Gawain (), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in
Arthurian legend
The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Wester ...
, in which he is
King Arthur
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...
's nephew and a
Knight of the Round Table
The Knights of the Round Table ( cy, Marchogion y Ford Gron, kw, Marghekyon an Moos Krenn, br, Marc'hegien an Daol Grenn) are the knights of the fellowship of King Arthur in the literary cycle of the Matter of Britain. First appearing in lit ...
. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned under the name Gwalchmei in the earliest Welsh sources. He has subsequently appeared in many Arthurian stories in Welsh, Latin, French, English, Scottish, Dutch, German, Spanish, and Italian, notably as the protagonist of the famous Middle English poem ''
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' is a late 14th-century chivalric romance in Middle English. The author is unknown; the title was given centuries later. It is one of the best-known Arthurian stories, with its plot combining two types of f ...
''. Other tales featuring Gawain as the central character include ''
De Ortu Waluuanii
''De Ortu Waluuanii Nepotis Arturi'' ( en, The Rise of Gawain, Nephew of Arthur) is an anonymous Medieval Latin chivalric romance dating to the 12th or 13th century. It describes the birth, boyhood deeds, and early adventures of King Arthur's neph ...
'', ''
Diu Crône
''Diu Crône'' ( en, The Crown) is a Middle High German poem of about 30,000 lines treating of King Arthur and the Matter of Britain, dating from around the 1220s and attributed to the epic poet Heinrich von dem Türlin. Little is known of the ...
'', ''
Ywain and Gawain
''Ywain and Gawain'' is an early-14th century Middle English Arthurian verse romance based quite closely upon the late-12th-century Old French romance '' The Knight of the Lion'' by Chrétien de Troyes.
Plot
Ywain, one of King Arthur's Knights of ...
'', ''
Golagros and Gawane
''The Knightly Tale of Gologras and Gawain'' (also commonly spelt ''Golagros and Gawane'') is a Middle Scots Arthurian romance written in alliterative verse of 1362 lines, known solely from a printed edition of 1508 in the possession of the Natio ...
'', ''
Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle
''Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle'' is a Middle English tail-rhyme romance of 660 lines, composed in about 1400. A similar story is told in a 17th-century minstrel piece found in the Percy Folio and known as ''The Carle of Carlisle''. These a ...
'', ''
L'âtre périlleux
''L'âtre périlleux'' (Old French ''L'atre perillous'',Ms. 2168 fr. of the BnFf. 1r at the top of the page. English The Perilous CemeteryN. Black, 1994.M.-L., Charue, 1998.) is an anonymous 13th century poem written in Old French in which Gawain i ...
'', ''
La Mule sans frein
''La Mule sans frein'' (English: ''The Mule Without a Bridle'') or ''La Demoiselle à la mule'' (English: ''The Damsel with the Mule'') is a short romance dating from the late 12th century or early 13th century. It comprises 1,136 lines in octosyl ...
'', ''
La Vengeance Raguidel
''La Vengeance Raguidel'' is a 13th-century La vengeance Raguidel', ''Dictionnaire Étymologique de l'Ancien Français''. Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities poem written in Old French. It is widely, although not universally, attributed t ...
'', ''
Le Chevalier à l'épée
''The Knight with the Sword'', in French ''Le Chevalier à l'épée'', is an Old French romance dating to the earlier 13th century. It survives in only one manuscript. It is the earliest extant romance to focus specifically on the Arthurian knight ...
'', ''
The Awntyrs off Arthure
''The Awntyrs off Arthure at the Terne Wathelyne'' (''The Adventures of Arthur at Tarn Wadling'') is an Arthurian romance of 702 lines written in Middle English alliterative verse. Despite its title, it centres on the deeds of Sir Gawain. The poem ...
'', ''
The Greene Knight
''The Greene Knight'' is a late medieval rhyming romance, found in the Percy Folio Manuscript. The storyline effectively parallels the more famous ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' in describing the dealings of Gawain, King Arthur's nephew, wit ...
'', and ''
The Weddynge of Syr Gawen and Dame Ragnell''.
In Arthurian
chivalric romance
As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalric k ...
literature, Gawain is usually depicted as King Arthur's closest companion and an integral member of the elite
Round Table
The Round Table ( cy, y Ford Gron; kw, an Moos Krenn; br, an Daol Grenn; la, Mensa Rotunda) 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 e ...
. In the best-known versions of the legend, he is the son of Arthur's sister
Morgause
The Queen of Orkney, today best known as Morgause and also known as Morgawse and other spellings and names, is a character in later Arthurian traditions. In some versions of the legend, including the seminal text ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', she is ...
and
King Lot
King Lot , also spelled Loth or Lott (Lleu or Llew in Welsh), is a British monarch in Arthurian legend. He was introduced in Geoffrey of Monmouth's influential chronicle ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' that portrayed him as King Arthur's brother- ...
of
Orkney
Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...
and
Lothian
Lothian (; sco, Lowden, Loudan, -en, -o(u)n; gd, Lodainn ) is a region of the Scottish Lowlands, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills and the Moorfoot Hills. The principal settlement is the Sco ...
. His younger brothers (or half-brothers) are
Agravain
Sir Agravain () is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend, whose first known appearance is in the works of Chrétien de Troyes. He is the second eldest son of King Lot of Orkney with one of King Arthur's sisters known as Anna or Morgaus ...
,
Gaheris
Gaheris (Old French: ''Gaheriet'', ''Gaheriés'', ''Guerrehes'') is a knight of the Round Table in the chivalric romance tradition of Arthurian legend. A nephew of King Arthur, Gaheris is the third son of Arthur's sister or half-sister Morgause ...
,
Gareth
Sir Gareth (; Old French: ''Guerehet'', ''Guerrehet'') is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend. He is the youngest son of King Lot and Queen Morgause, King Arthur's half-sister, thus making him Arthur's nephew, as well as brother ...
, and the infamous
Mordred
Mordred or Modred (; Welsh: ''Medraut'' or ''Medrawt'') is a figure who is variously portrayed in the legend of King Arthur. The earliest known mention of a possibly historical Medraut is in the Welsh chronicle ''Annales Cambriae'', wherein he ...
. However, his familial relations and upbringing
are recorded differently in various accounts. They often involve Gawain unknowingly being raised in foster care in Rome before returning to Britain to reunite happily with his biological relatives. His
many children from his numerous wives and lovers include the "Fair Unknown"
Gingalain
Sir Gingalain (Guinglain, Gingalin, Gliglois, Wigalois, etc.), also known as Le Bel Inconnu, or The Fair Unknown, is a character from Arthurian legend whose exploits are recorded in numerous versions of a popular medieval romance. His nickname di ...
, himself a popular hero of Arthurian romance.
In the early Welsh texts, Gawain is portrayed as a formidable but courteous and compassionate warrior, fiercely loyal to his king and his family. He is known as a friend to young knights, a defender of the poor and the unfortunate, and as the "Maidens' Knight", a
rescuer of women as well—in more than one variant of the
Castle of Maidens
The Land of Maidens (or the Land of Women, the Island of Women, the Isle of Ladies, among other forms and names) is a motif in Irish mythology and medieval literature, especially in the chivalric romance genre. The latter often also features a c ...
theme. Other notable recurring motifs include his learned healing skills, his special swords that may include the famed
Caliburn
Excalibur () is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. It was associated with the Arthurian legend very early on. Excalibur and the Sword in the ...
(Excalibur), and his mighty warhorse named
Gringolet
In Arthurian legend, Gringolet is Sir Gawain's mighty and beloved horse. A sturdy charger, with distinctive ears, Gringolet was known far and wide for his ability in combat, and appears in many romances in several different languages.
Derivatio ...
. In the later version of his legend, he possesses superhuman strength connected to a day and night cycle, adding to his already outstanding martial prowess and making him an invincible swordsman around noon, when the sun is at its height.
However, Gawain's glowing portrayal diminishes in the
Vulgate Cycle
The ''Lancelot-Grail'', also known as the Vulgate Cycle or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is an early 13th-century French Arthurian literary cycle consisting of interconnected prose episodes of chivalric romance in Old French. The cycle of unknown author ...
, which favours
Lancelot
Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), also written as Launcelot and other variants (such as early German ''Lanzelet'', early French ''Lanselos'', early Welsh ''Lanslod Lak'', Italian ''Lancillotto'', Spanish ''Lanzarote del Lago' ...
and, especially,
Galahad
Sir Galahad (), sometimes referred to as Galeas () or Galath (), among other versions of his name, is a knight of King Arthur's Round Table and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend. He is the illegitimate son of S ...
. His character turns markedly ignoble in the
Post-Vulgate Cycle
The ''Post-Vulgate Cycle'', also known as the Post-Vulgate Arthuriad, the Post-Vulgate ''Roman du Graal'' (''Romance of the Grail'') or the Pseudo-Robert de Boron Cycle, is one of the major Old French prose cycles of Arthurian literature from th ...
, and even outright villainous in the
Prose ''Tristan'', resulting in his conflicting characterization in ''
Le Morte d'Arthur
' (originally written as '; inaccurate Middle French for "The Death of Arthur") is a 15th-century Middle English prose reworking by Sir Thomas Malory of tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the Rou ...
''. While he was originally known for his religious piety, here he becomes a symbol of secular knighthood and thus a major object of criticism by the authors of French prose cycles. Two important plotlines shed light on Gawain's redefined characterization: his being a leader in the family blood feud against the clan of King
Pellinore
King Pellinore (alternatively ''Pellinor'', ''Pellynore'' and other variants) is the king of Listenoise (possibly the Lake District) or of "the Isles" (possibly Anglesey, or perhaps the medieval kingdom of the same name) in Arthurian legend. In ...
and his initially close friendship with another great knight, Sir Lancelot, which becomes a bitter rivalry when he seeks vengeance for the death of his brothers. In this tradition, featured in ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', Gawain's sinful ways and his unforgiving nature inadvertently lead to the fall of Arthur and the Round Table, and ultimately his own death by Lancelot's hand.
Name
![Hb-gauvain](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Hb-gauvain.jpg)
Gawain is known by different names and variants in different languages. The character corresponds to the Welsh Gwalchmei ap Gwyar (meaning "son of Gwyar"), or Gwalchmai, and thorough the Middle Ages was known in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
as Galvaginus, Gualgunus (''Gualguanus'', ''Gualguinus''), Gualgwinus, Walwanus (''Walwanius''), Waluanus, Walwen, etc.; in
Old French
Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...
(and sometimes English) primarily as Gavain (''Gavaine'') and also as Gauvain (''Gauvaine''), Gauvan (''Gauvayn''), Gauven (''Gauvein''/''Gauveyn''), Gavan (''Gavane'') or
Gavayn (''Gavayne''); in
Middle High German
Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. High ...
as Gâwein or Gâwân; in Italian dialects as Galvagin or Galvano; in
Old Spanish
Old Spanish, also known as Old Castilian ( es, castellano antiguo; osp, romance castellano ), or Medieval Spanish ( es, español medieval), was originally a dialect of Vulgar Latin spoken in the former provinces of the Roman Empire that provided ...
as Galván; in
Old Portuguese
Galician-Portuguese ( gl, galego-portugués or ', pt, galego-português or ), also known as Old Portuguese or as Medieval Galician when referring to the history of each modern language, was a West Iberian Romance language spoken in the Middle ...
as Galvam or Galvão; and in
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...
also as Gawaine, Gawan (''Gawane''), Gawayn (''Gawayne''), Gawein (''Gaweine''),
Gaweyn (''Gaweyne''), Gauwein (''Gauweine''), Gauweyn (''Gauweyne'') or Wawen (''Wowen''), among many other forms and spellings. The later forms are generally assumed to derive from the Welsh ''Gwalchmei''.
[Bromwich, p. 369.]
The element ''Gwalch'' means
hawk
Hawks are bird of prey, birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica.
* The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. Th ...
, and is a typical epithet in
medieval Welsh poetry
Medieval Welsh literature is the literature written in the Welsh language during the Middle Ages. This includes material starting from the 5th century AD, when Welsh was in the process of becoming distinct from Common Brittonic, and continuing to ...
.
[Bromwich, p. 367.] The meaning of ''mei'' is uncertain. It has been suggested that it refers to the month of May (''Mai'' in Modern Welsh), rendering "Hawk of May", although
Rachel Bromwich
Rachel Bromwich (30 July 1915 – 15 December 2010) born Rachel Sheldon Amos, was a British scholar. Her focus was on medieval Welsh literature, and she taught Celtic Languages and Literature in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at ...
considers this unlikely.
Kenneth Jackson suggests the name evolved from an early
Common Brittonic
Common Brittonic ( cy, Brythoneg; kw, Brythonek; br, Predeneg), also known as British, Common Brythonic, or Proto-Brittonic, was a Celtic language spoken in Britain and Brittany.
It is a form of Insular Celtic, descended from Proto-Celtic, a ...
name *''Ualcos Magesos'', meaning "Hawk of the Plain".
[ Not all scholars accept the ''gwalch'' derivation. John Koch suggests the name could be derived from a ]Brythonic
Brittonic or Brythonic may refer to:
*Common Brittonic, or Brythonic, the Celtic language anciently spoken in Great Britain
*Brittonic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages descended from Common Brittonic
*Britons (Celtic people)
The Br ...
original ''*Wolcos Magesos'', "Wolf/Errant Warrior of the Plain."
Others argue that the continental forms do not ultimately derive from ''Gwalchmei''. Roger Sherman Loomis
Roger Sherman Loomis (1887–1966) was an American scholar and one of the foremost authorities on medieval and Arthurian literature. Loomis is perhaps best known for showing the roots of Arthurian legend, in particular the Holy Grail, in native Ce ...
suggests a derivation from the epithet ''Gwallt Avwyn'', found in the list of heroes in ''Culhwch and Olwen
''Culhwch and Olwen'' ( cy, Culhwch ac Olwen) is a Welsh tale that survives in only two manuscripts about a hero connected with Arthur and his warriors: a complete version in the Red Book of Hergest, c. 1400, and a fragmented version in the Whit ...
'', which he translates as "hair like reins" or "bright hair". Lauran Toorians proposes that the Dutch name Walewein (attested in Flanders
Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...
and France c. 1100) was earliest, suggesting it entered Britain during the large settlement of Flemings
The Flemish or Flemings ( nl, Vlamingen ) are a Germanic ethnic group native to Flanders, Belgium, who speak Dutch. Flemish people make up the majority of Belgians, at about 60%.
"''Flemish''" was historically a geographical term, as all inha ...
in Wales in the early 12th century. However, most scholarship supports a derivation from Gwalchmei, variants of which are well attested in Wales and Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...
. Bromwich, Joseph Loth
Joseph Loth (27 December 1847 – 1 April 1934) was a French linguist and historian who specialised in the study of Celtic languages.
Early life
Loth was born in Guémené-sur-Scorff, Brittany. After his studies at Sainte-Anne-d'Auray, he bec ...
, and Heinrich Zimmer
Heinrich Robert Zimmer (6 December 1890 – 20 March 1943) was a German Indologist and linguist, as well as a historian of South Asian art, most known for his works, ''Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization'' and ''Philosophies of India ...
all trace the etymology of the continental versions to a corruption of the Breton
Breton most often refers to:
*anything associated with Brittany, and generally
** Breton people
** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany
** Breton (horse), a breed
**Ga ...
form of this name, Walcmoei.
Gwalchmei
Gawain's precursor, Gwalchmei son of Gwyar, was a hero of Welsh mythology
Welsh mythology (Welsh: ''Mytholeg Cymru'') consists of both folk traditions developed in Wales, and traditions developed by the Celtic Britons elsewhere before the end of the first millennium. As in most of the predominantly oral societies Cel ...
and clearly a major figure of the now largely lost oral tradition. His popularity greatly increased after foreign versions, particularly those derived from Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth ( la, Galfridus Monemutensis, Galfridus Arturus, cy, Gruffudd ap Arthur, Sieffre o Fynwy; 1095 – 1155) was a British cleric from Monmouth, Wales and one of the major figures in the development of British historiograph ...
's ''Historia Regum Britanniae
''Historia regum Britanniae'' (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called ''De gestis Britonum'' (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. I ...
'', became known in Wales.[Bromwich, p. 368.] The ''Gwyar'' (meaning "gore" or "spilled blood/bloodshed") in Gwalchmei ap Gwyar is likely the name of Gwalchmei's mother, rather than his father, as is the standard in the Welsh Triads
The Welsh Triads ( cy, Trioedd Ynys Prydein, "Triads of the Island of Britain") are a group of related texts in medieval manuscripts which preserve fragments of Welsh folklore, mythology and traditional history in groups of three. The triad is a ...
. Gwyar appears as a daughter of Amlawdd Wledig
Amlawdd Wledig (Middle Welsh and other alternative spellings present in relevant sources include Amlawd, Amlawt, Anlawdd, Anlawd, Amlodd, Amlwyd, Aflawdd and Anblaud) was a legendary king of sub-Roman Britain. The Welsh title '' ledig'', archai ...
in one version of the hagiographical genealogy ''Bonedd y Saint The ''Bonedd y Saint'' or ''Seint'' (Welsh for "Descent of the Saints") is a Welsh genealogical tract detailing the lineages of the early British saints
In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degr ...
''. The 14th-century fragment ''Birth of Arthur'', a Welsh text that adapts scenes from Geoffrey, substitutes Gwyar for Anna, Geoffrey's name for Gawain's mother, the Queen of Orkney. His father is named as ''Emyr Llydaw'' (Emperor of Brittany), that is Budic II of Brittany
Budic II ( lat-med, Budicius; cy, Budig or '; ), formerly known as Budick, was a king of Cornouaille in Brittany in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. He was father of Hoel as well as several Celtic saints.
Life
Budic II was born in Cornouail ...
. There, Gwalchmei is given three sisters: Gracia, Graeria, and Dioneta, the last of which being a counterpart of Morgan.
Early references to Gwalchmei include the Welsh Triads; the ''Englynion y Beddau
The ''Englynion y Beddau'' ( en, The Stanzas or Verses of the Graves) is a Middle Welsh verse catalogue listing the resting places (''beddau'') of legendary heroes. It consists of a series of ''englynion'', or short stanzas in quantitative meter, ...
'' (''Stanzas of the Graves''), which lists the site of his grave; the ''Trioedd y Meirch'' (''Triads of the Horses''), which praises his horse named Keincaled (known as Gringolet
In Arthurian legend, Gringolet is Sir Gawain's mighty and beloved horse. A sturdy charger, with distinctive ears, Gringolet was known far and wide for his ability in combat, and appears in many romances in several different languages.
Derivatio ...
in the works of medieval French authors); and Cynddelw's elegy for Owain Gwynedd
Owain ap Gruffudd ( 23 or 28 November 1170) was King of Gwynedd, North Wales, from 1137 until his death in 1170, succeeding his father Gruffudd ap Cynan. He was called Owain the Great ( cy, Owain Fawr) and the first to be ...
, which compares Owain's boldness to that of Gwalchmei. In the Welsh Triads, Triad 4 lists him as one of the "Three Well-Endowed Men of the Isle of Britain" (probably referring to his inheritance); Triad 75 describes him as one of the "Three Men of the Island of Britain who were Most Courteous to Guests and Strangers"; and Triad 91 praises his fearlessness. Some versions of Triads 42 and 46 also praise his horse Keincaled, echoing the ''Triads of the Horses''. The singling out of Gwalchmei as Most Courteous evokes his role in the ''Mabinogion'', where he regularly serves as an intermediary between King Arthur
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...
's court and stranger knights.
An early Welsh romance ''Culhwch and Olwen
''Culhwch and Olwen'' ( cy, Culhwch ac Olwen) is a Welsh tale that survives in only two manuscripts about a hero connected with Arthur and his warriors: a complete version in the Red Book of Hergest, c. 1400, and a fragmented version in the Whit ...
'', composed in the 11th century (though not recorded until the 14th), and eventually associated with the ''Mabinogion
The ''Mabinogion'' () are the earliest Welsh prose stories, and belong to the Matter of Britain. The stories were compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, create ...
'', ascribes to Gwalchmei the same relationship with Arthur that Gawain is later given: he is the son of Arthur's sister and one of his leading warriors. However, he is mentioned only twice in the text, once in the extensive list of Arthur's court towards the beginning of the story, and again as one of the "Six Helpers" whom Arthur sends with the protagonist Culhwch
Culhwch (, with the final consonant sounding like Scottish "loch"), in Welsh mythology, is the son of Cilydd son of Celyddon and Goleuddydd, a cousin of Arthur and the protagonist of the story ''Culhwch and Olwen'' (the earliest of the medieval W ...
on his journey to find his love Olwen
In Welsh mythology, Olwen (or Olwyn) is the daughter of the giant Ysbaddaden and cousin of Goreu. She is the heroine of the story ''Culhwch and Olwen'' in the Mabinogion. Her father is fated to die if she ever marries, so when Culhwch (sometimes ...
. Unlike the other helpers, he takes no further part in the action. This suggests he was added to the romance later, likely under the influence of the Welsh versions of Geoffrey's ''Historia''. He also appears in ''Peredur fab Efrawg
''Peredur son of Efrawg'' is one of the Three Welsh Romances associated with the ''Mabinogion''. It tells a story roughly analogous to Chrétien de Troyes' unfinished romance ''Perceval, the Story of the Grail'', but it contains many striking dif ...
'' (''Peredur son of Efrawg''), part of the ''Mabinogion'', where he aids the hero Peredur
Peredur (, Old Welsh ''Peretur'') is the name of a number of men from the boundaries of history and legend in sub-Roman Britain. The Peredur who is most familiar to a modern audience is the character who made his entrance as a knight in the Art ...
in the final battle against the nine witches of Caer Loyw. A similar motif was mentioned by the 16th-century Welsh scholar Sion Dafydd Rhys in an unrecorded oral tale in which Gwalchmei destroyed three evil witch-sisters, wives of the giants previously slain by Arthur, killing them within their castles through his cunning, as they could not be defeated otherwise, due to their powers. Gwalchmei himself appears as a giant in Welsh folklore.
Gawain
Histories and romances
The first known references to Gawain outside Wales began to appear in the first half of the 12th century. For instance, William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury ( la, Willelmus Malmesbiriensis; ) was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede. Modern historian C. Warren Hollister described him as "a ...
writes, in his ''Gesta Regum Anglorum
The ''Gesta Regum Anglorum'' (Latin for "Deeds of the Kings of the English"), originally titled ("On the Deeds of the Kings of the English") and also anglicized as or , is an early-12th-century history of the kings of England by William of Malme ...
'' of around 1125, that "Walwen's" grave had been uncovered in Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...
hundreds of years after his death, following the 11th-century Norman conquest of England
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...
. William recounts how Arthur's nephew, a renowned Post-Roman Briton soldier celebrated for his bravery, tirelessly fought against the Saxons
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
led by Hengest's brother: "He deservedly shared in his uncle's praising, because he prevented the fall of his collapsing country for many years." William also noted uncertainty regarding the manner of his death: "There, as certain people claim, he alwenwas wounded by his enemies, and cast forth from a shipwreck; by others, it is said that he was killed by his fellow citizens at a public feast. Therefore, knowledge of the truth falls in doubt, although neither of these stories would fail in defense of his fame." He also describes Walwen as a former ruler of Galloway
Galloway ( ; sco, Gallowa; la, Gallovidia) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway.
A native or i ...
, which he says was still called Walweitha centuries later in his times.
However, it was Geoffrey of Monmouth's version of Gawain in the ''Historia Regum Britanniae
''Historia regum Britanniae'' (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called ''De gestis Britonum'' (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. I ...
'', written around 1136, that brought the character to a wider audience.[Busby, pp. 178–79.] As in the Welsh tradition, Geoffrey's Gawain (Gualguanus) is the son of Arthur's sister, here named Anna, and her husband is Lot
Lot or LOT or The Lot or ''similar'' may refer to:
Common meanings Areas
* Land lot, an area of land
* Parking lot, for automobiles
*Backlot, in movie production
Sets of items
*Lot number, in batch production
*Lot, a set of goods for sale togethe ...
(Loth), the prince of Lothian
Lothian (; sco, Lowden, Loudan, -en, -o(u)n; gd, Lodainn ) is a region of the Scottish Lowlands, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills and the Moorfoot Hills. The principal settlement is the Sco ...
and one of Arthur's key supporters. Geoffrey mentions that Gawain was twelve years old at the time when King Lot and Arthur began a war with Norway, and that he had previously served Pope Sulpicius in Rome. Gawain later plays a major role as one of the leaders in Arthur's victorious war against the Romans, having personally started this great conflict by killing the Roman envoy Caius (Gaius Quintilianus) who had insulted him and Arthur. Geoffrey's Gawain is depicted as a supreme warrior (even calling him and Hoel
King Hoel ( br, Hoel I Mawr, "Hoel the Great"; la, Hoelus, Hovelus, Hœlus), also known as Sir Howel, Saint Hywel and Hywel the Great, was a late 5th- and early 6th-centuryFord, David Nashat ''Early British Kingdoms''. 2001. Retrieved 1 D ...
the two "warriors than whom no better had ever been born") and potential heir to the throne until he is tragically struck down by the forces of his traitorous brother Mordred
Mordred or Modred (; Welsh: ''Medraut'' or ''Medrawt'') is a figure who is variously portrayed in the legend of King Arthur. The earliest known mention of a possibly historical Medraut is in the Welsh chronicle ''Annales Cambriae'', wherein he ...
(Modredus) at Richborough
Richborough () is a settlement north of Sandwich on the east coast of the county of Kent, England. Richborough lies close to the Isle of Thanet. The population of the settlement is included in the civil parish of Ash.
Although now some dist ...
, during an attempted sea landing that turned into a disaster.
Geoffrey's work was immensely popular and was adapted into many languages. The Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
version by Wace
Wace ( 1110 – after 1174), sometimes referred to as Robert Wace, was a Medieval Norman poet, who was born in Jersey and brought up in mainland Normandy (he tells us in the ''Roman de Rou'' that he was taken as a child to Caen), ending his care ...
, the ''Roman de Brut
The ''Brut'' or ''Roman de Brut'' (completed 1155) by the poet Wace is a loose and expanded translation in almost 15,000 lines of Norman-French verse of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Latin ''History of the Kings of Britain''. It was formerly known as ...
'', ascribes to Gawain the chivalric
Chivalry, or the chivalric code, is an informal and varying code of conduct developed in Europe between 1170 and 1220. It was associated with the medieval Christian institution of knighthood; knights' and gentlemen's behaviours were governed b ...
aspect he would take in later literature, wherein he favours courtliness and love over martial valor. Several later works expand on Geoffrey's mention of Gawain's boyhood spent in Rome, the most important of which is the anonymous Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned ...
'' De Ortu Waluuanii Nepotis Arturi'' (''The Rise of Gawain, Nephew of Arthur''), which describes his birth, boyhood, and early adventures leading up to his knighting by his uncle.
Beginning with the five works of Chrétien de Troyes
Chrétien de Troyes (Modern ; fro, Crestien de Troies ; 1160–1191) was a French poet and trouvère known for his writing on Arthurian subjects, and for first writing of Lancelot, Percival and the Holy Grail. Chrétien's works, including ''E ...
in the second half of the 12th century, Gawain became a very popular figure in Old French
Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...
chivalric romance
As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalric k ...
s. Chrétien features Gawain as a major character and establishes some characteristics that pervade later depictions, including his unparalleled courteousness and his way with women. His romances set the pattern often followed in later works in which Gawain serves as an ally to the protagonist and a model of knighthood to whom others are compared. However, in Chrétien's later romances, especially '' Lancelot, le Chevalier de la Charrette'' (''Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart'') and ''Perceval ou le Conte du Graal
, original_title_lang = fro
, translator =
, written = between 1182 and 1190
, country =
, language = Old French
, subject = Arthurian legend
, genre = Chivalric romance
, for ...
'' (''Perceval, the Story of the Grail''), the eponymous heroes Lancelot
Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), also written as Launcelot and other variants (such as early German ''Lanzelet'', early French ''Lanselos'', early Welsh ''Lanslod Lak'', Italian ''Lancillotto'', Spanish ''Lanzarote del Lago' ...
and Percival
Percival (, also spelled Perceval, Parzival), alternatively called Peredur (), was one of King Arthur's legendary Knights of the Round Table. First mentioned by the French author Chrétien de Troyes in the tale ''Perceval, the Story of the G ...
prove morally superior to Gawain, who follows the rules of courtliness to the letter rather than the spirit.[ Chrétien's story of Gawain's cousin ]Yvain
Sir Ywain , also known as Yvain and Owain among other spellings (''Ewaine'', ''Ivain'', ''Ivan'', ''Iwain'', ''Iwein'', ''Uwain'', ''Uwaine'', etc.), is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend, wherein he is often the son of King Urien ...
, '' Yvain ou le Chevalier au Lion'' (''Yvain, the Knight of the Lion''), was translated into Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...
as ''Ywain and Gawain
''Ywain and Gawain'' is an early-14th century Middle English Arthurian verse romance based quite closely upon the late-12th-century Old French romance '' The Knight of the Lion'' by Chrétien de Troyes.
Plot
Ywain, one of King Arthur's Knights of ...
''. Gawain is also prominent in the continuations of ''Perceval'', in particular the First Continuation and ''Perlesvaus
''Perlesvaus'', also called ''Li Hauz Livres du Graal'' (''The High Book of the Grail''), is an Old French Arthurian romance dating to the first decade of the 13th century. It purports to be a continuation of Chrétien de Troyes' unfinished ''Perc ...
''.
An influx of romances written in French appeared in Chrétien's wake. While Gawain stands out as the most popular character of all Arthurian knights in the entire genre, their authors characterise him variously. In some of these "Gawain romances", such as ''La Vengeance Raguidel
''La Vengeance Raguidel'' is a 13th-century La vengeance Raguidel', ''Dictionnaire Étymologique de l'Ancien Français''. Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities poem written in Old French. It is widely, although not universally, attributed t ...
'' (or ''Messire Gauvain'') and ''La Mule sans frein
''La Mule sans frein'' (English: ''The Mule Without a Bridle'') or ''La Demoiselle à la mule'' (English: ''The Damsel with the Mule'') is a short romance dating from the late 12th century or early 13th century. It comprises 1,136 lines in octosyl ...
'' (perhaps also written by Chrétien himself), he is the hero. In others, such as ''Meraugis de Portlesguez
''Meraugis de Portlesguez'' (''Méraugis'' in some modern texts) is a late 12th-century or early 13th-century Gaston Paris, ''Romans en vers du cycle de la Table ronde'', in ''Histoire littéraire de la France'', 1888Page 222/ref> Arthurian cycle, ...
'' and ', he aids the hero. Sometimes he is also the subject of burlesque
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. humor, as in the parody ''Le Chevalier à l'épée
''The Knight with the Sword'', in French ''Le Chevalier à l'épée'', is an Old French romance dating to the earlier 13th century. It survives in only one manuscript. It is the earliest extant romance to focus specifically on the Arthurian knight ...
'' (''The Knight with the Sword''). In the variants of the ''Bel Inconnu'' (Fair Unknown
Sir Gingalain (Guinglain, Gingalin, Gliglois, Wigalois, etc.), also known as Le Bel Inconnu, or The Fair Unknown, is a character from Arthurian legend whose exploits are recorded in numerous versions of a popular medieval romance. His nickname di ...
) story, he is the father of the hero. ', also known as ''Le Chevalier aux deux épées'' (''The Knight of Two Swords''), contrasts the adventures of Gawain with these of the eponymous Mériadeuc, his former squire
In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight.
Use of the term evolved over time. Initially, a squire served as a knight's apprentice. Later, a village leader or a lord of the manor might come to be known as a " ...
. Another notable squire of Gawain is the also eponymous protagonist of '.
For the English and the Scottish, Gawain remained a respectable and heroic figure, becoming the subject of several romances (a dozen in English, besides the likes of the Anglo-Norman ''Romanz du reis Yder
The ''Romanz du reis Yder'' (''Romance of King Yder'') is a medieval Anglo-Norman Arthurian romance, of which 6,769 octosyllablic verse lines survive. It was characterised in 1946 as 'equal in merit to some of Chrétien's best work, and deserves ...
'') and lyrics in the dialects of their nations, such as the Middle Scots
Middle Scots was the Anglic language of Lowland Scotland in the period from 1450 to 1700. By the end of the 15th century, its phonology, orthography, accidence, syntax and vocabulary had diverged markedly from Early Scots, which was virtually ...
poem ''Golagros and Gawane
''The Knightly Tale of Gologras and Gawain'' (also commonly spelt ''Golagros and Gawane'') is a Middle Scots Arthurian romance written in alliterative verse of 1362 lines, known solely from a printed edition of 1508 in the possession of the Natio ...
''. Important Gawain romances in English include ''The Awntyrs off Arthure
''The Awntyrs off Arthure at the Terne Wathelyne'' (''The Adventures of Arthur at Tarn Wadling'') is an Arthurian romance of 702 lines written in Middle English alliterative verse. Despite its title, it centres on the deeds of Sir Gawain. The poem ...
'' (''The Adventures of Arthur''), ''Syre Gawene and the Carle of Carlyle'' (''Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle
''Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle'' is a Middle English tail-rhyme romance of 660 lines, composed in about 1400. A similar story is told in a 17th-century minstrel piece found in the Percy Folio and known as ''The Carle of Carlisle''. These a ...
''), and ''The Avowyng of Arthur'' ('' The Avowing of Arthur''). The Middle Dutch
Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects whose ancestor was Old Dutch. It was spoken and written between 1150 and 1500. Until the advent of Modern Dutch after 1500 or c. 1550, there was no overarch ...
romances by Penninc and Pieter Vostaert, the ' (''Story of Gawain'') and ''Walewein ende Keye'' (''Gawain and Kay''), are both dedicated primarily to Gawain. The Middle High German
Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. High ...
romance ''Diu Crône
''Diu Crône'' ( en, The Crown) is a Middle High German poem of about 30,000 lines treating of King Arthur and the Matter of Britain, dating from around the 1220s and attributed to the epic poet Heinrich von dem Türlin. Little is known of the ...
'' (''The Crown'') by Heinrich von dem Türlin, in which Gawain is the protagonist who achieves the Grail
The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) was an American lunar science mission in NASA's Discovery Program which used high-quality gravitational field mapping of the Moon to determine its interior structure. The two small spacecraf ...
and heals the Fisher King
The Fisher King is a figure in Arthurian legend, the last in a long line of British kings tasked with guarding the Holy Grail. The Fisher King is both the protector and physical embodiment of his lands, but a wound renders him incapable and hi ...
, also features a minor character of "the other Gawain": his lookalike, Aamanz.
Gawain is notably the hero of one of the greatest works of Middle English literature, the alliterative poem ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' is a late 14th-century chivalric romance in Middle English. The author is unknown; the title was given centuries later. It is one of the best-known Arthurian stories, with its plot combining two types of f ...
'', where he is portrayed as an excellent, but human, knight. Here, Gawain strongly resembles the Irish mythological hero Cuchulainn. In the poem, he must go to the titular Green Knight
The Green Knight ( cy, Marchog Gwyrdd, kw, Marghek Gwyrdh, br, Marc'heg Gwer) is a character from the 14th-century Arthurian poem ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' and the related medieval work ''The Greene Knight''. His true name is revea ...
to, presumably, be killed by the Knight. Gawain does this as it pertains to a deal made between the two without knowing that it is all a test by the Knight. He is cited in Robert Laneham
The Langham letter, published by 1580, is a significant source for the entertainments of the Elizabethan period in England. Dated from Worcester on 20 August 1575, and titled ', it describes the summer 1575 entertainment of Elizabeth I of England b ...
's letter describing the entertainments at Kenilworth in 1575, and the recopying of earlier works such as ''The Greene Knight
''The Greene Knight'' is a late medieval rhyming romance, found in the Percy Folio Manuscript. The storyline effectively parallels the more famous ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' in describing the dealings of Gawain, King Arthur's nephew, wit ...
'' suggests that a popular English tradition of Gawain continued. Different variants of the Green Knight story include ''The Turke and Sir Gawain''. In possibly Thomas Malory
Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author of '' Le Morte d'Arthur'', the classic English-language chronicle of the Arthurian legend, compiled and in most cases translated from French sources. The most popular version of '' Le Morte d' ...
's '' The Weddynge of Syr Gawen and Dame Ragnell'' (''The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle''), his wits, virtue, and respect for women frees his wife, a loathly lady
The loathly lady ( cy, dynes gas, Motif D732 in Stith Thompson's motif index), is a tale type commonly used in medieval literature, most famously in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Wife of Bath's Tale''. The motif is that of a woman who appears unattr ...
, from her curse of ugliness. The Child Ballads
The Child Ballads are 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies of them were published as ''T ...
include a preserved legend in a positive light: ''The Marriage of Sir Gawain
"The Marriage of Sir Gawain" is an English Arthurian ballad, collected as Child Ballad 31. Found in the Percy Folio, it is a fragmented account of the story of Sir Gawain and the loathly lady, which has been preserved in fuller form in the medieva ...
'', a fragmentary version of the story of ''The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle''.
The ''Lancelot-Grail
The ''Lancelot-Grail'', also known as the Vulgate Cycle or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is an early 13th-century French Arthurian literary cycle consisting of interconnected prose episodes of chivalric romance in Old French. The cycle of unknown authors ...
'' (Vulgate Cycle) depicts Gawain as a proud and worldly knight and the leader of his siblings, who demonstrates through his failures the danger of neglecting the spiritual in favor of the material world. On the grand Grail Quest, his intentions are always the purest, but he is unable to use God's grace to see the error of his ways. Later, when his brothers Mordred and Agravain
Sir Agravain () is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend, whose first known appearance is in the works of Chrétien de Troyes. He is the second eldest son of King Lot of Orkney with one of King Arthur's sisters known as Anna or Morgaus ...
plot to destroy Lancelot and Queen Guinevere
Guinevere ( ; cy, Gwenhwyfar ; br, Gwenivar, kw, Gwynnever), also often written in Modern English as Guenevere or Guenever, was, according to Arthurian legend, an early-medieval queen of Great Britain and the wife of King Arthur. First ment ...
by exposing their love affair, Gawain tries to stop them. When Guinevere is sentenced to burn at the stake and Arthur deploys his best knights to guard the execution, Gawain nobly refuses to take part in the deed, even though his brothers will be there. But when Lancelot returns to rescue Guinevere, a battle between Lancelot's and Arthur's knights ensues, and Gawain's brothers Gareth
Sir Gareth (; Old French: ''Guerehet'', ''Guerrehet'') is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend. He is the youngest son of King Lot and Queen Morgause, King Arthur's half-sister, thus making him Arthur's nephew, as well as brother ...
and Gaheris
Gaheris (Old French: ''Gaheriet'', ''Gaheriés'', ''Guerrehes'') is a knight of the Round Table in the chivalric romance tradition of Arthurian legend. A nephew of King Arthur, Gaheris is the third son of Arthur's sister or half-sister Morgause ...
are killed (Agravain, too, is killed by Lancelot, either on this occasion or in a previous encounter). This turns his friendship with Lancelot into hatred, and his desire for vengeance causes him to draw Arthur into a war with Lancelot in France. In the king's absence, Mordred usurps the throne, and the Britons must return to save Britain. Meanwhile, Gawain is mortally wounded by Lancelot himself after a long duel. The Vulgate ''Mort Artu'' has Gawain's dead body carried to Camelot
Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as the ...
, where he is placed in the tomb of his dear brother Gaheriet (Gaheris).
Gawain's death in a battle against Mordred is described in detail in the English Alliterative ''Morte Arthure''. Upon reaching land after returning to Britain from the continent, Gawain wreaks great slaughter on his enemies, killing the king of Gothland among others, before being surrounded on a hill. Breaking out, he pushes forward on a horse towards Mordred himself, and the two strike one another down from their horses with their lances. Gawain then attempts to cut Mordred's throat, but Mordred stabs him through the helmet. (As Mordred is portrayed there more sympathetically than in most other works, he later gives a sorrowful eulogy to his dead brother, calling him the best and most glorious of knights.) In the French verse ''Mort Artu'' attachment to ', Gawain attempts to disembark during the sea landing at Dover
Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
when one of Mordred's Saxon allies fatally strikes him in the head through an unlaced helmet; a similar account is told in the English Stanzaic ''Morte Arthur''. In the Italian romance ''La Tavola Ritonda ''La Tavola Ritonda'' (''The Round Table'') is a 15th-century Italian Arthurian romance written in the medieval Tuscan language. It is preserved in a 1446 manuscript at the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Florence (''Codex Palatinus 556''). It wa ...
'', having been defeated in his duel with Lancelot, Gawain takes part in resisting an attack by Lancelot's friend and ally, Sir Turinoro of Cartagina, when he is struck on his head in the same place where Lancelot had wounded him and falls dead during a single combat with a knight named Turinoro, who also dies.
Thomas Malory's English compilation work ''Le Morte d'Arthur
' (originally written as '; inaccurate Middle French for "The Death of Arthur") is a 15th-century Middle English prose reworking by Sir Thomas Malory of tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the Rou ...
'' is based mainly, but not exclusively, on French works from the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate
The ''Post-Vulgate Cycle'', also known as the Post-Vulgate Arthuriad, the Post-Vulgate ''Roman du Graal'' (''Romance of the Grail'') or the Pseudo-Robert de Boron Cycle, is one of the major Old French prose cycles of Arthurian literature from the ...
Cycles. Here Gawain partly retains the negative characteristics attributed to him by the later French authors, and partly retains his earlier positive representations, creating a character seen by some as inconsistent, and by others as a believably flawed hero. Gawain is the first to declare that he "shall laboure in the Queste of the Sankgreall" but really embarks on the Grail quest in order to gain more magical meals and drinks (''metys and drynkes'') from it rather than from a religious zeal or to save the Fisher King
The Fisher King is a figure in Arthurian legend, the last in a long line of British kings tasked with guarding the Holy Grail. The Fisher King is both the protector and physical embodiment of his lands, but a wound renders him incapable and hi ...
's kingdom. One of Malory's other French sources was ''L'âtre périlleux
''L'âtre périlleux'' (Old French ''L'atre perillous'',Ms. 2168 fr. of the BnFf. 1r at the top of the page. English The Perilous CemeteryN. Black, 1994.M.-L., Charue, 1998.) is an anonymous 13th century poem written in Old French in which Gawain i ...
'' (''The Perilious Cemetery''), a poem about Gawain's rescue of a woman from a demon.
Malory's version of Gawain's demise follows the Vulgate. Gawain's two sons and his brothers, except for Mordred, end up slain by Lancelot and his followers. Their death unleashes the vindictive hostility of Gawain towards his former friend, drawing Arthur himself into a war with Lancelot, first in Britain and then in France. Gawain's rage is so great that he refuses to cease fighting even after the Pope steps in and issues a bull
A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions,
includin ...
to end the violence between Arthur's and Lancelot's factions. Following Mordred's betrayal, Gawain wages two wars against both Mordred and Lancelot. He twice challenges Lancelot to a duel, but each time loses and asks Lancelot to kill him. Lancelot refuses and grants him mercy before leaving. The mortally injured Gawain later writes to Lancelot, repenting of his bitterness, asking for his help against Mordred, and for forgiveness for splitting the Round Table. Following his death, Gawain also appears in Arthur's dream vision to tell him to wait thirty days for the reconciled Lancelot to return to Britain before fighting Mordred. Consequently, Arthur sends Lucan
Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (3 November 39 AD – 30 April 65 AD), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba (modern-day Córdoba), in Hispania Baetica. He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imperial ...
and Bedivere
Bedivere ( or ; cy, Bedwyr; la, Beduerus; french: link=no, Bédoier, also Bedevere and other spellings) is one of the earliest characters to be featured in the legend of King Arthur, originally described in several Welsh texts as the one-hand ...
to make a temporary peace treaty, but the bloody final conflict ensues anyway. Upon his eventual arrival, Lancelot weeps at Gawain's tomb for two nights. In his editorial preface to Malory's ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', William Caxton
William Caxton ( – ) was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into England, in 1476, and as a printer (publisher), printer to be the first English retailer of printed boo ...
wrote that those visiting Dover Castle
Dover Castle is a medieval castle in Dover, Kent, England and is Grade I listed. It was founded in the 11th century and has been described as the "Key to England" due to its defensive significance throughout history. Some sources say it is the ...
can still "see the skull of ir Gawaine and the same wound is seen that Sir Launcelot gave him in battle."
Finally, there are versions in which Gawain does not die. In Jean des Preis's Belgian ''Ly Myreur des Histors'', Arthur, defeated and wounded in his last battle with Mordrech (Mordred), goes with Gawain in a boat to the magic isle of Avalon
Avalon (; la, Insula Avallonis; cy, Ynys Afallon, Ynys Afallach; kw, Enys Avalow; literally meaning "the isle of fruit r appletrees"; also written ''Avallon'' or ''Avilion'' among various other spellings) is a mythical island featured in the ...
for them to be healed there by the king's sister Morgaine (Morgan). The surviving Gawain also features in the earlier French epic poem ', appearing together with Arthur and Morgan in Avalon, where they are all still alive hundreds of years later.
Origin narratives and alternate siblings
''Les Enfances Gauvain'', based in part on ''De Ortu Waluuanii'', tells of how Arthur's sister Morcades (Morgause
The Queen of Orkney, today best known as Morgause and also known as Morgawse and other spellings and names, is a character in later Arthurian traditions. In some versions of the legend, including the seminal text ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', she is ...
) becomes pregnant by Lot, at this point a mere page
Page most commonly refers to:
* Page (paper), one side of a leaf of paper, as in a book
Page, PAGE, pages, or paging may also refer to:
Roles
* Page (assistance occupation), a professional occupation
* Page (servant), traditionally a young m ...
in King Arthur's court. She and Lot secretly give the child to a knight named Gawain the Brown (''Gauvain li Brun'') who baptises the infant with his own name, puts the infant Gawain in a cask with a letter explaining who the child is, and sets him adrift on the sea. The cask is found by a fisherman and his wife. Sometime after Gawain is ten years of age, his foster-father vows to make a pilgrimage to Rome if he recovers from his severe illness. When he undertakes the pilgrimage, he takes his foster-child with him to Rome. There a clerk reads the knight's letter, understands that the boy is of high birth, and the Pope takes Gawain as his own foster-son. Accounts similar to this can be found in ''Perlesvaus'', the ''Gesta Romanorum
''Gesta Romanorum'', meaning ''Deeds of the Romans'' (a very misleading title), is a Latin collection of anecdotes and tales that was probably compiled about the end of the 13th century or the beginning of the 14th. It still possesses a two-fold l ...
'', and many other texts.
In ''De Ortu Waluuani'', the young Gawain, trained as a Roman cavalry
Roman cavalry (Latin: ''equites Romani'') refers to the horse-mounted forces of the Roman army throughout the Regal, Republican, and Imperial eras.
In the Regal era the Roman cavalry was a group of 300 soldiers called '' celeres'', tasked wit ...
officer, undertakes a duel to determine whether Rome or Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
should possess Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. On his way, Gawain and his men defeat the pirate king Milocrates and his brother Buzafarnam, rescuing the Roman Emperor's niece whom Milocrates has abducted. In Jerusalem, he fights the giant Persian champion Gormund and slays him after three days of single combat. He is then sent to King Arthur with the proof of his birth. Arthur's queen, here named Gwendoloena and possessing prophetic powers, warns Arthur of the coming of a knight of Rome who is more powerful than him; Arthur and Kay meet Gawain on his way but he unhorses them both. Gawain then arrives at Arthur's court, but the king rejects him despite learning of the knight being his nephew. In response, Gawain vows that he will do what Arthur's entire army could not do. The occasion comes when the Lady of the Castle of Maidens
The Land of Maidens (or the Land of Women, the Island of Women, the Isle of Ladies, among other forms and names) is a motif in Irish mythology and medieval literature, especially in the chivalric romance genre. The latter often also features a c ...
sends to Arthur for aid, having been abducted by a pagan king who wants to force marriage on her. Arthur and his forces go to fight the pagan army but lose, yet Gawain single-handedly succeeds and returns with the Lady and with the pagan king's head. Arthur is finally forced to publicly accept the knight's worth, and Lot and Anna formally acknowledge Gawain as their son.
Similar to this tale are the stories of the Castle of Wonders, found in ''Diu Crône'', Chrétien's ''Perceval'', Wolfram von Eschenbach
Wolfram von Eschenbach (; – ) was a German knight, poet and composer, regarded as one of the greatest epic poets of medieval German literature. As a Minnesinger, he also wrote lyric poetry.
Life
Little is known of Wolfram's life. There are ...
's ''Parzival
''Parzival'' is a medieval romance (heroic literature), romance by the knight-poet Wolfram von Eschenbach in Middle High German. The poem, commonly dated to the first quarter of the 13th century, centers on the Arthurian hero Percival, Parziva ...
'', and the Norse ''Valvens þáttr'' (''The Tale of Gawain''), wherein Gawain comes to the castle where, unknown to him, live his grandmother (King Arthur's mother), his own mother, and his sister. Gawain becomes the castle's lord, and it would be likely that he would unknowingly marry either his mother or his sister, but Gawain discovers who the women are. In a variant included in the ''Gesta Romanorum'', a Gawain-like character named Gregory comes to a castle where his mother dwells, besieged by the Duke of Burgundy
Duke of Burgundy (french: duc de Bourgogne) was a title used by the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy, from its establishment in 843 to its annexation by France in 1477, and later by Holy Roman Emperors and Kings of Spain from the House of Habsburg ...
. Gregory enters the lady's service and succeeds in winning back her lands, after which he unwittingly marries his own mother.
Later romances, however, abandon the motif of Gawain being brought up, unknown, in Rome. In the ''Suite du Merlin'' attributed to Robert de Boron
Robert de Boron (also spelled in the manuscripts "Roberz", "Borron", "Bouron", "Beron") was a French poet of the late 12th and early 13th centuries, notable as the reputed author of the poems and ''Merlin''. Although little is known of him apart f ...
, a marriage between King Lot and a daughter of Ygerne (Igraine
In the Matter of Britain, Igraine () is the mother of King Arthur. Igraine is also known in Latin as Igerna, in Welsh as Eigr (Middle Welsh Eigyr), in French as Ygraine (Old French Ygerne or Igerne), in ''Le Morte d'Arthur'' as Ygrayne—often ...
, Arthur's mother) is part of the negotiations arranging for Arthur's father Uther Pendragon
Uther Pendragon (Brittonic) (; cy, Ythyr Ben Dragwn, Uthyr Pendragon, Uthyr Bendragon), also known as King Uther, was a legendary King of the Britons in sub-Roman Britain (c. 6th century). Uther was also the father of King Arthur.
A few m ...
's marriage to Ygerne; Gawain must be thus about the same age as Arthur, or even older. In the Vulgate ''Merlin'', he first appears as a young squire in his father's kingdom. Gawain, his brother Gaheris, and a number of other squires, most of them sons or kindred of the kings who at this time are rebelling against King Arthur, come together and defend the land of Logres
Logres (among various other forms and spellings) is King Arthur's realm in the Matter of Britain. It derives from the medieval Welsh word ''Lloegyr'', a name of uncertain origin referring to South and Eastern England (''Lloegr'' in modern Welsh ...
against the Saxons while Arthur is away aiding King Leodegan (Leodegrance
King Leodegrance , sometimes Leondegrance, Leodogran, or variations thereof, is the father of Queen Guinevere in Arthurian legend. His kingdom of Cameliard (or Carmelide) is usually identified with Cornwall but may be located in Breton Cornouaill ...
) against King Rion (Rience
King Rience , also spelt Ryence, Ryons, and Rion(s), is a character from Arthurian legend, an enemy of King Arthur in the early years of his reign. His realm varies; in Thomas Malory's ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', he is king of North Wales, Ireland and ...
), after which Arthur knights the squires. During this time, Gawain notably saves their mother Belisent (Morgause) and the infant Mordred from being kidnapped by the Saxon king Taurus. This account is revised in the later Post-Vulgate ''Merlin'', where King Lot fights against Arthur but his forces are defeated and he himself is killed by King Pellinor (Pellinore
King Pellinore (alternatively ''Pellinor'', ''Pellynore'' and other variants) is the king of Listenoise (possibly the Lake District) or of "the Isles" (possibly Anglesey, or perhaps the medieval kingdom of the same name) in Arthurian legend. In ...
), one of King Arthur's allies. Gawain first appears as an eleven-year-old boy at Lot's funeral and swears to avenge his father's death on Pellinor, praying that he may never be known for knightly deeds until he has taken vengeance. The story of the feud between Gawain and Pellinor and his sons is very important in the Post-Vulgate Cycle and the Prose ''Tristan'', but not a trace of it is found in the Lancelot-Grail Cycle or in any earlier known tale, some of which picture Lot as still alive long after Gawain becomes a knight.
In many works outside the ''Lancelot-Grail''-derived tradition in which Gawain has only his now-familiar four brothers (among whom he is the eldest and is explicitly described as the most handsome of them by the Vulgate ''Lancelot''), Gawain also has sisters in different settings. These include an unnamed sister whom he rescues (along with her unnamed husband and children) from a giant in Chrétien's ''Yvain''; two sisters named Soredamors (Cligés' mother) and Clarissant in Chrétien's '' Cligés''; an unnamed sister abducted by Gorvain Cadru in ''Hunbaut''; and Elainne in the Modena manuscript of the Didot ''Perceval''. In ''Parzival'', he has two sisters named Cundriê and Itonjê and a sole younger brother named Beacurs (the King of Norway and a Knight of the Round Table who marries King Bagdemagus
Bagdemagus (pronounced /ˈbægdɛˌmægəs/), also known as Bademagu(s/z), Bagdemagu, Bagomedés, Baldemagu(s), Bandemagu(s), Bangdemagew, Baudemagu(s), and other variants (such as the Italian ''Bando di Mago'' or the Hebrew ''Bano of Magoç''), ...
's niece Antonie). In some Welsh adaptations of ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' and in ''The Birth of Arthur'', King Hoel is his half-brother from their mother's first marriage. Mordred is Gawain's younger brother (by Lot, originally) or half-brother (by Arthur, later) in almost every text in which he figures since Geoffrey of Monmouth.
Attributes and characterizations
Traditionally, Gawain, of all Arthur's knights, is known for his courteousness, compassion, and humility. In ''Gawain: His Reputation, His Courtesy and His Appearance in Chaucer's Squire's Tale'', B.J. Whiting collected quantitative evidence of these qualities being stronger in Gawain than in any of the other Knights of the Round Table
The Knights of the Round Table ( cy, Marchogion y Ford Gron, kw, Marghekyon an Moos Krenn, br, Marc'hegien an Daol Grenn) are the knights of the fellowship of King Arthur in the literary cycle of the Matter of Britain. First appearing in lit ...
, counting the words "courteous", "courtesy", and "courteously" being used in reference to Arthur's nephew as 178 times in total, more than for all the other knights in Arthurian literature.[Whiting, p. 218.] The Prose ''Lancelot'' describes Gawain as the most handsome of his brothers and notably gracious towards poor people and to societal outcasts such as lepers; the one time when he fails to properly greet an unknown maiden ( Viviane) while on a quest to learn the fate of Merlin
Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...
in the Vulgate ''Merlin Continuation'', she curses him with a spell that turns him into a hideous dwarf, but later restores him to his real form after he passes a test to save her from an apparent rape in an arranged "damsel in distress"-style scenario. In some versions of the legend, Gawain would have been the true and rightful heir to the throne of Camelot, after the reign of King Arthur.[Hall, p. 3.]
The Vulgate ''Mort Artu'' says Gawain had been baptised as an infant by a miracle-working holy man, also named Gawain, who named the boy after himself, and who announced the following day that every day at noon, at the hour of the baptism, his power and strength would increase. The Post-Vulgate tells how, in great part due to his supernatural strength, there have been only six knights whom Gawain failed to defeat in a sword fight: Lancelot, Hector
In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...
, Bors
Bors (; french: link=no, Bohort) is the name of two knights in Arthurian legend, an elder and a younger. The two first appear in the 13th-century Lancelot-Grail romance prose cycle. Bors the Elder is the King of Gaunnes (Gannes/Gaunes/Ganis) du ...
, his own brother Gaheris (replaced with Percival by Malory), Tristan
Tristan (Latin/ Brythonic: ''Drustanus''; cy, Trystan), also known as Tristram or Tristain and similar names, is the hero of the legend of Tristan and Iseult. In the legend, he is tasked with escorting the Irish princess Iseult to wed ...
, and Morholt
The Knights of the Round Table ( cy, Marchogion y Ford Gron, kw, Marghekyon an Moos Krenn, br, Marc'hegien an Daol Grenn) are the knights of the fellowship of King Arthur in the literary cycle of the Matter of Britain. First appearing in ...
. In ''Perceval'' and some other later stories, he is the other wielder of Arthur's magic sword Excalibur
Excalibur () is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. It was associated with the Arthurian legend very early on. Excalibur and the Sword in th ...
; in the Alliterative ''Morte Arthure'', he has a sword named Galuth, which bears the name Galatine in Malory's version of the Roman War episode. His knowledge of herbs also makes him a great healer, as shown in Chrétien's ''Perceval'', ''Valvens Þáttr'', ''Parzival'', ''Walewein'', and the Dutch Lancelot Compilation
The Lancelot Compilation is the name given to a Middle Dutch collection, produced ca. 1320, containing seven Arthurian romances folded into the three parts of the Lancelot-Grail cycle.
Lancelot in Dutch
Arthurian romance must have been widespread ...
(in the stories ''Moriaen'', ''Die Riddere metter Morwen'', ''Walewein ende Keye'', and ''Lancelot en het Hert met de Witte Voet'').
In many romances, Gawain is depicted as a model for chivalric attributes. In ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'', for example, where he is described as "this fine father of breeding", Gawain receives the kisses of Lady Bertilak
Lady Bertilak (or Lady Hautdesert) are names given by some modern critics to a character in the medieval poem ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' (14th century), though the poem itself only ever calls her "the lady". She is ordered by her husband, ...
with discretion, at once not wanting to insult her by refusing her advances and not wanting to betray the hospitality of her husband. Based on the bargain to give each other their respective daily gains, Gawain must give the kisses he receives from Lady Bertilak to Sir Bertilak. This allusion serves to reinforce chivalric ideals of religious, martial, and courtly love codes, especially in a masculine warrior culture, and shows the ways in which the masculine world can be subverted by female wiles. This undertone of homoeroticism between Gawain and Sir Bertilak underscores the strength of male homosocial bonds, and the fact that sex never occurs reinforces ideals of the masculine chivalric code. Gawain's character in the poem is said to be founded on a deep Christian belief in Christ and the Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...
.
Conversely, in the Vulgate ''Queste del Saint Graal'' he is used as a very symbol of the unfitness of secular knighthood. Here, Gawain is blamed for his irreligion and is shown to indulge in rather purposeless killing: as, for example, when he mortally wounds his relative and a fellow Knight of the Round Table, Yvain the Bastard
Sir Ywain , also known as Yvain and Owain among other spellings (''Ewaine'', ''Ivain'', ''Ivan'', ''Iwain'', ''Iwein'', ''Uwain'', ''Uwaine'', etc.), is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend, wherein he is often the son of King Urie ...
, in one of the many random jousting duels for no particular reason (failing to even recognise him until it is too late). He is also responsible for the deaths of more of his fellow Round Table companions, including the young King Bagdemagus of Gorre, whom he accidentally kills during a tournament. The Vulgate ''Mort Artu'' even says Gawain had killed some of his fellow Knights of the Round Table in the grand quest for the Grail, which he turned out to be unworthy to achieve. When Gawain does reach the Grail Castle, he is unable to restore the Grail Sword, unlike his role in ''Perceval'', and is actually more interested in the Grail Maiden than in the holy relic, failing to even spot it there. In a symbolic later scene, it is her son and the new destined Grail hero, the blessed virgin knight Galahad
Sir Galahad (), sometimes referred to as Galeas () or Galath (), among other versions of his name, is a knight of King Arthur's Round Table and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend. He is the illegitimate son of S ...
, who will draw the sword in the stone at Camelot, after Gawain failed in the task. In the end, Gawain's unwillingness to forgive Lancelot leads to his own death and contributes to the downfall of Arthur's kingdom.
In the Post-Vulgate Cycle, Gawain's character is further blackened, influenced by being portrayed as a villain in the Prose ''Tristan''. He is now bloodthirsty and often murderous. Among important Knights of the Round Table whom Gawain is said to have killed during and after the Grail quest are King Pellinor's son Aglovale
The Knights of the Round Table ( cy, Marchogion y Ford Gron, kw, Marghekyon an Moos Krenn, br, Marc'hegien an Daol Grenn) are the knights of the fellowship of King Arthur in the literary cycle of the Matter of Britain. First appearing in lit ...
, King Lac's son Erec
The Knights of the Round Table ( cy, Marchogion y Ford Gron, kw, Marghekyon an Moos Krenn, br, Marc'hegien an Daol Grenn) are the knights of the fellowship of King Arthur in the literary cycle of the Matter of Britain. First appearing in li ...
, and King Esclabor
The Knights of the Round Table ( cy, Marchogion y Ford Gron, kw, Marghekyon an Moos Krenn, br, Marc'hegien an Daol Grenn) are the knights of the fellowship of King Arthur in the literary cycle of the Matter of Britain. First appearing in lit ...
's son Palamedes (resulting in Escablor's own death from grief). Earlier, Gawain and his brothers are also the slayers of King Pellinor and his sons Driant and Lamorat. Although Gawain still has a reputation for being one of the best and most courteous knights in the world, this is a sham, as he is often secretly a rapist of damsels and a killer of good knights, no better than his brother Agravain. When the mighty and holy Grail knight Perceval asks Gawain if he had killed his father Pellinor, Gawain simply lies and denies it out of fear of Perceval. The ''Guiron le Courtois'' section of '' Palamedes'' explains Gawain's many great cruelties being caused by his grief at being surpassed by other knights after not regaining his full strength following the war with Galehaut
Galehaut (or Galaha ''l/u''t, Galeho ''l''t, Gallehau ''l''t, Galhault, Galetto, et al.) is a half-giant knight and sovereign prince in the Arthurian legend. He is most prominent within the Lancelot-Grail prose cycle where he is a noble enemy t ...
. Such a new popular image originating in the late Old French romance tradition prompted the historical audience of ''The Wife of Bath's Tale
"The Wife of Bath's Tale" ( enm, The Tale of the Wyf of Bathe) is among the best-known of Geoffrey Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales''. It provides insight into the role of women in the Late Middle Ages and was probably of interest to Chaucer himsel ...
'' to identify the story's rapist-knight character as Gawain.
Malory's Gawain, following the later French portrayals, also "emerges as a character composed of obvious inconsistencies of virtue and evil." According to Arthurian scholar Ryan Harper,
Children and relationships
Hartmann von Aue
Hartmann von Aue, also known as Hartmann von Ouwe, (born ''c.'' 1160–70, died ''c.'' 1210–20) was a German knight and poet. With his works including ''Erec'', '' Iwein'', ''Gregorius'', and ''Der arme Heinrich'', he introduced the Arthurian ...
's ''Erec
The Knights of the Round Table ( cy, Marchogion y Ford Gron, kw, Marghekyon an Moos Krenn, br, Marc'hegien an Daol Grenn) are the knights of the fellowship of King Arthur in the literary cycle of the Matter of Britain. First appearing in li ...
'' is the first to mention Gawain's offspring, listing one "Henec the Skillful, son of Gawain" (''Henec suctellois fil Gawin''), among the Knights of the Round Table. Thomas Malory credits Gawain with three sons through the Lady of Lys, a sister of Bran de Lys/Lis (or "Brandles" in the Middle English ''The Jeaste of Syr Gawayne''); they are named Florence, Lovell, and Gingalain
Sir Gingalain (Guinglain, Gingalin, Gliglois, Wigalois, etc.), also known as Le Bel Inconnu, or The Fair Unknown, is a character from Arthurian legend whose exploits are recorded in numerous versions of a popular medieval romance. His nickname di ...
. Both Lovell (Lioniel) and Gingalain (Guinglain) have previously appeared in the First Continuation to Chrétien's ''Perceval'' and in the ''Livre d'Artus''. Gingalain is the only of them to play a significant role in further works, as the eponymous protagonist of Renaud de Beaujeu Renaud de Beaujeu is the name of a medieval French author of Arthurian romance. He is known for only one major work, ''Le Bel Inconnu'', the Fair Unknown, a poem of 6266 lines in Old French that was composed in the late-twelfth or early-thirteenth c ...
's Old French romance ''Le Bel Inconnu'' (''The Fair Unknown''), as well as of the Middle-English romance ''Libeaus Desconus
''Libeaus Desconus'' is a 14th-century Middle English version of the popular " Fair Unknown" story. Its author is thought to be Thomas Chestre. The story matter displays strong parallels to that of Renaut de Beaujeu's ''Le Bel Inconnu''; both ver ...
'' and of its Middle High German version ''Wigalois'' (titled after Gingalain's name) by Wirnt von Grafenberg Wirnt von Grafenberg was a Middle High German poet of the thirteenth century.
Biography
Grafenberg was a Bavarian nobleman who between 1202 and 1205 wrote an epic, entitled ''Wigalois'', which describes the adventures of Gawain's son, the name bein ...
. Besides those children, the eponymous hero of ''Beaudous'' by Robert de Blois Robert de Blois ('' fl.'' second third of the 13th century) was an Old French poet and trouvère, the author of narrative, lyric, didactic, and religious works. He is known only through his own writings, but one lyric poem ascribed to him, ''Li dep ...
is the son of Gawain by the king of Wales's unnamed daughter, who is known only as the Lover (''Amie''). She might be the same as the also unnamed daughter of King Tradelmant of North Wales, a hitherto virgin who becomes pregnant by Gawain out of wedlock in the Prose ''Lancelot''.
Since Gawain is known in multiple tales as the "Knight of Maidens" (French: ''Chevalier as Damoisels''), his name is thus attached to no woman in particular. As such, he is the champion of all women, and through this reputation, he has avoided the name-pairing seen in tales of Erec (with Enide
Enide ( cy, Enid) is a character in Arthurian romance. She is the wife of Erec in Chrétien de Troyes' '' Erec and Enide'', and the wife of Geraint in the Welsh romance of ''Geraint and Enid'' analogous to Chrétien's version. Some scholars be ...
), Tristan (with Iseult), and Lancelot (with Guinevere). Nevertheless, Gawain has had wives in the course of Arthurian literature, albeit he is always introduced as yet unmarried at the beginning of any such story. In ''The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle'', he marries the cursed Ragnelle, and in giving her "sovereignty" in the relationship, lifts the spell laid upon her that had given her a hag-like appearance.[Lupack, p. 314] In ''Parzival'', Gawain marries Orguelleuse, the widow of the Duke of Logres. (In ''Perlesvaus'', the mad Orguelleuse instead unsuccessfully plots to kill Gawain and then to entomb herself with him; she is called the Maiden of the Narrow Wood in ''Hunbaut''.) In ''Mériadeuc'', the Queen of the Isles swears she will marry only Gawain. In ''Diu Crône'', Gawain marries Amurfina, a niece of Arthur's stepfather (here named Gansguoter) who wins Gawain from her own younger sister Sgoidamur through the use of a magic bridle and a love potion.
Repeatedly, Gawain is also often intimately associated with a supernatural female figure from the Otherworld
The concept of an otherworld in historical Indo-European religion is reconstructed in comparative mythology. Its name is a calque of ''orbis alius'' (Latin for "other Earth/world"), a term used by Lucan in his description of the Celtic Otherworld ...
or the Fairyland
Fairyland (''Faerie'', Scottish ''Elfame'', c.f. Old Norse ''Álfheimr'') in English and Scottish folklore is the fabulous land or abode of fairies or ''fays''. Old French (Early Modern English ) referred to an illusion or enchantment, the land ...
.[Weston, p. 52.] The hero of ''Le Bel Inconnu'' is the progeny of Gawain and a fairy
A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, ...
called Blanc(h)emal, and Gawain is himself rescued by the fay Lorie in ' (''Les Merveilles de Rigomer'').[Harper, p. 2.] The mother of Gawain's son in ''Wigalois'' is known as Florie, likely another version of Lorie from ''Rigomer''; she also appears as Floree, daughter of King Alain of Escavalon, in the ''Livre d'Artus''. The Italian romance ''La Pulzella Gaia'' has Gawain fight and defeat a giant serpent that turns out to be just a form of fairy princess, the daughter of Morgan le Fay (Fata Morgana) who then becomes his secret lover; their relationship, once revealed, makes both of them into enemies of Guinevere (who is jealous of Gawain after having been spurned), Arthur, and Morgan all at once.
Other women of Gawain include Lady Bloisine who plots to murder Gawain in bed before genuinely falling in love with him in the Fourth Continuation of ''Perceval'', Ydain (Ydeine) who pledges to love him for life after he rescues her in ''La Vengeance Raguidel'' and the ''Roman van Lancelot'', and the haughty and cruel Arcade who loves Gawain but he gives her up to the young Pelleas
Pelleas , or Pellias, is an Arthurian Knight of the Round Table whose story first appears in the Post-Vulgate Cycle. He becomes the husband of Nimue, the Lady of the Lake in '' Le Morte d'Arthur''. His character might have been connected to the ...
after helping him win her over in the Prose ''Lancelot''. Arcade is renamed as Lady Ettarde in Malory's version with no happy end for her; his ''Le Morte d'Arthur'' also mentions Gawain having once been in the power of the lustful witch Hellawes. In the Prose ''Lancelot'', Gawain also expressed his desire to himself become the most beautiful lady so he could be loved by the mysterious Black Knight (Lancelot appearing incognito).
Modern portrayals
Gawain features frequently in modern literature and media. Modern depictions of him are often heavily influenced by Malory, though characterizations are inconsistent. Alfred Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
adapted episodes from Malory to present Gawain as a worldly and faithless knight in his ''Idylls of the King
''Idylls of the King'', published between 1859 and 1885, is a Literature cycle, cycle of twelve narrative poems by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892; Poet Laureate from 1850) which retells the legend of King Arthur, his knig ...
'' (1859-1885). Similarly, T. H. White
Terence Hanbury "Tim" White (29 May 1906 – 17 January 1964) was an English writer best known for his Arthurian novels, published together in 1958 as ''The Once and Future King''. One of his most memorable is the first of the series, '' The Sw ...
's novel ''The Once and Future King
''The Once and Future King'' is a collection of fantasy novels by T. H. White about the legend of King Arthur. It is loosely based upon the 1485 work '' Le Morte d'Arthur'' by Sir Thomas Malory. It was first published in 1958 as a collection ...
'' (1958) follows Malory, but presents Gawain as more churlish than Malory's torn and tragic portrayal. In contrast, Thomas Berger's ''Arthur Rex
''Arthur Rex: A Legendary Novel'' is a 1978 novel by American author Thomas Berger. Berger offers his own take on the legends of King Arthur, from the heroic monarch's inauspicious conception, to his childhood in bucolic Wales, his rise to the ...
'' (1978) portrays Gawain as open-minded and introspective about his flaws, qualities that make him the Round Table's greatest knight. Though he usually plays a supporting role, some works feature Gawain as the main character. Vera Chapman
Vera Chapman (8 May 1898 – 14 May 1996), also known as Vera Ivy May Fogerty, and within the Tolkien Society as Belladonna Took, was a British author and founder of the Tolkien Society in the United Kingdom, and also wrote a number of pseudo-h ...
's ''The Green Knight'' (1975) and Anne Crompton's ''Gawain and Lady Green'' (1997) offer modern retellings of ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight''. Gwalchmei is the protagonist in Gillian Bradshaw
Gillian Marucha Bradshaw (born May 14, 1956) is an American writer of historical fiction, historical fantasy, children's literature, science fiction, and contemporary science-based novels, who lives in Britain. Her serious historical novels are oft ...
's Celtic-tinged ''Hawk of May
''Hawk of May'' is the first installment in Gillian Bradshaw’s ''Down The Long Wind'' trilogy. Published initially in 1980 by Simon and Schuster, ''Hawk of May'' is a bildungsroman set in the time of King Arthur and centered on Gwalchmai ap Lot ...
'' (1980) and its sequels. Gawain is a major character in ''The Squire's Tales'' (1998-2010) by Gerald Morris
Gerald Morris (October 29, 1963
Excerpt from '' Something About the Author'' at highbeam.com– ) is an American ...
, in which he is portrayed as a skilled knight, immensely loyal to Arthur, and as intelligent, kind-hearted, and occasionally sarcastic. Morris included many legends involving Gawain in the second book, '' The Squire, His Knight, and His Lady'' (1999), drawing in particular from ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight''. An aged Gawain is one of the central characters in Kazuo Ishiguro
Sir Kazuo Ishiguro ( ; born 8 November 1954) is a British novelist, screenwriter, musician, and short-story writer. Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan, and moved to Britain in 1960 with his parents when he was five.
He is one of the most cr ...
's novel ''The Buried Giant
''The Buried Giant'' is a fantasy fiction, fantasy novel by the Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize-winning British writer Kazuo Ishiguro, published in March 2015.
The novel follows an elderly Celtic Britons, Briton couple, Axl and Beatrice ...
'' (2015). In the 2022 manga ''Four Knights of the Apocalypse
also known as is a Japanese adventure and fantasy manga series written and illustrated by Nakaba Suzuki. It is a sequel to Suzuki's previous series, ''The Seven Deadly Sins''. The manga has been serialized in Kodansha's ''Weekly Shōnen M ...
'', a sequel to ''Seven Deadly Sins
The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, is a grouping and classification of vices within Christian teachings. Although they are not directly mentioned in the Bible, there are parallels with the seven things ...
'', Gawain is a member of the eponymous Knights, portrayed as female, a hugely muscular and prideful niece of King Arthur.
Film portrayals of Gawain, and the Arthurian legend in general, are heavily indebted to Malory; White's ''The Once and Future King'' also exerts a heavy influence. Gawain appears as a supporting character in films such as ''Knights of the Round Table
The Knights of the Round Table ( cy, Marchogion y Ford Gron, kw, Marghekyon an Moos Krenn, br, Marc'hegien an Daol Grenn) are the knights of the fellowship of King Arthur in the literary cycle of the Matter of Britain. First appearing in lit ...
'' (1953, played by Robert Urquhart) and ''Excalibur
Excalibur () is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. It was associated with the Arthurian legend very early on. Excalibur and the Sword in th ...
'' (1981, played by Liam Neeson
William John Neeson (born 7 June 1952) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has received several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Tony Awards. In 2020, he was placed 7th on ''The I ...
), all of which draw on elements of Gawain's traditional characterizations. Other films give Gawain a larger role. In the 1954 adaptation of ''Prince Valiant
''Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur'', often simply called ''Prince Valiant'', is an American comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story during its entire history, and the full stretc ...
'', he is a somewhat boorish, though noble and good-natured, foil for his squire and friend, Valiant. He plays his traditional part in the 1963 film ''Sword of Lancelot
''Lancelot and Guinevere'' (known as ''Sword of Lancelot'' in the U.S.) is a British 1963 film starring Cornel Wilde, his real-life wife at the time, Jean Wallace, and Brian Aherne. This lesser-known version of the Camelot legend is a work shape ...
'' (played by George Baker), seeking revenge when Lancelot kills his unarmed brother Gareth, but ultimately coming to Lancelot's aid when he uncovers Mordred's responsibility. ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' has been adapted to film several times, including 1973's ''Gawain and the Green Knight
''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' is a late 14th-century chivalric romance in Middle English. The author is unknown; the title was given centuries later. It is one of the best-known Arthurian stories, with its plot combining two types of f ...
'' (played by Murray Head
Murray Seafield St George Head (born 5 March 1946) is an English actor and singer. Head has appeared in a number of films, including a starring role as the character Bob Elkin in the Oscar-nominated 1971 film ''Sunday Bloody Sunday''. As a mus ...
) and 1984's ''Sword of the Valiant
''Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' (often shortened to ''Sword of the Valiant'') is a 1984 dramatic fantasy film directed by Stephen Weeks and starring Miles O'Keeffe, Trevor Howard, Lila Kedrova, Cyrielle ...
'' (played by Miles O'Keeffe
Miles O'Keeffe (born June 20, 1954) is an American film and television actor. O'Keeffe got his first big break playing the title role in the 1981 version of '' Tarzan, the Ape Man''.
Youth
O'Keeffe was born in Ripley, Tennessee. A star footb ...
), both directed by Stephen Weeks; neither film was well reviewed and both deviate substantially from the source material. A 1991 television adaptation by Thames Television
Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a Broadcast license, franchise holder for a region of the British ITV (TV network), ITV television network serving Greater London, London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until th ...
, ''Gawain and the Green Knight'', was both more faithful and better received. Other film portrayals included Robert Gwyn Davin's in ''First Knight
''First Knight'' is a 1995 medieval film based on Arthurian legend, directed by Jerry Zucker. It stars Sean Connery as King Arthur, Richard Gere as Lancelot, Julia Ormond as Guinevere and Ben Cross as Malagant.
The film follows the rogue La ...
'' (1995), Anthony Hickox
Anthony Hickox (born 30th January 1959) is an English film director, producer, actor and screenwriter.
He is best known for his work in the horror genre, with films like '' Waxwork'' and its sequel, '' Waxwork II: Lost in Time'', '' Sundown: T ...
in ''Prince Valiant
''Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur'', often simply called ''Prince Valiant'', is an American comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story during its entire history, and the full stretc ...
'' (1997), Sebastian Roché
Sebastian Roché (born 4 August 1964) is a French-American actor. He is known for his roles as Kurt Mendel in ''Odyssey 5'', Jerry Jacks in '' General Hospital'', Thomas Jerome Newton in ''Fringe'', Balthazar in '' Supernatural'', Mikael in bot ...
in ''Merlin
Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...
'' (1998), Noah Huntley
Noah Cornelius Marmaduke Huntley (born 7 September 1974) is an English actor and model. He has appeared in films such as '' 28 Days Later'' (2002), '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' (2005), ''Snow White and the ...
in ''The Mists of Avalon
''The Mists of Avalon'' is a 1983 historical fantasy novel by American writer Marion Zimmer Bradley, in which the author relates the Arthurian legends from the perspective of the female characters. The book follows the trajectory of Morgaine (Mo ...
'' (2001), and Joel Edgerton
Joel Edgerton (born 23 June 1974) is an Australian actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his appearance in the ''Star Wars'' films ''Attack of the Clones'' (2002) and ''Revenge of the Sith'' (2005) as a young Owen Lars, a role he reprised i ...
in ''King Arthur
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...
'' (2004). In the 2008 television series ''Merlin
Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...
'', Gawain appears as Sir Gwaine, played by Eoin Macken
Eoin Christopher Macken (born 21 February 1983) is an Irish actor, director, and model.
Macken has modelled for Abercrombie and Fitch, Ralph Lauren, and GQ, and has appeared in films such as ''Resident Evil'', ''Close, Killing Jesus'', and '' ...
. Though of noble origin, he passes himself as a peasant due to his mother's mistreatment by the king his father served; he is finally knighted by Arthur due to his personal value. In the 2011 series ''Camelot
Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as the ...
'', he is played by Clive Standen
Clive James Standen (born 22 July 1981) is an English actor best known for playing Bryan Mills in the NBC series '' Taken'' (2017–2018), based on the film trilogy of the same name, as well as Rollo in the History Channel series ''Vikings'' ( ...
. In 2020's '' Cursed'', Gawain is played by Matt Stokoe
Matthew Joseph Stokoe (born 13 January 1989) is a British actor. He is best known for his roles as Alex in the Channel 4 series ''Misfits'', crime boss Luke Aikens in the thriller '' Bodyguard'', teacher Gerard Eyre in '' The Village,'' Captai ...
, who doubles as the Green Knight. In the 2021 film ''The Green Knight'', Gawain is portrayed by Dev Patel
Dev Patel (; born 23 April 1990) is a British actor. His breakthrough came in 2008 with the leading role of Jamal Malik in Danny Boyle's drama ''Slumdog Millionaire'', for which Patel was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leadin ...
.
The character has appeared in a number of stage productions and operas, mostly interpretations of ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight''. Particularly notable among them is the 1991 opera ''Gawain
Gawain (), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned under the name Gwalchmei in the earliest ...
'', with music by Harrison Birtwistle
Sir Harrison Birtwistle (15 July 1934 – 18 April 2022) was an English composer of contemporary classical music best known for his operas, often based on mythological subjects. Among his many compositions, his better known works include ''Th ...
and a libretto by David Harsent
David Harsent (born in Devon) is an English poet who for some time earned his living as a TV scriptwriter and crime novelist.
Background
During his early career he was part of a circle of poets centred on Ian Hamilton and forming something of a ...
.[Windeatt, pp. 373–83.] Gawain also appears in video games, including as the protagonist of ''Chronicles of the Sword
''Chronicles of the Sword'' is an adventure game developed by Synthetic Dimensions and released by Psygnosis in 1996 for MS-DOS and Sony PlayStation platforms. The game, originally titled as ''King Arthur: The Quest of The Fair Unknown'', is ba ...
''. He is voiced by Takahiro Mizushima
is a Japanese voice actor and singer. He is currently affiliated with Axlone. When voicing adult games, he is known as .
Biography
Mizushima is a former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force official. He entered the JGSDF Youth Technical School, a bo ...
in ''Fate/EXTRA
''Fate/Extra'' (stylized as ''Fate/EXTRA'') is a dungeon crawler role-playing game developed by Type-Moon and Imageepoch and published by Marvelous Entertainment for the PlayStation Portable. The game takes place in a parallel univer ...
'' and its sequel ''Fate/EXTRA CCC'', as well as in ''Fate/Grand Order
is a free-to-play Japanese mobile game, developed by Lasengle (formerly Delightworks) using Unity, and published by Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The game is based on Type-Moon's ''Fate/stay night'' franchise, and ...
''. In '' Sonic and the Black Knight'' (2009), Sir Gawain is one of the main characters, based on Knuckles the Echidna
is a fictional character in Sega's ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series. He is a red anthropomorphic short-beaked echidna who is Sonic's best friend and former rival. Determined and serious, but sometimes gullible, he has the ability to punch enemies w ...
. He also featured in the video game '' Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings'' as a cavalier
The term Cavalier () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration (1642 – ). It ...
.
See also
* King Arthur's family
King Arthur's family grew throughout the centuries with King Arthur's legend. Many of the legendary members of this mythical king's family became leading characters of mythical tales in their own right.
Medieval Welsh tradition
In Welsh Arthu ...
References
Citations
Bibliography
* Barber, Richard W. (1986). "The English Poems“. ''King Arthur Hero and Legend''. New York: St. Martin's. .
*
* Bromwich, Rachel (2006). ''Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain.'' University of Wales Press. .
*
*
* Hall, Louis B., ed. (1976), ''Knightly Tales of Sir Gawain''. Chicago: Nelson Hall. .
* Kennedy, Edward D. (2007). "Gawain's Family and Friends." ''People and Texts. Relationships in Medieval Literature''. Eds. Thea Summerfield and Keith Busby. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
* Koch, John T. (1995). "The Celtic Lands." In N. J. Lacy (ed.), ''Medieval Arthurian Literature: A Guide to Recent Research'', pp. 239–322. New York.
*
* Lupack, Alan (2005). "Gawain." ''Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 291–327.
*
* Pughe, William Owen (1832). ''A Dictionary of the Welsh Language, Explained in English''. London
Online
* Rhys, John (2004 901. ''Studies in the Arthurian Legend''. Kessinger Publishing. .
*
* Weston, Jessie L. (1972). ''The Legend of Sir Gawain: Studies Upon its Original Scope and Significance''. New York: AMS.
* Whiting, B. J. "Gawain: His Reputation, His Courtesy and His appearance in Chaucer's Squire's Tale." ''Mediaeval Studies'' 9 (1947): 189–234.
*
*
External links
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