Smiting and Cleaving: King Arthur!

I recently picked up a copy of Le Morte d’Arthur, the 938-page telling of the legend of King Arthur written by Sir Thomas Malory in 1469. The misleading title belies the fact that the book is, except for the final 20 pages, about Arthur’s life, rather than his death. The stories themselves were first written in the thirteenth century in French; Malory translated and compiled them into this work while in prison for various crimes that may have included rape, armed robbery, and attempted murder. There is little hard evidence that King Arthur is other than a legend.

This is not like the happy, feel-good Disney version of the Arthurian legend. It portrays a darker, more aggressive Arthur, who slaughters hundreds or thousands on the battlefield and uses his position and power to sleep with women. Like King Herod in Bethlehem, Arthur orders all male infants born at the same time as his son Mordred (the product of Arthur sleeping with his half-sister), to be put on a ghost ship to die, in an effort to avoid the destiny that Merlin has revealed to him: That Mordred would someday kill him. (Spoiler alert: Mordred does kill Arthur.)

Still, Arthur is depicted as an heroic figure who united all of England, bringing a period of peace, enforcing the rule of law, and demanding of his knight-enforcers gallantry, courage, loyalty, chivalry.

Le Morte d’Arthur is a terrific read. The nearly 600-year-old book does not lack for action or intrigue. In just the first 40 pages, we learn that Arthur:

• Was conceived when Merlin tricked his mother, the duchess of Cornwall, into believing she was being bedded by her husband, when in fact she was with Uther Pendragon, the king of England, who hours before had killed her husband in battle.
• Was raised by Merlin until he assumed the throne as a boy upon Pendragon’s death.
• Was recognized to be the rightful heir to the throne when he alone was able to pull a sword Merlin has affixed in a stone.
• Went to war against King Lot and others, and with Merlin’s help, vanquished them. There are many accounts of battles, with much smiting, cleaving and blood-letting.
• Got his special sword, Excalibur, as well as the sword’s magical scabbard, from the mysterious Lady of the Lake.
• Formed the nucleus of what would become his do-gooding and smiting Knights of the Round Table.

It keeps going strong from there. There are wars. Knights go on adventures, meaning they 1) challenge knights from other realms to jousts or sword fights, and 2) defend the honor of “passing fair” damosels, usually by jousting or sword-fighting. Many damosels have the power to cast enchantments on men, to deceive them into doing their bidding. So little has changed in six centuries.

Le Morte d’Arthur is more than just good escapism. It’s a window into what was considered noble so long ago, and how one developed a noble spirit. It’s a study in human nature – our ideals and our frailties in living up to those ideals.  And it’s a story of betrayal, vengeance, redemption, and the power of forgiveness.