Lionel

Sir Lionel is a knight of the Round Table whose arc in Le Morte d'Arthur traces a striking trajectory from loyal companion to fratricidal berserker and, finally, to counsellor and casualty of the wars that destroy Arthur's court. He first appears alongside his brother Sir Bors and their cousin Sir Launcelot, riding out from court to seek adventures. When Launcelot falls asleep under an apple tree, Lionel rides ahead alone -- seeing a great knight, "him thought he saw never so great a knight, nor so well faring a man" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VI, Ch. I) -- and challenges him. He is defeated, bound, and thrown across his captor's horse (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VI, Ch. I). Sir Ector later finds Lionel's shield among the prisoners and "promised to revenge his brother" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VI, Ch. II). This early capture establishes a recurring pattern: Lionel is brave but rash, and his courage repeatedly outstrips his judgment.

The Grail quest episodes reveal a far darker Lionel. Bors encounters him "all naked, bounden upon a strong hackney, and his hands bounden to-fore his breast" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XVI, Ch. IX), beaten with thorns by his captors. When Bors chooses to rescue a maiden rather than his brother, Lionel's rage becomes absolute. He finds Bors and declares "that shall never be an I may have the higher hand, that I make mine avow to God, thou shalt have death for it" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XVI, Ch. XIV). He kills a hermit who interposes himself, "smote him so hard that his head yede backward" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XVI, Ch. XV), and slays Sir Colgrevance who attempts to defend Bors (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XVI, Ch. XVI). An abbot later interprets Lionel through the image of "the dry tree," calling him one "dry without virtue" whom "many men ought to call the rotten tree, and the worm-eaten tree, for he is a murderer and doth contrary to the order of knighthood" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XVI, Ch. XIII).

In the final wars, Lionel reappears as a capable military mind. He is listed among the knights at Sir Urre's healing (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XIX, Ch. XI) and later counsels Launcelot to hold his fortified towns rather than fight in the open: "let us keep our strong walled towns until they have hunger and cold, and blow on their nails" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XX, Ch. XIX). Malory calls him "wary and wise" -- a notable redemption for the man previously figured as the rotten tree. He jousts against Gawaine and "Sir Lionel was a fierce knight" but is struck through the body, barely surviving (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XX, Ch. XIII). He later rides forth to challenge Gawaine again (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XX, Ch. XX). His end comes offstage: seeking Launcelot in London with fifteen lords, "Sir Lionel was slain and many of his lords" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XXI, Ch. X).