Persant
Sir Persant of Inde is a prominent knight in the Arthurian tradition, attested across ten chapters of Le Morte d'Arthur's Book VII.
Sir Persant of Inde is a prominent knight in the Arthurian tradition, attested across ten chapters of Le Morte d'Arthur's Book VII. Known as the Blue Knight, he is the most powerful of four colour-coded brethren who guard the approaches to the castle where the Lady Lionesse is besieged. Persant commands a pavilion where "all manner of thing that there is about, men and women, and horses trapped, shields and spears were all of the colour of Inde" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XI).
The encounter between Persant and Beaumains (Sir Gareth in disguise) unfolds as the climactic test before the final confrontation with the Red Knight of the Red Launds. Despite his reputation as "the most lordliest knight that ever thou lookedst on," Persant is overcome when Beaumains smites him "above upon the helm, that he fell grovelling to the earth" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XII). After yielding, Persant becomes a generous host and an important ally.
Following his defeat, Persant provides crucial intelligence about the Red Knight of the Red Launds, warning that he "is the most perilous knight that I know now living, and a man that is without mercy, and men say that he hath seven men's strength" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XIII). Persant also reveals the Red Knight's strategic motive for prolonging the siege: he does so deliberately, hoping to draw Sir Launcelot du Lake into battle (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XIII).
At the feast of Pentecost, Persant and his brethren yield to King Arthur, and "the worship that the Red Knight of the Red Launds, and Sir Persant and his brother said of Beaumains, it was marvel to hear" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XXIV). Arthur himself honours Persant directly: "Sir Persant of Inde, thou hast been ever called a full noble knight, and so have ever been thy three brethren called" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XXIV).
At the wedding feast, Persant arrives "with an hundred knights" to do homage to Sir Gareth and requests the role of sewer-chief, the officer responsible for serving at table (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XXXV).
Persant's role in the narrative operates on multiple levels. As a combatant, he is the most formidable of the four brethren, positioned last before the true antagonist. Yet his greater narrative function is as host and counsellor: the episode at his pavilion is where Beaumains receives his knighthood, where the damosel Linet requests Persant to knight the young hero (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XIII).
The episode in which Persant sends his daughter to Beaumains' bed is revealing of Malory's treatment of chivalric honour. Persant "charged her and commanded her upon his blessing to go unto the knight's bed" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XII), but Beaumains refuses, declaring he would not "defoil you to do Sir Persant such a shame" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XII). Persant's reaction to this refusal is to affirm Beaumains' nobility: "whatsomever he be, he is come of a noble blood" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XII). The test of virtue through refusal serves to confirm Beaumains' worthiness before his true identity as Gareth is revealed.
In the tournament scenes, Persant faces Sir Launcelot directly, who "smote Sir Persant, horse and man, to the earth" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XXVIII), establishing the hierarchy of knightly prowess even among the noble brethren.
Appears in: Beings, Entities in Le Morte d'Arthur, British Tradition