King Arthur: Lancelot and the Round Table (Part 2)

Tom Holland (0:00)

So good, so good, so good.

SPEAKER_2 (0:02)

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What do you want, Mr. Hagen? I want my life back.

SPEAKER_3 (0:25)

On October 23rd.

Dominic Sandbrook (0:26)

The procedure is causing traveling physical changes. What's happening to me?

SPEAKER_2 (0:31)

Look fear. You have to learn to control it.

Dominic Sandbrook (0:34)

In the face.

Tom Holland (0:35)

I have no idea who you are anymore.

Dominic Sandbrook (0:40)

Tell me who you want me to be.

SPEAKER_2 (0:43)

Cray Face.

SPEAKER_3 (0:44)

Only appears October 23rd. We do know.

Dominic Sandbrook (0:58)

And so Lancelot comes to the bed of Guinevere, King Arthur's queen, whom he adores and before whom he kneels holding her more dear than the relic of any saint. And the queen extends her arms to him and, embracing him, presses him tightly against her bosom, drawing him into the bed beside her and showing him every possible satisfaction. Her love and her heart go out to him.

It is love that prompts her to treat him so, and if she feels great love for him, he feels a hundred thousand times as much for her.

Now Lancelot possesses all he wants, when the queen voluntarily seeks his company and love, and when he holds her in his arms and she holds him in hers. Their sport is so agreeable and sweet, as they kiss and fondle each other, that in truth such a marvellous joy comes over them, as was never heard or known. But their joy will not be revealed by me, for in a story it has no place. So that was Chrétien de Troyes, as translated by WW Comfort, being both tantalising and a little bit coy in describing the coupling of Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere. And Tom, you've described them as after Romeo and Juliet, the most famous lovers in all world literature, which is a big claim, but not necessarily an incorrect one. There's probably a fair bit of truth in that.

Tom Holland (2:33)

It's definitely correct, I think.

Dominic Sandbrook (2:35)

Well, I mean, clearly you think that because you've written it.

Tom Holland (2:37)

Name a more iconic couple.

Dominic Sandbrook (2:39)

Stanley Baldwin and Theodora.

Tom Holland (2:42)

Will they be sung of in centuries to come? I have my doubts, but time will tell, maybe.

Dominic Sandbrook (2:48)

So Lancelot has gained entry, as it were. Who were matron. Yeah, by heroic means. Well, there's been some action with metal bars.

Tom Holland (2:56)

Yes, so he's pulled them apart. They were on Guinevere's window and he's done it with his bare hands and he's cut a finger right the way down to the nerves. He does so, but Chrétien tells us, so focused was he that he paid no heed to the wound. So that's true devotion. What Chrétien is describing here, the depths of his erotic passion, the rapture of its consummation, that this is perhaps the single most influential passage of erotica ever written by a medieval author. Because not only does it introduce one of the great themes of Arthurian legend, so namely this adulterous relationship between Lancelot, who is the greatest knight of King Arthur, and Guinevere, who is King Arthur's queen, but it also establishes a template for what historians term courtly love, that generations of knights would be inspired to try and follow. So the key to this notion of courtly love, Lancelot, he's not just Guinevere's lover, but her servant, almost her slave. And he will endure anything, even the most abject degree of shame, as we will see, to prove his devotion to her.

And this devotion, as you might have been able to tell from that reading that you did, Dominic, I mean, it kind of borders on the sacrilegious. So we heard that when he approaches Guinevere's bed, he genuflects holding her more precious than the relic of any saint. And then in due course, when he leaves her, he suffers, Grettinger says, a martyr's agony.

But the thing is, you might think, well, this is all very wet. He's kind of mooning over girls. What kind of rough tough warrior does that? This devotion to Guinevere does not diminish Lancelot's standing as a great warrior, quite the opposite, because it's precisely his love for Guinevere, which inspires him to become the greatest of all the Knights of the Round Table.

And this directly impacts the way that Knights in the real world come to understand who they are, the ethos, the ideals of their class. Because the lesson that the love that Lancelot has for Guinevere is teaching them is that the true greatness that a warrior is capable of attaining, it doesn't ultimately derive from a lust for conquest, or for glory, or for vengeance, a relish in violence. It comes from submission to a beloved, to a beloved lady.