Stanzaic Morte Arthur

The Stanzaic Morte Arthur is an anonymous 14th century Middle English poem in 3,969 lines, about the adulterous affair between Lancelot and Guinevere, and Lancelot's tragic dissension with King Arthur. The poem is usually called the Stanzaic Morte Arthur or Stanzaic Morte (formerly also the Harleian Morte Arthur) to distinguish it from another Middle English poem, the Alliterative Morte Arthure. It exercised enough influence on Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur to have, in the words of one recent scholar, "played a decisive though largely unacknowledged role in the way succeeding generations have read the Arthurian legend".

King Arthur holds a tournament, which Sir Lancelot attends in disguise. He stays for one night at the castle of the Earl of Ascolat, and there the earl's daughter falls in love with him, even though she knows Lancelot loves someone else. Lancelot is injured at the tournament, and is invited by the earl to recuperate at Ascolat. Lancelot leaves when he has recovered, giving the earl's daughter his armour as a memento. Ascolat is then visited by Gawain, who has come from Camelot to search for Lancelot. The earl's daughter, still not knowing Lancelot's name, shows Gawain the armour, which he recognises. On his return to Camelot Gawain tells Arthur that Lancelot loves the earl's daughter. When Lancelot arrives at Camelot he receives so little welcome from his lover, Guinevere, that he leaves again in confusion. Guinevere then finds herself falsely accused of murdering a Scottish knight, and must find a champion to defend her in a trial by combat. The body of the maid of Ascolat is discovered in a boat, floating down the river into Camelot, along with a note in which the maid bewails Lancelot’s refusal of her love. Lancelot returns to successfully defend Guinevere, and since she now knows that he is true to her she is reconciled with him. The two are surprised in bed together by several of Arthur's knights, but Lancelot escapes, killing in the process all of the knights except Mordred. Guinevere is sentenced to death, but Lancelot again rescues her and takes her to his castle, Joyous Gard. Arthur besieges Joyous Gard, but without effect. The Pope now orders Lancelot to send Guinevere back to Arthur, and Arthur to accept her. Both comply, but Lancelot goes into exile. Arthur takes his army abroad to levy war against Lancelot, leaving Guinevere behind in the custody of Mordred. Gawain, now an inveterate enemy of Lancelot, fights a single combat with him, and is defeated. Word comes that Mordred has crowned himself king and plans to marry Guinevere. Arthur returns home and defeats Mordred's army in two battles, but Gawain is killed. Before a third battle can be fought Arthur dreams that he is cast down from the high point of the Wheel of Fortune. In a second dream Gawain warns him he must call a truce so as to give Lancelot's army time to join him. The next day Arthur and Mordred, each accompanied by fourteen knights, meet to discuss peace terms. The truce is broken by mistake when one of the knights draws his sword to kill an adder. Battle is joined and the armies are so equally matched that both are exterminated, with the exception of Mordred, Arthur, and Arthur's knights Bedivere and Lucan. Arthur kills Mordred, but is himself mortally wounded. At Arthur's command, Bedivere throws Excalibur into the sea. Three ladies come to take Arthur to Avalon to be healed, but they fail in this purpose, and the next day Bedivere comes across Arthur's newly erected tomb. Guinevere, repenting of her adultery, takes the veil at Amesbury. Lancelot arrives on the scene belatedly and visits Guinevere. They renounce each other in favour of a life of penance, and Lancelot accordingly becomes a monk. The poem ends with their death and burial seven years later.

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