Arthur II Book III Intro

 

Jimmy Loong

May 1st 2020

Done May 17^th

 

 Book III

Who were the Knights of the Round Table?

 There was the popular adaption that there were twelve knights at the round table seated with Arthur there. They were as below:

·         Sir Lancelot

·         Sir Gawain

·         Sir Geraint

·         Sir Percival

·         Sir Bors the Younger

·         Sir Lamorak

·         Sir Kay / Sir Gareth

·         Sir Bedivere / Belvedere

·         Sir Gaheris

·         Sir Galahad

·         Sir Tristan

 

Some,  like the Winchester Round Table, offer  the names  of  twenty four knights  while other  sources  have  ranged  from  thirteen to as  high as  a  thousand  six hundred’ of  these  knights.

In 1195,  Robert De Boron stated  that Arthur  had  fifty  knights with  one seat  reserved for the one knight which will find  the Holy Grail. Didot wrote in 1225, that the number was limited to thirteen knights although Vulgate’ Merlin reported of a total of two hundred and fifty knights.

Another was Jean D’Ouremeuse  wrote  in  1350  that  the  knights  were sixty  in  number.

“Sourrce: https://www.medievalchronicles.com/medieval-knights/famous-medieval-knights/the-knights-of-the-round-table/list-of-the-knights-of-round-table/”

So how many were there?

The popular numbers were twelve to thirteen for the dimension of the round table was said to be wide could only accommodate that number.

It was during the reign of Edward I in the thirteenth century who was an admirer of Arthur’s tales, had a table build but that table housed twenty-four knights with the names of the knights taken from Arthur’s tales.

·         Sir Galahad (Son of Sir Lancelot)

·         Sir Lancelot

·         Sir Gawain

·         Sir Percival

·         Sir Lionel

·         Sir Tristram de Lyons

·         Sir Gareth

·         Sir Bedivere

·         Sir Bleoberis

·         Sir Lacotemale Taile

·         Sir Lucan

·         Sir Palomedes

·         Sir Lamorak

·         Sir Bors de Ganis

·         Sir Safer

·         Sir Peleus

·         Sir Kay

·         Sir Ector de Maris

·         Sir Dagonet

·         Sir Degore

·         Sir Brunor le Noir

·         Sir Lebius Desconneu

·         Sir Alymere

·         Sir Mordred

Noted that the last name was Mordred, the one that will battle Arthur at the Calmlann. He will be the one that wounded the King and thus he will die from it. Most of the knights in the list will be mentioned in some lines or passages but none as more detailed like the notable knights below:

·         Lancelot – he was the knight that fought with Arthur, but more so he was the lover of Guinevere, the Queen with King Arthur. His betrayal led to his banishment but he returned to fight Mordred when he wounded Arthur.

·         Percival – he was the next to be listed with his chivalry. He was said to be the one that discover the Holy Grail.

·         Galahad – some tales spoke of him being the son of Lancelot and others spoke of him finding the Holy Grail.

·         Gawain – was reputed to be the first knights to join and was a healer.

I took the liberty of adding some other knights.

·         Belvedere - one of the earliest characters to be featured in the Matter of Britain, originally appearing in several early Welsh texts in which he is named as  Bedrydant. In the later versions, he is described as being the Knight of the Round Table of King Arthur who serves as Arthur's marshal and eventually returns Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake. (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedivere )

·         Lamorak - a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend. Introduced in the Prose Tristan, Lamorak reappears in later works including the Post-Vulgate Cycle and Thomas Malory's compilation Le Morte d'Arthur. Malory refers to him as Arthur's third best knight, only inferior to Lancelot and Tristan, but Lamorak was not exceptionally popular in the romance tradition, confined to the cyclical material and subordinate to more prominent characters. (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamorak )

·         Tristan – the tale of the lovers alike to Lancelot and Guinevere with the sacrifices that most lovers may undergo. His love for Isolde not as popular as that of Lancelot but worth telling.

·         Sir Kay – Another notable knight documented as Arthur’s brother and close friend of Belvedere. He was said to be cold and heartless’ matched to the God of Sun, Cuchulain.

What about the ladies?

The notable ones are the ladies of the Lake which was covered in the last two books but their origin and why their commitment to the Lake that remained to be told.

The others like as below:

·         Lady Guinevere – who is she? She was covered from her servitude to the Marcellus, her naivety with love, and her eventual affection for Lancelot while he was courted by Arthur. Octavia Meleagant obsession with her. Will there be others?

·         Lady Igraine – once with Lord Gorlois, then Lord Pendragon and caretaker of Guinevere. She is a witch and yet who is she remained very much unknown.

·         Elaine Marcellus – seen here as a lady of many needs and yet love evades her or she evade it for other needs.

·         The Le Fay sisters – well described but hidden was their pasts

 

The book took on these characters from Book II.