Le Morte d’Arthur Guided Reading 9: Book 1, Chapter 8

Let’s continue our guided reading of Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur with Chapter 8, in which Arthur wants to be friends, but he finds the established kings of the day ain’t having some illegitimate teenage boy as their new king, and make ready for war.

Then the king removed into Wales and let cry a great feast that it should be held at Pentecost after the coronation of him at the city of Caerleon. Unto the feast came King Lot of Lothian and of Orkney with five hundred knights with him. Also there came to the feast King Uriens of Gore with four hundred knights with him. Also there came to the feast King Nentres of Garlot, with seven hundred knights with him, and he was but a young man. Also there came to the feast a king that was called the King with the Hundred Knights, but he and his men were passing well beseen at all points. Also there came King Carados with five hundred knights.

And King Arthur was glad of their coming, for he wanted that all the kings and knights had come for great love and to have done him worship at his feast, wherefore he made great joy and sent the kings and knights great presents. But the kings would none receive, but rebuked the messengers shamefully and said they had no joy to receive no gifts of a beardless boy that was come of low blood and sent him word they would none of his gifts, but that they would come to give him gifts with hard swords between the neck and the shoulders. And therefore they came thither, so they told the messengers plainly it was great shame to all of them to see such a boy have a rule of so noble a realm as this land was. With this answer, the messengers departed and told King Arthur, wherefore by the advice of his barons, he took him to a strong tower with five hundred good men with him. And all of the kings aforesaid in a manner laid a siege upon him, but King Arthur was well victualled.

Arthur holds a great feast to celebrate and invites everyone in the land, and we have some of the prominent kings of the time, and we get to hear exactly how large their armies are. First among them is King Lot, who, you will remember, married Igraine’s daughter Margawse, who is Arthur’s half sister, although no one knows that yet. And he will go on to become the father of Sir Gawain, Arthur’s best friend, and also Agravain, Gaheris, and Gareth, who is much younger and doesn’t join the court until later but plays a very crucial role when he does.

Also present is King Uriens, who married Morgan, Arthur’s other half sister, who goes on to become Morgan le Fay, fierce sorceress and Arthur’s great enemy, and also mother of Yvain, who will have a major adventure coming up ahead.

Okay, so Arthur gives them a bunch of gifts, which are usually armor and arms and other sorts of nice things that they can use and also distribute to their people. In the Vulgate, Merlin often goes on about how there is little a king can do to ensure loyalty than to be generous with gifts and other stuff people need. But these kings have a problem with handing the leadership of the country over to a teenage boy with a sketchy past, and they say they will have no gifts of a beardless boy who is come of low blood, meaning he is not royalty, and that instead they will bring him gifts with hard swords between the neck and shoulders.

Oh, and look here at the title of Book Six of my series, which is called Gifts With Hard Swords, titled after this very line in Le Morte d’Arthur, because, let’s face it, it’s such an awesome phrase. And this book covers everything that happens in the rest of Book One, which as you will see, is an insane amount! By the way, if you were interested in checking out my series but wanted to get straight into the King Arthur story, Book Six is a good place to start, because you can just drop in without a lot of knowledge of the previous books and it gets right into Arthur’s story with lots of battles and magic and all the good stuff.

Anyway, Arthur realizes he’s looking at a war, so he takes to a tower with 500 men, and they say he is “well victualled.” What does that mean? Well, you know how “victuals” means food, right? I’m sure you use that term all the time, probably several times today already. So basically they’re saying that Arthur gathered up enough food to be able to last for a while, because in a siege, they’re stuck inside while the enemy is outside trying to get in or make them so sick or hungry that they surrender and come out on their own.

And now, hey, want a fun fact that has nothing to do with Le Morte d’Arthur but is super interesting and about siege warfare? One of the ways to get into a castle is to dig under the walls and cause the wall of the castle to collapse. So you are digging under the wall, which you could also call mining. You are mining under the wall to cause it to collapse, and this is where we get the word “undermining.”

And within fifteen days, there came Merlin among them into the city of Caerleon. Then all the kings were passing glad of Merlin and asked him, “For what cause is that boy Arthur made your king?” 

“Sirs,” said Merlin, “I shall tell you the cause, for he is King Uther Pendragon’s son, born in wedlock, gotten on Igraine the duke’s wife of Tintagel.”

“Then he is a bastard,” said they all.

“No,” said Merlin. “After the death of the duke, more than three hours was Arthur begotten, and thirteen days after, King Uther wedded Igraine. And therefore I prove him he is no bastard, and who sayeth nay, he shall be king and overcome all his enemies, and before he dies, he shall be king of all England and have under his obeisance Wales, Ireland and Scotland, and more realms than I will now rehearse.”

Some of the kings had marvel of Merlin’s words and deemed well that it should be as he said, and some of them laughed him to scorn, as King Lot, and more others called him a witch. But then were they accorded with Merlin that King Arthur should come out and speak with the kings and to come safe and to go safe, such assurance there was made. 

So Merlin went unto King Arthur and told him how he had done and bade him fear not but, “Come out boldly and speak with them and spare them not, but answer them as their king and sovereign, for you shall overcome them all whether they will nor nil.”

So Merlin comes and he goes to the kings that oppose Arthur, who are known as the Rebel Kings, and they ask him, “How can this kid be king?” And Merlin tells them that Arthur is Uther Pendragon’s son with Igraine, the duke’s wife. And they say, “So he’s a bastard.” And Merlin says no, they were married thirteen days after Arthur was conceived, so he is not a bastard. And Merlin says no matter how you fight, he will be king and, by the time he’s done, will have England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland under him.

Now, you’ll notice that Merlin tells them who Arthur’s parents are, but Arthur himself doesn’t know, because he’ll find out later in this book. So it’s a bit unrealistic, but you know, it’s the Arthurian legend.

Some of them believe him, but King Lot and others laugh at Merlin and call him a witch. But Merlin arranges that Arthur will be safe if he comes out to speak with them. Then Merlin goes to Arthur and tells him to be bold and speak to them with confidence, for he will eventually overcome them whether they believe it or not. And that brings our chapter to a thrilling conclusion! 

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