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10 The War with the Five Kings

So after the quests of Sir Gawain, Sir Tor, and King Pellinore, it happened that Merlin fell in love with the damsel that King Pellinore had brought to court. She was one of the damsels of the Lady of the Lake, and her name was Nyneve.

C IV.1; V I.4

Merlin would not leave her alone; he was always following her about. She acted as if she enjoyed Merlin’s company until she had learned from him all the things that she desired to know. He was so madly in love with her that he could not stand to be away from her.

On one occasion he told King Arthur that he would not live long; he would be put into the earth still alive, despite all his craft and magic. He told the king many things that would come to pass, but always he warned the king to take good care of his sword and scabbard, for they would be stolen from him by the woman he trusted most.

He also told King Arthur that he would miss his advice and counsel, “and there will come a time when you would rather have me back again than have all your lands.”

“Ah,” said the king, “since you know of the evil adventure that is coming, defend against it. Prevent it from happening through your craft.”

“Nay,” said Merlin, “that cannot be.” He left the king, and within a short time the damsel of the Lake departed from the court, and Merlin went with her wherever she went. Often Merlin would have whisked her magically away by his magical skill. She made him swear that he would never cast an enchantment on her—or else he should never have his desire—and so he swore.

Then she and Merlin went over the sea to the land of Benwick where Ban was king—he who had long made war against King Claudas. There Merlin spoke with King Ban’s wife, whose name was Elaine. There he saw young Lancelot, and the queen made great sorrow for the war that King Claudas was waging on her lord and her son.

“Do not worry,” said Merlin, “for this same child, young Lancelot, will avenge you on King Claudas in twenty years time in such a way that all Christendom shall speak of it. This same child shall be the greatest man of worship in the world. His baptismal name is Galahad, that I well know,” said Merlin, “and his name at confirmation was Lancelot.”

“That is true,” said the queen. “His first name was Galahad. Ah, Merlin,” said the queen, “will I live to see my son become a man of such prowess?”

“Yes, indeed, lady, I swear that you shall see it, and live many winters after.”

Soon after this, the lady and Merlin departed; along their way to Cornwall, he showed her many wonders. He was always about her, wishing to have her maidenhead, and she was growing tired of him, and wished to be free of his attentions; she was afraid of him, because he was the son of a devil. She could not get rid of him by any means.

So one time, when Merlin was showing her a wondrous and enchanted cave—the entrance to which was beneath a great stone—she, through her subtle working, persuaded Merlin to go into the cave in order to tell her of the marvels that were there. She worked a spell so that he could never get out, no matter what magic he tried, and then she departed, leaving Merlin there.

King Arthur rode to Camelot and held there a great feast, with much mirth and joy. Soon after this, he returned to Cardol, and there he received tidings that the King of Denmark and his brother, the King of Ireland, along with the King of the Vale and the King of Surluse and the King of the Isle of Longtains had entered Arthur’s lands with a great army; they burned and slew and completely destroyed all the cities and castles in their path so that it was a great pity to hear of.

CIV.2

“Alas!” said Arthur, “I have never had one month of peace since I was crowned king of this land. Now I shall never rest until I meet with those kings on the field of battle, this I swear. My true liege people shall not be destroyed through any fault of mine! Therefore, let all those who wish to, go with me; and those who wish to remain behind may do so.”

Then King Arthur had a letter written to King Pellinore, asking him in all haste to make himself ready with “such people as you may quickly gather together,” and to hurry to his side quickly. The barons were all secretly angry that the king departed so suddenly, but the king would not tarry. He wrote to all who were not there at court at that time, asking them to join him.

Then the king came to Queen Guenevere and said to her, “Madame, prepare yourself, for you shall go with me; I do not wish to be apart from you for long. You will cause me to be brave, no matter what adventure comes my way, as I will not wish for my lady to ever be in jeopardy.

“Sir,” she said, “I am yours to command, and shall be ready at any time.”

So in the morning the king and queen departed with such fellowship as they had at that time, and went into the North, into a forest beside the River Humber, and there they lodged themselves.

When this word came to the five kings mentioned before that Arthur was staying in the forest near the Humber, a knight—brother to one of the five kings—gave them this advice: “You well know that Sir Arthur has the flower of chivalry of the world with him, as was proved by the great battle he did with the eleven kings. Therefore, you should go toward him, hurrying night and day until we are near to him. The longer he stays there, the larger his army will grow, and we will become ever weaker. He is so brave that he has come into the field with very few people; therefore, let us set upon him before daybreak. We shall strike down so many of his knights that none of them will be able to help another.”

So the five kings agreed to follow this advice, and with their army they passed through North Wales and came upon Arthur at night, attacking his host as the king and his knights were in their pavilions. King Arthur was unarmed, as he had lain down to rest with Queen Guenevere.

CIV.3

“Sir,” Sir Kay had said, “it is not good for us to be unarmed.”

“We shall have no need of arms tonight,” said Sir Gawain and Sir Grifflet, who were resting in a pavilion near to the king.

But at that moment they heard a great noise, and many people cried out “Treason!”

“Alas!” said Arthur. “We are betrayed! To arms, fellows!” he then cried. So they fully armed themselves.

A wounded knight then came to the king and said, “Sir, save yourself and my lady the queen! Our host is destroyed, and many of our people slain.” At this, the king and queen and the three knights took their horses and rode toward the River Humber, intending to cross it, but the water was so rough they were afraid to attempt the crossing.

“Now you may choose,” said King Arthur, “whether you wish to stop and take the adventure on this side of the river; if you are captured, they will slay you.”

“I would rather die in this water than fall into your enemies’ hands,” said the queen, “and there be slain.”

As they stood there talking, Sir Kay saw the five kings coming toward them on horseback by themselves, with spears in their hands. “Lo,” said Sir Kay, “yonder are the five kings. Let us go to them and challenge them.”

“That is folly,” said Sir Gawain, “for there are only four of us, and they are five.”

“That is true,” said Sir Grifflet.

“No matter,” said Sir Kay. “I will take on the best two of them, and you three may take on the other three.” Then Sir Kay charged with his horse as fast as he could to encounter with one of them; he struck one of the kings through both his shield and body—almost a full fathom—so that the king fell to the earth stark dead.

Gawain saw that, and ran upon another king so hard that he smote him down and through his body with a spear, so that he fell to the earth, dead. Then King Arthur challenged another and smote him with a spear through his body, so that he fell to the earth dead. Sir Grifflet challenged the fourth king, and gave him such a blow that he fell and broke his neck. Then Sir Kay took on the fifth king and smote him so hard on the helmet that the stroke split the helmet and the head so that they fell to the earth.

“That was well struck,” said King Arthur, “and worshipfully, you have fulfilled your promise. For this, I will honor you as long as I live.”

Then they set the queen in a barge to cross the Humber. Queen Guenevere continuously praised Sir Kay for his deeds, saying, “If ever you should love a lady and she should not return your love, she would be greatly to blame. Among all ladies,” said the queen, “I shall tell of your noble fame; you made a great vow and fulfilled it worshipfully.” Then the queen departed.

Then the king and the three other knights rode into the forest, thinking to find there some who had escaped; there they found most of the king’s people, and told them how the five kings were killed. “Therefore, let us stay together until it is daylight. When their army sees that their chieftains are slain, they shall make such dole that they will be unable to defend themselves.”

And just as the king said, so it was, for when they found their five kings dead they made such dole that they fell down off their horses. King Arthur joined the fray with just a few people and slew on the right hand and on the left, so that almost no one escaped; thirty thousand people were slain.

When the battle was over the king knelt down and humbly thanked God. Then he sent for the queen; she came immediately and made great joy at the victory of that battle.

Then a messenger came to Arthur and told him that King Pellinore was three miles away with a great army. Arthur said, “Go to him and tell him how we have fared here.”

CIV.4

Within a while King Pellinore arrived with a great army and greeted the people and the king, and there was great joy on both sides. Then the king had a count made of how many people had been slain. It was discovered that a little more than two hundred men and eight knights of the Round Table had been killed in their pavilions.

Then the king had built a beautiful abbey in the place where the battle was fought, and gave it a generous endowment. He named it the Abbey of La Belle Adventure.

When those survivors of the battle returned home to the lands of the five kings, they told how their army was slain, and there was great sorrow. All of King Arthur’s enemies—such as the king of North Wales and the kings of the North—learned of this battle, and were very upset about it.

The king then quickly returned to Camelot, and when he arrived there, he called King Pellinore to him and said, “You know that we have lost eight knights of the Round Table. On your advice, we must choose eight of the best knights to be found in this court.”

“Sir,” said Pellinore, “I will advise you as to the best course of action to my way of thinking. There are, in your court, fully noble knights, both old and young; my advice would be to choose half of the eight from the older knights, and half from the younger knights”

“Which of the older knights would you choose?” said King Arthur.

“It seems to me that it should be King Uriens, who married your sister Morgan le Fay, the King of the Lake, Sir Hervyse de Revell—a noble knight!—and Sir Galagars should be the fourth.”

“That is a good suggestion,” said Arthur, “and so shall it be. Now, which of the four young knights should we choose?”

“Sir, the first should be your nephew, Sir Gawain, who is as good a knight at this time as are any in the land. The second should be Sir Grifflet le Fitz de Dieu, who is a good knight fully capable in arms; whoever lives to see him mature will see that he will prove to be a good knight. The third who seems quite worthy to be a member of the Round Table is Sir Kay the Seneschal, for many times he has performed truly worshipful deeds. At the last battle he honorably undertook to slay two kings.”

“By my head,” said Arthur, “you speak the truth. He is most worthy to join the Round Table of any you have yet mentioned, even if he were to do nothing more of prowess the rest of his days.”

“Now,” said King Pellinore, “you should choose which is the most worthy of the next two knights I will mention: Sir Bagdemagus and Sir Tor, my son. Because he is my son, I cannot praise him, but if he were not my son, I would dare to say that of other knights his age, there is not one in the land who is better than he—not one of better character, who is more loath to commit any wrong or suffer any wrong.”

CIV.5

“By my head,” said Arthur, “he is as good a knight as any that you have spoken of this day. I know that well,” said the king, “for I have seen him proved. He says but little, but he does much more. I know of no equal to him in this court, even though he is not as well born on his mother’s side as on your side. No one is like him in prowess and might. Therefore, I will choose him at this time, and leave Sir Bagdemagus for another time.”

So when the new knights were chosen with the assent of the barons, the names of those knights heretofore mentioned were found written in their seats. They then took their seats, and Sir Bagdemagus was very angry that Sir Tor was advanced to the Round Table before him.

Therefore he departed abruptly from the court, taking his squire with him. They rode for a long time through a forest until they came to a cross, and there he alit and said his prayers with devotion. As he was doing this, his squire found written on the cross that Bagdemagus would not return to court again until he had defeated a knight of the Round Table in a fair contest, body for body.

“Lo,” said the squire, “here I find writing of you! I suggest we return again to the court.”

“That I shall never do,” said Bagdemagus, “until men speak of my right great worship, and say that I am worthy to be a knight of the Round Table.”

So he rode forth, and as he rode, he found alongside the road a branch of a holy herb, which was a sign of the Holy Grail; no knight ever found such a token unless he lived a good life and was a man of prowess.

As Bagdemagus rode on his way to many adventures, it happened that he came to the cave wherein Nyneve had put Merlin, under a rock, and he heard him inside, making great sorrow. Bagdemagus wished to help him, and went to the great rock, but it was so heavy that a hundred men might not lift it. When Merlin realized he was there, he bade him leave off his labor, for it was all in vain; he could never be helped except by she who had put him there.

So Bagdemagus departed and had many adventures, and after was proved to be a good knight. He came back to court and was made a knight of the Round Table, and the morning after, new tidings came, leading the way to many other adventures.