LE MORTE D’ARTHUR GUIDED READING 10: BOOK 1, CHAPTER 9
Now we come to Arthur’s first battle! And a little bit of awesome Merlin magic… Here Arthur fights to defend his reign against the kings that oppose him. So let’s get going…
Then King Arthur came out of his tower and he had under his gown a jesseraunte of double mail, and there went with him the Archbishop of Canterbury and Sir Baudwin and Sir Kay and Sir Brastias. These were the men of most worship that were with him, and when they were met, there was no meekness, but stout words on both sides. But always King Arthur answered them and said he would make them bow and he lived, wherefore they departed with wrath. King Arthur bade keep them well, and they bade the king keep him well. So the king returned to the tower again and armed him and all his knights.
“What will you do?” said Merlin to the kings. “You were better to stint, for you will not prevail though you were ten so many.”
“Be we well advised to be afraid of a dream reader?” said King Lot.
With that, Merlin vanished away and came to King Arthur and bade him set on them fiercely. And in the meanwhile, there were three hundred good men of the best that were with the kings that went straight unto King Arthur, and that comforted him greatly.
So Arthur goes out to talk to them and there are “stout words on both sides,” which means that they give each other a lot of bluster, but Arthur doesn’t back down and says he will “make them bow and they live,” which means he says, “you will eventually bow to me.” Pretty good for a teenager, right?
So Arthur goes back and Merlin comes to the kings and says, “What are you doing? You’re going to lose.” And King Lot says, “What? We’re supposed to be afraid of a dream reader?” Which is Merlin. So Merlin vanishes—this is the first we hear of Merlin vanishing—and comes to Arthur’s side and tells him to “set on them fiercely.”
“Mail,” by the way, is chain mail. That is not a letter that encourages you to send more letters, but is clothing made of interlocking iron rings, used as early armor. I know you’ve seen it before, but if you want a visual, just do a search for “chain mail.” By the way, at the time the story takes place, they did not yet have plate armor, that is, the sort of “suits of armor” we think of today. They had only these clothes made of chain mail with various other little devices to protect knees, etc. And helmets, of course, but when you think of “a knight in armor” you are probably envisioning plate armor and that had not yet been invented.
“Sir,” said Merlin to Arthur, “fight not with the sword you had my miracle until that you see you go unto the worse, then draw it out and do your best.”
So forthwithal King Arthur set upon them in their lodging, and Sir Baudwin, Sir Kay and Sir Brastias slew on the right hand and on the left hand that it was a marvel, and always King Arthur on horseback laid on with sword and did marvelous deeds of arms that many of the kings had great joy of his deeds and hardiness. Then King Lot broke out on the back side and the King with the Hundred Knights and King Carados and set on Arthur fiercely behind him. With that Sir Arthur turned with his knights and smote behind and before, and ever Sir Arthur was in the foremost press until his horse was slain underneath him, and therewith King Lot smote down King Arthur.
With that, his four knights rescued him and put him on horseback. Then he drew his sword Excalibur, but it was so bright in his enemies’ eyes that it gave light like thirty torches, and therewith he put them on back and slew much people. And then the commons of Caerleon arose with clubs and staves and slew many knights. But all the kings held them together with their knights that were left alive and so fled and departed. And Merlin came unto Arthur and counseled him to follow them no further.
Okay, so in another of my videos available at @theswithenbookseries on YouTube, How to Read Le Morte d’Arthur,one of the most important pieces of advice is that you have to slow down and take time to think about what’s going on, because major stuff goes by really fast, and you have to slow down for it to have any impact—and that is really the case here.
So first Merlin tells Arthur not to fight with the sword he had by miracle—that is, the sword from the stone—but to wait until the battle is going poorly and then draw it out.
First we have a lot of battle. And you will notice that King Lot and Arthur confront each other directly on the field. Arthur’s horse is slain beneath him—that is, he’s on his horse and it gets killed right under him. And then King Lot smote him down, which is the past form of “smite,” like you might hear “he wanted to smite his enemy” (or someone is “smitten,” usually by love), well, being smote down is kind of the same thing… it means getting knocked on your ass. So King Lot smites Arthur, and Arthur is in danger, but four of Arthur’s knights take him and get him up on horseback.
Now we have the first major incidence of Merlin’s awesome magic. Once on horseback, Arthur draws the sword he got from the stone and holds it overhead. It blazes so brightly that it blinds the enemy, and thus Arthur’s forces are able to easily cut them down. I think that’s pretty awesome and is an iconic image, with Arthur holding the blazing sword over his head. In the Vulgate Cycle, Merlin sets the enemies’ tents on fire, so I’m not sure if this little bit of magic is Malory’s invention, but it might be.
Now, you might also notice that Malory calls the sword Excalibur, but Arthur hasn’t actually received Excalibur yet! The sword from the stone is not Excalibur. So that’s just one of those little mistakes that are in the text.
The last important thing is that the “commons” of Caerleon come out with clubs and staves. This means that the common people, not knights, throw themselves into the battle, carrying clubs and wooden poles, in order to help Arthur. So again, we have a strong statement that although the rulers of the day may oppose Arthur, the common people are totally behind him, and even though they would normally not fight a battle, in this case they are throwing themselves in to support the young king.
You’ll also notice that Merlin comes and tells Arthur when it is time to end the battle, which is not the last time that will happen.
The Swithen 