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For other uses, see Lancelot (disambiguation) and Sir Lancelot (disambiguation).

In the Arthurian legend, Sir Lancelot (Lancelot du Lac, also Launcelot) is one of the Knights of the Round Table. He is typically considered to be one of the greatest and most trusted of King Arthur's knights and plays a part in many of Arthur's victories. He is perhaps most famous for his affair with Arthur's wife Guinevere and the role he plays in the search for the Holy Grail.

Lancelot's life and adventures are featured in several Medieval romances, often with conflicting backstories and chain of events. His first appearance as a main character is in Chrétien de Troyes' Le Chevalier de la Charette dating from the 12th century. In the 13th century, he figures prominently in the lengthy Vulgate Cycle, with the majority of his more famous exploits occurring in the section known as the Prose Lancelot. Given the multitude of independently developed literary sources, it is difficult to assemble an authoritative and absolute portrait of the knight.

Character origins

Pre-Romance origins

Lancelot's literary origins are unclear. Prior to his appearance in the works of Chrétien de Troyes, Lancelot is virtually unknown. Scholar Roger Sherman Loomis suggests that Lancelot is related to the Welsh hero Loch Llawwunnyawc (or Lugh Llenlleawg) from Culhwch and Olwen and referenced in the poems Pa gur and Preiddeu Annwfn. According to Loomis, Lancelot can then traced back to Lleu Llaw Gyffes or even the Celtic god Lugh or Lugus. Lancelot is also absent from early Italian texts referencing Arthur and Gawain.

Lancelot may have instead been the hero of an independent folk-tale which had contact with and was ultimately absorbed into the Arthurian tradition: the theft of an infant by a water-fairy, 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 Other-World prison are all features of a well-known and widespread folk-tale, variants of which are found in almost every land, and numerous examples of which have been collected by Emmanuel Cosquin in his Contes Lorrains, and by J. F. Campbell in his Tales of the West Highlands.

Earliest appearance

The character Lancelot is first introduced by the writer Chrétien de Troyes. 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, in spite of the fact that he does 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.

It is not until Chrétien's 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.

Although Lancelot will be later associated with the Grail Quest, Chrétien does not include him at all in his final romance, Le conte du graal. In this story, which introduces the Grail motif in medieval literature, Perceval is the sole seeker of the grail. Lancelot's involvement in the Grail legend is first recorded in the Perlesvaus, Written between 1200 and 1210.

Lancelot fighting the lions, from a medieval illumination.

Later amplifications

Lancelot's character is perhaps most fully developped in the so-called Vulgate Cycle, where he appears prominently in the third and fourth parts, known as the Prose Lancelot (or Lancelot du lac) and the Queste del Saint Graal (or The Quest for the Holy Grail) respectively. While Gaston Paris argues that the Guenivere-Meleagant episode of the Prose Lancelot is an almost literal adaptation of Chrétien's poem, the Prose Lancelot can be seen as a considerable amplification of Chrétien's tale. Whereas Chrétien treats Lancelot if his audience were already familiar the character's background, most of the exploits associated with Lancelot today are first mentioned here (e.g. Lancelot's parentage, Lancelot and the Grail, Lancelot, Guenivere and the fall of Camelot, etc.).

Knighthood and adventures

Birth and childhood

Lancelot (born Galahad) is the son of King Ban of Benwick and Elaine.. While Lancelot is an infant, his father is driven from his kingdom by his enemy Claudas de la Deserte . Ban and Elaine flee, carrying the child with them. As Elaine is tending to her wounded husband, Lancelot is carried off by the Lady of the Lake who raises the child in her magical kingdom. It is from this upbringing that Lancelot earns the surname, du lac (English: "of the lake").

Early Adventures

When Lancelot is old enough, the Lady of the Lake sends him to King Arthur's court, where he becomes a knight at the behest of Sir Gawain. Almost immediately upon his arrival, Lancelot falls in love with the Queen, and one of his very first adventures is rescuing Guinevere from Arthur's enemy, Meleagant.

Early in Lancelot's career, he faces the Dolorous Guard. After setting out for adventure, Lancelot comes across a castle guarded by the Copper Knight. To overcome this challenge, Lancelot must battle ten knights at the first wall, ten knights at the second wall, and finally the Copper Knight himself. However, after defeating many more than twenty knights (with the aid of his foster mother, the Lady of the Lake), he discovers that the Copper Knight has fled. The townspeople lead Lancelot to a cemetary, where he finds a metal slab stating that only one knight can lift the slab and that this knight's name is written beneath the slab. Lancelot (who has heretofor been known as simply the "White Knight") is able to lift it and discovers that his name is, in fact, Lancelot.

The name of the Dolorous Guard is changed to the Joyous Guard and becomes Lancelot's home.

Lancelot plays an important role in a war between Arthur and Galehaut. Although Galehaut is Arthur's enemy, Lancelot befriends him and convinces him to surrender peacefully to Arthur. As a token of thanks, Arthur invites Lancelot to become a member of the the Round Table. In spite of this happy outcome, Galehaut is the one who finally convinces Guinevere to return Lancelot's affection, an action that at least partially results in the fall of Camelot. Rather than return to Galehaut's court, Lancelot remains at the Round Table.

Later, with the help of King Arthur, Lancelot defeats Claudas and recovers his father's kingdom, though he again decides to remain at Camelot with his cousins Sir Bors and Sir Lionel and his illegitimate half-brother Hector de Maris.

Lancelot, Galahad, and the Grail

By this time, Lancelot is one of the most famous knights, and Elaine, daughter of the Fisher King (and sister of Perceval) falls in love with him. Using magical enchantments, she tricks him into believing that she is Guinevere, and he sleeps with her, and the ensuing pregnancy results in the birth of Galahad.

When he realizes what has happened, Lancelot goes mad and is exiled from the court for many years.

Upon his return to court, Lancelot takes part in the Grail Quest with Perceval and Galahad, though as an adulterer, he is only allowed a glimpse of the Grail itself. It is instead his son, Galahad, who ultimately achieves the Grail.

Later years and death

Ultimately, Lancelot's affair with Guinevere is a destructive force, resulting in the death of Lancelot's brothers, the estrangement of Lancelot and Gawain, and Mordred's betrayal of King Arthur. Upon hearing the news of Arthur's death, Lancelot retires to a hermitage to live out the rest of his life.

Allusions and symbols

The story of the love between Lancelot and Guinevere is introduced by Chrétien de Troyes and was largely influenced by the earlier tales of Tristan and Iseult.

Lancelot's sword is named Secace or Arondight.

Lancelot's symbol is the leopard.

Modern interpretations

In the modern world, interpretations of Lancelot have varied with him most stereotypically being portrayed in novels and film as a near-perfect warrior, skilled, handsome, and charismatic. In most films, Guinevere is the same age as Lancelot, and both are younger than King Arthur.

In books

• In Marion Zimmer Bradley's highly revisionist The Mists of Avalon, Lancelot is bisexual.
• In Bernard Cornwell's The Warlord Chronicles, Lancelot is depicted as Galahad's cowardly older brother, who nevertheless has an impossibly grand reputation as a heroic fighter thanks to his mother commissioning a great many poems in his honour.
• Lancelot's modern incarnation in Meg Cabot's young adult novel Avalon High is Lance, an attractive high school football player.
• In the light novel Fate/Zero, Lancelot was summoned the servant Berserker to fight in the Holy Grail War. Upon his defeat by Saber, he said that he had wanted his king to strike him down to atone for his sins like a faithful knight
• In the young adults book Shalott, by Felicity Pulman, 5 young Australians are sent back in time to king Arthur's court to try and change history and tennyson's poem on the Lady of Shalott(Astolat)

In film

• Lancelot was the hero of the 1950s British television series The Adventures of Sir Lancelot, where he was played by William Russell. This was the first British television series ever to be made in colour.
• In the 1953 film Knights of the Round Table, Lancelot (Robert Taylor) and Guinevere's (Ava Gardner) affair is limited to a kiss, and he defeats Mordred (Stanley Baker) after Arthur (Mel Ferrer) dies.
• Lancelot du Lac, a French film by Robert Bresson.
• In the 1975 comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, "Sir Lancelot the Brave" (played by John Cleese) is a marvellously violent knight known to attack castle walls, farm animals, wedding guests, and flowers. At the end of the film, he is the first one to cross the Bridge of Death, but is ultimately arrested by police looking for the murderer of the historian shortly afterwards. In the 2005 Broadway version of this film, Spamalot, Lancelot's quest leads him to discover that he is gay and ends up "marrying" the effeminate Prince Herbert (his homosexuality was alluded to during the end of Galahad's quest in the original movie where Galahad accused Lancelot of being gay, but the latter claimed that he's not).
• In John Boorman's 1981 film, Excalibur, Lancelot (Nicholas Clay) is portrayed much in the same manner as in Malory, but carries out actions usually assigned to other knights. Like Tristan he is sent to escort the king's betrothed and falls in love with her on the way. When Arthur (Nigel Terry) first meets Lancelot the two fight and Excalibur is broken (but later fixed by the Lady of the Lake). This reflects Arthur's fight with King Pellinore in Malory, where he breaks the Sword from the Stone and the Lady replaces it with Excalibur. Later, Arthur discovers the lovers in a forest, but spares them, leaving Excalibur standing between their bodies (again, from the legends of Tristan and Isolde, and similar to Pelleas' response to finding his love in the arms of Gawaine). Lancelot is driven mad by remorse, and lives as a wild man (Much as he does in Malory, and like Tristan, who temporarily suffered from amnesia - and a similar remorse-fuelled period of madness occurs to Lancelot in T. H. White's Once and Future King series) during the quest for the Grail. Later, he re-emerges during the final battle against Mordred, where he dies, reconciled with Arthur.
• The animated series King Arthur and the Knights of Justice features a 20th century New York football team called the Knights, who are led by quarterback Arthur King. Arthur and the New York Knights are transported to Camelot by Merlin to temporarily replace the real Arthur and his knights, who have been magically imprisoned by Morgana le Faye's magic. Lancelot's counterpart is unsurprisingly named Lance, and he wields a lance.
• In the 1995 film First Knight, Lancelot (Richard Gere), comes to the court of King Arthur (Sean Connery) as a fearless fighter without master. He rescues Guinevere (Julia Ormond) from Sir Malagant's brigands early in the film and falls in love with her at their first meeting. Following the death of Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere marry and rule the kingdom justly. Notably, Arthur is noticeably older than both Lancelot and Guinevere.

Lancelot in King Arthur
(Ioan Gruffudd)

• In the 2004 film King Arthur, Lancelot (Ioan Gruffudd) is portrayed as an atheist, in contrast to Arthur (Clive Owen), who is a devout Catholic, though a follower of the Pelagian heresy. Lancelot is also a Sarmatian, whose origins are of the Black Sea area of Eastern Europe. He is forced into service in Britain by tradition of the Roman Empire. In this version, his affair with Guinevere is almost non-existent - there is clearly chemistry, but they never act on their attraction.
• In the 2007 film Shrek the Third, Lancelot is seen as the high school's head jock who bullies Artie and makes him the dummy in jousting training (voiced by John Krasinski).
• Lancelot and Guinevere (alternately known as Sword of Lancelot)is a 1963 film scripted, directed by and starring Cornel Wilde.

External links

• The Charrette Project 2 at Baylor University
• Summary of Chrétien de Troyes' Le Chevalier de la charette (in English)

Further reading

• Lancelot and the Grail: A Study of the Prose Lancelot, Elspeth Kennedy (Clarendon Press, 1986)
• Lancelot Do Lac, the Non-Cyclic Old French Prose Romance, Two Volumes, Elspeth Kennedy (ed.) (OUP, 1980)
• Lancelot of the Lake, Introduction Elspeth Kennedy. Translation and notes Corin Corley (Oxford World's Classics)
• William Cole. "First and Otherwise Notable Editions of Medieval French Texts Printed from 1742 to 1874: A Bibliographical Catalogue of My Collection". Sitges: Cole & Contreras, 2005.