top of page
Lancelot
This portal was curated by:
​

SIR LANCELOT

Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), also written as Launcelot and other variants (such as early German Lanzelet, early French Lanselos, early Welsh Lanslod Lak, Italian Lancillotto, Spanish Lanzarote del Lago, and Welsh Lawnslot y Llyn), is a character in some versions of Arthurian legend, where he is typically depicted as King Arthur's close companion and one of the greatest Knights of the Round Table. In the French-inspired Arthurian chivalric romance tradition, Lancelot is the orphaned son of King Ban of the lost kingdom of Benwick, raised in the fairy realm by the Lady of the Lake. A hero of many battles, quests and tournaments, and famed as a nearly unrivalled swordsman and jouster, Lancelot becomes the lord of Joyous Gard and personal champion of Arthur's wife Queen Guinevere. But when his adulterous affair with Guinevere is discovered, it causes a civil war that is exploited by Mordred to end Arthur's kingdom.
DATABASES
Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), also written as Launcelot and other variants (such as early German Lanzelet, early French Lanselos, early Welsh Lanslod Lak, Italian Lancillotto, Spanish Lanzarote del Lago, and Welsh Lawnslot y Llyn), is a character in some versions of Arthurian legend, where he is typically depicted as King Arthur's close companion and one of the greatest Knights of the Round Table. In the French-inspired Arthurian chivalric romance tradition, Lancelot is the orphaned son of King Ban of the lost kingdom of Benwick, raised in the fairy realm by the Lady of the Lake. A hero of many battles, quests and tournaments, and famed as a nearly unrivalled swordsman and jouster, Lancelot becomes the lord of Joyous Gard and personal champion of Arthur's wife Queen Guinevere. But when his adulterous affair with Guinevere is discovered, it causes a civil war that is exploited by Mordred to end Arthur's kingdom.
Lancelot’s name first appeared as one of Arthur’s knights in Chrétien de Troyes’s 12th-century romance of Erec, and the same author later made him the hero of Lancelot; ou, le chevalier de la charrette, which retold an existing legend about Guinevere’s abduction, making Lancelot her rescuer and lover. It also mentioned Lancelot’s upbringing by a fairy in a lake, a story that received fuller treatment in the German poem Lanzelet. These two themes were developed further in the great 13th-century Vulgate cycle, or “Prose Lancelot.” According to this, after the death of his father, King Ban of Benoic, Lancelot was carried off by the enchantress Vivien, the Lady of the Lake, who in time sent him to Arthur’s court. Her careful education of Lancelot, combined with the inspiring force of his love for Guinevere, produced a knight who was the very model of chivalry.
Sir Lancelot du Lac or Sir Launcelot was the son of King Ban of Benwick and Queen Elaine. Lancelot was the First Knight of the Round Table, and he never failed in gentleness, courtesy, or courage. In addition to his courage and prowess on the battlefield, Lancelot was also a knight who was consistently serving others, thus giving him a good name and favor among most circles. It has been said that Lancelot was the greatest fighter and swordsman of all the Knights of the Round Table, and yet he was also extremely intelligent and known for his charm and humor. Legend tells us that as a child, Lancelot was left by the shore of The Lake, where he was found by Vivien, the Lady of the Lake. Caring for him as her own, Vivien fostered and raised Lancelot, raising one of history’s greatest knights.
Lancelot, also known as Sir Lancelot and Lancelot du Lac (“Lancelot of the Lake”) is the greatest knight of King Arthur's court and lover of Arthur's wife, Queen Guinevere, best known from Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur (1469 CE). The character was first developed by the French poet Chretien de Troyes (l. c. 1130-1190 CE) in his Lancelot or the Knight of the Cart (c. 1177 CE) who introduced Lancelot's affair with Guinevere as well as his reputation as a famously skilled warrior. The character may have originated in Ireland from the fertility god Lug (or Lugh), as perhaps is the case with another of Arthur's knights, Sir Gawain. Gawain's character was established as the greatest knight by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his History of the Kings of Britain (1136 CE) before Chretien elevated Lancelot's role and developed his character. Afterwards, many of Gawain's central attributes (especially his martial skills) were given to Lancelot by later poets following Chretien's model.
In Chrétien’s Erec (ca. 1165), Lancelot is said to be the third best knight after Gawain and Erec, but in Chrétien’s Lancelot (1179-1180), Lancelot becomes the central figure and the lover of Guinevere who is willing to take any risk or to suffer any indignity in service of the queen. According to both Chrétien and Ulrich von Zatzikhoven, that Lancelot was raised by a fairy. Ulrich tells how this woman who lives in an enchanted realm in the sea raises Lancelot until he is fifteen, at which point he asks to be allowed to go into the world to earn honor. In Ulrich’s Lanzelet, Lanzelet never becomes the queen’s lover; although he is a lover of several ladies, his true love is Yblis, whom he ultimately marries and with whom he has a daughter and three sons. In the fourteenth-century Tavola Ritonda, Lancilotto is taken and raised by the Lady of the Lake when his mother Gostanza dies in childbirth. The Lady of the Lake names him Lancilotto, which is said to mean “very wise and skilled knight of the lance and sword.” In the thirteenth-century Vulgate Lancelot, Lancelot is raised by the Lady of the Lake when his father dies due to the treachery of Claudas. It is from this upbringing that he is called “du Lac” or “of the Lake”. His baptismal name is Galahad in memory of Galahad, the younger son of Joseph of Arimathea and the first Christian king of Wales, whose tomb Lancelot opens. (This event was foreseen in a vision by monks from Wales, who are present at the time of the opening of the tomb and who take the body to Wales.) Lancelot is called Lancelot, however, after his grandfather. The text also says that “just...
Visit our special guest curator
"Open Database..."
Related Portals:
 
Related Portals:
 
bottom of page