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21 Arthur’s Coronation and Return Home

Then the king called for an assault on the town, and there was much raising of ladders and breaking of walls. It was a pity to see how the people suffered. Then the duchess, surrounded with noble ladies, and the Countess of Clarisin, with her maidens also, kneeled in their kirtles before the king and asked him for mercy in the name of God. “Give us good news and withdraw your people, or the city shall be lost in an assault in which many a soul shall die who never gave you grief.”

The king lifted up his visor, displaying his knightly countenance, and kneeled beside her gently, saying kind words. “No one of my party shall do wrong to you, madame; I grant pardon to you and your ladies, to your children, and to your men. But your duke must do as I say. I will make sure that you will be provided with a living.”

Then Arthur sent word throughout the town to the lords that they should cease their fighting, for the city had yielded. Therewith, the duke’s eldest son came out with keys and kneeled before the king, asking for his grace. There with the assent of his lords he ceased the fighting; the duke was sent to Dover in the company of some of the king’s finest knights, there to live out the days of his life in dole as a prisoner.

Then, with a crown on his head the king recovered the city and castle, the captains and constables acknowledged him as lord, and he ordained a dowry for the duchess and her children, and appointed wardens to rule over that land.

So he stayed in Lorraine and Lombardy, lodged as a lord in his own land, and set down laws that he thought best. At Lammas he went to Lucerne and took his leisure there. Then he moved over the mountains, performing many marvels as he went, traveling through the land of Goddard which Gareth soon would win. He looked into Lombardy and said aloud, “In yonder lovely lands I will dwell as a lord.”

That day, Sir Florence and Sir Floridas passed into the city of Urbino with five hundred good men. They went by the most direct route and laid there an ambush as they thought best. There came out of that city many hundreds of men who skirmished with our foreriders as it seemed best to them. Then the men in our ambush broke out and took the bridge, and rode to their lodgings with their banners displayed. Many folk fled from there out of fear of Sir Florence and his fierce knights. They hoisted a banner of surrender above the gates, so afraid of Sir Florence were they.

The king was waiting on a hillside, and looked to the walls and said, “I see by yonder sign that the city is taken.” Then he sent word throughout his host that upon pain of life, limb, and loss of property, no member of his party should rape maidens, or ladies, or any burgesses’ wives in that city. So when the conqueror came into the city, he entered the castle and comforted the men there with many kind words; he made a knight of his own country captain, and the commons agreed to this.

When the rulers of Milan heard that the city was taken, they sent great sums of silver and sixty good horses to King Arthur, beseeching him as a ruler to have pity on the people. They said they would be his subjects forever, rendering service and allegiance for their lands, for Placenza and Pietrasanta and for Pontremoli. For Milan, they would meekly give each year a million pieces of gold, doing homage to Arthur for all their lives. Then king accepted their offer, and sent for them to come and acknowledge him as lord.

Then he turned to Tuscany when the time seemed right, capturing many towers and winning many towns, wasting all through war wherever he rode. Then he sped towards Spoleto with his speedy knights, and on into Viterbo, where he provisioned his men. He planned to stay in the valley of Visconti, with its full vines. There he sojourned, that sovereign with solace in his heart, waiting to see if the senators would ask him for mercy. Soon after, on a Saturday, all the senators that were alive, along with the most cunning cardinals who dwelt at court, sought out King Arthur and asked him for peace. They besought him, as sovereign, as ruler under God, to allow them six weeks time in order to assemble in the city of Sion, which is called Rome, and there they would crown him with chrismed hands, offering him the emperor’s scepter.

“I assent,” said the king, “to do as you have suggested, and at Christmas I will come to be crowned. I will hereafter reign, and keep my Round Table, ruling over the rents of Rome as I like. Then, as I have been advised, I will travel over the salt sea with good men at arms to avenge the death of Him who died on the cross for us.” When the senators had this reply, they returned to Rome to prepare for his coronation. At the day assigned, as the books tell me, he was crowned emperor by the Pope’s own hands, and given the royal realms of the world to rule forever.

They sojourned there that season for some time, bringing all the lands from Rome to France under their rule and giving lands and rents to knights who were deserving. No one complained of his portion, rich or poor.

Then Arthur commanded Sir Lancelot and Sir Bors to take control of their fathers’ lands, which Kings Ban and Bors had ruled over, and their fathers before. “See that you take control of all your broad lands, and let your liegemen know you as their kind lords; never let your sovereignty be lessened with your subjects, nor your power or the rule of your lands. Also the property of the mighty King Claudas I give to you to divide between the two of you in maintaining of your kindred who are noble knights, and so that you and they may return to the Round Table.” Sir Lancelot and Sir Bors de Ganis thanked the king with fair words, saying that their hearts and service would always be his.