Le Morte D’ Arthur

The story of King Arthur begins with his father, Uther Pendragon, the High King of Britain. The office of High King was created so that all the little kingdoms and duchies of Britain could unite under one leader in their fight against the invading Saxons.

After a decisive victory over the Saxons, Uther decided to have a celebration to which all the kings and dukes of Britain could attend. The most powerful of these was Gorlois Terrible, or the Duke of Cornwall, a man in his forties who was married to the most beautiful woman in all Britain, Ygraine.

Duke Gorlois Terrible bragged that he had the most beautiful wife, and he made his wife dance for all of the men. Uther fell in love with Ygraine, and his actions (sitting her beside him at all the banquets, leading all the dances with her, and other things) made Gorlois so jealous that he violated one rule of court – never leave without the permission on the king.

Gorlois took Ygraine to his stronghold of Tintagel (located on a rocky spit of land connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway), and then he gathered his army to await the arrival of Uther.

Uther gathered his army to punish Gorlois, first for showing disrespect to the office of High King, and second for taking Ygraine away. Uther was obsessed with Ygraine. He had had other women, but none inflamed his passion as she had.

He sought help from Merlin the Magician who was skilled at deception, magic, and foresight. Merlin agreed to help Uther on one condition – the child conceived during the night Uther spent with Ygraine would be given to Merlin to raise.

Merlin had discovered not only that Gorlois would slip away from his army once or twice a week to spend the night with Ygraine, but also the watchwords that would allow one access to Tintagel. So, using magic and make up, Merlin got Uther into the castle about midnight.

Three hours later Uther left, but soon after, a message came from Gorlois’ army – at midnight he had attacked Uther’s camp and had been killed. Then who, the folk of the castle wondered, had been with Ygraine? It must have been Gorlois’ spirit, held to earth by his love for her for one more tryst.

Uther was furious with Merlin – why did he not tell Uther that Gorlois would die so soon? Because, said Merlin, the child that would be the greatest king of Britain had to have been conceived that night.

True to his word, Uther gave the baby – Arthur – to Merlin. After all, reasoned Uther, he and Ygraine could have more children.

So Merlin took the baby to Northumbria to a poor but loyal knight, Sir Ector, who agreed to raise the child with his own son Kay. So Arthur grew up safe in the north of Britain, never knowing his family.

Meanwhile, Uther and Ygraine had no more living children, and Uther grew old fighting the Saxons. Uther knew he needed an heir so that the kings and dukes of Britain would not squabble over who would be the next High King when he died – doing so would leave Britain open to attack.

Merlin promised Uther that the Britons would accept Arthur as the rightful king. He and the Bishop of London took Uther’s sword, engraved it with the words “He who pulls this sword from this stone is rightwise the king of England,” and made it pierce an anvil and a stone set up in a churchyard in London.

When Uther died, all the kings and dukes and knights came from the length and breadth of England to try pulling the sword from the stone – but it would not budge.

So the decision was made to hold a tournament, the winner of which would be the High King, for the Saxons were delighted that their nemesis Uther was dead and were preparing to invade.

Sir Ector brought his boys to the tournament Sir Ector brought his boys to the tournament. Kay had become a knight, and Arthur was his squire. Arthur, knowing nothing of his family, was content with his lot as a squire, knowing that without the proper family background he could never be a knight.

On the first day of the tournament, Arthur prepared Kay’s equipment – but there was no sword! Arthur had left it at the inn! He raced back, but everybody was at the tournament and the inn was locked! Racing back, he noticed in a churchyard a sword sticking out of an anvil. He tried to pull the sword from the stone; it wiggled, then pulled it out and took it to Kay.

At the tournament, the knights recognized the sword, but they disbelieved that Arthur had pulled it. They marched him back to the churchyard and had him replace the sword; then, one by one, they all tried to pull it out, but failed. Arthur then pulled it out. (In some versions of the story, they made him pull the sword three separate times.) Merlin and the Bishop of London explained to the crowd who Arthur was, and they accepted him as the High King.

Soon after, the Saxons invaded, and the Britons, united under Arthur, defeated them. In the celebration following their victory, Arthur, like many of the men, enjoyed the company of a woman. However, this was a disaster, for the woman was Morgause, Arthur’s half sister.

He had no knowledge of her existence, but she knew of his, and she was determined to lead him into a sin that would give her control over him. Merlin discovered them the morning after. Arthur, ashamed at what he had innocently done, believed that Morgause was just as innocent as he. Merlin knew her conniving nature, however, and arranged for her marriage to King Lot of the Orkney Islands in the extreme North.

Arthur spent most of the next fifteen years driving the Saxons from Britain’s shores and establishing peace with his neighbors. It was now time for him to marry and get himself an heir. As part of a peace treaty with a Welsh king, Arthur married Guinevere, with whom he was in love.

She, although she loved him as a good man and a great king, was not in love with him. This caused great problems later with the arrival of the French knight Lancelot who, hearing of the great deeds of Arthur and his court, wished to be part of it.

Guinevere and Lancelot fell in love, but they could do nothing about it. There was no such thing as divorce, and a queen in love with a man other than her husband is guilty of treason, punishable by burning at the stake.

All went well for years until the arrival of Mordred, son of Morgana. The world and King Lot believed Mordred was Lot’s son, but he was Arthur’s.

Arthur, once more filled with the guilt of his great sin, declared that, since he and Guinevere had no children, Mordred would be his heir.

Mordred was just as conniving as his mother who had raised him to hate Arthur.

Finding out the secret of Guinevere and Lancelot’s love, Mordred arranged for them to be caught alone together on a night when Arthur was away on a hunt.

Lancelot fought his way to freedom, killing a few knights during his flight.

In France, he raised an army to rescue Guinevere who had been condemned to be burnt at the stake for her treasonous love.

Depositing her at a nunnery, Lancelot went back to France with his army to await Arthur’s army.