Lancelot is a character in the cycle of Round Table novels and the eponymous hero of the chivalric novel Lancelot du Lac, written in the 13th century in the Romance language by an anonymous author. However, he is best known for the courtly romance of Chrétien de Troyes le Chevalier de la charrette, composed between 1177 and 1181 at the request of Countess Marie de Champagne, daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine.
He is one of the Knights of the Round Table, thus being part of the Grail cycle. Lancelot is the archetype of the courteous knight, at the unfailing service of his lady, even being ready to sacrifice his honor to join her. However, this love will be the cause of his loss and will prevent him from contemplating the Holy Grail:only his son, Galahad the Pure, will have this privilege.
It should be noted however that a second Lancelot du Lac, written in Provençal and only known by a German version, lends him somewhat different adventures.
From birth to adolescence
Despite the diversity of stories, we can first of all remember that Lancelot, whose baptismal name is Gilead, is the son of King Ban of Benoic and Queen Elaine. He is therefore the heir of Armorican Brittany, but he is also and above all the descendant of a prestigious line, going back in particular to Joseph of Arimathea, the biblical character who collected the blood of Christ in the Holy Grail and who brought that here in Brittany.
His father's castle, located on the edge of a lake in the heart of the Brocéliande forest, was reputed to be impregnable. However, during a campaign alongside King Arthur, King Ban of Benoic died leaving his burning castle, leaving his pregnant wife alone. A few months after his birth, the young Gilead is kidnapped in front of his mother by a creature coming from the bottom of the lake, and disappears, she believes, forever.
This lake was in fact the home of the fairy Viviane, also called "the Lady of the Lake", and was the gateway to the enchanted island of Avalon, land of mages and wizards. The fairy Viviane, because it was her, had kidnapped Gilead to take her to her underwater palace, and educate her like a son. So she decided to call him Lancelot du Lac. For 18 years, she educated him on purpose to make him the perfect knight:hunting, music, combat but also courtesy and nobility of spirit.
The Painful Guard
When he reached the age of 18, he urged the fairy Viviane to introduce him to King Arthur to be knighted. Thanks to his support, but also thanks to the help of the knight Gauvain, the king's nephew, he was made a knight the very next day, Saint John's Day. It is during this dubbing that he notices the one who will be his lady, but who will also cause his downfall, Queen Guinevere. Dazzled by her, he goes to meet her and offers her to become his knight, which she accepts:love at first sight is mutual. However, as soon as the ceremony is over, a young girl comes to find him and tells him that he must take to the road immediately, in order to free the Château de la Douloureuse Garde from evil spells. This gives him, on behalf of the Lady of the Lake, a shield with three red borders, which will increase his strength tenfold in battle.
After riding all day, he finally arrives at the sinister castle:behind the gates of the double wall, twenty knights are guarding the villagers and waiting to cut it to pieces. Thanks to Viviane's shield, he manages to overcome his opponents and thus makes this castle his own, renaming it at the same time Château de la Joyeuse Garde. However, he immediately leaves for Carduel, impatient to see his lady again. But walking along the cemetery of the castle, a tomb, overhung by a golden sword, attracts his attention. He approaches it and manages to decipher the inscription:“Here will rest Lancelot du Lac, son of King Ban de Benoïc and winner of the Dolorous Guard”. He therefore learns at the same time the secret of his birth and that of his death.
The Cart of Shame and the Bridge of the Sword:Tests to his love for the Queen
On his return, he is celebrated by the whole court, more particularly by the queen. Arthur then makes it his main relay for the Grail quest mission. Lancelot is indeed the best of the Knights of the Round Table, sovereign in courtesy, in tournament and in combat. Lancelot, during his adventures, may even see the Grail twice. However, his forbidden love for the queen will prevent him from having access to her mysteries.
Over the tournaments and fights, his reputation continues to grow, as does his love for Guinevere. However, one day when Lancelot was absent from the court, Méléagant, son of the king of Gorre, comes to challenge the knights. Thus, he claims to detain prisoners in his castle a certain number of knights and offers to release them if someone succeeds in defeating him in single combat. Otherwise, he will kidnap Queen Guinevere. Only Seneschal Keu accepts and accepts the challenge.
The next day, Keu and Guinevere show up at the edge of the forest, where Meleagant awaits them. After a very short fight, Keu finds himself on the ground. Méléagant then seizes the queen and the knight, and is about to leave when Lancelot, arriving at a gallop, rushes on the Prince of Gorre. He manages to wound him in the shoulder, but Méléagant drives his sword into the sides of Lancelot's steed and flees.
Lancelot then finds himself alone, far from everything but above all deprived of his horse. So he starts walking through the forest for hours. He suddenly sees, by the side of the road, a dwarf driving a cattle cart, dirty and worm-eaten. He asks him if he has not seen the crew made up of Méléagant, Guinevere and Keu pass. The dwarf replies that he can take him to his lady on condition that he gets on the cart. Lancelot hesitates:only brigands and men of little faith travel in this paraphernalia, but it is his only chance to see the queen again. So he resolves to get on this cart of shame. Then begins a trying journey:on the way, everyone laughs at this team of a dwarf and a miserable knight. Eventually, the cart arrives at a castle where they spend the night.
At dawn, the dwarf wakes Lancelot:he saw Queen Guinevere taken away by guards. After riding night and day, he reaches the outskirts of the castle of Baudegamu. But he is not at the end of his troubles:he must indeed cross the terrible Sword Bridge, a huge razor-sharp sword placed between two banks. This bridge, located above black and icy water, is guarded by two lions. Thinking only of his lady, he takes off his gloves and coats himself with pitch, a viscous material, to prevent him from falling. After many cuts, it finally reaches the other shore from which the lions have magically disappeared. Faced with this feat, Lancelot is acclaimed and King Baudegamu then offers to release all the prisoners, but Méléagant refuses and challenges Lancelot. The next day, the fight between Lancelot and Méléagant begins. Despite all the hardships he's been through, Lancelot quickly gets the upper hand. Baudegamu then orders the fight to stop, and Lancelot can thus return to Camelot with his lady.
A fatal love
Despite this feat, Lancelot and Guinevere's closeness is viewed with suspicion, and their relationship quickly stale. One evening, when he had joined Guinevere in his room after a banquet, he was surprised by Arthur. This one therefore sees his suspicions confirmed, and then decides to have him arrested. Lancelot manages to escape, but has to abandon his lady. According to the laws of the kingdom, this one has betrayed and must therefore die:she will go up to the stake.
On the appointed day, the soldiers hesitate to seize the queen:her aura is still intact. While the latter advances on its own towards the place of execution, around thirty horsemen arrive at full speed:it is Lancelot who, at their head, comes to kidnap Guinevere. But Arthur's knights are watching:after a tough battle, in which Lancelot kills Agravain and Gahieret, Gawain's nephew and brother, only Gawain and Lancelot are able to fight. Arthur then sees his two best knights, formerly friends, confront each other. He asks them to avoid this useless massacre, but Gauvain's determination is great. In this final fight between two opponents of the same value, Lancelot ends up gaining the upper hand and delivers a fatal blow. He then asks Arthur for the favor of stopping the fight and returning to his native Gaul. This is how he leaves King Arthur, to join the hermitage of his last days and never to see his king and his lady again.
Location and interpretation
Some chroniclers, such as René Bansard, thought they recognized as the birthplace of Lancelot du Lac the region of Passais-la-Conception, which includes part of the north of the current department of Mayenne and the south of Orne. At his death, several authors relayed his work. A collective work called The Arthurian legend and Normandy, indicates:"Our purpose is only to open a new track... To better understand how traditions concerning Saint-Fraimbault, Saint-Bômer, or Saint-Ernier could have led to the romantic transpositions that we know". For Réjane Molina, in an article entitled “La Chapelle Royale Saint-Fraimbault-de-Senlis et le Graal”, Fraimbault de Lassay and Lancelot du Lac have exactly the same meaning etymologically. The calendar of cultural events in Bagnoles-de-l'Orne includes a visit to the most famous Arthurian sites.