Sir Lancelot du Lac (icon, ˈ, ˈ, or ˈ; and dj or dj) is one of the
Knights of the Round TableThe Round Table is King Arthur's famed table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his Knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status. The table was first described in 1155 by Wace, who relied on previous depictions of...
in the Arthurian legend. He is the most trusted of
King ArthurKing Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
's knights and plays a part in many of Arthur's victories. He is perhaps most famous for being intimate with Arthur's wife
GuinevereGuinevere was the legendary queen consort of King Arthur. In tales and folklore, she was said to have had a love affair with Arthur's chief knight Sir Lancelot...
and the role he plays in the search for the
Holy GrailThe Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers...
.
Lancelot's life and adventures are featured in several Medieval romances, often with conflicting backstories and chains of events. His first appearance as a main character is in
Chrétien de TroyesChrétien de Troyes was a French poet and trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Perhaps he named himself Christian of Troyes in contrast to the illustrious Rashi, also of Troyes...
'
Le Chevalier de la Charette, or "Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart", 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.
Pre-Romance origins
Lancelot's literary origins are mysterious. Prior to his appearance in the works of
Chrétien de TroyesChrétien de Troyes was a French poet and trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Perhaps he named himself Christian of Troyes in contrast to the illustrious Rashi, also of Troyes...
, Lancelot is virtually unknown. Scholar
Roger Sherman LoomisRoger Sherman Loomis was an American scholar and one of the foremost authorities on medieval and Arthurian literature.-Biography:...
suggests that Lancelot is related to the
WelshWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
hero Llwch Llenlleawg ("Llwch of the Striking Hand") from
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...
.
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 tale, variants of which are found in almost every land, and numerous examples of which have been collected by
Emmanuel CosquinEmmanuel Cosquin was a French folklorist. He wrote the "Popular Tales of Lorraine," in the introduction to which he argues for the theory that the development as well as the origin of such tales is historically traceable to India.-Publications:...
in his
Contes Lorrains, and by J. F. Campbell in his
Tales of the West Highlands. Lancelot was said to have coal black hair, tanned skin and a handsome face.
Earliest appearance
The character Lancelot is first introduced by the writer
Chrétien de TroyesChrétien de Troyes was a French poet and trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Perhaps he named himself Christian of Troyes in contrast to the illustrious Rashi, also of Troyes...
who wrote in the 12th century. In Chrétien's earliest known work,
Erec and EnideErec and Enide is the first of Chrétien de Troyes' five romance poems, completed around 1170. It is one of three completed works by the author...
, the name Lancelot appears as third on a list of knights at King Arthur's court. The fact that Lancelot's name follows
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...
and
ErecSir Erec, the son of King Lac, is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend. He features in numerous Arthurian tales , but he is most famous as the protagonist in Chrétien de Troyes' first romance, Erec and Enide...
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
CligèsCligès is a poem by the medieval French poet Chrétien de Troyes, dating from around 1176. Cligès is the second of five Arthurian Romances; Erec and Enide, Cligès, Yvain, Lancelot and Perceval. It tells the story of the knight Cligès and his love for his uncle's wife, Fenice...
. 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 CharretteLancelot, the Knight of the Cart is an Old French poem by Chrétien de Troyes. Chrétien probably composed the work at the same time as or slightly before writing Yvain, the Knight of the Lion, which refers to the action in Lancelot a number of times...
, 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. According to Pamela Raabe, in Chrétien de Troyes’ work, Lancelot is portrayed as not only the bravest of knights, but one that everyone he meets is forced to describe as uniquely perfect. His deeds are recounted for their uniqueness, not only among living knights, but of all men who have ever lived. The problem is that critics have been unable to agree on how to reconcile his perfect “saintliness” with his obvious adultery with King Arthur’s Guinevere. How can the lovers’ consummation be considered a “saintly affair” when it is also adultery? And against King Arthur, to whom William Bowman Piper suggests all knights owe selfless respect, according to Arthurian politics. It also Chrétien who first gives Lancelot the name Lancelot du Lac (“Lancelot of the Lake”) which was later picked up by the Anglo-French
Lancelot-GrailThe Lancelot–Grail, also known as the Prose Lancelot, the Vulgate Cycle, or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is a major source of Arthurian legend written in French. It is a series of five prose volumes that tell the story of the quest for the Holy Grail and the romance of Lancelot and Guinevere...
and then Malory.
Lancelot is constantly tied to the
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
associated with Arthurian Legend. Raabe compares Lancelot’s quest for Guinevere in “Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart,” as a quest likening to Everyman’s quest for salvation and
ChristChrist is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
’s quest for the human soul. This becomes intensified when he becomes the prophesied savior of the captives of Logres. His adventure among the tombs is described in terms that suggest Christ’s “harrowing of Hell” and resurrection: he effortlessly lifts the lid off the sarcophagus, which bears an inscription foretelling his freeing of the captives.
Danielle MacBain’s study of
Thomas MalorySir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author or compiler of Le Morte d'Arthur. The antiquary John Leland as well as John Bale believed him to be Welsh, but most modern scholars, beginning with G. L...
’s “Le Morte d’Arthur,” claims Lancelot’s affair with Guinevere is often seen as parallel to that of Tristram, or
Tristan Tristan is one of the main characters of the Tristan and Iseult story, a Cornish hero and one of the Knights of the Round Table featuring in the Matter of Britain...
, and
IseultIseult is the name of several characters in the Arthurian story of Tristan and Iseult. The most prominent is Iseult of Ireland, wife of Mark of Cornwall and adulterous lover of Sir Tristan. Her mother, the Queen of Ireland, is also named Iseult...
. MacBain suggests that it is Lancelot who is ultimately identified with the tragedy of chance and human failing that is responsible for the downfall of the round table.
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 literatureMedieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages . The literature of this time was composed of religious writings as well as secular works...
, Perceval is the sole seeker of the grail. Lancelot's involvement in the Grail legend is first recorded in the
PerlesvausPerlesvaus, also called Li Hauz Livres du Graal , is an Old French Arthurian romance dating to the first decade of the 13th century...
written between 1200 and 1210.
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 ParisBruno Paulin Gaston Paris , known as Gaston Paris, was a French writer and scholar.He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901, 1902 and 1903.-Biography:Paris was born at Avenay...
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 as if his audience were already familiar with 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.).
Birth and childhood
Lancelot (born Galahad) is the son of
King BanIn Arthurian legend, Ban is the King of Benwick or Benoic. He is the father of Sir Lancelot and Sir Hector de Maris, the brother of King Bors, and an early ally of King Arthur.Ban's wife Elaine is the sister to King Bors' wife Evaine...
of Benwick (or Benoic) and Elaine. While Lancelot is an infant, his father is driven from his kingdom, seen in Britain, by his enemy
ClaudasKing Claudas is a fictional Frankish king and an opponent to King Arthur, Lancelot, and Bors in Arthurian literature. His kingdom is named "Terre Deserte", or "Land Laid Waste", so called because of the destruction Uther Pendragon had wrought there. Claudas appears as the Round Table's adversary in...
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 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...
who raises the child in her magical kingdom. It is from this upbringing that Lancelot earns the surname,
du lac (
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
: "of the lake").
Early adventures
The Lady of the Lake sends him to
King ArthurKing Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
's court, where he becomes a knight at the behest of Sir
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...
. 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 (however, in Le Morte D' Arthur, this rescue takes place after the adventures of the Sangreal).
Lancelot seems to be related to a Celtic abduction tale called the
aithed. In this legend, a mysterious stranger kidnaps a married woman and takes her to his home. The husband of the woman then rescues her against insurmountable odds.
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 heretofore 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
GalehautGalehaut , Sire des Lointaines Isles appears for the first time in Arthurian literature in the early-thirteenth-century prose Lancelot, the central work in the series of anonymous French prose romances collectively called the Lancelot-Grail or Arthurian Vulgate Cycle...
. 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 LionelSir Lionel is the younger son of King Bors of Gaunnes and Evaine and brother of Bors the Younger in Arthurian legend. He is a double cousin of Lancelot and cousin of Lancelot's younger half-brother Ector de Maris...
and his illegitimate half-brother Ector de Maris.
Lancelot, Galahad, and the Grail
By this time, Lancelot is one of the most famous knights of the Round Table and
ElaineElaine of Corbenic , is a character in the Arthurian legend. She is the daughter of King Pelles and the mother of Sir Galahad by Sir Lancelot...
, daughter of the
Fisher KingThe Fisher King, or the Wounded King, figures in Arthurian legend as the latest in a line charged with keeping the Holy Grail. Versions of his story vary widely, but he is always wounded in the legs or groin, and incapable of moving on his own...
, falls in love with him. She tricks him into believing that she is Queen Guinevere, and he sleeps with her, and the ensuing pregnancy results in the birth of
GalahadSir Galahad |Round Table]] and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend. He is the illegitimate son of Lancelot and Elaine of Corbenic, and is renowned for his gallantry and purity. Emerging quite late in the medieval Arthurian tradition, he is perhaps the knightly...
.
Word returns to Queen Guinevere and in a fit of rage, she banishes Lancelot after subjecting him to a long tirade criticizing him for his behavior. Broken by this rejection, Lancelot loses his wits and wanders the wilderness for two years until he arrives at Corbin. Elaine recognizes him, and he is shown the Holy Grail through a veil that cures his madness. Shortly after he recovers, he returns to Camelot after being found by Sir Percival and Sir Ector at a repentant Queen Guinevere's request.
Upon his return to court, Lancelot takes part in the
GrailThe Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers...
Quest with
PercevalPerceval may refer to*Spencer Perceval, British prime minister*Percival or Perceval, Arthurian knight...
and
GalahadSir Galahad |Round Table]] and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend. He is the illegitimate son of Lancelot and Elaine of Corbenic, and is renowned for his gallantry and purity. Emerging quite late in the medieval Arthurian tradition, he is perhaps the knightly...
, though as an adulterer and a man minded of earthly honors that have come with his knightly prowess, he is only allowed a glimpse of the Grail itself. It is instead his son, Galahad, who ultimately achieves the Grail, (along with Lancelot's nephew, Sir
BorsBors circa 540s-580s, is the name of two knights in the Arthurian legend, one the father and one the son. Bors the Elder is the King of Gaunnes or Gaul during the early period of King Arthur's reign, and is the brother of King Ban of Benoic. Gaunnes is the Fredemundian dynastic kingdom of Neustria...
, and Sir
PercevalPerceval may refer to*Spencer Perceval, British prime minister*Percival or Perceval, Arthurian knight...
the son of King
PellinoreKing Pellinore is the king of Listenoise or of "the Isles" , according to the Arthurian legend. Son of King Pellam and brother of Kings Pelles and Alain, he is most famous for his endless hunt of the Questing Beast, which he is tracking when King Arthur first meets him...
).
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
MordredMordred or Modred is a character in the Arthurian legend, known as a notorious traitor who fought King Arthur at the Battle of Camlann, where he was killed and Arthur fatally wounded. Tradition varies on his relationship to Arthur, but he is best known today as Arthur's illegitimate son by his...
's betrayal of King Arthur. Upon hearing the news of Arthur's death, Lancelot finds that Guinevere has become a nun. She blames all the destruction of the Round Table upon her and Lancelot's love, which, indeed, according to Le Morte D'Arthur, is the seed of all the dismay that followed. She refuses to kiss Lancelot one last time, tells him to return to his lands, and that he will never see her face again. Instead, Lancelot declares that if she will take upon her a life of penitence, then so will he. He then retires to a hermitage to live out the rest of his life in penitence, with eight of his kin, including Sir Bors, joining him at the hermitage. He eventually becomes a priest, later conducting rites over the deceased body of Guinevere (who has become an abbess). As she had indicated, he never saw her face again in life. She had prayed that she might die before he arrived, and so she did, half-an-hour before his arrival (he had been told to go due to a dream he had had the night before).
After the queen's death, Lancelot and his fellow knights escort her body to be interred beside King Arthur (it was in the same place that Gawain's skull was kept). Lancelot, distraught for the loss of his beloved king and queen, begins to fail. In fact, even before this time, Le Morte D' Arthur states that he had lost a cubit of height due to his penitent fastings and prayers. Six weeks after the death of the queen, Lancelot dies. It is implied that he wished to be buried beside the king and queen; however, because he had some time before made a vow to be buried at Joyous Gard, he asks that he be buried there so as not to break his word.
After Lancelot's death, according to Le Morte D'Arthur, the eight knights of his kindred that had joined him in living a life of penitence, return to France, take care of the affairs of their lands, then, acting on Lancelot's request of them, go to the Holy Land and fight against the Turks. There they died on
Good FridayGood Friday , is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of...
, fighting against the Moors.
It is possible that originally Lancelot's tale did not include an affair with Guinevere, as the German
Lanzelet knows nothing of it. The original tale may have been simply about a youth who was raised by a lake fairy. It is possible that Lancelot has a prototype in Welsh Celtic lore.
Further reading
- Lancelot and the Grail: A Study of the Prose Lancelot, Elspeth Kennedy
Elspeth Mary Kennedy, MA, DPhil, FSA was a British academic and a prominent medievalist.-Early life and education:...
(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.
- The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung-Cart Knight, Gerald Morris (2008)
- K. Sarah-Jane Murray, "From Plato to Lancelot: A Preface to Chretien de Troyes," Syracuse University Press, 2008. ISBN 0-8156-3160-X
- Grail, Stephen R. Lawhead (Avon Books, 1997)
External links