Lancelot

Sir Lancelot, standing in armour with a cape and with visor up, leaning on his sword

In the Arthurian legend, Sir Lancelot (Lancelot du Lac, also Launcelot) is one of the Knights of the Round Table. He is typically considered to be one of the greatest and most trusted of King Arthur's knights and plays a part in many of Arthur's victories. He is perhaps most famous for his affair with Arthur's wife Guinevere and the role he plays in the search for the Holy Grail.

Lancelot's life and adventures are featured in several Medieval romances, often with conflicting backstories and chain of events. His first appearance as a main character is in Chrétien de Troyes' Le Chevalier de la Charette dating from the 12th century. In the 13th century, he figures prominently in the lengthy Vulgate Cycle, with the majority of his more famous exploits occurring in the section known as the Prose Lancelot. Given the multitude of independently developed literary sources, it is difficult to assemble an authoritative and absolute portrait of the knight.

Character origins

Pre-Romance origins

Lancelot's literary origins are unclear. Prior to his appearance in the works of Chrétien de Troyes, Lancelot is virtually unknown. Scholar Roger Sherman Loomis suggests that Lancelot is related to the Welsh hero Loch Llawwunnyawc (or Lugh Llenlleawg) from Culhwch and Olwen and referenced in the poems Pa gur and Preiddeu Annwfn. According to Loomis, Lancelot can then traced back to Lleu Llaw Gyffes or even the Celtic god Lugh or Lugus. Lancelot is also absent from early Italian texts referencing Arthur and Gawain.

Lancelot may have instead been the hero of an independent folk-tale which had contact with and was ultimately absorbed into the Arthurian tradition: the theft of an infant by a water-fairy, the appearance of the hero at a tournament on three consecutive days in three different disguises, and the rescue of a queen or princess from an Other-World prison are all features of a well-known and widespread folk-tale, variants of which are found in almost every land, and numerous examples of which have been collected by Emmanuel Cosquin in his Contes Lorrains, and by J. F. Campbell in his Tales of the West Highlands.

Another theory put forth by Norma Lorre Goodrich proposes that Lancelot originated from Geoffrey of Monmouth's Anguselus. This would have translated into Old French as L'Anselot, the "ng" being dropped as in other Latin to French transitions and the "ot" being substituted for "us." Hence "Lancelot" means "The Angus." Among the possible historical Anuses of the Arthurian period are Oengus mac Erc.

Earliest appearance

The character Lancelot is first introduced by the writer Chrétien de Troyes. In Chrétien's earliest known work, Erec and Enide, the name Lancelot appears as third on a list of knights at King Arthur's court. The fact that Lancelot's name follows Gawain and Erec indicates the presumed importance of the knight at court, even though he does not figure prominently in Chrétien's tale. Lancelot reappears in Chrétien's Cligès. Here, Lancelot takes a more important role as one of the knights that Cligès must overcome in his quest.

It is not until Chrétien's Le Chevalier de la Charrette, however, that Lancelot becomes the protagonist. In this text, he is presented as the most formidable knight at King Arthur's court. His adulterous relationship with the Queen is also introduced in this text.

Although Lancelot will be later associated with the Grail Quest, Chrétien does not include him at all in his final romance, Le conte du graal. In this story, which introduces the Grail motif in medieval literature, Perceval is the sole seeker of the grail. Lancelot's involvement in the Grail legend is first recorded in the Perlesvaus written between 1200 and 1210.

Lancelot fighting the lions, from a medieval illumination.

Later amplifications

Lancelot's character is perhaps most fully developed in the so-called Vulgate Cycle, where he appears prominently in the third and fourth parts, known as the Prose Lancelot (or Lancelot du lac) and the Queste del Saint Graal (or The Quest for the Holy Grail) respectively. While Gaston Paris argues that the Guenivere-Meleagant episode of the Prose Lancelot is an almost literal adaptation of Chrétien's poem, the Prose Lancelot can be seen as a considerable amplification of Chrétien's tale. Whereas Chrétien treats Lancelot if his audience were already familiar the character's background, most of the exploits associated with Lancelot today are first mentioned here (e.g. Lancelot's parentage, Lancelot and the Grail, Lancelot, Guenivere and the fall of Camelot, etc.).

Knighthood and adventures

Birth and childhood

Lancelot (born Galahad) is the son of King Ban of Benwick and Elaine.. While Lancelot is an infant, his father is driven from his kingdom by his enemy Claudas de la Deserte . Ban and Elaine flee, carrying the child with them. As Elaine is tending to her wounded husband, Lancelot is carried off by the Lady of the Lake who raises the child in her magical kingdom. It is from this upbringing that Lancelot earns the surname, du lac (English: "of the lake").

Early Adventures

When Lancelot is old enough, the Lady of the Lake sends him to King Arthur's court, where he becomes a knight at the behest of Sir Gawain. Almost immediately upon his arrival, Lancelot falls in love with the Queen, and one of his very first adventures is rescuing Guinevere from Arthur's enemy, Meleagant.

Early in Lancelot's career, he faces the Dolorous Guard. After setting out for adventure, Lancelot comes across a castle guarded by the Copper Knight. To overcome this challenge, Lancelot must battle ten knights at the first wall, ten knights at the second wall, and finally the Copper Knight himself. However, after defeating many more than twenty knights (with the aid of his foster mother, the Lady of the Lake), he discovers that the Copper Knight has fled. The townspeople lead Lancelot to a cemetery, where he finds a metal slab stating that only one knight can lift the slab and that this knight's name is written beneath the slab. Lancelot (who has heretofor been known as simply the "White Knight") is able to lift it and discovers that his name is, in fact, Lancelot.

The name of the Dolorous Guard is changed to the Joyous Guard and becomes Lancelot's home.

Lancelot plays an important role in a war between Arthur and Galehaut. Although Galehaut is Arthur's enemy, Lancelot befriends him and convinces him to surrender peacefully to Arthur. As a token of thanks, Arthur invites Lancelot to become a member of the Round Table. In spite of this happy outcome, Galehaut is the one who finally convinces Guinevere to return Lancelot's affection, an action that at least partially results in the fall of Camelot. Rather than return to Galehaut's court, Lancelot remains at the Round Table.

Later, with the help of King Arthur, Lancelot defeats Claudas and recovers his father's kingdom, though he again decides to remain at Camelot with his cousins Sir Bors and Sir Lionel and his illegitimate half-brother Hector de Maris.

Lancelot, Galahad, and the Grail

By this time, Lancelot is one of the most famous knights, and Elaine, daughter of the Fisher King (and sister of Perceval) falls in love with him. Using magical enchantments, she tricks him into believing that she is Guinevere, and he sleeps with her, and the ensuing pregnancy results in the birth of Galahad.

When he realizes what has happened, Lancelot goes mad and is exiled from the court for many years.

Upon his return to court, Lancelot takes part in the Grail Quest with Perceval and Galahad, though as an adulterer, he is only allowed a glimpse of the Grail itself. It is instead his son, Galahad, who ultimately achieves the Grail.

Later years and death

Ultimately, Lancelot's affair with Guinevere is a destructive force, resulting in the death of Gawain's brothers, the estrangement of Lancelot and Gawain, and Mordred's betrayal of King Arthur. Upon hearing the news of Arthur's death, Lancelot retires to a hermitage to live out the rest of his life.

External links

• The Charrette Project 2 at Baylor University

Further reading

• K. Sarah-Jane Murray, "From Plato to Lancelot: A Preface to Chretien de Troyes," Syracuse University Press, 2008. ISBN-10 081563160X
• Lancelot and the Grail: A Study of the Prose Lancelot, Elspeth Kennedy (Clarendon Press, 1986)
• Lancelot Do Lac, the Non-Cyclic Old French Prose Romance, Two Volumes, Elspeth Kennedy (ed.) (OUP, 1980)
• Lancelot of the Lake, Introduction Elspeth Kennedy. Translation and notes Corin Corley (Oxford World's Classics)
• William Cole. "First and Otherwise Notable Editions of Medieval French Texts Printed from 1742 to 1874: A Bibliographical Catalogue of My Collection". Sitges: Cole & Contreras, 2005.