Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations and Tables
- Dedication
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- Part I The early Tradition in england
- 1 ‘But here Geoffrey falls silent’: Death, Arthur, and the Historia regum Britannie
- 2 Mordred's Sons
- 3 Dying in Uncle Arthur's Arms and at His Hands
- Part II Middle English Romance and Malory
- Part III Medieval Influence and Modern Arthuriana
- Index
- Arthurian Studies
3 - Dying in Uncle Arthur's Arms and at His Hands
from Part I - The early Tradition in england
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations and Tables
- Dedication
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- Part I The early Tradition in england
- 1 ‘But here Geoffrey falls silent’: Death, Arthur, and the Historia regum Britannie
- 2 Mordred's Sons
- 3 Dying in Uncle Arthur's Arms and at His Hands
- Part II Middle English Romance and Malory
- Part III Medieval Influence and Modern Arthuriana
- Index
- Arthurian Studies
Summary
The alliterative Morte Arthure presents one of the most striking displays of death in the entire Arthurian corpus. There the king walks across the strand, turning over the bodies of his men who had fallen in the first battle against Mordred:
The riche kynge ransakes with rewthe at his herte And vp rypes the renkes of all þe Rownde Tabyll: Ses them all in a soppe in sowte by them one, With þe Sarazenes vnsownde enserclede abowte; And sir Gawayne the gude in his gaye armes Vmbegrippede the girse, and one grouffe fallen – His baners brayden down, betyn of gowlles, His brand and his brade schelde al blody beronen. Was neuer oure semliche kynge so sorowfull in herte, Ne þat sanke hym so sade bot þat sighte one.
Than gliftis þe gud kynge and glopyns in herte, Gronys full grisely with gretande teris; Knelis down to þe cors and kaught it in armes, Kastys vpe his vmbrere and kyssis hym sone.
(3939–52; my emphasis)Nothing so ‘weighed down’ the king (‘sanke hym so sade’) as does the sight of the Round Table's fallen men. The architectural arrangement of their corpses reveals how they met their end. The small band had been driven off to the side and outnumbered by Mordred's troops, encircled by them, and cut down. At the center of their company (‘soppe’) lies ‘sir Gawayne the gude’.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Arthurian Way of DeathThe English Tradition, pp. 50 - 70Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2009