Arthurian Legend: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (#80)

The anonymous poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is considered one of the masterpieces of Middle English literature. The manuscript was composed in the West Midlands region of Britain at the end of the 14th century but was copied out at the beginning of the 15th. The poem only survives in this single manuscript at the British Library. As well as Gawain, the manuscript includes three other poems, Pearl, Cleanness and Patience. They are all thought to have been written by the same author, who is often referred to as the ‘Gawain poet’ or the ‘Pearl poet’.

Though the real name of the "Gawain poet" (or poets) is unknown, some inferences about him can be drawn from an informed reading of his works. The manuscript of Gawain is known in academic circles as Cotton Nero A.x., following a naming system used by one of its owners, the sixteenth century Robert Bruce Cotton, a collector of Medieval English texts. 

The manuscript is part of the collection of Robert Cotton (1570/71–1631) which, in the 18th century, was stored in the ominously named Ashburnham House. On 23 October 1731, a fire ripped through Ashburnham House and many manuscripts were destroyed. The famous Beowulf manuscript was singed at the edges. Cotton Nero A.x. could easily have succumbed to the same fate, which makes Gawain and the other texts in the manuscript especially precious.

Before the Gawain manuscript came into Cotton's possession, it was in the library of Henry Savile in Yorkshire. Little is known about its previous ownership, and until 1824, when the manuscript was introduced to the academic community in a second edition of Thomas Warton's History edited by Richard Price, it was almost entirely unknown. Even then, the Gawain poem was not published in its entirety until 1839, which is when it was given its present title. Now held in the British Library, it has been dated to the late 14th century, meaning the poet was a contemporary of Geoffrey Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales, though it is unlikely that they ever met, and the Gawain poet's English is considerably different from Chaucer's.

The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

In Camelot on New Year's Eve, King Arthur's court is exchanging gifts and waiting for the feasting to start when the king asks to see or hear of an exciting adventure. A gigantic figure, entirely green in appearance and riding a green horse, rides unexpectedly into the hall. He wears no armour but bears an axe in one hand and a holly bough in the other. Refusing to fight anyone there on the grounds that they are all too weak to take him on, he insists he has come for a friendly Christmas game: someone is to strike him once with his axe on the condition that the Green Knight may return the blow in a year and a day. The splendid axe will belong to whomever accepts this deal. Arthur himself is prepared to accept the challenge when it appears no other knight will dare, but Sir Gawain, youngest of Arthur's knights and his nephew, asks for the honour instead. The giant bends and bares his neck before him and Gawain neatly beheads him in one stroke. However, the Green Knight neither falls nor falters, but instead reaches out, picks up his severed head and remounts, holding up his bleeding head to Queen Guinevere while its writhing lips remind Gawain that the two must meet again at the Green Chapel. He then rides away. Gawain and Arthur admire the axe, hang it up as a trophy and encourage Guinevere to treat the whole matter lightly.

As the date approaches, Sir Gawain sets off to find the Green Chapel and keep his side of the bargain. Many adventures and battles are alluded to (but not described) until Gawain comes across a splendid castle where he meets the lord of the castle and his beautiful wife, who are pleased to have such a renowned guest. Also present is an old and ugly lady, unnamed but treated with great honour by all. Gawain tells them of his New Year's appointment at the Green Chapel and that he only has a few days remaining. The lord laughs, explaining that there is a path that will take him to less than two miles away, and proposes that Gawain rest at the castle until then. Relieved and grateful, Gawain agrees.

Now the lord proposes a bargain: he goes hunting every day, and he will give Gawain whatever he catches on the condition that Gawain give him whatever he may gain during the day. Gawain accepts. After he leaves, his wife visits Gawain's bedroom and behaves seductively, but despite her best efforts he allows her nothing but a single kiss in his unwillingness to offend her. 

Now, this puts Gawain in a bit of a quandary as it was testing his adherence to the code of chivalry. For context, in the middle of the 11th century, the knight was not a particularly honourable figure – they were essentially hired thugs! These warriors were commanded by warlords and rewarded with land, or with license to plunder the villages where they did battle, looting, raping and burning as they went. Eventually, as the 12th century rolled around, a professional code was developed in order to turn these formally thuggish beasts into respected and respectable gentlemen; sacred oaths of combat that were combined with the ideals of chivalry and with strict rules of etiquette and conduct to become what we know today as the Knights Code of Chivalry:

1. To fear God and maintain His Church 
2. To serve the liege lord in valour and faith 
3. To protect the weak and defenceless 
4. To give succour to widows and orphans 
5. To refrain from the wanton giving of offence 
6. To live by honour and for glory 
7. To despise pecuniary reward 
8. To fight for the welfare of all 
9. To obey those placed in authority 
10. To guard the honour of fellow knights 
11. To eschew unfairness, meanness and deceit 
12. To keep faith 
13. At all times to speak the truth 
14. To persevere to the end in any enterprise begun 
15. To respect the honour of women 
16. Never to refuse a challenge from an equal 
17. Never to turn the back upon a foe

In addition to the laws of chivalry, Gawain must respect another set of laws concerning courtly love. The knight's code of honour requires him to do whatever a damsel asks.

When the lord returns and gives Gawain the deer he has killed, Gawain gives a kiss to him without divulging its source. The next day the lady comes again, Gawain again courteously foils her advances, and later that day there is a similar exchange of a hunted boar for two kisses. She comes once more on the third morning, but once her advances are denied, she offers Gawain a gold ring as a keepsake. He gently but steadfastly refuses but she pleads that he at least take her sash, a girdle of green and gold silk. The sash, the lady assures him, is charmed and will keep him from all physical harm. Tempted, as he may otherwise die the next day, Gawain accepts it, and they exchange three kisses. The lady has Gawain swear that he will keep the gift secret from her husband. That evening, the lord returns with a fox, which he exchanges with Gawain for the three kisses – but Gawain says nothing of the sash.

The next day, Gawain binds the sash around his waist. At the so-called Green Chapel, only an earthen mound, he finds the Green Knight sharpening an axe. As promised, Gawain bends his bared neck to receive his blow. At the first swing, Gawain flinches slightly and the Green Knight belittles him for it. Ashamed of himself, Gawain doesn't flinch with the second swing; but again the Green Knight withholds the full force of his blow. The knight explains he was testing Gawain's nerve. Angrily, Gawain tells him to deliver his blow and so the knight does, causing only a slight wound on Gawain's neck. The game is over.

Gawain seizes his sword, helmet and shield, but the Green Knight, laughing, reveals himself to be none other than the lord of the castle, Bertilak de Hautdesert, transformed by magic. He explains that the entire adventure was a trick of the "elderly lady" Gawain saw at the castle, who is actually the sorceress Morgan le Fay, Arthur's step-sister, who intended to test Arthur's knights and frighten Guinevere to death. The nick Gawain suffered at the third stroke was because of his attempt to conceal the gift of the sash.

Gawain is ashamed to have behaved deceitfully but the Green Knight laughs and professes him the most blameless knight in all the land. The two part on cordial terms. Gawain returns to Camelot wearing the sash as a token of his failure to keep his promise. The Knights of the Round Table absolve him of blame and decide that henceforth each will wear a green sash in recognition of Gawain's adventure and as a reminder to be always honest.