The quest of the Holy Grail cost King Arthur many of his best knights,
and the new ones who joined him by no means took the place of those
tried and trusty men who had made his Round Table famous. Moreover,
quarrels and dissensions broke out among them, and many of them forgot
their vows and lost the high character they held in the days of Galahad.
The queen and Sir Launcelot incurred the hatred of some of the knights,
and there were many complaints made to discredit the queen with Arthur.
Finally she was accused of treason, and Arthur, broken-hearted, was
compelled to sit in judgment upon his wife as upon any other of his
subjects. The punishment for treason in those days was burning at the
stake, and the queen was condemned to death in this horrible manner.
In those times all great questions might be settled by trial of battle.
There was a possibility of saving the queen's life if some knight would
volunteer to fight her accusers. For some time she was unable to find
any volunteer, and it was only under certain trying conditions that at
last Sir Bors agreed to enter the lists. He bore himself manfully in the
fray, but would not have succeeded had not Sir Launcelot appeared in
disguise and taken the battle upon himself. By his mighty prowess,
however, Launcelot established the queen's innocence of treason and
restored her to the king.
This was only temporary relief, however, for in the combat some of the
best remaining knights were slain; among them were Sir Gareth and Sir
Gaheris, both among the closest of Launcelot's friends and both killed
by his own hand. Gawaine, their brother, one of the most powerful
knights in the court, vowed vengeance for their death and swore to
follow Launcelot to the ends of the earth. Launcelot protested that he
should never cease to mourn for Sir Gareth and that he would as soon
have slain his own nephew as to harm the man whom he made knight and
whom he loved as a brother.
"Liar and traitor," cried Sir Gawaine, "you are a traitor both to the
king and to me."
Launcelot replied, "I see that never again shall I have your love,
though I pray you remember that at one time we were friends, and that
once you were indebted to me for your life."
"I care not," said Sir Gawaine, fiercely; "nor do I care for the
friendship of the king. As for you, in open combat or by stealth, your
life will I have; and as for the king, if he will not aid me now I shall
leave his kingdom and fight even against him."
"Cease this brawling before me," said the king. "It is better for us all
that Launcelot should depart." Thus was Arthur's greatest knight
banished from the kingdom.
This, however, did not terminate the difficulty. Arthur and Gawaine
followed Launcelot to France, where in a terrible battle Gawaine was
unhorsed and borne to the ground by Sir Launcelot, who, however,
declined to kill the valiant knight, although Gawaine still accused him
of being a traitor and declared that his enmity should never cease while
life lasted. Launcelot had gathered a large following in France, and
while Gawaine was being healed of his wounds there was peace between the
armies.
In the meantime, Sir Mordred, the traitorous nephew of King Arthur,
remained in England and instigated a rebellion against the king. He
summoned a parliament and caused himself to be elected king. Queen
Guinevere hid herself in the tower of London and could not be induced to
leave by threat or entreaty, for she knew that Mordred's purpose was to
make her his wife.
This news came to Arthur while he was encamped at Benwick where the
battle between his forces and Launcelot's had taken place. Arthur
immediately gathered his forces together and set sail for Britain.
Mordred learned of his approach and gathered a great army at Dover,
where he expected Sir Arthur to arrive, and where he lay in wait in the
harbor with a great array of ships of all kinds.
Nothing daunted King Arthur, however, and in a fierce naval battle the
forces of Mordred were defeated, while the traitor fled westward, where
he gathered his scattered hosts. There were among his men many of King
Arthur's favorite knights, men whom he had showed every favor and who
were indebted to him for all that they possessed. The desertion of these
men made Arthur sorry at heart and left him little joy in his successful
battle. As soon as he could he landed and went about among the wounded
of his own army and of his enemies, binding up their wounds and giving
comfort to those who were dying. The dead he buried with honors of war
whether they were his opponents or his friends.
As he went about among the boats he espied Sir Gawaine lying more dead
than alive, for in the battle he had received a blow which had reopened
the wound Launcelot had given him. When Arthur saw Gawaine he cried to
the stricken knight, "My sister's son, here you lie at the point of
death, the one man in the world I love most. Now is my joy all gone. Sir
Launcelot had all my friendship and you all my love, both of which are
gone utterly from me. Now indeed is my earthly joy all departed."
"My uncle, King Arthur," said Gawaine, "you know that this is my death
day, and that all has come through my own hastiness; for now am I
smitten on an old wound which Sir Launcelot gave me, and I know well I
must die. If Sir Launcelot had been with you, this unhappy war had never
begun. Now am I the cause of all this, for now I know it was Sir
Launcelot that kept his enemies in subjection. I could not join in
friendship with him while I lived, but now as I die I pray you give me
paper, pen and ink that I may write to Launcelot with mine own hand."
When the writing materials were brought Gawaine sat weakly up and wrote
this, "Unto Sir Launcelot, flower of all noble knights that I have heard
or saw by my days; I, Sir Gawaine, nephew of King Arthur, send you
greeting and let you know that I have been smitten upon the wound that
you gave me before the city of Benwick and that I have come to my death
day. I wish all the world to know that I, Sir Gawaine, knight of the
Round Table, came by my death by my own seeking and not through your
fault. So I beseech you, Sir Launcelot, return again to England and
sometime see my tomb and say a prayer or two for my soul. Alas, Sir
Launcelot, I beseech you by all the love that ever was between us, lose
no time but cross the sea in all haste that you may rescue the noble
king that made you knight, for he is in peril from that false traitor,
my half-brother, Sir Mordred.
"This letter was written but two hours and a half before my death with
my own hand and sealed with my heart's blood."
Then King Arthur wept, and sadness fell upon all who stood about. At the
hour of noon, after Sir Gawaine had received the sacrament and had
begged King Arthur to send for Launcelot, he yielded up the spirit.
After the burial of Sir Gawaine, King Arthur, old before his time, with
all his sorrows fresh upon him, made ready to go against Sir Mordred,
who had gathered a great army in the west.