Le Morte d’Arthur Guided Reading 8: Book 1, Chapter 7

Let’s continue our guided reading of Sir Thomas malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur with Chapter 7 of Book 1, in which Arthur officially becomes king and chooses the first knights of his court.

And at the feast of Pentecost, all manner of men tried to pull at the sword that would try, but none might prevail but Arthur, and he pulled it out afore all the lords and commons that were there, wherefore all the commons cried at once, “We will have Arthur unto our king. We will put him no more in delay, for we all see that it is God’s will that he shall be our king, and who that holds against it, we will slay him.” And therewithal they knelt at once, both rich and poor, and cried Arthur mercy because they had delayed him so long. And Arthur forgave them and took the sword between both his hands and offered it upon the altar where the Archbishop was, and so he was made knight of the best man that was there.

So at Pentecost, again no one else can pull out the sword, but only Arthur can. And what happens here that is important is that the common people—that’s what they mean when they say “the commons,” that is, the people who are not royalty, knights or associated with the church or land-owners—they are the common people—they demand that Arthur be made king and not be put to any more testing. And the reason they demand it is that it is God’s will. God Himself wants Arthur to be king. And then they all kneel and ask Arthur for forgiveness that they made him delay, and of course Arthur, being a cool guy, forgives them at once.

And so anon was the coronation made, and there was he sworn unto his lords and the commons for to be a true king to stand with true justice from thenceforth the days of his life. Also then he made all lords that held of the crown to come in and do service as they ought to do. And many complaints were made unto Sir Arthur of great wrongs that were done since the death of King Uther, of many lands that were bereaved lords, knights, ladies and gentlemen, wherefore King Arthur made the lands to be given again to them that ought them.

When this was done, that the king had established all the countries about London, then he let make Sir Kay seneschal of England, and Sir Baudwin of Britain was made constable, and Sir Ulfius was made chamberlain, and Sir Brastias was made warden to wait upon the north from Trent forwards, for it was at that time the most part the king’s enemies. But within a few years after, Arthur won the North, Scotland and all that were under their obeisance, also Wales a part of it held against Arthur, but he overcame them all as he did the remnant, through the noble prowess of himself and his knights of the Round Table.

So Arthur is made a knight, and then coronated as king. He has to swear to be a “true king and stand with true justice.” Which in this case probably means fair, loyal, just and faithful to the British people. 

Then you’ll notice there’s a little interlude where he has to resolve all these disputes that have come up in the time since Uther was king, and most of these disputes involve land ownership. Arthur sorts all these issues out and gives the land to all the people who ought to have them, which I suspect is a little easier said than done.

Then he assigns roles to people in his court, making Kay seneschal, or the head of his household, as he promised his father he would. He makes Ulfius the chamberlain, the person in charge of the court’s finances. Brastias becomes the warden, sort of a watchman or guardian, and Baudwin, whom we haven’t met yet, is made constable, highest-ranking officer in the army.

Then there’s a little section that looks forward to the future, talking about all the territory Arthur will control down the line. This is just a little peculiarity of this writing, that sometimes they flash forward to the future or go back to revisit the past. So that’s all that is, nothing to get hung up on.

< < < Back to Book 1, Chapter 6

On to Book 1, Chapter 8 > > >

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