Editing Lancelot (section)

==History==
[[File:324 The Romance of King Arthur.jpg|thumb|Lancelot slays the dragon of [[Corbenic]] in [[Arthur Rackham]]'s illustration for ''Tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table'', abridged from ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'' by [[Alfred W. Pollard]] (1917)|alt=|left]]

===Name and origins===
There have been many theories regarding the origins of Lancelot as an [[Arthurian romance]] character. In those postulated by [[Ferdinand Lot]] and [[Roger Sherman Loomis]], Lancelot's figure is related to Llenlleog (Llenlleawc), an Irishman in the early Arthurian Welsh tale ''[[Culhwch and Olwen]]'' (which associates him with the "headland of Gan[i]on"), and the Welsh hero Llwch Llawwynnauc (most likely a version of the [[Euhemerism|euhemerised]] Irish deity [[Lugh|Lug[h] Lonbemnech]], with "''Llwch''" meaning "Lake" in [[Welsh language|Welsh]]), possibly via a now-forgotten epithet such as ''Lamhcalad'',<ref name=":0">Bruce, ''The Arthurian Name Dictionary'', pp. 305–306.</ref> suggesting that they are the same figure; their similarities beyond the name include wielding a sword and fighting for a cauldron in ''Culhwch'' and ''[[Preiddeu Annwn]]''. Loomis also linked Lancelot to the Welsh mythological hero [[Lleu Llaw Gyffes]], while [[T. Gwynn Jones]] claimed links between Lancelot and [[Eliwlod]] (Eliwlad), a nephew of Arthur in the Welsh legend.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V70nCDxlFgEC&pg=PA37|title=The British Sources of the Abduction and Grail Romances|first=Flint|last=Johnson|date= 2002|publisher=University Press of America|isbn=9780761822189 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Proponents of the [[Scythia]]n origins of Arthurian legend have speculated that an early form might have been ''Alanus-à-Lot'', that is "[[Alans|Alan]] of the river [[Lot (river)|Lot]]",<ref>{{cite book | last1=Littleton | first1=C.S. | last2=Malcor | first2=L.A. | title=From Scythia to Camelot: A Radical Reassessment of the Legends of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, and the Holy Grail | publisher=Garland | series=Arthurian Characters and Themes | year=2000 | isbn=978-0-8153-3566-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x9v0FaIgEFEC&pg=PA96 | access-date=2020-08-17 | page=96}}</ref> and those looking for clues in classical antiquity see elements of Lancelot in the [[Ancient Greek]] mythical figures of Askalos and Mopsus (Moxus).<ref>{{cite book | last=Anderson | first=G. | title=King Arthur in Antiquity | publisher=Taylor & Francis | year=2004 | isbn=978-1-134-37202-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4bZ3HqdHutMC&pg=PA93 | access-date=2020-08-17 | page=93}}</ref>

Alfred Anscombe proposed in 1913 that the name "Lancelot" came from Germanic *''Wlancloth'', with roots in the [[Old English]] ''wlenceo'' (pride) and ''loða'' (cloak),<ref>Alfred Anscombe (1913), "The Name of Sir Lancelot du Lake", ''The Celtic Review'' '''8'''(32): 365–366.</ref> in connection with [[Vinoviloth]], the name of a [[Goths|Gothic]] chief or tribe mentioned in the 6th-century ''[[Getica]]''.<ref>Alfred Anscombe (1913), "Sir Lancelot du Lake and Vinovia", ''The Celtic Review'' '''9'''(33): 77–80.</ref> According to more recent authors, such as [[Norma Lorre Goodrich]], the name, if not just an invention of the 12th-century French poet [[Chrétien de Troyes]], may have been derived from [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]]'s character Anguselaus, probably a Latinised name of Unguist, the name of a son of the 6th-century [[Picts|Pictish]] king Forgus; when translated from Geoffrey's [[Latin]] into [[Old French]], it would become ''Anselaus''.<ref name=origins>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V70nCDxlFgEC&pg=PA39|title=The British Sources of the Abduction and Grail Romances|first=Flint|last=Johnson|date=2002|publisher=University Press of America|isbn=9780761822189|via=Google Books}}</ref> Other 6th-century figures proposed in modern times as candidates for the prototype of Lancelot include the early French saint Fraimbault de Lassay;<ref>{{cite book | author=International Arthurian Society | title=Bulletin bibliographique de la Société internationale arthurienne | issue=v. 33–34 | year=1981 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_p1MAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA192 | language=fr | access-date=2020-08-17 | page=1–PA192}}</ref> [[Maelgwn Gwynedd|Maelgwn]], king of [[Gwynedd]];<ref>{{cite book | last=Ashley | first=M. | title=The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens | publisher=Little, Brown Book Group | series=Mammoth Books | year=2012 | isbn=978-1-4721-0113-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1OqdBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT149 | access-date=2020-08-17 | page=149}}</ref> and Llaennog (Llaenauc), father of [[Gwallog ap Llaennog|Gwallog]], king of [[Elmet]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jHfDDAEACAAJ|title=Pennine Dragon|first=Simon|last=Keegan|date=17 May 2016|publisher=New Haven Publishing, Limited|isbn=9781910705407|via=Google Books}}</ref>

Lancelot may have been the hero of a popular folk tale that was originally independent but was ultimately absorbed into the Arthurian tradition. The theft of an infant by a water [[fairy]], the appearance of the hero at a tournament on three consecutive days in three different disguises, and the rescue of a queen or princess from an [[Celtic Otherworld|Otherworld]] prison are all features of a well-known and widespread tale, variants of which are found in numerous examples collected by [[Theodore Hersart de la Villemarqué]] in his ''[[Barzaz Breiz]]'', by [[Emmanuel Cosquin]] in his ''Contes Lorrains'', and by [[John Francis Campbell]] in his ''Tales of the West Highlands''.<ref>{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Lancelot|volume=16|page=151|first=Jessie Laidlay|last=Weston|author-link=Jessie Weston (scholar)}}</ref> As for his name, ''Lancelot'' may be a variant of the French name Lancelin (the word likely meaning [[javelin]] in Old French<ref>[[Frédéric Godefroy]], ''Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle'', édition de F. Vieweg, Paris, 1881–1902, p. 709b.</ref>) as proposed by [[Gaston Paris]] in 1881, later supported by [[Rachel Bromwich]].<ref>Goulven Péron, "La légende de Lancelot du Lac en Anjou". ''Les Cahiers du Baugeois'', n°92 (March 2012), pp. 55–63, {{ISSN|0999-6001}}.</ref> It is also possibly derived from the Old French word ''L'Ancelot'', meaning "Servant" (the hypothesis first put forward by de la Villemarqué in 1842); Lancelot's name is actually written this way in several manuscripts.<ref name=origins/> It is furthermore reminiscent of an uncommon Saxon name Wlanc, meaning "The Proud One".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rUZnAAAAMAAJ|title=Arthur: Roman Britain's Last Champion|first1=Beram|last1=Saklatvala|first2=Henry|last2=Marsh|year= 1967|publisher=David & Charles|isbn=9780715352014 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

Stephen Pow has recently argued that the name "Lancelot" represents an Old French pronunciation of Hungarian "[[László]]" (Ladislaus) as inspired by the historical King [[Ladislaus I of Hungary]]. In the early 1180s, King [[Béla III of Hungary]] was pursuing Ladislaus' canonization as a saint (approved 1192) and a marriage alliance with France through [[Margaret of France, Queen of England and Hungary|Margaret of France]] (whom he married 1186). Margaret was the half-sister of Chrétien's patroness, [[Marie de Champagne]], and the creation of Lancelot would thus meant to honor the Hungarian king around the time of his marriage to a member of the French royal house.<ref>Stephen Pow, [https://ams.ceu.edu/2018/Pow.pdf "Evolving Identities: A Connection between Royal Patronage of Dynastic Saints' Cults and Arthurian Literature in the Twelfth Century"], ''Annual of Medieval Studies at CEU'' (2018): 65–74.</ref>

===Chrétien and Ulrich===
{{Main|Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart|Lanzelet}}

[[File:The book of romance; (1902) (14566092039).jpg|thumb|220x220px|''Lancelot Brings Guenevere to Arthur'' in [[Andrew Lang]]'s ''The Book of Romance'' (1902)|alt=]]

Lancelot's name appears third on a list of knights at King Arthur's court in the earliest known work featuring him as a character: Chrétien de Troyes' Old French poem ''[[Erec and Enide]]'' (1170). The fact that his name follows [[Gawain]] and [[Erec]] indicates the presumed importance of the knight at court, even though he did not figure prominently in Chrétien's tale. Lancelot reappears in Chrétien's ''[[Cligès]]'', in which he takes a more important role as one of the knights that Cligès must overcome in his quest.<ref name=":0" />

It is not until Chrétien's ''[[Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart]]'' (''Le Chevalier de la charrette''), however, that he becomes the protagonist and is given the full name Lancelot du Lac (Lancelot of the Lake),<ref>William Farina, ''Chretien de Troyes and the Dawn of Arthurian Romance'' (2010). p. 13: "Strictly speaking, the name Lancelot du Lac ("Lancelot of the Lake") first appears in Chrétien's Arthurian debut, ''Erec and Enide'' (line 1674), as a member of the Roundtable."</ref> which was later picked up by the French authors of the [[Lancelot-Grail]] and then by [[Thomas Malory]].<ref>Elizabeth Archibald, Anthony Stockwell Garfield Edwards, ''A Companion to Malory'' (1996). p. 170: "This is the book of my lord Lancelot du Lac in which all his deeds and chivalric conduct are contained and the coming of the Holy Grail and his quest (which was) made and achieved by the good knight, Galahad."</ref> Chrétien treats Lancelot as if his audience were already familiar with the character's background, yet most of the characteristics and exploits that are commonly associated with Lancelot today are first mentioned here. The story tells of Lancelot's mad love for Arthur's wife Queen Guinevere, culminating in his rescue of her after she is abducted by Prince [[Maleagant|Meliagant]] (also in love for her, but entirely unrequited) to the otherworldly and perilous land of Gorre.

In the words of [[Matilda Bruckner]], "what existed before Chrétien remains uncertain, but there is no doubt that his version became the starting point for all subsequent tales of Lancelot as the knight whose extraordinary prowess is inextricably linked to his love for Arthur's Queen."<ref>{{cite book |title=A Companion to the Lancelot-Grail Cycle |first=Carol |last=Dover |date=2003 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |contribution=Redefining the Center: Verse and Prose Charrette |pages=95–106 |jstor=10.7722/j.ctt9qdj80.15 |isbn=9780859917834 |contributor-first=Matilda Tomaryn |contributor-last=Bruckner |contributor-link=Matilda Bruckner |contribution-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt9qdj80.15 }}</ref> According to of the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France]], "the character of Lancelot, as imagined by Chrétien, is a superb image of the [[courtly love]]r pushing the love he bears for his lady to the point of exaltation and ecstasy ... governed by love, Lancelot no longer knows how to see the world around him, he no longer knows who he is."<ref name=bnf/>

{{Quote box
| align = left|On the lyrical model of the astonished lover, paralyzed by his love and losing all his faculties while thinking of his lady, Chrétien makes Lancelot a knight who is entirely taken by his [[passion (emotion)|passion]] for the queen. Overwhelmed by desire, he repeatedly forgets the reality around him. [...] The knight is ready for his lady to suffer the wounds that make him a martyr of love, just as Christ is a martyr of God. The lady here becomes the idol to which the knight worships: Lancelot bows before the bed where the queen awaits him as before an altar, remaining in adoration as before a holy relic in which he places all his faith. The night of love between Lancelot and Guinevere is then evoked as a feast for all the senses, and as an indescribable joy, greater and deeper than that known to all other lovers. But the separation, when day breaks, revives the suffering of the knight who leaves in despair: "The body departs, but the heart remains."<ref name=bnf>{{Cite web|url=https://essentiels.bnf.fr/fr/focus/77f00f63-0679-4f6f-8c83-24a70a965830-lancelot-et-exces-lamour|title=Lancelot et les excès de l'amour|website=BnF Essentiels}}</ref>
}}

Lancelot's love for Guinevere is entirely absent from another early work, ''[[Lanzelet]]'', a [[Middle High German]] epic poem by [[Ulrich von Zatzikhoven]] dating from the very end of the 12th century (no earlier than 1194). Ulrich asserts that his poem is a translation of an earlier work from a "French book" he had obtained, assuring the reader that "there is nothing left out or added compared to what the French book tells." He describes his source as written by a certain Arnaud Daniel in [[Provençal dialect]] and which must have differed markedly in several points from Chrétien's story. In ''Lanzelet'', the abductor of Ginover (Guinevere) is named as King Valerin, whose name, unlike that of Chrétien's Meliagant, does not appear to derive from the Welsh [[Maleagant|Melwas]]. Furthermore, Ginover's rescuer is not Lanzelet, who instead ends up finding happiness in marriage with the fairy princess [[Sebile|Iblis]]. The book's Lancelot is Arthur's nephew, the son of Arthur's sister Queen Clarine, who lost his father King Pant of Genewis to a rebellion. Similar to Chrétien's version, Lanzelet too is raised by a fairy. Here she is elaborated as the aquatic Queen of the [[Land of Maidens|Maidenland]] and is the source of much of his early adventures.<ref>Schultz, James A. (1991). "Ulrich von Zatzikhoven". In Norris J. Lacy, ''The New Arthurian Encyclopedia'', pp. 481–482. New York: Garland. {{ISBN|0-8240-4377-4}}.</ref>

It has been suggested that Lancelot was originally the hero of a story independent of the [[love triangle]] of Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot, perhaps very similar to Ulrich's version.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Lancelot's Wives|author=Cooper, Helen|year=2006|journal=Arthuriana|volume=16|issue=2|pages=59–62|doi = 10.1353/art.2006.0081|jstor = 27870759|s2cid = 162124722}}</ref> If this is true, then the motif of adultery might either have been invented by Chrétien for his ''Chevalier de la Charrette'' or have been present in the (now lost) source provided to him by his patroness, [[Marie de Champagne]], a lady well known for her keen interest in matters relating to courtly love.<ref>''Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages : A Collaborative History'' ed. Roger Sherman Loomis, pub. Oxford University Press 1959, special edition for Sandpiper Books Ltd. 2001, {{ISBN|0 19 811588 1}} pp. 436–439 in Essay 33 ''Hartmann von Aue and his Successors'' by Hendricus Spaarnay.</ref> Chrétien himself abandoned the poem for unknown reason, perhaps because of his personal distaste for the subject, which was then given by him to and finished by his associate [[Godefroi de Leigni]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IjZR4WsQQGkC&pg=PA90 | title=The Continuations of Chrétien's Perceval: Content and Construction, Extension and Ending | isbn=978-1-84384-316-0 | last1=Tether | first1=Leah | date=2012 | publisher=DS Brewer }}</ref>

===Evolution of the legend===
[[File:Lancelot fighting the dragons of the Val without return.png|thumb|left|Lancelot fighting the two dragons guarding the entrance to Morgan's [[Val sans retour|Val Without Return]] in an illumination of a 15th-century French ''[[Lancelot-Grail]]'' manuscript. The arms [[attributed arms|attributed]] to him: [[argent (heraldry)|argent]] with three [[bend (heraldry)|bendlets]] [[gules]]|alt=]]

Lancelot's character was further developed during the early 13th century in the [[Old French]] prose romance [[Vulgate Cycle]], also known as the Lancelot-Grail. There, he appears prominently in the later parts, known as the ''Lancelot en prose'' (Prose ''Lancelot''), the ''Queste del Saint Graal'' (''The Quest for the Holy Grail''), and the ''Mort Artu'' (''The Death of Arthur''). When Chrétien de Troyes wrote at the request of Countess Marie, she was only interested in the romantic relationship between Lancelot and the queen. However, the Prose ''Lancelot'' greatly expands the story: he is assigned a family, a descent from lost kingdom (similar to his backstory in ''Lanzelet''), and many further adventures. Gaston Paris argued that the Guinevere-Meleagant episode of the Prose ''Lancelot '' is an almost literal adaptation of Chrétien's poem, the courtly love theme of which seemed to be forced on the unwilling Chrétien by Marie,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4WP8PoYI8p8C&pg=PA166|title=A Companion to Arthurian Literature|first=Helen|last=Fulton|year=2011|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=9781118234303|via=Google Books}}</ref> though it can be seen as a considerable amplification. Much of the Prose ''Lancelot'' material from the Vulgate Cycle has been soon later removed in the rewriting known as the [[Post-Vulgate Cycle]], where Lancelot is no longer the central protagonist, with the surviving parts being reworked and attached to the other parts of this cycle.

[[File:Edward Coley Burne-Jones - The Earthly Paradise (Sir Lancelot at the Chapel of the Holy Grail).jpg|thumb|''The Earthly Paradise (Sir Lancelot at the Chapel of the Holy Grail)'' by [[Edward Burne-Jones]] (1890s)|alt=]]

Lancelot is often tied to the religiously Christian themes within the genre of Arthurian romance. His quest for Guinevere in ''Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart'' is similar to Christ's quest for the human soul.<ref name="raabe">Raabe, Pamela (1987). ''Chretien's Lancelot and the Sublimity of Adultery.'' Toronto Quarterly. 57: 259–270.</ref> His adventure among the tombs is described in terms that suggest Christ's [[harrowing of Hell]] and [[Resurrection of Jesus|resurrection]]; he effortlessly lifts the lid off the sarcophagus, which bears an inscription foretelling his freeing of the captives.<ref name="Pyle 1993 238">{{Cite book| last = Pyle| first = Howard| title = King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table| publisher = Waldman Publishing Corporation| year = 1993| location = New York City| page = [https://archive.org/details/kingarthurknigh00josh/page/238 238]| isbn = 978-0-86611-982-5| url = https://archive.org/details/kingarthurknigh00josh/page/238}}</ref> Lancelot would later become one of the chief knights associated with the Quest for the [[Holy Grail]], yet Chrétien did not include him at all in his final romance, the unfinished ''[[Perceval, le Conte du Graal]]'' (''Perceval, or the Story of the Grail'') which introduced the Grail motif into medieval literature. [[Perceval]] is the sole seeker of the Grail in Chrétien's treatment; Lancelot's involvement in the Grail quest is first recorded in the prose romance ''[[Perlesvaus]]'', written between 1200 and 1210.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.timelessmyths.com/arthurian/quest1.html#Perlesvaus|title=Grail Legends (Perceval's Tradition)|last=Joe|first=Jimmy|website=timelessmyths.com|access-date=29 May 2018}}</ref> [[Robert de Boron]]-inspired tradition of the Vulgate Cycle gives Lancelot a Biblical lineage, counting [[King David]] and [[King Solomon]] among his ancient ancestors,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KkBSujrlYRAC&pg=PA63|title=A Companion to the Lancelot-Grail Cycle|first=Carol|last=Dover|date=27 April 2003|publisher=DS Brewer|isbn=978-0-85991-783-4 |via=Google Books}}</ref> but also makes him fail in the Grail Quest because of his sins.

German romance ''[[Diu Crône]]'' gives Lancelot aspects of [[solar deity]] type hero, making his strength peak during high noon, a characteristic usually associated with Gawain.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MyWvBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT114 | title=Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance | isbn=9781613732106 | last1=Loomis | first1=Roger Sherman | year= 2005 | publisher=Chicago Review Press }}</ref> The [[Middle Dutch]] so-called [[Lancelot Compilation]] (c. 1320) contains seven Arthurian romances, including a new Lancelot one, folded into the three parts of the cycle. This new formulation of a Lancelot romance in the Netherlands indicates the character's widespread popularity independent of the Lancelot-Grail cycle.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Lancelot|pages=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofmedi00gerr/page/160 160–70]|last=Brandsma|first=Frank|title=A Dictionary of Medieval Heroes|publisher=Boydell and Brewer|editor1-last=Gerritsen|editor1-first=Willem P.|editor2-last=van Melle|editor2-first=Anthony G.|editor3-last=Guest|editor3-first=Tanis (trans.)|year=1998|isbn=978-0851153810|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofmedi00gerr/page/160}}</ref> In this story, ''Lanceloet en het Hert met de Witte Voet'' ("Lancelot and the Hart with the White Foot"), he fights seven lions to get the white foot from a hart (deer) which will allow him to marry a princess.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.literatuurgeschiedenis.org/teksten/lanceloet-en-het-hert-met-de-witte-voet|title=Lanceloet en het hert met de witte voet auteur onbekend, vóór 1291, Brabant|website=www.literatuurgeschiedenis.org|access-date=2021-07-28|language=nl}}</ref> Near the end of the 15th century, Malory's ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'' followed the Lancelot-Grail in presenting Lancelot as the best knight, a departure from the preceding English tradition in which Gawain had been the most prominent.<ref>Radulescu, R. (2004). "‘Now I take uppon me the adventures to seke of holy thynges’: Lancelot and the Crisis of Arthurian Knighthood." In B. Wheeler (Ed.), ''Arthurian Studies in Honour of P.J.C. Field'' (pp. 285–296). Boydell & Brewer.</ref>

The forbidden love affair between Lancelot and Guinevere can be seen as a parallel to that of [[Tristan and Iseult]], with Lancelot ultimately being identified with the tragedy of chance and human failing that is responsible for the downfall of the [[Round Table]] in the later works continuing Chrétien's story.<ref>MacBain, Danielle Morgan (1993). ''The Tristramization of Malory's Lancelot''. English Studies. 74: 57–66.</ref> In ''[[Perceforest]]'', the different daughters of the ancient knight Lyonnel and the [[fairy queen]] Blanchete are actually ancestors of both Lancelot and Guinevere, as well as of [[Tristan]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ogYk78vHmAgC&pg=PA192 | title=Postcolonial Fictions in the Roman de Perceforest: Cultural Identities and Hybridities | isbn=978-1-84384-104-3 | last1=Huot | first1=Sylvia | date=2024 | publisher=Boydell & Brewer }}</ref>