The Story of Sir Gawain

Sir Gawain is a figure who wears many faces in the Arthurian tradition. In the English tradition, he appears prominently first in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia regum Britannie (c. 1136) as Arthur's nephew. He is a fierce warrior:

No better knights that Hoel and Gawain have ever been born down the ages. When they learned of the death of their followers, they pressed on even more fiercely. They spurred on this way and that, first in one direction, then in another, in their relentless attack on the Emperor's bodyguard. Gawain, fearless in his courage, did his utmost to come up with Lucius himself in the fight. He made every effort to push forward, for he was the bravest of all the knights. He decimated the enemy by his onslaught and as he killed them he moved ever forward.

In the anonymous Latin romance De Ortu Waluuanii (The Rise of Gawain) (12th or 13th century), Gawain's youth in Rome and his rise to prominence are recounted. Gawain is in this romance a "Fair Unknown," ignorant of his noble heritage but excelling in all knightly attributes. This romance ends with the heroic Gawain being integrated into the Arthurian court as Arthur's nephew:

"When you were a child, you were "Boy without a name," and from that beginning up to the present, you have been called "the Knight with the Surcoat"; and now you will be valued as "Gawain," your own name." And when Arthur had said this, three and four times from the whole court, "Gawain, nephew of King Arthur" was redoubled and repeated."

This early, positive portrait of Gawain gives way, in the French tradition, to an increasing emphasis on the negative characteristics of Gauvain-- he could be anything from a rather glib lady's man, to a hardened murderer. In the French Queste del Sant Graal (c. 1215-1235), for example, Gawain is chastised at the outset by a monk for his dissolute life:

"In justice, Sir, were you called a bad and faithless servant. You were not admitted to the order of chivalry to soldier in the devil's cause thenceforward, but in order to serve our Maker, defend Holy Church and render at last to God that treasure which He entrusted to your safekeeping, namely your soul. To this end were you made a knight, and you, Gawain, have abused your knighthood. For you have been henchman to the enemy, forsaking your Maker and living the worst and most dissolute life that ever a knight lived."

... Sir Gawain and his three brethren, Agravain, Gaheris, and Sir Mordred, set upon Sir Lamorak in a privy place, and there they slew his horse. And so they fought with him on foot more than three hours, both before him and behind him; and Sir Mordred gave him his death's wound behind him at his back, and all tohew him... "Fie upon treason," said Sir Tristram, "for it killeth my heart to hear this tale." "So it doth mine," said Gareth, "brethren as they be mine, I shall never love them, nor draw in their fellowship for that deed...."That is the more pity," said Dinadan, "for Sir Gawain and his brethren, except you Sir Gareth, haten all the good knights of the Round Table..."

But there was also a persistent English tradition in which Gawain retained the heroic character of Geoffrey of Monmouth, and often appeared as Arthur's right-hand man, and as the chief representative of the court. The Boy's Percy (1882), whose cover you see at right, is an adaptation for adolescents of Bishop Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765)-- this collection included The Marriage of Gawaine, one of several tales in which Gawain weds the Loathly Lady in order to save Arthur's life.

This is a humorous story, to be sure, but note in this excerpt from The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle that Gawain's superlative knightly qualities are stressed:

"Gramercy, corteys Knyght," sayd the Lady;              
"Of alle erthly knyghtes blyssyd mott thou be,  
For now am I worshyppyd.                                         
Thou shalle have me fayre bothe day and nyghte
And evere whyle I lyve as fayre and bryghte;
Therfore be nott grevyd.                                               

"For I was shapen by nygramancy,                               
With my stepdame, God have on her mercy,               
And by enchauntement;
And shold have bene oderwyse understond               
Evyn tylle the best of Englond                                 
Had wedyd me verament                                          

[You can read the whole of this poem at the TEAMS website]

The most famous of the English Gawain-poems is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, an alliterative poem dating to about 1400. In this poem Gawain is the pentangle knight, distinguished for his virtues as well as for his prowess. You have seen that in the Alliterative Morte Arthure (also, remember, an alliterative poem of around 1400), Gawain and his men swear by Mary. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain is described as Mary's knight, and has her image painted on the inside of his shield. The description below explains how the pentangle applies to Gawain.

Fyrst he watz funden fautlez in his fyue wyttez,
And efte fayled neuer the freke in his fyue fyngres.
And alle his afyaunce vpon folde watz in the fyue woundes
That Cryst kaght on the croys, as the crede telles;
And quere-so-euer thys mon in melly watz stad,
His thro thoght watz in that, thurgh alle other thyngez,
That alle his fersnes he feng at the fyue joyez
That the hende heuen quene had of hir chylde;
At this cause the knyght comlyche hade
In the more half of his schelde hir ymage depaynted,
That quen he blusched thereto his belde neuer payred.
The fyft fyue that I finde that the frek vsed
Watz fraunchyse and felaghschyp forbe al thyng,
His clannes and his cortaysye croked were neuer,
And pite, that passez alle poyntez, thyse pure fyue
Were harder happed on that hathel then on any other.

Click here to go to the Camelot Project's collection of medieval Gawain texts. You will find a translation of Sir Gawain there.

The illustration on the left, as well as the buttons and the representation of the pentangle on this page, come from Dorothea Braby's illustrations to the 1952 Golden Cockerel Press translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. You can see more images on my Golden Cockerel Sir Gawain page.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight involves Gawain in a test of character rather than of martial prowess: the Gawain of the Alliterative Morte is more clearly the heroic, martial figure of Geoffrey of Monmouth. Mordred delivers this speech after Gawain's death in battle: