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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (from original manuscript, artist unknown)

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late 14th-century Middle English alliterative chivalric romance outlining an adventure of Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table. In this Arthurian tale, Sir Gawain accepts a challenge from a mysterious warrior who is completely green, from his clothes and hair to his beard and skin. The "Green Knight" offers to allow anyone to strike him with his axe if the challenger will take a return blow in a year and a day. Gawain accepts, and beheads him in one blow, only to have the Green Knight stand up, pick up his head, and remind Gawain to meet him at the appointed time. The story of Gawain's struggle to meet the appointment and his adventures along the way demonstrate chivalry and loyalty. The poem survives on a single manuscript, the Cotton Nero A.x., on which are also written three religious pieces. These works are thought to have been written by the same unknown author, dubbed the "Pearl Poet" or "Gawain poet". All four narrative poems are written in a North West Midland dialect of Middle English. Everything from the Green Knight, to the beheading game, to the girdle given to Gawain as protection from the axe, is richly symbolic and steeped in Celtic, Germanic, and other folklore and cultural traditions. (Full article...)