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-{{For||Lancelot (disambiguation)|Sir Lancelot (disambiguation)}}
-{{redirect|Lancelot du Lac|the 1974 film|Lancelot du Lac (film)}}
-[[Image:lancelot3344.jpg|Sir Lancelot, standing in armour with a cape and with visor up, leaning on his sword|right|thumb]]
-'''Sir Lancelot''' (or '''Launcelot''') '''du Lac''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|æ|n|s|ə|l|ə|t}}, {{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|ɔː|n|s|ə|l|ə|t}}, {{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|æ|n|s|ə|l|ɒ|t}}, or {{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|ɔː|n|s|ə|l|ɒ|t}}; and {{IPAc-en|dj|uː|ˈ|l|æ|k}} or {{IPAc-en|dj|uː|ˈ|l|ɑː|k}}) was one of the [[Knights of the Round Table]] in the [[Arthurian legend]]. He most typically features as [[King Arthur]]'s greatest champion whose love affair with Queen [[Guinevere]] brings about the end of Arthur's kingdom.
-His first appearance as a main character is in [[Chrétien de Troyes]]' ''[[Le Chevalier de la Charette]],'' or "Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart", written in the 12th century. In the 13th century, he was the main focus in the lengthy [[Vulgate Cycle]], where his exploits are recounted in the section known as the [[Prose Lancelot]]. Lancelot's life and adventures have been featured in several medieval romances, often with conflicting back-stories and chains of events.
-==Origins==
-===Pre-Romance origins===
-[[File:Boys King Arthur - N. C. Wyeth - p278.jpg|thumb|Illustration from page 278 of ''The Boy's King Arthur'':(born in 10330.Launcelot and Guinevere- "He rode his way with the Queen unto Joyous Gard."]]Lancelot's literary origins are from a forgotten story of the past. Prior to his appearance in the works of [[Chrétien de Troyes]], Lancelot is virtually unknown.  Scholar [[Roger Sherman Loomis]] suggests that Lancelot is related to the [[Wales|Welsh]] hero Llwch Llenlleawg ("Llwch of the Striking Hand") from ''[[Culhwch and Olwen]]''.<ref name="Sir Lancelot">[http://arthurianadventure.com/sir_lancelot.htm Sir Lancelot, Biography : Lancelot]</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Bruce|first=Christopher W|title=The Arthurian name dictionary|year=1998|publisher=Routledge|location=Lancelot|isbn=978-0-8153-2865-0|page=305|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=XZFbczeMtYcC&pg=PA305&dq=lancelot+Llwch+Llenlleawg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wwt-T_yrD4LC9QTMtszDDg&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=lancelot%20Llwch%20Llenlleawg&f=false}}</ref>
-But modern scholarship has been less certain.  One scholar has suggested that Lancelot may be a simple nickname for Lancelin.<ref>Goulven Péron, La légende de Lancelot du Lac en Anjou, Les Cahiers du Baugeois, n°92, mars 2012, pp.55-63, ISSN 0999 6001.</ref> Lancelot or Lancelin may have instead been the hero of an independent folk-tale which had contact with and was ultimately absorbed into the Arthurian tradition: the theft of an infant by a water-fairy, the appearance of the hero at a tournament on three consecutive days in three different disguises, and the rescue of a queen or princess from an Other-World prison are all features of a well-known and widespread tale, variants of which are found in almost every land, and numerous examples of which have been collected by [[Theodore Hersart de la Villemarqué]] in his ''[[Barzaz Breiz]]'', by [[Emmanuel Cosquin]] in his ''Contes Lorrains'', and by J. F. Campbell in his ''Tales of the West Highlands''. Lancelot was said to have coal black hair, tanned skin and a handsome face.<ref>{{cite book|last=Tennyson Tennyson|first=Baron Alfred|title=Lancelot and Elaine: With introduction and notes|page=60|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=2nc1AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA60&dq=Lancelot+was+said+to+have+coal+black+hair&hl=en&sa=X&ei=5BV-T6izMYf89QT195GyDg&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Lancelot%20was%20said%20to%20have%20coal%20black%20hair&f=false}}</ref>
-Another suggestion has been that, given the manuscript evidence of L'Ancelot, the name may have been an invention by Chretien de Troyes.  Ancelot means servant.  A third suggestion has been that the name may have derived from Geoffrey of Monmouth's Anguselaus.
-===Earliest appearance===
-The character Lancelot is first introduced by writer [[Chrétien de Troyes]] in the 12th century. In Chrétien's earliest known work, ''[[Erec and Enide]]'', the name Lancelot appears as third on a list of knights at King Arthur's court.  The fact that Lancelot's name follows [[Gawain]] and [[Erec]] indicates the presumed importance of the knight at court, even though he did not figure prominently in Chrétien's tale. Lancelot reappears in Chrétien's ''[[Cligès]]''. Here, Lancelot takes a more important role as one of the knights that Cligès must overcome in his quest.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bruce|first=Christopher W|title=The Arthurian name dictionary|year=1998|publisher=Routledge|location=Lancelot|isbn=978-0-8153-2865-0|pages=305–306|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=XZFbczeMtYcC&pg=PA305&dq=lancelot+Llwch+Llenlleawg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wwt-T_yrD4LC9QTMtszDDg&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=lancelot%20Llwch%20Llenlleawg&f=false}}</ref>
-[[File:Boys King Arthur - N. C. Wyeth - p38.jpg|thumb|left|Illustration from page 38 of The ''Boy's King Arthur'':"I am Sir Launcelot du Lake, King Ban's son of Benwick, and knight of the Round Table"]]
-It is not until Chrétien's ''[[Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart|Le Chevalier de la Charrette]]'', however, that Lancelot becomes the protagonist.  In this text, he is presented as the most formidable knight at King Arthur's court.  His adulterous relationship with the Queen is also introduced in this text. According to Pamela Raabe, in Chrétien de Troyes’ work, Lancelot is portrayed as not only the bravest of knights, but one that everyone he meets is forced to describe as uniquely perfect. His deeds are recounted for their uniqueness, not only among living knights, but of all men who have ever lived. The problem is that critics have been unable to agree on how to reconcile his perfect “saintliness” with his obvious adultery with King Arthur’s Guinevere.  How can the lovers’ consummation be considered a “saintly affair” when it is also adultery? And against King Arthur, to whom William Bowman Piper suggests all knights owe selfless respect, according to Arthurian politics.<ref name="Sir Lancelot"/> It is also Chrétien who first gives Lancelot the name Lancelot du Lac (“Lancelot of the Lake”)<ref>Chretien de Troyes and the Dawn of Arthurian Romance - Page 13 William Farina - 2010 "Strictly speaking, the name Lancelot du Lac (“Lancelot of the Lake”) first appears in Chrétien's Arthurian debut, Erec and Enide (line 1674), as a member of the Roundtable."</ref> which was later picked up by the Anglo-French [[Lancelot-Grail]] and then Malory.<ref>A companion to Malory - Page 170 Elizabeth Archibald, Anthony Stockwell Garfield Edwards - 1996) "This is the book of my lord Lancelot du Lac in which all his deeds and chivalric conduct are contained and the coming of the Holy Grail and his quest (which was) made and achieved by the good knights, Galahad, ...".</ref>
-Lancelot is constantly tied to the [[Christianity]] associated with Arthurian Legend. Raabe compares Lancelot’s quest for Guinevere in “Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart,” as a quest likening to Everyman’s quest for salvation and [[Christ]]’s quest for the human soul. This becomes intensified when he becomes the prophesied saviour of the captives of Logres. His adventure among the tombs is described in terms that suggest Christ’s “harrowing of Hell” and resurrection: he effortlessly lifts the lid off the sarcophagus, which bears an inscription foretelling his freeing of the captives.<ref name="Pyle 1993 238">{{Cite book
-| last =  Pyle
-| first = Howard
-| title = King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
-| publisher = Waldman Publishing Corporation
-| year= 1993
-| location = [[New York City, New York]]
-| pages = 238
-| isbn = 0-86611-982-5}}</ref>
-Danielle MacBain’s study of [[Thomas Malory]]’s ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''  claims Lancelot’s affair with Guinevere is often seen as parallel to that of Tristram, or [[Tristan]], and [[Iseult]]. MacBain suggests that it is Lancelot who is ultimately identified with the tragedy of chance and human failing that is responsible for the downfall of the round table.
-Although Lancelot will be later associated with the Grail Quest, Chrétien does not include him at all in his final romance, ''[[Perceval, le Conte du Graal|Le conte du graal]]''.  In this story, which introduces the Grail motif in [[medieval literature]], Perceval is the sole seeker of the grail. Lancelot's involvement in the Grail legend is first recorded in the ''[[Perlesvaus]]'' written between 1200 and 1210.<ref>[http://www.timelessmyths.com/arthurian/quest1.html#Perlesvaus Grail Legends (Perceval's Tradition)<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
-===Later amplifications===
-Lancelot's character is perhaps most fully developed in the [[Vulgate Cycle]], where he appears prominently in the third and fourth parts, known as the [[Prose Lancelot]] (or ''Lancelot du lac'') and the ''Queste del Saint Graal'' (or ''The Quest for the Holy Grail'') respectively.  While [[Gaston Paris]] argues that the Guenivere-Meleagant episode of the Prose Lancelot is an almost literal adaptation of Chrétien's poem, the Prose Lancelot can be seen as a considerable amplification of Chrétien's tale. Whereas Chrétien treats Lancelot as if his audience were already familiar with the character's background, most of the exploits associated with Lancelot today are first mentioned here (e.g. Lancelot's parentage, Lancelot and the Grail, Lancelot, Guenivere and the fall of Camelot, etc.).
-==Knighthood and adventures==
-===Birth and childhood===
-[[Image:Lancelotdulac.jpg|thumb|200px|Lancelot fighting the lions, from a medieval illumination.]]
-Lancelot (father of Galahad)<ref>''Lancelot du lac,'' p. 40</ref> is the son of [[King Ban]] of Benwick (or Benoic) and [[Elaine (legend)#Elaine of Benoic|Elaine]].<ref>[http://www.library.rochester.edu/camelot/LANMENU.htm Lancelot at the Camelot Project]</ref> While Lancelot is an infant, his father is driven from his kingdom, seen in Britain, by his enemy [[Claudas]] de la Deserte.<ref>''Lancelot du lac''</ref> Ban and Elaine flee, carrying the child with them.  As Elaine is tending to her wounded husband, Lancelot is carried off by the [[Lady of the Lake]] who raises the child in her magical kingdom. It is from this upbringing that Lancelot earns the surname ''du lac'' ([[English language|English]]: "of the lake").
-Lancelot's double-cousins, [[Sir Lionel|Lionel]] and [[Bors#Sir Bors the Younger|Bors]], sons of [[Bors#King Bors the Elder|King Bors]] of Gaunnes and Elaine of Benoic's sister [[Evaine]], are first taken by a knight of Claudas and later spirited away to the Lady of the Lake. They become Lancelot's companions. Both Evaine and Elaine enter a nunnery. Following a vision of Lancelot and his cousins in the Lady of the Lake's garden, both queens are happy and Evaine dies.<ref>Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (1995). Lancelot–Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, Volume 3 of 5. New York: Garland.</ref>
-===Early adventures===
-The Lady of the Lake sends him to [[King Arthur]]'s court, where he becomes a knight at the behest of Sir [[Gawain]]. Almost immediately upon his arrival, Lancelot falls in love with the Queen, and one of his very first adventures is rescuing Guinevere from Arthur's enemy, [[Meleagant]]<ref>''Le Chevalier de la charette''</ref> (however, in ''Le Morte D' Arthur'', this rescue takes place after the adventures of the Sangreal).  ''Lancelot'' seems to be related to a Celtic abduction tale called the ''aithed''. In this legend, a mysterious stranger kidnaps a married woman and takes her to his home. The husband of the woman then rescues her against insurmountable odds.<ref>Kibler, William W., ''The Romance of Arthur'', New York & London, Garland Publishing,Inc. 1994 p. 121</ref>
-Early in Lancelot's career, he faces the Dolorous Guard. After setting out for adventure, Lancelot comes across a castle guarded by the Copper Knight. To meet this challenge, Lancelot must battle ten knights at the first wall, ten knights at the second wall, and finally the Copper Knight himself.  However, after defeating many more than twenty knights (with the aid of his foster mother, the Lady of the Lake), he discovers that the Copper Knight has fled. The townspeople lead Lancelot to a cemetery, where he finds a metal slab stating that only one knight can lift the slab and that this knight's name is written beneath the slab.  Lancelot (who has heretofore been known as simply the "White Knight") is able to lift it and discovers that his name is, in fact, Lancelot.<ref name="Sir Lancelot"/>
-The name of the Dolorous Guard is changed to the Joyous Guard and becomes Lancelot's home.<ref name="Sir Lancelot"/>
-Lancelot plays an important role in a war between Arthur and [[Galehaut]].  Although Galehaut is Arthur's enemy and poised to become victor, Galahaut is taken by Lancelot's battlefield performance and offers him a boon in return for the privilege of one night's company in the bivouac. Lancelot accepts and uses his boon to demand Galahaut surrender peacefully to Arthur. Initially, Lancelot continues to serve Galahaut, but eventually Arthur invites Lancelot to become a member of the Round Table, and Galahaut as well. In spite of this happy outcome, Galehaut is the one who finally convinces Guinevere she may return Lancelot's affection, an action that at least partially results in the fall of Camelot.<ref name="Sir Lancelot"/>
-Later, with the help of King Arthur, Lancelot defeats Claudas and recovers his father's kingdom, though he again decides to remain at Camelot with his cousins [[Sir Bors]] and [[Sir Lionel]] and his illegitimate half-brother [[Ector de Maris]].<ref name="Sir Lancelot"/>
-===Lancelot, Galahad, and the Grail===
-[[File:Lancelot at the Chapel of the Holy Grail.jpg|thumb|300px|Lancelot at the Chapel of the [[Holy Grail]] by the Pre-Raphaelite painter [[Edward Burne-Jones]]]]
-When Lancelot became one of the most famous knights of the Round Table, [[Elaine of Corbenic|Elaine]] of [[Corbenic]], daughter of the [[Fisher King]], suddenly falls in love with him.  She tricks him into believing that she is Queen Guinevere, and he sleeps with her, and the ensuing pregnancy results in the birth of [[Galahad]].<ref name="Sir Lancelot"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Mike Ashley|first=Michael Ashley|title=The mammoth book of King Arthur|year=2005|page=582|publisher=Running Press|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=ni119Nfo_QEC&pg=PA582&dq=Elaine+of+Corbenic+lancelot&hl=en&sa=X&ei=5TJ-T4W6BY-x0AGpoMC9Dg&sqi=2&ved=0CFQQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=Elaine%20of%20Corbenic%20lancelot&f=false|isbn=978-0-7867-1566-4}}</ref>
-Guinevere hears of the affair and is furious, she criticizes him for his behavior and banishes Lancelot. Broken by Guinivere's reaction, Lancelot goes mad and wanders the wilderness for two years until he arrives at [[Corbenic|Corbin]]. He is then recognized by Elaine. Lancelot is shown the [[Holy Grail]] through a veil which cures his madness. Shortly after he recovers, he returns to Camelot after being found by Sir [[Percival]] and Sir Hector. They were both told to look for him by Queen Guinevere.
-Upon his return to court, Lancelot takes part in the Grail Quest with Percival and Galahad, though as an [[adulterer]] and a man minded of earthly honours that have come with his knightly prowess, he is only allowed a glimpse of the Grail itself.  It is instead his son, Galahad, who ultimately achieves the Grail to drink from (along with Lancelot's nephew Sir [[Bors]] and Sir [[Percival]], the son of King [[Pellinore]]).<ref name="Sir Lancelot"/>
-===Later years and death===
-[[File:Royal Military College of Canada memorial window to Ian Sutherland Brown Sir Lancelot whole armour of God.jpg|thumb|left|[[Royal Military College of Canada]] memorial window Sir Lancelot whole armour of God]]
-Ultimately, Lancelot's affair with Guinevere is a destructive force,<ref>{{cite book|last=Dover|first=Carol|title=A Companion to the Lancelot-Grail Cycle|year=2003|publisher=D.S.Brewer|isbn=978-0-85991-783-4|page=119|url=http://www.amazon.com/The-Mammoth-Book-King-Arthur/dp/0786715669}}</ref> resulting in the death of Gawain's brothers and his two sons, the estrangement of Lancelot and Gawain, and [[Mordred]]'s betrayal of King Arthur.<ref name="Sir Lancelot"/> Upon hearing the news of Arthur's death, Lancelot finds that Guinevere has become a nun.<ref name="Pyle 1993 238"/>
-<ref>{{cite book|last=Umland|first=Samuel J|title=The Use of Arthurian Legend in Hollywood Film: From Connecticut Yankees to Fisher Kings|year=1996|publisher=Praeger|isbn=0-313-29798-3|page=91|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=LE5mGSVCd7wC&pg=PA91&dq=Lancelot+finds+that+Guinevere+has+become+a+nun&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JD5-T5TWKIW09QTe9oW_Dg&ved=0CFUQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=Lancelot%20finds%20that%20Guinevere%20has%20become%20a%20nun&f=false}}</ref>
-She blames all the destruction of the Round Table upon her and Lancelot's love, which, indeed, according to ''[[Le Morte D'Arthur]],'' is the seed of all the dismay that followed.  She refuses to kiss Lancelot one last time, tells him to return to his lands, and that he will never see her face again.  Instead, Lancelot declares that if she will take upon her a life of penitence, then so will he.  Lancelot then retires to a [[hermitage (retreat)|hermitage]] to live the remainder of his life in penitence with eight of his kin, including Sir Bors, joining him. Eventually he becomes a priest, later conducting rites over the deceased body of Guinevere (who has become an abbess).  As she had indicated, he never saw her face again in life.  She had prayed that she might die before he arrived, and so she did, half-an-hour before his arrival (he had been told to go due to a dream he had had the night before).
-After the queen's death, Lancelot and his fellow knights escort her body to be interred beside King Arthur (it was in the same place that Gawain's skull was kept).  Lancelot, distraught for the loss of his beloved king and queen, begins to fail.  In fact, even before this time, ''Le Morte D' Arthur'' states that he had lost a cubit of height due to his penitent fastings and prayers.  Six weeks after the death of the queen, Lancelot dies.  It is implied that he wished to be buried beside the king and queen; however, because he had some time before made a vow to be buried at Joyous Gard, he asks that he be buried there so as not to break his word.
-According to ''Le Morte D'Arthur'', after Lancelot's death, the eight knights of his kindred that had joined him in living a life of penitence return to France, take care of the affairs of their lands, then, acting on Lancelot's request of them, go to the [[Holy Land]] and fight against the [[Muslim|Turks]].  There they died on [[Good Friday]], fighting against the [[Moors]].
-It is possible that originally Lancelot's tale did not include an affair with Guinevere, as the German ''[[Lanzelet]]'' knows nothing of it.  The original tale may have been simply about a youth who was raised by a lake fairy.  It is possible that Lancelot has a prototype in [[Welsh folklore]].
-==Film, television, and other media==
-* Luc Simon in ''[[Lancelot du Lac (film)|Lancelot du Lac]]''
-* [[Robert Goulet]] in ''[[Camelot (musical)|Camelot]]''
-* [[John Cleese]] in ''[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail]]''
-* [[Franco Nero]] in ''[[Camelot (film)|Camelot]]''
-* [[Nicholas Clay]] in ''[[Excalibur (film)|Excalibur]]''
-* [[Richard Gere]] in ''[[First Knight]]''
-* [[Ioan Gruffudd]] in ''[[King Arthur (film)|King Arthur]]''
-* [[Michael Vartan]] in ''[[The Mists of Avalon (TV miniseries)|The Mists of Avalon]]''
-* [[Jeremy Sheffield]] in ''[[Merlin (film)]]''
-* [[Phil Cornwell]] in ''[[King Arthur's Disasters]]''
-* Luke Perczyk in ''Avalon: The Legend of King Arthur''
-* [[Santiago Cabrera]] in ''[[Merlin (TV Series)]]''
-* [[William Russell (actor)|William Russell]] in ''[[The Adventures of Sir Lancelot]]''
-* [[Sinqua Walls]] in ''[[Once Upon a Time (TV series)|Once Upon a Time]]''
-* [[Ryōtarō Okiayu]] in ''[[Fate/Zero]]''
-* [[Hank Azaria]] in ''[[Spamalot]]''
-* [[Robert Taylor (actor)|Robert Taylor]] in ''[[Knights of the Round Table (film)|Knights of the Round Table]]''
-* [[Dan Stevens]] in ''[[Night at the Museum 3]]''
-* [[Jason Griffith]] in "[[Sonic and the Black Knight]]"
-* [[Nancy Cartwright]] in [[The Simpsons]]
-==Notes==
-{{reflist|30em}}
-==See also==
-{{Commons category-inline|Lancelot}}
-==References==
-*MacBain, Danielle Morgan. (1993). ''The Tristramization of Malory's Lancelot.'' English Studies. 74: 57-66.
-*Piper, William Bowman. (1986). ''The Whole Book of King Arthur and of His Noble Knights.'' Modern Language Quarterly. 47: 219-35.
-*Raabe, Pamela. (1987). ''Chretien's Lancelot and the Sublimity of Adultery.'' Toronto Quarterly. 57: 259-70.
-*{{cite book|first=Elspeth|last= Kennedy|authorlink=Elspeth Kennedy|year= 1986|title=Lancelot and the Grail: A Study of the Prose Lancelot|publisher= Clarendon Press}}
-*Kennedy, Elspeth. (1980). ''Lancelot Do Lac, the Non-Cyclic Old French Prose Romance, Two Volumes''
-*''Lancelot of the Lake.'' Introduction Elspeth Kennedy. Translation and notes Corin Corley (Oxford World's Classics)
-*William Cole. (2005). ''First and Otherwise Notable Editions of Medieval French Texts Printed from 1742 to 1874:  A Bibliographical Catalogue of My Collection.'' Sitges:  Cole & Contreras
-*Gerald Morris. (2008). ''The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung-Cart Knight.'' ISBN 978-1-4177-6935-3
-*K. Sarah-Jane Murray. (2008). ''From Plato to Lancelot: A Preface to Chretien de Troyes.'' Syracuse University Press. ISBN 0-8156-3160-X
-* {{cite book|first=Stephen R|last=Lawhead|authorlink=Stephen R. Lawhead|year= 1997|title=Grail|publisher= Avon Books|isbn= 978-0-380-78104-1}}
-{{EB1911}}
-==Bibliography==
-*{{cite book|last=Morris|first= Gerald|authorlink=Gerald Morris|year= 2008|title=The Adventures of Sir Lancelot the Great (The Knights' Tales)|publisher= [[Houghton Mifflin]]|isbn= 0-618-77714-8}}
-==External links==
-*[http://lancelot.baylor.edu/ The Charrette Project 2 at Baylor University]
-* [http://expositions.bnf.fr/arthur/livres/lancelot/index.htm ''XVth century Lancelot manuscripts BNF fr. 113-116'']
-{{Arthurian Legend}}
-[[Category:Holy Grail]]
-[[Category:Knights of the Round Table]]
-[[Category:Mental illness in fiction]]