Sir Lancelot

[THE FUGITIVE]

Sir Lancelot du Lac (meaning Lancelot of the Lake), alternatively also written as Launcelot and other spellings, is one of the Knights of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend. He typically features as King Arthur's greatest companion, the lord of Joyous Gard and the greatest swordsman and jouster of the age �" until his adulterous affair with Queen Guinevere is discovered, causing a civil war exploited by Mordred which brings about the end of Arthur's kingdom.

His first appearance as a main character is in Chrétien de Troyes' Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart, written in the 12th century. Later, his exploits were expanded upon in the Prose Lancelot, which was further expanded upon for the Lancelot-Grail cycle. His and Lady Elaine's son, Galahad, also becomes a famed knight.

The character Lancelot is first introduced by writer Chrétien de Troyes in the 12th century. In Chrétien's earliest known work Erec and Enide, the name Lancelot appears as third on a list of knights at King Arthur's court. The fact that Lancelot's name follows Gawain and Erec 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. Here, Lancelot takes a more important role as one of the knights that Cligès must overcome in his quest.[4]


Sir Launcelot in the Queen's Chamber by Dante Rossetti (1857)
It is not until Chrétien's Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart (Le Chevalier de la Charrette), however, that Lancelot becomes the protagonist. In this text, he is presented as the most formidable knight at King Arthur's court. His adulterous relationship with the Queen is also introduced in this text. Lancelot is portrayed in Chrétien's work as the bravest of knights and one whom everyone is forced to describe as uniquely perfect. His deeds are recounted for their uniqueness, not only among living knights but of all men who have ever lived.[5] The problem is that critics have been unable to agree on how to reconcile his perfect 'saintliness' with his obvious adultery with King Arthur's wife Queen Guinevere; especially when it is against King Arthur, to whom all knights owe selfless respect.[1] It is also Chrétien who first gives Lancelot the name Lancelot du Lac (Lancelot of the Lake)[6] which was later picked up by the Anglo-French Lancelot-Grail and then Thomas Malory.[7] Lancelot's affair with Guinevere can be also seen as parallel to that of Tristram (or Tristan) and Iseult, with him ultimately identified with the tragedy of chance and human failing that is responsible for the downfall of the Round Table.[8]

It is worthy of note that the theme of Lancelot's adulterous passion for Guinevere is entirely absent from another early work, namely the Lanzelet of Ulrich von Zatzikhoven, a Middle High German epic poem dating from the very end of the 12th century ( no earlier than 1194 ). Ulrich asserts that his poem is a translation from an earlier French work, the provenance of which is given and which must have differed markedly in several points from Chretien's Le Chevalier de la Charrette. In Lanzelet the abductor of Ginover ( Guinevere ) is named as King Valerin, whose name ( unlike that of Chrétien's Meleagant ) does not appear to derive from the Welsh Melwas. Furthermore, her rescuer is not Lanzelet, who, instead, ends by finding happiness in marriage with the curiously-named princess Iblis ( whose name will be more generally familiar as one of those applied to the Devil in the Quran ). It has been suggested that Lancelot, who is mentioned for the first time by Chrétien de Troyes in his first romance Erec and Enide, was originally the hero of a story independent of the adulterous love triangle and perhaps very similar to Ulrich's version. If this is true, then the adultery motif might either have been invented by Chrétien for his Chevalier de la Charrette or been present in the ( now lost ) source provided him by his patroness, Marie de Champagne ( a lady well known for her keen interest in matters relating to Courtly Love).[9][10]

Lancelot is constantly tied to the Christianity associated with Arthurian legend. Lancelot's quest for Guinevere in Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart is similar to Christ's quest for the human soul.[5] This becomes intensified when he becomes the prophesied saviour of the captives of Logres. His adventure among the tombs is described in terms that suggest Christ’s “harrowing of Hell” and resurrection: he effortlessly lifts the lid off the sarcophagus, which bears an inscription foretelling his freeing of the captives.[11]

Lancelot was later associated with the Grail Quest, but Chrétien does not include him at all in his final romance Le conte du graal. This story introduces the Grail motif in medieval literature, and Perceval is the sole seeker of the Grail in Chrétien's treatment. Lancelot's involvement in the Grail legend is first recorded in the Perlesvaus written between 1200 and 1210.[12]