The emperor was enraged. He sent out sealed letters and scrolls and assembled the greatest army ever seen, summoning soldiers and archers and great bands of knights, and squires on foot and horseback carrying lances and javelins. And know this: he appealed to the king of Spain – a Saracen – and this Saracen brought the most immense army of all time. No king ever had a mightier force, and they all placed themselves at the emperor’s command. I tell you, when the whole army was on the march it was reckoned to number three hundred thousand, all armed and equipped for war. When his forces were all assembled the emperor appealed to them, explaining how Arthur had risen against him and in single combat had killed King Floire who held his land as a vassal of Rome. ‘And now he’s claiming tribute from us! I pray you, give me your advice in these matters.’
Hearing this, the barons were filled with contempt and all cried as one: ‘Rightful emperor, ride in force and cross the mountains and the sea and conquer Britain and avenge King Floire whom Arthur, king of Britain, has slain! We’ll aid you with all our might!’
While the emperor was engaged in this debate, three messengers arrived and greeted him most nobly in their own tongue on behalf of the Sultan, and said: ‘Lord emperor, the Sultan sends you word that he is coming to join you to destroy the Britons, because his brother the king of Spain is with you already. I promise you, his army numbers fifty thousand Saracens, and in three days they will be camped in the fields outside Rome.’
The emperor was elated; and when the third day came he mounted with all the senators of Rome and joyfully rode to meet the Sultan half a league outside the city. When the emperor saw him he spurred towards him and flung his arms around his neck. Neither his Christian faith nor his baptism stopped him kissing him full on the lips, and all the Roman senators bowed deeply to him: they knew well enough how he defied God, but their fear of the Britons was great! They camped outside Rome for fifteen days to rest their men, and during those fifteen days the emperor transgressed mightily against God and Holy Church, for he took the Sultan’s daughter as his wife – a beautiful woman indeed, but an infidel. The common people of Rome were most distressed, and kept saying the emperor had lost much of his faith.
Then, when the fifteen days had passed, the army set out and marched across the lands; but Blaise says nothing about their daily marches and what befell them, for Merlin did not care to mention it. But I can tell you this much: they came to the land of Provence where they heard that Arthur’s seneschal Kay was on the frontier of Brittany, guarding that land, and when the emperor heard this he rode that way. But Arthur’s spies informed him of this and he was already at the port of Dover, preparing the fleet for his immense army. When the fleet was ready Arthur came to his nephew Mordred, Sir Gawain’s brother, and entrusted his land and his castles and his wife to his keeping. But he would have done better to have boiled them both in cauldrons, for his nephew Mordred committed the greatest treason ever known; for he loved Arthur’s wife, and persuaded the knights and stewards and keepers of the castles to receive him as their lord, and then married the queen, garrisoned every castle in the land and had himself crowned king. But Arthur, suspecting nothing of this, had his knights embark with all their arms and harness, and the mariners steered them to a port named Calais. Word of their landing was sent to the barons of France, who were overjoyed at the news; and the king, by the common consent of his army, sent two messengers to Paris, where the people joyously declared they would receive him as their lord. Hearing this, Arthur rode to Paris and assembled all his forces there.
The Romans and Saracens heard that Arthur was at Paris, and advanced to within three leagues of the city. Then Arthur sent Gawain and Bedivere to the enemy camp to find out if the emperor wished to do battle. Gawain and Bedivere, mounted on two splendid horses and magnificently armed, came to the emperor’s tent. Gawain proudly delivered his message, insulting and slighting the emperor as he did so, until one of the legates had had enough and said: ‘Britons are always boastful, foul-tongued braggarts! You wretched knight! If you say any more I’ll drag you from your horse!’
At that Bedivere thrust a lance clean through him, and Gawain skewered one of the emperor’s nephews before drawing his sword and dealing a knight such a blow on the head that he split him from his scalp to his waist. Then he spurred forward, beheading six as he went; he and Bedivere meant to ride off, but it was impossible: more than twenty thousand came galloping after them. Some overtook them by a bowshot’s length,23 and Bedivere and Gawain found themselves confronted by more than two thousand; they gathered around Gawain and Bedivere with drawn swords, lances, javelins, darts and sticks and stones, and dealt so many blows that death was inevitable. They killed both their horses. Then fury surged within Sir Gawain, and he drew his sword and clutched his shield and struck a Roman – the governor of a great estate – such a blow that he split him down to his chest; and he seized his horse and mounted and rode to the aid of Bedivere who was defending himself ferociously. But before he could reach him he was unhorsed again and his mount killed beneath him; and when he realised he had lost the horse he had won, Gawain leapt up and stoutly defended himself on foot, hopeless though it was. Then suddenly a force of twenty thousand Britons who had been stationed in the wood came charging out to attack the Romans; they cut through them in a fury and killed them all – hardly a single man escaped. Messengers rode back to report to Arthur; as soon as he heard the news, he commanded his men to arm, and gave orders for two hundred horns and two hundred trumpets to be sounded, which was done – in a blast so mighty that it seemed as if all the earth were quaking and crumbling: God’s thunder would have gone unheard. In perfect order they rode to battle, Saigremor entrusted with the royal banner. They met the twenty thousand who had rescued Sir Gawain and joined forces with them under Gawain’s command.
Meanwhile those who had fled returned to the emperor’s tent with the news that his brother Bretel was dead. He was filled with anguish, and swore he would make Arthur and the Britons pay dearly. He had the horn sounded at the royal pavilion to call them to arms, and when the Romans heard the horn’s ringing blast they armed, and the infidels likewise. They formed their battalions and squadrons and rode out to find Arthur – and Arthur rode to meet them; soon they were close enough to see each other plainly. When the armies came within sight of one another, even the bravest felt fear. Then the Christians made confession to each other and forgave one another their mutual wrongs, and took communion with blades of grass; then they mounted once again.
I promise you, truly, such massive armies were never seen; and when they had advanced so close that there was nothing for it but to fight, Sir Gawain, leading the first squadron, spurred forward and struck a Saracen through shield and mailcoat alike, thrusting the lance-head clean through his chest and sending him crashing dead to the ground. Then both sides charged. Gawain had twenty thousand men confronting fifty thousand Saracens: they clearly could not last long. Even so they killed eleven thousand of the infidels, while seven hundred and sixty of Gawain’s men were lost. All the same, they would not have survived had not Kay the seneschal come to Sir Gawain’s aid with twenty thousand knights. They charged into the infidels from Spain and left huge piles of dead all over the field: the infidels could not resist, and took to flight; but they met the Sultan advancing with fifty thousand Saracens, who now attacked Sir Gawain and Kay the seneschal.
They fought from the third hour24 till noon, when the field was so littered with dead knights and men-at-arms that it was impossible to ride and joust; but they killed each other with their naked swords. And I tell you, Gawain fought so mightily that day that he himself killed one thousand two hundred and thirty knights and men-at-arms. It was true that his strength grew after midday, and when noon had passed every knight he attacked he cut down, man and horse together. He had become so wild that no-one would go near him, and by his efforts the Britons put the Sultan to flight.
But now the emperor engaged Sir Gawain – who had already endured so much – and Kay
the seneschal, and his forces numbered a hundred and fifty thousand. So immense was the dustcloud that Kay took to flight and the Britons with him. But Gawain defended their rear; and then Arthur arrived with sixty thousand worthy and courageous knights, all superbly armed and equipped. They joined battle with the Romans, and it was the fiercest battle that any man could endure. In the fighting that followed, more than fourteen thousand knights from both sides died. And I tell you, King Arthur proved himself to be a great warrior indeed. Then the emperor came through the ranks, magnificently armed, crying: ‘King Arthur, I’m ready to put our honour to the test – and I’ll prove that you’re my slave!’
Arthur heard this and galloped to meet him, and with sword clutched in his right hand he struck the emperor full on the head: with God’s help he dealt such a blow that he split him to the waist and sent him toppling, dead. The cry went up that the emperor was slain; and then Gawain charged forward and struck the Sultan across the waist with his sword, slicing him in half; and King Lot struck the king of Spain through the chest with a javelin, sending him crashing dead to the ground. When the Romans and Saracens saw their lords fall they were aghast. More than a hundred thousand gathered around their bodies, intending to carry them back to their tents; but the Britons and the Norse and the Irish and the Scots descended with lances, darts and daggers and declared that they would take the bodies of the three traitors. But the Romans were determined to have them; and such blows rained down on them then that you could have filled two hundred waggons with the dead. I tell you truly, there had never been such a massacre since the days of Hercules who set up his pillars in Ethiopia.25 Then Gawain returned, and he could not restrain himself, but continued to kill like a raging wolf devouring a lamb. Bedivere, too, wielded his sword until the fields were awash with blood. The Romans fled and abandoned the field.
But twenty thousand men-at-arms had reformed, with knights amongst them too, and the Romans joined them and returned to the field, where the bodies of so many knights lay colourless and pale. Then the Britons summoned all their strength and charged to meet them, and Guillac the king of Denmark clutched his sword in his right hand and struck the foremost Roman such a blow that he cut him right down to the saddle of his horse. Seeing their leader killed filled the Romans with alarm, and Arthur came storming at them with thirty thousand Britons who struck them down and slew them. The Romans and Saracens took to flight, and the Britons pursued them for a long while, killing and capturing them at will. The chase lasted a day and a night, and among the captives were fifteen Roman senators.
When the victory was complete, Arthur took counsel with his barons and said he wished to be crowned in Rome, and his men all agreed he should advance in force and be crowned there indeed. He sent for the captured senators, and when they came before him they fell at his feet and begged for mercy, that he might spare their lives, promising to surrender Rome to him and serve him forever. Arthur granted this, and accepted them as liegemen and declared them free from captivity. Then the king commanded his men to be ready to go to Rome in three days.
But the day before Arthur was due to march he was in the palace at Paris, with his nephew Gawain and Kay the seneschal and Guillac the king of Denmark and King Lot of Orkney, when four messengers dismounted at the mounting-block and climbed up to the hall and greeted him in the name of God; he recognised them instantly and asked them: ‘Why have you come here, sirs? In God’s name, tell me how my wife is, and my nephew Mordred. There’s nothing wrong?’
And the messengers replied: ‘Lord king, it’s about them that we’ve brought you news. We have to tell you that your nephew Mordred has acted treacherously towards you: he’s married your wife, and within a month of your leaving the country he’d taken the crown. He’s won over the people, and every one of your castles is filled with crossbowmen and knights and men-at-arms, for every knight in the land who opposed his will he’s had put to death! And know this: he’s called upon the Saxons of Hengist’s line – Hengist, who fought so long against your father! – and throughout the land of Britain he’s banned the singing of mass or matins. Truly, if you don’t come to the country’s aid you’ll lose it – you’d do better to conquer your own land than someone else’s!’
When Arthur heard this his heart was filled with shame and rage. He debated with his barons what he should do, and their advice was to return and seek to recover his land – and if he could capture Mordred, to have him burnt. Even Mordred’s brother Gawain and his father King Lot of Orkney said so – King Lot felt the deepest shame. Arthur thought this good advice, and the next day he set out with all his knights and rode to Normandy and put to sea.
But Mordred knew of this from spies he had in the king’s camp, and assembled Saxons and knights and men-at-arms and advanced to the shore to confront Arthur. As Arthur prepared to land, Mordred was there to oppose him. It was going to be a perilous landing. Sir Gawain sailed in with twenty thousand men – and I tell you, he was burning with shame at Mordred’s treachery – but his brother confronted him with fifty thousand Saxons hurling spears and stones and darts and javelins; the Britons rained missiles in return. And I tell you now, ill befell Gawain: his helmet was not laced on, and a Saxon wielding an oar dealt him a blow to the head that struck him dead.
The anguish at Gawain’s death! Ah God, what grief to lose the great righter of wrongs! He was a good knight, handsome and loyal and wise, elegant in speech and fair in judgement. God, what sorrow that he should die! There was such grieving on the ship that it could be heard two leagues away. And Saigremor was killed there, and Bedivere, and Kay the seneschal. The lives of so many worthy men ended there. I tell you, not one of the twenty thousand knights escaped: every last man was killed or drowned. Even their ship was lost, broken into four quarters and sinking into the sea.
When Arthur heard the twenty thousand had perished he was filled with grief. And when he knew the truth, that Gawain was dead, his rage and anguish were such that his heart failed him, and he collapsed on the deck and fainted more than fifteen times. The Britons revived him; but I tell you, no man ever heard such lamentation as that of King Lot for Gawain, his son.
King Arthur gave orders for the fleet to land, and they took the port by force and disembarked; but many were killed before they did so. It was then that another great misfortune befell Arthur, for as King Lot was leaving the ship a man-at-arms loosed a crossbow bolt at him and hit him in the chest. Once more there was bitter grieving over his body. Then the Saxons reformed and launched another attack upon Arthur; but as soon as the Britons were mounted they charged at the Saxons and slaughtered many, so mighty was their rage. Like the ravening wolf devouring the lamb, so the Britons devoured the Saxons; they slew so many that mounds of dead lay all over the fields. God granted victory to the Britons: they routed the Saxons, and Mordred took to flight. He fled to the castles he had garrisoned, thinking to take refuge; but when the knights and townsmen heard that Arthur was returning and had defeated him, they would not let him into their fortresses; and Mordred, in distress and fear that the castles were barred to him, fled to Winchester and summoned the Saxons from all over the land, saying he would wait to meet Arthur in battle.
Arthur was distraught at what had happened. First he went down to the shore and sent for the bodies of Gawain and Kay the seneschal and Bedivere and Saigremor and King Lot of Orkney, and had them buried; then he set out with the remainder of his men and tracked Mordred from castle to castle, until word came that he was at Winchester with a great army. So Arthur rode that way, summoning the barons and townsmen and citizens from all over his land; and they all came with their grievances, telling him how Mordred had ruined and abused them. Arthur was so distressed by what they said that he could not reply. Instead he ordered his knights to mount at once, and rode to Winchester.
When Mordred heard he had come he rode out to meet him, saying he would never go hiding away in castles for he had a mightier army than the king. Both sides were ready for combat, and came charging a
t each other in a fury. There you would have seen the fiercest battle in the world, with knights and men-at-arms strewn dead on the ground, enough to fill thirty waggons. So many Saxons were killed that very few remained, and Mordred fled away at speed with the remnants of his men. To Ireland he fled, and crossed the country until he came to an island ruled by a heathen Saxon king – a descendant of Hengist – who made him most welcome and valued him highly as a fine knight.
Hearing that Mordred had gone to Ireland, Arthur set off in swift pursuit, and rode on until he reached the land where he had taken refuge. When the Saxon king heard of his coming he summoned his army and marched against him. Battle was joined. I tell you, the Britons hated the Saxons deeply, as the Saxons did the Britons, and all the more died because of it.
The battle raged for a long while, and many fine knights were killed. The book does not tell of all who died, but I can tell you this much: Mordred was killed there, and so was the Saxon king who had harboured him. And King Arthur was mortally wounded, struck through the chest with a lance. They gathered about Arthur, grieving bitterly, but he said to them: ‘Stop this grieving, for I shall not die. I shall be carried to Avalon, where my wounds will be tended by my sister Morgan.’
And so Arthur was borne to Avalon, telling his people to wait for him, for he would return.
The Britons made their way back to Carduel, and waited more than forty years before they named a new king, for they were daily expecting Arthur to reappear. And I tell you, some people have seen him since out hunting in the forests, and have heard his hounds with him; so that others have long lived in the hope that he would return.
When all this business was complete, Merlin came to Blaise and told him everything that had happened; and when Blaise had set it all down in writing he took him to the house of Perceval who had the Grail in his keeping, and who lived such a saintly life that he was often visited by the Holy Spirit. And he told him all that had befallen Arthur: how he had been carried off to Avalon, and how Gawain had been killed, and how the knights of the Round Table had ended their days. When Perceval heard this he wept with sorrow, and prayed to Our Lord to have pity on their souls, for he had loved them dearly.
Merlin and the Grail Page 26