Return to the Main Menu of The Camelot Project at the University of Rochester

LANCELOT

Lancelot is the greatest of Arthur's knights. Son of King Ban of Benwick, he is known as Lancelot of the Lake or Lancelot du Lac because he was raised by the Lady of the Lake. Among his many adventures are the rescue of the abducted Queen Guinevere from Meleagant, an unsuccessful quest for the Holy Grail and the rescue of the queen after she is condemned to be burned to death for adultery. Lancelot is loved by Elaine of Astolat, who dies because her love is unrequited. Elaine, the daugher of King Pelles, tricks Lancelot into sleeping with her and from that union Galahad is born. His love for Guinevere ultimately brings about the downfall of Arthur's realm.

TEXTS:
Medieval:

Lancelot of the Laik (© TEAMS)

Introduction Prologue and Book I Book II Book III

Modern:

Akhurst, W. M. (1822-1878), Arthur the King, or, The Knights of the Round Table and Other Funny-ture (1871)
Arthur's Knights: An Adventure from the Legend of the Sangrale (1859)
Baring, Maurice (1874-1945), "The Camelot Jousts" (1910)
Buchanan, Robert (1785-1873), "Gawayne's Revenge" (1859)
Buchanan, Robert (1785-1873), "Joyous Garde" (1859)
Buchanan, Robert (1785-1873), "The Rendering" (1859)
Buchanan, Robert (1785-1873), "The Rescue" (1859)
Buchanan, Robert (1785-1873), "The Tryst" (1859)
C., H. C., "Guinevere to Lancelot" (1869)
Davidson, John (1857-1909), "The Last Ballad" (1899)
De Beverley (Pseudonym of George Newcomen), "The Birth of Galahad" (1925)
Fowler Wright, S[ydney] (1874-1965), "The Ballad of Elaine" (from the S. Fowler Wright Website)
Fowler Wright, S[ydney] (1874-1965),"The Riding of Lancelot (from the S. Fowler Wright Website)
Fowler Wright, S[ydney] (1874-1965), The Song of Arthur (Part 2: Lancelot) (from the S. Fowler Wright Website)
Fulford, William (fl. 1859-1865), "The Last Meeting of Lancelot and Guinevere" (1862)
Hovey, Richard (1864-1900), "Launcelot and Gawaine" (1888)
Hovey, Richard (1864-1900), The Marriage of Guenevere (1891)
Landon, Letitia Elizabeth (1802-1838), "A Legend of Tintagel Castle" (1833)
Lewis, Sinclair (1885-1951), "Launcelot" (1904)
Masters, Edgar Lee (1869-1950), "The Death of Launcelot" (1916)
Morris, William (1834-1896), "A Good Knight in Prison" (1858)
Mitchell, W. Weir (1829-1914), "How Lancelot Came to the Nunnery in Search of the Queen" (1883)
Morris, William (1834-1896), "King Arthur's Tomb" (1858)
Nieman, Valerie, "Elaine the Fair Accuses Lancelot" (2007)
Peacock, Thomas Love (1785-1866), "Sir Hornbook; or, Childe Launcelot's Expedition, a Grammatico-Allegorical Ballad" (1814)
Percy, Bishop Thomas (1729-1811), "Sir Lancelot du Lake" from Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (compiled 1765)
Rhys, Ernest (1859-1946), "The Battle of Two Knights: Or the Lay of the Peron-Stone, and the Refrain of the Dead Lady, Columbe, Who Loved the King of Ireland's Son." (1905)
Rhys, Ernest (1859-1946), "The Lament of Sir Ector de Maris" (1905)
Rhys, Ernest (1859-1946), "The Lay of Surluse" (1905)
Rhys, Ernest (1859-1946), "Sir Launcelot and the Sancgreal" (1905)
Rhys, Ernest (1859-1946), "The Last Sleep of Sir Launcelot" (1905)
Riethmüller, C. J. (d. 1895), Launcelot of the Lake: A Tragedy, in Five Acts (1843)
Roberts, Charles G. D. (1860-1943), "Launcelot and the Four Queens" (1880)
Robinson, Edwin Arlington (1869-1935), Lancelot (1920)
"Sir Hector de Marais" (1859)
Steynor, Morley, "Lancelot and Elaine: A Play in Five Acts" (1909)
Sweetman, Elinor, "Pastoral of Lancelot" (1899)
Swinburne, Algernon Charles (1837-1909), "Lancelot" (1860)
Swinburne, Algernon Charles (1837-1909), "King Ban: A Fragment" (Published 1915)
Tennyson, Alfred, Lord (1809-1892), "Lancelot and Elaine" from The Idylls of the King
Tennyson, Alfred, Lord (1809-1892), "Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere: A Fragment" (1842)
Van Dyke, Henry (1852-1933), "The Mill" (1902)
Wilson, John Grosvenor (b. 1866), "Ballad of Sir Launcelot" (1886)
Young, Ella (1867-1955), "The San-Grail" (1920)

IMAGES:

Beardsley, Aubrey (1872-1898), "How Four Queens Found Launcelot Sleeping" (1893)
Beardsley, Aubrey (1872-1898), "How Sir Launcelot Was Known by Dame Elaine" (1894)
Beardsley, Aubrey (1872-1898), "Sir Launcelot and the Witch Hellawes" (1893)
Bowley, M., "Sir Lancelot"
Brickdale, Eleanor Fortescue- (1872-1945), "Elaine and Lancelot" (1911)
Brickdale, Eleanor Fortescue- (1872-1945), "Lancelot" (1911)
Brickdale, Eleanor Fortescue- (1872-1945), "Lancelot and Guinevere" (1911)
Brickdale, Eleanor Fortescue- (1872-1945), "Lancelot Musing on Elaine's Death" (1911)
Brown, Ian (b. 1962), "Sir Lancelot" (2002)
Brown, Ian (b. 1962), "Sir Lancelot and the Dragon from the Tomb" (2002)
Cameron, Julia Margaret (1815-1879), "The Parting of Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere" (1875)
Chapman, William Ernest, "Galahad Meets with His Father" (1908)
Dixon, Arthur (fl. 1893-1920), "He Met a Fair Maiden Who Strove to Have the Sword" (1921)
Dixon, Arthur (fl. 1893-1920), "I Ask Your Promise to Release My Father" (1921)
Dixon, Arthur (fl. 1893-1920), "Launcelot Loved Guenevere from the Moment He First Beheld Her" (1921)
Dixon, Arthur (fl. 1893-1920), "Sir Launcelot and the Queen Talked Sadly Together" (1921)
Doré Gustave (1832-83), "The Dawn of Love" (188-)
Doré Gustave (1832-83), "Elaine on Her Road to the Cave of Lancelot" (188-)
Doré Gustave (1832-83), "King Arthur Reading the Letter of Elaine" (188-)
Doré Gustave (1832-83), "Lancelot Approaching the Castle of Astolat" (188-)
Doré Gustave (1832-83), "Lancelot Relating His Adventures" (188-)
Doré Gustave (1832-83), "The Parting" (188-)
Doré Gustave (1832-83), "The Remorse of Lancelot" (188-)
Flint, William Russell, Sir (1880-1969), "And Anon He Rased off His Helm, and Smote His Neck in Sunder" (1927)
Flint, William Russell, Sir (1880-1969), "And Therewith on His Hands and on His Knees He Went so Nigh that He Touched the Holy Vessel" (1927)
Flint, William Russell, Sir (1880-1969), "'But Ye Shall Abide, and I Shall Throw Such an Enchantment upon Him that He Shall Not Awake within the Space of an Hour'; and So She Did" (1927)
Flint, William Russell, Sir (1880-1969), "How Sir Launcelot and His Kinsmen Rescued the Queen from the Fire" (1927)
Flint, William Russell, Sir (1880-1969), "She Was a Great Huntress and Daily She Used to Hunt, and Ever She Bare Her Bow with Her" (1927)
Flint, William Russell, Sir (1880-1969), "Sir Launcelot Beheld the Young Squire and Saw Him Seemly and Demure as a Dove, with All Manner of Good Features, that He Weened of His Age Never to Have Seen so Fair a Man of Form" (1927)
Flint, William Russell, Sir (1880-1969), "Then Sir Launcelot Saw Her Visage, But He Wept Not Greatly, But Sighed" (1927)
Flint, William Russell, Sir (1880-1969), "'Therefore Thee Behoveth Now to Choose One of Us Four'" (1927)
Ford, H. J. (1860-1941), The Archers Threaten Lancelot" (1902)
Ford, H. J. (1860-1941), Lancelot and the Dwarf" (1902)
Ford, H. J. (1860-1941), Lancelot Comes out of Guenevere's Room" (1902)
Fripp, Innes (1867-1963), "Lancelot and Guenevere" (n.d.; 1900-1920?)
Fripp, Innes (1867-1963), "The Lovers appear before King Arthur" (n.d.; 1900-1920?)
Fripp, Innes (1867-1963), "The Queen and her Maidens watch for Sir Lancelot" (n.d.; 1900-1920?)
Fripp, Innes (1867-1963), "The Rescue of Guenevere" (n.d.; 1900-1920?)
Fripp, Innes (1867-1963), "Sir Lancelot in his Madness" (n.d.; 1900-1920?)
Fripp, Innes (1867-1963), "The Unknown Champion is discovered" (n.d.; 1900-1920?)
Garrett, Edmund H. (1853-1929), "Launcelot Beholds the Towers of Castle Carbonek" (1901)
Harrison, Florence (1884-19--), "Guenevere! Guenevere! Do You Not Know Me, Are You Gone Mad?" (1914)
Harrison, Florence (1884-19--), "In That Garden Fair Came Launcelot Walking . . ." (1914)
Harrison, Florence (1884-19--), "Lancelot" (1912)
Kappes, Alfred (1850-1894), "Sir Launcelot at the Castle of the Holy Grail" (1880)
Kirk, M[aria]. L[ouise]. (1860-193x), "For Two Hours More They Fought" (1912)
Mackenzie, T[homas] (1887-1944), "At Last She Came to the Little Hermitage" (n.d.; 1920?)
Mackenzie, T[homas] (1887-1944), "The Chapel Perilous" (n.d.; 1920?)
Mackenzie, T[homas] (1887-1944), "Lancelot Lay Sleeping Under the Apple Tree" (n.d.; 1920?)
Pyle, Howard (1853-1911), "The Grail Is Manifested, and Sir Lancleot Sleepeth" (1910)
Pyle, Howard (1853-1911), "Lancelot" (1905)
Pyle, Howard (1853-1911), "Lancelot" from The Lady of Shalott(1881)
Rackham, Arthur (1867-1939), "How Sir Launcelot fought with a fiendly dragon" (1917)
Rackham, Arthur (1867-1939), "How Sir Launcelot slew the knight Sir Peris de Forest Savage that did distress ladies, damosels, and gentlewomen"(1917)
Rackham, Arthur (1867-1939), "How Sir Launcelot was shot by a gentlewoman hunting" (1917)
Rackham, Arthur (1867-1939), "Sir Launcelot" (1917)
Rhead, George Wooliscroft (1854-1920) & Louis (1857-1926), "Elaine Worships Lancelot" (1898)
Rhead, George Wooliscroft (1854-1920) & Louis (1857-1926), "Guinevere Scorns Lancelot's Gift" (1898)
Rhead, George Wooliscroft (1854-1920) & Louis (1857-1926), "The Lady of the Lake Steals Lancelot" (1898)
Rhead, George Wooliscroft (1854-1920) & Louis (1857-1926), "Lancelot and Guinevere" (1898)
Rhead, George Wooliscroft (1854-1920) & Louis (1857-1926), "Lancelot and Guinevere's Parting Kiss" (1898)
Rhead, George Wooliscroft (1854-1920) & Louis (1857-1926), "Lancelot as Arthur's Ambassador to Guinevere" (1898)
Rhead, George Wooliscroft (1854-1920) & Louis (1857-1926), "Lancelot Nursed by Elaine" (1898)
Rhead, George Wooliscroft (1854-1920) & Louis (1857-1926), "The Tournament at Camelot" (1898)
Speed, Lancelot (1860-1931), "At last the strange knight smote him to the earth, and gave him such a buffet on the helm as well-night killed him" (1912)
Speed, Lancelot (1860-1931), "Beyond the chapel, he met a fair damsel, who said, 'Sir Lancelot, leave that sword behind thee, or thou diest'" (1912)
Speed, Lancelot (1860-1931), "But still the knights cried mightily without the door, 'Traitor, come forth!'" (1912)
Speed, Lancelot (1860-1931), "Sir Lancelot smote down with one spear five knights, and brake the backs of four, and cast down the King of Northgales" (1912)
Speed, Lancelot (1860-1931), "Then was Sir Lancelot sent for, and the letter read aloud by a clerk" (1912)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brewer, Derek. "The Presentation of the Character of Lancelot: Chrétien to Malory." Arthurian Literature III. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1983. Pp. 26-52

Cross, Tom Peete and William Albert Nitze. Lancelot and Guenevere: A Study on the Origins of Courtly Love. 1930; rpt. New York: Phaeton Press, 1970.

Markale, Jean. Lancelot et la chevalerie arthurienne. Paris: Imago, 1985.

Weston, Jessie. The Legend of Sir Lancelot du Lac: Studies upon Its Origin, Development, and Position in the Arthurian Romantic Cycle. London: David Nutt, 1901.