Le Morte Darthur: The Winchester Manuscript (Oxford World's Classics)

by Malory, Thomas

  And when Sir Lancelot saw his countenance, he arose up and pulled up the Queen with him, and thus he said full knightly:*

  [15]

  ‘My most redoubted King, ye shall understand, by the Pope’s commandment and yours I have brought to you my lady the Queen, as right requireth. And if there be any knight, of what degree that ever he be of, except your person, that will say or dare say but that she is true and clean* to you, I here myself, Sir Lancelot du Lake, will make it good upon his body that she is a true lady unto you.

  ‘But sir, liars ye have listened, and that hath caused great debate betwixt you and me. For time hath been, my lord Arthur, that ye were greatly pleased with me when I did battle for my lady your queen; and full well ye know, my most noble king, that she hath been put to great wrong or this time. And sithen it pleased you at many times that I should fight for her; and therefore me seemeth, my good lord, I had more cause to rescue her from the fire when she should have been burned for my sake. For they that told you those tales were liars, and so it fell upon them; for by likelihood, had not the might of God been with me, I might never have endured with fourteen knights and they armed and before purposed, and I unarmed and not purposed, for I was sent for unto my lady, your queen, I wot not for what cause. But I was not so soon within the chamber door, but anon Sir Agravain and Sir Mordred called me traitor and false recrayed* knight.’

  ‘By my faith, they called thee right!’ said Sir Gawain.

  ‘My lord Sir Gawain,’ said Sir Lancelot, ‘in their quarrel they proved not themselves the best, neither in the right.’

  ‘Well, well, Sir Lancelot,’ said the King, ‘I have given you no cause to do to me as ye have done, for I have worshipped you and yours more than any other knights.’

  ‘My lord,’ said Sir Lancelot, ‘so ye be not displeased, ye shall understand that I and mine have done you oftentimes better service than any other knights have done, in many divers places; and where ye have been full hard bestead, divers times I have rescued you from many dangers; and ever unto my power I was glad to please you and my lord Sir Gawain. In jousts and in tournaments and in battles set, both on horseback and on foot, I have often rescued you, and you, my lord Sir Gawain, and many more of your knights in many divers places. For now I will make avaunt,’* said Sir Lancelot, ‘I will that ye all wit that as yet I never found no manner of knight but that I was over hard for him and I had done my utterance, God grant mercy!* How be it I have been matched with good knights, as Sir Tristram and Sir Lamorak, but ever I had favour unto them and a deeming what they were; and I take God to record, I never was wroth nor greatly heavy with no good knight and I saw him busy and about to win worship, and glad I was ever when I found a good knight that might anything endure me on horseback and on foot.

  ‘How be it, Sir Carados of the Dolorous Tower was a full noble knight and a passing strong man. And that wot ye, my lord Sir Gawain; for he might well be called a noble knight when he by fine force pulled you out of your saddle and bound you overthwart before him to his saddle-bow, and there, my lord Sir Gawain, I rescued you and slew him before your sight. Also I found your brother Sir Gaheris, and Sir Tarquin leading him bound before him; and there also I rescued your brother and slew Sir Tarquin, and delivered three score and four of my lord Arthur’s knights out of his prison. And now I dare say,’ said Sir Lancelot, ‘I met never with so strong a knight, nor so well-fighting, as was Sir Carados and Sir Tarquin, for they and I fought to the uttermost. And therefore,’ said Sir Lancelot unto Sir Gawain, ‘me seemeth ye ought of right to remember this; for and I might have your good will, I would trust to God for to have my lord Arthur’s good grace.’

  [16]

  ‘Sir, the King may do as he will,’ said Sir Gawain. ‘But wit thou well, Sir Lancelot, thou and I shall never be accorded while we live; for thou hast slain three of my brethren, and two of them thou slew traitorously and piteously, for they bore no harness against thee, nor none would do.’

  ‘Sir, God would they had been armed!’ said Sir Lancelot, ‘for then had they been alive. And for Gareth, I loved no kinsman I had more than I loved him; and ever while I live,’ said Sir Lancelot, ‘I will bewail Sir Gareth’s death, not all only for the great fear I have of you, but for many causes which cause me to be sorrowful. One is that I made him knight. Another is, I wot well he loved me above all other knights. And the third is, he was passing noble and true, courteous and gentle and well-conditioned. The fourth is, I wist well, anon as I heard that Sir Gareth was dead, I knew well that I should never after have your love, my lord Sir Gawain, but everlasting war betwixt us. And also I wist well that ye would cause my noble lord King Arthur for ever to be my mortal foe. And as Jesu be my help, and by my knighthood, I slew never Sir Gareth nor his brother by my willing; but alas that ever they were unarmed that unhappy day!

  ‘But this much I shall offer me to you,’ said Sir Lancelot, ‘if it may please the King’s good grace and you, my lord Sir Gawain. I shall first begin at Sandwich, and there I shall go in my shirt barefoot; and at every ten miles’ end I shall found and gar make* a house of religious, of what order that ye will assign me, with a whole convent to sing and read day and night in especial for Sir Gareth’s sake and Sir Gaheris’, and this shall I perform from Sandwich unto Carlisle. And every house shall have sufficient livelihood; and this shall I perform while that I have any livelihood in Christendom. And there is none of all these religious places but they shall be performed, furnished, and garnished with all things as a holy place ought to be. And this were fairer and more holier and more perfect to their souls than ye, my most noble king, and you, Sir Gawain, to war upon me, for thereby shall ye get no avail.’

  Then all the knights and ladies that were there wept as they were mad, and the tears fell on King Arthur’s cheeks.

  ‘Sir Lancelot,’ said Sir Gawain, ‘I have right well heard thy language and thy great proffers. But wit thou well, let the King do as it pleaseth him, I will never forgive thee my brothers’ death, and in especial the death of my brother Sir Gareth. And if my uncle King Arthur will accord with thee, he shall lose my service; for wit thou well,’ said Sir Gawain, ‘thou art both false to the King and to me.’

  ‘Sir,’ said Sir Lancelot, ‘he beareth not the life that may make it good!* And ye, Sir Gawain, will charge me with so high a thing, ye must pardon me, for then needs must I answer you.’

  ‘Nay, nay,’ said Sir Gawain. ‘We are past that as at this time; and that causeth the Pope, for he hath charged my uncle the King that he shall take again his queen, and to accord with thee, Sir Lancelot, as for this season, and therefore thou shalt go safe as thou came. But in this land thou shalt not abide past fifteen days, such summons I give thee; for so the King and we were condescended* and accorded or thou came. And else,’ said Sir Gawain, ‘wit thou well, thou should not have come here but if it were maugre thy head. And if it were not for the Pope’s commandment,’ said Sir Gawain, ‘I should do battle with thee, with my own hands, body for body, and prove it upon thee that thou hast been both false unto my uncle King Arthur and to me both; and that shall I prove on thy body when thou art departed from hence, wheresoever that I find thee.’

  [17]

  Then Sir Lancelot sighed, and therewith the tears fell on his cheeks; and then he said thus: ‘Most noblest Christian realm, whom I have loved above all other realms, and in thee have I got a great part of my worship! And now that I shall depart in this wise, truly me repents that ever I came in this realm, that I should be thus shamefully banished, undeserved and causeless. But fortune is so variant and the wheel so mutable that there is no constant abiding; and that may be proved by many old chronicles, as of noble Hector of Troy and Alexander the mighty conqueror, and many more other. When they were most in their royalty, they alighted passing low.* And so fareth it by me,’ said Sir Lancelot, ‘for in this realm I had worship, and by me and mine all the whole Round Table hath been increased more in worship than ever it was by any of you all. And therefore wit thou well,
Sir Gawain, I may live upon my lands as well as any knight that here is. And if ye, my most redoubted King, will come upon my lands with Sir Gawain to war upon me, I must endure you as well as I may. But as to you, Sir Gawain, if that ye come there, I pray you charge me not with treason nor felony, for and ye do, I must answer you.’

  ‘Do thou thy best,’ said Sir Gawain, ‘and therefore hie thee fast that thou were gone. And wit thou well, we shall soon come after, and break thy strongest castle that thou hast upon thy head.’

  ‘It shall not need that,’ said Sir Lancelot, ‘for and I were as orgulous set* as ye are, wit you well I should meet you in midst of the field.’

  ‘Make thou no more language,’ said Sir Gawain, ‘but deliver the Queen from thee, and pick thee lightly* out of this court.’

  ‘Well,’ said Sir Lancelot, ‘and I had wist of this short coming, I would have advised me twice or that I had come here. For and the Queen had been so dear unto me as ye noise her, I durst have kept her from the fellowship of the best knights under heaven.’

  And then Sir Lancelot said unto Queen Guenivere in hearing of the King and them all, ‘Madam, now I must depart from you and this noble fellowship for ever; and sithen it is so, I beseech you to pray for me, and I shall pray for you. And tell ye me and if ye be hard bestead by any false tongues; but lightly my good lady, send me word, and if any knight’s hands under the heaven may deliver you by battle, I shall deliver you.’

  And therewith Sir Lancelot kissed the Queen, and then he said all openly, ‘Now let see whatsoever he be in this place that dare say the Queen is not true unto my lord Arthur: let see who will speak, and he dare speak.’ And therewith he brought the Queen to the King.

  And then Sir Lancelot took his leave and departed; and there was neither king, duke, earl, baron, nor knight, lady, nor gentlewoman, but all they wept as people out of their mind, except Sir Gawain. And when this noble knight Sir Lancelot took his horse to ride out of Carlisle, there was sobbing and weeping for pure dole of his departing. And so he took his way to Joyous Gard; and then ever after he called it the Dolorous Tower. And thus departed Sir Lancelot from the court for ever.

  And so when he came to Joyous Gard, he called his fellowship unto him and asked them what they would do. Then they answered all wholly together with one voice, they would do as he would do.

  ‘Then, my fair fellows,’ said Sir Lancelot, ‘I must depart out of this most noble realm; and now I shall depart it grieveth me sore, for I shall depart with no worship, for a flemed man* departeth never out of a realm with no worship. And that is to me great heaviness, for ever I fear after my days that men shall chronicle upon me that I was flemed out of this land. And else, my fair lords, be ye sure, and I had not dreaded shame, my lady Queen Guenivere and I should never have parted.’

  Then spoke noble knights—as Sir Palomides and Sir Safer his brother, and Sir Bellenger le Beau and Sir Urry with Sir Lavain, with many other—‘Sir, and ye will so be disposed to abide in this land, we will never fail you; and if ye list not abide in this land, there is none of the good knights that here be that will fail you, for many causes. One is, all we that be not of your blood* shall never be welcome unto the court; and sithen it liked us to take a part with you in your distress in this realm, wit you well, it shall like us as well to go in other countries with you, and there to take such part as ye do.’

  ‘My fair lords,’ said Sir Lancelot, ‘I well understand you, and as I can, I thank you. And ye shall understand, such livelihood as I am born unto I shall part with you in this manner of wise: that is for to say, I shall part all my livelihood and all my lands freely among you, and myself will have as little as any of you. For have I sufficient that may long unto my person, I will ask no other riches nor array; and I trust to God to maintain you on my lands as well as ever ye were maintained.’

  Then spoke all the knights at once, ‘Have he shame that will leave you! For we all understand, in this realm will be never quiet, but ever debate and strife, now the fellowship of the Round Table is broken. For by the noble fellowship of the Round Table was King Arthur upborne, and by their noblesse the King and all the realm was ever in quiet and rest; and a great part’, they said all, ‘was because of your most noblesse, Sir Lancelot.’

  [18]

  ‘Now truly, I thank you all of your good saying, how be it I wot well that in me was not all the stability of this realm, but in that I might I did my devoir.* And well I am sure, I knew many rebellions in my days that by me and mine were peaced; and that I trow we all shall hear of in short space, and that me sore repenteth. For ever I dread me’, said Sir Lancelot, ‘that Sir Mordred will make trouble, for he is passing envious, and applieth him much to trouble.’

  And so they were accorded to depart with Sir Lancelot to his lands; and to make short this tale, they trussed* and paid all that would ask them. And wholly a hundred knights departed with Sir Lancelot at once, and made their vows they would never leave him for weal nor for woe. And so they shipped at Cardiff, and sailed unto Benwick (some men call it Bayonne, and some men call it Beaune, where the wine of Beaune is). But to say the sooth, Sir Lancelot, and his nephews, was lord of all France and of all the lands that longed unto France; he and his kindred rejoiced it all through Sir Lancelot’s noble prowess. And then he stuffed and furnished and garnished all his noble towns and castles. Then all the people of the lands came unto Sir Lancelot on foot and hands.* And so when he had established all those countries, he shortly called a parliament, and there he crowned Sir Lionel king of France. And Sir Bors he crowned him king of all King Claudas’ lands; and Sir Ector de Maris, Sir Lancelot’s younger brother, he crowned him king of Benwick and king of all Guienne, which was Sir Lancelot’s own lands, and he made Sir Ector prince of them all. And thus he departed his lands and advanced all his noble knights.* And first he advanced them of his blood, as Sir Blamor, he made him duke of Limousin in Guienne; and Sir Bleoberis, he made him duke of Poitiers; and Sir Gahalantine, he made him duke of Auvergne; and Sir Galihodin, he made him duke of Saintonge; and Sir Galihud, he made him earl of Périgord; and Sir Menaduke, he made him earl of Rouergue; and Sir Villiars the Valiant, he made him earl of Beam; and Sir Hebes le Renowne, he made him earl of Comminges; and Sir Lavain, he made him earl of Armagnac; and Sir Urry, he made him earl of Astarac; and Sir Neroveus, he made him earl of Pardiac; and Sir Plenorius, he made him earl of Foix; and Sir Selises of the Dolorous Tower, he made him earl of Marsan; and Sir Melias de l’Isle, he made him earl of Tursan; and Sir Bellenger le Beau, he made him earl of the Landes; and Sir Palomides, he made him duke of Provence; and Sir Safer, he made him duke of Languedoc. And Sir Clegis, he gave him the earldom of Agen; and Sir Sadok, he gave him the earldom of Sarlat; and Sir Dinas le Seneschal, he made him duke of Anjou; and Sir Clarrus, he made him duke of Normandy. Thus Sir Lancelot rewarded his noble knights, and many more that me seemeth it were too long to rehearse.

  [19]

  So leave we Sir Lancelot in his lands, and his noble knights with him; and return we again unto King Arthur and unto Sir Gawain, that made a great host ready to the number of three score thousand, and all thing was made ready for shipping to pass over the sea to war upon Sir Lancelot and upon his lands. And so they shipped at Cardiff; and there King Arthur made Sir Mordred chief ruler of all England. And also he put the Queen under his governance, because Sir Mordred was King Arthur’s son, he gave him the rule of his land and of his wife. And so the King passed the sea and landed upon Sir Lancelot’s lands, and there he burned and wasted through the vengeance of Sir Gawain all that they might overrun.

  So when this word was come unto Sir Lancelot, that King Arthur and Sir Gawain were landed upon his lands and made full great destruction and waste—then spoke Sir Bors and said, ‘My lord Sir Lancelot, it is shame that we suffer them thus to ride over our lands. For wit you well, suffer ye them as long as ye will, they will do you no favour and they may handle* you.’

  Then said Sir Lionel that was ware and wise, ‘My lord Sir
Lancelot, I will give you this counsel: let us keep our strong walled towns until they have hunger and cold, and blow on their nails.* And then let us freshly set upon them and shred them down as sheep in a fold, that ever after aliens may take example how they land upon our lands.’*

  Then spoke King Bagdemagus to Sir Lancelot and said, ‘Sir, your courtesy will shend* us all, and your courtesy hath waked all this sorrow; for and they thus override our lands, they shall by process bring us all to nought, while we thus in holes us hide.’

  Then said Sir Galihud unto Sir Lancelot, ‘Sir, here be knights come of kings’ blood, that will not long droop and dare* within these walls. Therefore give us leave, like as we be knights, to meet them in the field, and we shall so deal with them that they shall curse the time that ever they came into this country.’

  Then spoke seven brethren of North Wales which were seven noble knights (for* a man might seek seven kings’ lands or he might find such seven knights), and these seven noble knights said all at once, ‘Sir Lancelot, for Christ’s sake let us ride out with Sir Galihud, for we were never wont to cower in castles nor in noble towns.’

  Then spoke Sir Lancelot, that was master and governor of them all, and said, ‘My fair lords, wit you well I am full loath to ride out with my knights for shedding of Christian blood; and yet my lands, I understand, be full bare for to sustain any host a while, for the mighty wars that whilom* King Claudas made upon this country, and upon my father King Ban and on my uncle King Bors. How be it, we will as at this time keep our strong walls. And I shall send a messenger unto King Arthur a treaty for to take; for better is peace than always war.’

  So Sir Lancelot sent forth a damosel with a dwarf with her, requiring King Arthur to leave his warring upon his lands; and so she started upon a palfrey, and the dwarf ran by her side. And when she came to the pavilion of King Arthur, there she alit; and there met her a gentle knight, Sir Lucan the Butler, and said, ‘Fair damosel, come ye from Sir Lancelot du Lake?’