Editing Sir Kay (section)

==Kay in chronicles and romances==
[[Image:Arthur-Pyle Sir Kay breaketh his sword at ye Tournament.JPG|thumb|"Sir Kay breaketh his sword at ye Tournament" from ''[[The Story of King Arthur and His Knights]]'' by [[Howard Pyle]] (1903)]]

Kay and Bedivere both appear in [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]]'s ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]'', and support Arthur in his defeat of the Giant of [[Mont Saint-Michel]].<ref>L. Thorpe translation, ''The History of the Kings of Britain'' (Penguin 1966) pp. 238-9.</ref> Geoffrey makes Kay the count of [[County of Anjou|Anjou]] and Arthur's steward, an office which he holds in most later literature. In [[Chrétien de Troyes]]'s ''[[Erec and Enide]]'',  a son Gronosis is mentioned, who is versed in evil. By contrast, the Welsh attribute to him a son and daughter named Garanwyn and Celemon. Romance literature rarely deals with Kay's love life, with one exception being [[Girart d'Amiens]]'s ''[[Escanor]]'', which details his love for Andrivete of [[Northumbria]], whom he must defend from her uncle's political machinations before they can marry.

In the works of Chrétien, Kay assumes the characteristics with which he is most associated today:  hot-headedness and fiery temper (retained from the Welsh literature), supplemented by his role as an incompetent braggart. Chrétien uses him as a scoffer and a troublemaker; a foil for heroic knights including [[Lancelot]], [[Ywain]], or [[Gawain]]. He mocks the chivalric courtesy of Sir [[Calogrenant]] in ''[[Yvain, the Knight of the Lion]]'', and he tricks Arthur into allowing him to try to save [[Guinevere]] from [[Maleagant]] in ''[[Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart]]'', which ends in his humiliating defeat. In ''[[Perceval, the Story of the Grail]]'', Sir Kay grows angry with [[Percival|Perceval]]'s naïveté and slaps a maiden who says he will become a great knight; Perceval later avenges her by breaking Kay's shoulder. [[Wolfram von Eschenbach]], who tells a similar story in his ''[[Parzival]]'', asks his audience not to judge Kay too harshly, as his sharp words actually serve to maintain courtly order: "Though few may agree with me—Keie was a brave and loyal man&nbsp;... The mighty Keie."<ref>H. Mustard translation, ''Parzival'' (New York 1961) pp. 159–60.</ref>

[[File:Siedlęcin Wieża Książęca Gotyckie malowidła ścienne Lancelot i Key.JPG|thumb|upright|left|Kay and Lancelot in a [[Siedlęcin Tower]] fresco (early 14th century)]]

Kay is ubiquitous in Arthurian literature but he rarely serves as anything but a [[foil (literature)|foil]] for other characters. Although he manipulates the king to get his way, his loyalty to Arthur is usually unquestioned. In the [[Vulgate Cycle]], the [[Post-Vulgate]] and [[Thomas Malory]]'s ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'', Kay's father Ector adopts the infant Arthur after [[Merlin]] takes him away from his birth parents, [[Uther]] and [[Igraine]]. Ector raises the future king and Kay as brothers, but Arthur's parentage is revealed when he draws the [[Excalibur|Sword in the Stone]] at a tournament in London. Arthur, serving as squire to the newly knighted Kay, is locked out of the house and cannot get to his brother's sword, so he uses the Sword in the Stone to replace it. Kay shows his characteristic opportunism when he tries to claim it was in fact he that pulled the sword from the stone, not Arthur, making Kay the true [[List of legendary kings of Britain|King of the Britons]], but he ultimately relents and admits it was Arthur.<ref>H. Cooper edition, ''Le Morte Dathur'' (Oxford 2008) p. 9.</ref> He becomes one of the first [[Knights of the Round Table]], described as "best worthy to be a knight of the Round Table of any",<ref>H. Cooper edition, ''Le Morte Dathur'' (Oxford 2008) p. 60.</ref> and serves his foster-brother throughout his life.

Scholars have pointed out that Kay's scornful, overly boastful character never makes him a clown, a coward or a traitor, except in the [[Holy Grail|Grail]] romance ''[[Perlesvaus]]'', in which he murders Arthur's son [[Loholt]] and joins up with the king's enemies. This strange work is an anomaly, however, and Kay's portrayal tends to range from merely cruel and malicious, as in the ''Roman de [[Yder]]'' or [[Hartmann von Aue]]'s ''[[Iwein (poem)|Iwein]]'' to humorously derisive and even endearing, as in ''[[Durmart le Gallois]]'' and ''Escanor''.

Despite his ubiquity, Kay's death is not a frequent subject in the Arthurian canon. In Welsh literature, it is mentioned he was killed by Gwyddawg and avenged by Arthur. In Geoffrey of Monmouth and the [[Alliterative Morte Arthure|Alliterative ''Morte Arthure'']], he is killed in the war against the Roman Emperor [[Emperor Lucius|Lucius]],<ref>L. Thorpe translation, ''The History of the Kings of Britain'' (Penguin 1966) p. 257.</ref> while the Vulgate Cycle describes his death in France, also in battle against the Romans. According to Malory's Book 5, Kay does not die in the war against Rome, but rather survives and later is part of a party sent to try and retrieve [[Excalibur]]'s sacred scabbard, prior to the [[Battle of Camlann]].{{citeneeded|date=May 2019}} He is also among the few people who survives the battle of Camlann, although it is ambiguous as to how he does so; in later interpretations it is suggested that he never participated in that battle.