California State University, Northridge
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE
SIR GAWAIN OF THE COURT OF KING ARTHUR: A STUDY IN THE METAMORPHOSIS OF A HERO
A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts with
Honors in English
by Christian R. Andersen
May, 1984 The thesis of Christian R. Andersen is approved:
Dr. Mahlon C. Gaumer III Director Second Reader
Received by: Dr. Arthur Lane Director, Committee on Honors Sir Gawain of the Court of King Arthur: A Study in the Metamorphosis of a Hero
To readers of the Arthurian tales the mention of King Arthur brings to mind a myriad of other names such as
Lancelot, Galahad, Perceval, Gareth, and Gawain; heroes whose exploits comprise the substance of the legend of Arthur. Much like the twelve peers of Charlemagne, the knights of King Arthur's court and heroic individuals whose legends are interwoven and crossed into a single tapestry by association with the ruler of a mighty realm. In fact, critics have speculated that the Arthurian saga is very simple in its essential form. Certainly it is the tales of the heroes who have been attached to the story of Arthur that form the bulk of :he legend familiar to the reader of 1 Malory.
Of these ancillary heroes, there is little doubt that the most popular, especially in the hearts of the English, was he who is known as v~alwein, Gwalmachmai, Gauvain, or simply Gawain. In fact, there are more tales dealing with
Gawain than with Arthur in English literature. As R.W. Ackerman points out, "in no fewer than seven of the 2 [English] romances is he [Gawain] indisputably the hero."
Yet the importance of Gawain in the legends is not fully realized by those who read only Malory or the derivatives of his work. The name which appears foremost in their minds is that of Sir Lancelot du Lac, as one of the best
1 2
knights in Arthur's court, the most gallant servant to the king, and the secret lover of Guenevere. To many, the
story of Lancelot and Guenevere is the quintessence of all
the Arthurian tales. As his name indicates, Lancelot du Lac is a creation of the French romance writers who began to create their own versions of the Arthurian tales in the twelfth century under the patronage of such powerful people as Eleanor of
Aquitaine and her daughter, Marie of Champagne. Thus
Lancelot, as Arthur's knight and the Queen's lover, is a comparatively late addition to the story. Any student of
the Arthurian cycle could, without difficulty, name romances in which Lancelot is not even mentioned, but he would find it difficult to recall one in which Gawain does not figure.
Unlike the French romances that elevate Lancelot to the highest position at court, the English works proclaim
Gawain as the finest knight in Arthur's realm; as R.W. 3 Ackerman puts it, he is the "perennial English favorite. " ·of course, Gawain's role as the mirror of chivalry is well known, but his part in the Arthurian story consists of more than that single role. Such works as a Of Arthour and Of Merlin written in the twelfth century but recording tales which are at least one hundred years older clearly assign the role of the Queen's special knight to Sir Gawain. He is always closely connected with Arthur by being his nephew 3
on his sister's side and thus Gawain is presented as an integral part of Arthur's life and court.
Not until the fifteenth century does Gawain appear in English works in the reduced capacity that the French writers delegate to him. He appears in this capacity in the stanzaic Morte Arthur (c. 1400), the Jeaste of Syr Gawayne (between 1450-1500), and, of course, in Malory
(printed by Caxton in 1485). Thus the figure of Sir Gawain presents a problem to the reader of the Arthurian legends. If Gawain appears as the best knight of Arthur's realm and special guardian to the Queen prior to the twelfth century, why does Chretien de Troyes assign these roles to Lancelot in the latter part of the twelfth century? Why does this change not take place in the English romances? Again, why does Gawain appear in the English romances as the knight par excellence but in the French tales (and hence in
Malory) as at times trecherous and less than perfect?
These changes in Gawain's portrayal are a direct result of his special role in the early legends, which arises out of his origin in Celtic lore, clashing with the new French literary convention of the twelfth century which required that the element of Courtly Love be added to the
Arthurian legends and therefore that a lover must be created for the Queen. The English romances differ from the French because the need for this requirement was not felt by the English writers. 4
Gawain enters the Arthurian cycle from his origins as 4 a Celtic solar diety. Remnants of his origin are shown in
one of the most striking features of Gawain, that of the
waxing and waning of his strength as the day progresses.
So distinctive is this element of Gawain that it finds its
way into the French romance writings. Gautier de Doulens,
one of the continuators of Chretien de Troyes Conte del
Graal states that:
Hardemens et Force Doublout Toustans puis le midis passot, Por voir, a monsignor Gauvain Tout en Devons estre certain: Quapt la clartes de jor faloit Icelle force tresaloit Et de meidi en avant 5 Li recriossoit tot autretant. vv . 1 91 3 9 -4 6 Malory gives another version of this strange power in Book
IV of his Morte D'Arthur: "But sir Gawayune, fro hit was nine of the clock, wexed ever strenger and strenger, for by than hit earn to the howre of noone he had three times his 6 might encressed." Gawain's origin has been traced to the Ultonian Cycles
of Ireland and more specifically to the character of
Cuchulainn. In this cycle, Cuchulainn and Curoi are both gods of sun and lightning. Loomis sets up the hypothesis
that Curoi and Cuchulainn are virtually manifestations of 7 each other and of their mutual father, Lug. Moreover, he
points specifically to a story in which Cuchulainn takes over Curoi's power and defeats him. This story, or
type-tale, is referred to as the Beheading Game and it is 5
to be repeated in the tales of Gawain up through the English romance writers.
The first appearance of the Beheading Game is the
Ultonian Cycle in a tale called the Feast of Bricriu. Elizabeth Brewer reproduces two separate versions of the
Beheading Game found in this tale, each of which reflect aspects later to be found in the knight par excellence of Arthur's court. In the first version, the son of Great
Fear, Terror, a wizard who could change his shape, makes a proposal to Loigaire, Conall, and Cuchulainn, who have been led by Yellow to see the wizard. "I have a covenant to make with you, and whoever fulfills it with me, he is to have the Champion's Portion .••• I have an axe, and the man into whose hand it shall be put is to cut off my head today, I to cut off his head tomorrow." Cornall and
Loigaire both say they will not agree to such a covenant for they content that it would be impossible for them to live after being beheaded although the wizard might.
However Cuchulainn solemnly pledges the others not to contest the Champion's Portion if it is to be given to him and when they agree, Terror puts his head on the stone after enchanting his own axe and giving it to Cuchulainn. Cuchulainn, however, does not use Terror's axe but rather swings at him with his own and gives the giant a blow that cuts off his head. Afterwards, Terror picks up his head and the unused axe and goes into the loch pressing them to 6
his breast. On the morrow Terror returns and "the axe with
its edge reversed ••. draws down thrice on Cuchulainn's
neck" without harm to Cuchulainn. Terror then awares the 8 Champion's Portion to Cuchulainn. The basic elements of the Beheading Game are found
later in their fullest form in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Like Gawain in the much later tale of the Green
Knight, Cuchulainn agrees to the covenant even though the
others fear certain death. Similarly, Cuchulainn does not back down from his agreement and succeeds. Of course, it
is obvious that, unlike Gawain, Cuchulainn decides to cheat
just a bit by using his own axe even though the giant has
stipulated that the covenant involves his own axe. Yet did
not Gawain accept the Green Girdle from the knight's wife
to protect him from harm? The difference between the two is that Cuchulainn engaged in trickery while Gawain takes
advantage of what appears to be a fortuitous bit of luck,
that is, that the girdle has the magic property of protecting its possessor from harm. Much more characteristic of the later tales of Gawain
is the second Beheading Game found in the Feast of Bricriu.
Curoi approaches the heroes of Ulster in the guise of a
bachlach, or herdsman, and states that in his journeys in
the East and the Isle of Gades, he has not found any man who would fulfill the rules of Fair Play for him. He then
announces that whoever is able to strike off his head 7
tonight he will return the blow on the following night. On
three different nights three different heroes strike off the bachlach's head but fail to appear when it is their
turn to suffer a return blow. On the fourth night the
bachlach returns in great wrath taunting everyone, including Cuchulainn, for their cowardice. Thereupon
Cuchulainn leaped toward him. "He dealt him a blow with
the axe so that he sent his head to the top rafter of the Red Branch, so that the who house shook. Cuchalainn caught
up his head again and gave it a blow with the axe so that
he made fragments of it. The bachlach rose up after 9 that." The men of Ulster watched the next night to see if
Cuchulainn would avoid the bachlach as the others had done.
Cuchulainn did return and stretched out his neck before the bachlack and "the bachlach raised his axe so that it reache
the roff-tree of the house ••• both his arms being raised
aloft with all his might. Down it came then ••. on his neck, its blunt side below, all the noble of Ulster gazing
upon them. '0 Cuchulainn arise! ••• Of the warriors of Ulster or of Ireland, none is found to be compared with you 1 0 in valor or in prowess of trutch. '" The most dominant elements in this second tale are the bravery and valor of Cuchuylainn. Unlike the first tale, Cuchulainn is not saved by his craft or wiles but by his
adherence to the rules of Fair Play and truth like no other
to be found. Such probity becomes an integral part of the 8
character of Sir Gawain in the English romances. As the Beheading Game defined Gawain's early character, so too does the tale of the Rescue of the Flower
Maiden. This tale is also to be found in the Ultonian Cycles and provides an early version of Gawain's role as the Knight of Maidens and the special knight of Queen
Guenevere. Loomis reports that the most useful version of this tale is found in the Yellow Book of Lecan, a fourteenth century manuscript, and it is this version that 11 I Wl"lld" lSCUSS. "Why did the men of Ulster slay Curoi son of Dare? ... Because of Blathnait [Little Flower], daughter of Mend, who was carried off from the siege of the men of Falga." This is the preface to the following tale: Curoi had gone to the siege of Falge unrecognized by any of the warriors. He aided their siege but was cheated out of his share of the spoils by the men of Ulster. So he took what he wanted. He thrust the woman Blathnait under his arm, gathered all the cows, collected all the birds, and slung a cauldron filled with treasure on his back. Only Cuchulainn attempted to stop him and he was thrust into the ground up to his armpits and spit upon. After a year Cuchulainn found Curoi's stronghold. He talked with the abducted Blathnait, for he had loved her even before she was carried away and "he made a tryst with her again in the west on the night of Samain [Holloween]." 9
Cuchulainn and Blathnait arranged to kill Curoi.
Cuchulainn was to go get the other men of Ulster and when he had returned with the forces he was to pour milk in the river so that it might turn white and be a signal to
Blathnait. She then would know that they were returning and would weaken Curoi by washing him. This was done, and
the men of Ulster, led by Cuchulainn, attacked the
stronghold without being heard by Curoi who had not only been washed by his mistress but had been bound by her to his bed and had had his sword stolen by her. Nevertheless
Curoi was able to kill one hundred of the men of Ulster with his fists and feet until he was finally behaded by
Cuchulainn using Curoi's stolen sword. In a variant of the
story, Curoi is killed only because he revealed the secret of his life to Blathnait and he dies crying "No secret to 12 women, no jewel to slaves."
The general plot - the abduction of a woman, the attack upon the castle to which she has been taken, the slaying of the abductor, and the rescue of the woman- is
repeated many times in the Arthurian tales and most notably in those associated with Gawain such as the English Avowynge of King Arthur or the story of Sir Gawain in
Wolfram von Eshenbach's Parzival. Yet pherhaps the most persuasive evidence for the connection of Gawain to the
tales of Cuchulainn is the Modena Archivolt located in the north portal of the cathedral of Modena, Italy which has 10
the abduction story recounted in stone. 13 Each figure is
labeled with an Arthurian name rather than the name of the Celtic original. The portal depicts the story of the rescue of Winlogee (Guenevere) from the castle of Mardoc by Artus de Bretania and three knights, the most prominent being Galvaginus (Gawain). He alone bears an elaborately decorated shield and seems to be in combat with the most formidable of the Queen's abductors. He appears to be the leader of the parety rather than Arthur. Even the detail about the dying lament of the abductor about his treacherous female victim is reproduced on the archivolt wiich was built at the end of the eleventh century.
There can be little doubt, then, that Gawain's literary background may be traced to the Irish myths of Ulster and the figure of Cuchulainn. Yet the Modena archivolt established more than a link to his Celtic past; it established Gawain's prominence in the Arthurian world at the time of the construction of the archivolt in 1099 a.d. As early as eight hundred and eighty-five years ago, then, Gawain was the most important knight in the realm leading Arthur's attacks and rescuing his special charge, 1 3 Queen Guenevere.
Bearing this in mind, we might well wonder what the actual character of Sir Gawain was as he appeared in the
Arthurian legends prior to the French work of the twelfth century. To find the answer to this question we must 11
explore the literature from the Welsh M~binoglon and
Monmouth's Historia R~gum Brittiann~~ to the English
romances and ballads which still preserve the noble character of Sir Gawain.
The figure of Gawain as the knight par excellence of
the realm first appears in the Arthurian tales contained in
the Mabinogion: Culhwch and Olwen and the Lady oi !h~ Fountain. In Culhwch the reader is told of a band of warriors that Arthur is putting together to help Culwch win Olwen. "He call Gwalchmai Gawain son of Gwyar, because he never carne home without the quest he had gone to seek. He was the best of walkers and the best or riders. He was 14 Art h ur I s nep h ew, h"1s s1ster• I s son, an d h"1s f"1rst cous1n.• II
This early description emphasizes Gawain's excellences as a warrior. We recognize the importance of this description when we realize that the majority of the other warriors, save for the Bishop Bidwini, Cethrum the Priest and Gwrhyr
Interpreter of Tongues, have been called for and referred to in terms of their supernatural attributes. For example,
Cei's talent is that he can survive under water for nine days and nights and go for the same amount of time without sleep. Also, Menw son of Teirgwaad was called to accompany
Arthur because he could cast a spell that would make the entire company invisible. Very few of Arthur's men are called for their physical prowess and only Gawain has the special talent of persistence. That is, only he is 12
mentined as never quitting an uncompleted quest. Thus
Arthur ensured his success in helping Culhwch win his bride by taking Gawain along.
The writer of the tale of Culhwch and Olwen also brings out another important aspect of Gawain's character, that of his matrilinear kinship to Arthur. Gawain is referred to as Arthur's newphew on his sister's side, a relationship highly regarded in the Germanic literature which precedes the ninth century. This relationship was the most important possible in earlier Germanic literature. Beowulf is Hrothgar's newphew on his sister's side and is generally regarded as his most important kinsman. The King relies on this kinsman for the safety of himself and of his people. The foundation laid by this early relationship is built upon and stressed in the early Arthurian literature so that Gawain becomes an unbeatable champion of the realm and Arthur's favorite at court.
Yet if one assumes that Gawain is a literary descendant of Cuchulainn and that he inherited his qualities of valor, strength, and integrity, he must also realize the possibility that Gawain inherited Cuchulainn's less desirable qualities of deception and lust. After all, it is Cuchulainn who uses his own axe on Terror to win the
Champion's portion and it is he who turns the river white so Blathnait will know when to wash and weaken her captor.
Considering this possibility one realizes that the 13
only factor which actually stood in the way of Gawain
assuming the favored position in Arthur's court was his
relationship to Arthur's treacherous Queen; a relationship reminiscent of Cuchulainn's to Blathnait. The character of
Queen Guenevere (Gwenhyfar in Welsh) has been established
from what appears like time immemorial. Why would the relationship of Gawin to Guenevere prevent him from being considered the best knight of the
realm? The answer to this question is found in the fact that Cuchulainn, Gawain's literary source, had an affair with his uncle Conlaoch's wife Diarmid for whom he kills 15 his uncle. Such an association of Gawain's relationship to Guenevere with Cuchulainn's to Diarmid seems to clearly
imply that incestuous treachery are part and parcel of
Gawain's relationship to Arthur. Yet a close study of such a direct association of characters reveals serious shortcomings inherent in the
conclusion that Gawain cannot be the best knight of the realm because he is too closely related to a treacherous queen. This association assumes that Gawain is not a
literary descendent of the Ultonian hero but rather is Cuchulainn himself functioning under a new name.
Similarly, this association assumes that any characteristics connected with Cuchulainn must have directly descended into the character of Gawain.
Such a connection is not supported by the early Welsh 14
triads, the Vitae Gildae, and even Chretien de Troyes. By
the time of Welsh Triad 19, which dates from the ninth century, the role of lover and accomplice of the Queen and
murderer of his uncle had been given to Mordred, the 16 nephew/son of Arthur by hs sister Morgan la Fey. Mordred's Welsh name is Melwas in this triad. The name of
Melwas derives from two words; "mael" meaning "prince or
hero" and "gwas" meaning "youth." Probably Melwas, described as the Queen's lover, was one who was fancied to 1 7 be eternally young. The quality of eternal youth is not mentioned as one
of Cuchulainn's attrributes. Indeed, it would be doubtful
for a sun diety to avoid fading away then possibly
reviving. In addition, Melwas is associated with the realm of the dead much as Pluto is Classical mythology. In the
Vita Gildae of the twelfth century Melwas is portrayed as
the king of a realm called Aestira Regia and he carries the Queen away "violatum et raptum" to his castle of great
strength surrounded by marshes and water. It is cut off
from the rest of the world much as the Celtic fairy world would be. Similarly, Chretien de Troyes in Le Chevalier
de la Charette emphasizes this association of the abductor
of the Queen with a land of the dead by telling his audience that Melwas' realm was a land from which no
traveler may return but rather must live there forever in bondage and exile. Certainly it is reasonable to assume p • 1 5
that Cuchulainn, and Gawain, could enter this realm but it would be stretching the point to assume that the Celtic sun diety is actually the lord of the realm of the dead. A clear distinction, then, can be drawn between Gawain and
Mordred so that when one reads Geoffrey of Monmouth's charge of Gunevere wickedly marrying Mordred he can be sure that it is in fact the separate character Mordred who is being wed and not another version of Gawain. Critics, most prominently Jessie Weston, have asserted that Mordred merely represents the separation of Gawain's elements of treachery from his virtue. But the preceding evidence does not substantiate such a view. Gawain's excellence and prestige in Arthur's court would seem to have been fixed features of his character from the time of his entrance into the cycle.
Granting that Guenevere was certainly no victim of treachery prior to her characterization in the French • romances and that neither Gawain nor any manifestation of his character was her lover, what are we to assume to be the nature of the relationship between these two? Quite simple, Sir Gawain was the special knight and guardian for an elusive Guenevere. He was to prevent Arthur's wife from returning to her fairy world and later, as attested by the Modena Archivolt, to rescue her from that other world when she is taken there forcibly. Queen Guenevere was herself originally a fairy. The 16
Welsh Gwenhywyfar means "White Spirit." Thus she was originally the fairy mistress of Arthur and as such she
possessed certain qualities. One of these qualities was a strong connection to the fairy world, or Celtic world of the dead which notably manifests itself in the tale of the Awntyrs Off Arthure. Arthur was in constant danger of having his fairy mistress slip away back into her fairy world. Such a creature must be watched, and Gawain would appear to have been the knight especially designated as her guardian. Gawain's role as the Queen's guardian gradually develops in the early Arthurian cycles and is most noticable in the English tales. Prior to the French romances it is Gawain who consistently rescues the Queen from violent situations and evil hands. Yet this role is only one of several roles which Gawain plays in the early legends. The role of Sir Gawain that most easily springs to mind is that of being the mirror of chivalry. The English, who perpetuate the character of Gawain as the best knight of Arthur's realm, consistently include this role in their portrayal of Gawain. Chaucer's Squire certainly speaks of Gawain in this capacity as does Malory in his rather inconsistent portrayal of him. The English work most often cited when Gawain's chivalrous nature is discussed is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. And this tale also shows Gawain in one of his earliest roles; that of being the hero of the 17
Beheading Game.
The Beheading Game is a type-tale of Sir Gawain most frequently retold as an independent story. That is, the
Beheading or Challenge Game is the subject of the majority of Gawain poems that are found separate from any collective and unified boy of Arthurian literature. These separate
Gawain poems are extant in English medieval texts and seem to have a distinctive English or Celtic quality to them. R.W. Ackerman contends that these English Gawain poems are far more independent of earlier French literature than 18 other English works devoted to other Arthurian heroes. The fact that the Beheading Story appears to have a dominant Celtic background substantiates Ackerman's contention. As we have already seen, the earliest form of the
Beheading Game is found in Bricriu's Feast, a composite
Irish saga of th eighth century extant in a manuscript 1 9 antedating the twelfth century. English Gawain literature abounds in the retelling of this early tale.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Green Knight, The
Turke and Gowin, and Syre Gawene and the Carle Qf Carlyle all recount Gawain's supreme valor and attest to Gawain's fidelity, that is to say, to his resistance to temptation.
Besides the mutual beheading contract, these English tales record and preserve several other Irish features: the challenger's great size, his fierce eyes, the silence that 18
settles over the assembled company as the giant enters, his great axe, his high praise of the assembled court, and his
exit carrying his head in his arms.
Temptation became an integral part of the tales although it is most certainly not an original Irish
element. Unlike the early Irish tales, Gawain most often
takes up the challenge in the English tales out of a sense of duty and honor. It is this honor which Gawain is
tempted to compromise and ultimately shame if he does give
in to the temptation. The temptation theme is vividly woven into the tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as
the wife of the old knight tempts him three times. Gawain
only yields to the point of wearing the lady's green girdle to protect himself from harm. Gawain is nicked by the
third blow of the Green Knight's axe for this lapse in
fidelity. The tale of the Carle of Carlyle offers another version of this temptation theme. In a variation of the
Green Knight, Gawain actually falls in love with the Carl's wife but is warned by the Carl to forget her. Later, the Carl places Gawain in bed with his wife bidding him to kiss her. When he is temped to do more the Carl interrupts him and gives him his own daughter as a companion for the night. In their final meeting, Gawain beheads the Carl, releasing him from a twenty year enchantment, but no
further mention is made of the night's episode with the Carl's wife and daughter. The most apparent deviation in 19
Gawain's character in this tale is his falling in love with a specific woman for it undermines another of Gawain's traditional roles, that of being Knight of Maidens. In this role, Gawain belongs not to one specific woman but to all women who need him and his aid and protection. This role, which puts Gawain into the service of all women, is the essence of a second type-tale associated with him, the
Adventure of the Fairy Maidens and the Enchanted Castle.
Gawain's adventure in this type-tale is actually to visit the Celtic Other-world or, more accurately, a Celtic
Isle of Women that must have been very like the type of world Guenevere was originally from. This tale is most often found in composite romances such as those of Chretien de Troyes and Wolfrem von Eschenbach in which Gawain is a major, but not the principal, figure. As given in Chretien's Conte del Graal and Wolfram's
Parzival, the Adventure of the Fairy Maidens and the
Enchanted Castle may be summarized in the following manner: A lady whom Gawain meets under mysterious circumstances leads him to a castle that is separated from the rest of the land and inhabited by captive maidens and that has for its mistress a lady of surpassing beauty. To free the maidens of the islands from the enchanted captivity, Gawain must spend the night in a Bed of Marvels. The test leaves him alive, though just barely, and makes him the master of the castle. Weston points out that this tale is closely 20
associated with the Irish paradise known as the Isle of
Women. This paradise is inhabited exclusively by women and ruled by a queen of unearthly beauty. On occasion, this
queen visits the Earth and invites a chosen hero to
accompany h er b ack to h er k 1ng. d om. 20 Thus the connection of Gawain to an unearthly island filled with enchanted maidens seems to have a theme of finality to it; a resting
place such as Valhalla. In medieval folklore, the fairy world was seen as a place for men and women who had died or diseappeared under strange circumstances. For example, the medieval poem Sir Orfeo tells of the hall of the fairy king's castle in which people are preserved as they were at the moment of death. The hall contains knights who had fallen asleep under a mystic tree, women who had died in childbirth, and many other figures all arranged as if in a museum.
Elements of a strange disappearance or death are often connected with Gawain. He is often missing for extended periods of time and false rumors abound about his health.
Gawain then reappears as if he were suddenly released from the fairy island. Yet Gawain typically in the tale of the
Enchanted Castle takes up permanent residence in the realm.
In Wolfram's Parzival, Gawain marries and settles with his mysteriious guide, Orgeluse, and one can only assume that
Chretien's Percival gave him the same fate. Similarly,
Book XXI of Malory's Morte D'Arthur recounts the appearance 21
of Gawain's ghost surrounded by a bevy of fair ladies to
King Arthur. So the Kyng semed verryly that yther cam sir Gawayne unto hym sith a numbir of fayre laydes wyth hym. Gawain explains that all thes be laydes for whom I hace foughten for, whan I was a man lyvynge. And all thes ar thos that I ded batayle fore in ryhteous quarels, and God hath gyvyn hem that grace at their grete prayer, bycause I ded batayle for them for their2fyght, that they shulde bring me hydder unto you.
Surely this outcome is to be expected from Gawain's adventures in the Enchanted Castle of which he becomes the
lord. Certainly, if there were one hero of Arthur's court
connected with the spirits of wom~n after he had died, it would be Gawain.
Yet the fairy elements of the adventure remain
dominant. One can readily detect the fairy elements of Gawain's rescue of his special maiden Guenevere from a
far-off castle. Also, Gawain's actual death is attended by
his chorus of maidens. Even Chaucer himself refers to the belief that Gawain is in a fairy land. The Squire speaks of "Gawayne, with his old curtes ie, Though he were comen ayeyn out of Fairye." A third type-tale associated with Gawain is that of the Loathly Lady. This tale is also known as the Quest for
the Knowledge of Women's desire and it has been suggested that the original hero of the tale was none other than 22 Arthur. Gawain's quest may be sketched as follows:
During Arthur's Christmas court, a belligerent baron Q • 22
demands that the King answer the question, "What do women
desire most?" He gives Arthur one year to find the answer
or he will be dishonored. The King confides in Gawain and they each ride separately for a year to find the answer.
When they meet again a year later the baron refuses all the
answers save the one which was given to Gawain by an ugly hag on the condition that, if it were judged to be the
correct answer, Gawain would marry the hag. Her answer
that what women desire most is to have their will, or sovereignty. Since it was judged to be correct, Gawain marries the loathly lady and is asked by her to choose whether she is to be fair by day or by night. When he asks her to decide, she announces that she will always be fair because Gawain has released her from the enchantment of her
jealous stepmother by granting her her own will. This tale appears in two English ballads, the
Weddynge of Gawain and Dame Ragnell and the Marriage of
Sir Gawaine. In each tale Gawain undergoes the trial of marriage to an ugly hag because he has promised her out of his courtesy and since he is the mirror of this courtesy he
could not renege on his agreement. In other words, Gawain performs this adventure as a type of character, the mirror of chivalry. Accordingly, he marries not a specific woman but rather a type of woman, the loathly lady. Markale suggests that this tale may well have originally been the story of how Arthur won his second wife 23
Guenevere. This may well be true. Yet it certainly could not have been true for long. Arthur and Guenevere moved rapidly into the center of the literary cycle and away from most of the adventures in which the heroes of the court engage. Arthur quickly becomes the central gathering point for the diverse legends and not an active hero himself.
Guenevere also moved away from her associations with the fairy world to become Arthur's very real Queen. Any story that would have associated her with enchantment and fairy origins passed to other figures. Gawain and the loathly lady became those figures in what became a didactic medieval tale. The love for this didactic tale is clearly illustrated by the fact that Chaucer's Wife of Bath uses it as an exemplum to the sermon she has just delivered in the guise of a prologue.
A fourth type-tale associated with Gawain's character is the Tale of the Fair Unknown. This is the story of
Gawain's son who arrives at Arthur's court unknown by anyone and demands that Arthur make him a knight. He then offers his service to a damsel who had just arrived at court to ask assistance from either Arthur or his knights for her lady. She despises the aid of so young a champion and persistently torments him with insults. Nonetheless, the hero boldly overcomes all the perils of his quest, learns the secret of his parentage, and returns to Arthur's court to be welcomed joyously by his father, Gawain. 24
The earliest appearance of this tale is in the Welsh
De Ort~ Walwani which retells the coming of Gawain (Walwani) to Arthur's court under the same circumstances as I have just described. By the time of the English romance
Libeaus Desconnus and the French Le Bel Inconnu, Gawain has become the father and Gingelein the son. Although some critics rely solely on the Ultonian tales of Cuchulainn as an analogue for every tale of Gawain, the reasons for this shift are unclear. Perhaps the best explanation is that the role of Gawain as the knight par excellence of the realm would not allow Gawain to be the hero of such a foolish and impetuous story of introduction to the court. Yet the intense interest the English had in Gawain caused them to keep the tale but transfer the foolishness to another character. Considering the great number of manuscripts which preserve the English version, this 23 solution to the problem becomes plausible.
We may note that this type-tale may well be considered as a part of the character of any hero of a tale and not an attribute particular to Gawain's character as the other tales appear to be. Both Wolfram and Chretien use many of the elements of the tale of the Fair Unknown in their accounts of the entrance of Perceval, the only knight who is able to compelte the Grain Quest. Perceval is not only unaware of his parentage but is also ignorant of his name.
He arrives at court, demands knighthood, defeats an enemy 25
of the court, the Red Knight, to prove his worthiness, and
is knighted . The tales told by Chretien and Wolfram about the entrance of Perceval clearly are meant to enhance his
character as the hero of the entire work. The elements which occur in the later portions of the tale of the Fair
Unknown--withstanding the abuse of the maiden, the trials
of the quest, in this case the night in the Bed of Marvels, and the winning of the maiden--are retained by Gawain as
they fit his role as the paragon of all earthly chivalry and courtesy. Yet by the time of Malory in the fifteenth century these elements once connected with Gawain have either been given to another knight or have been retained in a greatly diminished capacity. The knight whom even Chretien lists as the first among Arthur's knights in Le Chevalier de la
Charette is listed as only seventh in the realm by Malory and is given at time to less than exemplary behavior. Why should such a change in the character of Sir Gawain take place? The remainder of this discussion will address this question.
The metamorphosis of the character of Sir Gawain is a direct result of a new element that entered the French courts of the twelfth century, courtly love. The subjects for romances concerned with courtly love are easy enough to identify. The term "romance," derived from Latin "roman" 26
referring to Vulgar Latin "lingua romanus," comes to be applied to action and adventure tales. These tales were written for fighting patrons such as kings and knights and, thus, were expected to deal with great heroism in battle.
In the twelfth century, their patronage shifted from men to women and the same high standards of heroism were applied to heroism in the service of a lady.
In order to understand the elements that caused the metamorphosis of Gawain's character, we must first understand why a shift took place in the subject matter of the literary form known as the romance. Jean Bodel, the author of the Chansons des Sairnis, a metrical narrative of Charlemagne's campaign against the Saxons, summarized the early twelfth century attitude toward the romances in these words: Ne sont que trois matieres a nul home entendant; De France, et de Bretaigne, et de Rome le grant.
(There are but three matters that a poet may pay attention to; T2~t of France, of Britain, and of Rome the Great.)
The conquest of 1066 brought a new line of French kings to the English throne. This new line of kings would certainly want to have their own set of heroic legends, a matiere de Bretaigne to rival the older matiere de France.
The Arthurian legends lay ready at hand and they were spread extensively under the patronage of the Norman kings as the Modena archivolt attests. 27
Certainly, then, this matiere de Bretaigne was known to the troubadors of the twelfth century French courts who began to write not for the warrior class but for their wives who assumed the role of patron in their absence at court. The focus of the romances changed from battle tales to tales of courtly love. Courtly love deals with the relationship of a knight to a noble lady. The relationship were usually illicit but they suited the needs of the love courts of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Marie of Champagne.
Thus a new emphasis was placed on the Arthurian legends as the French writers working for such women as
Eleanor and Marie reworked the legends to suit the new need for tales of courtly love. Many of these changes were wrought by Chretien de Troyes and those which followed him.
It is in the tales of Chretien that the reader notices the reduction of Sir Gawain's eminence at court. Yet a reader may well wonder as to why Chretien would portray Gawain in this manner. The answer to this question may be traced to the fact that with the introduction of courtly love into the Arthurian legends, the character of Guenevere became purged of its former elements of treachery. Perhaps this change occurred over time as she was increasingly disassociated from her fairy origins or perhaps, as Markale suggests, she was strongly associated with Eleanor of
Aguitaine, a woman given to many love interests but unquestioningly viewed as a most noble queen, and so was 28
2 gtven. t h ese qua 1'1t1es . o f no b 1'1' tty an d vtrtue. . 5 With Guenevere's virtue established, the poets under the patronage of the powerful women of the twelfth century
France were led to create a love story for the Queen. Thus Guenevere now needed a courtly lover. Gawain might seem the logical choice for a lover since he already had a special relationship with the Queen, but it was impossible for him to take on the role.
Why Lancelot du Lac does assume this role and not Sir
Gawain is a question whose answer lies in that very relationship between Guenevere and her knight. Gawain was well known as the nephew of the King, his sister's son. Any liaison between Gawain and the Queen would be viewed as a challenge to Arthur's rule. It would be similar to the story of Absalom who strengthened his claim to the throne of Israel by making public overtures to his father's wife. Further, when a Celtic king is deceived in the legends, it is most often by his nephew who then takes both the throne 26 and his uncles's wife. Thus a love relationship between Gawain and Guenevere would re-introduce the element of treachery in the Queen's character and destabilize the foundation of the legends themselves, Arthur's sovereignty.
In addition, the relationship of Gawain to Arthur would cause the affair to be incestuous. Such an affair would most likely have been an abomination to both court 29
and church much as Claudius' marriage to Gertrude was to Hamlet. Thus a love affair betwen Gawain and Guenevere would be the cause of both political and moral distress. Gawain then cannot be the Queen's lover. Rather, it is a relatively new character, Lancelot du Lac, who takes on this role in the French romances. Lancelot first appears in his role as the courtly lover of the Queen in Chretien's Chevalier de Charette. This work also portrays his as the Queen's champion and best knight of the realm. Chretien gives Lancelot many of the atrributes previously associated with Sir Gawain. The reason for this is the fact that, since Gawain cannot become the Queen's lover, his role as the Queen's special knight becomes an obstacle to the love between Lancelot and Guenevere. Although Gawain, according to Chretien, was meant to rescue the Queen from Meleagant's clutches, as was his traditional duty, Lancelot steps in and rescues the Queen, not for king and court as Gawain would have done, but out of his idolatrous love for her. Thus Lancelot takes over Gawain's function of rescuing the Queen from the Other-world.
Similarly, Lancelot passes other test and performs other feats that were once associated with Gawain. Lancelot spends the night on a perilous bed, narrowly escapes being pierced by a fiery lance. Another night an 30
amorous chatelaine tests Lancelot's fidelity and chastity to the Queen by lying down beside him. He crosses the sword bridge at great peril to himself and enters the realm of Meleagant, which is separated from the rest of the world and holds many captives from Arthur's realm and ultimately secures their freedom. Thus it is clear that Lancelot and not Gawain is now the central figure in Arthur's fellowship of knights.
Perhaps more conclusive than the Chevalier is the appearance of Lancelot in Perlsvaus il Gallios, written in the second quarter of the thirteenth century and one of the few later works that deals with the Grail legend. 27 The
Grail Quest is the first undertaken by Gawain but when he sees the Grail and the Lance pass before him, he fails to ask the required question (the fateful mistake of Perceval in Chretien's and Wolfram's works) because he is mesmerized by three drops of blood that have fallen from the lance and forget the object of his quest. Lancelot then undertakes the quest, and since he is now the best knight of the court and standard of all earthly chivalry, he succeeds in reaching the Grail Castle. Yet like Gawain in Wolfram's
Parzival, Lancelot cannot complete the quest because of his spiritual imperfection, but he is allowed to go and find the man who can complete the quest, Perceval, and thus he maintains his position of eminence in the work.
Lancelot also displays in Pen!~vau~ another of 31
Gawain's attributes when he enters the Waste City before arriving at the Grail Castle. In the Waste City Lancelot agrees to imperil his head by agreeing to an exchange of blows. He will strike the first blow and will submit in a year's time to a return blow--obviously Lancelot has become the hero of the Beheading Game. With the late date of composition in mind, we might well wonder if the Beheading Episode in Perlsvaus was an embellishment by later writers. To answer this question, I refer the reader to the little known Perle~vaux, a composite tale written between 1191 and 1212. 28 Lancelot is by no means the hero of this English work which, though produced under the influence of the Abbey of Glastonbury, reflects vogues current in France for the Abbey of
Glastonbury, reflects vogues current in France for the Abbey followed the lead of the French courts. The tale demonstrates the typical English interest in Gawain by centering on the quest of Gawain and Perlesvaux for the Grail but it digresses twice to relate an adventure of Lancelot. Lancelot makes his way into the ruined City of Souls where invisible creatures could be heard wailing. A knight holding a large axe appears and asks Lancelot to cut off his head. Lancelot is to return in a year to undergo the same fate. He does return in a year and undergoes a mock execution. Thus, even though Lancelot does not participate in the Grail Quest, he is depicted as a great 32
hero. In other words, the Abbey of Glastonbury aware of the rising importance of Lancelot in French literature furnished him with a celebrated adventure. As a final point on the subject of assumed characteristics, we might not the relationship of Gawain's son and Galahad. As I have pointed out, there is some lost familial link between Perceval and Gawain as Perceval takes over many of the enfance aspects of the Bel Inconnu and may be viewed as a version of Gingelein from the English Libeaus Disconus. Also, Perceval is able to succeed in the
Grail Quest as he is interested in heavenly glory rather than in the trappings of the chivalric world. The relationship between Lancelot and Galahad has many of these aspects. In Malory, Galahad is unknown to his father and succeeds in the Quest where Lancelot falls short. Further, Perceval becomes King of the Grail Castle; Lancelot's son becomes King of Sarras, the Holy City of the Grail. Thus even the tales of Gawain's son are given to Lancelot as a result of the French work of the twelfth century.
The effect of the displacement of Sir Gawain from his position of eminence appears vividly in the second half of the thirteenth century in the Dutch Lancelot. Book three of this piece, besides containing a close rendering of the
French Quest del Saint Graal, contains several short romances. The first of these romances is called De Wrake von Ragisel (The Avenging of Ragisel) which R.E. Bennet 33
calls the tale of Gawain and the Dwarf. 29 This tale is a variation of the once noble Quest for the Knowledge of
Women's Desire. Gawain sets off on this quest because Kay
asks the question "What do women most desire?" and not because of any nobler purpose such as preserving the King
and his honor. On his quest he meets a dwarf huntsman who
tells Gawain that he is a king, transforms Gawain into a dwarf for disbelieving him, and invites him to his castle to eat and hunt. There he learns of the dwarf king's
faithless wife who is constantly separated from the rest of the court. Gawain is allowed to listen to her lamentations, but he remains unsatisfied with her answers
to Kay's question. The dwarf king suggests that they go in the guise of dwarfs to Gawain's lady Ydain to test her
fidelity and virtue. Ydain not only fails in both
categories but lies with Gawain when he is in the form of a dwarf as she lost a chess game to him. When Gawain confronts her in his normal shape, she does not try to
defend herself but rather wins a reconciliation through the use o f h er f emLnlne. . Wl"1 es. 30 Obviously we can see many corrupted elements of
Gawain's former character in this tale. The quest is no longer a noble deed but the result of curiosity and an idle challenge. Gawain is no longer the noble Knight of Maidens
but a suspicious lover of Ydain who is not above sleeping with her to test her fidelity. In short, although the hero 34
of the tale is undoubtedly Gawain, his motives and his actions show him as much less heroic than in earlier stories. It is not that Gawain is being presented less noble than the other knights of the Round Table; he is simply no longer their superior.
A guide on the proper manner to hold tournaments in the Arthurian tradition written between 1452 and 1475 demonstrates the lasting negative effect of the French romances on the figure of Sir Gawain. t~n~i! de~ !ourn~y~ e! a~~emble~ au !em£~ du roy uterpendragon et du roy Artus written by Rene d'Anjou recounts how to hold the Arthurian tournaments, the oaths which the companions took to enter the high order of the
Round Table and a list of one hundred and fifty knights of 31 that order ranked by importance. There are three extant versions of this guide, referred to as H, B, and M. The third part of the guide claims to list the knights "par la vertue divine estoient tous a ce jour assembles" (by the 32 divine virtue of those assembled here this day). Yet in none of the three versions does Gawain appear as one of the five top knights of the realm. The earliest text, H, lists his divine virtue as sixth of the fellowship while B gives Gawain D'Orcaine seventh place in the realm. M is the most adversely critical as it lists Gawain as being thirty-eighth in the land. Clearly then by the fifteenth century in France, Gawain had lost his supremacy in the 35
realm of Arthur and figured much lkower than many of the
other principal knights. Surely it is the view of Gawain given by Rene D'Anjou that was reflected in Malory's "frensshe" book.
The French source is then the reason why Malory was not enamoured with Gawain as his fellow countrymen were but
rather refers to him as a treacherous murderer of good knights and to use Gareth's description, as a hater of all the knights of the Round Table. Malory, writing in the
fifteenth century inherited the literary legacy that had
been exalting Lancelot at the expense of Gawain's eminence in court for nearly three hundred years. Yet Malory says
that upon Gawain's death Arthur calls him the man in the
world he loved the most and Lancelot mourns him saying he was "a ful noble knyght as ever was born." Why should
Malory be so inconsistent in his portrayal of Sir Gawain?
One answer to this question is that he was actually drawing from two sources, a "frensshe" manuscript and the English
tradition. • In the English tradition no special lover was created for Guenevere and, thus, no displacement of Sir Gawain's character takes place. He is consistently seen in the English literature as the best knight of the realm, Guenevere's special knight, defender of Arthur's life and honor, and the mirror of chivalry. The popularity of
Gawain's character is attested to by Chaucer in the tales 37
view of Gawain but still maintain a view of him in his original glory. This view is also noticeable in Malory. In the pages of the Morte D'Arthur we clearly see the conflicting elements of Gawain's character and the result of his metamorphosis from being the greatest hero of Arthur's court to ranking as low as thirty-eighth in eminence in the French works of the fifteenth century. 36
of the Squire and the Wife of Bath and by the fact that the
majority of the tales of Sir Gawain are preserved in
popular ballads and not just the literature of the court.33
Even ~ir Gawain and the Green Knight appears in a collection with Patience, Purity and the Pearl suggesting
that the tale may well have served as a piece for moral
instruction. The sheer number, eleven, of different independent tales concerning Gawain in English literature attests to Gawain's popularity in England. Finally, we may note that the English claimed to have only two actual human
relics from the time of Arthur, the bones of Arthur and
Guenevere at Glastonbury Cathedral and the skull of Sir
Gawain at Dover Castle.
Thus two different Gawains arise on each shore of the
English Channel. The English writers dating back to the
earliest Welsh triads develop Gawain as the knight par excellence of Arthur's realm, the hero of many adventures,
the Queen's special guardian, and the unbeatable knight of
the fellowship of the Round Table. Although the French inherited this version of his character, the demand for a lover for Guenevere made Gawain, as the special guardian of the Queen, an obstacle for the two lovers. And so Gawain is not only displaced by Lancelot as the pre-eminent knight, but his character begins a debasement which leads to the tarnished figure in Malory. Yet the English do not completely accept the French Notes
1 Jessie L. Weston, The Le~end of Sir Gawain (1897; rpt. New York: AMS Press, 197 ), p. 4. 2 Robert W. Ackerman, "English Rimed and Prose Romances," in Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, ed. Roger Sherman Loomis (Oxford: The Claredon Press, 1959), p. 49 3. 3 Ackerman, p. 493. 4 Roger Sherman Loomis, Celtic Mtth and Arthurian Romance (New York: Haskell House Pub ishers Ltd., 1967), pp. 62-63. Loomis addresses the problem of connecting the name of Gwalrnachrnai to Cuchulainn by stating that "everything becomes perfectly clear if one sees in Galvagin the Welsh epithet of Gwrvan, Gwallt Avwyn. For Gwrvan is no other than little Gwri and is therefore [as Loomis points out in the preceeding pages] identical with Cuchulainn." 5 Quoted in Weston, Sir Gawain, p. 12. 6 Sir Thomas Malory, The Works of Sir Thomas Malory, ed. Eugene Vinaver (London: Oxford University Press, 1 9 54) ' p. 1 1 6 • 7 Loomis, Celtic Myth, p. 55. 8 Elisabeth Brewer, From Cuchulainn to Gawain (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer Ltd., 197~pp. 9-10. 9 Loorni s, Celtic Myth, P• 58. 10 Loomis, Celtic Myth, P• 59. 11 Loomis, Celtic Myth, pp. 12-14.
1 2 Loomis, Celtic Myth, P• 14. 13 Loomis, Celtic Myth, P· 1 5. Page 2-11 describe the Modena Archivolt in detail. 14 Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones, trans. The Mabinogion (London: J.M. Dent and Sons Ltd., 1963), p. 108. 15 Jessie L. Weston, The Legend of Sir Lancelot du Lac (1901; rpt. New York: AMS Press, 1972), p. 49.
37 38
16 Jean Markale, King Arthur: King of Kings, Christine Hauch trans. (London: Gordon and Cremonesi Publishers, Ltd., 1977), pp. 172-173. 17 Rhys, p. 58. 18 Ackerman, p. 493. 19 Laura Hibbard Loomis, "Gawain and the Green Knight," in Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, ed. Roger Sherman Loomis (Oxford: The Claredon Press, 1959), p. 530. 20 Weston, Sir Gawain, pp. 36-37. 21 Malory, p. 865. 22 Markale, pp. 156-157. 23 Burke J. Severs, ed. A MaEual of the Writings in Middle English 1050-1500 Fasc:-1 (New Haven: The Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1967), p. 68. The tale of the Fair Unknown is preserved in no less than six English manuscripts, in contrast to the single manuscript of the French version that exists in the works of Renaut de Beaujeu (ca. 1190). 24 Alfred Nutt, The Influence of the Celtic upon Medieval Romance (1904; rpt. New York: AMS Press, 1972), p. 6. 25 Markale, p. 61. 26 Markale, p. 131. 27 William Albert Nitze, "Perlesvaus," in Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, ed. Roger Sherman LOomis (Oxford: The Claredon Press, 1959), p. 263. 28 Markale, p •. 42. 29 R.E. Bennett, "Arthur and Gorlagon, the Dutch Lancelot, and St. Kentifern." Speculum, Vol. XIII No. 1 (1938), p. 68. 30 Bennett, p. 69. 31 Edward Sendoy, "Tourneys in the Arthurian Tradition." Speculum, Vol. XIX No.4 (1944), p. 391. 32 Sendoy, p. 403. 39
33 Bishop Percy's Folio Manuscript contains many of the extant version of the English Gawain poetry. His work represents a collection of the popular ballads acquired by the Bishop during the eighteenth century. For a more complete reference to the extant Gawain literature see the bibliography of primary sources. Bibliography of Sources Used and Consulted Primary Sources
The Awnt rs off Arthure at the Terpe Wathel n - from the Bodleian 2 89 Couce 3 4 • The Awntyrs off Arthure at the Terne Wathelyne. Ralph Hanne III ed. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1974. The
The Carle off Carlile - from the Percy Folio MS. Bishop Percy's Folio Manuscript. Vol. 3. John W. Hales and Frederick J. Furnivall ed. London: N. Trutner and Co., 1867. King Arthur and King Cornwall - from the Percy Folio MS. English and Scottish Popular Ballads. Vol. 1. Francis James Child ed. 1884; rpt. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1965. Libeaus Desconus - from the Percy Folio MS. Bishop Percy's Folio Manuscript Vol. 2. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - from the Cotton Nero A, x MS. Early English Text Society publication no. 210. The Turke and Gowin - from the Percy Folio MS. Bishop Percy's Folio Manuscript. Vol. 1. The Weddynge of Sir Gowen and Dame Ragnell - from the Bodleian 11951 (Rowlisen C. 86). Middle English Verse Romances. Donald S. Sands ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1966.
Primary Sources in Translation Clancy, Joseph B. trans. The Earliest Welsh Poetry. London: Macmillan and Co. Ltd., 1970. Evans, Sebastian, trans. History of the Kings of Britain. by Goeffrey of Monmouth. London: J.M. Dent and Sons Ltd., 1963.
40 41 I '
Jones, Gwyn and Thomas Jones, trans. The Mabinogion. London: J.M. Dent and Sons Ltd., 1970. Mason, Eugene, trans. Arthurian Chronicles. by Robert Wace and Layamon. London: J.M. Dent and SonsLtd., 1962.
Secondary Sources Brewer, Elisabeth. From Cuchlainn to Gawain. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer Ltd., 1973. Kelly, Amy. "Eleanor of Aquitaine and her Courts of Love." Speculum, Vol. XII No. 1 (1937), 3-19. Loomis, Roger Sherman, ed. Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages. Oxford: The Claredon Press, 195 9. Loomis, Roger Sherman. Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romances. New York: W.W. Norton and Company Inc., 1961.
Markale, Jean. King Arthur: King of Kings. Christine Rouch trans. London: Gordon and Cremonesi Publishers, Ltd., 1977. Nutt, Alfred. The Influence of Celtic upon Medieval Romance. 1904; rpt. New York: AMS Press, 1972. Sendoy, Edward. "Tourneys in the Arthurian Tradition." Speculum, Vol. XIX No.4 (1944), 389-419. Severs, Burke J. ed. A Manual of the Writings in Middle English 1050-1500. fase. 1. New Haven: The Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1967. Based upon A Manual of the Writings in Middle Enflish 1050-1400. by John Edwin Wells, New Haven 19 6 and Supplements 1-9, 1919-1951.
Weston, Jessie L. The Legend of Sir Gawain. 1897; rpt. New York: AMS Press, 1972.
Weston, Jessie L. The Legend of Sir Lancelot du Lac. 1901; rpt. AMS Press, 1972.