The legend of Sir Lancelot de luc, or Lancelot of the Cart, or Lancelot of the Knights of round table is fascinating. All the images of Lancelot are around his love for his best-friend’s wife, who was his king, and the woman in question, his queen.
At birth Lancelot’s name was Galahad, but after he was kidnapped by the Lady of the Lake as an infant, and raised in that magical world, his name became Lancelot, derived from “de luc” which means ‘of the lakes.’ Since the name is not Gaelic in origin, most scholars agree, Lancelot was a late add-on to the story in France.
Lancelot made his appearance in France, by way of Cheritian de Toryes’, 12th century manuscript, Lancelot, Knight of the Cart. He also takes center stage in the 13th century manuscript, the Vulgate Cycle. In each text, Lancelot is described as handsome with tanned skin and dark hair. He’s also considered to be the bravest of Arthur’s knights, that everyone he meets agrees he is oddly, and completely, perfect. Of course in one area he’s humanly imperfect, in his undying love for Arthur’s young Queen, Guinevere. Apparently it was love at first sight for the couple.
Many other adventures surround Lancelot‘s legend, but his affair with his King‘s wife is the most famous. Without that he might have just have disappeared into the fabric of the tale all together. He was added to bring more drama, goal, motivation and that all important conflict. With his love for Guinevere, it certainly adds the drama of the secret, of someone finding out, and then in the end, Arthur finding out, and the fall of the situation.
All of Lancelot’s adventures center around his love for Guinevere. Another popular tale that leads up to the end of Camelot is how his son was conceived. Already in love with the Queen, Lancelot is tricked by Elaine, daughter of the fisher king, into believing she is Guinevere. He sleeps with her, she gets pregnant, giving birth to a son, appropriately named, Galahad.
Realizing what happened, Lancelot immediately goes mad (ironically for cheating on his one true love) and is banned from Arthur’s court. When he returns, the disaster, that is his affair with Guinevere, comes to light. Although the whole affair leaves Guinevere with the image of a woman with low morals, (since she slept with her hubby’s best-friend), it never made Lancelot the bad guy. His love for the Queen gave him one of most endearing romantic images of all time. In the end he was simply a man smitten by a married woman, who acted on it. Where Guinevere gets to be an adulterous woman, morally corrupted because she didn’t say, no. We also have to take into account that this tale was told by men.
The chain of events that brought Camelot to a ugly end started with a banquet. Arthur notices both Lancelot and Guinevere are missing. Mordred discovered the affair and waited for just this moment to spring his discovery on poor unsuspecting Arthur. Arthur discovers the pair in a lover’s embrace which could be anything from in bed together, just a simple kiss. It matters little which it was because after that all hell breaks loose.
Lancelot escapes, leaving Guinevere behind, not very heroic, considering it is the King and Queen’s champion. Arthur sentences Guinevere to death. When Lancelot and his kinsmen try to rescue the Queen, a battle ensues. In the confusion of battle, Mordred takes the opportunity to kill his own father, Arthur. Guinevere, now a widow is spared, and commits herself to spend the rest of her days hidden away in a convent, never to be seen again. It was her personal penance for the affair.
In the end, Lancelot’s actions brought about the death of his King and several of the knights of the roundtable. Effectively, Lancelot destroyed what he so loved, Arthur, Camelot and Guinevere. No happy ending here.
Lancelot committed himself to his own form of penance for the rest of his life for the affair. He goes on a quest for the Holy Grail, with is son Galahad. The only time Lancelot is actually punished for his acts of adultery, is when the Holy Grail is found. He can only glance at the cup because he is impure he dare not touch it. It is his son Galahad who gains possession of it because he is without sin.
This version of the story appeared during the Crusades into the Holy Land and was considered to be a HUGE event, one that drove home Lancelot’s sin.
In the end Lancelot dies in a monastery on Good Friday, never to so much as to lay eyes on the woman he loves again.
The question is, why do we consider Lancelot to be such a romantic image in light of the fact that he committed adultery with his best friend’s wife?
