Camelot
The Story of King Arthur and Camelot
King Uther Pendragon loved Igraine, the wife of the Duke of Cornwall. So he made war on Cornwall and in that war Igraine's husband was killed, though not until after King Uther slept with Igraine by means of magic. Arthur was conceived, and later Uther and Igraine were married. The child was raised by a knight called Sir Ector. After King Uther died, Arthur proved his right to the throne by removing a sword from an anvil which was embedded in a rock. He received his famous sword, Excalibur, from the Lady of the Lake. The independent kings of Britain fought with Arthur but were defeated. Arthur then became king of all of Britain.
King Arthur married Guinevere, the daughter of King Leodegrance, who gave Arthur as a wedding gift the Round Table and a hundred knights. Merlin the magician was captured by one of the Ladies of the Lake and imprisoned forever under a rock.
An old hermit prophesied that a vacant seat at the Round Table would be filled by a knight who would win the Holy Grail. This knight turned out to be Sir Galahad, actually Sir Lancelot's son (he was tricked into sleeping with the maid Elaine). On the quest for the Holy Grail Lancelot was stricken when he tried to enter the chamber where the grail was kept, he was laid low for 24 days as penance for his years of sin.
When the questing knights returned to Camelot, Lancelot forgot the lesson he learned in the Grail chamber and began consorting again with Guinevere. One spring, while traveling with her attendant, Queen Guinevere was captured by a traitorous knight, Sir Meliagrance. Lancelot rescued her. Enemies of Lancelot told the King of Lancelot's love for Guinevere. A party championing the king's cause fought with Lancelot. All those he fought died except the king's illegitimate son, Mordred. Guinevere was sentenced to be burned, but Lancelot rescued her and they went of to the Castle Joyous Guard to be together. Arthur then besieged the castle, but the Pope intervened and commanded a truce. Lancelot and his followers went to France where he held lands. Arthur then invaded France, but while he was away, his son Mordred seized the throne of Britain and tried to force Guinevere to become his queen. She escaped to the Tower of London. Arthur heard about Mordred's usurpation and returned to England. Battles ensued; it was a great civil war. During a temporary truce, a snake caused a knight to draw his sword and this action brought on another battle in which Mordred was killed and Arthur mortally wounded. On his deathbed Arthur told Sir Bedivere to cast Excalibur back into the lake from which the sword had come, but he twice pretended to have done it. Arthur insisted, and when Bedivere finally complied, a hand reached up out of the water and caught the sword. King Arthur died and was carried on a barge to the fabled land of Avalon. (Some writers say Arthur never actually died and he will come again.) Guinevere became a nun, and Lancelot became a hermit. Sir Constantine of Cornwall was chosen to succeed Arthur.
The Characters
Arthur
King Arthur is the figure at the heart of the Arthurian legends. He is said to be the son of Uther Pendragon and Ygraine of Cornwall. Arthur is a near mythic figure in Celtic stories. In early Latin chronicles he is presented as a military leader. In later romance he is presented as a king and emperor. One of the questions that has occupied those interested in King Arthur is whether or not he is a historical figure. The debate has raged since the Renaissance when Arthur's historicity was vigorously defended, partly because the Tudor monarchs traced their lineage to Arthur and used that connection as a justification for their reign. Modern scholarship has generally assumed that there was some actual person at the heart of the legends, though not of course a king with a band of knights in shining armor. If there is a historical basis to the character, it is clear that he would have gained fame as a warrior battling the Germanic invaders of the late fifth and early sixth centuries. Since there is no conclusive evidence for or against Arthur's historicity, the debate will continue. But what can not be denied is the influence of the figure of Arthur on literature, art, music, and society from the Middle Ages to the present. Though there have been numerous historical novels that try to put Arthur into a sixth-century setting, it is the legendary figure of the late Middle Ages who has most captured the imagination. It is such a figure, the designer of an order of the best knights in the world, that figures in the major versions of the legend from Malory to Tennyson to T. H. White. Central to the myth is the downfall of Arthur's kingdom. It is undermined in the chronicle tradition by the treachery of Mordred. In the romance tradition that treachery is made possible because of the love of Lancelot and Guinevere.
Guinevere
Guinevere is said to be the daughter of Leodegrance of Cameliard in late medieval romance. She marries Arthur and then has a love affair with Lancelot which causes the downfall of Camelot. One of the earliest Arthurian stories is about the abduction of Guinevere by Meleagant. It is the subject of the earliest known Arthurian sculpture on the archivolt of the Porta della Pescheria on the Modena Cathedral. The story of the abduction appears in Malory. Tennyson presents Guinevere as a sinner who was "spoilt the purpose" of Arthur's life. Nevertheless, Tennyson does bring Guinevere and other female characters to the fore. In his poem "The Defence of Guenevere," Morris is the first to give the Queen her own voice, thus beginning a tradition that is continued in Sara Teasdale's poem "Guenevere," Dorothy Parker's "Guinevere at Her Fireside," and Wendy Mnookin's collection Guenever Speaks, as well as in many contemporary novels told from Guinevere's point of view, such as Parke Godwin's Beloved Exile and Persia Wooley's Guinevere trilogy and Marion Zimmer Bradley's "The Mysts of Avalon".
Lancelot
Lancelot is the greatest of Arthur's knights. Son of King Ban of Benwick, he is known as Lancelot of the Lake or Lancelot du Lac because he was raised by the Lady of the Lake. Among his many adventures are the rescue of the abducted Queen Guinevere from Meleagant, an unsuccessful quest for the Holy Grail and the rescue of the queen after she is condemned to be burned to death for adultery. Lancelot is loved by Elaine of Astolat, who dies because her love is unrequited. Elaine, the daugher of King Pelles, tricks Lancelot into sleeping with her and from that union Galahad is born. His love for Guinevere ultimately brings about the downfall of Arthur's realm.
Merlin
MERLIN, Arthur's adviser, prophet and magician, Merlin assists Uther Pendragon and is responsible for transporting the stones of Stonehenge from Ireland. In the modern period Merlin's popularity has remained constant. He figures in works from the Renaissance to the modern period. In The Idylls of the King, Tennyson makes him the architect of Camelot. Mark Twain, parodying Tennyson's Arthurian world, makes Merlin a villain, and in one of the illustrations to the first edition of Twain's work illustrator Dan Beard's Merlin has Tennyson's face. Numerous novels, poems and plays center around Merlin. In American literature and popular culture, Merlin is perhaps the most frequently portrayed Arthurian character.
Morgan Le Fay
Morgan le Fay is, in Malory's Morte d'Arthur Arthur's half sister, the daughter of Arthur's mother Igrain and her first husband, the Duke of Cornwall. She is portrayed as the mother of Arthur's son Modred having tricked Arthur into sleeping with her. She is also presented as an adversary of Arthur's: she gives Excalibur to her lover Accolon so he can use it against Arthur and, when that plot fails, she steals the scabbard of Excalibur which protects Arthur and throws it into a lake. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight she is presented as the instigator of the Green Knight's visit to Arthur's court, partly motivated by her desire to frighten Guinevere. t. Despite the motif of Morgan's enmity towards Arthur and Guinevere, she is also presented as one of the women who takes Arthur in a barge to Avalon to be healed. Morgan is said to be the first of nine sisters who rule The Fortunate Isle or the Isle of Apples and is presented as a healer as well as a shape-changer. It is to this island that Arthur is brought (though Morgan awaits him and heals him rather than actually fetching him herself). Morgan proclaims that she can heal Arthur if he stays with her for a long time.
Modred
Mordred is the illegitimate son of Arthur by his half-sister Morgan.
Galahad
Galahad is the son of Lancelot and Elaine of Corbenic. Galahad was conceived when Elaine tricked Lancelot into thinking he was meeting and sleeping with Guinevere. Galahad is best known as the knight who achieves the quest for the Holy Grail. As the chosen knight he is allowed to sit in the Siege Perilous, the seat at the Round Table that is reserved for the Grail Knight. Galahad remains the pre-eminent Grail Knight in Malory's Morte d'Arthur and in Tennyson's Idylls of the King. A shorter poem by Tennyson, "Sir Galahad," presented the popular image of the perfect knight whose "strength was as the strength of ten" because his "heart is pure."
The Place
Camelot
Although Camelot is, for most modern readers, the legendary center of King Arthur's realm, in many medieval texts Arthur holds court at Carleon or some other city. Camelot is first mentioned in line 34 of Chr�tien de Troyes's Lancelot. For the English-speaking world Camelot is Arthur's central city because of Malory, who identifies it with Winchester. The image many modern readers have of the Camelot coincides with Tennyson's description of it in Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott" as "many-tower'd Camelot." Since Camelot is a legendary place, it is perhaps futile to speak of its location. However, John Leland identified it with Cadbury Castle. Excavations carried out at the site in 1966-1970 confirmed that this large hill fort (with 1200 yards of perimeter surrounding an eighteen-acre enclosure and rising about 250 feet above the surrounding countryside) was refortified in the Arthurian era and was occupied by a powerful leader and his followers. More recently, largely through the influence of T. H. White, Camelot has come to be associated with the values Camelot is believed to have represented (White's "Might for Right"). "Camelot" is often used to represent an ideal place.
The Legend of the Sword in the stone
The Sword in the Stone, sometimes a sword in an anvil, is drawn by Arthur as proof of his birthright and of his nobility. It is both a test and a miraculous sign of his royalty. The sword drawn from the stone is different from the one given to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake. The latter is always referred to as Excalibur; the former is called by that name only once, when Arthur draws the sword at a crucial moment in the first battle to test his sovereignty.
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