Le Morte d’Arthur Guided Reading 3: Book 1, Chapter 1
Alrighty then, we’re going to start reading Le Morte d’Arthur Book One, Chapter One. Just a reminder, the full text of this entire guided reading plus the introduction and bonus material is available as a companion ebook or paperback.
Companion book:
It befell in the days of Uther Pendragon, when he was king of all England, and so reigned in that time, there was a mighty duke in Cornwall that held war against him long time, called the duke of Tintagel. And so by means, King Uther sent for this duke, charging him to bring his wife with him, for she was called a fair lady and passing wise. Her name was Igraine.
Okay, so Uther is king, and the Duke of Tintagel comes to his court and brings his wife, who is named Igraine. Just a little additional info; They have three daughters, one of whom is never heard from again, the other two being Margawse, who will go on to become the mother of Sir Gawain, King Arthur’s best friend, and also Agravain, Gaheris, Gareth and Mordred, the man who will ultimately kill King Arthur. The other daughter is Morgan, who will go on to become the fierce sorceress Morgan le Fay, and she becomes the mother of Yvain.
So when the duke and his wife came unto the king by the means of great lords, they were accorded both. The king liked this lady well and he made great cheer out of measure and desired to have lain by her. But she was a passing good woman and would not assent to the king. She told the duke, her husband, and said, “I suppose we were sent for that I should be dishonored, wherefore husband, I counsel you that we depart from hence suddenly that we may ride all night to our own castle.” In like wise as she said, so they departed, that neither the king, nor any of his counsel, were aware of their departure.
First thing, one word you are going to be seeing a lot (i.e. a lot) is “passing.” Like we have above, that Igraine was a “passing good woman.” Think of this as saying “surpassingly” or, basically, “very.” She was a very good woman. A surpassingly good woman.
Now there’s a great deal of additional story that has been lost here. This story is told in the third book of my series, The Void Place, and we’re halfway through the book before this part even happens. In the Vulgate Cycle, Uther saw Igraine earlier and asked his advisors how to get her. His advisors said, “Umm, maybe pick someone other than your ally’s wife?” (I know it says they were at war, but when it says they were “accorded,” it means they made up and were allies again.) But Uther wouldn’t listen. So they advised him to throw a big, two week feast that wives were required to come to, and that’s what we have here.
Another good question is; why does Uther become so obsessed with her? We are left to assume it is just pure lust, and Malory does say he wants to “lay by her.” We never really know why Uther wants her, and only her, so badly, and this is one of the early mysteries of the saga. I believe that a lot of the purpose of these stories is to make you think, and it does raise a lot of interesting questions that often don’t have good answers. But it can be terribly rewarding to just thinkabout them.
Finally, in the Vulgate, Uther first sends his best friend, Ulfius, to go seduce Igraine for him because Uther is reduced to helpless tears by the whole thing. And in the longer story, it takes a long time for Igraine to tell her husband what’s going on because it will put them at war with the king, which is a very bad situation for them, since they won’t be able to find many allies to stand with them against the king, and Uther has all the power and great might on his side. Their even leaving the feast without Uther’s permission is considered treason, and they are in a bad place, as we’ll find out in a sec. Although—isn’t it romantic, fleeing the lusty king under cover of night?
As soon as King Uther knew of their departing so suddenly, he was wonderly wroth. Then he called to him his private counsel and told them of the sudden departure of the duke and his wife.
They advised the king to send for the duke and his wife by a great charge, saying: “If he will not come at your summons, then may you do your best, as you have cause to make mighty war upon him.” So that was done, and the messengers had their answer; that neither he nor his wife would return to him. Then was the king wonderly wroth and sent the duke plain word and bade him be ready, and stuff and garnish him, for within days he would fetch him out of the biggest castle that he had.
So when Igraine and the duke they won’t go back, that is reason enough for Uther to make war on them. Also, it’s not really great for Uther to pursue his countryman’s wife, and this doesn’t really reflect well on him either, especially when his own people will die trying to get this one woman for him.
By the way, giving forty days’ notice before beginning a siege was common back then, because the people under siege would have to gather enough food to endure as long as the siege lasted, so… quite civilized!
When the duke had this warning, he went and furnished and garnished two strong castles of his, one called Tintagel and the other castle called Terrabil. His wife, Dame Igraine, he put in the castle of Tintagel, and himself he put in the castle of Terrabil, which had many issues and posterns out. Then in all haste came Uther with a great host and laid a siege about the castle of Terrabil. There he put many pavilions and made great war on both parties, with many people slain.
So the Duke hides his wife at Castle Tintagel while he and his armies go to Castle Terrabil (you have to love the name Castle Terrabil), which is where Uther and his forces attack him. By the way, Tintagel is a real place in Cornwall, England, and there is a castle there right on the sea cliffs, and the whole thing is pretty magical! And guess what? The castle was built hundreds of years after this story was set down in order for there to be a castle where this story took place.
Then for pure anger and great love of fair Igraine, the king Uther fell sick. So came to the king Sir Ulfius, a noble knight, and asked the king why he was sick.
“I shall tell,” said the king. “I am so sick for anger and for love of fair Igraine that I may not be whole.”
“Well, my lord,” said Sir Ulfius, “I shall seek Merlin and he shall do you remedy so that your hurt shall be pleased.”
So Ulfius departed, and by adventure, he met Merlin in a beggars array, and there Merlin asked Ulfius who he sought, and he said he had little ado to tell him.
“Well,” said Merlin, “I know whom you seek, for you seek Merlin. Therefore, seek no further, for I am he. And if King Uther will well reward me and be sworn unto me to fulfill my desire, that shall be to his honor and profit more than mine, I shall cause him to have all of his desire.”
“All this I will undertake,” said Ulfius, “that there shall be nothing reasonable but thou shall have thy desire.”
“Well,” said Merlin, “he shall have his intent and desire, and therefore,” said Merlin, “ride on your way, for I will not be far behind.”
So Uther falls sick for love of Igraine. This is a serious condensation of what was in the Vulgate, which is that Uther is doubled over crying in his tent while he is supposed to be at war and at minimum showing his face to his troops. In the longer story it is much more that Uther is becoming more and more useless, and Ulfius is having to do everything for him. And again we have to wonder; why is Uther so desperate for Igraine that he is utterly lost without her? Why her and not anyone else? So Ulfius has the idea that they should get Merlin to help, and that is swiftly accomplished.
Now, Malory leaves out a whole lot of history between Merlin and Uther, including the fact that they’ve actually had some tension, and Merlin hasn’t been speaking to Uther for a while. One other crucial thing; Merlin tells Ulfius to tell Uther that he will do great harm if he has his way, and the sooner he understands this the better. So Merlin is essentially saying; you’re going to ruin your life, but if you want, I’ll help you do it. The real Merlin is a slippery salamander. Malory chooses to leave that part out.
That’s where we stop for now, and we’ll pick up the story in the next chapter.
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The Swithen 