
Christians, for their part, were expected to be able to
recite a small number of prayers, but there was no
thought of encouraging widespread education of a sort
that would enable the populace to read the word of God
on their own. On the contrary, it was considered
important to keep the Bible at a remove from the
common people so that it could be safely interpreted to
them through church intermediaries. The controversy
that later developed over this issue would extend over
several centuries and become a crucial concern for the
Lollard or Wycliffite sect in fourteenth- and fifteenthcentury England, as well as a central distinguishing
point between the Roman Catholic Church and the
various Protestant faiths in the Reformation.
As this suggests, the reforms of the Fourth Lateran
Council aimed to strengthen the Christian community,
but with a new emphasis on differentiating, excluding,
and penalizing unorthodox believers and nonChristians. The canons include extensive commentary
on the need to control and excommunicate heretics;
they require Jews and “Saracens” (Muslims) to wear
distinctive clothing lest they be mistaken for Christians;
they prohibit Jews from holding public office; and they
make provisions to encourage crusading against Muslim
control of the Holy Land. The English joined wholeheartedly in the Crusades and the restrictions placed on
Jews. There had already been massacres of Jews,
particularly at York, by the late twelfth century;
expulsions from various cities by the local lords became
widespread as early as the 1230s; and in 1290 Edward I
expelled all Jews from England. It is not surprising, in
view of this, that anti-Jewish miracle stories became
popular across Europe during this period; Chaucer’s
Prioress’s Tale is a later example of this genre. Heresy
remained a concern throughout Europe, although in
this period the persecutions were more severe in France
and other parts of the continent than in England.
The Fourth Lateran Council was in part a response
to increased lay devotion and interest in religion, which
offered a challenge to the sometimes inadequate pastoral
care provided by the clergy. In the early thirteenth
century, for example, the records of the Bishop of
Winchester show numerous priests being forced to
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Marie de France
c. 1155 – 1215
A
lthough she is widely credited with being the earliest female poet in France, and was arguably the
leading female writer of the Middle Ages, little is known about Marie de France; no surviving
documents refer to her life outside of her literary activity. What has come down to us are three works,
which vary widely in genre: the Lais (c. 1155–70), a collection of short romance narratives; the Ysopet
or Fables (c. 1167–89), a collection commonly accepted as the earliest translation of Aesop into
French; and the less-studied Espurgatoire de Saint Patrice (Legend of the Purgatory of Saint Patrick, c.
1189), a didactic tale in which Patrick, an Irish knight, makes a spiritual journey through Purgatory.
Her name is known from the self-identification she makes in each of her texts; this occurs most
forcefully and descriptively in the epilogue of the Ysopet:
I shall name myself so that it will be remembered;
Marie is my name, I am of France.
It may be that many clerks
will take my labor on themselves.
I don’t want any of them to claim it.
“France” itself is a slippery designation here, since it had multiple possible meanings in this period;
it may be intended to convey that she was from Continental Europe instead of England, for instance,
or from northern France instead of the southern Languedoc. The Norman dialect in which her works
are composed suggests that Marie was native to Normandy, and lived during the latter part of the
12th century. The “King Henry” to whom she dedicates her Lais is usually identified as Henry II, the
Angevin French king of England from 1154–89, and Marie is thought to have been a member of his
court, which spoke the form of Norman dialect in which her works come down to us. It has
sometimes been suggested that she was Henry’s illegitimate sister Marie, who became Abbess of
Shaftesbury around 1181, and who died in 1216, but without any other corroborating documents,
such theories are no more than intriguing speculation. It seems very likely, however, that she was
attached to the court of Henry II and his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and was of noble birth; her
works reveal a level of education and culture that would not usually have been available to a layperson
of lower rank during this time. It is clear that she was educated in Latin, as well as French, and
perhaps even in the Breton language, since she claims to have translated her Lais from that tongue.
The Lais of Marie de France are brief narratives written in octosyllabic rhyming couplets, which
was the conventional literary vehicle for French romance during this time. This collection is made up
of twelve stories, each prefaced by a short prologue in which Marie reveals that she is translating into
French for the first time a number of “Breton lais.” The lais were Celtic tales of romance that often
involved elements of the fantastic. The compressed space of the form requires Marie to handle her
material with considerable finesse and she recounts her tales with an economy of words and a tight
narrative control that lend the romances a down-to-earth precision without sacrificing meaning or
nuance.
Many of the lais have a strongly female focus, and in this regard offer a certain contrast to the
romances of Marie’s contemporaries. The works of male romancers, while treating the subject of love,
often emphasized the tension between love and chivalric pursuits, and the need to balance the two
in order to fulfill both personal needs and social responsibilities. Marie is largely uninterested in such
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concerns, and focuses instead on the personal desires of her characters, especially those of her female
characters. Her lais often depict intensely intimate love relationships set against a backdrop of a
threatening society in which unfulfilling marriages, the arbitrary dictates of court life, and oppressive
social practices hold sway.
Lanval is drawn from the larger literary universe of Arthurian legend. It recounts the tale of a
knight whose inherent worth is unrecognized by the Arthurian court, and who is able to escape this
uncaring and arbitrary society through the love of an otherworldly fairy figure.
zzz
Lanval1
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L’aventure d’un autre lai,
cum ele avient, vus cunterai.
Fait fu d’un mut gentil vassal;
en bretans l’apelent Lanval.
A Kardoel surjurnot li reis
Artur, li pruz e li curteis,
pur les Escoz e pur les Pis,
que destrui[ei]ent le païs;
en la tere de Loengre entroënt
e mut suvent la damagoënt.
A la Pentecuste en esté
i aveit li reis sujurné.
Asez i duna riches duns
e as cuntes e as baruns.
A ceus de la table runde—
n’ot tant de teus en tut le munde—
femmes e tere departi
par tut, fors un ki l’ot servi:
ceo fu Lanval, ne l’en sovient,
ne nul de[s] soens bien ne li tient.
Pur sa valur, pur sa largesce,
pur sa beauté, pur sa prüesce
l’envioënt tut li plusur;
tel li mustra semblant d’amur,
se al chevaler mesavenist,
ja une feiz ne l’en pleinsist.
Fiz a rei fu de haut parage,
mes luin ert de sun heritage.
De la meisné le rei fu.
Tut sun aveir ad despendu,
I shall tell you the adventure
of another lay, just as it happened.
It was made about a very noble vassal;
in Breton they call him Lanval.
The king was staying at Cardoel—
Arthur, the valiant and courteous—
on account of the Scots and Picts
who were ravaging the country:
they came into the land of Logres2
and repeatedly caused destruction there.
At Pentecost, in the summer,
the king had taken up residence there.
He gave many rich gifts
both to counts and to noblemen.
To the members of the Round Table—
they had no equal in all the world—
he shared out wives and land
among all except one who had served him:
that was Lanval, whom he did not remember,
nor did any of his men favor him.
For his valor, his generosity,
his beauty, his prowess,
most people envied him;
many a one pretended to love him
who wouldn’t have complained for a moment
if something bad had befallen the knight.
He was a king’s son, of high lineage,
but he was far from his heritage.
He was part of the king’s household.
He had spent all his wealth,
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Lanval The translation is by Claire Waters, for The Broadview Anthology of British Literature.
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Logres The Celtic word for England.
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kar li reis rien ne li dona
ne Lanval rien ne li demanda.
Ore est Lanval mut entrepris,
mut est dolent e mut pensis.
Seignurs, ne vus esmerveillez:
hume estrange descunseillez
mut est dolent en autre tere,
quant il ne seit u sucurs quere.
Le chevaler dunt jeo vus di,
que tant aveit le rei servi,
un jur munta sur sun destrer,
si s’est alez esbaneer.
Fors de la vilë est eissuz,
tut sul est en un pre venuz;
sur une ewe curaunt descent—
mes sis cheval tremble forment.
Il le descengle, si s’en vait;
en mi le pre vuiltrer le lait.
Le pan de sun mantel plia
desuz sun chief puis le cucha.
Mut est pensis pur sa mesaise;
il ne veit chose ke li plaise.
La u il gist en teu maniere,
garda aval lez la riviere,
[si] vit venir deus dameiseles;
unc n’en ot veü[es] plus beles.
Vestues ierent richement,
lacie[es] mut estreitement
en deus blians de purpre bis;
mut par aveient bel le vis.
L’eisnee portout un[s] bacins,
doré furent, bien faiz e fins;
le veir vus en dirai sans faile.
L’autre portout une tuaile.
Eles s’en sunt alees dreit
la u li chevaler giseit.
Lanval, que mut fu enseigniez,
cuntre eles s’en levad en piez.
Celes l’unt primes salué,
lur message li unt cunté:
“Sire Lanval, ma dameisele,
que tant est pruz e sage e bele,
ele nus enveit pur vus;
kar i venez ensemble od nus!
Sauvement vus i cundurums:
for the king gave him nothing,
nor did Lanval ask him for anything.
Now Lanval is very unhappy,
very sorrowful and anxious.
Lords, do not wonder:
a foreign man without support
is very sorrowful in another land
when he does not know where to seek help.
The knight of whom I’m telling you,
who had served the king so well,
got on his horse one day
and went off to enjoy himself.
He went out of the town
and came, all alone, to a meadow;
he got down beside running water—
but his horse trembled terribly.
He unsaddled it and went off;
he let it roll around in the middle of the meadow.
He folded the end of his mantle
and lay down with it under his head.
He is very worried by his difficult situation;
he sees nothing that pleases him.
As he lay there like this,
he looked down toward the bank
and saw two maidens coming;
he had never seen any more beautiful.
They were richly dressed
and very tightly laced
in tunics of dark purple;
they had exceedingly lovely faces.
The elder was carrying basins
of gold, fine and well made;
I shall tell you the truth without fail.
The other carried a towel.
They went right along
to where the knight was lying.
Lanval, who was very well bred,
got to his feet to meet them.
They greeted him first
and told him their message:
“Sir Lanval, my lady,
who is most noble, wise, and beautiful,
sent us for you;
now come along with us!
We will convey you safely to her.
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veez, pres est li paveilluns!”
Le chevalers od eles vait;
de sun cheval ne tient nul plait,
que devant li pe[ssei]t al pre.
Treskë al tref l’unt amené,
que mut fu beaus e bien asis.
La reïne Semiramis,
quant ele ot unkes plus aveir
e plus pussaunce e plus saveir,
ne l’emperere Octovïen
n’esligasent le destre pan.
Un aigle d’or ot desus mis;
de cel ne sai dire le pris,
ne des cordes ne des peissuns
que del tref tienent les giruns;
suz ciel n’ad rei ki[s] esligast
pur nul aver k’il i donast.
Dedenz cel tref fu la pucele:
flur de lis [e] rose nuvele,
quant ele pert al tens d’esté,
trespassot ele de beauté.
Ele jut sur un lit mut bel—
li drap valeient un chastel—
en sa chemise senglement.
Mut ot le cors bien fait e gent.
Un cher mantel de blanc hermine,
covert de purpre alexandrine,
ot pur le chaut sur li geté.
Tut ot descovert le costé,
le vis, le col e la peitrine;
plus ert blanche que flur d’espine.
Le chevaler avant ala,
e la pucele l’apela;
il s’est devant le lit asis.
“Lanval,” fet ele, “beus amis,
pur vus vienc jeo fors de ma tere;
de luinz vus sui venu[e] quere.
Se vus estes pruz e curteis,
emperere ne quens ne reis
n’ot unkes tant joie ne bien;
kar jo vus aim sur tute rien.”
Il l’esgarda, si la vit bele;
amurs le puint de l’estencele,
que sun quor alume e esprent.
Il li respunt avenantment.
Look, the pavilion is right here!”
The knight goes with them;
he takes no heed of his horse,
who was off grazing in the meadow.
They led him up to the tent,
which was very beautiful and well situated.
Not Queen Semiramis,
when she was at her richest
and most powerful and wisest,
nor the emperor Octavian
could have bought the right flap.
A golden eagle was set on top of it;
I can’t tell its value,
nor of the cords or the stakes
that held the sides of the tent;
no king under heaven could buy them
for any wealth he might offer.
Inside the tent was the maiden:
her beauty surpassed
the lily and the new rose
when they bloom in summer.
She lay on a very beautiful bed—
the sheets were worth a castle—
in nothing but her shift.
Her body was very elegant and comely.
She had thrown on for warmth
a costly mantle of white ermine,
lined with alexandrine silk.
Her side was entirely uncovered,
her face, her neck, and her breast;
she was whiter than hawthorn blossom.
The knight went forward,
and the maiden called to him;
he sat down in front of the bed.
“Lanval,” she said, “handsome friend,
for you I have come out of my own land;
I have come from afar to look for you.
If you are valiant and courteous,
no emperor, count, or king
ever had such joy or good fortune;
for I love you more than anything.”
He looked at her, and saw she was beautiful;
love stung him with a spark
that lit and inflamed his heart.
He responded fittingly.
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“Bele,” fet il, “si vus pleiseit
e cele joie me aveneit
que vus me vousissez amer,
ja [ne savrïez] rien commander
que jeo ne face a mien poeir,
turt a folie u a saveir.
Jeo frai voz comandemenz;
pur vus guerpirai tutes genz.
Jamés ne queor de vus partir:
ceo est la rien que plus desir.”
Quant la meschine l’ oï parler,
celui que tant la peot amer,
s’amur e sun cors li otreie.
Ore est Lanval en dreite veie!
Un dun li ad duné aprés:
ja cele rien ne vudra mes
quë il nen ait a sun talent;
doinst e despende largement,
ele li troverat asez.
Mut est Lanval bien herbergez:1
cum plus despendra richement,
plus averat or e argent.
“Ami,” fet ele, “ore vus chasti,
si vus comant e si vus pri,
ne vus descoverez a nul humme!
De ceo vus dirai ja la summe:
a tuz jurs m’avrïez perdue,
se ceste amur esteit seüe;
jamés ne me purriez veeir
ne de mun cors seisine aveir.”
Il li respunt que bien tendra
ceo que ele li comaundera.
Delez li s’est al lit cuchiez:
ore est Lanval bien herbergez.
Ensemble od li la relevee
demurat tresque a l[a] vespree,
e plus i fust, së il poïst
e s’amie lui cunsentist.
“Amis,” fet ele, “levez sus!
Vus n’i poëz demurer plus.
Alez vus en, jeo remeindrai;
mes un[e] chose vus dirai:
quant vus vodrez od mei parler,
“Beautiful one,” he said, “if it pleased you
that such joy should come to me
as to have you consent to love me,
you could never command anything
that I would not do to the best of my power,
be it folly or wisdom.
I will do what you command;
for you I will give up everyone.
I never wish to part from you:
this is what I most desire.”
When the maiden heard him speak,
he who could love her so well,
she granted him her love and her body.
Now Lanval is on the right path!
She gave him still one more gift:
he will never again want anything
without having as much of it as he likes;
let him give and spend generously,
she will provide him with enough.
Lanval is very well situated:
the more richly he spends,
the more gold and silver he will have.
“Friend,” she said, “now I warn you,
I command and beg you,
tell no one about this!
I will tell you the whole truth:
you would lose me forever
if this love should be known;
you could never see me again
or have possession of my body.”
He replies that he will certainly hold to
what she commands.
He lay down beside her on the bed:
now Lanval is well lodged.
All afternoon he stayed with her
until the evening,
and he would have stayed longer, if he could
and his beloved had consented.
“Friend,” she said, “get up!
You can’t stay here any more.
You go on, I will remain—
but one thing I will tell you:
when you want to talk with me,
Mut … herbergez Other manuscripts have here, “mut est Lanval bien assenez” (Lanval is very well provided for)
and some editors prefer this reading, since the line as it stands is repeated below at l. 154.
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ja ne saverez cel liu penser,
u nuls puïst aver sa amie
sanz reproece, sanz vileinie,
que jeo ne vus seie en present
a fere tut vostre talent;
nul humme fors vus ne me verra
ne ma parole nen orra.”
Quant il l’oï, mut en fu liez;
il la baisa, puis s’est dresciez.
Celes quë al tref l’amenerent
de riches dras le cunreerent;
quant il fu vestu de nuvel,
suz ciel nen ot plus bel dancel.
N’esteit mie fous ne vileins.
L’ewe li donent a ses meins
e la tuaille a [es]suier;
puis li portent a manger.
Od s’amie prist le super:
ne feseit mie a refuser.
Mut fu servi curteisement,
e il a grant joie le prent.
Un entremés i ot plener,
que mut pleiseit al chevalier:
kar s’amie baisout sovent
e acolot estreitement.
Quant del manger furent levé,
sun cheval li unt amené.
Bien li unt la sele mise;
mut ad trové riche servise.
Il prent cungé, si est muntez;
vers la cité s’en est alez.
Suvent esgarde ariere sei.
Mut est Lanval en grant esfrei;
de s’aventure vait pensaunt
e en sun curage d[o]taunt.
Esbaïz est, ne seit que creir,
il ne la quide mie a veir.
Il est a sun ostel venuz;
ses hummes treve bien vestuz.
Icele nuit bon estel tient;
mes nul ne sot dunt ceo li vient.
N’ot en la vile chevalier
ki de surjur ait grant mestier,
there is no place you can think of
where one could have his beloved
without reproach or villainy
that I will not be with you at once
to do all your will;
no man but you will see me
or hear my words.”
When he heard this, he was delighted;
he kissed her, then got up.
The maidens who had brought him to the tent
covered him with rich clothes;
when he was newly dressed,
there was no handsomer young man under
heaven.
He was not at all foolish or base.
They gave him water for his hands
and the towel to dry them;
then they brought him to the table.
He took supper with his beloved:
he by no means refused.
He was served very courteously,
and accepted it with great joy.
There was an excellent extra dish
that greatly pleased the knight,
for he often kissed his lady
and embraced her closely.
When they had gotten up from the table,
they brought him his horse.
They have put its saddle on well;
it has been richly looked after.
He took his leave and mounted;
he went toward the city.
Several times he looks back.
Lanval is greatly troubled;
he goes along thinking about his adventure
and worrying to himself.
He is astonished, he doesn’t know what to
think,
he doesn’t believe he will see her again.
He arrives at his lodging;
he finds his men handsomely dressed.
That night he keeps a rich table,
but no one knew where he got this from.
There was no knight in the town
who greatly needed sustenance
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quë il ne face a lui venir
e richement e bien servir.
Lanval donout les riches duns,
Lanval aquitout les prisuns,
Lanval vesteit les jugleürs,
Lanval feseit les granz honurs:
n’i ot estrange ne privé
a ki Lanval nen ust doné.
Mut ot Lanval joie e deduit:
u seit par jur u seit par nuit,
s’amie peot veer sovent,
tut est a sun comandement.
Ceo m’est avis, memes l’an,
aprés la feste seint Johan,
d’ici qu’a trente chevalier
si erent alé esbanïer
en un vergier desuz la tur
u la reïne ert a surjur.
Ensemble od eus [esteit] Walwains
e sis cusins, li beaus Ywains.
E dist Walwains, li francs, li pruz,
que tant se fist amer de tuz:
“Par Deu, seignurs, nus feimes mal
de nostre cumpainun Lanval,
que tant est larges e curteis,
e sis peres est riches reis,
que od nus ne l’avum amené.”
Atant se sunt ariere turné;
a sun ostel rev[u]nt ariere,
Lanval ameinent par preere.
A une fenestre entaillie
s’esteit la reïne apuïe[e];
treis dames ot ensemble od li.
La maisné [le rei] choisi;
Lanval choisi e esgarda.
Une des dames apela;
par li manda ses dameiseles,
les plus quointes [e] les plus beles:
od li si irrunt esbainïer
la u cil sunt al vergier.
Trente en menat od li e plus;
par les degrez descendent jus.
Les chevalers encuntre vunt,
que pur eles grant joië unt.
Il les unt prises par les mains;
whom Lanval does not have brought to him
and well and richly served.
Lanval gave rich gifts,
Lanval ransomed prisoners,
Lanval clothed minstrels,
Lanval did great honor:
there was no stranger or dear friend
to whom Lanval did not give.
Lanval had great joy and pleasure:
he can see his beloved often,
whether by day or by night;
she is entirely at his command.
That same year, as I understand,
after the feast of St. John,
as many as thirty knights
were going out to enjoy themselves
in a garden below the tower
where the queen was staying.
Gawain was with them
and his cousin, the handsome Yvain.
Gawain, the noble, the valiant,
who made himself so beloved by everyone, said,
“By God, my lords, we have done wrong
not to have brought along with us
our companion Lanval,
who is so generous and courteous,
and whose father is a rich king.”
They turned back at once;
they go back to his lodging
and persuade Lanval to accompany them.
The queen was leaning
on a window ledge;
she had three ladies along with her.
She saw the king’s household;
she saw Lanval and noticed him.
She called one of her ladies;
she got her to send for her maidens,
the most elegant and lovely:
they will go to enjoy themselves with her
there where the men are in the orchard.
She took thirty or more of them with her;
they go down by the stairs.
The knights, who are delighted to see them,
go to meet them.
They took the ladies by the hand;
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cil [parlemenz] ni ert pas vilains.
Lanval s’en vait a une part,
mut luin des autres. Ceo li est tart
que s’amie puïst tenir,
baiser, acoler e sentir;
l’autrui joie prise petit,
si il n’ad le suen delit.
Quant la reïne sul le veit,
al chevaler en va tut dreit;
lunc lui s’asist, si l’apela,
tut sun curage li mustra:
“Lanval, mut vus ai honuré
e mut cheri e mut amé.
tute m’amur poëz aveir;
kar me dites vostre voleir!
Ma drüerie vus otrei;
mut devez estre lié de mei.”
“Dame,” fet il, “lessez m’ester!
Jeo n’ai cure de vus amer.
Lungement ai servi le rei;
ne li voil pas mentir ma fei.
Ja pur vus ne pur vostre amur
ne mesfrai a mun seignur.”
La reïne s’en curuça;
irie[e] fu, si mesparla.
“Lanval,” fet ele, “bien le quit,
vuz n’amez gueres cel delit.
Asez le m’ad humme dit sovent
que des femmez n’avez talent.
Vallez avez bien afeitiez,
ensemble od eus vus deduiez.
Vileins cüarz, mauveis failliz,
mut est mi sires maubailliz
que pres de lui vus ad suffert;
mun escïent que Deus en pert!”
Quant il l’oï, mut fu dolent;
del respundre ne fu pas lent.
Teu chose dist par maltalent
dunt il se repenti sovent.
“Dame,” dist il, “de cel mestier
ne me sai jeo nïent aidier;
mes jo aim, [e] si sui amis
cele ke deit aver le pris
sur tutes celes que jeo sai.
E une chose vus dirai,
the conversation was not unrefined.
Lanval wanders off by himself,
quite far from the others. It seems long to him
until he might have his beloved,
kiss, embrace, and touch her;
he values little another’s joy
if he does not have what pleases him.
When the queen sees him alone,
she goes right to the knight;
she sat by him and spoke to him,
she showed him all her feelings:
“Lanval, I have honored you greatly
and loved you and held you very dear.
You can have all my love;
tell me your desire!
I am willing to be your lover;
you should be delighted with me.”
“Lady,” he said, “let me be!
I have no interest in loving you.
For a long time I have served the king;
I don’t want to betray my faith to him.
Never for you or for your love
shall I wrong my lord.”
The queen became furious at this;
in her anger, she spoke wrongly.
“Lanval,” she said, “it’s quite clear to me
you have no interest in that pleasure.
People have often told me
that you’re not interested in women.
You have shapely young men
and take your pleasure with them.
Base coward, infamous wretch,
my lord is very badly repaid
for allowing you to remain in his presence;
I believe that he will lose God by it!”
When he heard this, he was very distressed;
he was not slow to respond.
Out of anger he said something
that he would often regret.
“Lady,” he said, “I know nothing
about that line of work;
but I love, and am loved by,
one who should be valued more highly
than all the women I know.
And I’ll tell you one thing,
Lanval
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bien le sachez a descovert:
une de celes ke la sert,
tute la plus povre meschine,
vaut meuz de vus, dame reïne,
de cors, de vis e de beauté,
d’enseignement e de bunté.”
La reïne s’en par[t] atant,
en sa chambrë en vait plurant.
Mut fu dolente e curuciee
de ceo k’il [l’]out [si] avilee.
En sun lit malade cucha;
jamés, ceo dit, ne levera,
si li reis ne l’en feseit dreit
de ceo dunt ele se plein[d]reit.
Li reis fu del bois repeiriez;
mut out le jur esté haitiez.
As chambres la reïne entra.
Quant ele le vit, si se clamma;
as piez li chiet, merci crie,
e dit que Lanval l’ad hunie.
De drüerie la requist;
pur ceo que ele l’en escundist,
mut [la] laidi e avila.
De tele amie se vanta,
que tant iert cuinte e noble e fiere
que meuz valut sa chamberere,
la plus povre que [la] serveit,
que la reïne ne feseit.
Li reis s’en curuçat forment;
juré en ad sun serement:
si il ne s’en peot en curt defendre,
il le ferat arder u pendre.
Fors de la chambre eissi li reis,
de ses baruns apelat treis;
il les enveit pur Lanval,
quë asez ad dolur e mal.
A sun [o]stel fu revenuz;
il s’est[eit] bien aparceüz
qu’il aveit perdue s’amie:
descovert ot la drüerie.
En une chambre fu tut suls,
pensis esteit e anguissus;
s’amie apele mut sovent,
mes ceo ne li valut neent.
Il se pleigneit e suspirot,
know it well and openly:
any one of her servants,
even the poorest maid,
is worth more than you, lady queen,
in body, face, and beauty,
in manners and goodness.”
The queen leaves at once
and goes into her chamber, crying.
She was very upset and angry
that he had insulted her in this way.
She took to her bed, sick;
never, she said, would she get up
if the king did not do the right thing
about the complaint she would make to him.
The king returned from the woods;
he had had a very pleasant day.
He went into the queen’s rooms.
When she saw him, she made her appeal;
she falls at his feet and asks for mercy
and says that Lanval has shamed her.
He asked her to be his lover;
because she refused him,
he insulted her greatly and said ugly things.
He boasted of such a beloved,
one who was so elegant, noble, and proud,
that her chambermaid,
the poorest girl who served her,
was worth more than the queen.
The king got extremely angry;
he swore an oath that
if Lanval cannot defend himself in court,
he will have him burnt or hanged.
The king went out of the chamber
and called three of his nobles;
he sends them for Lanval,
who has sorrow and trouble enough.
He had gone back to his lodging;
it was quite evident to him
that he had lost his beloved:
he had revealed their love.
He went into a chamber by himself,
anxious and distraught;
he calls on his beloved over and over,
and it does him no good at all.
He lamented and sighed,
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d’ures en autres se pasmot;
puis li crie cent feiz merci
que ele par[ol]t a sun ami.
Sun quor e sa buche maudit;
ceo est merveille k’il ne s’ocit.
Il ne seit tant crïer ne braire
ne debatre ne sei detraire
que ele en veulle merci aveir
sul tant que la puisse veeir.
Oi las, cument se cuntendra?
Cil ke li reis ci enveia,
il sunt venu, si li unt dit
que a la curt voise sanz respit:
li reis l’aveit par eus mandé,
la reïne l’out encusé.
Lanval i vait od sun grant doel;
il l’eüssent ocis [sun] veoil.
Il est devant le rei venu;
mut fu dolent, taisanz e mu,
de grant dolur mustre semblant.
Li reis li dit par maltalant,
“Vassal, vus me avez mut mesfait!
Trop començastes vilein plait
de mei hunir e aviler
e la reïne lendengier.
Vanté vus estes de folie:
trop par est noble vostre amie,
quant plus est bele sa meschine
e plus vaillante que la reïne.”
Lanval defent la deshonur
e la hunte de sun seignur
de mot en mot, si cum il dist,
que la reïne ne requist;
mes de ceo dunt il ot parlé
reconut il la verité,
de l’amur dunt il se vanta:
dolent en est, perdue l’a.
De ceo lur dit qu’il en ferat
quanque la curt esgarderat.
Li reis fu mut vers li irez;
tuz ses hummes ad enveiez
pur dire dreit que il en deit faire,
que hum ne li puis[se] a mal retraire.
Cil unt sun commandement fait,
u eus seit bel, u eus seit lait.
he fainted repeatedly;
then a hundred times he begs her to have pity
and appear to her beloved.
He cursed his heart and his mouth;
it’s a wonder he does not kill himself.
He cannot cry out or wail
or reproach or torment himself
enough to make her take pity on him,
even enough that he might see her.
Alas, what will he do?
Those the king sent there
arrived, and said to him
that he must go to the court without delay:
the king had sent the order through them,
the queen had accused him.
Lanval goes there in his great sorrow;
they could have killed him for all he cared.
He came before the king;
he was very sorrowful, silent and unspeaking,
showing the appearance of great sorrow.
The king says to him angrily,
“Vassal, you have done me a great wrong!
You began too base a suit
to shame and revile me
and insult the queen.
You boasted foolishly:
your beloved is far too exalted
when her maid is more beautiful
and worthy than the queen.”
Lanval denies the dishonor
and shame of his lord
word by word, just as he said it,
for he had not requested the queen’s love;
but he acknowledged the truth
of what he had said
concerning the love about which he boasted:
he is sorrowful, for he has lost her.
Concerning this he says that he will do
whatever the court judges best.
The king was quite furious with him;
he sent for all his men
to say rightly what he must do,
so that no one would speak ill of it.
They did what he ordered,
whether they liked it or not.
Lanval
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Comunement i sunt alé
e unt jugé e esgardé
que Lanval deit aveir un jur;
mes plegges truisse a sun seignur
qu’il atendra sun jugement
e revendra en sun present:
si serat la curt esforcie[e],
kar n’i ot dunc fors la maisne[e].
Al rei revienent li barun,
si li mustrent la reisun.
Li reis ad plegges demandé.
Lanval fu sul e esgaré;
n’i aveit parent në ami.
Walwain i vait, ki l’a plevi,
e tuit si cumpainun aprés.
Li reis lur dit: “E jol vus les
sur quanke vus tenez de mei,
teres e fieus, chescun par sei.”
Quant plevi fu, dunc n’[i] ot el;
alez s’en est a sun ostel.
Li chevaler l’unt conveé;
mut l’unt blasmé e chastïé
k’il ne face si grant dolur,
e maudïent si fol’amur.
Chescun jur l’aloënt veer,
pur ceo k’il voleient saveir
u il beüst, u il mangast;
mut dotouent k’il s’afolast.
Al jur que cil orent numé
li barun furent asemblé.
Li reis e la reïne i fu,
e li plegge unt Lanval rendu.
Mut furent tuz pur li dolent:
jeo quid k’il en i ot teus cent
ki feïssent tut lur poeir
pur lui sanz pleit delivre aveir;
il iert retté a mut grant tort.
Li reis demande le recort
sulunc le cleim e les respuns;
ore est trestut sur les baruns.
Il sunt al jugement alé,
mut sunt pensifz e esgaré
They all went off together
and judged and decided
that Lanval should have his day in court;
but he must provide guarantees for his lord
that he will await his judgment
and return to his presence:
a larger court will be gathered,
for now there was no one there but the
household.
The nobles return to the king
and explain to him their judgment.
The king demanded guarantees.
Lanval was alone and in great distress;
he had no family or friends.
Gawain goes to act as a guarantor for Lanval,
and all his companions after him.
The king says to them: “I commend him to you
on the basis of whatever you may hold of me,
lands and fiefs, each one for himself.”
Once the pledge was made, there was
nothing more to do;
Lanval went off to his lodging.
The knights went along with him;
they greatly rebuked and counseled him
not to be in such sorrow,
and they cursed such mad love.
Every day they went to see him,
for they wanted to know
if he was drinking, if he was eating;
they greatly feared that he would do himself
harm.
On the day that they had named
the nobles gathered.
The king and queen were there,
and the guarantors brought Lanval.
Everyone was very sad for him:
I believe that there were some hundred there
who would have done anything in their power
to free him without a trial;
he was very wrongly accused.
The king demands the verdict
according to the charges and the defense;
now it is entirely up to the nobles.
They went to sit in judgment,
very anxious and dismayed
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del franc humme d’autre païs
quë entre eus ert si entrepris.
Encumbrer le veulent plusur
pur la volenté sun seignur.
Ceo dist li quoens de Cornwaille:
“Ja endreit [nus] n’i avera faille;
kar ki que en plurt e ki que en chant,
le dreit estuet aler avant.
Li reis parla vers sun vassal,
que jeo vus oi numer Lanval;
de felunie le retta
e d’un mesfait l’acheisuna,
d’un’amur dunt il se vanta,
e ma dame s’en curuça.
Nuls ne l’apele fors le rei;
par cele fei ke jeo vus dei,
ki bien en veut dire le veir,
ja n’i deüst respuns aveir,
si pur ceo nun que a sun seignur
deit [hum] par tut fairë honur. 1
Un serement l’engagera,
e li reis le nus pardura.
E s’il peot aver sun guarant
e s’amie venist avant
e ceo fust veir k’il en deïst,
dunt la reïne se marist,
de ceo avera il bien merci,
quant pur vilté nel dist de li.
E s’il ne peot garant aveir,
ceo li devum faire saveir:
tut sun servise perde del rei,
e sil deit cungeer de sei.”
Al chevaler unt enveé,
si li unt dit e nuntïé
que s’amie face venir
pur lui tencer e garentir.
Il lur dit qu’il ne poeit:
ja pur li sucurs nen avereit.
Cil s’en rev[un]t as jugeürs,
ki n’i atendent nul sucurs.
Li reis les hastot durement
over the noble man from another country
who was in such trouble among them.
Many want to find him guilty
according to their lord’s wishes.
The count of Cornwall said,
“We must not fall short,
for whoever may weep or sing,
the law must take precedence.
The king has spoken against his vassal,
whom I hear you call Lanval;
he accused him of a crime
and brought charges of wrongdoing against
him,
concerning a love of which he boasted,
which made my lady angry.
No one accuses him but the king;
by the faith I owe you,
whoever wants to speak the truth,
there would not even be a case
except that to the name of his lord
a man should do honor in everything.
Lanval can affirm this by oath,
and the king will turn him over to us for
judgment.
And if he can have his guarantor—
if his lady should come forward
and what he said about her,
which made the queen angry, was true—
then he will certainly receive mercy,
since he did not say it out of baseness.
And if he cannot produce proof,
we must make him understand this:
he loses all his service to the king
and must take his leave of him.”
They sent to the knight,
and they told him and announced
that he should make his beloved come
to defend and bear witness for him.
He told them that he could not:
he would never get help from her.
They go back to the judges,
who expect no help from that quarter.
The king urged them fiercely
d’un’amur … honur Lines 441–49 appear in a different order in the manuscript: 443–48, 442, 441. This
emendation is made by most editors.
1
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pur la reïne kis atent.
Quant il deveient departir,
deus puceles virent venir
sur deus beaus palefreiz amblanz.
Mut par esteient avenanz;
de cendal purpre sunt vestues
tut senglement a lur char nues.
Cil les esgardou volenters.
Walwain, od li treis chevalers,
vait a Lanval, si li cunta;
les deus puceles li mustra.
Mut fu haitié, forment li prie
qu’il li deïst si ceo ert [s]’amie.
Il lur ad dit ne seit ki sunt
ne dunt vienent ne u eles vunt.
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Celes sunt alees avant
tut a cheval; par tel semblant
descendirent devant le deis,
la u seeit Artur li reis.
Eles furent de grant beuté,
si unt curteisement parlé:
“Reis, fai tes chambers delivrer
e de pa[il]es encurtiner,
u ma dame puïst descendre
si ensemble od vus veut ostel prendre.”
Il lur otria mut volenters,
si appela deus chevalers:
as chambres les menerent sus.
A cele feiz ne distrent plus.
Li reis demande a ses baruns
le jugement e les respuns
e dit que mut l’unt curucié
de ceo que tant l’unt delaié.
“Sire,” funt il, “nus departimes
pur les dames que nus veïmes;
[nus n’i avum] nul esgart fait.
Or recumencerum le plait.”
Dunc assemblerent tut pensif;
asez i ot noise e estrif.
Quant il ierent en cel esfrei,
deus puceles de gent cunrei—
vestues de deus pa[il]es freis,
chevauchent deus muls espanneis—
for the sake of the queen who was waiting.
Just as they were about to make their ruling,
they saw two maidens coming
on two beautiful brisk palfreys.
They were extremely lovely;
they were dressed in purple taffeta
down to their bare skin.
Everyone gazed at them eagerly.
Gawain, and three knights with him,
went to Lanval and told him;
he showed him the two maidens.
He was very happy, and begged him
to say whether this was his beloved.
Lanval tells them that he does not know who
they are
or where they come from or where they are
going.
The maidens went along
on their horses; in this fashion
they got down in front of the dais
where King Arthur was sitting.
They were very beautiful
and spoke courteously:
“King, make your chambers ready
and spread out silks
where my lady can step
if she wants to take lodging with you.”
He very willingly granted this to them,
and called two knights:
they led them up to the chambers.
At that time they said no more.
The king asks his nobles
for the judgment and the verdict
and says that they have made him very angry
by delaying for so long.
“Sire,” they say, “we broke off our discussion
on account of the ladies that we saw;
we have not made a decision.
Now we will resume the trial.”
Then they gathered, quite concerned;
there was a great deal of noise and debate.
While they were in this disarray,
they saw coming down the road
two maidens of noble bearing,
dressed in cool silks,
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virent venir la rue aval.
Grant joie en eurent li vassal;
entre eus dïent que ore est gariz
Lanval li pruz e li hardiz.
Yweins i est a lui alez,
ses cumpainuns i ad menez.
“Sire,” fet il, “rehaitiez vus!
Pur amur Deu, parlez od nus!
Ici vienent deus dameiseles
mut acemees e mut beles:
ceo est vostre amie vereiment!”
Lanval respunt hastivement
e dit qu’il pas nes avuot
ne il nes cunut ne nes amot.
Atant furent celes venues,
devant le rei sunt descendues.
Mut les loërent li plusur
de cors, de vis e de colur;
n’i ad cele meuz ne vausist
que unkes la reïne ne fist.
L’aisnee fu curteise e sage,
avenantment dist sun message:
“Reis, kar nus fai chambres baillier
a oés ma dame herbergier;
ele vient ici a tei parler.”
Il les cumandë a mener
od les autres quë ainceis viendrent.
Unkes des muls nul plai[t] ne tindrent.
Quant il fu d’eles deliverez,
puis ad tuz ses baruns mandez
que le jugement seit renduz:
trop ad le jur esté tenuz.
La reïne s’en curuceit,
que si lunges les atendeit.
Ja departissent a itant,
quant par la vile vient errant
tut a cheval une pucele:
en tut le secle n’ot plus bele.
Un blanc palefrei chevachot,
que bel e süef la portot.
Mut ot bien fet e col e teste:
suz ciel nen ot plus bele beste.
Riche atur ot al palefrei:
suz ciel nen ad quens ne rei
ki tut [le] p[e]üst eslegier
riding two Spanish mules.
The vassals were delighted by this;
they say to each other that now Lanval,
the bold and strong, is cured.
Yvain went to him,
taking his companions with him.
“Sir,” he said, “rejoice!
For the love of God, speak to us!
Here come two maidens,
very elegant and beautiful:
surely it is your beloved!”
Lanval answers hastily
and says that he neither claimed them
nor knew them nor loved them.
Just then the maidens arrived
and dismounted before the king.
Many people greatly praised
their bodies, faces and coloring;
both of them were certainly worth
more than the queen ever was.
The elder was courteous and wise;
she spoke her message becomingly:
“King, make ready rooms for us
to receive my lady;
she is coming here to speak to you.”
He orders that they be taken
to the others who had arrived previously.
They need not worry about the mules.
When he had sent them off,
he ordered all his nobles
that the judgment be given:
too much of the day had been taken up.
The queen was getting angry
that she was kept waiting so long by them.
They were about to take a decision,
when through the town comes
a maiden riding on a horse:
there was no lady in the world more beautiful.
She was riding a white palfrey,
which carried her well and gently.
It had a well-shaped neck and head:
there was no more beautiful animal under heaven.
The palfrey was richly harnessed:
no count or king under heaven
could have afforded it all
Lanval
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sanz tere vendre u engagier.
Ele iert vestue en itel guise:
de chainsil blanc e de chemise,
que tuz les costez li pareient,
que de deus parz laciez esteient.
Le cors ot gent, basse la hanche,
le col plus blanc que neif sur branche,
les oilz ot vairs e blanc le vis,
bele buche, neis bien asis,
les surcilz bruns e bel le frunt
e le chef cresp e aukes blunt;
fil d’or ne gette tel luur
cum sun chevel cuntre le jur.
Sis manteus fu de purpre bis;
les pans en ot entur li mis.
Un espervier sur sun poin tient,
e un leverer aprés lui vient.
Il n’ot al burc petit ne grant
ne li veillard ne li enfant
que ne l’alassent esgarder.
Si cum il la veent errer,
de sa beauté n’iert mie gas.
Ele veneit meins que le pas.
Li jugeür, que la veeient,
a [grant] merveille le teneient;
il n’ot un sul ki l’esgardast
de dreite joie ne s’eschaufast.
Cil ki le chevaler amoënt
a lui veneient, si li cuntouent
de la pucele ki veneit,
si Deu plest, que le delivereit:
“Sire cumpain, ci en vient une,
mes ele n’est pas fave ne brune;
ceo’st la plus bele del mund,
de tutes celes kë i sunt.”
Lanval l’oï, sun chief dresça;
bien la cunut, si suspira.
Li sanc li est munté al vis;
de parler fu aukes hastifs.
“Par fei,” fet il, “ceo est m’amie!
Or m’en est gueres ki m’ocie,
si ele n’ad merci de mei;
kar gariz sui, quant jeo la vei.”
La damë entra al palais;
unc si bele n’i vient mais.
without selling or mortgaging land.
She was dressed in this manner:
in a shift of white linen,
which let both her sides be seen,
as it was laced on either side.
She had a lovely body, a long waist,
a neck whiter than snow on a branch,
grey-green eyes and white skin,
a beautiful mouth, a well-formed nose,
dark eyebrows and a lovely forehead
and curling golden hair;
no golden thread casts such a gleam
as did her hair in the sun.
Her mantle was dark purple;
she had wrapped its ends around her.
She holds a falcon on her fist,
and a greyhound runs behind her.
There was no one in the town, great or small,
not the old men or the children,
who did not go to look at her.
As they saw her pass,
there was no joking about her beauty.
She came along quite slowly.
The judges, who saw her,
considered it a great marvel;
there was not one who looked at her
who did not grow warm with sheer joy.
Those who loved the knight
came to him, and told him
of the maiden who was coming,
who, if it pleased God, would set him free:
“Sir companion, here comes one
who is not tawny nor dark;
she is the loveliest in the world,
of all the women who live.”
Lanval heard this, he lifted his head;
he knew her well, and sighed.
The blood rose to his face;
he was very quick to speak.
“In faith,” he said, “it is my beloved!
Now I care little who may kill me,
if she does not take pity on me;
for I am cured when I see her.”
The lady entered the palace;
such a beauty had never come there.
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Devant le rei est descendue
si que de tuz iert bien [veüe].
Sun mantel ad laissié ch[e]eir,
que meuz la puïssent veer.
Li reis, que mut fu enseigniez,
il s’est encuntre lui dresciez,
e tuit li autre l’enurerent,
de li servir se presenterent.
Quant il l’orent bien esgardee
e sa beauté forment loëe,
ele parla en teu mesure,
kar de demurer nen ot cure:
“Reis, jeo ai amé un tuen vassal:
veez le ici, ceo est Lanval!
Acheisuné fu en ta curt.
Ne vuil mie que a mal li turt
de ceo qu’il dist; ceo sachez tu
que la reïne ad tort eü:
unc nul jur ne la requist.
De la vantance kë il fist,
si par me peot estre aquitez,
par voz baruns seit deliverez!”
Ceo qu’il jugerunt par dreit
li reis otrie ke issi seit.
N’i ad un sul que n’ait jugié
que Lanval ad tut desrainié.
Deliverez est par lur esgart,
e la pucele s’en depart.
Ne la peot li reis retenir;
asez gent ot a li servir.
Fors de la sale aveient mis
un grant perrun de marbre bis,
u li pesant humme muntoënt,
que de la curt le rei [aloënt]:
Lanval esteit munté desus.
Quant la pucele ist fors a l’us,
sur le palefrei, detriers li,
de plain eslais Lanval sailli.
Od li s’en vait en Avalun,
ceo nus recuntent li Bretun,
en un isle que mut est beaus;
la fu ravi li dameiseaus.
Nul hum n’en oï plus parler,
ne jeo n’en sai avant cunter.
She dismounted before the king
so that she was quite visible to all.
She let her mantle fall
so that they could see her better.
The king, who was very well-bred,
got up to meet her,
and all the others honored her
and offered themselves to serve her.
When they had looked at her well
and greatly praised her beauty,
she spoke in this way,
for she did not wish to delay:
“King, I have fallen in love with one of your
vassals:
you see him here, it is Lanval!
He was accused in your court.
I do not wish it to be held against him,
concerning what he said; you should know
that the queen was wrong:
he never asked for her love.
And concerning the boast he made,
if he can be acquitted by me,
let your nobles set him free!”
The king grants that it should be so,
that they should judge rightly.
There was not one who did not judge
that Lanval was completely exonerated.
He is freed by their judgment,
and the maiden takes her leave.
The king cannot detain her;
she had enough people to serve her.
Outside the hall was set
a great block of dark marble,
where heavy men mounted,
who were leaving the king’s court:
Lanval got up on it.
When the maiden came through the gate,
with one leap Lanval
jumped on the palfrey, behind her.
With her he went to Avalon,
so the Bretons tell us,
to a very beautiful island;
the young man was carried off there.
No one ever heard another word of him,
and I can tell no more.
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Sir Thomas Malory
c. 1405– 1471
T
homas Malory’s place in English literary history rests on one great work, his Morte Darthur (The
Death of Arthur), the first major prose work of the English language. Malory’s version is the basis
for the Arthurian mythology that endures to the present day. Malory drew on various sources, both
French and English, but crafted those sources to provide a full narrative of the life of Arthur and the
Knights of the Round Table. Tennyson’s Idylls of the King is perhaps the best known of the works
inspired by Morte Darthur, but Malory’s work has also strongly influenced the writings of Spenser,
Milton, and Arnold, the paintings of Rossetti and Watts, and the music of Wagner.
The facts of Malory’s life are few, his story a matter of conjecture and dispute, but the available
information suggests that he led an extraordinary life. There were several individuals with the name
Thomas Malory in the fifteenth century. The one who is most commonly, though by no means
certainly, identified with the author of the Morte Darthur was born to John Malory and Philippa
Chetwynd of Newbold Revell, Warwickshire, near the beginning of the fifteenth century. John
Malory was a man of some distinction, having served as a sheriff, a Member of Parliament, and a
Justice of the Peace in Warwickshire.
The records that survive, however, give John’s son Thomas a rather dubious reputation. The
political intrigues of the 1450s eventually led to the Wars of the Roses, the battle for the English
throne that was carried on by the families of York and Lancaster, and Thomas Malory appears to have
been a participant in the turmoil. Surviving records show that he was charged with significant crimes
during the 1450s including extortion, theft, horse stealing, and rape. It is possible that Malory’s
political activities earned him some enemies who engaged in a slander campaign against him, or he
may indeed have been responsible for the crimes for which he was charged. In 1451 a warrant was
issued for Malory’s arrest. He was imprisoned at Coleshill, Warwickshire, but escaped; in 1452 he was
recaptured and put in jail in London, where he spent most of the next eight years awaiting trial.
By the mid-1450s the Wars of the Roses were in full force. Malory’s loyalty seems to have wavered
between the two warring houses, and his fortunes rose and fell on that basis. While in prison, Malory
was pardoned by the Duke of York; the Lancastrian court, however, dismissed the pardon. When the
Yorkists overthrew the Lancastrians, Malory was pardoned and released. He then fought against the
Lancastrians in a number of key battles. Malory seems then to have changed sides in the dispute—in
1468 his name appeared on a list of men allied with the Lancastrians. He was arrested by the Yorkists
for his support of the Lancastrians, and again imprisoned in London. During these last years of
imprisonment, Malory wrote Morte Darthur, describing himself in the text as a “knight presoner.”
Malory’s primary source for the Morte Darthur was the French Arthurian Prose Cycle (1225–30),
but he also borrowed from Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain (1136–39) and
two anonymous English works of the later fourteenth century, the alliterative Morte Arthure and the
stanzaic Morte Arthur. Some of the details of the narrative are purely Malory’s own inventions, but
he nevertheless takes care to ascribe each of his additions to “the Freynshe booke.”
Morte Darthur is vast in its scale. Malory tells eight tales over 21 books with 507 chapters. Malory
originally titled the work The Book of King Arthur and his Noble Knights of the Round Table; William
Caxton, the printer who published the book in 1485, changed the title to Morte Darthur. Caxton also
made a significant number of editorial changes, as was discovered in 1934, when a manuscript copy
of Malory’s work that was significantly at variance with Caxton’s text came to light. It became clear
that Caxton had brought together what had been eight separate romances into twenty-one books,
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making alterations so as to give the appearance of a more unified text. Caxton had also deleted the
personal remarks with which Malory concluded each romance.
Within a year of the completion of Morte Darthur, the Lancastrians briefly returned to power, and
Malory was once again released from prison. He died six months later and was buried in Greyfriars
Church, in London.
zzz
from Morte
Darthur
from Book I, Chapter 51
S
o in the greatest church of London, whether it were
Paul’s2 or not the French book3 maketh no mention,
all the estates4 were long ere day5 in the church for to
pray. And when matins6 and the first mass was done
there was seen in the churchyard, against the high altar,
a great stone four square,7 like unto a marble stone, and
in midst thereof was like an anvil of steel a foot on high,
and therein stuck a fair sword naked8 by the point, and
letters there were written in gold about the sword that
said thus: “WHOSO PULLETH OUT THIS SWORD OF THIS
9
STONE AND ANVIL IS RIGHTWISE KING BORN OF ALL
ENGLAND.”
Then the people marvelled and told it to
the Archbishop.
“I command,” said the Archbishop, “that ye keep
you within your church and pray unto God still; that no
man touch the sword till the high mass be all done.”
So when all masses were done all the lords went to
behold the stone and the sword. And when they saw the
Book I, Chapter 5 The numbering of books and chapters
employed here is that used in the Eugene Vinaver edition.
1
Paul’s Church of St. Paul. This church stood on the site of the
present-day St. Paul’s Cathedral.
scripture some essayed,10 such as would have been king,
but none might stir the sword nor move it.
“He is not here,” said the Archbishop, “that shall
achieve the sword, but doubt not God will make him
known. But this is my counsel,” 11 said the Archbishop,
“that we let purvey12 ten knights, men of good fame,13
and they to keep14 this sword.”
So it was ordained, and then there was made a cry15
that every man should essay that would for to win the
sword. And upon New Year’s Day the barons let make
a jousts and a tournament, that all knights that would
joust or tourney there might play. And all this was
ordained for to keep the lords together and the commons,16 for the Archbishop trusted that God would
make him known that should win the sword.
So upon New Year’s Day, when the service was
done, the barons rode unto the field, some to joust and
some to tourney. And so it happed17 that Sir Ector, that
had great livelihood18 about London, rode unto the
jousts, and with him rode Sir Kay, his son, and young
Arthur that was his nourished brother;19 and Sir Kay was
made knight at All Hallowmass20 afore. So as they rode
10
essayed Tried.
11
counsel Advice.
12
let purvey Appoint.
13
fame Reputation.
14
keep Guard.
15
cry Request.
2
French book Unnamed French source from which Malory
supposedly takes his material, actually a group of thirteenth-century
Old French texts.
3
4
estates Clergy, nobility, and commoners.
16
commons Commoners.
5
long ere day Long before dawn.
17
happed Happened.
6
matins Church service conducted at daybreak.
18
livelihood Property from which income is derived.
7
four square Having four equal sides.
19
nourished brother Foster brother.
8
naked Unsheathed.
20
9
Rightwise Rightfully.
All Hallowmass All Saint’s Day, Christian holy day celebrated on
1 November.
Morte Darthur, Book I
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to the jousts-ward1 Sir Kay had lost2 his sword, for he
had left it at his father’s lodging, and so he prayed3
young Arthur for to ride for his sword.
“I will well,” said Arthur, and rode fast after the
sword.
And when he came home the lady and all were out
to see the jousting. Then was Arthur wroth,4 and said to
himself, “I will ride to the churchyard and take the
sword with me that sticketh in the stone, for my brother
Sir Kay shall not be without a sword this day.” So when
he came to the churchyard Sir Arthur alight and tied his
horse to the stile,5 and so he went to the tent and found
no knights there, for they were at the jousting. And so
he handled the sword by the handles, and lightly and
fiercely6 pulled it out of the stone, and took his horse
and rode his way until he came to his brother Sir Kay
and delivered him the sword.
And as soon as Sir Kay saw the sword he wist7 well
it was the sword of the stone, and so he rode to his
father Sir Ector and said,
“Sir, lo here is the sword of the stone, wherefore8 I
must be king of this land.”
When Sir Ector beheld the sword he returned again
and came to the church, and there they alight all three
and went into the church, and anon9 he made Sir Kay
to swear upon a book10 how he came to that sword.
“Sir,” said Sir Kay, “by my brother Arthur, for he
brought it to me.”
“How got ye this sword?” said Sir Ector to Arthur.
“Sir, I will tell you. When I came home for my
brother’s sword I found nobody at home to deliver me
his sword, and so I thought my brother Sir Kay should
not be swordless, and so I came hither eagerly11 and
pulled it out of the stone without any pain.”12
“Found ye any knights about this sword?” said Sir
Ector.
“Nay,” said Arthur.
“Now,” said Sir Ector to Arthur, “I understand ye
must be king of this land.”
“Wherefore13 I?” said Arthur, “and for what cause?”
“Sir,” said Ector, “for God will have it so, for there
should never man have drawn out this sword but he that
shall be rightwise king of this land. Now let me see
whether ye can put the sword thereas14 it was and pull it
out again.”
“That is no mastery,”15 said Arthur, and so he put it
in the stone. Therewithal16 Sir Ector essayed to pull out
the sword and failed.
“Now essay,” said Sir Ector unto Sir Kay. And anon
he pulled at the sword with all his might, but it would
not be.
“Now shall ye essay,” said Sir Ector to Arthur.
“I will well,” said Arthur, and pulled it out easily.
And therewithal Sir Ector kneeled down to the earth
and Sir Kay.
“Alas!” said Arthur, “my own dear father and
brother, why kneel ye to me?”
“Nay, nay, my lord Arthur, it is not so. I was never
your father nor of your blood, but I wot17 well ye are of
an higher blood than I weened18 ye were.” And then Sir
Ector told him all, how he was betaken19 him for to
nourish him and by whose commandment, and by
Merlin’s deliverance.20
Then Arthur made great dole21 when he understood
that Sir Ector was not his father.
“Sir,” said Ector unto Arthur, “will ye be my good
and gracious lord when ye are king?”
1
jousts-ward Toward the jousting-place.
2
lost Realized he had forgotten.
12
pain Difficulty.
3
prayed Asked.
13
Wherefore Why.
4
wroth Angry.
14
thereas Where.
5
stile Turnstile entrance to the churchyard.
15
mastery Action requiring great skill.
6
lightly and fiercely Easily and boldly.
16
Therewithal That being done.
7
wist Knew.
17
wot Know.
8
lo Behold; wherefore For which reason.
18
weened Understood, knew.
9
anon Immediately.
19
betaken Entrusted to.
10
a book I.e., a copy of the Bible.
20
deliverance Delivery.
11
hither eagerly Here quickly.
21
dole Sorrow.
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“Else were I to blame,” said Arthur, “for ye are the
man in the world that I am most beholding1 to, and my
good lady and mother your wife that as well as her own
hath fostered me and kept. And if ever it be God’s will
that I be king as ye say, ye shall desire of me what I may
do, and I shall not fail you. God forbid I should fail
you.”
“Sir,” said Sir Ector, “I will ask no more of you but
that ye will make my son, your foster brother Sir Kay,
seneschal 2 of all your lands.”
“That shall be done,” said Arthur, “and more, by the
faith of my body, that never man shall have that office
but he while he and I live.”
Therewithal they went unto the Archbishop and
told him how the sword was achieved and by whom.
And on Twelfth-day 3 all the barons came thither4 and to
essay to take the sword who that would essay, but there
afore them all there might none take it out but Arthur.
Wherefore there were many lords wroth, and said it was
great shame unto them all and the realm to be overgoverned with a boy of no high blood born. And so they
fell out5 at that time, that 6 it was put off till Candlemas,7
and then all the barons should meet there again; but
always the ten knights were ordained to watch the sword
day and night, and so they set a pavilion over the stone
and the sword, and five always watched.
So at Candlemas many more great lords came hither
for to have won the sword, but there might none
prevail. And right as Arthur did at Christmas he did at
1
beholding Bound in duty.
seneschal Steward, official overseeing the administration of a
king’s lands and court.
2
Twelfth-day Twelfth day after Christmas, or the Feast of the
Epiphany, celebrating the visit of the three wise men Jesus and their
recognition of his divinity.
3
4
thither There.
5
fell out Quarreled.
6
that So that.
Candlemas Holy day commemorating the purification of the
Virgin Mary after the birth of Jesus and the presentation of Christ
at the Temple, celebrated on 2 February.
Candlemas, and pulled out the sword easily, whereof the
barons were sore aggrieved8 and put it off in delay till
the high feast of Easter. And as Arthur sped9 afore so did
he at Easter. Yet there were some of the great lords had
indignation that Arthur should be king, and put it off in
a delay till the feast of Pentecost.10 Then the Archbishop
of Canterbury, by Merlin’s providence,11 let purvey then
of the best knights that they might get, and such knights
as Uther Pendragon12 loved best and most trusted in his
days, and such knights were put about Arthur as Sir
Baudwin of Britain, Sir Kaynes, Sir Ulfius, Sir Brastias;
all these with many other were always about Arthur day
and night till the feast of Pentecost.
And at the feast of Pentecost all manner of men
essayed to pull at the sword that would essay, but none
might prevail but Arthur, and he pulled it out afore all
the lords and commons that were there. Wherefore all
the commons cried at once,
“We will have Arthur unto13 our king! We will put
him no more in delay, for we all see that it is God’s will
that he shall be our king, and who that holdeth against14
it we will slay him!”
And therewithal they kneeled at once, both rich and
poor, and cried Arthur mercy15 because they had delayed
him so long. And Arthur forgave them, and took the
sword between both his hands and offered it upon the
altar where the Archbishop was, and so was he made
knight of the best man that was there. …
8
aggrieved Distressed.
9
sped Succeeded.
Pentecost Christian celebration commemorating the descent of
the Holy Spirit on the apostles, at which time they were given the
gift of tongues, which would allow them to spread Christianity to
other lands. The Feast of Pentecost is celebrated on the seventh
Sunday after Easter.
10
11
providence Arrangement.
Uther Pendragon King of Britain before the action of the story
and Arthur’s true father.
12
13
unto As.
14
holdeth against Holds out against his acclamation.
15
cried … mercy Begged Arthur’s forgiveness.
7
Morte Darthur, The Death of King Arthur, Ch. 1
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The D eath of King Arthur
or Th e Most Piteous Tale of the
Morte Arthur Saunz Guerdon 1
1
Slander and Strife
I
n May, when every heart flourisheth and burgeoneth
(for as the season is lusty2 to behold and comfortable,3
so man and woman rejoiceth and gladdeth4 of summer
coming with his fresh flowers, for winter with his rough
winds and blasts causeth lusty5 men and women to
cower and to sit by fires), so this season it befell in the
month of May a great anger and unhap that stinted6 not
till the flower of chivalry of all the world was destroyed
and slain.
And all was long upon two unhappy knights7 which
were named Sir Agravain and Sir Mordred,8 that were
brethren unto Sir Gawain.9 For this Sir Agravain and Sir
Mordred had ever a privy10 hate unto the Queen, Dame
Guinevere, and to Sir Lancelot;11 and daily and nightly
they ever watched upon Sir Lancelot.
So it misfortuned Sir Gawain and all his brethren12
were in King Arthur’s chamber, and then Sir Agravain
said thus openly, and not in no counsel,13 that many
knights might hear:
1
Saunz Guerdon Old French: without reward.
2
lusty Here, joyful.
3
14
comfortable Pleasant.
4
gladdeth Are glad.
5
lusty Here, strong, healthy.
6
7
unhap that stinted
Misfortune that ceased.
long upon … knights Because of two ill-fated knights.
Sir Mordred Arthur’s son from his accidental incestuous union
with Morgause, his half-sister.
8
Sir Gawain Arthur’s nephew and one of the chief knights of the
Round Table.
9
10
privy Secret.
Dame Guinevere … Lancelot The Queen has been in a love-affair
with Lancelot, the foremost knight of Arthur’s court, universally
acclaimed for his prowess in battle.
11
brethren Gawain’s brothers are Agravain, Gaheris, Gareth and
Mordred.
12
13
“I marvel that we all be not ashamed both to see and
to know how Sir Lancelot lies daily and nightly by the
Queen. And all we know well that it is so, and it is
shamefully suffered of us all14 that we should suffer so
noble a king as King Arthur is to be shamed.”
Then spoke Sir Gawain and said,
“Brother, Sir Agravain, I pray you and charge you,15
move no such matters no more16 afore me, for wit17 you
well, I will not be of your counsel.” 18
“So God me help,” said Sir Gaheris and Sir Gareth,
“we will not be known of 19 your deeds.”
“Then will I!” said Sir Mordred.
“I lieve20 you well,” said Sir Gawain, “for ever unto
all unhappiness, sir, you will grant.21 And I would 22 that
ye left all this and made you not so busy, for I know,”
said Sir Gawain, “what will fall 23 of it.”
“Fall whatsoever fall may,”24 said Sir Agravain, “I
will disclose it to the king!”
“Not by my counsel,” said Sir Gawain, “for, an25
there arise war and wrake26 betwixt Sir Lancelot and us,
wit you well, brother, there will many kings and great
lords hold27 with Sir Lancelot. Also, brother Sir Agravain,” said Sir Gawain, “ye must remember how oftentimes Sir Lancelot has rescued the king and the queen;
and the best of us all had been full cold to the
heart-root28 had not Sir Lancelot been better than we,
and that has he proved himself full oft.29 And as for my
not … counsel Not in private.
it … us all It is shameful to us that we should allow.
15
pray … you Beg you and order you.
16
move … more Suggest no such thing any more.
17
wit Know.
18
I … counsel I will not go along with you.
19
not … of We do not wish to be associated with your plans.
20
lieve Believe.
21
grant Go with, agree with.
22
would Wish.
23
fall Happen.
24
Fall … may Whatever may happen.
25
an If.
26
wrake Strife.
27
hold Side.
28
full … heart-root Dead.
29
full oft Often.
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Sir Thomas Malory
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part,” said Sir Gawain, “I will never be against Sir
Lancelot for one day’s deed, and that was when he
rescued me from King Carados of the Dolorous Tower
and slew him and saved my life. Also, brother Sir
Agravain and Sir Mordred, in like wise 1 Sir Lancelot
rescued both you and three score and two2 from Sir Tarquin. And therefore, brother, methinks such noble
deeds and kindness should be remembered.”
“Do you as ye list,”3 said Sir Agravain, “for I will
lain4 it no longer.”
So with these words came in Sir Arthur.5
“Now, brother,” said Sir Gawain, “stint6 your strife.”
“That will I not,” said Sir Agravain and Sir Mordred.
“Well, will ye so?” said Sir Gawain. “Then God
speed7 you, for I will not bear of your tales, neither be of
your counsel.” 8
“No more will I,” said Sir Gaheris.
“Neither I,” said Sir Gareth, “for I shall never say
evil by that man that made me knight.”
And therewithal they three departed, making great
dole.9
“Alas!” said Sir Gawain and Sir Gareth, “now is this
realm wholly destroyed and mischieved,10 and the noble
fellowship of the Round Table shall be disparbled.”11
So they departed, and then King Arthur asked them
what noise they made.12
“My lord,” said Sir Agravain, “I shall tell you, for I
may keep it no longer. Here is I and my brother Sir
Mordred break13 unto my brother Sir Gawain, Sir
Gaheris and to Sir Gareth—for this is all, to make it
short—how that we know all that Sir Lancelot holdeth
your queen, and hath done long, and we be your sister’s
sons, we may suffer it no longer. And all we wote14 that
you should be above Sir Lancelot; and ye are the king
that made him knight, and therefore we will prove it
that he is a traitor to your person.”
“If it be so,” said the king, “wit you well, he is none
other. But I would be loth15 to begin such a thing but16
I might have proofs of it, for Sir Lancelot is an hardy17
knight, and all you know that he is the best knight
among us all, and but if he be taken with18 the deed he
will fight with him that bringeth up the noise,19 and I
know no knight that is able to match him. Therefore, an
it be sooth20 as ye say, I would that he were taken with
the deed.”
For, as the French book saith, the king was full loath
that such a noise 21 should be upon Sir Lancelot and his
queen; for the king had a deeming22 of it, but he would
not hear thereof, for Sir Lancelot had done so much for
him and for the queen so many times that wit you well
the king loved him passingly well.
“My lord,” said Sir Agravain, “ye shall ride to-morn
an-hunting, and doubt ye not, Sir Lancelot will not go
with you. And so when it draweth toward night ye may
send the queen word that ye will lie out all that night,
and so may ye send for your cooks. And then, upon pain
of death, that night we shall take23 him with the queen,
and we shall bring him unto you, quick24 or dead.”
“I will well,” said the king. “Then I counsel you to
take with you sure25 fellowship.”
“Sir,” said Sir Agravain, “my brother Sir Mordred
and I will take with us twelve knights of the Round
Table.”
1
like wise Similar fashion.
2
three … two Sixty-two.
14
wote Know.
3
list Please.
15
loth Reluctant.
4
lain Hide.
16
but Unless.
5
Sir Arthur I.e., King Arthur.
17
hardy Strong.
6
stint Cease.
18
but if … with Unless he be caught at.
7
speed Help.
19
bringeth up the noise Presents the accusation.
8
neither … counsel Nor will I participate in your plans.
20
sooth True.
9
dole Sorrow.
21
noise Accusation.
10
mischieved Brought to ruin.
22
deeming Suspicion.
11
disparbled Dispersed.
23
take Catch.
12
what noise they made What had upset them, why they were upset.
24
quick Alive.
13
break Make known.
25
sure Trustworthy.
Morte Darthur, The Death of King Arthur, Ch. 1
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“Beware,” said King Arthur, “for I warn you, ye shall
find him wight.”1
“Let us deal,” 2 said Sir Agravain and Sir Mordred.
So on the morn King Arthur rode an-hunting and
sent word to the queen that he would be out all the
night. Then Sir Agravain and Sir Mordred got to them
twelve knights and hid themselves in a chamber in the
castle of Carlisle. And these were their names: Sir
Colgrevance, Sir Madore de la Porte, Sir Guingalen, Sir
Meliot de Logres, Sir Petipace of Winchelsea, Sir
Galeron of Galway, Sir Melion de la Mountayne, Sir
Ascomore, Sir Gromorsom Eriore, Sir Cursessalain, Sir
Florence, and Sir Lovell. So these twelve knights were
with Sir Mordred and Sir Agravain, and all they were of
Scotland, other else 3 of Sir Gawain’s kin, other wellwillers4 to his brother.
So when the night came Sir Lancelot told Sir Bors
how he would go that night and speak with the queen.
“Sir,” said Sir Bors, “ye shall not go this night by my
counsel.” 5
“Why?” said Sir Lancelot.
“Sir, for I dread me ever of Sir Agravain that6 waits
upon you daily to do you shame and us all. And never
gave my heart against no going that ever ye went to the
queen so much as now,7 for I mistrust that the king is
out this night from the queen because peradventure8 he
has lain some watch for you and the queen. Therefore I
dread me sore of some treason.”
“Have you no dread,” said Sir Lancelot, “for I shall
go and come again and make not tarrying.”9
“Sir,” said Sir Bors, “that me repents, 10 for I dread
me sore that your going this night shall wrath11 us all.”
1
wight Strong and courageous.
2
deal Take action.
3
other else Or else.
4
other well-willers Or well-wishers.
5
counsel Advice.
6
I … that I fear always Sir Agravain, who.
And … now Never before now did my heart warn me so much
against your visiting the Queen.
7
“Fair nephew,” said Sir Lancelot, “I marvel me much
why you say thus, since the queen has sent for me. And
wit you well, I will not be so much a coward, but she
shall understand I will see her good grace.”
“God speed you well,” said Sir Bors, “and send you
sound and safe again!”
So Sir Lancelot departed and took his sword under
his arm, and so he walked in his mantle,12 that noble
knight, and put himself in great jeopardy. And so he
passed on till he came to the queen’s chamber, and so
lightly13 he was had into the chamber. For, as the
French book says, the queen and Sir Lancelot were
together, and whether they were abed other at other
manner of disports me list not thereof make no mention,14 for love at that time was not as love is nowadays.
But thus as they were together there came Sir
Agravain and Sir Mordred with twelve knights with
them of the Round Table, and they said with great
crying and scaring voice,
“Thou traitor, Sir Lancelot, now art thou taken!”
And thus they cried with a loud voice, that all the court
might hear it. And these fourteen knights all were armed
at all points,15 as they should fight in a battle.
“Alas!” said Queen Guinevere, “now are we mischieved both!”
“Madame,” said Sir Lancelot, “is there here any
armour within you that might cover my body withal? 16
And if there be any, give it me and I shall soon stint
their malice, by the grace of God!”
“Now, truly,” said the queen, “I have none armour,
neither helm, shield, sword, neither spear, wherefore I
dread me sore our long love is come to a mischievous
end. For I hear by their noise there be many noble
knights, and well I wot they be surely armed, and
against them ye may make no resistance. Wherefore ye
are likely to be slain, and then I shall be brent!17 For an
ye might escape them,” said the queen, “I would not
12
mantle Cloak.
13
lightly Quickly.
disports Amusements; me … mention I do not wish to discuss.
8
peradventure Perhaps.
14
9
make not tarrying Not delay.
15
armed … points Fully armed.
10
me repents Distresses me.
16
withal With.
11
wrath Bring to disaster.
17
brent Burned at the stake.
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Sir Thomas Malory
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doubt but that ye would rescue me in what danger that
I ever stood in.”
“Alas,” said Sir Lancelot, “in all my life thus was I
never bestrad1 that I should be thus shamefully slain for
lack of mine armour.”
But ever Sir Agravain and Sir Mordred cried,
“Traitor knight, come out of the queen’s chamber!
For wit thou well thou art beset2 so that thou shalt not
escape.”
“Ah, Jesu mercy!” said Sir Lancelot, “this shameful
cry and noise I may not suffer, for better were death at
once than thus to endure this pain.”
Then he took the queen in his arms and kissed her
and said, “Most noblest Christian queen, I beseech ye,
as you have been ever my special good lady, and I at all
times your poor knight and true unto my power and as
I never failed you in right nor in wrong since the first
day King Arthur made me knight, that you will pray for
my soul if that I be slain. For well I am assured that Sir
Bors, my nephew, and all the remnant of my kin, with
Sir Lavain and Sir Urry, that they will not fail you to
rescue you from the fire. And therefore, mine own lady,
recomfort yourself,3 whatsoever come of me, that ye go
with Sir Bors, my nephew, and Sir Urry, and they all
will do you all the pleasure that they may, and you shall
live like a queen upon my lands.”
“Nay, Sir Lancelot, nay!” said the queen. “Wit thou
well that I will not live long after thy days. But an you
be slain I will take my death as meekly as ever dead
martyr take his death for Jesu Christ’s sake.”
“Well, madame,” said Sir Lancelot, “sith4 it is so that
the day is come that our love must depart, wit you well
I shall sell my life as dear as I may. And a thousandfold,”
said Sir Lancelot, “I am more heavier5 for ye than for
myself! And now I had liefer6 than to be lord of all
Christendom that I had sure armour upon me, that men
might speak of my deeds or ever I were slain.”7
“Truly,” said the queen, “an it might please God, I
would that they would take me and slay me and suffer
you to escape.”
“That shall never be,” said Sir Lancelot, “God
defend me from such a shame! But, Jesu Christ, be thou
my shield and mine armour!”
And therewith Sir Lancelot wrapped his mantle
about his arm well and surely; and by then they had
gotten a great form8 out of the hall, and therewith they
all rushed at the door.
“Now, fair lords,” said Sir Lancelot, “leave9 your
noise and your rushing, and I shall set open this door,
and then may ye do with me what it liketh you.”10
“Come off, then,” said they all, “and do it, for it
availeth thee not to strive against us all! And therefore
let us into this chamber, and we shall save thy life until
thou come to King Arthur.”
Then Sir Lancelot unbarred the door, and with his
left hand he held it open a little, that but one man
might come in at once. And so there came striding a
good knight, a much11 man and a large, and his name
was called Sir Colgrevance of Gore. And he with a
sword struck at Sir Lancelot mightily, and so he put
aside the stroke, and gave him such a buffet12 upon the
helmet that he fell grovelling13 dead within the chamber
door.
Then Sir Lancelot with great might drew the knight
within the chamber door. And then Sir Lancelot, with
help of the queen and her ladies, he was lightly armed in
Colgrevance14 armour. And ever stood Sir Agravain and
Sir Mordred, crying,
“Traitor knight! Come forth out of the queen’s
chamber!”
“Sirs, leave your noise,” said Sir Lancelot, “for wit
you well, Sir Agravain, ye shall not prison me this night!
And therefore, an ye do by my counsel, go ye all from
this chamber door and make you no such crying and
1
bestrad Attacked.
8
form Bench.
2
beset Surrounded.
9
leave Cease.
3
recomfort yourself Take courage.
10
what … you What pleases you.
4
sith Since.
11
much Big.
5
more heavier More sorrowful.
12
buffet Stroke.
6
liefer Rather.
13
grovelling Upon his belly.
7
or … slain Before I was killed.
14
Colgrevance I.e., Colgrevance’s.
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such manner of sclander1 as ye do. For I promise you by
my knighthood, an ye will depart and make no more
noise, I shall as to-morn appear afore you all and before
the king, and then let it be seen which of you all, other
else ye all,2 that will depreve3 me of treason. And there
shall I answer you, as a knight should, that hither I came
to the queen of no manner of mal engin,4 and that will
I prove and make it good upon you with my hands.”
“Fie5 upon thee, traitor,” said Sir Agravain and Sir
Mordred, “for we will have thee maugre thine head 6 and
slay thee, an we list!7 For we let thee wit we have the
choice of King Arthur to save thee other slay thee.”
“Ah, sirs,” said Sir Lancelot, “is there none other
grace with you? Then keep8 yourself!”
And then Sir Lancelot set all open the chamber
door, and mightily and knightly he strode in among
them. And anon at the first stroke he slew Sir Agravain,
and anon after twelve of his fellows. Within a while he
had laid them down cold to the earth, for there was
none of the twelve knights might stand Sir Lancelot one
buffet. And also he wounded Sir Mordred, and therewithal he fled with all his might. And then Sir Lancelot
returned again unto the queen and said,
“Madame, now wit you well, all our true love is
brought to an end, for now will King Arthur ever be my
foe. And therefore, madame, an it like you9 that I may
have you with me, I shall save you from all manner
adventurous10 dangers.”
“Sir, that is not best,” said the queen, “meseems, 11
for now ye have done so much harm it will be best that
ye hold you still12 with this. And if ye see that as
to-morn they will put me unto death then may ye rescue
me as ye think best.”
“I will well,” said Sir Lancelot, “for have ye no
doubt, while I am a man living I shall rescue you.”
And then he kissed her, and either of them gave
other a ring, and so the queen he left there and went
until13 his lodging.
When Sir Bors saw Sir Lancelot he was never so glad
of his home-coming.
“Jesu mercy!” said Sir Lancelot, “why be ye all
armed? What meaneth this?”
“Sir,” said Sir Bors, “after ye were departed from us
we all that been of your blood and your well-willers were
so adretched14 that some of us leapt out of our beds
naked, and some in their dreams caught naked swords
in their hands. And therefore,” said Sir Bors, “we
deemed there was some great strife on hand, and so we
deemed that we were betrapped with some treason; and
therefore we made us thus ready what need that ever ye
were in.”
“My fair nephew,” said Sir Lancelot unto Sir Bors,
“now shall ye wit all that this night I was more hard
bestad than ever I was days of my life. And thanked be
God, I am myself escaped their danger.” And so he told
them all how and in what manner, as ye have heard
toforehand.15 “And therefore, my fellows,” said Sir
Lancelot, “I pray ye all that you will be of heart good,
and help me in what need that ever I stand, for now is
war coming to us all.”
“Sir,” said Sir Bors, “all is welcome that God sendeth
us, and we have taken much weal16 with you and much
worship,17 we will take the woe18 with you as we have
taken the weal.” And therefore they said, all the good
knights, “Look you take no discomfort! For there is no
band of knights under heaven but we shall be able to
grieve19 them as much as they may us, and therefore
discomfort not yourself by no manner. And we shall
gather together all that we love and that loves us, and
1
sclander Slander.
2
other else ye all Or else you all.
3
depreve Accuse.
4
mal engin Old French: ill intent.
5
Fie Shame.
6
maugre … head In spite of your head, i.e., despite all you can do.
13
until Unto, i.e., to.
7
an … list If we wish.
14
adretched Troubled.
8
keep Defend.
15
toforehand Beforehand.
9
an … you If it pleases you.
16
weal Prosperity.
10
adventurous Here, accidental.
17
worship Praise, honor.
11
meseems It seems to me.
18
woe Misfortune.
12
hold … still Be content.
19
grieve Injure.
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what that you will have done shall be done. And therefore let us take the woe and the joy together.”
“Grantmercy,”1 said Sir Lancelot, “of your good
comfort, for in my great distress, fair nephew, ye comfort me greatly. But this, my fair nephew, I would that
ye did in all haste that you may or it is far days past:2
that ye will look in their lodging that been lodged nigh
here about the king, which will hold with me and which
will not. For now I would know which were my friends
from my foes.”
“Sir,” said Sir Bors, “I shall do my pain,3 and or it be
seven of the clock I shall wit of such as ye have doubt
for,4 who that will hold with you.”
Then Sir Bors called unto him Sir Lionel, Sir Ector
de Maris, Sir Blamour de Ganis, Sir Bleoberis de Ganis,
Sir Gahalantin, Sir Galyhodin, Sir Galihud, Sir Menaduke, Sir Villiers the Valiant, Sir Hebes le Renown, Sir
Lavain, Sir Urry of Hungary, Sir Neroveous, Sir Plenorius (for these two were knights that Sir Lancelot won
upon a bridge, and therefore they would never be
against him), and Sir Garry le Fitz Lake, and Sir Selises
of the Dolorous Tower, Sir Melias de Lisle, and Sir
Bellengere le Beuse, that was Sir Alexander le Orphelin’s
son; because his mother was Alice la Belle Pellerine, and
she was kin unto Sir Lancelot, he held with him. So
came Sir Palomides and Sir Saphir, his brother; Sir
Clegis, Sir Sadok, Sir Dinas and Sir Clarius of Cleremont.
So these two-and-twenty5 knights drew them
together, and by then they were armed and on horseback they promised Sir Lancelot to do what he would.
Then there fell to6 them, what of North Wales and of
Cornwall, for Sir Lamorak’s sake and for Sir Tristram’s
sake, to the number of a seven score7 knights. Then
spoke Sir Lancelot:
1
2
3
4
Grantmercy Thank you.
or … past Before too many days go by.
I … pain I will strive to do so.
ye … for You are uncertain of.
two-and-twenty As some editors have pointed out, this may be a
scribal error; there are twenty-five knights in total.
5
“Wit you well, I have been ever since I came to this
court well-willed unto my lord Arthur and unto my lady
Queen Guinevere unto my power.8 And this night
because my lady the queen sent for me to speak with
her, I suppose it was made by9 treason; howbeit I dare
largely10 excuse her person, notwithstanding I was there
by a forecast nearhand slain but as11 Jesu provided for
me.”
And then that noble knight Sir Lancelot told them
how he was hard bestad in the queen’s chamber, and
how and in what manner he escaped from them.
“And therefore wit you well, my fair lords, I am sure
there is but war unto me and to mine. And for cause I
have slain this night Sir Agravain, Sir Gawain’s brother,
and at the least twelve of his fellows, and for this cause
now am I sure of mortal war. For these knights were
sent by King Arthur to betray me, and therefore the
king will in this heat 12 and malice judge the queen unto
brenning, and that may not I suffer that she should be
brent for my sake. For an I may be heard and suffered
and so taken,13 I will fight for the queen, that she is a
true lady14 until her lord. But the king in his heat, I
dread, will not take15 me as I ought to be taken.”
“My lord, Sir Lancelot,” said Sir Bors, “by mine
advice, ye shall take the woe with the weal, and take it in
patience and thank God of it. And since it is fallen as it
is, I counsel you to keep yourself, for an ye will
yourself,16 there is no fellowship of knights christened
that shall do you wrong. And also I will counsel you, my
lord, that my lady Queen Guinevere, an she be in any
distress, insomuch as she is in pain for your sake, that ye
knightly rescue her; for an you did any other wise all the
world would speak you shame to the world’s end.
Insomuch as ye were taken with her, whether you did
right other wrong, it is now your part to hold with the
8
unto … power As far as it was in my power.
9
made by Arranged by.
10
largely Wholly.
11
by a forecast … but as By a pre-arrangement nearly slain had not.
12
heat Anger.
13
so taken Accepted (as Guinevere’s protector).
14
true lady Faithful wife.
6
fell to Joined with.
15
take Accept.
7
seven score One hundred and forty.
16
an ye will yourself I.e., as you must accept yourself (“if you will”).
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queen, that she be not slain and put to a mischievous
death. For an she so die, the shame shall be evermore
yours.”
“Now Jesu defend me from shame,” said Sir Lancelot, “and keep and save my lady the queen from villainy
and shameful death, and that she never be destroyed in
my default.1 Wherefore, my fair lords, my kin and my
friends,” said Sir Lancelot, “what will ye do?”
And anon they said all with one voice, “We will do
as ye will do.”
“Then I put this case unto you,” said Sir Lancelot,
“that my lord King Arthur by evil counsel will to-morn
in his heat put my lady the queen unto the fire, and
there to be brent, then, I pray you, counsel me what is
best for me to do.” Then they said all at once with one
voice,
“Sir, us thinks best that ye knightly rescue the
queen. Insomuch as she shall be brent, it is for your
sake; and it is to suppose, an ye might be handled,2 ye
should have the same death, other else a more shamefuller death. And, sir, we say all that you have rescued
her from her death many times for other men’s quarrels;
therefore us seems it is more your worship that you
rescue the queen from this quarrel, insomuch that she
has it for your sake.”
Then Sir Lancelot stood still and said,
“My fair lords, wit you well I would be full loath
that my lady the queen should die such a shameful
death. But an it be so that ye will counsel me to rescue
her, I must do much harm or I rescue her, and peradventure I shall there destroy some of my best friends,
and that should much repent me.3 And peradventure
there be some, an they could well bring it about or
disobey my lord King Arthur, they would soon come to
me, the which4 I were loath to hurt. And if so be that I
may win the queen away, where shall I keep her?”
“Sir, that shall be the least care of us all,” said Sir
Bors, “for how did the most noble knight Sir Tristram?5
By your good will, kept not he with him La Beale Isode6
near three year in Joyous Gard,7 the which was done by
your althers advice?8 And that same place is your own,
and in like wise may ye do, an ye list, and take the
queen knightly away with you, if so be that the king will
judge her to be brent. And in Joyous Gard may ye keep
her long enough until the heat be past of the king, and
then it may fortune you to bring the queen again to the
king with great worship, and peradventure you shall
have then thank for your bringing home, whether other
may happen to have maugre.”9
“That is hard for to do,” said Sir Lancelot, “for by
Sir Tristram I may have a warning: for when by means
of treatise10 Sir Tristram brought again La Beale Isode
unto King Mark from Joyous Gard, look ye now what
fell on11 the end, how shamefully that false traitor King
Mark slew him as he sat harping afore his lady, La Beale
Isode. With a grounden glaive12 he thrust him in behind
to the heart, which grieveth sore me,” said Sir Lancelot,
“to speak of his death, for all the world may not find
such another knight.”
“All this is truth,” said Sir Bors, “but there is one
thing shall courage13 you and us all: you know well that
King Arthur and King Mark were never like of conditions,14 for there was never yet man that ever could
prove King Arthur untrue of his promise.”
But so, to make short tale, they were all condescended15 that, for better other for worse, if so were that
the queen were brought on that morn to the fire, shortly
they all would rescue her. And so by the advice of Sir
Lancelot they put them all in a bushment16 in a wood
as nigh Carlisle as they might, and there they abode17
still to wit what the king would do.
6
La Beale Isode The Beautiful Iseut, Tristram’s lover.
7
Joyous Gard Lancelot’s castle.
8
your … advice The advice of you all.
9
whether … maugre Even if some may dislike it.
10
treatise Negotiation.
1
in my default Because of my failure, because I am not there.
11
fell on Happened in.
2
handled Captured.
12
grounden glaive Sharpened spear or lance.
3
that … me I.e., I would be sorry about that.
13
courage Encourage.
4
the which Whom.
14
like of conditions Similar in disposition, character.
15
condescended In agreement.
16
bushment Ambush.
17
abode Waited.
how … Tristram What did the most noble knight Sir Tristram
do?; Tristram Knight who fell in love with Iseut, the wife of his
uncle Mark. Malory recounts this episode in The Book of Sir Tristram
de Lyones.
5
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Now turn we again, that when Sir Mordred was
escaped from Sir Lancelot he got his horse and mounted
upon him, and came to King Arthur sore wounded and
all forbled,1 and there he told the king all how it was,
and how they were all slain save himself alone.
“Ah, Jesu, mercy! How may this be?” said the king.
“Took ye him in the queen’s chamber?”
“Yea, so God me help,” said Sir Mordred, “there we
found him unarmed, and anon he slew Sir Colgrevance
and armed him in his armour.”
And so he told the king from the beginning to the
ending.
“Jesu mercy!” said the king, “he is a marvellous
knight of prowess. And alas,” said the king, “me sore
repenteth that ever Sir Lancelot should be against me,
for now I am sure the noble fellowship of the Round
Table is broken for ever, for with him will many a noble
knight hold. And now it is fallen so,” said the king,
“that I may not with my worship but2 my queen must
suffer death,” and was sore amoved.3
So then there was made great ordinance in this ire,4
and the queen must needs be judged5 to the death. And
the law was such in those days that whatsoever they
were, of what estate or degree, if they were found guilty
of treason there should be none other remedy but death,
and other the menour6 other the taking with the deed
should be causer7 of their hasty judgement. And right so
was it ordained for Queen Guinevere: because Sir
Mordred was escaped sore wounded, and the death of
thirteen knights of the Round Table, these proofs and
experiences caused King Arthur to command the queen
to the fire, and there to be brent. Then spake Sir
Gawain and said,
“My lord Arthur, I would counsel you not to be
over-hasty, but that ye would put it in respite,8 this
judgement of my lady the queen, for many causes. One
is this, though it were so that Sir Lancelot were found in
the queen’s chamber, yet it might be so that he came
thither for none evil. For you know, my lord,” said Sir
Gawain, “that my lady the queen has oftentimes been
greatly beholden9 unto Sir Lancelot, more than to any
other knight; for oftentimes he hath saved her life and
done battle for her when all the court refused the queen.
And peradventure she sent for him for goodness and for
none evil, to reward him for his good deeds that he had
done to her in times past. And peradventure my lady the
queen sent for him to that intent that Sir Lancelot
should come privily 10 to her, weening that it had be best
in eschewing11 and dreading of slander; for oftentimes
we do many things that we ween for the best be, and yet
peradventure it turns to the worst. For I dare say,” said
Sir Gawain, “my lady, your queen, is to you both good
and true. And as for Sir Lancelot, I dare say he will make
it good upon any knight living that will put upon him12
villainy or shame, and in like wise he will make good for
my lady the queen.”
“That I believe well,” said King Arthur, “but I will
not that way work with Sir Lancelot,13 for he trusteth14
so much upon his hands and his might15 that he doubteth16 no man. And therefore for my queen he shall
nevermore fight, for she shall have the law. And if I may
get17 Sir Lancelot, wit you well he shall have as shameful
a death.”
“Jesu defend me,” said Sir Gawain, “that I never see
it nor know it!”
“Why say you so?” said King Arthur. “For, pardy,18
ye have no cause to love him! For this night last past he
slew your brother, Sir Agravain, a full good knight, and
almost he had slain your other brother, Sir Mordred,
and also there he slew thirteen noble knights. And also
remember you, Sir Gawain, he slew two sons of yours,
Sir Florence and Sir Lovell.”
9
beholden Obligated, in debt.
10
privily Privately.
1
forbled Covered with blood.
11
eschewing Avoiding.
2
I may … but I may not keep my honor unless.
12
put … him Accuse him of.
3
amoved Moved to emotion.
13
I … Lancelot I will not deal in that manner with Sir Lancelot.
4
ordinance … ire Preparation in this wrath.
14
trusteth Has confidence in.
5
must needs … judged Must be condemned.
15
might Strength.
6
menour Manner, behavior.
16
doubteth Fears.
7
taking … causer Being caught in the act is the reason for.
17
get Capture.
8
respite Delay.
18
pardy By God.
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“My lord,” said Sir Gawain, “of all this I have a
knowledge, which of their deaths sore repents me. But
insomuch as I gave them warning and told my brother
and my sons afore-hand what would fall on the end, and
insomuch as they would not do by my counsel, I will
not meddle me thereof, nor revenge me nothing of their
deaths; for I told them that there was no boot to strive1
with Sir Lancelot. Howbeit I am sorry of the death of
my brother and of my two sons, but they are the causers
of their own death; and oftentimes I warned my brother
Sir Agravain, and I told him of the perils the which be
now fallen.”
Then said King Arthur unto Sir Gawain,
“Make you ready, I pray you, in your best armour,
with your brethren, Sir Gaheris and Sir Gareth, to bring
my queen to the fire and there to have her judgement.”
“Nay, my noble king,” said Sir Gawain, “that will I
never do, for wit you well I will never be in that place
where so noble a queen as is my lady Dame Guinevere
shall take such a shameful end. For wit you well,” said
Sir Gawain, “my heart will not serve me for to see her
die, and it shall never be said that ever I was of your
counsel 2 for her death.”
“Then,” said the king unto Sir Gawain, “suffer your
brethren Sir Gaheris and Sir Gareth to be there.”
“My lord,” said Sir Gawain, “wit you well they will
be loath to be there present, because of many adventures
that is like to fall,3 but they are young and full unable to
say you nay.”
Then spake Sir Gaheris and the good knight Sir
Gareth unto King Arthur,
“Sir, you may well command us to be there, but wit
you well it shall be sore against our will. But an we be
there by your straight commandment, ye shall plainly
hold us there excused: we will be there in peaceable
wise, and bear none harness4 of war upon us.”
“In the name of God,” said the king, “then make
you ready, for she shall have soon her judgement.”
“Alas,” said Sir Gawain, “that ever I should endure
to see this woeful day!”
So Sir Gawain turned him and wept heartily, and so
he went into his chamber. And so the queen was led
forth without Carlisle, and anon she was despoiled into
her smock.5 And then her ghostly father6 was brought to
her to be shriven7 of her misdeeds. Then was there
weeping and wailing and wringing of hands of many
lords and ladies; but there were but few in comparison
that would bear any armour for to strength8 the death of
the queen.
Then was there one that Sir Lancelot had sent unto
that place, which went to espy what time the queen
should go unto her death. And anon as he saw the
queen despoiled into her smock and shriven, then he
gave Sir Lancelot warning anon. Then was there but
spurring and plucking up9 of horse, and right so they
came unto the fire. And who that stood against them,
there were they slain; there might none withstand Sir
Lancelot.
So all that bore arms and withstood them, there were
they slain, full many a noble knight. For there was slain
Sir Belias le Orgulous, Sir Segwarides, Sir Griflet, Sir
Brandiles, Sir Aglovale, Sir Tor, Sir Gauter, Sir Gillimer,
Sir Reynold, three brethren, and Sir Damas, Sir Priamus, Sir Kay l’Estrange, Sir Driant, Sir Lambegus, Sir
Herminde, Sir Pertolip, Sir Perimones, two brethren
which were called the Green Knight and the Red
Knight.
And so in this rushing and hurling,10 as Sir Lancelot
thrang11 here and there, it misfortuned him to slay Sir
Gaheris and Sir Gareth, the noble knight, for they were
unarmed and unawares. As the French book saith, Sir
Lancelot smote12 Sir Gareth upon the brain-pan, wherethrough that13 they were slain in the field. Howbeit in
very truth Sir Lancelot saw them not. And so were they
found dead among the thickest of the press.14
5
despoiled … smock Stripped to her undergarment.
6
ghostly father Confessor.
7
shriven Confessed and given absolution.
8
for … strength To assist in.
9
plucking up Spurring forward.
10
rushing and hurling Pushing and dashing violently.
thrang Thrust (his weapon) about.
1
no boot to strive No use in quarreling.
11
2
I … counsel I was in agreement with you.
12
smote Struck.
3
adventures … fall Perils likely to happen.
13
brain-pan … that Skull by means of which.
4
harness Gear.
14
press Crowd.
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Then Sir Lancelot, when he had thus done, and slain
and put to flight all that would withstand him, then he
rode straight unto Queen Guinevere and made cast a
kirtle1 and a gown upon her, and then he made her to
be set behind him and prayed her to be of good cheer.
Now wit you well the queen was glad that she was at
that time escaped from the death, and then she thanked
God and Sir Lancelot.
And so he rode his way with the queen, as the
French book saith, unto Joyous Gard, and there he kept
her as a noble knight should. And many great lords and
many good knights were sent him, and many full noble
knights drew unto him. When they heard that King
Arthur and Sir Lancelot were at debate2 many knights
were glad, and many were sorry of their debate.
2
The Vengeance o f Sir Gawain
Now turn we again unto King Arthur, that when it was
told him how and in what manner the queen was taken
away from the fire, and when he heard of the death of
his noble knights, and in especial Sir Gaheris and Sir
Gareth, then he swooned for very pure sorrow. And
when he awoke of his swough, then he said,
“Alas, that ever I bore crown upon my head! For
now have I lost the fairest fellowship of noble knights
that ever held Christian king together. Alas, my good
knights be slain and gone away from me, that now
within this two days I have lost nigh forty knights, and
also the noble fellowship of Sir Lancelot and his blood,3
for now I may nevermore hold them together with my
worship. Now, alas, that ever this war began!”
“Now, fair fellows,” said the king, “I charge you that
no man tell Sir Gawain of the death of his two brethren,
for I am sure,” said the king, “when he heareth tell that
Sir Gareth is dead, he will go nigh out of his mind.
Mercy Jesu,” said the king, “why slew he Sir Gaheris
and Sir Gareth? For I dare say, as for Sir Gareth, he
loved Sir Lancelot of 4 all men earthly.”
“That is truth,” said some knights, “but they were
slain in the hurling as Sir Lancelot thrang in the thickest
of the press. And as they were unarmed he smote them
and wist not whom that he smote, and so unhappily
they were slain.”
“Well,” said Arthur, “the death of them will cause
the greatest mortal war that ever was, for I am sure that
when Sir Gawain knoweth thereof that Sir Gareth is
slain, I shall never have rest5 of him till I have destroyed
Sir Lancelot’s kin and himself both, other else he to
destroy me. And therefore,” said the king, “wit you well,
my heart was never so heavy as it is now. And much
more I am sorrier for my good knights’ loss than for the
loss of my fair queen; for queens I might have enough,
but such a fellowship of good knights shall never be
together in no company. And now I dare say,” said King
Arthur, “there was never Christian king that ever held
such a fellowship together. And alas, that ever Sir
Lancelot and I should be at debate! Ah, Agravain,
Agravain!” said the king, “Jesu forgive it thy soul, for
thine evil will that thou hadst and Sir Mordred, thy
brother, unto Sir Lancelot has caused all this sorrow.”
And ever among these complaints the king wept and
swooned.
Then came there one to Sir Gawain and told him
how the queen was led away with Sir Lancelot, and nigh
a four-and-twenty knights slain.
“Ah, Jesu, save me my two brethren!” said Sir
Gawain. “For full well wist I,” said Sir Gawain, “that Sir
Lancelot would rescue her, other else he would die in
that field; and to say the truth he were not of worship
but if he had rescued the queen, insomuch as she should
have been brent for his sake. And as in that,” said Sir
Gawain, “he has done but knightly, and as I would have
done myself an I had stood6 in like case. But where are
my brethren?” said Sir Gawain, “I marvel that I see not
of them.”
Then said that man, “Truly, Sir Gaheris and Sir
Gareth be slain.”
“Jesu defend!” said Sir Gawain, “For all this world I
would not that they were slain, and in especial my good
brother, Sir Gareth.”
1
kirtle Petticoat, under-skirt.
2
at debate At odds.
3
blood Kin.
5
rest Peace.
4
of Above.
6
stood Been.