Le Morte D'Arthur Book 1 - 3

The Narrator begins by describing the rule of the King of England, Uther Pendragon. King Uther is concerned by a conflict that his armies have been having with the forces of the Duke of Cornwall. He attempts to reach an agreement with the Duke in a meeting, and so invites the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall to his castle. Uther receives them with dignity, but he becomes infatuated with the beautiful Duchess, Igraine. His lust overwhelms him and he finds an opportunity to confess his feelings to her in private. The Duchess is rightfully aghast at the proposition. She refuses him and tells the Duke about the King’s inappropriate advances. The royal couple departs and refuses to return despite Uther’s repeated invitations. Uther is insulted by their refusal and he decides to go to war with Cornwall. The Duke prepares two of his castles, Terrabil, and Tintagil. He stations himself at Terrabil, while he hides his wife in the other castle. Uther and his armies lay siege to Terrabil, but their assault is dampened by the Duke’s fortifications. The King is driven to sickness from his lust and anger, but one of his knights, Sir Ulfius, offers to seek out the wizard Merlin to help with Uther’s war.

Ulfius leaves to find Merlin with Uther’s consent, and he finds the wizard hiding in the form of a beggar. Merlin agrees to help Uther, but under the condition that Uther would have to grant him a wish. Ulfius takes Merlin to Uther, and Merlin tells Uther that he would like to be given the child that is conceived from Uther and Igraine’s first encounter, which he promises would occur that very night. Uther agrees to the Wizard’s demand, and Merlin transforms Uther into the form of the Duke of Cornwall. He sends Uther to Tintagil, and the Duke of Cornwall sees Uther leaving and he abandons his fortifications to stop him but this leads to his death. Uther spends the night with Igraine who sees her husband in his form, and she learns of the real Duke’s death the following morning. She is terrified to learn that she has been tricked and that her husband has been killed. She gets together with her advisors and follows the counsel of Sir Jordanus, who tells her to marry King Uther.

Many years later, Merlin reminds the king about his promise when the time for the birth of Uther’s child draws close. He tells him that the child will be raised by Sir Ector, who arrives just a few days before the child’s birth. He is received kindly by the king, and Merlin entrusts him with the child, to raise along with his son, Kay, and he names the prince Arthur. Uther grows weak with the passing years, and though Merlin remains at his side, the wizard is unable to delay the inevitable. Merlin makes Uther admit that Arthur should be king after him, but the other lords fail to take heed of their dying king’s words. Merlin asks the Archbishop of Canterbury to summon the lords of the land to London for Christmas, which is when the new King would be chosen. The Lords arrive, and on the day of Christmas, they find a large stone in the churchyard with a sword stuck through it. The words around the stone declare that whosoever can pull out the sword from the rock will be declared King. Many noblemen try to pull out the sword but they all fail. A tournament is organized around New Year’s day, and Sir Ector arrives with his son, Kay, and Arthur to attend the tournament. Arthur easily pulls out the sword from the rock when he is sent to fetch Kay’s sword. Kay tries to take credit for drawing the sword, but Ector learns the truth from Arthur. He has the boy draw the sword from the rock several times, while he is unable to move it when the sword is in the stone. The news soon begins to spread, and Arthur is made the king of England. He immediately begins to exercise his understanding of Justice and makes Sir Kay his Steward as he had promised Sir Ector.

Arthur organizes a large fest in celebration of his coronation on Pentecost in Wales and receives a large number of Kings as guests. The Kings are displeased with Arthur’s accession to Kingship, but before they can execute any malicious design, Arthur secures himself in a castle with an army of 500 men that he had brought along on the word of an advisor. The rival alliance of kings is prevented from taking an offensive action by the arrival of Merlin, who tells them of Arthur’s miraculous birth through the coming together of Uther and Igraine. He convinces them that Arthur will become a great king, and invites Arthur out of the castle so that they may pay fealty to him. Arthur reminds them of his status as king and reasserts his ability to make them obey through force. The rival kings are enraged and take up the sword once again as Arthur retreats to the castle with his men. Merlin berates the kings as he tells them that Arthur will soon be a great king, and he returns to Arthur’s side. He tells him to proceed with an offensive, but to use his sword, Excalibur, only near the end. The battle proceeds in favor of Arthur until a rival king, King Lot, breaks through the line of defense to attack Arthur. Arthur unveils the power of the sword, which blinds several soldiers on the field and the King takes several lives with his magical sword.

Arthur returns to London and calls for a meeting with all his Barons. He tells his noblemen about the threat of the rival kings, and they agree to seek aid from foreign kings. They decide to dispatch emissaries to King Ban of Benwick, and King Bors of Gaul, both of whom are presently warring with King Claudas. Arthur promises them his aid with their enemy if they agree to help him with his war. The Kings agree to Arthur’s terms and arrive with a contingent of 300 knights. Arthur holds an amazing tournament for all the gathered knights, and Sir Kay is recognized as the best knight. Arthur dispatches Merlin to the land of his foreign allies, and he returns with an army of 10,000 soldiers that he transports to England through magic. The rival kings also gather to form their plans, and all the forces begin to move to either the battlefield of Bedegraine or Arthur’s castle. Arthur arrives with the other two kings, and they lead the first day of battle. Arthur’s side suffers massive casualties during that battle, as Arthur himself enters the battle where he is needed most, while Sir Kay shines on the battlefield. Merlin assists the kings in forming a strategy for the following day, and the Kings are able to isolate King Lot. The battle continues to rage, and King Lot comes to recognize that the skill of his opponents certainly signals his death. He cries bitter tears even as he fights and manages to survive the battle. King Ban and Bors also recognize the skill of Arthur’s enemies and believe they would have become useful allies to Arthur.

Arthur and the brother Kings continue to wage battle against the eleven rival kings until both of their forces are nearly decimated. Merlin intercedes and tells Arthur that he needs to reward his knights and extricate himself from the battle. He is certain that the alliance of the rival kings will not be able to pursue given the invasion of Saracens into their lands. Arthur withdraws with his forces, while the kings eventually come to regret their decision to attack Arthur who would have been a great help in repelling the forces of the Saracens. King Arthur continues his friendship with King Ban and King Bors, as the three kings take their forces to the rescue of King Leodegrance, who is beset by King Rience. Arthur and his allies successfully repel the enemy forces, and Arthur meets the beautiful daughter of King Leodegrance, Guenever, who eventually marries Arthur. King Ban and Bors ask Arthur to return to his kingdom and promise to only call on him if they truly need his aid. Arthur is then visited by Queen Margawase, the wife of King Lot, and the mother of four sons, Gawaine, Gaheris, Agravaine, and Gareth. King Arthur and Margawase fall prey to lust as they come together, but Arthur fails to recognize that Margawase is his half-sister through his mother Igraine.

Arthur is wracked by strange dreams, and he attempts to overcome them by going hunting but it goes poorly as he becomes separated from his hunting party when he is chasing a strange Hart. Arthur encounters a strange beast and a knight, Sir Pellinore, that has been hunting the creature for several years. Arthur then encounters Merlin in various disguises who finally reveals himself and informs Arthur that he has sinned by sleeping with his kin, yet Arthur will die a glorious death while Merlin will die a shameful one. Arthur returns to interview Sir Ector about his parentage and has Merlin send for Igraine, who arrives with her daughter, Morgan La Fay. Igraine confesses that she hadn’t known Arthur was her child since Merlin had him taken away on the day that he had been born. Ultimately they are reconciled. As Arthur is out with Merlin, he encounters King Pellinore, the knight who had been questing for the strange creature. Pellinore defeats Arthur and destroys his sword, but he is rescued by Merlin who enchants Pellinore. Merlin tells Arthur that Pellinore will father good knights called Percival and Lamorak. Merlin helps Arthur replace his sword, which is given to him by the lady of the lake. Merlin promises him that the scabbard of the blade would keep Arthur alive, and advises him to have all the children born on May-day killed since his son was born on the same day and he would grow to become a threat to his life. Arthur agrees and sends all such children abroad on a ship that becomes shipwrecked, but Mordred, Arthur’s illegitimate son with Margawase survives. Arthur’s noblemen are quite upset by this action, but they primarily hold Merlin responsible for the children’s death.

Arthur faces several enemy kings who yet control a large territory of England, and his most immediate threat is that of King Reince of Northern Wales, who is preparing to mount an attack on Arthur’s kingdom. As he is in council with his knights in Camelot, Arthur is approached by a woman with a sword that can only be pulled out of its scabbard by a faithful and good knight. Arthur fails to pull out the sword just like the other knights of the roundtable, but a knight called Balin manages to extract the sword although he refuses to return the sword to the woman. The woman curses Balin and claims that he will kill his best friend with that sword, which eventually turns out to be true as Balin later kills Sir Lanceor, whose death leads his lover to kill herself. Balin upsets Arthur when he kills the lady of the lake when she comes to his court to gain a gift in exchange for the sword she had given him. However, Balin eventually regains Arthur’s trust as he and his brother, Balan, ambush King Reince and deliver him to Arthur as a captive. However, Merlin warns Arthur about Reince’s brother, Nero, who was mustering forces against Arthur. Merlin keeps King Lot from assisting Nero against Arthur, and when King Lot eventually joins the battle, he is slain by Pellinore.

Arthur holds a funeral for the late king that is attended by Queen Margawse, and Morgan Le Fay, Arthur’s sister. Merlin warns Arthur that he needs to keep the scabbard on his person at all times, but Arthur gives it to his sister for safekeeping. Morgan decides to give her brother a fake copy while she gives the real scabbard to her lover, Sir Accolon of Gaul. Arthur grows ill, and he assigns Balin a quest, to discover the cause of one of his knight’s sadness. This takes Balin through a series of adventures, that involve significant bloodshed precipitated mostly due to his actions. Balin ends up on a remote island fighting a mysterious knight that he fails to recognize as his brother, Balan. The two knights injure each other quite grievously before learning about each other’s true identities. They both die on the island having realized the folly of their fortune, and Merlin visits their grave. He takes Balin’s sword which he claims could only ever be used by the best knights in the world, either Sir Lancelot or his son Galahad. Merlin builds a magical bridge that could only ever be crossed by such a virtuous knight as he leaves to report the details of Balin’s quest to King Arthur.

Arthur is pressured by his Barons to seek out a wife for himself, and he shares his desire to marry Guenever with Merlin. The wizard warns him that Guenever would fall in love with Lancelot, but he doesn’t try to prevent Arthur from pursuing the lady. Guenever’s father agrees easily to Arthur’s proposal, and the King begins to prepare for his marriage. During this time, Arthur knights a young man called Tor, who turns out to be the illegitimate son of Pellinore. Arthur’s wedding takes place with great fanfare, but the high feast is interrupted by the entry of a white hart, a white bloodhound, and a screaming woman, all of whom escape in different directions immediately after the interruption. Arthur sends out three knights in pursuit of these quests, and he chooses the knights according to Merlin’s advice.

Arthur assigns the recently knighted Sir Gawaine, and his brother, Squire Gaheris, to search after the White Hart. Gawaine and his brother are quite upset at Pellinore for killing their father and are seeking an opportunity to avenge themselves upon him. They go on a long and tragic quest that ends with Gawaine slaying a lady after his opponents beg him for mercy but Gawaine refuses to grant it. He returns with the head of the dead white Hart, but the king and queen are quite displeased with the turn of events, and Guenever commands him to always defend ladies throughout his life.

Tor has better luck in securing the brachet, and he conducts himself with honor while dealing with all his enemies. Arthur and the queen are very pleased with him when he returns with the spoils of his quest. Pellinore, Tor’s father, finds the lady who had been stolen from the feast and learns that it is Nimue, the Lady of the Lake. He is successful in bringing her safely back to Camelot, but he is so eager to complete the quest that he fails to assist a damsel in distress. On his return journey, Pellinore finds that the lady had been killed by beasts.

He reports all the details of his quest to the royal couple, who condemn him for failing to help the young girl, and Merlin informs him that the woman had been his daughter, Elaine. Merlin tells Pellinore that he will be betrayed by his friend in his time of greatest need because he chose to abandon the woman. Arthur rewards Tor with an Earldom for completing his quest just as he hands out other presents to his knights. At the end of the Quest of the White Hart, Arthur makes his knights of the Roundtable swear an oath of chivalry, and honor as they decide to always act with righteousness. The knights agree to show their enemies mercy whenever they are appealed to and to always protect women. They also agree to renew this oath each year at Pentecost.

Analysis

Women play a major role in Sir Thomas Mallory’s Le Morte D’Arthur, which begins with Uther’s desire for the Duchess of Cornwall. The book depicts women as objects to satisfy desires of lust and power. They are exploited by powerful men like Uther, who don’t truly consider women to be their equal. However, the plot also has several characters like Igraine who rebel against powerful men and attempt to exercise their agency. Igraine’s reaction to learning about the death of her husband also tells us how complicated the lives of women were because of considerations like being pregnant out of wedlock.

Merlin is an extremely important character whose powers seem to be ever expanding and contracting. He appears at key junctures in the novel to assist Uther, and other members of his lineage, although his favors mostly come at a price. Uther pays the heavy price of giving up his firstborn son to secure Merlin’s help in procuring Igraine. Merlin seems to be able to foretell the future, although he confesses that he isn’t always capable of changing it, for instance, he cannot prevent Arthur’s death. Merlin is also the source for Excalibur, but Mallory includes both tales of the sword’s origins in his book. The legends around the sword either claim that it was pulled out of a stone, or that it had been given to Arthur by the lady of the lake. Mallory has Arthur receive two swords, one that he pulls out of the stone, and the other he receives from the Lady of the Lake.