In Arthurian legend,
Sir Bedivere is the Knight of the Round Table who returns
ExcaliburExcalibur is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes' attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Great Britain. Sometimes Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone are said to be the same weapon, but in most versions they are considered separate. The sword was...
to the
Lady of the LakeThe Lady of the Lake is the name of several related characters who play parts in the Arthurian legend. These characters' roles include giving King Arthur his sword Excalibur, enchanting Merlin, and raising Lancelot after the death of his father. Different writers and copyists give her name...
. He serves as
King ArthurKing Arthur is a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defense of Britain against the Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and his historical existence is debated...
's
marshalMarshal is a word used in several official titles of various branches of society. The word derives from Old High German marah "horse" and schalh "servant", and originally meant "stable keeper"...
and is frequently associated with
Sir KayIn Arthurian legend, Sir Kay is Sir Ector's son and King Arthur's foster brother and later seneschal, as well as one of the first Knights of the Round Table...
.
Sir LucanSir Lucan the Butler is a servant of King Arthur and one of the Knights of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend. The duties of a "butler" have changed over time; Lucan was supposed to have been in charge of the royal court, along with Bedivere the Marshal and Kay the Seneschal.Lucan is the son...
is his brother, Sir Griflet is his cousin. The Welsh give him a son and daughter named Amren and Eneuawc. Bedivere, along with Kay and
GawainGawain is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table who appears very early in the Arthurian legend's development. He is one of a select number of Round Table members to be referred to as the greatest knight, most notably in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight...
, is one of the earliest characters associated with
King ArthurKing Arthur is a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defense of Britain against the Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and his historical existence is debated...
. His name in
WelshWelsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic spoken natively in Wales, in England by some along the Welsh border and in the Welsh immigrant colony in the Chubut Valley in Argentine Patagonia....
is Bedwyr Bedrydant (
Bedivere of the Perfect Sinews).
In Arthurian legend,
Sir Bedivere is the Knight of the Round Table who returns
ExcaliburExcalibur is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes' attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Great Britain. Sometimes Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone are said to be the same weapon, but in most versions they are considered separate. The sword was...
to the
Lady of the LakeThe Lady of the Lake is the name of several related characters who play parts in the Arthurian legend. These characters' roles include giving King Arthur his sword Excalibur, enchanting Merlin, and raising Lancelot after the death of his father. Different writers and copyists give her name...
. He serves as
King ArthurKing Arthur is a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defense of Britain against the Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and his historical existence is debated...
's
marshalMarshal is a word used in several official titles of various branches of society. The word derives from Old High German marah "horse" and schalh "servant", and originally meant "stable keeper"...
and is frequently associated with
Sir KayIn Arthurian legend, Sir Kay is Sir Ector's son and King Arthur's foster brother and later seneschal, as well as one of the first Knights of the Round Table...
.
Sir LucanSir Lucan the Butler is a servant of King Arthur and one of the Knights of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend. The duties of a "butler" have changed over time; Lucan was supposed to have been in charge of the royal court, along with Bedivere the Marshal and Kay the Seneschal.Lucan is the son...
is his brother, Sir Griflet is his cousin. The Welsh give him a son and daughter named Amren and Eneuawc. Bedivere, along with Kay and
GawainGawain is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table who appears very early in the Arthurian legend's development. He is one of a select number of Round Table members to be referred to as the greatest knight, most notably in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight...
, is one of the earliest characters associated with
King ArthurKing Arthur is a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defense of Britain against the Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and his historical existence is debated...
. His name in
WelshWelsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic spoken natively in Wales, in England by some along the Welsh border and in the Welsh immigrant colony in the Chubut Valley in Argentine Patagonia....
is Bedwyr Bedrydant (
Bedivere of the Perfect Sinews). He is described as one-handed, yet still an excellent warrior.
Medieval literature
He and Cai (Kay) are two of the six knights chosen to accompany
CulhwchCulhwch , in Welsh mythology, is the son of Cilydd son of Celyddon and Goleuddydd, a cousin of Arthur and the protagonist of the story Culhwch and Olwen...
on his quest in the
MabinogionThe Mabinogion is the title given to a collection of eleven prose stories collated from medieval Welsh manuscripts. The tales draw on pre-Christian Celtic mythology, international folktale motifs, and early medieval historical traditions...
romanceAs a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about the marvelous adventures of a chivalrous, heroic knight errant,...
Culhwch and OlwenCulhwch and Olwen is a Welsh tale about a hero connected with Arthur and his warriors that survives in only two manuscripts: a complete version in the Red Book of Hergest, ca. 1400, and a fragmented version in the White Book of Rhydderch, ca. 1325. It is the longest of the surviving Welsh prose...
and it was said "and although he was one-handed no three warriors drew blood in the same field faster than he". In the Life of St.
CadocSaint Cadoc or Cadog , Abbot of Llancarfan, was one of the 6th century Welsh saints, whose vita twice mentions King Arthur. The Abbey of Llancarfan, near Cowbridge in Glamorganshire, which he founded circa 518, became famous as a centre of learning...
(c.1100) he was alongside Arthur and Cai in dealing with King
GwynllywSaint Gwynllyw Milwr or Gwynllyw Farfog, pronounced "G-win-th-loo", known in English in a corrupted form as Woolos the Warrior or Woolos the Bearded was a Welsh king and religious figure....
of
GwynllwgGwynllŵg was a kingdom of mediæval Wales and later a Norman lordship and then a cantref.- Location :It was named after Gwynllyw, its 5th century or 6th century ruler and consisted of the coastal plain stretching between the Rhymney and Usk rivers, together with the hills to the north...
's abduction of St.
GwladysSaint Gwladys ferch Brychan or St Gladys , was the beautiful Queen of Saint Gwynllyw Milwr and one of the famous saintly daughters of King Brychan of Brycheiniog. She was the mother of one of the most revered Welsh saints, Saint Cadoc 'the Wise'.-Traditional history:The mediæval lives of Saint...
from her father's court in
BrycheiniogBrycheiniog was a small independent kingdom of South Wales in the Early Middle Ages. It often acted as a buffer state between England to the east and the powerful south Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth to the west. It was conquered and pacified by the Normans between 1088 and 1095, though it remained...
. Because Bedwyr appears in the oldest Arthurian material, some speculate he might have been a real person.
He is one of Arthur's loyal allies in
Geoffrey of MonmouthGeoffrey of Monmouth was a British clergyman and one of the major figures in the development of British history and the popularity of tales of King Arthur...
's
Historia Regum BritanniaeThe Historia Regum Britanniae is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written c. 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the kings of the Britons in a chronological narrative spanning a time of two thousand years, beginning with the Trojans founding the British nation...
, and maintains this position in much later Arthurian literature. He helps Arthur and Kay fight the Giant of Mont St. Michel, and joins Arthur in his war against Emperor Lucius of
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
. In several
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
versions of Arthur's death including
MalorySir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author or compiler of Le Morte d'Arthur. The antiquary John Leland believed him to be Welsh, but most modern scholarship assumes that he was Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel in Warwickshire...
's
Le Morte d'ArthurLe Morte d'Arthur is Sir Thomas Malory's compilation of some French and English Arthurian romances...
and the
Alliterative Morte ArthureThe Alliterative Morte Arthure is a 4346 line Middle English poem, retelling the latter part of the legend of King Arthur. The poem is one of the most significant works in the short-lived revival of alliterative verse in the 14th century.- History :...
, Bedivere and Arthur are among the few survivors of the
Battle of CamlannThe Battle of Camlann is best known as the final battle of King Arthur, where he either died in battle, or was fatally wounded fighting his enemy and relative Mordred...
. After the battle, at the request of the mortally wounded king, Bedivere throws Excalibur back to the Lady of the Lake. He then enters a
hermitA hermit is a person who lives to some greater or lesser degree in seclusion from society....
age where he spends the remainder of his life.
Modern depictions
Bedivere remains a popular character in modern literature. Some modern authors such as
Rosemary SutcliffRosemary Sutcliff CBE was a British novelist, best known as a writer of historical fiction. Although primarily a children's author, the quality and depth of her writing also appeals to adults; Sutcliff herself once commented that she wrote "for children of all ages from nine to ninety."Sutcliff...
,
Gillian BradshawGillian Marucha Bradshaw is an American writer of historical fiction, historical fantasy, children's literature, science fiction, and contemporary science-based novels, who currently lives in Britain...
,
John M. FordJohn Milo "Mike" Ford was an American science fiction and fantasy writer, game designer, and poet....
and
Mary StewartMary Florence Elinor Stewart is a popular English novelist, best known for her series about Merlin, which straddles the boundary between the historical novel and the fantasy genre.-Career:...
even give him
LancelotIn the Arthurian legend, Sir Lancelot 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...
's traditional role as
GuinevereGuinevere was the legendary queen consort of King Arthur. She was most famous for her love affair with Arthur's chief knight Sir Lancelot, which first appears in Chrétien de Troyes' Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart...
's lover, Lancelot having been added to the cycle too late to seem historical. In
Bernard CornwellBernard Cornwell OBE is an English author of historical novels. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe which were adapted into a series of Sharpe television films.-Biography:...
's
The Warlord ChroniclesThe Warlord Chronicles is a trilogy of books about Arthurian Britain written by Bernard Cornwell...
, many of the legendary deeds of Bedivere (such as throwing Excalibur into the Lake; or in Cornwell's story, the sea) are instead carried out by
Derfel CadarnDerfel Cadarn is a fictional character and the main protagonist in The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell. He is a straight-forward and gifted warrior who is loyal and trustworthy...
.
In the
Monty PythonMonty Python were a British comedy group that created the influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
1975 film,
Monty Python and the Holy GrailMonty Python and the Holy Grail is a 1975 comedy film written and performed by the comedy group Monty Python , and directed by Gilliam and Jones...
, "Sir Bedevere the Wise" is played by
Terry JonesTerence Graham Parry Jones is a Welsh comedian, screenwriter, actor, film director, children's author, popular historian, political commentator and TV documentary host. He is best known as a member of the Monty Python comedy team....
, and in the Broadway musical
SpamalotMonty Python's Spamalot is a musical comedy "lovingly ripped off from" the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Like the film, it is a highly irreverent parody of the Arthurian Legend, but it differs from the film in many ways, especially in its parodies of Broadway theatre...
, he was originally played by Steve Rosen. He is portrayed as a master of the extremely odd logic of ancient times, claiming at one point "...and that [...] is how we know the earth to be banana-shaped." While his logic is fairly bizarre (he condemns a woman to death for being a witch, evidenced by her weighing as much as a duck using his faulty
scalesA weighing scale is a measuring instrument for determining the weight or mass of an object. A spring scale measures weight by the distance a spring deflects under its load. A balance compares the unknown weight to a standard weight using a horizontal lever...
), he is extremely loyal to Arthur and is the only other main character to be with Arthur at the end of the film, in which he is arrested by the police along with hundreds of other knights. His
denouement is somewhat more nebulous in the musical but does involve a tambourine and lots of rhinestones.