Editing Gaheris

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2019}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2019}}
{{Distinguish|text=[[Gaheris of Karaheu]], another Knight of the Round Table}}
{{Infobox character
| name             = Gaheris
| series           = [[Matter of Britain]]
| image            = File:Blason imaginaire de Gaheriet.svg
| caption          = Gaheriet's [[attributed arms]]
| first            = ''[[Perceval, the Story of the Grail]]''
| creator          = Possibly [[Chrétien de Troyes]]
| based_on         = Likely [[#origin|Gwalhafed]]
| occupation       = [[Knights of the Round Table|Knight of the Round Table]]
| title            = Prince, Sir
| family           = [[King Arthur's family]]<hr>In ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'':<br>[[King Lot|Lot]], [[Morgause]] (parents); [[Agravain]], [[Gawain]], [[Gareth]], [[Mordred]] (brothers) 
| spouse           = [[Lynette and Lyonesse|Lynette]]
| home = [[Orkney]], [[Camelot]]
}}
'''Gaheris''' ({{IPAc-en|ɡ|ə|ˈ|h|ɛr|ᵻ|s}} {{respell|gə|HERR|iss}}; {{langx|fro|Gaheriet}},{{#tag:ref|Spelling varies according to sources and declension. In the Old French ''La Mort le roi Artu'', "Gaheriet" in the [[oblique case]] and "Gaheriez" in the [[nominative case]].<ref>Jean Frappier, ed., ''La Mort le roi Artu'', Paris: Droz, 1996, p.291. {{ISBN|2600001832}}).</ref> Elsewhere, it can be an oblique "Gahariet" and a nominative "Gaharies".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hHw6AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA393|title=Studies in the Arthurian Legend|date=4 April 1891|publisher=Clarendon Press|via=Google Books}}</ref> Sometimes also rendered in other forms such as "Gahereit", "Gahereitz" (in ''Le Roman de Florian et Florete''), or "Kaheriet".|group="note"}} ''Gaheriés'',{{#tag:ref|Also with many variants, such as "Gaheryés". For instance, one manuscript of the Didot ''Perceval'' uses the name "Agavez", a corruption of the "Gaharés" (or "Gahariés") form of Gaheriés.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zVErEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA110|title=The Didot "Perceval": According to the Manuscripts of Modena and Paris|first=William|last=Roach|date=11 November 2016|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=9781512805727|via=Google Books}}</ref>|group="note"}} ''Guerrehes'', etc.) is a [[Knight of the Round Table]] in the [[chivalric romance]] tradition of [[Arthurian legend]]. A nephew of [[King Arthur]], Gaheris is the third son of Arthur's sister or half-sister [[Morgause]] and her husband [[Lot (Arthurian legend)|Lot]], King of [[Orkney]] and [[Lothian]]. He is the younger brother of [[Gawain]] and [[Agravain]], the older brother of [[Gareth]], and half-brother of [[Mordred]].{{#tag:ref|An enumeration of the four brothers (excluding Mordred) can be found in [[Chrétien de Troyes]]'s ''[[Perceval, the Story of the Grail]]'' when Gawain tells the "white-haired queen" (his grandmother [[Igraine]]) the names of the four brothers ("Gawain is the oldest, the second Agravain the Proud [...], Gaheriet and Guerehet are the names of the following two." (verses 8139–8142 in the Dufournet edition; verses 8056–8060 in the Méla edition). A portrait of the five brothers (including Mordred) can be found in the prose ''Lancelot''.<ref>Norris J. Lacy, ed., ''Lancelot-Grail: Lancelot Parts III and IV'', Volume 4 of ''Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation'', Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 2010, pp. 392–4. {{ISBN|9781843842354}}.</ref>|group="note"}} His figure may have been originally derived from that of a brother of Gawain in the early Welsh tradition and then later split into a separate character of another brother, today best known as Gareth. German poetry also described him as Gawain's cousin instead of brother.

[[Thomas Malory|Malory]]'s ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'' depicts Gaheris as little more than a supporting character to Gawain, with an odd exception of his murder of their mother. However, his role is greater in French prose cycles that were Malory's sources, including as an object of murderous [[sibling rivalry]] by his older brother Agravain in the [[Vulgate Cycle]]. Inevitably, both there and in Malory, Gaheris is killed alongside his other brother Gareth during [[Lancelot]]'s rescue of [[Guinevere]], the event that will lead to the fall of Arthur.

== Origin ==
[[File:Ambito di wiligelmo, porta della pescheria, 02 ciclo di artù 04,2.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Galvagin (presumed Gwalchmai/Gawain) being followed by Galvariun (possibly Gwalchafed/Gaheriet<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC&pg=PA135|title=Celtic Culture: A-Celti|date=4 April 2006|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781851094400 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Akyjim-4jA8C&pg=PA49|title=Cei and the Arthurian Legend|first=Linda|last=Gowans|date=4 April 1988|publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd|isbn=9780859912617 |via=Google Books}}</ref>) on the Italian [[Modena Archivolt]] (c. 1120-1240)]]

Gaheris and his brother [[Gareth]] likely originated from the same character of the only brother ever named for [[Gwalchmai ap Gwyar]], the figure from [[Welsh mythology]] traditionally identified with [[Gawain]]. This character, a prince named Gwalchafed [''Gwalhafed''] or Gwalhauet [''Gwalhavet''] ([[Old Welsh]] for "Hawk of Summer") ap Gwayr or mab Gwyar, mentioned in ''[[Culhwch and Olwen]]'',<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.arthuriana.co.uk/n&q/figures.htm | title=Pre-Galfridian Arthurian Characters }}</ref> is a likely common source for both Gaheris and Gareth, if Gawain was indeed derived from Gwalchmai.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.britannia.com/bios/ebk/gwalchgn.html|title=Britannia EBK Biographies: Sir Gwalchafed, Prince of Gododdin|website=britannia.com|access-date=5 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927150700/http://www.britannia.com/bios/ebk/gwalchgn.html|archive-date=27 September 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> A later French-influenced Welsh romance ''Seint Greal'' does in fact call Gwalchmei's brother Gaharyet.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jYbrhmuJXtwC&pg=PA458A|title=Seint Graal|first=Robert|last=Williams|date=4 April 1876|publisher=Richards [Vol. 1], Quaritch [Vol. 2]|via=Google Books}}</ref>

==Medieval literature==
The names of Gaheris and Gareth (as used by [[Thomas Malory]]) have various similar forms in [[Old French]] works and the adventures ascribed to the brothers may be thus interchangeable and indistinguishable, as some writers even had them confused within the same manuscripts of a given text.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fCJMAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA252 | title=Bulletin bibliographique de la Société internationale arthurienne: Bibliographical bulletin of the International Arthurian Society | date=1984 }}</ref> Due their many and highly confusing French spellings, the International Arthurian Society described Malory's versions as "entirely different characters from Gaheriet and Guerrehes" of his sources, even as Malory might have not necessarily altered them himself.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fCJMAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA253 | title=Bulletin bibliographique de la Société internationale arthurienne: Bibliographical bulletin of the International Arthurian Society | date=1984 }}</ref>

===Early appearances in French and German poetry===
In continental literature, Gaheris' name is first found as Gaheriet (''Gaherïet'') on the list of [[King Arthur]]'s knights in the French poem ''[[Erec and Enide]]'', written in the late 12th century by [[Chrétien de Troyes]]. He again appears in Chrétien's later ''[[Perceval, the Story of the Grail]]'', which describes him as a son of [[King Lot]] and as one of Gawain's younger brothers.

In [[Wolfram von Eschenbach]]'s German poem ''[[Parzival]]'', the figure of Gaheriet is represented by Gawain's cousin named Gaherjet (''Gaherjêt''). [[Der Pleier]]'s ''Meleranz'' mentions Gaharet (also rendered ''Kaheret'' in his ''Tandareis and Flordibel''), described as a son of Arthur's sister Anthonje and the unnamed King of Gritenland,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T77xfEBX_aIC&pg=PA368|title=Meleranz von dem Pleier|author=Der Pleier|date=16 September 1861|publisher=Gedruckt auf Kosten des Litterarischen Vereins|via=Google Books}}</ref> as one of the cousins of Gawain (''Gawan''), along with the protagonist Meleranz.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uLyyeqGmE40C&pg=PA582|title=Lanzelet: Text - Übersetzung - Kommentar. Studienausgabe|first=Ulrich von|last=Zatzikhoven|date=26 February 2009|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=9783110215533|via=Google Books}}</ref> As Karjet (''Karyet''), he also appears in [[Ulrich von Zatzikhoven]]'s ''[[Lanzelet]]'', helping [[Lancelot]] rescue [[Guinevere]] from the abduction by King Valerin.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DojebX3x-i0C&pg=PA14|title=Lancelot in English Literature: His Rôle and Character|first=August Joseph|last=App|date=16 September 1929|publisher=Ardent Media|via=Google Books}}</ref>

===French cyclical prose and foreign adaptations===
The vast ''[[Lancelot-Grail]]'' (Vulgate Cycle) prose cycle of the early 13th century is the first known work to feature Gaheris as a major character. In the Prose ''Lancelot'', Gaheris is described as valiant, agile, and handsome (even as "his right arm was longer than the left"), but reticent in speech and prone to excess when angered. As such, he "was the least well-spoken of all his peers."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aQSkzRstpJYC&pg=PA393|title=Lancelot-Grail: Lancelot, pt. III|last=Lacy|first=Norris J.|date=2010|publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd|isbn=9781843842354|language=en}}</ref> Nevertheless, it tells how the nobles of the kingdom of [[Orkney]] (Orcanie), which his father King Lot had ruled when he was alive, attempt to have the kingdom given to Gaheris, whom they thought better fitted to be their king than any of his brothers (Gaheris, however, refuses to be crowned until at least after the end of the quest of the [[Holy Grail]]). The Prose ''Merlin'', too, describes him as the best warrior among Gawain's brothers, as well as at least equal to Gawain himself. 

The teenage Gaheris, together with Gawain and Agravain, defects from Lot and aids Arthur in the early wars against the rebel kings as well as the Saxons (substituted by the Saracens in some English versions such as ''[[Of Arthour and of Merlin|Arthour and Merlin]]''), especially distinguishing himself in fighting against the latter. Following their early battlefield feats, all three of them are knighted at once by Arthur in the Vulgate Cycle. However, Gaheris is the first of the Orkney clan to be knighted in the later rewrite known as the [[Post-Vulgate Cycle]]. In the Post-Vulgate ''Merlin'', when Gaheris is given flowers sent by the Queen of the Fairy Isle, it is prophesied that he would surpass in goodness and valor all the [[Knights of the Round Table]] save for two (presumably [[Galahad]] and Lancelot) were it not for the death of his mother, which Gaheris is destined to cause through his sin. The young knight then sets out in the quest to save Gawain and [[Morholt]], during which he is twice attacked by his envious brother [[Agravain]] but soundly defeats him on each occasion. He eventually rescues both Gawain and Morholt, later accompanying the latter to Ireland.

Through the prose cycles, Gaheris then fights in Arthur's further wars against various enemies. He also often participates in his elder brother Gawain's chivalric adventures, in addition to these of his own, such as his rescue of King [[Bagdemagus]]. Some of these episodes are retold in Malory's compilation ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'', where Gaheris (also written as ''Gaherys'' or ''Gaheryes'') is at first a [[squire]] to Gawain, whose fiery temper he helps moderate during their adventures, prior to being knighted himself. Gaheris later marries the haughty damsel [[Lynette and Lyonesse|Lynette]], a sister of his younger brother Gareth's wife Lyonors. The ''Lancelot'' and the ''Mort Artu'' (''Death of Arthur'') sections of the ''Lancelot-Grail'' cycle differ in their characterisation of Gaheris in relation to Gawain. In the ''Lancelot'', their youngest full brother Gareth is Gawain's most cherished sibling. In the ''Mort Artu'', it is instead Gaheris, and his death anguishes Gawain profoundly.<ref>Norris J. Lacy, ed., ''Lancelot-Grail: Lancelot Parts III and IV'', pp. 393–4.</ref>

[[File:Boys King Arthur - N. C. Wyeth - p162.jpg|thumb|"They fought with [[Lamorak|him]] on foot more than three hours." [[N. C. Wyeth]]'s ''The Slaying of Sir Lamorak'' in ''[[The Boy's King Arthur]]'' (1922)]]

In the Post-Vulgate tradition (including Malory's telling), Gaheris takes part in the revenge killing of [[Pellinore|King Pellinore]], the slayer of King Lot. More notorious is his beheading of his own mother, [[Morgause|Queen Morgause]], after catching her ''[[in flagrante delicto]]'' with [[Lamorak]], Pellinore's handsome son and one of the greatest knights of Arthur. Lamorak is allowed to escape but is later hunted down alone by Gaheris with three of the other Orkney brothers (except Gareth), who believe Lamorak was the one who killed their mother. They ambush and fight him together, the act that is deemed cowardly and a blot on their honour, until his young half-brother [[Mordred]] stabs him in the back. When Arthur discovers that Gaheris is Morgause's real murderer, he is banished from the high king's court. Gaheris is then about to be beheaded in revenge for their mother's death by Mordred and Agravain, but Gareth convinces Gawain to order them to stop. Following his exile, Gaheris reappears as a companion of [[Perceval]] on the Grail Quest, having been earlier rescued by [[Palamedes (Arthurian legend)|Palamedes]] from captivity.

In the [[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']], Gaheris is a friend of the eponymous protagonist [[Tristan]], supporting him against the evil [[King Mark]] and forcing Mark to rescind Tristan's own banishment from Cornwall. The narrative of ''Tristan'' has Gaheris as a far better knight than Gawain, who here is villainized. Its Belarusian version ''{{ill|Povest' o Tryshchane|be|Аповесць пра Трышчана}}'' features him as Arthur's own son (rather than a nephew) by the name Garnot.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g3WhAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA131|title=The Romance of Arthur: An Anthology|first=James J.|last=Wilhelm|date=22 May 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317959854|via=Google Books}}</ref> In Malory's telling, however, Gaheris hates Tristan for being favoured by Arthur and is his sworn enemy. When Gaheris and Agravain meet and attack Tristan, the Cornish knight calls them and Gawain "the greatest destroyers and murderers of good knights" in the realm before fighting them off.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x9PGtkq5tJMC&pg=PT403|title=The Wicked Day|first=Mary|last=Stewart|date=2 February 2012|publisher=Hodder & Stoughton|isbn=9781444737554|via=Google Books}}</ref>

His death during Lancelot's rescue of Queen Guinevere from being burned at the stake is related in the ''Mort Artu'', the final volume of the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate prose cycles.<ref>Norris J. Lacy, ed. and trans., ''Lancelot-Grail: The Death of Arthur'', Volume 7 of ''Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation'', Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 2010, p. 69-70. {{ISBN|9780859917704}}.</ref> While Gawain and Gareth will have nothing to do with Agravain and Mordred's plot to entrap Lancelot and Guinevere (in the English verse translation [[Stanzaic Morte Arthur|Stanzaic ''Morte Arthur'']], Gaheris too sides with them), Arthur asks all the brothers of Mordred to help guard the queen's execution. Gaheris and Gareth reluctantly agree, though Gawain refuses. When Lancelot rushes to save the woman whom he loves, he cuts down the two Orkney princes. As told in the Vulgate ''Mort Artu'', Gaheris manages to kill Meliadus the Black, but then his helmet is knocked off by Lancelot's half-brother [[Hector de Maris]], after which his head is split by Lancelot himself. Their surviving brother Gawain's fury is terrible, and the resulting new blood feud leads to the destruction of Arthur's kingdom.

==Different characters by this name==
In the Post-Vulgate version of the ''Mort Artu'', a knight from [[North Wales]] also named Gaheris takes the vacant Round Table seat that had belonged to Gaheris of Orkney after the death of the latter. That 'new' Gaheris (''Gaheres de Norgales'') participates in the resulting civil war, fighting on Arthur and Gawain's side against Lancelot's followers. To further confusion, there is also [[Knights of the Round Table#Gaheris of Karaheu|Gaheris of Karaheu]], another Knight of the Round Table. Both of them are entirely distinct from Gaheris the brother of Gawain.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fCJMAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA253|title=Bulletin bibliographique de la Société internationale arthurienne|first=International Arthurian|last=Society|date=8 October 1984|via=Google Books}}</ref>

== Modern culture==
* [[T. H. White]]'s ''[[The Once and Future King]]'' attributes the act of [[matricide]] to Agravaine instead of Gaheris. White gives his own individual interpretation to the story, depicting Agravaine as having an unhealthy love/lust obsession for his own mother, and repeatedly describes Gaheris as "dull" or "dull-witted". 
* In [[Gerald Morris]]' book series ''The Squire's Tales'', Gaheris is one of the main heroes. He is portrayed as a witty, quietly brave man who prefers agriculture to sword fighting.
* In the 1995 film ''[[First Knight]]'', Gaheris is portrayed by [[Alexis Denisof]]. He participates at the final battle for Camelot and survives against Malagant and his army.

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group="note"}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/theme/gaheris.html Gaheris] at The Camelot Project

{{Arthurian Legend}}

[[Category:Arthurian characters]]
[[Category:Fictional matricides]]
[[Category:Fictional princes]]
[[Category:Family of King Arthur]]
[[Category:Knights of the Round Table]]