THE story of King Arthur and his Knights is one of the greatest that men have ever made, greater by far than that of Charlemagne, which had come into fashion a little earlier, greater perhaps even than the Tale of Troy, already some two thousand years old, which for some centuries it eclipsed. It is through the fifteenth-century prose of Sir Thomas Malory, in which homeliness and nobility go hand-in-hand, that it holds its place in our hearts, but the story itself was the outcome of the second half of the twelfth century and the beginning of the thirteenth, the days in England of Henry II. and his three turbulent sons, Geoffrey, Richard Coeur de Lion, and John, the days in France of trouvère and troubadour, the days in Italy of S. Francis of Assisi. and the worldliness against which he strove. Something of the spirit of all these entered into the story, together with some contemporary theology, while the stuff of which it was woven was largely derived from the Celtic borderland with which the Norman rulers of England had come in con­tact in Wales and Brittany.

In the days when the Arthurian romances were coming into existence, violence, cruelty, and luxury were rampant, and the story bears many traces of them; but the greatness of these evils called forth some great virtues to counter them, and the story bears traces of these also and strives gallantly to be true to its ideals, though when primitive notions, more especially the old belief in magic, crop up in it, it sometimes stumbles. Despite such stumblings, it is penetrated to its very core by the special virtues of days in which men were content to live dangerously (dangerously for themselves, not merely dangerously as against others), carrying their lives in their hands and willing to lay them down lightly rather than break the rules of the game or be faithless to word or friend.

A wandering knight challenges a great lord in a trial of skill, to be fought out to death or exhaustion, beneath the walls of the lord's castle. The wandering knight wins the day, and the lord becomes his vassal, takes him into his castle, feasts him, appoints a guard for his protection, and, when the victor bids him report himself at Arthur's court, comes on the appointed day attended by all his retinue. That the lord's men should interfere in the fight, or the lord himself break his promise, was unthinkable to these romancers; and on this simple basis of gallantry and good faith there was built up a code full of fine courtesies, such as those which forbade a great jouster to interfere with a lesser one on a day when he was outdoing himself, or a fresh knight to challenge one already tired with many victories.

The determination to live dangerously brought a strange and evil convention into the relations between knights and their ladies. A good knight held himself at the service of every woman who asked his help — to rescue a woman he must needs leave even his own brother in jeopardy — but he also owed a special service to the lady whose badge, if she so graced him, he wore, whose presence spurred him to excel himself, and whose pre-eminence over the ladies of other knights he maintained at the risk of his life. This lady might not be his own wife, if he had one, and she might quite properly be some one else's wife, her knight's homage be approved by her husband as a tribute to her worth, and the whole relation be treated as part of the great game of chivalry. But if it passed beyond a game and the husband hated to see his wife caring, more for another man than for himself, then it became dangerous, and because it was dangerous, although every one knew it was wrong, it made a story more exciting, and all the writers of these Arthurian romances chose this exciting subject as a literary fashion. In the story of Tristram and Isoud, which forms one section of this book, we see clearly how overmastering the fashion had become. Tristram had taken Isoud as his lady, while she was still unmarried; Isoud was (openly and humbly) in love with him; her father, the King of Ire­land, was eager for the match; but the romancer thought that their marriage would spoil the story, so he made Tris­tram, after he had gained Isoud's love, woo her, not for himself, but for his uncle, King Mark of Cornwall, and then made Tristram and Isoud drink, by mischance, a magic love-potion, to excuse them for loving each other ever after.

The literary fashion or convention which imposed itself in this way on the romancers was thoroughly bad; but the saving merit in this respect of the Arthurian romances is that, though they insist on this situation in order to show the hero daring all sorts of dangers, they make it perfectly clear that the situation was wrong and could not go un­punished. With one exception every knight who yielded to this sin is shown as paying for it with his life. The one exception is Sir Launcelot, and him we see maimed and marred by thus setting his love where he should not, and atoning for it, as much as a man may atone for wrecking the lives of others, by bitter repentance.

The story of the Arthurian romances is a great story, because it shows us the effect on many different characters of this obligation to live dangerously. The men and women who fill its pages are not just names or figures to which adven­tures are tacked on. They are men and women of real flesh and blood, no two of them alike (save when the, writer of one section deliberately copied another), each with his own virtues and failings. King Arthur himself is, as we say nowadays, a typical sportsman. He loves jousting — to take part in it, to see it, and to talk about it — more than anything else, as some men now love less dangerous games. He cares for the men with whom he shares his sport, but he cares for them as his fellow-jousters, and he never gets much further. He falls below lesser knights who had borne imprisonment rather than fight in a bad cause, for which he cheerfully does battle; he is so keen on his own side winning that he overrides the etiquette that forbade a strong knight to attack a good fighter tired by his own successes; he is weak in his own life and weak in suffering the outrages of his neph­ews. His great merit is that, though a king, he never spared to take his risks, and by that courage he held men's hearts, so that "all men of worship said it was merry to be under such a chieftain, that would put his person in adven­ture as other poor knights did." Also, to the very last, he could be trusted to keep his word.

Sir Launcelot is made of much finer stuff than Arthur. He is perhaps the most splendid study of a great gentleman in all our literature, generous to friend and foe, courteous to every one, eager to set himself ever harder adventures, unwilling to be praised above his fellows, always bearing himself with an easy dignity which lets him use very straight speech and yet is no whit impaired. He is more than a great gentleman; he is a very subtle study of a soul in which spirit and flesh, aspiration and evil habit, strive for the mas­tery, and now and again he is pourtrayed with a rare knowl­edge of the human heart. More wonderful even than the closing scenes with Guenevere seems to me the story of the coming of Sir Urre to have his wounds healed by "the best knight of the world," and how when all others in Arthur's court had failed Launcelot touched the wounds in all humility, and when his touch brought healing, while King Arthur and all the kings and knights gave thanks, "ever Sir Launcelot wept as he had been a child that had been beaten."

Sir Tristram is a curiously different study. Perhaps because of the love-potion, his fault sits lightly upon him; he has a most detailed memory for the services he renders, and is quite unconscious of there being any set off. But he is delightfully easy-tempered and forgiving, joyous and humorous, and deserves kindly remembrance for much else than his harping and his nicety of skill in ordering the techni­cal terms of the chase, which so impressed his chroniclers. But he never touches greatness.

Tristram's assiduous opponent, Sir Palomides, the Saracen, is a rather laboured but quite successful portrait. Probably because he was a Saracen he is represented as not quite a gentleman, but pathetically anxious to become one. He is constantly doing things which Sir Launcelot, or even Sir Tristram, would have died sooner than do, and then he pulls himself together and apologises and tries manfully to play the game. His final appearance, when he is badly mauled by Sir Tristram as a preliminary to being christened, is singularly successful, none the less so for its touches of humour.

To attempt to study here others of the men and women who live in Malory's story would give to this preface too great a resemblance to the page in school magazines headed "Characters of the Team." It remains to say a brief word as to what has been done in this abridgment. There is good reason to believe that Sir Thomas Malory was a Lan­castrian knight who himself knew the pains of sickness and imprisonment, as to which he wrote so feelingly. He had to make his compilation from such books as he could get (he apparently never obtained the last volume of the romance of Sir Tristram), and it is probable that when his version was made his life was drawing to a close, and that, even if he had the wish, he had not time or strength to revise it. That version is so great a book, written, as I have said, in a style in which homely charm and nobility are so closely interlinked, that to tamper with it may seem a crime. But dur­ing the last few years there have been many complete texts of the Morte d'Arthur — I have passed one through the press myself — and an invitation to act as Malory's abridger, even as Malory had abridged the romances themselves, found me daring enough to think that such a further abridgment would be a very interesting experiment. There is much repe­tition in the Morte d'Arthur, as Malory left it. How often Sir Breuse sans Pitié played his ugly tricks, or Tristram res­cued Palomides, or minor knights met at adventure and emu­lated their betters, it is not easy to count. I have tried to clear away some of the underwoods that the great trees may be better seen, and though I know that I have cleared away some small timber that is fine stuff in itself, if the great trees stand out the better, the experiment may be forgiven. In attempting it I have introduced, I think, not more than a hundred words of my own, but in certain places I have taken over the readings devised half a century ago for the well-known Globe edition by Sir Edward Strachey, which has justified itself by passing through some twenty editions, and has prob­ably brought Malory more readers than all other texts put together.

Of the birth of King Arthur and of his nurture

Of the death of King Uther Pendragon, and how Arthur was chosen king

How King Arthur was crowned, and how he made officers and held a great feast, and of the war that he had, and how he held the field

Of King Arthur and King Pellinore and how Arthur sent for his mother

How Arthur fought with King Pellinore and how Merlin saved Arthur's life, and Arthur by the mean of Merlin gat his sword Excalibur

How King Arthur wedded Guenever, daughter to Leodegrance, king of the land of Cameliard, with whom he had the Round Table, and how Tor and Gawaine were made knights

How Merlin was assorted and doted on one of the ladies of the lake, and how he was shut in a rock under a stone and there died

How King Arthur, King Uriens, and Sir Accolon of Gaul, chased an hart, and of their marvellous adventures, and how King Arthur and Accolon took upon them to do battle

Of the battle between King Arthur and Accolon, and how Accolon confessed the treason of Morgan le Fay

How Queen Morgan le Fay made great sorrow for the death of Accolon, and how she stole away the scabbard from Arthur, and of the mantle she sent to him

How Sir Launcelot and Sir Lionel departed from the court, and how Sir Lionel was taken, and how four queens found Sir Launcelot sleeping and led him to a castle

How Sir Launcelot was delivered by the mean of a damosel, and fought for her father, King Bagdemagus, in a tournament

How Sir Launcelot fought with Sir Turquine and slew him, and sent Sir Gaheris to deliver all Sir Turquine's prisoners

How Sir Launcelot rode with a damosel and slew a knight that distressed all ladies and how he delivered Sir Kay

How Sir Launcelot rode disguised in Sir Kay's harness and overthrew four knights of the Round Table, and how he was required of a damosel to heal her brother

How Sir Launcelot came into the Chapel Perilous and how he healed the damosel's brother and returned to King Arthur's court

How Beaumains came to King Arthur's court and asked three gifts of King Arthur, and of a damosel that desired a knight to fight for a lady, and how Beaumains desired the battle

How Beaumains departed, and how he gat of Sir Kay a spear and a shield, and how he jousted with Sir Launcelot, and of him was dubbed knight

How Beaumains fought and slew two knights at a passage, and how he slew also the Knight of the Black Launds

How two brothers of the Black Knight met with Beaumains, and fought with Beaumains till they were yielden, and how the damosel still re­buked him

How Sir Beaumains answered the damosel patiently, and how he fought with the fourth brother, Sir Persant of Inde, and made him to be yielden

Of the goodly communication between Sir Persant and Beaumains, and how the lady that was besieged had word from her sister that she had brought a knight to fight for her

How Beaumains blew a horn, and then the Knight of the Red Launds came to fight with him, and how Beaumains made him yield to the lady and go unto King Arthur's court and cry Sir Launcelot mercy, and of the troth plight of Beaumains and the lady

How the Queen of Orkney came to King Arthur's court, and how King Arthur sent for Dame Lionesse and of the tourney held at her castle

How Sir Gareth came to a castle where he was well lodged, and how he jousted with the lord of the castle, and how Sir Gareth and Sir Gawaine fought each against other and knew each other by the damosel Linet

Of the wedding of Sir Gareth and Dame Lionesse and of the officers made at the feast

How Sir Tristram de Liones was born, and how his mother died at his birth, wherefore she named him Tristram, and how his stepmother would have poisoned him and how he was sent into France

How Sir Marhaus came out of Ireland for to ask truage of Cornwall, and how Sir Tristram enterprized to fight with him

How Sir Tristram fought against Sir Marhaus and achieved his battle, and how Sir Marhaus fled to his ship

How Sir Tristram went to Ireland to be healed of the poison of his wound and there was put to the keeping of La Beak Isoud, and how he won the degree at a tournament and made Sir Palomides bear no harness of war for a year

How the queen espied that Sir Tristram had slain her brother Sir Marhaus by his sword, and in what jeopardy he was, and how the king suffered him to return to Cornwall

How King Mark sent Sir Tristram for La Beak Isoud toward Ireland, and how by fortune he arrived into England, and fought for King Anguish against Sir Blamore

How Sir Tristram demanded La Beak Isoud for King Mark, and how Sir Tristram and Isoud drank the love drink, and how Sir Tristram rescued Isoud from Sir Palamides

Of the debate of King Mark and Sir Tristram, and how Sir Tristram smote down Sir Lamorak, and in despite of Sir Tristram Sir Lamorak sent an horn to King Mark

How Sir Tristram was taken with La Beak Isoud, and he escaped to Brittany and served in war King Howel

How Sir Tristram was married to King Howel's daughter, Isoud La Blanche Mains, and how he returned to Cornwall and of the love of Sir Kehydius for La Beale Isoud

How Sir Tristram departed from Tintagil, and how he sorrowed and was so long in a forest till he was out of his mind, and it was noised that he was dead, and how La Beale Isoud would have slain herself

How Sir Tristram slew the giant Tauleas, and how King Mark found Sir Tristram naked, and caused him to be borne to Tintagil, and how he was known by a brachet and was banished from Cornwall for the term of ten years

How Sir Tristram and Sir Dinadan fought for Sir Launcelot against thirty knights, and how Sir Tristram rode to a tournament and lodged with an old knight named Sir Pellounes, and of the jousting before the tournament

How Sir Launcelot jousted with Palomides and overthrew him, and after he was assailed with twelve knights

Of the tournament at the Castle of Maidens, and of how Sir Tristram, Sir Palomides, and Sir Launcelot behaved them

Of the rage of Sir Palomides for despite of Sir Tristram, and how Sir Tris­tram, Sir Dinadan, and Sir Palomides lodged with Sir Darras, and how Sir Darras put them in his prison for the death of his sons, but at the last he let them go

How Sir Tristram saved Sir Palomides' life, and how they promised to fight together within a fortnight, and how they were both smitten down by a strong knight

How Sir Tristram met at the Peron with Sir Launcelot, and how they fought together unknown, and how Sir Launcelot brought Sir Tristram to the court, and of the great joy that the king and other made for the com­ing of Sir Tristram

How for the despite of Sir Tristram King Mark came with two knights into England, and how he slew one of the knights, and how he was scorned by Sir Lamorak and Sir Dinadan

How King Mark slew Sir Amant wrongfully to-fore King Arthur, and Sir Launcelot fetched King Mark again to King Arthur

How King Arthur made a jousting, and how Sir Lamorak came in, and overthrew Sir Gawaine, and how King Arthur made King Mark to be accorded with Sir Tristram and they rode together to Cornwall

How Sir Percivale was made Knight of King Arthur, and how a dumb maid spake, and brought him to the Round Table

How at a great feast that King Mark made an harper came and sang a lay of Sir Dinadan's against King Mark

How by treason Sir Tristram was brought to a tournament for to have been slain, and how he was put in prison, and how he and La Beale Isoud came to England and were lodged by Sir Launcelot at Joyous Gard

How by the counsel of La Beale Isoud Sir Tristram rode armed, and how he met with Sir Palomides, and Sir Breuse Saunce Pia beguiled three good knights

How Sir Tristram met with Sir Dinadan, and of their devices, and how Sir Dinadan was sent for by La Beale Isoud, and how Sir Tristram in jousting with Sir Palomides was known by Sir Dinadan

How they approached the Castle Lonazep, and how they talked of the death of Sir Lamorak, and how on Humber Bank they found a ship, wherein lay the body of King Hermance

How Palomides went for to fight with two brethren for the death of King Hermance, and slew them, and came unto Joyous Gard

Of the tournament at Lonazep, and how the prize on the first day was given to Sir Palomides

How King Arthur and Sir Launcelot came to see La Beale Isoud, and how Palomides smote down King Arthur, and of the second day of the tournament and of the treason of Sir Palomides to Sir Tristram

How Sir Tristram departed with La Beale Isoud, and how Palomides fol­lowed and excused him, and how King Arthur and Sir Launcelot came unto their pavilions as they sat at supper, and of Sir Palomides

How Sir Tristram and Sir Palomides did the third day of the tournament, and how Sir Tristram turned to King Arthur's side, and of the sorrow of Sir Palomides

How on a day Sir Tristram departed unarmed and met with Sir Palomides, and how they smote each other, and how Sir Palomides forbare him, and how Sir Tristram gat harness of a hurt knight and overthrew Sir Palomides and made him be christened

How Sir Launcelot holp a dolorous lady from her pain, and fought with a dragon, and of the begetting of Sir Galahad

Of the adventures of Sir Bors at the Castle of Corbin, and how he was fed with the Sangreal

How Dame Elaine, Galahad's mother, came in great estate unto Camelot, and how Sir Launcelot behaved him there

How Dame Elaine was commanded by Queen Guenever to avoid the court, and how Sir Launcelot became mad, and of the sorrow of Queen Guenever

How Sir Percivale sought for Sir Launcelot, how he fought with Sir Ector, and how they were both made whole by the coming of the Sangreal

Of the madness of Sir Launcelot, and how he was healed by the Sangreal

How Sir Launcelot, after that he was whole and had his mind, he was ashamed, and how he came to the Joyous Isle

Of a great tourneying in the Joyous Isle, and how Sir Launcelot fought with Sir Percivale, and how they returned to King Arthur's court

How Sir Launcelot with Sir Percivale and Sir Ector came to the court, and of the great joy of him

How at the vigil of the feast of Pentecost a damosel desired Sir Launcelot for to come and dub a knight, and of the marvellous adventure of the sword in a stone

How Sir Gawaine assayed to draw out the sword, and how an old man brought in Galahad, and set him in the Siege Perilous, and how he drew out the sword

How a damosel announced to King Arthur that the Sangreal should appear in his house, and how King Arthur had all his knights together for to joust or they departed, and how the Sangreal appeared as they sat at supper, and how all the knights took upon them the quest, and of the sorrow of the king and queen at their departing

How Galahad gat him a shield, and how they sped that presumed to take down the said shield, and how King Evelake had received that shield of Joseph of Aramathie

How Sir Galahad destroyed the wicked custom of the Castle of Maidens, and how he met with Sir Launcelot and Sir Percivale and smote them down

How Sir Launcelot, half sleeping and half waking, saw a sick man healed with the Sangreal, and how a voice spake to Sir Launcelot, and how he was shriven, and how a good man gave him a hair shirt to wear, and how he was overcome at a jousting and at last came to a river

How Sir Percivale found King Evelake, and how he was rescued from twenty knights by Sir Galahad, and how the fiend disguised as the lady of a ship beguiled him, and of his penance

How Sir Bors rescued a damosel rather than his brother Sir Lionel, and how thereafter Sir Lionel would fight with Sir Bors, but Sir Bors would not

How when Sir Bors would not fight with him Sir Lionel would have slain him, and how he slew a hermit and Sir Colgrevance who would have saved Sir Bors, and how Sir Bors and Sir Lionel were parted by a cloud

How Sir Galahad fought at a tournament, and of the stroke that he gave Sir Gawaine, and how he rode with a damosel and came to a ship wherein were Sir Bors and Sir Percivale

How Sir Galahad, Sir Bors, and Sir Percivale entered into the ship, and of a fair bed therein, and of a sword, and of how King Pelles had been maimed for drawing it

How Sir Galahad gripped the sword, and of the custom of a castle, and how Sir Percivale's sister bled a dish full of blood for to heal a lady, wherefore she died; and how that her body was put in a ship

How Sir Launcelot entered into the ship where Sir Percivale's sister lay dead, and how he came to a castle and was before the door of a chamber wherein was the Sangreal

How after that Sir Launcelot had lain four-and-twenty days and nights as a dead man, it was told him that he had achieved all he might of the quest of the Sangreal, and he returned to King Arthur's court

How Galahad came to King Mordrains, and how Sir Percivale and Sir Bors met with him, and how they came to the castle of Carbonek

How Galahad and his fellows were fed of the Holy Sangreal, and how our Lord appeared to them, and how Galahad anointed the maimed king, and how they departed and took ship and came to the city of Sarras, and found there the ship with the body of Percivale's sister

How they buried Percivale's sister and were put in prison by the king of the city, and how they were fed with the Sangreal and how Galahad was made king, and how Galahad and Percivale died

How Launcelot fell to his old love again, but withdrew him from Guenever to eschew slander, and how the queen commanded him to avoid the court

How at a dinner that the queen made there was a knight enpoisoned, which Sir Mador laid on the queen, and appeached her for it and how Sir Bors took on him to fight for the queen upon condition

How at the day Sir Bors made him ready for to fight for the queen, but Sir Launcelot discharged him, and overcame Sir Mador, and how the truth was known by the damosel of the lake

How King Arthur let cry a tournament at Camelot or Winchester, and how Sir Launcelot, riding thither, lodged at Astolat, and received a sleeve to wear on his helm at request of a maid

Of the tourney at Winchester, and how Sir Launcelot was sore wounded

How Sir Launcelot was brought to an hermit for to be healed, and how it became known that it was he that bare the red sleeve, and of the anger of the queen

How the maiden Elaine did attendance unto Sir Launcelot, and of her lamentation that he should depart, and how she died for his love, and how her body was brought to the court and of her burying

How Sir Launcelot went to repose him at a hermitage, and how he was hurt of a gentlewoman, and of a great tourney ordained by King Arthur

Of the month of May and of true lovers, and how Queen Guenever rode a-Maying with certain knights of the Round Table, and clad all in green, and how Sir Meliagrance took the queen and her knights

How Sir Launcelot had word how the queen was taken, and how Sir Meliagrance laid a bushment for Launcelot, so that his horse was slain, and he rode in a cart to save the queen

How Sir Meliagrance required forgiveness of the queen, and how she appeased Sir Launcelot, and how Sir Launcelot came in the night to the queen, and how Sir Meliagrance appeached her of treason

How Sir Launcelot answered for the queen, to wage battle against Sir Meliagrance; and how Sir Launcelot was taken in a trap, but was delivered of a lady, and how he fought with Sir Meliagrance, half unarmed, and slew him

How Sir Um came into Arthur's court for to be healed of his wounds by the best knight of the world, and how he was healed by Sir Launcelot

How Sir Agravaine and Sir Mordred were busy upon Sir Gawaine for to disclose the love between Sir Launcelot and Queen Guenever

How Sir Launcelot was espied in the queen's chamber, and how Sir Agra­vaine and Sir Mordred came with twelve knights to slay him

Of the counsel and advice that was taken by Sir Launcelot and his friends for to save the queen

How Sir Launcelot and his kinsmen rescued the queen from the fire, and how he slew many knights, and of the sorrow of King Arthur

How King Arthur at the request of Sir Gawaine concluded to make war against Sir Launcelot, and laid siege to his castle called Joyous Gard

How the Pope sent down his bulls to make peace, and how Sir Launcelot brought the queen to King Arthur

How Sir Launcelot departed from the King and from Joyous Gard over seaward, and how King Arthur and Sir Gawaine with a great host made war on Sir Launcelot

How Sir Mordred took on him to be king of England, and how King Arthur returned to Dover, and of the battle there, and how Sir Gawaine was slain

How Sir Gawaine's ghost appeared to King Arthur, and warned him not to fight on the day assigned, and how by misadventure of an adder a battle began, where Mordred was slain and Arthur hurt to the death

How King Arthur commanded to cast his sword Excalibur into the water, and how he was delivered to ladies in a barge, and as to the death of King Arthur, and how Queen Guenever made her a nun

How when Sir Launcelot heard of the death of King Arthur, he came to England, and found Queen Guenever at Almesbury, and how Sir Launcelot took the habit on him as a hermit

How Sir Launcelot went with his eight fellows to Almesbury, and found there Queen Guenever dead, whom they brought to Glastonbury, and how Sir Launcelot sickened and died, and was borne to Joyous Gard for to be buried, and how Constantine reigned next after Arthur, and of the end of this book