Griflet
Sir Griflet is a knight of the Round Table attested across 21 citations in Le Morte d'Arthur, appearing from the earliest tournaments of Arthur's reign through to the later adventures of Tristram and the Lonazep tournament.
Sir Griflet is a knight of the Round Table attested across 21 citations in Le Morte d'Arthur, appearing from the earliest tournaments of Arthur's reign through to the later adventures of Tristram and the Lonazep tournament. He is one of Arthur's first knights, requesting knighthood directly from the king -- "Sir, said Griflet, I beseech you make me knight" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book I, Chapter XXII) -- and serving as a dependable companion through multiple conflicts.
Arthur granted the knighthood on condition of a gift, and Griflet's first joust ended badly: he was unhorsed and injured badly enough that "great dole was made for him" at court, and "King Arthur as wroth, for in evil time came they then; for the king was passingly wroth for the hurt of Sir Griflet" (Book I, Chapter XXIII). Yet Griflet recovered to fight with distinction. In the great tourney alongside Kings Ban and Bors, "Griflet was the first that met with a knight, one Ladinas, and they met so eagerly that all men had wonder" (Book I, Chapter XI). When "Lucas the butler" fell in battle, "ever Sir Griflet did marvellously for to rescue him, and there were always fourteen knights on Sir Lucas" (Book I, Chapter XIV).
Griflet demonstrated both martial prowess and tactical initiative. Seeing Sir Kay and Lucas on foot, he "took a sharp spear, great and square, and rode to Pinel, a good man of arms, and smote horse and man down, and then he took his horse, and gave him unto Sir Kay" (Book I, Chapter XIV). Against the five kings, "Sir Griflet ran unto the fourth king, and gave him such a fall that his neck brake" (Book IV, Chapter III). In the later books, he serves as a messenger and social organiser -- bringing Sir Dagonet, "King Arthur's fool, that is the best fellow and the merriest in the world," for a jest against King Mark (Book X, Chapter XII), and carrying Arthur's summons to Tristram at Lonazep (Book X, Chapter LXVII).
All citations come from Le Morte d'Arthur, but they span Books I through X, giving Griflet unusual longevity in the narrative. His early appearances in Book I establish him as an impetuous young knight who must learn through injury. His later appearances in Book X show a mature figure trusted with diplomatic errands and social arrangements. The transition from eager jousting novice to reliable intermediary is not explicitly narrated but emerges from the distribution of citations across the text.
Appears in: Beings, Entities in Le Morte d'Arthur, British Tradition