Editing Lancelot (section)

===Guinevere and knight-errantry===
{{Further|Guinevere}}

[[File:Edmund blair leighton accolade.jpg|thumb|left|''Accolade'' (also known as ''Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot''<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3C_hGEGdqcIC&pg=PA668 | title=A Bibliography of Modern Arthuriana (1500–2000) | isbn=978-1-84384-068-8 | last1=Howey | first1=Ann F. | last2=Reimer | first2=Stephen Ray | date=2006 | publisher=Boydell & Brewer }}</ref>) by [[Edmund Blair Leighton]] (1901)]]

Almost immediately upon his arrival, Lancelot and the young Queen Guinevere fall in love through a strange magical connection between them, and one of his adventures in the prose cycles involves saving her from abduction by Arthur's enemy [[Maleagant]]. The exact timing and sequence of events vary from one source to another, and some details are found only in certain sources. The Maleagant episode actually marked the end of the original, non-cyclic version of the Prose ''Lancelot'' (before the later much longer versions), telling of only of the hero's childhood and early youth.<ref>{{cite book |first=Luke |last=Sunderland |date=2010 |section=Metaphor, metonymy and morality: The Vulgate cycle |title=Old French Narrative Cycles: Heroism between Ethics and Morality |pages=63–100 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |isbn=9781846158063 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/old-french-narrative-cycles/metaphor-metonymy-and-morality-the-vulgate-cycle/FBA7A495C066A0B0BA32F159F9A5ED16}}</ref> In the Prose ''Lancelot'', he is actually knighted by Guinevere instead of by Arthur.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v40auRW-8C4C&pg=PA63 | title=The Knight Without the Sword: A Social Landscape of Malorian Chivalry | isbn=978-0-85991-603-5 | last1=Kim | first1=Hyonjin | date=2000 | publisher=Boydell & Brewer }}</ref>

In Malory's abridged telling in ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', Lancelot's knighting is performed by the King, and both Lancelot's rescue of the Queen from Meleagant and the physical consummation of their relationship is postponed for years. As described by Malory, after having broken through the iron bars of her prison chamber with his bare hands, "''Sir Launcelot wente to bedde with the Quene and toke no force of his hurte honed, but toke his plesaunce and hys lyknge untyll hit was the dawning of the day.''"<ref>{{cite book |last1=Archibald |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Edwards |first2=Anthony Stockwell Garfield |date=1997 |title=A Companion to Malory |publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd |isbn=9780859915205 |language=en |page=22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oqUDKCX7bzYC&pg=PA22}}</ref> This transgression takes place late in Malory's  telling, following Lancelot's failure in the [[Grail Quest]]. Nevertheless, just as in Malory's "French book" source, his Lancelot too devotes himself to the service of Guinevere early on in his tale. Several (far from all) of Lancelot's initial [[knight-errant]] style adventures from the Vulgate Cycle did make their way into Malory's compilation. These episodes range defeating the mighty villain Turquine who had been holding several of Arthur's knights prisoner, to slaying a duo of giant knights (in the Vulgate, the locals then declare Lancelot their lord and try to make him stay with them<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9bQxHyxm3pIC&pg=PA76|title=Malory's Library: The Sources of the Morte Darthur|first=Ralph C.|last=Norris|date=27 April 2008|publisher=DS Brewer|via=Google Books}}</ref>). He also emerges victorious from a number of tournaments, among them once when fighting on behalf of Maleagant's father [[King Bagdemagus]].

Lancelot dedicates his deeds to his lady Guinevere, acting in her name as her knight. At one point, he goes mad when he is led to believe that Guinevere doubts his love until he is found and healed by the Lady of the Lake.<ref>{{cite web |title=La légende du roi Arthur |website=BnF – expositions.bnf.fr |language=fr |url=http://expositions.bnf.fr/arthur/grand/fr_114_352.htm |access-date=7 October 2018}}</ref> Another instance of Lancelot temporarily losing his mind occurs during his brief imprisonment by Camille, after which he is cured by the Lady of the Lake as well. The motif of his recurring fits of madness (especially "in presence of sexually charged women"<ref>{{cite journal |author=Plummer, John F. |year=1996 |title=Frenzy and females: Subject formation in opposition to the other in the prose ''Lancelot'' |journal=Arthuriana |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=45–51 |doi = 10.1353/art.1996.0027 |jstor = 27869221 |s2cid = 161934474}}</ref>) and suicidal tendencies (usually relating to the false or real news of the death of either Gawain or Galehaut) return often throughout the Vulgate and sometimes in other versions as well. He also may harbor a darker, more violent side that is usually suppressed by the [[chivalric code]] but can become easily unleashed during the moments of action.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Jesmok, Janet |year=2007 |title=The double life of Malory's Lancelot du Lac |journal=Arthuriana |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=81–92 |doi = 10.1353/art.2007.0042 |jstor = 27870873 |s2cid = 161443290}}</ref> Nevertheless, the Vulgate ''Lancelot'' notes that "for all the knights in the world he was the one most unwilling to hurt any lady or maiden."<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aQSkzRstpJYC&pg=PA138 | title=Lancelot-Grail: Lancelot, pt. III | isbn=9781843842354 | last1=Lacy | first1=Norris J. | year=2010 | publisher=Boydell & Brewer }}</ref>

At one point, Lancelot (up to then still going as just the White Knight) conquers and wins for himself a castle in Britain, known as [[Joyous Gard]] (a former Dolorous Gard), where he learns his real name and heritage, taking the name of his illustrious ancestor Lancelot as his own. With the help of King Arthur, Lancelot then defeats Claudas (and his allied Romans in the Vulgate) and recovers his father's kingdom. However, he again decides to remain at Camelot, along with his cousins Bors and Lionel and his illegitimate half-brother Hector de Maris (Ector).