Celtic Myth 16, the Knight of the Cart: Lancelot, the most famous of King Arthur’s Knights
Celtic Myth 16, the Knight of the Cart: Lancelot, the most famous of King Arthur’s Knights
Chretien De Troyes’ account of how Lancelot rescued the abducted Queen Guinevere, launched the knight’s career as the most popular of Arthur’s followers, and as the Queen’s adulterous lover.
The evil Knight Meleagant used trickery to abduct Guinevere from the court of her husband Arthur, taking her by force to his own father’s castle. Many of the King’s Knights set off in pursuit, among them the previously unknown Lancelot. When his steed died under him, he agreed reluctantly to accept a lift in a passing cart, driven by a dwarf who claimed to know the Queen’s whereabouts. Along the way Lancelot was mocked by all who saw him, for carts were normally used at the time to transport criminals.
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As good as his word, however, the dwarf took the young hero to the castle where the queen was held. There he confronted Meleagant in single combat, and the two fought each other to a standstill. Eventually they agreed to a truce by which Guinevere was to be free to go back to King Arthur’s court. In exchange, however, Lancelot agreed to meet Meleagant there in combat within the year and to return the queen if he was defeated.
Guinevere accepted these terms, and she and her rescuer subsequently fell in love, sharing a night of guilty passion. The queen subsequently returned to her husband’s court accompanied by a retinue of knights, but Lancelot was not among them. Having treacherously detained his adversary, Meleagant secretly immured the knight in a purpose-built tower. Publicly he gave out that the young man had fled, being too much of a coward to fulfill his pledge to fight for Guinevere a second time.
All who knew Lancelot doubted Meleagant’s claim, and a maiden the knight had earlier helped set out to find him, eventually tracking him down and releasing him from his prison. Free at last, he hastened back to Arthur’s Court, arriving just in time for the promised confrontation. This time Lancelot vanquished and beheaded his evil opponent.
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