Kay Beaumains
Kay Beaumains -- also known simply as Beaumains, and later revealed as Sir Gareth of Orkney -- is attested across 73 citations in Le Morte d'Arthur, where he is the subject of the entire seventh book.
Kay Beaumains -- also known simply as Beaumains, and later revealed as Sir Gareth of Orkney -- is attested across 73 citations in Le Morte d'Arthur, where he is the subject of the entire seventh book. The name "Beaumains" (Fair-hands) is bestowed mockingly by Sir Kay, who sends the unnamed youth to the kitchen, predicting he will grow "as fat by the twelvemonths' end as a pork hog" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter I).
After a year of kitchen service, Beaumains requests two remaining boons from Arthur and sets out on the quest to rescue the Lady Lyonesse. His departure triggers Kay's pursuit and humiliation: "Sir Kay made him ready and took his horse and his spear, and rode after him," but Beaumains "put away his spear with his sword, and with a foin thrust him through the side, that Sir Kay fell down as he had been dead" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter IV). He takes Kay's horse and arms, beginning his adventures equipped with his mocker's gear.
The damosel Linet accompanies Beaumains throughout, continually rebuking him as a kitchen knave. Beaumains endures her contempt with patience: "Damosel, ye may say what ye will, but with whomsomever I have ado withal, I trust to God to serve him or he depart" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter VI). His combat record proves his words. He defeats two knights at a passage, slays the Black Knight, forces the Green Knight to yield -- "the Green Knight cried him mercy, and yielded him unto Sir Beaumains" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter VIII) -- overcomes the Red Knight, and ultimately faces Sir Persant of Inde and the Knight of the Red Launds.
Each defeated knight is sent to yield to King Arthur, steadily building a reputation that Beaumains himself cannot claim openly. When asked his name, the dwarf replies: "That will I not tell you, but Sir Kay upon scorn named him Beaumains" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XIV). The irony deepens when the Queen of Orkney, Beaumains's own mother, observes: "Sir Kay did mock him and scorn him, and gave him that name Beaumains; yet, Sir Kay, said the queen, named him more righteously than he weened; for I dare say an he be alive, he is as fair an handed man and well disposed as any is living" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XXV).
The pattern of Beaumains's combats is consistent: he meets contempt, fights with restrained ferocity, offers mercy to the defeated, and sends them to Arthur's court. At the passage fight, "Sir Beaumains smote the other upon the helm that his head stonied, and therewithal he fell down in the water, and there was he drowned" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter VI). Against the Black Knight, he "clave his helm and his head down to the shoulders" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter VI). Yet he also shows capacity for restraint, accepting the Green Knight's surrender and sparing him.
Beaumains's arrival at Arthur's court sets the terms of his story. Arthur asks his name, and the youth replies only that he wishes to be fed for a twelvemonth; "with these words came before the king Beaumains, while the damosel was there," requesting his two remaining gifts (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter III). When arms arrive for him, "there came one to Beaumains and told him his horse and armour was come for him" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter III). The damosel's scorn accompanies every victory: she tells the Red Knight that "this knave hath killed thy brother, and Sir Kay named him Beaumains" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter X). Before the final challenge, "because it was near night the damosel rode with him to his castle, and there they had great cheer, and at supper the knight sat Sir Beaumains afore the damosel" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter V). When Beaumains encounters thieves, "he slew them, and returned and unbound the knight" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter V). His defiance is constant: "Nay, said Sir Beaumains, I will not turn again an they were six more" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter VI), and "It may happen me to be beaten or slain, but I warn you, fair damosel, I will not flee away, nor leave your company" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter VII).
All 73 citations come from Le Morte d'Arthur, with the vast majority concentrated in Book VII. Malory structures the Beaumains narrative as a progressive revelation: the kitchen boy steadily proves himself through combat while the mocking name given by Kay becomes, in his mother's words, a name "more righteous than he weened." The narrative depends on the gap between identity and reputation -- Beaumains is recognized by his deeds long before his lineage is revealed. The damosel's persistent contempt serves the same structural purpose as Kay's initial mockery: it creates a resistance against which Beaumains's worth can be measured. His patience under verbal abuse is as carefully documented as his martial victories, establishing him as a figure whose courtesy matches his prowess.
Appears in: Beings, Entities in Le Morte d'Arthur, British Tradition