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camp, where his arrogant and insulting behaviour brings about the outbreak of hostilities. On receipt of the tidings of Mordred's treachery, Gawain accompanies Arthur to See also:

England, and is slain in the See also:

BATTLE

battle which ensues on their landing. Wace, however, evidently knew more of Gawain than he has included in his translation, for he speaks of him as Li quens Walwains Qui taut fu preudom de ses mains (I1. 9057-58). and later on says Prous fu et de mult See also:

grant mesure, D'orgoil et de forfait n'ot qure Plus vaut faire qu'il ne dist Et plus doner qu'il ne pramist (to. Io6-109). The See also:

ENGLISH

English Arthurian poems regard him as the type and See also:

MODEL (0. Fr. modelle, mod. modele; It. modello, pattern, mould; from Lat. modus, measure, standard)

model of chivalrous See also:

COURTESY (O. Fr. curtesie, later courtoisie)

courtesy, " the See also:

FINE

fine See also:

FATHER

father of nurture," and as See also:

PROFESSOR (the Latin noun formed from the verb profiteri, to declare publicly, to acknowledge, profess)

Professor Maynadier has well remarked, " previous to the See also:

APPEARANCE (from Lat. apparere, to appear)

appearance of See also:

MALORY, SIR THOMAS

Malory's compilation it was Gawain rather than Arthur, who was the typical English hero." It is thus rather surprising to find that in the earliest preserved See also:

MSS. of Arthurian romance, i.e. in the poems of Chretien de See also:

TROYES

Troyes, Gawain, though generally placed first in the See also:

list of knights, is by no means the hero See also:

PAR (Lat. par, equal)

par excellence.

The latter See also:

PART

part of the See also:

Perceval is indeed devoted to the See also:

RECITAL (from Lat. recitare, to read out, particularly of a public document)

recital of his adventures at the Chastel Merveilleus, but of none of Chretien's poems is he the protagonist. The See also:

ANONYMOUS

anonymous author of the See also:

Chevalier a l'See also:

EPEE

epee indeed makes this apparent neglect of Gawain a ground of reproach against Chretien. At the same See also:

time the See also:

MAJORITY (Fr. majorite; Med. Lat. majoritas; Lat. major, greater)

majority of the See also:

SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

short episodic poems connected with the See also:

cycle have Gawain for their hero. In the earlier See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form of the See also:

PROSE

prose romances, e.g. in the See also:

Merlin proper, Gawain is a dominant See also:

PERSONALITY (from Lat. persona, originally an actor's mask, from personare,1 to sound through)

personality, his feats rivalling in importance those ascribed to Arthur, but in the later forms such as the Merlin continuations, the See also:

Tristan, and the final See also:

LANCELOT (Lancelot du Lac, or Lancelot of the Lake)

Lancelot compilation, his character and position have undergone a See also:

COMPLETE

complete See also:

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

change, he is represented as cruel, cowardly and treacherous, and of indifferent moral character. Most unfortunately our English version of the romances, Malory's Morte Arthur, being derived from these later forms (though his treatment of Gawain is by no means uniformly consistent), this unfavourable aspect is that under which the hero has become known to the See also:

MODERN

modern reader. See also:

TENNYSON, ALFRED TENNYSON

Tennyson, who only knew the Arthurian See also:

story through the See also:

MEDIUM

medium of Malory, has, by exaggeration, largely contributed to this misunderstanding. See also:

Morris, in The See also:

Defence of Guinevere, speaks of " gloomy Gawain "; perhaps the most absurdly misleading epithet which could possibly have been applied to the " See also:

gay, gratious, and See also:

GUDE (Gumus), MARQUARD (1635–1689)

gude " See also:

knight of See also:

early English tradition. The truth appears to be that Gawain, the See also:

CELTIC

Celtic and mythic origin of whose character was frankly admitted by the See also:

LATE

late M. Gaston See also:

Paris, belongs to the very earliest See also:

STAGE (Fr. 6/age; from Lat. stare, to stand)

stage of Arthurian tradition, See also:

long antedating the See also:

CRYSTALLIZATION

crystallization of such tradition into See also:

LITERARY

literary form. He was certainly known in See also:

Italy at a very early date; Professor Rajna has found the names of Arthur and Gawain in charters of the early 12th See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century, the bearers of those names being then gtown to manhood; and Gawain is figured in the See also:

ARCHITRAVE (from Lat. arcus, an arch, and trabs, trabem, a beam)

architrave of the See also:

north See also:

DOORWAY (corresponding to the Gr. Iran, Lat. porte)

doorway of See also:

MODENA (ancient Mutina)

Modena See also:

CATHEDRAL

cathedral, a 12th-century See also:

BUILDING

building. See also:

RECENT

Recent discoveries have made it practically certain that there existed, See also:

prior to the extant romances, a collection of short episodic poems, devoted to the glorification of Arthur's famous nephew and his immediate See also:

KIN (0. E. cyn, a word represented in nearly all Teutonic languages, cf. Du. kunne, Dan. and Swed. kon, Goth kuni, tribe; the Teutonic base is kunya; the equivalent Aryan root gan- to beget, produce, is seen in Gr. 'yEvos, Lat. genus, cf. "kind")

kin (his See also:

BROTHER

brother Ghaeris, or Gareth, and his son Guinglain), the authorship of which was attributed to a Welshman, Bleheris; fragments of this collection have been preserved to us alike in the first continuation of Chretien de Troyes Perceval, due to Wauchier de See also:

DENAIN

Denain, and in our See also:

VERNACULAR (Lat. verna, dim. vernaculus, a slave horn in his master's house)

vernacular Gawain poems. Among these " Bleheris " poems was one dealing with Gawain's adventures at the See also:

Grail See also:

castle,where the Grail is represented as non-See also:

Christian, and See also:

PRESENT

present s features strongly reminiscent of the See also:

ancient Nature mysteries.

There is See also:

GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good ground for believing that as Grail quester and winner, Gawain preceded alike Perceval and Galahad, and that the See also:

SOLUTION (from Lat. solvere, to loosen, dissolve)

solution of the mysterious Grail problem is to be sought rather in the tales connected with the older hero than in those devoted to the glorification of the younger knights. The explanation of the very perplexing changes which the character of Gawain has undergone appears to See also:

lie in a misunderstanding of the See also:

ORIGINAL

original See also:

SOURCES

sources of that character. Whether or no Gawain was a See also:

sun-hero, and he certainly possessed some of the features—we are constantly told how his strength waxed with the waxing of the sun till noontide, and then gradually decreased; he owned a steed known by a definite name le Gringalet; and a See also:

LIGHT

light-giving See also:

SWORD (0. Eng. sweord; ultimately from an Indo-European root meaning to wound)

sword, Escalibur (which, as a See also:

RULE

rule, is represented as belonging to Gawain, not to Arthur)—all traits of a sun-hero—he certainly has much in See also:

COMMON

common with the See also:

PRIMITIVE

primitive Irish hero Cuchullin. The famous See also:

head-cutting See also:

CHALLENGE (O. Fr. chalonge, calenge, &c., from Lat. calumnia, originally meaning trickery, from calvi, to deceive, hence a false accusation, a " calumny ")

challenge, so admirably told in Syr Gawayne and the Grene Knighte, was originally connected with the Irish See also:

CHAMPION (Fr. champion, Late Lat. campio from campus; a field or open space, i.e. one " who takes the field " or fights; cf. Ger. Kampf, battle, and Kampfer, fighter)

champion. Nor was the See also:

LADY (0. Eng. hlaefdige, Mid. Eng. ldfdi, lavedi; the first part of the word is hldf, loaf, bread, as in the corresponding hldford, lord; the second part is usually taken to be from the root dig-, to knead, seen also in " dough "; the sense development fr

lady of Gawain's love a mortal See also:

MAIDEN, or MAID

maiden, but the See also:

queen of the other-See also:

WORLD

world. In Irish tradition the'other-world is often represented as an See also:

ISLAND (O.E. ieg =isle, +land')

island, inhabited by See also:

WOMEN

women only; and it is this " Isle of Maidens " that Gawain visits in See also:

Diu Crone; returning therefrom dowered with the See also:

GIFT (a common Teutonic word, cf. Ger. die Gift, gift, das Gift, poison, formed from the Teut. stem gab-, to give, cf. Dutch geven, Ger. geben; in O. Eng. the word appears with initial y, the guttural of later English is due to Scandinavian influence)

gift of eternal youth. The Chastel Merveilleus See also:

ADVENTURE (from Lat. res adventura, a thing about to happen)

adventure, related at length by Chretien and Wolfram is undoubtedly such an " other-world " story. It seems probable that it was this connexion which won for Gawain the See also:

TITLE (0. Fr. title, mod. titre, from Lat. titulus)

title of the " Maidens' Knight," a title for which no satisfactory explanation is ever given. When the source of the name was forgotten its meaning was not unnaturally misinterpreted, and gained for Gawain the reputation of a facile morality, which was exaggerated by the pious compilers of the later Grail romances into persistent and aggravated wrong-doing; at the same time it is to be noted that Gawain is never like Tristan and Lancelot, the hero of an illicit connexion maintained under circumstances- of falsehood and treachery. Gawain, however, belonged to the pre-Christian stage of Grail tradition, and it is not surprising that writers, See also:

bent on spiritual edification, found him somewhat of a stumbling-See also:

block. See also:

CHAUCER, GEOFFREY (? 1340-1400)

Chaucer, when he spoke of Gawain coming " again out of faerie," spoke better than he knew; the See also:

home of that very gallant and courteous knight is indeed See also:

FAIRY (Fr. fee, faerie; Prov. facia; Sp. hada; Ital. fata; med. Lat. fatare, to enchant, from Lat. fatum, fate, destiny)

Fairy-See also:

LAND

land, and the true Gawain-tradition is informed with fairy glamour and See also:

grace. See Syr Gawayne, the English poems relative to that hero, edited by See also:

Sir See also:

Frederick See also:

MADDEN, SIR FREDERIC (1801-1873)

Madden for the See also:

BANNATYNE, GEORGE (1545—? 1608)

Bannatyne See also:

CLUB (connected with " clump ")

Club, 1839 (out of See also:

print and difficult to procure); Histoire litteraire de la See also:

France, vol. See also:

xxx.; introduction-and See also:

SUMMARY

summary of episodic " Gawain " poems by Gaston Paris; The See also:

LEGEND (through the French from the med. Lat. legenda, things to be read, from legere, to read)

Legend of Sir Gawain, by Jessie L.

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