Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), alternatively written as Launcelot and other variants, is a popular character in the

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. The 12th-century writer Geoffr ...

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 chivalri ...

tradition. He is typically depicted as

King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...

's close companion and one of the greatest

Knights of the Round Table The Knights of the Round Table (, , ) are the legendary knights of the fellowship of King Arthur that first appeared in the Matter of Britain literature in the mid-12th century. The Knights are a chivalric order dedicated to ensuring the peace ...

, as well as a secret lover of Arthur's wife,

Guinevere Guinevere ( ; ; , ), 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 mentioned in literature in the early 12th cen ...

. In his most prominent and complete depiction, Lancelot is a beautiful orphaned son of

King Ban Ban of Benoic (Old French: ''Ban de Bénoïc'') is a character in Arthurian legend. King Ban first appeared by this name in the ''Lancelot propre'' part of the 13th-century French Vulgate Cycle as the ruler of the realm in France named (Bénoïc; ...

of the lost kingdom of Benoïc. He is raised in a

fairy A fairy (also called fay, fae, fae folk, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, generally described as anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic, found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Cel ...

realm by the

Lady of the Lake The Lady of the Lake (, , , , ) is a title used by multiple characters in the Matter of Britain, the body of medieval literature and mythology associated with the legend of King Arthur. As either actually fairy or fairy-like yet human enchantres ...

while unaware of his real parentage prior to joining Arthur's court as a young knight and discovering his origins. A hero of many battles, quests and tournaments, and famed as a nearly unrivalled

swordsman Swordsmanship or sword fighting refers to the skills and techniques used in combat and training with any type of sword. The term is modern, and as such was mainly used to refer to smallsword fencing, but by extension it can also be applied to a ...

and jouster, Lancelot soon becomes the lord of the castle

Joyous Gard Joyous Gard (French ''Joyeuse Garde'' and other variants) is a castle featured in the Matter of Britain literature of the legend of King Arthur. It was introduced in the 13th-century French Prose Lancelot, Prose ''Lancelot'' as the home and form ...

and personal champion of Queen Guinevere, to whom he is devoted absolutely. He also develops a close relationship with

Galehaut Galehaut (or Galaha ''l/u''t, Galeho ''l/u''t, Gallehau ''l''t, Galhault, Galeotto, et al.) is a half-giant knight and sovereign prince in Arthurian legend. He is most prominent within the Lancelot-Grail prose cycle where he is a noble enemy ...

and suffers from frequent and sometimes prolonged fits of violent rage and other forms of madness. After Lady Elaine seduces him using magic, their son

Galahad Galahad (), sometimes referred to as Galeas () or Galath (), among other versions of his name (originally ''Galaad'', ''Galaaz'', or ''Galaaus''), is a knight of King Arthur's Round Table and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail in Ar ...

, devoid of his father's flaws of character, becomes the perfect knight that succeeds in completing the greatest of all quests, achieving the

Holy Grail The Holy Grail (, , , ) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miraculous healing powers, sometimes providing eternal youth or sustenanc ...

when Lancelot himself fails due to his sins. Eventually, when Lancelot's

adulterous Adultery is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal consequences, the concept e ...

affair with Guinevere is publicly discovered, it develops into a bloody civil war that, once exploited by

Mordred Mordred or Modred ( or ; Welsh: ''Medraut'' or ''Medrawt'') is a major figure in the legend of King Arthur. The earliest known mention of a possibly historical Medraut is in the Welsh chronicle ''Annales Cambriae'', wherein he and Arthur are a ...

, brings an end to Arthur's kingdom. Lancelot's first datable appearance as main character is found in

Chrétien de Troyes Chrétien de Troyes (; ; 1160–1191) was a French poet and trouvère known for his writing on King Arthur, Arthurian subjects such as Gawain, Lancelot, Perceval and the Holy Grail. Chrétien's chivalric romances, including ''Erec and Enide'' ...

' 12th-century French poem ''

Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart ''Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart'' () is a 12th-century Old French chivalric romance">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... chivalric romance poem by ...

'', which already centered around his

courtly love Courtly love ( ; ) was a medieval European literary conception of love that emphasized nobility and chivalry. Medieval literature is filled with examples of knights setting out on adventures and performing various deeds or services for ladies b ...

for Guinevere. However, another early Lancelot poem, ''

Lanzelet ''Lanzelet'' is a medieval romance written by Ulrich von Zatzikhoven after 1194. History The poem consists of about 9,400 lines arranged in 4-stressed Middle High German couplets. It survives complete in two manuscripts and in fragmentary fo ...

'', a German translation of an unknown French book, did not feature such a motif and the connections between the both texts and their possible common source are uncertain. Later, his character and story was expanded upon Chrétien's tale in the other works of Arthurian romance, especially through the vast ''

Lancelot-Grail The ''Lancelot-Grail Cycle'', also known as the Vulgate Cycle or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is an early 13th-century French Arthurian legend, Arthurian literary cycle consisting of interconnected prose episodes of chivalric romance originally writte ...

'' prose cycle that presented the now-familiar version of his legend following its abridged retelling in ''

Le Morte d'Arthur ' (originally written as '; Anglo-Norman 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 ...

''. Both loyal and treasonous, Lancelot has remained a popular character for centuries and is often reimagined by modern authors.

History

Name and origins

There have been many theories regarding the origins of Lancelot as an

Arthurian romance 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. The 12th-century writer Geoffr ...

character. In those postulated by

Ferdinand Lot Ferdinand Victor Henri Lot ( Le Plessis Piquet, 20 September 1866 – Fontenay-aux-Roses, 20 July 1952) was a French historian and medievalist. His masterpiece, ''The End of the Ancient World and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages'' (1927), ...

and

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 C ...

, Lancelot's figure is related to Llenlleog (Llenlleawc), an Irishman in the early Arthurian Welsh tale ''

Culhwch and Olwen ''Culhwch and 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, , and a fragmented version in the White Book of Rhydderch, . It ...

'' (which associates him with the "headland of Gan n"), and the Welsh hero Llwch Llawwynnauc (most likely a version of the

euhemerised In the fields of philosophy and mythography, euhemerism () is an approach to the interpretation of mythology in which mythological accounts are presumed to have originated from real historical events or personages. Euhemerism supposes that histor ...

Irish deity Lug Lonbemnech, with "''Llwch''" meaning "Lake" in

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

), possibly via a now-forgotten epithet such as ''Lamhcalad'',Bruce, ''The Arthurian Name Dictionary'', pp. 305–306. suggesting that they are the same figure; their similarities beyond the name include wielding a sword and fighting for a cauldron in ''Culhwch'' and ''

Preiddeu Annwn ''Preiddeu Annwfn'' or ''Preiddeu Annwn'' () is a cryptic poem of sixty lines in Middle Welsh, found in the Book of Taliesin. The text recounts an expedition with King Arthur to Annwfn or Annwn, the Otherworld in Welsh. ''Preiddeu Annwfn'' is ...

''. Loomis also linked Lancelot to the Welsh mythological hero

Lleu Llaw Gyffes Lleu Llaw Gyffes (), sometimes incorrectly spelled as Llew Llaw Gyffes, is a hero of Welsh mythology. He appears most prominently in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi, the tale of Math fab Mathonwy, which tells the tale of his birth, his marriag ...

, while T. Gwynn Jones claimed links between Lancelot and

Eliwlod In some old Welsh texts, Eliwlod is a nephew of King Arthur. His father is Madoc, son of Uther Pendragon, an obscure brother of Arthur's mentioned a very few times in Welsh literature. Arthur thought highly of Eliwlod's eloquence. Eliwlod appe ...

(Eliwlad), a nephew of Arthur in the Welsh legend. Proponents of the

Scythia Scythia (, ) or Scythica (, ) was a geographic region defined in the ancient Graeco-Roman world that encompassed the Pontic steppe. It was inhabited by Scythians, an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people. Etymology The names ...

n origins of Arthurian legend have speculated that an early form might have been ''Alanus-à-Lot'', that is "

Alan Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Kurdish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name ** List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' * ...

of the river Lot", and those looking for clues in classical antiquity see elements of Lancelot in the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

mythical figures of Askalos and Mopsus (Moxus). Alfred Anscombe proposed in 1913 that the name "Lancelot" came from Germanic *''Wlancloth'', with roots in the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''wlenceo'' (pride) and ''loða'' (cloak), in connection with

Vinoviloth Vinoviloth are one of the tribes in ''Scandza'' (Scandinavia) mentioned by Jordanes in ''The Origin and Deeds of the Goths, De origine actibusque Getarum'' in the 6th century CE.Gothic chief or tribe mentioned in the 6th-century ''

Getica ''De origine actibusque Getarum'' (''The Origin and Deeds of the Getae''), commonly abbreviated ''Getica'' (), written in Late Latin by Jordanes in or shortly after 551 AD, claims to be a summary of a voluminous account by Cassiodorus of the ori ...

''. According to more recent authors, such as Norma Lorre Goodrich, the name, if not just an invention of the 12th-century French poet

, may have been derived from

Geoffrey of Monmouth Geoffrey of Monmouth (; ; ) was a Catholic cleric from Monmouth, Wales, and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur. He is best known for his chronicle '' The History of ...

's character Anguselaus, probably a Latinised name of Unguist, the name of a son of the 6th-century

Pictish Pictish is an extinct Brittonic Celtic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from late antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geog ...

king Forgus; when translated from Geoffrey's

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

into

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th Maelgwn, king of Maelgwn Gwynedd">Maelgwn, king of

Gwallog, king of Elmet">Gwynedd">Maelgwn Gwynedd">Maelgwn, king of Gwynedd; and Llaennog (Llaenauc), father of Gwallog ap Llaennog">Gwallog, king of Elmet. Lancelot may have been the hero of a popular folk tale that was originally independent but was ultimately absorbed into the Arthurian tradition. The theft of an infant by a water

, the appearance of the hero at a tournament on three consecutive days in three different disguises, and the rescue of a queen or princess from an Celtic Otherworld">Otherworld In historical Indo-European religion, the concept of an otherworld, also known as an otherside, is reconstructed in comparative mythology. Its name is a calque of ''orbis alius'' (Latin for "other world/side"), a term used by Lucan in his desc ...

prison are all features of a well-known and widespread tale, variants of which are found in numerous examples collected by Theodore Hersart de la Villemarqué in his ''Barzaz Breiz'', by Emmanuel Cosquin in his ''Contes Lorrains'', and by John Francis Campbell in his ''Tales of the West Highlands''. As for his name, ''Lancelot'' may be a variant of the French name Lancelin (the word likely meaning

javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon. Today, the javelin is predominantly used for sporting purposes such as the javelin throw. The javelin is nearly always thrown by hand, unlike the sling ...

in Old French) as proposed by

Gaston Paris Bruno Paulin Gaston Paris (; 9 August 1839 – 5 March 1903) was a French literary historian, philologist, and scholar specialized in Romance studies and medieval French literature. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901, ...

in 1881, later supported by

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 ...

. It is also possibly derived from the Old French word ''L'Ancelot'', meaning "Servant" (the hypothesis first put forward by de la Villemarqué in 1842); Lancelot's name is actually written this way in several manuscripts. It is furthermore reminiscent of an uncommon Saxon name Wlanc, meaning "The Proud One". Stephen Pow has recently argued that the name "Lancelot" represents an Old French pronunciation of Hungarian "

László László () is a Hungarian male given name and surname after the King-Knight Saint Ladislaus I of Hungary (1077–1095). It derives from Ladislav, a variant of Vladislav Vladislav ( (', '); , ; Russian language, Russian, Ukrainian language, ...

" (Ladislaus) as inspired by the historical King

Ladislaus I of Hungary Ladislaus I (, , , ; 1040 – 29 July 1095), also known as Saint Ladislas, was King of Hungary from 1077 and King of Croatia from 1091. He was the second son of King Béla I of Hungary and Richeza of Poland, Queen of Hungary, Richeza (or Adela ...

. In the early 1180s, King

Béla III of Hungary Béla III (, , ; 114823 April 1196) was King of Hungary and King of Croatia, Croatia between 1172 and 1196. He was the second son of King Géza II of Hungary, Géza II and Géza's wife, Euphrosyne of Kiev. Around 1161, Géza granted Béla a du ...

was pursuing Ladislaus' canonization as a saint (approved 1192) and a marriage alliance with France through Margaret of France (whom he married 1186). Margaret was the half-sister of Chrétien's patroness,

Marie de Champagne Marie of France (1145 – 11 March 1198) was a Capetian princess who became Countess of Champagne by her marriage to Henry I of Champagne. She ruled the County of Champagne as regent during Henry I's absence from 1179 to 1181; during the minority ...

, and the creation of Lancelot would thus meant to honor the Hungarian king around the time of his marriage to a member of the French royal house.

Chrétien and Ulrich

Lancelot's name appears third on a list of knights at King Arthur's court in the earliest known work featuring him as a character: Chrétien de Troyes' Old French poem ''

Erec and Enide ''Erec and Enide'' () is the first of Chrétien de Troyes' five romance poems, completed around 1170. It is one of three completed works by the author. ''Erec and Enide'' tells the story of the marriage of the titular characters, as well as the ...

'' (1170). The fact that his name follows

Gawain Gawain ( ), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Matter of Britain, Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and one of the premier Knights of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned und ...

and

Erec The Knights of the Round Table (, , ) are the legendary knights of the fellowship of King Arthur that first appeared in the Matter of Britain literature in the mid-12th century. The Knights are a chivalric order dedicated to ensuring the peace ...

indicates the presumed importance of the knight at court, even though he did not figure prominently in Chrétien's tale. Lancelot reappears in Chrétien's ''

Cligès ''Cligès'' (also ''Cligés'') is a poem by the medieval French poet Chrétien de Troyes, dating from around 1176. It is the second of his five Arthurian romances; '' Erec and Enide'', ''Cligès'', ''Yvain'', ''Lancelot'' and ''Perceval''. The ...

'', in which he takes a more important role as one of the knights that Cligès must overcome in his quest. It is not until Chrétien's ''

'' (''Le Chevalier de la charrette''), however, that he becomes the protagonist and is given the full name Lancelot du Lac (Lancelot of the Lake), which was later picked up by the French authors of the

and then by

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'A ...

. Chrétien treats Lancelot as if his audience were already familiar with the character's background, yet most of the characteristics and exploits that are commonly associated with Lancelot today are first mentioned here. The story tells of Lancelot's mad love for Arthur's wife Queen Guinevere, culminating in his rescue of her after she is abducted by Prince Meliagant (also in love for her, but entirely unrequited) to the otherworldly and perilous land of Gorre. In the words of

Matilda Bruckner Matilda Tomaryn Bruckner is an American scholar of medieval French literature. She is an authority on French romance from the twelfth and thirteenth century, and author and editor of four books on romance, Chrétien de Troyes, and the women troubad ...

, "what existed before Chrétien remains uncertain, but there is no doubt that his version became the starting point for all subsequent tales of Lancelot as the knight whose extraordinary prowess is inextricably linked to his love for Arthur's Queen." According to of the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

, "the character of Lancelot, as imagined by Chrétien, is a superb image of the

r pushing the love he bears for his lady to the point of exaltation and ecstasy ... governed by love, Lancelot no longer knows how to see the world around him, he no longer knows who he is." Lancelot's love for Guinevere is entirely absent from another early work, ''

'', a

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; or ; , shortened as ''Mhdt.'' or ''Mhd.'') is the term for the form of High German, High German language, German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High ...

epic poem by

Ulrich von Zatzikhoven Ulrich von Zatzikhoven was the author of the Middle High German Arthurian romance '' Lanzelet''. Ulrich's name and his place of origin ( Zezikon in Switzerland) are only known definitively from the work itself. However, it is generally accepted ...

dating from the very end of the 12th century (no earlier than 1194). Ulrich asserts that his poem is a translation of an earlier work from a "French book" he had obtained, assuring the reader that "there is nothing left out or added compared to what the French book tells." He describes his source as written by a certain Arnaud Daniel in

Provençal dialect Provençal (, , , ; or ) is a variety of Occitan, spoken by people in Provence and parts of Drôme and Gard. The term Provençal used to refer to the entire Occitan language, but more recently it has referred only to the variety of Occitan ...

and which must have differed markedly in several points from Chrétien's story. In ''Lanzelet'', the abductor of Ginover (Guinevere) is named as King Valerin, whose name, unlike that of Chrétien's Meliagant, does not appear to derive from the Welsh Melwas. Furthermore, Ginover's rescuer is not Lanzelet, who instead ends up finding happiness in marriage with the fairy princess

Iblis Iblis (), alternatively known as Eblīs, also known as Shaitan, is the leader of the Shayatin, devils () in Islam. According to the Quran, Iblis was thrown out of Jannah#Jinn, angels, and devils, heaven after refusing to prostrate himself bef ...

. The book's Lancelot is Arthur's nephew, the son of Arthur's sister Queen Clarine, who lost his father King Pant of Genewis to a rebellion. Similar to Chrétien's version, Lanzelet too is raised by a fairy. Here she is elaborated as the aquatic Queen of the Maidenland and is the source of much of his early adventures. The common elements between the two stories indicate that the legend of Lancelot had began as a Fair Unknown romance. It has been suggested that Lancelot was originally the hero of a story independent of the

love triangle A love triangle is a scenario or circumstance, usually depicted as a rivalry, in which two people are pursuing or involved in a romantic relationship with one person, or in which one person in a romantic relationship with someone is simultaneo ...

of Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot, perhaps very similar to Ulrich's version. If this is true, then the motif of adultery might either have been invented by Chrétien for his ''Chevalier de la Charrette'' or have been present in the (now lost) source provided to him by his patroness,

, a lady well known for her keen interest in matters relating to courtly love. Chrétien himself abandoned the poem for unknown reason, perhaps because of his personal distaste for the subject, which was then given by him to and finished by his associate

Godefroi de Leigni Godefroy is a surname of Old French origin, and originally a given name, cognate with Geoffrey/Geoffroy/ Jeffrey/Jeffries, Godfrey, Gottfried, etc. Godefroy or Godefroi may refer to: People Given name * Godefroi, Count of Durbuy (d. before 1 ...

Evolution of the legend

Lancelot fighting the dragons of the Val without return

Lancelot's character was further developed during the early 13th century in the

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...

prose romance Vulgate Cycle, also known as the Lancelot-Grail. There, he appears prominently in the later parts, known as the ''Lancelot en prose'' (Prose ''Lancelot''), the ''Queste del Saint Graal'' (''The Quest for the Holy Grail''), and the ''Mort Artu'' (''The Death of Arthur''). When Chrétien de Troyes wrote at the request of Countess Marie, she was only interested in the romantic relationship between Lancelot and the queen. However, the Prose ''Lancelot'' greatly expands the story: he is assigned a family, a descent from lost kingdom (similar to his backstory in ''Lanzelet''), and many further adventures. Gaston Paris argued that the Guinevere-Meleagant episode of the Prose ''Lancelot '' is an almost literal adaptation of Chrétien's poem, the courtly love theme of which seemed to be forced on the unwilling Chrétien by Marie, though it can be seen as a considerable amplification. Much of the Prose ''Lancelot'' material from the Vulgate Cycle has been soon later removed in the rewriting known as the Post-Vulgate Cycle, where Lancelot is no longer the central protagonist, with the surviving parts being reworked and attached to the other parts of this cycle. Lancelot is often tied to the religiously Christian themes within the genre of Arthurian romance. His quest for Guinevere in ''Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart'' is similar to Christ's quest for the human soul.Raabe, Pamela (1987). ''Chretien's Lancelot and the Sublimity of Adultery.'' Toronto Quarterly. 57: 259–270. His adventure among the tombs is described in terms that suggest Christ's

harrowing of Hell In Christian theology, the Harrowing of Hell (; Greek language, Greek: – "the descent of Christ into Christian views on Hell, Hell" or Christian views on Hades, Hades) is the period of time between the Crucifixion of Jesus and his Resurre ...

and

resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions involving the same person or deity returning to another body. The disappearance of a body is anothe ...

; he effortlessly lifts the lid off the sarcophagus, which bears an inscription foretelling his freeing of the captives. Lancelot would later become one of the chief knights associated with the Quest for the

, yet Chrétien did not include him at all in his final romance, the unfinished '' Perceval, le Conte du Graal'' (''Perceval, or the Story of the Grail'') which introduced the Grail motif into medieval literature.

Perceval Perceval (, also written Percival, Parzival, Parsifal), alternatively called Peredur (), is a figure in the legend of King Arthur, often appearing as one of the Knights of the Round Table. First mentioned by the French author Chrétien de Tro ...

is the sole seeker of the Grail in Chrétien's treatment; Lancelot's involvement in the Grail quest is first recorded in the prose romance ''

Perlesvaus ''Perlesvaus'', also called ''Li Hauz Livres du Graal'' (''The High Book of the Grail''), is an Old French Arthurian romance from the 13th century. It purports to be a continuation of romance (heroic literature)">romance from the 13th century. ...

'', written between 1200 and 1210.

Robert de Boron Robert de Boron (also spelled in the manuscripts "Roberz", "Borron", "Bouron", "Beron") was a French poet active around the late 12th and early 13th centuries, notable as the reputed author of the poems and ''Merlin''. Although little is known of ...

-inspired tradition of the Vulgate Cycle gives Lancelot a Biblical lineage, counting

King David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Damas ...

and

King Solomon King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a constitutional monarch if his power is restrained by f ...

among his ancient ancestors, but also makes him fail in the Grail Quest because of his sins. German romance ''

Diu Crône ''Diu Crône'' () 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 author thoug ...

'' gives Lancelot aspects of solar deity type hero, making his strength peak during high noon, a characteristic usually associated with Gawain. 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 , there was no overarching sta ...

so-called

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 ...

(c. 1320) contains seven Arthurian romances, including a new Lancelot one, folded into the three parts of the cycle. This new formulation of a Lancelot romance in the Netherlands indicates the character's widespread popularity independent of the Lancelot-Grail cycle. In this story, ''Lanceloet en het Hert met de Witte Voet'' ("Lancelot and the Hart with the White Foot"), he fights seven lions to get the white foot from a hart (deer) which will allow him to marry a princess. Near the end of the 15th century, Malory's ''

'' followed the Lancelot-Grail in presenting Lancelot as the best knight, a departure from the preceding English tradition in which Gawain had been the most prominent. The forbidden love affair between Lancelot and Guinevere can be seen as a parallel to that of

Tristan and Iseult Tristan and Iseult, also known as Tristan and Isolde and other names, is a medieval chivalric romance told in numerous variations since the 12th century. Of disputed source, usually assumed to be primarily Celtic nations, Celtic, the tale is a ...

, with Lancelot ultimately being identified with the tragedy of chance and human failing that is responsible for the downfall of the

Round Table The Round Table (; ; ; ) is King Arthur's famed table (furniture), table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status, unlike co ...

in the later works continuing Chrétien's story. In ''

Perceforest ''Perceforest'' or ''Le Roman de Perceforest'' is an anonymous prose chivalric romance, written in French probably around 1340 with lyrical interludes of poetry, that describes a fictional origin of Great Britain and provides an original genesi ...

'', the different daughters of the ancient knight Lyonnel and the fairy queen Blanchete are actually ancestors of both Lancelot and Guinevere, as well as of

Tristan Tristan (Latin/ Brythonic: ''Drustanus''; ; ), also known as Tristran or Tristram and similar names, is the folk hero of the legend of Tristan and Iseult. While escorting the Irish princess Iseult to wed Tristan's uncle, King Mark of ...

Cyclical prose tradition

Birth and childhood

The Lady Nymue beareth away Launcelot into the Lakes

In his backstory, as told in the Vulgate Cycle, Lancelot is born "in the borderland between

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

and

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

" as Galahad (originally written ''Galaad'' or ''Galaaz'', not to be confused with his own son of the same name), son of the

Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization (cultural), Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire in Roman Gaul. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, Roman culture, language ...

ruler

of Bénoïc (English 'Benwick', corresponding to the eastern part of

Anjou Anjou may refer to: Geography and titles France *County of Anjou, a historical county in France and predecessor of the Duchy of Anjou **Count of Anjou, title of nobility *Duchy of Anjou, a historical duchy and later a province of France ** Du ...

). Ban's kingdom has just fallen to his enemy, King Claudas, and the mortally wounded king and his wife Queen Élaine flee the destruction of their final stronghold of Trebe or Trébes (likely the historic Trèves Castle in today's

Chênehutte-Trèves-Cunault Chênehutte-Trèves-Cunault () is a former commune in the Maine-et-Loire department of western France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Gennes-Val-de-Loire. It was created by the merger of the commune of Chênehutte-les-T ...

), carrying the infant child with them. As Elaine tends to her dying husband, Lancelot is carried off by a fairy enchantress known as the

; the surviving Elaine will later become a nun. In an alternate version as retold in the Italian ''

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 ...

'', Lancelot is born when the late Ban's wife Gostanza delivers him two months early and soon after also dies. The Lady then raises the child in her magical realm. After three years pass in human world, the child Lancelot grows up and matures much faster than he would naturally do, and it is from this upbringing that he earns the name ''du Lac''of the Lake. His double-cousins Lionel and

Bors the Younger Bors (; ) 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) during the early period o ...

, sons of King Bors of Gaul and Elaine's sister Evaine, are first taken by a knight of Claudas and later spirited away to the Lady of the Lake to become Lancelot's junior companions. Lancelot's other notable surviving kinsmen often include Bleoberis de Ganis and

Hector de Maris The Knights of the Round Table (, , ) are the legendary knights of the fellowship of King Arthur that first appeared in the Matter of Britain literature in the mid-12th century. The Knights are a chivalric order dedicated to ensuring the peace ...

among other and usually more distant relatives. Many of them will also join him at the Round Table, as do all of those mentioned above, as well as some of their sons, such as Elyan the White, and Lancelot's own son, too. In the prose ''Lancelot'', the more or less minor

also mentioned as related to Lancelot in one way or another are Aban, Acantan the Agile, Banin, Blamor, Brandinor, Crinides the Black, Danubre the Brave, Gadran, Hebes the Famous, Lelas, Ocursus the Black, Pincados, Tanri, and more (they are different and fewer in Malory). An early part of the Vulgate ''Lancelot'' also describes in a great detail what made him (in a translation by Norris J. Lacy) "the most handsome lad in the land", noting the feminine qualities of his hands and neck and the just right amount of musculature. Diverging on Lancelot's personality, the narration then adds his proneness to berserk-like combat frenzy to his mental instability already prominent Chrétien's version (where Lancelot is notably relentless on his quest to rescue Guinevere, leaping into danger without thinking and ignoring wounds and pain):

King Arthur's court

Lancelot's initial adventures (also in Malory) are of the "Fair Unknown" type, expanding on Chrétien's story and accordingly intertwining his quest for identity with the love for Guinevere. Initially known only as the nameless White Knight (''Chevalier Blanc''), clad in silver steel on a white horse, the young Lancelot (claiming to be 18 years old, although it is later revealed that he is really only 15) arrives in Arthur's kingdom of

Logres Logres (among various other forms and spellings) is King Arthur's realm in the Matter of Britain. The geographical area referred to by the name is south and eastern England. However, Arthurian writers such as Chrétien de Troyes and Wolfram von ...

with the Lady of the Lake to be knighted by the king at her behest. The Lady equips him a powerful magic ring able to dispel any enchantment (as does his anonymous fairy foster mother also does in Chrétien's version; later parts of the Vulgate ''Lancelot'' instead

retcon Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in fictional story telling whereby facts and events established through the narrative itself are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subsequently published work ...

this as given to him by Guinevere). She also provides Lancelot with other enchanted items with various magical abilities, including a lance, a sword, a tent, and a mirror. The Lady, or her damsels, continue to aid him throughout the Vulgate ''Lancelot''. He later assumes the name of his grandfather, King Lancelot, upon discovering his identity. Lancelot is eventually convinced to become a member of King Arthur's elite order of the

after freeing the Arthur's nephew

from captivity in the Dolorous Tower episode. He then becomes one of Arthur's closes and most trusted friends, and his greatest knight. As such, he plays a decisive role in the war against the

Saxons The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

Lothian Lothian (; ; ) 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 Scottish capital, Edinburgh, while other signific ...

(Scotland), when he again rescues Gawain as well as Arthur himself from Castle Saxon Rock and captures the Saxon witch-princess Camille. Single-handedly, he saves Arthur's kingdom from conquest by the half-giant

and convinces the latter to join Arthur. Expanding on the account from the Alliterative ''Morte Arthure'', Malory also has his Lancelot act as one of the chief leaders in Arthur's Roman War, including personally saving the wounded

Bedivere Bedivere ( or ; ; ; , 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-handed great warrior named Bedwyr Bedrydant. Arthurian ...

during the final battle against

Emperor Lucius Lucius Tiberius (sometimes Lucius Hiberius, or just simply Lucius; also Thereus in ''Claris et Laris'') is a Western Roman procurator or emperor from Arthurian legend in which he is killed in a war against King Arthur. First appearing in Geoffrey ...

. Since much of ''Le Morte'' was not composed chronologically, the Roman episode actually takes place within Malory's Book II, prior to Book III that relates Lancelot's youth.

Guinevere and knight-errantry

Almost immediately upon his arrival, Lancelot and the young Queen Guinevere fall in love through a strange magical connection between them, and one of his adventures in the prose cycles involves saving her from abduction by Arthur's enemy Maleagant. The exact timing and sequence of events vary from one source to another, and some details are found only in certain sources. The Maleagant episode actually marked the end of the original, non-cyclic version of the Prose ''Lancelot'' (before the later much longer versions), telling of only of the hero's childhood and early youth. In the Prose ''Lancelot'', he is actually knighted by Guinevere instead of by Arthur. In Malory's abridged telling in ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', Lancelot's knighting is performed by the King, and both Lancelot's rescue of the Queen from Meleagant and the physical consummation of their relationship is postponed for years. As described by Malory, after having broken through the iron bars of her prison chamber with his bare hands, "''Sir Launcelot wente to bedde with the Quene and toke no force of his hurte honed, but toke his plesaunce and hys lyknge untyll hit was the dawning of the day.''" This transgression takes place late in Malory's telling, following Lancelot's failure in the

Grail Quest The Holy Grail (, , , ) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miraculous healing powers, sometimes providing eternal youth or sustenanc ...

. Nevertheless, just as in Malory's "French book" source, his Lancelot too devotes himself to the service of Guinevere early on in his tale. Several (far from all) of Lancelot's initial

knight-errant A knight-errant (or knight errant) is a figure of medieval chivalric romance literature. The adjective '' errant'' (meaning "wandering, roving") indicates how the knight-errant would wander the land in search of adventures to prove his chivalric ...

style adventures from the Vulgate Cycle did make their way into Malory's compilation. These episodes range defeating the mighty villain Turquine who had been holding several of Arthur's knights prisoner, to slaying a duo of giant knights (in the Vulgate, the locals then declare Lancelot their lord and try to make him stay with them). He also emerges victorious from a number of tournaments, among them once when fighting on behalf of Maleagant's father

King Bagdemagus Bagdemagus (pronounced /ˈbægdɛˌmægəs/), also known as ''Bademagu'', ''Bademagus'', ''Bademaguz'', ''Bagdemagu'', ''Bagomedés'', ''Baldemagu'', ''Baldemagus'', ''Bandemagu'', ''Bandemagus'', ''Bangdemagew'', ''Baudemagu'', ''Baudemagus'', a ...

. Lancelot dedicates his deeds to his lady Guinevere, acting in her name as her knight. At one point, he goes mad when he is led to believe that Guinevere doubts his love until he is found and healed by the Lady of the Lake. Another instance of Lancelot temporarily losing his mind occurs during his brief imprisonment by Camille, after which he is cured by the Lady of the Lake as well. The motif of his recurring fits of madness (especially "in presence of sexually charged women") and suicidal tendencies (usually relating to the false or real news of the death of either Gawain or Galehaut) return often throughout the Vulgate and sometimes in other versions as well. He also may harbor a darker, more violent side that is usually suppressed by the

chivalric code Chivalry, or the chivalric language, is an informal and varying code of conduct that developed in Europe between 1170 and 1220. It is associated with the medieval Christian institution of knighthood, with knights being members of various chiva ...

but can become easily unleashed during the moments of action. Nevertheless, the Vulgate ''Lancelot'' notes that "for all the knights in the world he was the one most unwilling to hurt any lady or maiden." At one point, Lancelot (up to then still going as just the White Knight) conquers and wins for himself a castle in Britain, known as

(a former Dolorous Gard), where he learns his real name and heritage, taking the name of his illustrious ancestor Lancelot as his own. With the help of King Arthur, Lancelot then defeats Claudas (and his allied Romans in the Vulgate) and recovers his father's kingdom. However, he again decides to remain at Camelot, along with his cousins Bors and Lionel and his illegitimate half-brother Hector de Maris (Ector).

Guinevere's rivals and Galehaut

Lancelot becomes one of the most famous Knights of the Round Table, even attested as the best knight in the world in Malory's own episode of Sir Urry of Hungary, as well as an object of desire by many ladies, beginning with the gigantic Lady of Malehaut when he is her captive early on in the Vulgate ''Lancelot''. An evil sorceress named Hellawes wants him for herself so obsessively that, failing in having him either dead or alive in Malory's chapel perilous episode, she soon herself dies from sorrow. Similarly,

Elaine of Astolat Elaine of Astolat (), also known as Elayne of Ascolat and other variants of the name, is a figure in Arthurian legend. She is a lady from the castle of Astolat who dies of her unrequited love for Sir Lancelot. Well-known versions of her story a ...

(Vulgate's ''Demoiselle d'Escalot'', in modern times better known as "

the Lady of Shalott "The Lady of Shalott" () is a lyrical ballad by the 19th-century English poet Alfred Tennyson and one of his best-known works. Inspired by the 13th-century Italian short prose text '' Donna di Scalotta'', the poem tells the tragic story of El ...

"), also dies of heartbreak due to her

unrequited love Unrequited love or one-sided love is love that is not openly reciprocated or understood as such by the beloved. The beloved may not be aware of the admirer's deep affection, or may consciously reject it knowing that the admirer admires them. Me ...

of Lancelot. On his side, Lancelot falls in a mutual but purely

platonic love Platonic love is a type of love in which sexual desire or romantic features are nonexistent or have been suppressed or sublimated, but it means more than simple friendship. The term is derived from the name of Greek philosopher Plato, tho ...

with an avowed virgin maiden, whom Malory calls Amable (unnamed in the Vulgate). Lancelot, incognito as the

Black Knight The black knight is a literary stock character who masks his identity and that of his liege by not displaying heraldry. Black knights are usually portrayed as villainous figures who use this anonymity for misdeeds. They are often contrasted with ...

(on another occasion he disguises himself as the

Red Knight Red Knight (, , ) is a title borne by several characters in the Arthurian legend. Legend Tales of Perceval The Red Knight prominently appears in the tales of the hero Perceval as his early enemy. * In Chrétien de Troyes' ''Perceval, the Stor ...

as well), plays decisive role in the war against the powerful foreign invader, Prince Galehaut (Galahaut). Galehaut is poised to become the victor and conquer Arthur's kingdom, but he is taken by Lancelot's amazing battlefield performance and offers him a boon in return for the privilege of one night's company in the bivouac. Lancelot accepts and uses his boon to demand that Galehaut surrender peacefully to Arthur. Galehaut then becomes Lancelot's self-proclaimed vassal and the king's ally, later joining the Round Table after Lancelot finally does. The exact nature of Galehaut's passion for Lancelot is a subject of debate among modern scholars, with some interpreting it as intimate friendship and others as love similar to that between Lancelot and Guinevere. Galehaut is obsessed with having Lancelot all for himself. Publicly submissive to Lancelot by his own choice, he is constantly acting very possessive of him regarding both Guinevere and Arthur, so much that Gawain comments that Galehaut is more jealous of Lancelot than any knight is of his lady. At first, Lancelot goes to live with Galehaut in his home country of Sorelois. Guinevere joins them there after Lancelot saves her from the bewitched Arthur during the " false Guinevere" episode. After that, Arthur invites Galahaut to join the Round Table. Galahaut is also the one who convinces Guinevere that she may return Lancelot's affection. In the Prose ''Tristan'' and its adaptations, including the account within the post-Vulgate ''Queste'', Lancelot himself harbors in his castle the fugitive lovers

and

Iseult Iseult ( ), alternatively Isolde ( ) and other spellings, is the name of several characters in the legend of Tristan and Iseult. The most prominent is Iseult the Blonde, or Iseult of Ireland, the wife of Mark of Cornwall and the lover of Trista ...

as they flee from the vengeful King

Mark of Cornwall Mark of Cornwall (, , , ) was a sixth-century King of History of Cornwall, Kernow (Cornwall), possibly identical with King Conomor. As Mark or Marc (''Marc'h''), he is best known for his appearance in King Arthur, Arthurian legend as the uncle o ...

Sir Launcelot lay asleep under the apple tree

Faithful to Queen Guinevere, he refuses the forceful advances of Queen

Morgan le Fay Morgan le Fay (; Welsh language, Welsh and Cornish language, Cornish: Morgen; with ''le Fay'' being garbled French language, French ''la Fée'', thus meaning 'Morgan the Fairy'), alternatively known as Morgan , Morgain /e Morgant Mor ...

, Arthur's enchantress sister. Morgan constantly attempts to seduce Lancelot, whom she at once lustfully loves and hates with the same great intensity. She even kidnaps him repeatedly, once with her coven of fellow magical queens including

Sebile Sebile, alternatively written as Sedile, Sebille, Sibilla, Sibyl, Sybilla, and other similar names, is a mythical medieval queen or princess who is frequently portrayed as a fairy or an enchantress in the Arthurian legend and Italian folklore. S ...

. On one occasion (as told in the prose ''Lancelot''), Morgan agrees to temporarily release Lancelot to save Gawain, on the condition that Lancelot will return to her immediately afterwards; she then sets him free under the further condition that he not spend any time with either Guinevere or Galehaut for a year. This condition causes Lancelot to go half mad, and Galehaut to fall sick out of longing for him. Galehaut eventually dies of anguish, after he receives a false rumour of Lancelot's suicide.

Elaine, Galahad and the Grail

Princess

Elaine of Corbenic Elaine, also known under many other names and identified as the "Grail Maiden" or the "Grail Bearer",''Arthurian Women''. www.timelessmyths.com. Jimmy Joe, 1999. is a character from Arthurian legend. In the Arthurian chivalric romance tradition f ...

, daughter of 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 impoten ...

, also falls in love with him but is more successful than the others. With the help of magic, Lady Elaine tricks Lancelot into believing that she is Guinevere, and thus makes him sleep with her by deception. The ensuing pregnancy results in the birth of his son

, whom Elaine will send off to grow up without a father. Galahad later emerges as the

Merlin The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...

-prophesied Good Knight, destined for great deeds, who will find the Holy Grail. But Guinevere learns of their affair, and becomes furious when she finds that Elaine has made Lancelot sleep with her by magic trickery for a second time and in Guinevere's own castle. She blames Lancelot and banishes him from Camelot. Broken by her reaction, Lancelot goes mad again. He flees and vanishes, wandering the wilderness for (either two or five) years. During this time, he is searched for by the remorseful Guinevere and the others. Eventually, he arrives back at

Corbenic Corbenic (Carbone ''c''k, Corbin) is the name of the Grail castle, the edifice housing the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend. It is a magical domain of the Grail keeper, often known as the Fisher King. The castle's descriptions vary greatly in dif ...

, where he is recognised by Elaine. Lancelot, shown the Holy Grail through a veil, is cured of his madness, and then chooses to live with her on a remote isle, where he is known incognito as the Wicked Knight (''Chevalier Malfait'', the French form also used by Malory). After ten years pass, Lancelot is finally found by Perceval and Ector, who meanwhile have been sent to look for him by Guinevere (the prose ''Lancelot'' narrates the adventures of them and various other knights in the Quest for Lancelot). Adoubement de Galaad

Upon his return to the court of Camelot, Lancelot takes part in the great Grail Quest. The quest is initiated by Lancelot's estranged son, the young teenage Galahad, having prevailed over his father in a duel during his own dramatic arrival at Camelot, among other acts that proved him as the most perfect knight. Following further adventures, during which he experiences defeat and humiliation, Lancelot himself is again allowed only a glimpse of the Grail because he is an adulterer and was distracted from faith in God by earthly honours that came through his knightly prowess. Instead, it is his spiritually-pure son who ultimately achieves the Grail. Galahad's also virgin companions, Lancelot's cousin Bors the Younger and Pellinore's son Perceval, then witness his

ascension Ascension or ascending may refer to: Religion * "Ascension", the belief in some religions that some individuals have ascended into Heaven without dying first. The Catholic concept of the Assumption of Mary leaves open the question of her deat ...

into the Heaven. As noted by

George Brown George Brown may refer to: Arts and entertainment * George Loring Brown (1814–1889), American landscape painter * George Douglas Brown (1869–1902), Scottish novelist * George Williams Brown (1894–1963), Canadian historian and editor * Ge ...

, while "Galahad is the typological descendant of

Solomon Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...

through

Joseph of Arimathea Joseph of Arimathea () is a Biblical figure who assumed responsibility for the burial of Jesus after Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion. Three of the four Biblical Canon, canonical Gospels identify him as a member of the Sanhedrin, while the ...

, Lancelot is equivalent to

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

, the warrior-sinner."

Conflict with Arthur

Ultimately, Lancelot's affair with Guinevere is a destructive force, which was glorified and justified in the Vulgate ''Lancelot'' but becomes condemned by the time of the Vulgate ''Queste''. After his failure in the Grail quest, Lancelot tries to live a chaste life, angering Guinevere who sends him away, although they soon reconcile and resume their relationship as it had been before Elaine and Galahad. When Maleagant tries to prove Guinevere's infidelity, he is killed by Lancelot in a

trial by combat Trial by combat (also wager of battle, trial by battle or judicial duel) was a method of Germanic law to settle accusations in the absence of witnesses or a confession in which two parties in dispute fought in single combat; the winner of the ...

. Lancelot also saves the Queen from an accusation of murder by poison when he fights as her

champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, Competition, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world champi ...

against Mador de la Porte upon his timely return in another episode included in Malory's version. In all, Lancelot fights in five such duels throughout the prose ''Lancelot''. However, after the truth about Lancelot and Guinevere is finally revealed to Arthur by Morgan, it leads to the death of three of Gawain's brothers (

Agravain Agravain or Agravaine ( ) 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 ...

Gaheris Gaheris ( ; , ''Gaheriés'', etc.) is a Knight of the Round Table and a relative of King Arthur in the chivalric romance tradition of the Arthurian legend. Usually, Gaheris is the third son of own of Arthur's half-sisters and her husband Lot, t ...

and

Gareth Gareth (; Old French: ''Guerehet'', ''Guerrehet'', etc.) is a Knights of the Round Table">Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend. He is the youngest son of King Lot and Morgause, Queen Morgause, King Arthur's half-sister, thus making hi ...

) when Lancelot with his family and followers arrive to violently save the condemned queen from being burned at the stake. During her rescue, the rampaging Lancelot and his companions slaughter the men sent by Arthur to guard the execution, including those who went unwilling and unarmed (as did Lancelot's own close friend Gareth, whose head he crushes in a blind rage). In Malory's version, Agravain is killed by Lancelot earlier, during his bloody escape from Camelot, as well as Florent and Lovel, two of Gawain's sons (Arthur's nephews) who accompanied Agravain and

in their ambush of Lancelot in Guinevere's chambers along with several other knights from Scotland. In the Vulgate ''Mort Artu'', Lancelot's now-vacated former seat at the Round Table is given to an Irish knight named Elians. The killing of Arthur's loyal knights, including some of the king's own relatives, sets in motion the events leading to the treason by Mordred and the disappearance and apparent death of Arthur. The civil war between Arthur and Lancelot was introduced in the Vulgate ''Mort Artu'', where it replaced the great Roman War taking place at the end of Arthur's reign in the chronicle tradition. What first occurs is a series of engagements waged against Lancelot's faction by Arthur and the vengeful Gawain; they besiege Lancelot at Joyous Gard for two months and then pursue him with their army into Gaul (France in Malory). The eventual result of this is the betrayal of Arthur by Mordred, the king's bastard son (and formerly one of Lancelot's young followers), who falsely announces Arthur's death to seize the throne for himself. Meanwhile, Gawain challenges Lancelot to a duel twice; each time Lancelot delays because of Gawain's enchantment that makes him grow stronger between morning and noon. Lancelot then strikes down Gawain with Galahad's sword but spares Gawain's life (in the Vulgate, despite being urged by Hector to finish him off). However, Gawain's head wound nevertheless proves to be fatal later, when it reopens during the war with Mordred back in Britain. Upon receiving a desperate letter from the dying Gawain offering him forgiveness and asking for his help in the fight against Mordred, Lancelot hurries to return to Britain with his army, only to hear the news of Arthur's death at

Salisbury Plain Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies within the county of Wiltshire, but st ...

(romance version of the

Battle of Camlann The Battle of Camlann ( or ''Brwydr Camlan'') is the legendary final battle of King Arthur, in which Arthur either died or was mortally wounded while fighting either alongside or against Mordred, who also perished. The original legend of Caml ...

Late years and death

There are two main variants of Lancelot's demise, both involving him spending his final years removed from society as a hermit monk. In the original from the variants of ''Mort Artu'', after mourning his king, Lancelot abandons society, with exception of his later participation in a victorious war against the young sons of Mordred and their Briton supporters and Saxon allies that provides him with partial atonement for his earlier role in the story. It happens shortly after the death of Guinevere, as Lancelot personally kills one of Mordred's sons after chasing him through a forest in the battle at

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

, but himself goes abruptly missing. Lancelot dies of illness four years later, accompanied only by Hector, Bleoberis, and the former

archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

. It is implied that he wished to be buried beside the king and queen, however, he had made a vow some time before to be buried at Joyous Gard next to Galehaut, so he asks to be buried there to keep his word. In the Post-Vulgate, the burial site and bodies of Lancelot and Galehaut are later destroyed by King Mark when he ravages Arthur's former kingdom. There is no war with the sons of Mordred in the version included in ''Le Morte d'Arthur''. In it, Guinevere blames all the destruction of the Round Table upon their adulterous relationship, which is the seed of all the dismay that followed, and becomes a nun. She refuses to kiss Lancelot one last time, telling him to return to his lands and that he will never see her face again. Upon hearing this, Lancelot declares that if she will take a life of

penitence Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of contrition for sins committed, as well as an alternative name for the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession. The word ''penance'' derives ...

, then so will he. Lancelot retires to a hermitage to seek redemption, with eight of his kin joining him in a monastic life, including Hector. As a monk, he later conducts

last rites The last rites, also known as the Commendation of the Dying, are the last prayers and ministrations given to an individual of Christian faith, when possible, shortly before death. The Commendation of the Dying is practiced in liturgical Chri ...

over Guinevere's body (who had become an abbess). In a dream, he is warned that she is dying and sets out to visit her, but Guinevere prays that she might die before he arrives, which she does; as she had declared, he never saw her face again in life. After the queen's death, Lancelot and his fellow knights escort her body to be interred beside King Arthur. The distraught Lancelot's health then begins to fail (''Le Morte d'Arthur'' states that even before this time, he had lost a cubit of height due to his

fasting Fasting is the act of refraining from eating, and sometimes drinking. However, from a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (before "breakfast"), or to the metabolic sta ...

s and prayers) and he dies six weeks after the death of the queen. His eight companions return to France to take care of the affairs of their lands before, acting on Lancelot's death-bed request, they go on a

crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

to the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

and die there fighting the

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Rom ...

s ("

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic lang ...

" in Malory). In the 14th-century romance ''Ysaÿe le Triste'', a hermit uses Lancelot's exhumed skeletal arm to knight the anonymous son of Tristan "by the hand of one of the best knights in the world."

Gallery

File:IRHT 305652 2 P.jpg, "How Lancelot fought the six knights of Chastel d'Uter to save the knight of the badly-cut coat." (''

Tristan en prose The Prose ''Tristan'' (French: '' oman de' ''Tristan en prose''), also known as ''Tristan de Léonois,'' is a 13th-century Old French adaptation of the Tristan and Iseult">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to ...

'' c. 1479–1480) File:IRHT 094618 2 P.jpg, Lancelot, dressed in brown, living with his companions in a hermit hut at the end of his life (''Tristan en prose'' c. 1450–1460) N. C. Wyeth's illustrations from '' The Boy's King Arthur''"> File:Boys King Arthur - N. C. Wyeth - p38.jpg, Facing Turquine: "I am Sir Launcelot du Lake, King Ban's son of Benwick." File:Boys King Arthur - N. C. Wyeth - p246.jpg, "Sir Mador's spear broke all to pieces, but his spear held." File:Boys King Arthur - N. C. Wyeth - p52.jpg, "

ancelot Ancelot is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Jacques-François Ancelot (1794–1854), French dramatist and litterateur *Virginie Ancelot (1792–1875), French painter, writer, and playwright {{Short pages monitor