ランスロット

ランスロット・デュ・ラック（Lancelot du Lac）（フランス語で『湖の騎士ランスロット（Lancelot of the Lake）』の意）、別表記として『ラウンスロット（Launcelot）』などがあるは、アーサー王伝説の騎士道物語伝統における人気キャラクターである。彼は通常、アーサー王の親しい仲間であり、円卓の騎士の中でも最も偉大な一人として描かれる。また、アーサーの妻であるグィネヴィアの秘密の恋人でもある。

最も有名かつまとまった物語では、美しいランスロットは滅びたベノイック王国のバン王の息子で孤児だった。彼は妖精の領域で湖の貴婦人に育てられ、若き騎士としてアーサー王の宮廷に加わるまで実の親を知らず、そこで自らの出自を知った。ランスロットは数々の戦い、冒険、馬上槍試合の英雄であり、ほぼ比類なき剣士かつ馬上槍試合の達人として名高くなった。彼はやがて「ジョイアス・ガード城」の領主となり、彼が絶対的な忠誠を捧げるグィネヴィア王妃の専属侍従騎士となった。また騎士ガレホート（Galehaut）と親友となったが、その一方、頻繁に、時には長期間にわたる激しい怒りの発作やその他の狂気の症状に苦しんだ。コーベニックのエレインが魔法でランスロットを誘惑した後、二人の間に生まれた息子ガラハッドは父の性格上の欠点を持たず、完璧な騎士として成長した。ランスロット自身が罪ある身のために失敗した最大の探求、すなわち聖杯の獲得にガラハッドは成功した。やがてランスロットとグィネヴィアの不倫関係が公に発覚すると、それは血みどろの内戦へと発展し、モルドレッドに利用された結果、アーサー王の王国は終焉を迎える。

ランスロットが主人公として初めて確認できるのは、クリスティアン・ド・トロワの12世紀フランス詩『ランスロット、馬車の騎士』である。この作品では既にグィネヴィアへの宮廷的愛が中心テーマとなっていた。しかし、別の初期のランスロット詩『ランゼレット』（作者不詳のフランス語書をドイツ語に翻訳した作品）にはそのようなモチーフは登場せず、両テキストの関連性や共通の出典があるかどうかは不明である。その後、ランスロットの性格と物語は、クリスティアンの物語を基にアーサー王物語の他の作品で展開され、特に『ランスロット・グレイル』という膨大な散文物語連作において、現在広く知られる伝説の形態となった。この物語は『アーサー王の死』における要約版を経て伝承された。忠誠と裏切りを併せ持つランスロットは、何世紀にもわたり人気を保ち続け、現代の作家たちによって頻繁に再解釈されている。

歴史

名前と起源

ランスロットがアーサー王伝説の登場人物となった起源については、多くの説が提唱されてきた。フェルディナン・ロットとロジャー・シャーマン・ルーミスが提唱した説では、ランスロットの人物像は、初期のアーサー王のウェールズの物語『カルフフとオルウェン（Culhwch and Olwen）』（ランスロットを「ガニオン岬」と結びつける）に登場するアイルランド人レンレウク（Llenlleog）（レンレウク（Llenlleawc））や、ウェールズの英雄ルフ・ラウインナウク（Llwch Llawwynnauc）（おそらくユーヘメリズム化されたアイルランドの神ルー・ロンベムネック（Lug[h] Lonbemnech）の変形で、「ルー（Llwch）」はウェールズ語で「湖（Lake）」を意味する）に関連するとされている。おそらく、現在では忘れ去られた「ラムカラド（Lamhcalad）」のような別名があったのだろう 。ルフとランスロットは名前に加え、剣を振るったり、クルフフ（Culhwch）、プレイドゥ・アンヌン（Preiddeu Annwn）で大釜を巡って戦う点など、類似点が多く、同一人物であることが示唆される。ルーミスはランスロットをウェールズ神話の英雄リュー・ラウ・ギフェス（Lleu Llaw Gyffes）と関連付け、T. グウィン・ジョーンズはランスロットとウェールズ伝説におけるアーサー王の甥エリウロド（Eliwlod）（エリウラッド（Eliwlad））との関連性を主張した。アーサー王伝説のスキタイ起源説を支持する研究者らは、その初期形態が「アランヌス・ア・ロット（Alanus-à-Lot）」、すなわち「アラン人のロット川」であった可能性を推測している。 古代に手がかりを求める人々は、ギリシア神話の人物であるアスカロス（Askalos）とモプソス（Mopsus）（モクサス（Moxus））にランスロットの要素を見出している。

アルフレッド・アンスカムは1913年、名前「ランスロット」がゲルマン語の『*Wlancloth』に由来し、その語源は古英語の『wlenceo』（誇り）と『loða』（マント）にあると提唱した。これは６世紀の『ゲティカ』に言及されるゴート族の首長または部族名であるヴィノヴィロースとの関連で提唱されたものである 。ノルマ・ロア・グッドリッチら近年の研究者によれば、この名称は12世紀のフランス人詩人クリスティアン・ド・トロワの創作である可能性もあるが、そうでない場合、ジェフリー・オブ・モンマスの登場人物アンギュセラウスに由来する可能性がある。アンギュセラウスという名はおそらく、6世紀のピクト人王フォルグスの息子のラテン語化名であるウンギスト（Unguist）に由来し、ジェフリー・オブ・モンマスの原文であるラテン語から古フランス語へ翻訳すると「アンセルス」となる 。現代においてランスロットの原型候補として提案されている他の人物は、６世紀に存在した初期のフランスの聖人、フランボー・ド・ラッセ（Saint Fraimbault de Lassay）がいる。彼はグウィネズ王マエルグンおよびラエノグ（Llaenauc）、エルメットの王グワログの父である。

ランスロットは、もともと独立した民話の人気主人公であったが、最終的にはアーサー王伝説に吸収された可能性がある。水の精霊による子供の誘拐、３日連続で ３種類の変装をして馬上試合に登場する英雄、そして異世界（ケルトの異世界）の牢獄から女王や王女を救出する、といった要素は、広く知られた物語の特徴であり、そのバリエーションは、テオドール・エルサール・ド・ラ・ヴィルマルクの『ブルターニュのバラード（Barzaz Breiz）』、エマニュエル・コスキャンの『ロラン物語（Contes Lorrains）』、ジョン・フランシス・キャンベルの『西ハイランド物語（Tales of the West Highlands）』で多くの例がみられる。名前については、 「ランスロット」は、フランス語の名前「ランセラン（Lancelin）」の変形である可能性が指摘されている。この言葉は、古フランス語で「槍（javelin）」を意味していたと思われる。この説は1881年にガストン・パリが提唱し、後にレイチェル・ブロムウィッチも支持した。また、古フランス語の「L'Ancelot」（「従者」を意味する）に由来する可能性もある（この仮説は1842年にド・ラ・ヴィルマルクが初めて提唱した）。実際、いくつかの写本ではランスロットの名前はこのように表記されている。さらに、ランスロットの名は「誇り高き者」を意味する珍しいサクソン名Wlancを連想させる。

スティーブン・パウは最近、「ランスロット」という名が、歴史上のハンガリー王ラディスラウス1世から発生したハンガリー語「ラースロー（Laszlo）」（ラディスラウス）の古フランス語発音に由来すると主張している。1180年代初頭、ハンガリー王ベラ3世はラディスラスの聖人列聖（1192年承認）と、フランス王女マルグリット（1186年に娶った）を通してフランスとの婚姻同盟を推進していた。マルグリットはクリスティアンのパトロンであるシャンパーニュのマリーの異母妹であり、ランスロットの創作は、フランス王家の成員との結婚時期に合わせ、ハンガリー王を称える意図があったと考えられる。

クリスティアンとウルリッヒ

ランスロットを登場人物として扱う最古の既知作品であるクレティエン・ド・トロワの古フランス語詩『エレックとエニード』（1170年）において、ランスロットの名は、アーサー王の宮廷に侍る騎士たちの名簿において三番目に記されている。その名がガウェインとエレックに続く事実は、クリスティアンの物語では目立った役割を果たさなかったにもかかわらず、宮廷におけるランスロットの重要性が想定されていたことを示している。ランスロットはクレティアンの『クリジェス』にも登場し、クリジェスが冒険の途中で打ち倒さねばならない騎士の一人として重要な役割を担っている。

クリスティアンの『荷車の騎士ランスロット（Le Chevalier de la charrette）』において初めて、彼は主人公となり、正式な名前「ランスロット・デュ・ラック（湖のランスロット）」を与えられる」。この名は後に『ランスロット・グレイル』のフランス人作者たち、そしてトマス・マロリーによって採用された。 クレティエンは読者がランスロットの背景をよく知っているかのように扱うが、今日ランスロットに一般的に結びつけられる特徴や武勇伝の大半はここで初めて言及された。物語は、ランスロットがアーサー王の妻グィネヴィア王妃に狂おしい恋心を抱き、彼女をメリアガント王子（同じく彼女に片思いしていたが全く報われなかった）に誘拐された後、危険な異界の地ゴレから救い出すまでのを描く。

マティルダ・ブルックナーの言葉を借りれば、「クリスティアン以前のものは不確かだが、彼の版が、並外れた武勇がアーサー王の王妃への愛と不可分である騎士ランスロットの、その後のすべての物語の出発点となったことは疑いない」。フランス国立図書館のダニエル・ケレルによれば、「クリスティアンが描いたランスロットという人物は、愛する女性への想いを高揚と恍惚の極限まで押し進める宮廷愛の理想像である……愛に支配されたランスロットは、もはや周囲の世界を見失い、自らの存在すら認識できなくなっている。」ということになる

愛に麻痺し、愛する女性を想ううちに全ての能力を失ってしまう叙情的な激しい愛の持ち主として、クリティエンはランスロットを女王への情熱に完全に囚われた騎士とした。欲望に圧倒され、彼は繰り返し周囲の現実を忘却する。[...]騎士は、キリストが神の殉教者であるように、貴婦人が愛の殉教者となる傷を負うことも厭わない。ここで貴婦人は騎士が崇拝する偶像となる。ランスロットは、祭壇の前に立つように女王が待つ寝床の前に跪き、彼女を聖遺物のように崇拝し続け、そこに全幅の信頼を置く。ランスロットとグィネヴィアの愛の夜は、五感の饗宴として、また他のいかなる恋人たちも知らぬ、より大きく深い、言葉に尽くせぬ歓喜として描かれる。しかし夜明けと共に訪れる別れは、絶望のうちに去る騎士の苦しみを再び呼び覚ます。「体は去れど、心は残る」である。

ランスロットのグィネヴィアへの愛は、12世紀末（1194年以降）にウルリッヒ・フォン・ツァツィコーヴェンが中世高地ドイツ語で書いた叙事詩『ランセレット（Lanzelet』というクリスティアンとは別の初期作品には全く登場しない。ウルリッヒは自身の詩が「フランス語の書物」から得た先行作品の翻訳であると主張し、「フランス語の書物が語る内容と比べて、何も省略も追加もしていない」と読者に断言している。彼は出典をアルノー・ダニエルという人物がプロヴァンス方言で書いたものと説明しており、クリスティアンの物語とはいくつかの点で大きく異なっていたと思われる。『ランセレット』において、ジノヴェール（グィネヴィア）を誘拐したのはヴァレラン王と名付けられており、その名がウェールズのメリアガントに由来するクレティアンのメリアガントとは異なる。さらに、ジノヴェールを救うのはランセロットではなく、ランセロットは妖精の王女イブリスと結婚して幸せになる。この書物のランセレットはアーサー王の甥、アーサーの姉クラリーヌ王妃の息子で、父であるジュヌウィスの王パンは反乱で命を落とした。クリスティアン版と同様、ランセレットも妖精に育てられる。養母は乙女の国の水の女王として詳細に描かれ、彼の初期の冒険の多くの原因となっている。

両物語に共通する要素から、ランスロットの伝説が「由来不明」なロマンスとして始まったことが分かる。ランスロットは、もともとアーサー、グィネヴィア、ランスロットの三角関係とは無関係な物語の主人公であり、おそらくウルリッヒのバージョンとよく似た話だったのではないかという説がある。これが事実であれば、不倫というモチーフは、クレティエンが『荷車の騎士』のために創作したものか、あるいは、宮廷愛に関する事柄に強い関心があることで知られた、彼のパトロンであるマリー・ド・シャンパーニュという女性が彼に提供した（現在は失われた）情報源に存在していたかのどちらかと考えられる。クレティエン自身は理由は不明だが、詩の完成を放棄した。おそらく主題に対して個人的な嫌悪感があったのだろう。その後、クレティエンはこの詩を同僚のゴドフロワ・ド・レニに譲り、ゴドフロワが完成させた。

伝説の変遷

ランスロットのキャラクターは、13世紀初頭に書かれた古フランス語の散文ロマンス『ヴルガート・サイクル』（別名『ランスロット＝グレイル』）においてさらに発展した。そこでランスロットは、物語の後編といえる『散文ランスロット（Lancelot en prose）』、『聖杯の探求（Queste del Saint Graal）』、『アーサー王の死（Mort Artu）』において重要な役割を果たす。クリスティアン・ド・トロワがマリー伯爵夫人の依頼で執筆した際、伯爵夫人が関心を持ったのはランスロットと女王の恋愛関係のみだった。しかし『散文ランスロット』では物語が大きく拡張され、彼には家系（失われた王国からの血筋という『ランスレット』と似た設定）が与えられ、さらに他の多くの冒険が描かれた。ガストン・パリスは、『散文ランスロット』におけるグィネヴィアとメレアガントのエピソードは、クリスティアンの詩をほぼ文字通り翻案したものであり、その宮廷愛のテーマはマリーによって不本意なクリスティアンに求められたものだと主張した 。ただし、これは物語の大幅な拡張と見なすこともできる。『散文ランスロット』の物語の大部分は、後に『後期ヴァルガート・サイクル』として知られる改訂版で削除され、ランスロットはもはや中心人物ではなくなった。現存する部分は再構成され、このサイクルの他の部分に組み込まれている。

ランスロットは、アーサー王物語というジャンルにおけるキリスト教的なテーマと結びつけられることが多い。『荷車の騎士ランスロット』においてランスロットがグィネヴィアを求める姿は、キリストが人間の魂を求める探求に似ている 。墓地での冒険は、キリストの「地獄の征服」と「復活」を連想させる表現で描かれている。彼は難なく墓地の石棺の蓋を開け、そこに刻まれた碑文には彼が捕らわれ人を解放することが予言されていた。 ランスロットは後に聖杯探求にまつわる主要な騎士の一人となるが、クリスティアンは未完の最終作『パーシヴァル、聖杯物語』においてランスロットを全く登場させていない。『パーシヴァル、聖杯物語』は中世文学に聖杯のモチーフを導入したものである。パーシヴァルはクレティアンの物語において聖杯を求める唯一の者である。ランスロットが聖杯探求に関与するとされた最初の描写は、1200年から1210年の間に書かれた散文ロマンス『ペルレスヴォー』においてである。

Lancelot is often tied to the religiously Christian themes within the genre of Arthurian romance. His quest for Guinevere in Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart is similar to Christ's quest for the human soul. His adventure among the tombs is described in terms that suggest Christ's harrowing of Hell and resurrection; he effortlessly lifts the lid off the sarcophagus, which bears an inscription foretelling his freeing of the captives. Lancelot would later become one of the chief knights associated with the Quest for the Holy Grail, yet Chrétien did not include him at all in his final romance, the unfinished Perceval, le Conte du Graal (Perceval, or the Story of the Grail) which introduced the Grail motif into medieval literature. Perceval is the sole seeker of the Grail in Chrétien's treatment; Lancelot's involvement in the Grail quest is first recorded in the prose romance Perlesvaus, written between 1200 and 1210. Robert de Boron-inspired tradition of the Vulgate Cycle gives Lancelot a Biblical lineage, counting King David and King Solomon among his ancient ancestors, but also makes him fail in the Grail Quest because of his sins.

German romance Diu Crône gives Lancelot aspects of solar deity type hero, making his strength peak during high noon, a characteristic usually associated with Gawain. The Middle Dutch so-called Lancelot Compilation (c. 1320) contains seven Arthurian romances, including a new Lancelot one, folded into the three parts of the cycle. This new formulation of a Lancelot romance in the Netherlands indicates the character's widespread popularity independent of the Lancelot-Grail cycle. In this story, Lanceloet en het Hert met de Witte Voet ("Lancelot and the Hart with the White Foot"), he fights seven lions to get the white foot from a hart (deer) which will allow him to marry a princess. Near the end of the 15th century, Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur followed the Lancelot-Grail in presenting Lancelot as the best knight, a departure from the preceding English tradition in which Gawain had been the most prominent.

The forbidden love affair between Lancelot and Guinevere can be seen as a parallel to that of Tristan and Iseult, with Lancelot ultimately being identified with the tragedy of chance and human failing that is responsible for the downfall of the Round Table in the later works continuing Chrétien's story. In Perceforest, the different daughters of the ancient knight Lyonnel and the fairy queen Blanchete are actually ancestors of both Lancelot and Guinevere, as well as of Tristan.

Life in popular tradition

Birth and childhood

ファイル:The Lady Nymue beareth away Launcelot into the Lakes.png

Howard Pyle's illustration for The Story of the Champions of the Round Table (1905): "The Lady Nymue beareth away Launcelot into the Lakes."

In his backstory, as told in the Vulgate Cycle, Lancelot is born "in the borderland between Gaul and Brittany" as Galahad (originally written Galaad or Galaaz, not to be confused with his own son of the same name), son of the Gallo-Roman ruler King Ban of Bénoïc (English 'Benwick', corresponding to the eastern part of Anjou). Ban's kingdom has just fallen to his enemy, King Claudas, and the mortally wounded king and his wife Queen Élaine flee the destruction of their final stronghold of Trebe or Trébes (likely the historic Trèves Castle in today's Chênehutte-Trèves-Cunault), carrying the infant child with them. As Elaine tends to her dying husband, Lancelot is carried off by a fairy enchantress known as the Lady of the Lake; the surviving Elaine will later become a nun. In an alternate version as retold in the Italian La Tavola Ritonda, Lancelot is born when the late Ban's wife Gostanza delivers him two months early and soon after also dies.

The Lady then raises the child in her magical realm. After three years pass in human world, the child Lancelot grows up and matures much faster than he would naturally do, and it is from this upbringing that he earns the name du Lacテンプレート:Dashof the Lake. His double-cousins Lionel and Bors the Younger, sons of King Bors of Gaul and Elaine's sister Evaine, are first taken by a knight of Claudas and later spirited away to the Lady of the Lake to become Lancelot's junior companions. Lancelot's other notable surviving kinsmen often include Bleoberis de Ganis and Hector de Maris among other and usually more distant relatives. Many of them will also join him at the Round Table, as do all of those mentioned above, as well as some of their sons, such as Elyan the White, and Lancelot's own son, too. In the prose Lancelot, the more or less minor Knights of the Round Table also mentioned as related to Lancelot in one way or another are Aban, Acantan the Agile, Banin, Blamor, Brandinor, Crinides the Black, Danubre the Brave, Gadran, Hebes the Famous, Lelas, Ocursus the Black, Pincados, Tanri, and more (they are different and fewer in Malory).

An early part of the Vulgate Lancelot also describes in a great detail what made him (in a translation by Norris J. Lacy) "the most handsome lad in the land", noting the feminine qualities of his hands and neck and the just right amount of musculature. Diverging on Lancelot's personality, the narration then adds his proneness to berserk-like combat frenzy to his mental instability already prominent Chrétien's version (where Lancelot is notably relentless on his quest to rescue Guinevere, leaping into danger without thinking and ignoring wounds and pain):

King Arthur's court

ファイル:Tales of the Round table; based on the tales in the Book of romance (1908) (14580337558).jpg

An illustration for Tales of the Round Table (1908), abridged from Le Morte d'Arthur by Andrew Lang: "Sir Lancelot did not stop, and the archers shot his horse with many arrows, but he jumped from its back and ran past them deeper into the wood."

Lancelot's initial adventures (also in Malory) are of the "Fair Unknown" type, expanding on Chrétien's story and accordingly intertwining his quest for identity with the love for Guinevere. Initially known only as the nameless White Knight (Chevalier Blanc), clad in silver steel on a white horse, the young Lancelot (claiming to be 18 years old, although it is later revealed that he is really only 15) arrives in Arthur's kingdom of Logres with the Lady of the Lake to be knighted by the king at her behest. The Lady equips him a powerful magic ring able to dispel any enchantment (as does his anonymous fairy foster mother also does in Chrétien's version; later parts of the Vulgate Lancelot instead retcon this as given to him by Guinevere). She also provides Lancelot with other enchanted items with various magical abilities, including a lance, a sword, a tent, and a mirror. The Lady, or her damsels, continue to aid him throughout the Vulgate Lancelot. He later assumes the name of his grandfather, King Lancelot, upon discovering his identity.

Lancelot is eventually convinced to become a member of King Arthur's elite order of the Round Table after freeing the Arthur's nephew Gawain from captivity in the Dolorous Tower episode. He then becomes one of Arthur's closest and most trusted friends, and his greatest knight. As such, he plays a decisive role in the war against the Saxons in Lothian (Scotland), when he again rescues Gawain as well as Arthur himself from Castle Saxon Rock and captures the Saxon witch-princess Camille. Single-handedly, he saves Arthur's kingdom from conquest by the half-giant Galehaut and convinces the latter to join Arthur.

Expanding on the account from the Alliterative Morte Arthure, Malory also has his Lancelot act as one of the chief leaders in Arthur's Roman War, including personally saving the wounded Bedivere during the final battle against Emperor Lucius. Since much of Le Morte was not composed chronologically, the Roman episode actually takes place within Malory's Book II, prior to Book III that relates Lancelot's youth.

Guinevere and knight-errantry

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Accolade (also known as Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot) by Edmund Blair Leighton (1901)

Almost immediately upon his arrival, Lancelot and the young Queen Guinevere fall in love through a strange magical connection between them, and one of his adventures in the prose cycles involves saving her from abduction by Arthur's enemy Maleagant. The exact timing and sequence of events vary from one source to another, and some details are found only in certain sources. The Maleagant episode actually marked the end of the original, non-cyclic version of the Prose Lancelot (before the later much longer versions), telling of only of the hero's childhood and early youth. In the Prose Lancelot, he is actually knighted by Guinevere instead of by Arthur.

In Malory's abridged telling in Le Morte d'Arthur, Lancelot's knighting is performed by the King, and both Lancelot's rescue of the Queen from Meleagant and the physical consummation of their relationship is postponed for years. As described by Malory, after having broken through the iron bars of her prison chamber with his bare hands, "Sir Launcelot wente to bedde with the Quene and toke no force of his hurte honed, but toke his plesaunce and hys lyknge untyll hit was the dawning of the day." This transgression takes place late in Malory's telling, following Lancelot's failure in the Grail Quest. Nevertheless, just as in Malory's "French book" source, his Lancelot too devotes himself to the service of Guinevere early on in his tale. Several (far from all) of Lancelot's initial knight-errant style adventures from the Vulgate Cycle did make their way into Malory's compilation. These episodes range from defeating the mighty villain Turquine who had been holding several of Arthur's knights prisoner, to slaying a duo of giant knights (in the Vulgate, the locals then declare Lancelot their lord and try to make him stay with them). He also emerges victorious from a number of tournaments, among them once when fighting on behalf of Maleagant's father King Bagdemagus.

Lancelot dedicates his deeds to his lady Guinevere, acting in her name as her knight. At one point, he goes mad when he is led to believe that Guinevere doubts his love until he is found and healed by the Lady of the Lake. Another instance of Lancelot temporarily losing his mind occurs during his brief imprisonment by Camille, after which he is cured by the Lady of the Lake as well. The motif of his recurring fits of madness (especially "in presence of sexually charged women") and suicidal tendencies (usually relating to the false or real news of the death of either Gawain or Galehaut) return often throughout the Vulgate and sometimes in other versions as well. He also may harbor a darker, more violent side that is usually suppressed by the chivalric code but can become easily unleashed during the moments of action. Nevertheless, the Vulgate Lancelot notes that "for all the knights in the world he was the one most unwilling to hurt any lady or maiden."

At one point, Lancelot (up to then still going as just the White Knight) conquers and wins for himself a castle in Britain, known as Joyous Gard (a former Dolorous Gard), where he learns his real name and heritage, taking the name of his illustrious ancestor Lancelot as his own. With the help of King Arthur, Lancelot then defeats Claudas (and his allied Romans in the Vulgate) and recovers his father's kingdom. However, he again decides to remain at Camelot, along with his cousins Bors and Lionel and his illegitimate half-brother Hector de Maris (Ector).

Guinevere's rivals and Galehaut

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Sidney Paget's painting of Elaine of Astolat with the injured Lancelot in her care

Lancelot becomes one of the most famous Knights of the Round Table, even attested as the best knight in the world in Malory's own episode of Sir Urry of Hungary, as well as an object of desire by many ladies, beginning with the gigantic Lady of Malehaut when he is her captive early on in the Vulgate Lancelot. An evil sorceress named Hellawes wants him for herself so obsessively that, failing in having him either dead or alive in Malory's chapel perilous episode, she soon herself dies from sorrow. Similarly, Elaine of Astolat (Vulgate's Demoiselle d'Escalot, in modern times better known as "the Lady of Shalott"), also dies of heartbreak due to her unrequited love of Lancelot. On his side, Lancelot falls in a mutual but purely platonic love with an avowed virgin maiden, whom Malory calls Amable (unnamed in the Vulgate).

Lancelot, incognito as the Black Knight (on another occasion he disguises himself as the Red Knight as well), plays decisive role in the war against the powerful foreign invader, Prince Galehaut (Galahaut). Galehaut is poised to become the victor and conquer Arthur's kingdom, but he is taken by Lancelot's amazing battlefield performance and offers him a boon in return for the privilege of one night's company in the bivouac. Lancelot accepts and uses his boon to demand that Galehaut surrender peacefully to Arthur. Galehaut then becomes Lancelot's self-proclaimed vassal and the king's ally, later joining the Round Table after Lancelot finally does.

The exact nature of Galehaut's passion for Lancelot is a subject of debate among modern scholars, with some interpreting it as intimate friendship and others as love similar to that between Lancelot and Guinevere. Galehaut is obsessed with having Lancelot all for himself. Publicly submissive to Lancelot by his own choice, he is constantly acting very possessive of him regarding both Guinevere and Arthur, so much that Gawain comments that Galehaut is more jealous of Lancelot than any knight is of his lady. At first, Lancelot goes to live with Galehaut in his home country of Sorelois. Guinevere joins them there after Lancelot saves her from the bewitched Arthur during the "false Guinevere" episode. After that, Arthur invites Galahaut to join the Round Table. Galahaut is also the one who convinces Guinevere that she may return Lancelot's affection. In the Prose Tristan and its adaptations, including the account within the post-Vulgate Queste, Lancelot himself harbors in his castle the fugitive lovers Tristan and Iseult as they flee from the vengeful King Mark of Cornwall.

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Morgan, Sebile and two other witch-queens find Lancelot sleeping in William Henry Margetson's illustration for Legends of King Arthur and His Knights, abridged from Le Morte d'Arthur by Janet MacDonald Clark (1914)

Faithful to Queen Guinevere, he refuses the forceful advances of Queen Morgan le Fay, Arthur's enchantress sister. Morgan constantly attempts to seduce Lancelot, whom she at once lustfully loves and hates with the same great intensity. She even kidnaps him repeatedly, once with her coven of fellow magical queens including Sebile. On one occasion (as told in the prose Lancelot), Morgan agrees to temporarily release Lancelot to save Gawain, on the condition that Lancelot will return to her immediately afterwards; she then sets him free under the further condition that he not spend any time with either Guinevere or Galehaut for a year. This condition causes Lancelot to go half mad, and Galehaut to fall sick out of longing for him. Galehaut eventually dies of anguish, after he receives a false rumour of Lancelot's suicide.

Elaine, Galahad and the Grail

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Seduction of Lancelot in the Livre de Lancelot du Lac (c. 1401–1425)

Princess Elaine of Corbenic, daughter of the Fisher King, also falls in love with him but is more successful than the others. With the help of magic, Lady Elaine tricks Lancelot into believing that she is Guinevere, and thus makes him sleep with her by deception. The ensuing pregnancy results in the birth of his son Galahad, whom Elaine will send off to grow up without a father. Galahad later emerges as the Merlin-prophesied Good Knight, destined for great deeds, who will find the Holy Grail.

But Guinevere learns of their affair, and becomes furious when she finds that Elaine has made Lancelot sleep with her by magic trickery for a second time and in Guinevere's own castle. She blames Lancelot and banishes him from Camelot. Broken by her reaction, Lancelot goes mad again. He flees and vanishes, wandering the wilderness for (either two or five) years. During this time, he is searched for by the remorseful Guinevere and the others. Eventually, he arrives back at Corbenic, where he is recognised by Elaine. Lancelot, shown the Holy Grail through a veil, is cured of his madness, and then chooses to live with her on a remote isle, where he is known incognito as the Wicked Knight (Chevalier Malfait, the French form also used by Malory). After ten years pass, Lancelot is finally found by Perceval and Ector, who meanwhile have been sent to look for him by Guinevere (the prose Lancelot narrates the adventures of them and various other knights in the Quest for Lancelot).

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Lancelot knighting his son Gilead (Galahad) accompanied by Lionel and Bohort (Bors) in the Vulgate Cycle (BNF fr. 343 Queste del Saint Graal)

Upon his return to the court of Camelot, Lancelot takes part in the great Grail Quest. The quest is initiated by Lancelot's estranged son, the young teenage Galahad, having prevailed over his father in a duel during his own dramatic arrival at Camelot, among other acts that proved him as the most perfect knight. Following further adventures, during which he experiences defeat and humiliation, Lancelot himself is again allowed only a glimpse of the Grail because he is an adulterer and was distracted from faith in God by earthly honours that came through his knightly prowess. Instead, it is his spiritually-pure son who ultimately achieves the Grail. Galahad's also virgin companions, Lancelot's cousin Bors the Younger and Pellinore's son Perceval, then witness his ascension into the Heaven. As noted by George Brown, while "Galahad is the typological descendant of Solomon through Joseph of Arimathea, Lancelot is equivalent to David, the warrior-sinner."

Conflict with Arthur

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James Archer's Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere (1864)

Ultimately, Lancelot's affair with Guinevere is a destructive force, which was glorified and justified in the Vulgate Lancelot but becomes condemned by the time of the Vulgate Queste. After his failure in the Grail quest, Lancelot tries to live a chaste life, angering Guinevere who sends him away, although they soon reconcile and resume their relationship as it had been before Elaine and Galahad. When Maleagant tries to prove Guinevere's infidelity, he is killed by Lancelot in a trial by combat. Lancelot also saves the Queen from an accusation of murder by poison when he fights as her champion against Mador de la Porte upon his timely return in another episode included in Malory's version. In all, Lancelot fights in five such duels throughout the prose Lancelot.

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Lancelot's bloody rescue of Guinevere from the stake in Henry Justice Ford's illustration for Andrew Lang's Tales of the Round Table (1908)

However, after the truth about Lancelot and Guinevere is finally revealed to Arthur by Morgan, it leads to the death of three of Gawain's brothers (Agravain, Gaheris and Gareth) when Lancelot with his family and followers arrive to violently save the condemned queen from being burned at the stake. During her rescue, the rampaging Lancelot and his companions slaughter the men sent by Arthur to guard the execution, including those who went unwilling and unarmed (as did Lancelot's own close friend Gareth, whose head he crushes in a blind rage). In Malory's version, Agravain is killed by Lancelot earlier, during his bloody escape from Camelot, as well as Florent and Lovel, two of Gawain's sons (Arthur's nephews) who accompanied Agravain and Mordred in their ambush of Lancelot in Guinevere's chambers along with several other knights from Scotland. In the Vulgate Mort Artu, Lancelot's now-vacated former seat at the Round Table is given to an Irish knight named Elians.

The killing of Arthur's loyal knights, including some of the king's own relatives, sets in motion the events leading to the treason by Mordred and the disappearance and apparent death of Arthur. The civil war between Arthur and Lancelot was introduced in the Vulgate Mort Artu, where it replaced the great Roman War taking place at the end of Arthur's reign in the chronicle tradition. What first occurs is a series of engagements waged against Lancelot's faction by Arthur and the vengeful Gawain; they besiege Lancelot at Joyous Gard for two months and then pursue him with their army into Gaul (France in Malory).

The eventual result of this is the betrayal of Arthur by Mordred, the king's bastard son (and formerly one of Lancelot's young followers), who falsely announces Arthur's death to seize the throne for himself. Meanwhile, Gawain challenges Lancelot to a duel twice; each time Lancelot delays because of Gawain's enchantment that makes him grow stronger between morning and noon. Lancelot then strikes down Gawain with Galahad's sword but spares Gawain's life (in the Vulgate, despite being urged by Hector to finish him off). However, Gawain's head wound nevertheless proves to be fatal later, when it reopens during the war with Mordred back in Britain. Upon receiving a desperate letter from the dying Gawain offering him forgiveness and asking for his help in the fight against Mordred, Lancelot hurries to return to Britain with his army, only to hear the news of Arthur's death at Salisbury Plain (romance version of the Battle of Camlann).

Late years and death

There are two main variants of Lancelot's demise, both involving him spending his final years removed from society as a hermit monk. In the original from the variants of Mort Artu, after mourning his king, Lancelot abandons society, with exception of his later participation in a victorious war against the young sons of Mordred and their Briton supporters and Saxon allies that provides him with partial atonement for his earlier role in the story. It happens shortly after the death of Guinevere, as Lancelot personally kills one of Mordred's sons after chasing him through a forest in the battle at Winchester, but himself goes abruptly missing. Lancelot dies of illness four years later, accompanied only by Hector, Bleoberis, and the former archbishop of Canterbury. It is implied that he wished to be buried beside the king and queen, however, he had made a vow some time before to be buried at Joyous Gard next to Galehaut, so he asks to be buried there to keep his word. In the Post-Vulgate, the burial site and bodies of Lancelot and Galehaut are later destroyed by King Mark when he ravages Arthur's former kingdom.

There is no war with the sons of Mordred in the version included in Le Morte d'Arthur. In it, Guinevere blames all the destruction of the Round Table upon their adulterous relationship, which is the seed of all the dismay that followed, and becomes a nun. She refuses to kiss Lancelot one last time, telling him to return to his lands and that he will never see her face again. Upon hearing this, Lancelot declares that if she will take a life of penitence, then so will he. Lancelot retires to a hermitage to seek redemption, with eight of his kin joining him in a monastic life, including Hector. As a monk, he later conducts last rites over Guinevere's body (who had become an abbess). In a dream, he is warned that she is dying and sets out to visit her, but Guinevere prays that she might die before he arrives, which she does; as she had declared, he never saw her face again in life. After the queen's death, Lancelot and his fellow knights escort her body to be interred beside King Arthur. The distraught Lancelot's health then begins to fail (Le Morte d'Arthur states that even before this time, he had lost a cubit of height due to his fastings and prayers) and he dies six weeks after the death of the queen. His eight companions return to France to take care of the affairs of their lands before, acting on Lancelot's death-bed request, they go on a crusade to the Holy Land and die there fighting the Saracens ("Turks" in Malory). In the 14th-century romance Ysaÿe le Triste, a hermit uses Lancelot's exhumed skeletal arm to knight the anonymous son of Tristan "by the hand of one of the best knights in the world." テンプレート:Clear

Modern culture

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A 1958 advertisement for the television series The Adventures of Sir Lancelot

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A 1962 publicity photo of Robert Goulet as Lancelot and Janet Pavek as Guenevere in the musical Camelot

Lancelot appeared as a character in many Arthurian films and television productions, sometimes even as the protagonistic titular character. He has been played by Robert Taylor in Knights of the Round Table (1953), William Russell in The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (1956–1957), Robert Goulet in Camelot (1960), Cornel Wilde in Sword of Lancelot (1963), Franco Nero in Camelot (1967), Luc Simon in Lancelot du Lac (1974), Nicholas Clay in Excalibur (1981), Richard Gere in First Knight (1995), Jeremy Sheffield in Merlin (1998), Phil Cornwell in King Arthur's Disasters (2005–2006), Santiago Cabrera in Merlin (2008–2011), Christopher Tavarez in Avalon High (2010), Sinqua Walls in Once Upon a Time (2012–2015), Dan Stevens in Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014), and Martin McCreadie in Transformers: The Last Knight (2017), among others. テンプレート:Clear left

• T. H. White's novel The Once and Future King (1958) portrays Lancelot very differently from his usual image in the legend. Here, Lancelot is immensely ugly and introverted, having difficulty dealing with people.
• Lancelot is played by John Cleese in the Arthurian comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975). He is portrayed as an awkward knight prone to sudden and uncontrolled outbursts of violence in the section "Sir Lancelot the Brave" that shows his misguided bloody rampage to save a princess who turns out to be a prince and who did not really need to be rescued. He is also a principal character in Spamalot (2005), a stage musical adaptation of the film. Lancelot was played by Hank Azaria in the original Broadway production. In this version, Lancelot is gay and marries Prince Herbert (portrayed by Christian Borle in the original Broadway production).
• In Roger Zelazny's short story "The Last Defender of Camelot" (1979), the magically immortal Lancelot finally dies helping Morgana save the world from the mad Merlin in the 20th century. He is played by Richard Kiley in a 1986 episode of The Twilight Zone based on the story.
• In Marion Zimmer Bradley's novel The Mists of Avalon (1982), Lancelet is another name of Galahad, and an estranged son of the Lady of the Lake, Viviane. A handsome and great warrior, he is the protagonist Morgaine's cousin and first love interest, himself being bisexual and loving both Gwenhwyfar and Arthur. He is played by Michael Vartan in the novel's film adaptation (2001).
• Lancelot is a major character in Bernard Cornwell's The Warlord Chronicles trilogy of novels (1995–1997). This version of Lancelot is presented as a self-serving and cowardly prince of the lost kingdom of Benoic, left by him to be destroyed by Frankish barbarians. To seize the throne of Dumnonia, Lancelot conspires against Arthur with Guinevere, incites a Christian rebellion, and defects to the invading Saxons, ending up being hanged by his own half-brother Galahad and by the narrator Derfel (who had lost his daughter to Lancelot's scheming). Lancelot's glowing depictions in legends are explained as merely an influence of the stories invented by the bards hired by his mother.
• A character based on him named Sir Loungelot is one of the main characters in the animated series Blazing Dragons (1996), but being adapted as a fat, arrogant and cowardly dragon who is the leader of the Knights of Camelhot.
• Lancelot is a recurring character in The Squire's Tales series (1998–2010) by Gerald Morris. In some books he is a major character and in others is a secondary character. This version of Lancelot is initially presented as a talented knight, but somewhat pompous and vain. In later books, filled with regret over his affair with Guinevere, he renounces court and is presented as more humble and wise. He leaves court to become a woodcutter, though he is occasionally swept up in quests to help Arthur and other knights.
• The video game Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings (1999) features Lancelot as a paladin.
• The 2003 novel Clothar the Frank by Jack Whyte is told from the perspective of Lancelot. It follows his journeys, starting as a young child until his arrival in Camelot and his meeting with Merlyn and Arthur Pendragon.
• Lancelot is played by Ioan Gruffudd in the non-fantasy film King Arthur (2004), in which he is one of Arthur's warriors. He is mortally wounded when he saves the young Guinevere and slays the Saxon chieftain Cynric during the Battle of Badon Hill.
• Thomas Cousseau played Lancelot du Lac in the French comedy TV series Kaamelott (2005–2009), in which he is portrayed as the only competent Knight of the Round Table and a classically chivalrous hero unlike all the others, however still ill-fated.
• Jason Griffith portrayed him in the video game Sonic and the Black Knight (2009). Lancelot's appearance is based on Shadow the Hedgehog.
• Lancelot appears in the light novel and its 2011 anime adaptation Fate/Zero as the Servant "Berserker", played by Ryōtarō Okiayu/Kyle Herbert. Lancelot also appears in the mobile game Fate/Grand Order as a Berserker but also as a Saber class Servant.
• Lancelot is a character in the romance novel Knight Fantasy Night (骑士幻想夜, Qishi Huanxiang Ye) by Vivibear (2013), adapted into a comic book in Samanhua (飒漫画).
• Sophie Cookson's character Roxanne "Roxy" Morton in the film Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) and its sequel uses the code name Lancelot. It was also used by Aaron Taylor-Johnson's character Archie Reid in the prequel.
• Lancelot is the primary antagonist in the first season of The Librarians (2014), portrayed by both Matt Frewer and Jerry O'Connell. He gained immortality sometime after the fall of Camelot through magic and has spent centuries seeking to reverse the events that brought about its destruction. As the mysterious Dulaque (a respelling of his name du Lac), he leads the Serpent Brotherhood, a cult that has long opposed the Library's mission to keep magic out of the hands of humans.
• In the video game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (2016), Lancelot is a playable character portrayed as Guinevere's brother.
• Giles Kristian's novel Lancelot (2018) is an original telling of the Lancelot story.
• The immortal Lancelot Du Lac, voiced by Gareth David-Lloyd, is a co-protagonist of Du Lac & Fey: Dance of Death (2019), an adventure video game set in Victorian London.
• In the illustrated novel Cursed (2019) by Frank Miller and Tom Wheeler Lancelot is a violent Christian fanatic known as "The Weeping Monk". In the Netflix adaptation of Cursed (2020), he is played by Daniel Sharman.
• Lancelot is the major character in the animated series Wizards: Tales of Arcadia (2020), voiced by Rupert Penry-Jones.
• Lancelot is featured in the video game Smite as a horseback assassin armed with a lance.
• Lancelot is one of the titular knights in the manga series Four Knights of the Apocalypse. He is the son of Ban and Elaine.
• Lancelot is a primary antagonist of Lev Grossman's 2024 novel The Bright Sword, where he is the greatest swordsman in Britain, and seizes the throne after Arthur's death under the name Galahad (his illegitimate son).

Bibliography

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External links

• Lancelot at The Camelot Project
• An English translation of the Prose Lancelot at the Internet Archive
• Lancelot digital exposition at the Bibliothèque nationale de France テンプレート:In lang