Le Morte D'Arthur Book 4 - 6
Merlin begins to court one of the ladies of the lake, Nimue, and he begins to teach her his magic. Merlin realizes that this spells the end for him and he informs Arthur that he won’t have him around soon. King Arthur asks Merlin to prevent his demise if he is already able to perceive it, but Merlin claims to be helpless. Nimue extracts a promise from the Wizard that he would never use his magic against her. The pair take Arthur’s leave and begin to travel abroad. They first visit King Ban of Benwick, where Merlin meets King Ban’s son, Lancelot, and he predicts that Lancelot would grow to be one of the greatest knights of the land. Nimue begins to grow tired of Merlin, and she finds an opportunity to escape from him. She traps him in an enchanted cave using the magic he had taught her and abandons him there. Meanwhile, Arthur fights yet another alliance of Kings and successfully kills them all. The battle causes him to lose several of the knights of the round table, and he begins to choose his knights from the younger generation though he insists on choosing knights by merit.
Arthur goes hunting with Sir Accolon and King Uriens. They encounter a strange Hart that they pursue over a long distance, and this brings them to a foreign place in the forest. The three men are then kidnapped by a boat full of beautiful Damsels, although Urien finds himself returned home. Arthur wakes up in a prison with several other knights and learns that he has been kidnapped by a poor knight who needs a champion for a fight with his brother. Arthur is not recognized as the king so he decides to fight for the dishonorable knight which also ensures the freedom of the other knights. Sir Accolon wakes next to a well, and he receives Arthur’s sword from a dwarf that is sent by his lover, Morgan Le Fay. The dwarf tells him that he needs to use the sword to kill the knight that he would be fighting the following day. Sir Accolon is chosen as the opponent for Arthur, and he faces him in a dire battle. Arthur is saved by the presence of Nimue, whose magic saves Arthur and lets him overpower Accolon. He recognizes his sword with the knight and asks him to explain how he had received it, without revealing his own identity. Accolon confesses that he had received it from Morgan, and they had intended to use it to kill Arthur. Morgan thinks that Arthur is already dead, and so she tries to murder her husband so that Sir Accolon can become king, but her son, Uwaine, stops her from killing his father.
Arthur tries to have Morgan punished for attempting to kill him, but her magic shields her from ever being caught. She continues to orchestrate assassination attempts on his life, but Arthur continually survives. Arthur is unsure of Uwaine’s loyalty, and so he banishes him from his court. Gawaine does not wish to let his cousin leave the court alone, so he leaves with him. They quest for a year and return as seasoned knights to the court where they are both given positions as knights of the round table.
Arthur conducts many long wars and he eventually achieves peace in his homeland, but even this peace is short-lived. Twelve Roman men arrive in his court with demands for a tribute from the Roman Emperor Lucius. Arthur respects the Romans, and so he treats the messengers well as he seeks the advice of his council. Arthur’s knights and advisors all feel poorly about the Romans, and pledge him their soldiers to repel the threat. Arthur informs the messengers that he doesn’t intend to offer tribute, and that he would gladly meet the Emperor on the battlefield to settle the matter. Emperor Lucius is furious at learning of Arthur’s impudence, but his senators are afraid of having their forces meet Arthur in battle. Lucius prepares a large army as Arthur departs from England with his army, he makes Sir Constantine his heir to the throne and leaves the Kingdom with Guenever. Arthur and his knights kill a giant when they reach Europe, and they soon learn of Rome’s invasion of France.
Arthur dispatches Gawaine along with a few others of his knights to deter Lucius from wreaking havoc in France. However, this meeting with Lucius goes poorly as Gawaine becomes enraged and kills one of the Roman soldiers. He and his company escape but they have a large force of Roman soldiers at their back. Gawaine sends word to Arthur, and the English forces meet up with Gawaine before he is captured by the Romans. Gawaine leads the English forces and routs the roman force most of which are captured. Lucius tries to rescue these captured soldiers but this is prevented by the heroic actions of Sir Lancelot, who is praised by King Arthur for his bravery as he fought fiercely against a foe that outnumbered him. The Romans and English forces meet for another battle, but Arthur managed to turn the tide of the battle by killing Emperor Lucius. The English forces then chased down and killed nearly all of the Roman soldiers as they had broken line and begun to rout with the death of their Emperor.
Arthur honors all of his enemies as he honors the deceased royals with the appropriate rituals, and he then dispatches all of their bodies to Rome. He tells the Senators that the bodies were his first and last tribute, and he begins marching his armies toward Rome. The Roman senators are terrified of Arthur and prevent gathering any more forces to oppose him. The English forces sweep through the Roman territory, subduing one castle after the other, and laying siege to one city and then the other. Arthur’s forces treated the people with kindness so the citizens send his forces money and presents. His armies reached the gates of Rome, which opened to him as the Senators crowned him to be their new Emperor. He stayed to put in place his governors, and then began his return home, and he meets his queen Guenever in Sandwich.
The victorious King Arthur holds several tournaments for his knights, and Sir Launcelot du Lake outshines all other knights. Queen Guenever favors Sir Launcelot above all the other knights at court for his unmatched skill in arms as well as his peerless chivalry. The Queen’s kind treatment of Launcelot births an undying love in his chest, and he decides to go on an adventure with his nephew, Sir Lionel, to prove himself. Sir Launcelot and Sir Lionel soon become separated due to the actions of an evil and dishonorable knight called Sir Turquine. Sir Ector de Maris, Sir Launcelot’s half-brother decides to accompany his brother on his adventures but he finds himself held prisoner just like Sir Lionel. Meanwhile, the sleeping Sir Launcelot is found by a coterie of four Queens, who fight over the sleeping knight as they wish to have him as their lover. Morgan Le Fay lays an enchantment on him and decides to take him back to their castle, where they intend to force him to choose one of them as his lover.
Launcelot wakes in the castle to be immediately accosted by the Queens, and they inform him that he can never be with Guenever so he ought to choose one of them. Launcelot refuses to do so, and he is thus made a prisoner of the Queens. However, his prison sentence is short-lived as a young damsel promises to rescue him if he swears to help her father win a tournament that he had organized. Launcelot is freed, and he rides to take a part in the tournament, but he is forced to hide his identity since several knights in the opposing faction of the tournament belong to King Arthur’s court. Launcelot singlehandedly defeats nearly the whole opposing faction, unseating Sir Mordred in the process. Launcelot then returns to search for his cousin, and he learns about the treacherous Sir Turquine who is said to have captured several knights.
Sir Launcelot finds Sir Turquine has taken Sir Gaheris prisoner, and he challenges the knight to battle. The two of them have a fierce battle, that goes on for several hours, but the fight continues to become more brutal as Sir Turquine learns of Launcelot’s true identity. Sir Turquine tells Launcelot that he has been his sworn enemy since the day he killed his brother in battle. However, Sir Launcelot’s skill proves too much for the man, and the noble knight strikes the villain dead. Launcelot doesn’t remain to gloat over the victory that he has won, and borrows Gaheris’s horse as he tells him to free the knights that the villains had imprisoned. Launcelot continues to adventure for the preceding year and sends several men to Guenever to report their crimes either with his name or with the name of Sir Kay. Launcelot returns to Camelot with the feast of Pentecost as the other knights of the round table do the same.
Analysis
Morgan Le Fay adopts the role of the antagonist, as she seeks to destabilize her brother’s throne to give it to her lover. This is a rather common trope of Mallory’s book, as women are quite often depicted to be evil and untrustworthy. A further example of this can be found in the instance of the Damsels that cause Arthur’s abduction, and Merlin’s entrapment. However, Morgan’s character incites awe, as we witness the games that she plays with kings and rebels so brazenly. Surprisingly, Morgan is able to exercise such a degree of independence, and power. Arthur’s response to her betrayal is severely measured since he only seems to exact revenge for her scheme by sending her the body of her lover as a present. Morgan’s love for Accolon is revealed in the action she takes to rescue her deceased lover’s cousin even though she aids Arthur by rescuing one of his knights.
Honor and Chivalry play a major role in the book, and a significant portion of the character’s interactions with one another are dictated by these codes. Arthur and his knights are always working to either hone or prove their battle prowess, which occurs in various forms outside of battle. Knights often Joust in tournaments, but they also practice hunting in times of peace. The narrator implies Arthur and his knights receive success because they adhere strictly to the codes of honor, and chivalry. In the same way, the book contains descriptions of several characters that failed to behave in an honorable manner, and so suffered horrible fates.
