Beaumains

Gareth was born into the house of Orkney, the youngest son of King Lot and Queen Margawse, who was herself the half-sister of King Arthur, conceived through the deception by which Uther Pendragon, Arthur's father, took the form of Gorlois, Margawse's father, to lie with Igraine. This made Gareth Arthur's nephew, and his brothers Gawain, Gaheris, and Agravaine were already famous knights of the Round Table when Gareth came of age. His mother sent him to Camelot with gold, silver, and fine armour, but Gareth chose to arrive in poverty, dressed in rags and leaning on two companions, so that no one would know his rank. At the Pentecost feast, when Arthur's custom was to hear a marvel before eating, Gareth approached the high table and asked for three gifts: first, food and drink for a year; second, to be granted the next adventure that came to court; and third, that Sir Lancelot, the greatest knight in the world, should be the one to knight him. Arthur granted all three, but Gareth refused to give his name, and Sir Kay, who was put in charge of feeding him, mocked him cruelly, calling him Beaumains because his hands were white and unmarked by labour, and set him to work in the kitchen with the scullions and boys.

For a full year Gareth endured the shame without complaint. He ate sadly among the kitchen lads, slept on the kitchen floor, and bore every insult with a meekness that only Lancelot and Gawain, who did not recognise their own brother, found suspicious. He was always nearby when knights jousted, and he could cast bars and stones further than any man in the hall, but Kay laughed and called him a kitchen boy showing off. When the year was up, a damsel named Lynette arrived at Camelot begging for a champion to rescue her sister Dame Lionesse, who was besieged by the Red Knight of the Red Launds, a tyrant who had killed or hanged every knight who had come against him. Arthur said he would send no knight unless Lynette revealed her lady's name, but she refused. Beaumains stepped forward and asked Arthur for his second and third gifts: the adventure, and Lancelot's knighthood. Lynette was furious. She had asked for a knight, not a kitchen knave, and she rode away in disgust, but Beaumains followed on a horse brought by a dwarf who knew his true identity.

The road to the Red Knight's castle was a gauntlet of trials. Beaumains defeated the Black Knight, the Green Knight, the Red Knight, and the Blue Knight, converting each to Arthur's service. At the water of Mortaise he slew two brothers who held the passage. Lynette mocked him all the way, calling him a scullion and a kitchen page, but she watched in wonder as he fought with a strength and skill that matched Lancelot himself. When they reached the castle, Beaumains saw Dame Lionesse at a window and fell in love at once. The Red Knight rode out to meet him, and the two fought from noon until evensong, their armour hacked to pieces, until Beaumains finally disarmed the tyrant and made him yield. The Red Knight was sent to Camelot to swear fealty, and Beaumains was revealed at last as Sir Gareth of Orkney, the king's nephew, to the amazement of the court and the fury of Sir Kay.

Gareth's story does not end with the rescue. Lionesse, though she loved him, refused to admit him to her castle until he was a knight of the Round Table, and Gareth rode away heartbroken. Her brother Gringamore stole his dwarf to discover his name, and Gareth pursued him, fighting through storms and wilderness until he was reunited with Lionesse. But Lynette, using subtle witchcraft, sent enchanted knights to attack Gareth in his bed each night, trying to prevent the lovers from consummating their passion before marriage. Gareth cut off the head of one knight and sliced another into a hundred pieces, but each time Linet put them back together with her ointments. Finally the lovers were wed, and Gareth was made a knight of the Round Table, where he became one of the most honoured members of the fellowship, loved by all except his brother Agravaine, who was ever jealous of virtue.

The tragedy of Gareth is that his gentleness could not save him from the doom of Camelot. When Lancelot and Guinevere's affair was exposed and the queen was condemned to burn, Gareth begged his brothers not to pursue the matter, knowing that it would destroy the fellowship. They refused. When Lancelot rode to rescue Guinevere from the stake, Gareth was among the knights who tried to stop him, but Lancelot, in the heat of battle and the chaos of the melee, did not recognise his friend and struck him down. Gareth died without drawing his sword, the gentlest knight killed by the knight he had loved most. His death broke Gawain's heart and turned him against Lancelot forever, setting in motion the civil war that would destroy the Round Table and kill Arthur at Camlann. The kitchen knight, who had borne every insult with patience, could not survive the rage of a kingdom tearing itself apart.