The Knights of the Round Table

by Daniel Mersey

  ‘The Lady Layonnesse cometh to the Pavilion of Sir Gareth.’ By Howard Pyle.

  As Gareth recovered the next day, Lyonesse whispered to him once more that she would come to him in the night. And again, as they lay together, the same spectral assassin entered their hall, its head intact. Linet had used an enchanted ointment to bring it back to life. Despite his thigh wound, Gareth rose and beheaded the knight once again. This time, he cut the head into quarters and scattered them into Castle Perilous’ moat.

  Linet’s miraculous ointment was put to use once more, and for a third time, Gareth fended off the otherworldly knight’s interruption as he lay with Lyonesse. However, Linet’s intervention had the effect she desired, as the very next day Lyonesse and Gareth married with both of them remaining pure before the ceremony.

  And as foretold by Linet before his duel with Ironside, the Knight of the Kitchen became one of Arthur’s greatest knights.

  * * *

  Gareth (also known as: Beaumains; Guerrehet) was the youngest son of King Lot and Queen Morgause of Orkney; Morgause was Arthur’s hostile half-sister and Lot was a sometime enemy of Arthur, but Gareth served loyally at the Round Table. Gareth was one of the five Brothers of Orkney who served at the Round Table: himself, Gawain, Gaheris, Agravaine, and the infamous Mordred (who was in fact only their half-brother, being born to Arthur and Morgause).

  The tale of Beaumains/Gareth seems to have been an original piece of storytelling by Malory, which is unusual as Le Morte Darthur generally presents stories first written in the preceding three centuries. However, there are strong links between the story of Gareth and Renaut de Beaujeu’s earlier Le Bel Inconnu or The Fair Unknown, about a knight who arrives at Arthur’s court in a similar way and proceeds to journey on a quest with an uncompanionable lady to save her sister (the unknown knight actually being Gawain’s son).

  Tennyson’s poem about Gareth ends with him marrying Linet, rather than her sister, and the coloured knights whom he defeats on his journey are replaced by knights associated with different times of the day. Gareth’s patient and courteous behaviour, coupled with his valour as a knight, win over the rather scornful Linet.

  Gareth served Arthur until his death close to the end of the king’s reign, falling to Lancelot’s sword as king and champion fought against one another for Guinevere.

  It was not unusual in Arthurian legend for knights to disguise themselves behind unknown heraldry for a variety of reasons. Lancelot and Tristan often hide their true identities during jousts, tournaments, and adventures so that they will be judged on their feats of arms rather than their reputations. At other times, knights withhold their identity to disguise their love of a lady or their fellow knights, and on occasion (such as in Gawain and the Green Knight), an enchantment veils a knight.

  EPILOGUE: THE FALL OF THE ROUND TABLE

  All good times must eventually end. Arthur ruled wisely and fairly for many summers and winters, sending his knights far and wide to uphold honour and chivalry. This they did and Logres flourished.

  And then at one great feast, thunder rolled and lightning flashed, and before the Order of the Round Table appeared a vision of the Holy Grail: a revered vessel into which Christ’s blood had drained, making it able to cure all ill.

  The Round Table, as depicted in La Queste du Saint Graal et le mort d’Arthus, c. 1220. (Alamy)

  Arthur was inspired by this vision. He sent his knights to seek out the Grail, to bring it to Camelot so that he could use its powers for the good of his kingdom. In this they failed: many knights died in unfamiliar distant lands, others searched fruitlessly and returned to Camelot as broken men, heroes no more. Three of the purest Knights of the Round Table – Perceval, Galahad, and Bors – found the Holy Grail but failed to return with it: Galahad was spirited away to become the Grail’s guardian and the others could not touch it.

  As the knights adventured far from home searching for the Grail, the kingdom fell into decline. At the end of the Grail Quest, Lancelot and Guinevere’s love for one another was revealed by Arthur’s nephew treacherous Mordred and this sparked civil war, the like of which had not been seen since Arthur was crowned. The Order of the Round Table split: some knights remained loyal to their king and others sided with Lancelot. As the two forces fought a bitter campaign, Mordred took the crown, removed the Round Table and replaced it with an ostentatious throne for himself.

  Arthur led his battered army home to confront Mordred. Almost the last of the Round Table knights died on the pestilent plain where the bloody battle of Camlann was fought, and under stormy skies Mordred and Arthur rained mortal blows onto one other. Only one knight remained, one of the first knights to serve Arthur named Bedivere, and he helped to place his king’s mortally wounded body onto a barge. The barge travelled to the faerie Isle of Avalon, where the Lady of the Lake heals Arthur’s wounds even to this day. It is said that one day Arthur shall return to rule Logres.

  The Order of the Round Table is no more, yet the deeds of its knights shall be remembered for evermore.

  SELECTED READING & WATCHING

  Some of the older works of literature shown here are available in various editions both old and new; I have listed my preferred or an easily available edition, but many other choices of the same texts are available.

  Many older Arthurian texts are available for free online at The Camelot Project (d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot-project) and Internet Sacred Text Archive (www.sacred-texts.com).

  Medieval literature

  Anonymous, The Death of King Arthur (Faber, 2012) (translated by Simon Armitage)

  Anonymous, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Faber, 2007) (translated by Simon Armitage)

  Anonymous, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Penguin, 2013) (translated by Bernard O’Donoghue)

  Anonymous, Lancelot-Grail (DS Brewer, 2010) (edited by Norris J Lacy)

  Béroul, The Romance of Tristan (Penguin, 1970) (translated by Alan S Fedrick)

  Chrétien de Troyes, Arthurian Romances (Penguin, 1991) (translated by William W Kibler and Carleton W Carroll)

  Geoffrey of Monmouth, The History of the Kings of Britain (Penguin, 1966) (translated by Lewis Thorpe)

  Gottfried von Strassburg, Tristan (Penguin, 1967) (translated by AT Hatto)

  Robert de Boron, Merlin and the Grail (DS Brewer, 2008) (translated by Nigel Bryant)

  Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d’Arthur (Penguin, 1969) (edited by Janet Cowan)

  Wace and Layamon, The Life of King Arthur (Phoenix, 1997) (edited by Ros Allen and Judith Weiss)

  Later literature

  Arnold, Matthew, Tristram and Iseult (Kessinger, 2010)

  Guest, Lady Charlotte, The Mabinogion (Oxford University Press, 2007) (translated by Sioned Davies)

  Lancelyn Green, Roger, King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table (Puffin, 1953)

  Lang, Andrew, Tales of the Round Table (Longmans, 1902)

  Lanier, Sidney, The Boy’s King Arthur (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1917)

  Matthews, Caitlin and Matthews, John, The Arthurian Book of Days (Sidgwick & Jackson, 1990)

  Pyle, Howard, The Story of King Arthur and His Knights (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1903)

  Pyle, Howard, The Story of the Champions of the Round Table (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1905)

  Pyle, Howard, The Story of Sir Launcelot and His Companions (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1907)

  Riordan, James, Tales of King Arthur (Hamlyn, 1982)

  Steinbeck, John, The Acts of King Arthur and his Noble Knights (Ballatine Books, 1976)

  Tennyson, Alfred, Idylls of the King (Arcturus, 2012) (edited by Valerie Purton)

  Twain, Mark, A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur’s Court (Penguin, 2007)

  Reference works

  Barber, Richard, The Arthurian Legends: An Illustrated Anthology (The Boydell Press, 1979)

  Barber, Richard, King Arthur: Hero and Legend (The Boydell Press, 1986) (third edition)

  Cresswell, Julia, Legendary Beasts of Britain (Shir
e Publications, 2013)

  Fulton, Helen (ed.), A Companion to Arthurian Literature (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009)

  Karr, Phyllis Ann, The Arthurian Companion (Chaosium, 2001) (second edition)

  Lacy, Norris J and Wilhelm, James J (eds), The Romance of Arthur (Routledge, 2012) (third edition)

  Lupack, Alan, The Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature (Oxford University Press, 2005)

  Mersey, Daniel, Myths & Legends 4: King Arthur (Osprey, 2013)

  Pearsall, Derek, Arthurian Romance: A Short Introduction (Blackwell, 2003)

  Filmsand TV

  The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (TV, 1956–57)

  Camelot (movie, 1967)

  Camelot (TV, 2011)

  Les Chevaliers de la Table Ronde (movie, 1990)

  Excalibur (movie, 1981)

  First Knight (movie, 1995)

  Gawain and the Green Knight (movie, 1973)

  Knights of the Round Table (movie, 1953)

  Lancelot and Guinevere (movie, 1963)

  Lancelot du Lac (movie, 1974)

  Legend of Prince Valiant (TV, 1991–94)

  Magic Sword: The Quest for Camelot (movie, 1998)

  Perceval le Gallois (movie, 1978)

  Prince Valiant (movie, 1954)

  Tristan and Isolde (movie, 2006)

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