King Arthur

King Arthur is a legendary British Monarch whose tales include Merlin, Sir Lancelot, Sir Gawaine, the magic sword "Excaliber", and the Lady of the Lake. King Arthur is thought to be a king of fantasy whose stories were passed down through the ages. Historians do speculate whether a real king, whose name was Arthur, lived in Wales in the 6th century, but if so, the tales of truth and fantasy are impossible to separate. There is an ancient calendar written in Latin with two notes on Arthur. The first reads in the year A.D. 518 "Battle of Badon in which Arthur...and the Britons were victorious." The second by the year A.D. 539 is "The strife of Camlann in which Arthur and Mordred perished." All of the other entries in the calender are of true events that happened.

Arthur becomes King

Sir Ector and his two sons arrived in London at Christmas for a tournament, given as a sign as to who would become King after the death of King Uther of Pendragon. Arthur rode back to fetch his brother Kay's sword for the tournament, and unable to locate it had pulled the sword from the stone to give to his brother. When his father Sir Ector saw the sword he knew that only the future king was to be able to remove the sword. He told Authur of his true parents King Uther and his mother, and of their agreement to give thier first son to Merlin, who had asked Sir Ector to raise as his own. They returned the sword to the stone and the knights of the tournament all tried unsuccessfully to remove it. Arthur again removed it from the stone and Merlin told the lords of Arthur's noble blood and he was crowned king.
Lady of the Lake
King Arthur and Merlin were hunting in the forest and came upon a young knight who challenged Arthur. The Knight did not know he was the King and wounded Arthur and broke his sword in half. Merlin cast a spell, that put the Knight to sleep, to save Arthur. After Arthur recovered they set out to find him a sword. They came to a lake where an arm stretched up holding a spectacular sword. A beautiful woman stood next to the lake. Merlin told Arthur to speak to her and she might give him the sword. He told the lady how he had lost his sword in battle and she offered him the sword on the promise that he would give her a gift in return when she asked for it. Arthur accepted the promise and he and Merlin rode off with the sword. Merlin told him to always keep the sword with him and he would not be harmed in battle.
Guenevere
Arthur wanted to marry Quenevere, the beautiful daughter of King Leodegrance of Cameliard. He went to Merlin for advice, and Merlin went to King Leodegrance to ask his permission. He was overjoyed that she might marry King Arthur and offered a hundred knights and a beautiful Round Table that had been given to him by King Uther, as a wedding present. Merlin set out to find another 50 knights to fill all the seats of the round table. After they were all gathered, each seat was blessed and the knights arose to pay King Arthur their respects and pledge their loyalty. King Arthur and Guenevere were married and all the knights assembled around the table and swore to uphold the rules and high ideals of the Round Table. Meanwhile Merlin fell in love with Nimue, one of the ladies of the lake. She stayed with him only to learn his magic. Merlin predicted that Arthur must keep his sword with him or it would be stolen by a woman he trusted. Merlin also predicted his own death and then left with Nimue. Nimue asked Merlin to look under a great rock and while under it she cast a spell to trap him there. That was his end just as he had fortold.

Sir Lancelot
Sir Lancelot was the most noble and greatest knight of the round table. Queen Guenevere loved Lancelot and he loved and respected her in return. Sir Lancelot traveled in search of adventure and was always victorious and did good deeds. On one of his ventures to a city called Corbin, he was asked to rescue a beautiful maiden trapped in a tower by a spell made by King Arthur's sister, Morgan le Fay. Sir Gawaine had been there before him and was unable to rescue the lady. Sir Lancelot touched her hand and the spell was broken. While there the people asked Lancelot to slay a dragon in a tomb nearby. On the tomb was written "Here shall come a leopard of king's blood, and he shall slay this serpent, and this leopard shall father a lion in this country, and that lion shall exceed all other knights."
Sir Lancelot slayed the dragon and King Pelles invited him back to his castle. King Pelles wished Lancelot to marry his daughter Elaine, but had to resort to fooling him into thinking Elaine was Guenevere with a magic potion given to him by Dame Brisen. Lancelot awoke to find himself with Elaine and knew he had been tricked by Dame Brisen. He apologised to Elaine and bid her farewell. Elaine later gave birth to a son she called Galahad. Dame Elaine heard of a feast at Camelot and arrived to see Lancelot again. He would not speak to her, and Dame Brisen again tricked him into visiting Elaine by letting him think he was going to Queen Guenevere's room. The Queen sent for Lancelot and thinking he had betrayed her with Elaine, sent him away. After two years of wandering Lancelot was ragged and had gone mad. He came to the city of Corbin where Elaine lived with their son Galahad. King Pelles had him taken to the Holy Grail and he was cured by its powers. Sir Lancelot and Elaine moved into a nearby castle with a moat called "Joyous Gard"

After some months Sir Percivale and Sir Ector arrived and asked Sir Lancelot to return with them to the round table and King Arthur.

Guenevere's feast
After Lancelot's return King Arthur asked Lancelot why he went mad and if it was over the beautiful Elaine who had his son Galahad. He replied" if I have acted foolishly, I have paid dearly for it." The others at court knew it was over his love for Guenevere.
Queen Guenevere gave a special dinner for 24 of the Knights of the round table. She had fresh fruit served as it was Sir Gawaine's favorite. Sir Pinel, an enemy of Sir Gawaine, poisoned the fruit to get revenge since Sir Gawaine had killed his brother in a tournament. Sir Patrice was the first to eat the fruit and dropped to the floor clutching his throat and died. The Knights thought the Queen at fault because she had prepared the meal. Sir Mador, cousin of Sir Pinel demanded a knight to defend the Queen against him in battle. If the knight lost, the Queen would be burned at the stake, and if he won she would be free. King Arthur agreed to the terms and not finding Sir Lancelot asked Sir Bors to defend the Queen. Sir Bors rode to the hermit's hut where Sir Lancelot was staying and told him of the Queens troubles. Lancelot agreed to come and replace Sir Bors as her defender. He arrived on a white horse with strange markings and was not recognised by King Arthur. Sit Lancelot won the battle and Sir Mador took back his acusations of the Queen. Later Sir Pinal was discoved as the one who had poisoned the fruit and he fled in disgrace.

Lancelot and Queen Guenevere remained good friends and King Arthur became jealous and threatened to have Guenevere put to death if she continued to see Sir Lancelot. Lancelot took her to his castle, Joyous Gard, for her safety until Arthur calmed down. Instead King Arthur marched to the castle and challenged Sir Lancelot to battle. Arthur's and Lancelot's Knights met in battle and Arthur was knocked from his horse by Sir Bors. Lancelot rushed to help Arthur to his feet and stop the fighting. Sit Lancelot then escorted the Queen back to King Arthur and all was forgiven.

King Arthur's Death

Sir Gawaine still wanted revenge for Lancelot killing his brother Sir Gaheris during the battle. After Lancelot left for Benwick, Sir Gawaine convinced King Arthur that Lancelot was a traitor. King Arthur put Morgan le Fay's son, Sir Mordred in charge of his kingdom and took his army after Lancelot. Sir Mordred wanting to be king and marry Guenevere told the knights that King Arthur was killed in battle with Sir Lancelot, and was made king. King Arthur heard of this treachery and returned to England. He met Sir Mordred's army at Dover. In the battle Sir Gawaine was killed. Before he died he asked the king to forgive Sir Lancelot. That night Arthur dreamed that Sir Gawaine warned him if he fought the next day he would be killed. In the battle King Arthur and Mordred fought each other. Arthur plunged his sword into Mordred at the same time as he stuck a blow through Arthur's helmet. Mordred died and King Arthur was carried away. He asked Sir Bedivere to take his sword Excaliber and throw it into the lake and return to tell what he saw. Sir Bedivere returned saying the sword was caught by an arm that came out of the water and then disappeared and King Arthur asked to be taken there. On the shore was a barge with his sister, Queen Morgan le Fay, Queen Of Northgalis, Queen of the Waste Lands and the Lady of the Lake. Sir Bedivere helped the king into the barge. Later that night the four ladies were seen bringing a body into the chapel at Canterbury, lighting candels, and leaving a thousand gold pieces. On the tomb was written "Here lies Arthur, the once and Future King."
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