Popular romances of the middle ages

Front matter

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Preface

TuIs volume, it is believed, contains all the most important tales which formed the great body of medieval legend or folk lore. For many centuries these tales had for our forefathers an irresistible charm: but not a few of them are known to Englishmen of the present day little more than in name, But for all who read them they must possess their old interest; and even over those who are unacquainted with the time-honoured romances, the heroes whose names they bear exercise in some faint measure the power of old associations. The wisdom of Merlin, the bravery of Bors and Guy, have almost passed into proverbs ; and to not a few, probably, the name of Olger will bring up the image of the mighty Dane wrapped in the charmed slumber in which he lifts his mace once only in seven years. But a more potent spell is linked with the thought of Roland the brave and true, the peerless Paladin who fell on Roncesvalles.

The tales contained in this volume are partly found in books — not easily accessible, or have assumed forms which tend to make them monotonous or wearisome; and in the Arthur story, as related especially by Sir Thomas Malory, the evil becomes well-

nigh intolerable. Hence the thought that these old, romances may. be presented to modern readers in a form which shall retain their real vigour without the repulsive characteristics imposed on them by a comparatively rude and ignorant age, may not, vi Preface.

perhaps, be regarded as inexcusably presumptuous. With greater confidence it may be said that, if we turn to these old legends or romances at all, it should be for the purpose of learning what they really were, and not with any wish of seeing them through a glass which shall reflect chiefly our own thoughts about them, and throw over them a colouring borrowed from the sentiment of the nineteenth century.

These two conditions have, it is hoped, teen strictly observed in the versions here given of these romances. While special care has been taken to guard against the introduction even of phrases not in harmony with the original narratives, not less pains have been bestowed on the task of preserving all that is essential in the narrative; and thus it may perhaps be safely said that the readers of this volume will obtain from it some adequate knowledge of the tales without having their attention and their patience overtaxed by a multiplicity of superfluous and therefore irksome details. Of the present version of the Arthur story, the most celebrated perhaps of all, it may be enough to say that it relates many important episodes which have been omitted in the versions recently published, while no attempt has been made to impart to the romance a more historical complexion than that which it received at the hands of Caxton’s friend, G. W. C.

Contents

KING ARTHUR AND HIS KNIGHTS— i.—The Crowning of Arthur 5 ° Il.—The Story of Balin and Balan .

III.—The Wedding of Arthur and es IV.—The Treason of Morgan le Fay .

V.—The Crowning of Arthur at Rome 5 Vi1.—The Exploits of Sir Lancelot du Lake . VII.—The Story of Sir Gareth of Orkney VIII.—The History of Sir Tristram . .

Chapter I. The Crowning Of Arthur

UTHER PENDRAGON lay sick with love and sorrow, for the lady Igerne would not hearken to the words which he had spoken to her, and she had gone away with her husband Gorlois, the Duke of Cornwall, who placed her in the castle of Tintagil, in the Cornish land, while he shut himself up in another castle called Dimilioc. When the knight Ulfin saw that his lord Uther was sick, he asked what ailed him; and when he knew that the king longed for the love of Igerne, he went to the wise Merlin who knew the things that were to come ; and Merlin promised that the king should have his heart’s desire. So he brought it about that Uther went to the castle of Tintagil in the likeness of Gorlois, who had just been slain behind the battlements of Dimilioc ; and Igerne welcomed Uther, thinking that in very truth her husband stood before her.

On the next day the tidings came to Igerne that her husband had been slain three hours before Uther entered the gates of Dimilioc ; and she marvelled who it might be that had come to her in the guise of her lord. But soon there came messengers from Uther who told her of the love which the king bare to her, and Igerne became the queen of the land.

When the time drew near that her child should be born, Merlin the sage came to the king and asked that the babe should be given to him at the postern gate of the palace unchristened.

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And the king promised, and so when the child was born, it was wrapped in cloth of gold and given to Merlin, who placed it in the hands of a true and faithful man named Sir Ector: and Sir Ector’s wife nourished the babe, until after a great fight at St Albans Uther Pendragon came back to London, and there fell sick unto death. But before he died, he charged his nobles and great men that they should make Arthur king in his stead. Howheit, when he was dead, many strove to be chosen king, and the Bishop of Canterbury bade that all the lords of the realm should come up to London at Christmas on pain of cursing. So at Christmastide, they were gathered together in the great church ; and when the mass was done, there was seen in the churchyard against the high altar a great stone four square, and in the midst was like an, anvil of steel, and therein was stuck a fair sword, naked, by the point, and about the sword there were written letters in gold which said, ‘Whoso pulleth this sword out of this stone and anvil is rightwise born King of all England.’

But of all the lords there was not one who could move the sword; and the Bishop said, ‘He is not here that shall draw out the sword, but doubt not God will make him known.’ Then by his counsel ten knights were named to guard the stone; but though they kept watch day by day, none came who could pull out the weapon. At the last Sir Ector journeyed to London with his son Sir Kay, and with them went Arthurehis foster-brother. As they went on their road, Sir Kay perceived that he had left his sword at home, and prayed Arthur to hasten back and fetch it.. But when Arthur reached the house, there was none within, for all were gone to see the jousting. Then in his wrath he said within himself, ‘I will ride to the churchyard and take the sword that is fixed in the stone, for my brother shall not lack a sword this day.’ So Arthur hastened to the churchyard, and found no knights there, for they too were gone to the jousts ; and when he seized the sword, it came out of the stone lightly at his touch, and he carried it to Sir Kay, who took it to his father and said, ‘ Here is the sword of the stone, and I must be king of the land.’ But his father took him jnto the church and made him say before the altar how he came by the sword ; and so it was made known that Arthur had drawn it forth. Then said Kctor, ‘Arthur must be king of the land, if he can place the sword back again where it was and once more draw it forth.’ So Arthur placed the sword again in the stone, and when Ector strove to pull it out, he could not do so, neither could Sir Kay ; but whenever Arthur touched it, it came forth lightly as a feather. Then knelt Sir Ector before his foster child, and said, ‘Now know I thou art of an higher blood than I had thought ; and therefore it was that Merlin brought thee to me.’ But Arthur was grieved when he learnt that Sir Ector was not indeed his father nor Ector’s wife his mother.

Yet for all this the lords strove that Arthur should not be king, for they held it shame to be governed by a boy of no high biood born ; and thus, though all failed to pull out the sword, yet from Twelfth-day to Candlemas, from Candlemas till the high feast of Easter, and from Easter till Pentecost, they put off the crowning of Arthur; but at Pentecost, when still Arthur alone was able to draw forth the sword. the people cried out all, ‘ We will have Arthur for our king. It is the will of God.’ So was Arthur crowned, and he sware to keep the laws and deal true justice between man and man, and he redressed all the wrongs that had been done throughout the land since the days of King Uther. Then Arthur made his foster-brother seneschal of England, and Sir Baldwin was made constable, and Sir Ulfin chamberlain: and the people loved their king, and evil-doers feared him because of his might and his righteousness.

Not long after this, Arthur held high feast at Caerleon,’ and thither hastened chieftains from Lothian and Orkney, from Gower and Carados, and to them Arthur sent precious gifts. But the

-kings evil-intreated the messengers who bare them, and bade them go back and say that they would have no gifts of a beard- Jess boy that was come of low blood, but that they were coming to give him gifts of hard blows between the shoulders. Then Arthur shut himself up with five hundred knights in a great tower, to which the kings laid siege, though Merlin the sage warned them that they could not withstand the might of Arthur. But they laughed him to scorn, and said, ‘Shall we be afraid of a dream-reader?’ ‘Then Merlin vanished from among them,

1Of the geography of the Arthur romance it may be said that the comparative mythologist who has ascertained that the story with which he deals has its origin inthe phenomena of cloudland will be disposed to spend Jittle time on the profitless task of inquiring whether towns and hamlets bearing historical names have been rightly placed or not. All that Sir Henry Strachey can say on this subject is that ‘‘the geography of Arthur’s Roman war is very coherent ; but that of the rest of ‘the book it is often impossible to harmonise.” (Morte a’ Arthur, xi.) In all likelihood the episode of the Roman war was put together by some one familiar with the amperial tradition which English kings were pleased to maintain from the days of Ecgberht onwards—Freeman, Norman Conquest, 1, 158, et seq. ; Edinburgh Review, July 1869, p. 158.

and came to Arthur and bade him set on fiercely, but not to use the sword which he had got by miracle, unless he should be sore pressed. So forthwith Arthur came down upon them and there was a fierce battle, until at last the Chief of Lothian smote down the king; and the king drew his sword, which flashed in the eyes of his enemies like the blaze of thirty torches, and at each stroke of the sword a man died, till the kings fled with the knights that were left alive, and Merlin counselled Arthur to follow them no further, but to send messengers to King Ban of Berwick and King Bors of Gaul, promising that he would aid them in their wars against King Claudas if they would help him against the Kings of Lothian and Orkney and their friends. So King Ban and King Bors came; and the six kings who had fled away from Arthur got five other kings to join with them under an oath that they should not leave each other till they should have slain Arthur, who was now in the castle of Bedegraine in the forest of Sherwood. Thither hastened the eleven kings with their men, and there was fierce fighting in which King Ban and King Bors wrought mightily for the king, and Arthur himself smote on until of threescore thousand he had left but fifteen thousand alive, so that Merlin rebuked him and said, ‘God. is wroth with thee that thou wilt never have done, for yonder eleven kings cannot be overthrown now; but go now whither thou mayest list for they shall not lift hand against thee for three years.’

When Merlin was now gone to his master Blaise who dwelt in Northumberland, and wrote down all that befell King Arthur, there came the daughter of the Karl Sanam, to do homage, as others did after the great battle: and Arthur set his love upon the damsel, and she became the mother of Borre, who was afterward a good knight of the Round Table. Then Arthur rode to Caerleon, and thither came the wife of the King of Orkney with her four sons, Gawaine, Gaheris, Agravaine, and Gareth ; and she was the sister of Arthur, though he knew it not, for she was the daughter of Igerne ; and she was so fair that the king cast great love upon her also. But withal there came heavy dreams which made him sad at heart, and when by and by he rode long after a strange beast, and then rested by a fountain, a knight came and took away the king’s horse; and while one went to fetch it back, Merlin stood before the king, like a child fourteen years old, and told him that Uther and Igerne were his father and his mother. But Arthur laughed the child to scorn, and Merlin vanished, and came again in the form of a man fourscore years old, and told him the same words. Further he said, og

‘God is displeased with you for the deed ye have done of late, and ae sister's child shall destroy you and all the knights of your realm.

Then Arthur sent for Igerne, for he said, ‘If she too says that I am her child, I shall believe it ;’ and when she came with her daughter Morgan le Fay, Ulfin charged her with treason, because she had not spoken the truth from the first, and because Arthur's lords had withstood him, not knowing whose son he was, and because they would not be ruled by a base-born boy. Then Igerne told all the story, how, when the child was born, Uther bade that it should be given to Merlin, and how she never saw the babe again, or wot what had become of him; and Ector also told how he had received the child at Merlin’s hands, and nourished him by the king’s command. Then Arthur took his mother in his arms and kissed her, and they wept on each other for the greatness of their joy.

After this, there came from the Emperor of Rome twelve knights who asked of Arthur homage for his realm ; and the king answered that because they were messengers they should live, and bade them tell their master that he would give him homage on a fair field with a sharp spear and a sharp sword. So the messengers departed ; and as Arthur rode away he came to a place where a knight stood who suffered none to pass unless they first crossed spears with him. Then was there along and fierce fight between them, until the knight smote Arthur’s sword in two pieces, and sware to slay him unless he would yield himself as conquered. ‘ Death is welcome,’ said Arthur, when it comes ; but as for yielding to thee, I would rather die tian be so shamed ;’ and therewith rushing on the knight he seized him by the middle and threw him down, and took away his helmet. Yet was not the knight overcome, albeit he was sore dismayed ; and he had well nigh slain Arthur, when Merlin came and bade him stay his hand. ‘This knight, he said, ‘is a man of more worship than thou deemest.’ ‘Why, who is he?’ said the knight. When Merlin said that it was King Arthur, the knight would have slain him forthwith because he feared his anger ; but Merlin cast a spell upon him so that he fell to the earth in a great sleep. Then was Arthur wroth because he thought that Merlin had slain the brave knight ; but the sage said, ‘Fear not, he shall rise up again in three hours: and this knight, whose name is Pellinore, shall have two sons, Percivale and Lamorak, who shall be good men and true, and he shall tell you the name of your sister’s son, that shall bring ruin to all this realm,’

Then with Merlin Arthur went to the abode of an hermit, who was also a great healer of men, and in three days he was healed of the wounds which Pellinore had given. But when he would go further, he said to Merlin, ‘I have no sword ;’ and Merlin answered that he should have one by and by; and presently they came to a lake in the midst of which an arm was seen rising from the water, and bearing a sword aloft. ‘ Yonder,’ said Merlin, ‘is the sword of which I spake, and yonder is the Lady of the Lake, whose is that sword. Speak fair to her when she comes to you, that she may give it you.’ Then after kindly greeting, Arthur besought her for the sword, and the maiden said, ‘Tf thou wilt give me a gift when I ask for it, it shali be thine.’ So the king sware unto her, and the maiden bade him row himself in a barge that lay near, and take the sword with its scabbard ; and when Arthur laid his hand upon it, the hand that bare it up went under the water. On their way back they saw a rich pavilion, and when Arthur knew from Merlin that Pellinore lay within it, Arthur would have tried his new sword in fight with him ; but Merlin said that so it must not be, and that hereafter the king would be right glad tu give to Pellinore his sister for a wife. ‘But which hkest thou the better,’ asked Merlin, ‘the sword or the scabbard?’ And Arthur said, ‘The sword.’ ‘Ye are unwise,’ answered the sage, ‘for the scabbard is worth ten of the sword, for while ye have the scabbard upon you ye shall never lose blood, though thy wounds be never so sore; wherefore see that you keep the scabbard always with you.’

Then went Arthur to Caerleon ; and thither came messengers from King Ryons, who said, ‘ Eleven kings have done me homage, and with their beards I have trimmed a mantle. Send me now thy beard, for there lacks yet one to the finishing of my mantle.’ Then answered Arthur and said, ‘Go tell your master my beard is full young yet to make a trimming of it ; but yet a little while and he shall do me homage on his knees.’

Now Merlin had told the king that he who should destroy him should be born on May-day. ‘Therefore Arthur charged that all the children born of lords and ladies on that day should be brought to him ; and they were placed in a ship, and Mordred, the child of the wife of the Kang of Orkney, was sent with them. But the ship was driven against a castle, and broken in pieces, and all died save Mordred, whom a good man took up and nourished till he was fourteen years old.

Chapter II. The Story Of Balin And Balan

Now it came to pass that while Arthur‘and his lords and knights tarried at Camelot, a damsel brought a message from the great Lady Lile of Avilion ; and as she stood before the king she let fall her mantle, that was richly furred, and she was seen to be girt with a noble sword. Then the king marvelled greatly, and asked wherefore she, being a maiden, was thus girt with a sword. And the maiden said that the weapon gave her great sorrow and cumbrance, and that she could not be freed from the sword save by a good and true man without villainy and without treason. She told, moreover, how she had been at the court of King Ryons, and how no knight there was able to take the sword from her side. Then spake the king, ‘I say not that I am the best knight, but I will essay to draw the sword, that at the least I may give an example to my barons.’ But, though he strove mightily, the sword would not out, and the maiden said, ‘Ye need not pull hard; the man that shall pull it out shall do it with little might.’ But neither were any of the barons who stood round able to draw it forth; and the damsel took leave of the king to go upon her way. As she went, there stood before her a poor knight, named Balin, clad in a homely garment ; and he had been prisoner half-a-year and more because he had slain a knight who was cousin to the king. But although he had been delivered out of prison, yet, for the poorness of his raiment he would net put himself far in the throng, though in his heart, he was sure that, if the chance were given to him, he could do as well as any knight that then was. At the first the damsel would not hearken to his prayer ; but Balin bade her remember that righteousness lies not in a man’s vesture, and that many a good man is not known unto all people. So she suffered him to try, and at his touch the sword came from her side, and she said, ‘ This is the best knight that ever I found; he shall do many good deeds.’ Then she asked Balin to give her back the sword again ; and when he would not yield it up, she said, ‘ Ye are not wise to keep the sword, for with it thou shalt slay thy best friend, and it shall be thy ruin.’ So she went her way heavy and sorrowful.

Then would Balin go on his also, although the king sought to stay him because he had done him wrong ; and Arthur besought him that at the least, if he went, he would not tarry away long.

But while Balin was making ready to depart, the Lady of ths Lake came to demand of the king the gift which he promised to her when she gave him the sword Excalibur ; and when Arthur bade her say what she would have, she desired the head of the maiden who had brought the sword to Balin, or the head of Balin himself. But when the knight heard this he went up to the lady and straightway smote off her head. Then was Arthur full of wrath, nor would he be soothed, although Balin told hm she had destroyed many good knights, and had caused his mother to be burnt by her lies. And the king charged Balin to go from his court. So Balin went to his squire, and bade him bear the head to Northumberland, and tell his friends there that his worst foe was dead, and that he himself was out of prison. But the squire mourned that his master had displeased the king ; and Balin said that he would go forth and do battle with King Ryons, so that Arthur might be gracious to him again if he came back conqueror.

But while the king was yet wroth with him, a knight named Lanceor besought Arthur that he might go after Balin and quit him for the despite which he had done in slaying the lady. Then, at Arthur’s bidding, Lanceor, the Knight of Ireland, rode hastily after Balin, and challenged him to deadly combat, though Balin would fain have journeyed on in peace. But Lanceor would not let him go ; and when they fought together the Knight of Ireland was slain. Presently a maiden came riding by, and when she saw the knight lying dead, she cried aloud for her anguish, and said, ‘O Balin, thou hast slain two bodies and one heart, and two hearts in one body, and two souls hast thou lost!’ And with these words she took the sword from her dead lover's hand and passed it through her own heart. Great was Balin’s grief when he saw the twain lie dead together ; but as in his sorrow he looked towards a great forest, he saw coming towards him his brother Balan, who first rejoiced to see Balin, and then mourned for the evil plight in which he found him. ‘ Let us go hence,’ said Balin, when he had told him all the tale. ‘King Ryons lays siege to the castle of Dimilice, and by slaying him I trust to win back the king’s grace.’ But not far had they gone, when they met a dwarf who came from the city of Camelot, and who on hearing what had happened, told Balin that by slaying Lanceor he had done great damage to himself. ‘ Trust me,’ he said, ‘the kin of this kuight will chase yeu through the world till they have slain you.’ ‘I fear not greatly for that,’ answered Balin, ‘ but I grieve that I have displeased the king.’

There, on the spot where the knight Lanceor died and the maiden whom he loved slew herself, King Mark of Cornwall raised a fair tomb, and placed their bodies within it; and ‘then Merlin told King Mark that the greatest battle should be fought that ever was or shall be betwixt the truest lovers, and yet neither of the knights should slay the other, and these should be Lancelot du Lake and Tristram. And to Balin Merlin said, ‘ Because thou hast slain this maiden, thou shalt strike a stroke the most dolorous that ever man struck, except the stroke of our Lord, for thou shalt hurt the truest knight that now lives, and bring three kingdoms into misery for twelve years.’ After these words Merlin vanished away, and King Mark said to Balin, ‘Tell me thy name.’ Then said Balan, ‘ Ye see that he beareth two swords, and the Knight of the Two Swords you may call him.’ But as the brothers rode away together, Merlin again came to them, and made them lie hidden in a wood among leaves beside the highway, that so they might fall upon King Ryons as he passed by. So when at midnight he came with threescore of his best knights, they slew his horsemen, and carried Ryons away, and gave him in charge to the porters of King Arthur. But Merlin hastened on before them to tell the king that his worst foe was taken. ‘By whom?’ asked the king. ‘By two knights whose names thou shalt know on the morrow.’ And on the morrow, when Arthur learnt that it was Balin with his brother Balan who had done him this service, he said that he had illdeserved the kindness. ‘He shall do yet more for thee,’ said Merlin, ‘for the brother of Ryons is even now at hand with a great host to do battle with thee to the death.’

In the fight which then came off the two brothers did wondrously: and the brother of King Ryons was worsted with all his host, because Merlin held back the King of Orkney and his people with a tale of prophecy, till the battle was well nigh done. And when at length the King of Orkney came to the fight, he was slain by Sir Pellinore, on whom Sir Gawaine, the king’s son, ten years afterwards avenged his father’s death. Twelve kings were killed in this battle: and for them Arthur made twelve tombs, each with an image holding a waxen taper, which Merlin said should burn no more when he was dead. Then the wise man charged the king to keep heedfully the scabbard of Excalibur, because he should lose no blood while he had this scabbard about him. So for great trust he took it to his sister Morgan le Fay: but Morgan loved another knight named Accolon better than Arthur or her husband Uriens, and to him she gave the scabbard of Excalibur while she made another like it for her brother by inchantments.

Not many days after this, as Arthur lay sick in his tent, there passed by a knight in great sorrow, who gave no heed though the king strove to comfort him. Then Arthur bade Balin go and bring back the sorrowful knight ; and when Balin came up to him, the knight promised to do as he desired, if Balin would be his warrant. So Balin sware to him; but for all this the knight was slain by the hand of one whom none might see; and as he fell he said, ‘ This is the deed of Garlon.’ Then as Balin rode onward with the damsel who had loved the dead knight, and with another knight Perin of Montbeliard, the hand of Garlon unseen smote again and Perin fell dead: and Balin went on with the damsel alone, till they came to a castle, where the men seized the maiden and would not let her go till she had bled a silver dish full for the lady of the place, who was sick and who could in no other wise be healed, even as it befell afterwards the sister of Sir Percivale in the story of the Sangreal.