Gareth
Gareth of Orkney, also called Beaumains, is among the most fully realized knights in Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, commanding the entire Seventh Book and appearing significantly in the tournament and final-conflict narratives.
Gareth of Orkney, also called Beaumains, is among the most fully realized knights in Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, commanding the entire Seventh Book and appearing significantly in the tournament and final-conflict narratives. He arrives at court incognito, asking only for food and lodging, and is mockingly named "Beaumains" (Fair Hands) by Sir Kay (Le Morte d'Arthur, Preface of William Caxton). His true identity as the youngest son of King Lot and the Queen of Orkney -- brother to Gawaine and nephew to Arthur -- emerges only after a sequence of combats that proves his worth.
Gareth's central adventure is the rescue of Dame Lionesse at the Castle Perilous, during which he defeats a succession of colour-coded knights. His courtship of Lionesse produces some of Malory's most psychologically vivid prose: "ever the more Sir Gareth beheld that lady, the more he loved her; and so he burned in love that he was past himself in his reason" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XXI). Their attempted consummations are twice interrupted by an armed knight sent by the Damosel Linet, who wounds Gareth severely in the thigh but whose head Gareth strikes off each time -- only for Linet to reassemble the attacker with her healing arts (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapters XXII-XXIII).
The tournament sequence showcases Gareth's use of a magic ring that changes his armour's colour, allowing him to fight unrecognized. When the heralds finally read the inscription on his helm -- "This helm is Sir Gareth of Orkney" -- he doubles his strokes, smites down his brother Gawaine, and flees the field (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XXX). His wedding to Dame Lionesse is celebrated with great ceremony, with defeated knights doing him homage and offering to serve at the feast. The text marks him as "a noble knight, and a well-ruled, and fair-languaged" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XXXV).
In the later books, Gareth's defining characteristic is his loyalty to Launcelot, who made him a knight. He openly condemns his brothers' plotting against Launcelot and refuses fellowship with Agravaine and Mordred: "brethren as they be mine I shall never love them, nor draw in their fellowship for that deed" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X, Chapter LVIII). He disguises himself to fight alongside Launcelot at tournaments, and when Arthur chides him for it, Gareth answers: "he made me a knight, and when I saw him so hard bestead, methought it was my worship to help him" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XVIII, Chapter XXIV).
Gareth's death is the tragedy that breaks the Round Table. Sent unarmed and unwilling to attend Guenever's execution, he is killed by Launcelot in the melee of the queen's rescue. Arthur's grief is devastating: "why slew he Sir Gareth and Sir Gaheris, for I dare say as for Sir Gareth he loved Sir Launcelot above all men earthly" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XX, Chapter IX). Launcelot himself mourns that he killed the man he most valued: "One is, for I made him knight; another is, I wot well he loved me above all other knights" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XX, Chapter XVI).
All 156 citations derive from Le Morte d'Arthur, but the text constructs Gareth through three distinct modes. Book VII is essentially a self-contained romance -- the kitchen-boy-turned-knight who wins the lady through a series of escalating combats. He demands return of his dwarf "with an angry countenance, and his sword drawn in his hand" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XX). Sir Gringamore yields: "I cry you mercy, and all that I have misdone I will amend it at your will" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XX). Gareth's love for Lionesse is physically consuming: "he burned in love that he was past himself in his reason; and forth toward night they yede unto supper, and Sir Gareth might not eat" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XXI). Dame Linet acknowledges her earlier mockery: "all that I have done I will avow, and all that I have done shall be for your honour and worship" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XXII). Gareth fights the Brown Knight, defeats the Duke de la Rowse, and liberates thirty ladies from captivity (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XXXII). When he fights an unknown knight who turns out to be Gawaine, the damosel Linet intervenes to prevent fratricide (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XXXIII). His mother the Queen of Orkney "suddenly fell down in a swoon" upon seeing him (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XXXIII). At the wedding feast, defeated knights do him homage and "all they kneeled down at once unto King Arthur and unto Sir Gareth" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XXXV).
The tournament narratives of Books X and XVIII present a mature Gareth operating within the politics of chivalric allegiance. At the tournament of Lonazep he jousts and "Sir Gareth gat a spear and proffered to joust" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X, Chapter LXVII). When La Beale Isoud asks what ails him, he answers: "I had a great buffet, and as I suppose I gave another" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X, Chapter LXVII). He counsels Tristram to remember Dinadan's words and recognize Palomides as a rival (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X, Chapter LXXIV). Alongside Dinadan, "Sir Gareth and Sir Dinadan did there as noble knights" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X, Chapter LXXX). At the Winchester tournament he disguises himself to fight for Launcelot, telling him: "Knight, keep thyself, for yonder cometh King Arthur with nine noble knights with him to put you to a rebuke, and so I am come to bear you fellowship" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XVIII, Chapter XXIII). He encounters Palomides and "gave him such a buffet that both his horse and he dashed to the earth" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XVIII, Chapter XXIII). The book records that he "did that day great deeds of arms, for he smote down and pulled down thirty knights" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XVIII, Chapter XVIII).
The final books transform him into a sacrificial figure. Arthur himself praises him: "all the days of my life... I shall love you, and trust you the more better" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XVIII, Chapter XXIV). The irony of his death is deliberate: Gareth refused to take his brothers' part against Launcelot, yet it is Launcelot who kills him. Gawaine's demand for vengeance is driven by the death of the brother who least wanted the conflict, and Launcelot mourns: "One is, for I made him knight; another is, I wot well he loved me above all other knights" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XX, Chapter XVI).
Appears in: Beings, Entities in Le Morte d'Arthur, British Tradition