As well known as King Arthur is today, he remains shrouded in mystery, historical truth
veiled by passing centuries.
Yet, the origins of Sir Lancelot, Arthur’s most famous knight, are an even greater mystery.
This video offers an overview of a new theory that argues that the character of Lancelot
was originally inspired by an eleventh-century king of Hungary, László I.
How a king from Eastern Europe ended up in Western European fiction, inserted into Arthurian
tales by a French court poet, and became the greatest chivalric figure in literature reveals
much about international diplomacy, strategic maneuvering, and the strikingly wide-ranging
connections between kingdoms and individual people across the whole of Europe in the Middle
Ages.
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To make sense of the story, we must begin with the origins of the legend of King Arthur.
With the evacuation of Rome’s legions from Britain by 410 AD to counter massive invasions
of Alans and Germanic peoples on the Empire’s eastern frontiers, Britain’s “Dark Ages”
had truly begun.
The native Britons, ill-prepared and weakened by living in prolonged peace, begged Roman
authorities for protection from the raids of the Scots and Picts – wild peoples whom
the Romans had never subdued.
After decades of waiting in vain, the Britons desperately turned to the warlike Angle and
Saxon tribes across the English Channel, asking for protection in exchange for farmland and
bribes.
Thus, these mercenaries arrived initially to provide help, but realizing the vulnerability
of the locals, they soon showed up in great numbers as permanent settlers, and worse,
conquerors of Britain themselves.
Their depredations and expulsion of the native populace continued unchecked all the way to
Britain’s western fringes, so we are told in the fragmentary accounts from the time,
until heroic resistance emerged.
The invading Angles and Saxons were crushed at the Battle of Badon Hill by a local chief
and it halted their advance for half a century.
Some pockets of Britain managed to preserve their old Celtic tongues, identities, and
scattered half-memories of that shining moment – that flicker of Brythonic glory – in
a dark time.
In the following centuries, the name of their victorious dux bellorum – war leader – was
recalled as Arthur by the Celtic Britons.
Legends and embellishments grew about him and his followers.
Stories passed down by Welsh bards told of him bearing his mighty sword, Excalibur in
defense of the island, of his queen Guinevere, the mad prophet-seer Merlin, and of course
Arthur’s loyal warriors, foremost among them Kay, his nephew Gawain, the handsome
Bedivere, and the young knight-aspirant Percival.
As strong centralized monarchies and a chivalric code grew up across Europe and Britain in
the 1100s, Arthur came to be a just and great king rather than a ruthless warlord from a
lawless past.
His warriors were no longer the fickle and avaricious thugs of Dark Age legend, praised
solely for their ability to slaughter enemies, consume ale, and take plunder, but rather
paragons of honour, chivalry, and virtue – they were now portrayed as perfect knights with
a respectable “Sir” being affixed to their names.
These Celtic names, too, became distorted as they were rendered into the Romance language
of European court poets.
This transformation had to do with Geoffrey of Monmouth, a clergyman in Wales who in 1136
published a book, The History of the Kings of Britain.
Claiming to have merely translated a lost Welsh book, Geoffrey of Monmouth described
Arthur, born at rugged Tintagel in Cornwall, as the glorious ruler of Britain – defeating
the Saxons, conquering lands far and wide, and holding a court of culture which attracted
the most renowned knights and ladies.
Accusations that it was a forgery from the moment it was published did nothing to stop
the book’s spreading popularity – Monmouth’s manufactured national epic caught on like
wildfire.
On the other side of the English Channel, a Norman author, Wace, produced a rhyming
verse rendition of the tale of Arthur’s rise and fall based on it, the Roman de Brut,
in 1155.
Ironically, the English were quick to embrace this story, translating it into their native
tongue which, they seemed to have forgotten, would have been the language of Arthur’s
most hated Anglo-Saxon enemies.
Yet, it was when these stories of chivalrous knights were translated into French that they
exploded in popularity across Europe.
In the second half of the 1100s, Arthurian Romances were like bestselling novels or Marvel
superhero blockbusters.
In the context of the Crusades, many Western European knights and nobles took inspiration
from the courage and honour of Arthur and his knights.
Courts in Germany and elsewhere followed suit with this new Arthurian fad – intrigued
by stories of a distant heroic age on the fringes of Europe.
That explains how a group of semi-legendary figures from Celtic Britain’s obscure Dark
Age past were transported from fragments of British texts and became the most popular
heroes of fiction across Western Europe in the Middle Ages.
But it doesn’t at all explain the figure of Sir Lancelot who parachuted into Arthurian
literature in the latter part of the 1100s and stole the show.
He abruptly came to overshadow King Arthur and all the other knights of the Round Table.
Yet, mysteriously, he cannot be found in the early texts in Latin or Welsh from the British
Isles.
He is completely absent from Geoffrey of Monmouth’s history written in 1136, and from Wace’s
romance of 1155 that first popularized Arthurian literature on the continent.
A relief carving on Italy’s Modena Cathedral from around the mid-1100s depicts Queen Guinevere’s
abduction – the story with which Lancelot was most closely attached in romances shortly
afterwards.
But while Arthur, Guinevere, Gawain, Kay, and Edern – figures from the oldest Welsh
records are depicted – Lancelot is simply non-existent.
Mysteriously, mere decades later, romances would depict Lancelot as the sole rescuer
of Guinevere.
From the later 1100s onward, Lancelot emerged as the first knight, the premier champion,
the seeker of the Holy Grail, the illicit lover of the queen, tormented by his divided
loyalties yet still somehow remaining a redemptive and ultimately redeemed figure.
In chivalric literature, he became “What is best in men,” as Arthur calls him in
the 1981 classic film, Excalibur.
For centuries, researchers have struggled to find the origin of Lancelot without success.
By the early 1900s, they concluded that he could not be found in any text from the British
Isles and guessed he originated as a hero from some lost continental European epic involving
water fairies – hence his epithet “Lancelot du Lac” – Lancelot of the Lake.
The etymology or origin of his first name, Lancelot, has never been convincingly explained.
In the 20th century, Professor Roger Sherman Loomis argued that in fact, Lancelot was to
be found in early British Isles sources – apparently, he was an amalgamation of four Arthurian characters
whose only connection is that their names - Lot, Llwch, Llenlleawc, and Lucius all start
with the letter “L,” and they were all vaguely connected to Ireland.
Loomis concluded that Lancelot originated from the renowned Irish god, Lugh of the Long
Arm, though he admitted not one reference to Lancelot in medieval literature ever connected
him to Ireland.
Despite its sophistication, this argument perplexed readers more than gained their acceptance,
and the trail of Lancelot’s origins went cold.
There was a recent suggestion that perhaps he was an Alan mercenary – L’Alanus-à-Lot,
which possibly meant The Alan from the Lot River.
Scholars dismissed this “barbaric etymology,” suggesting instead that Lancelot is simply
an amalgamation of all heroic motifs through world literature; rather than being any one
hero, he is every hero wrapped in one.
Here, as a Kings & Generals exclusive, Stephen Pow lays out a new, much simpler theory.
The origins for Lancelot are to be found in one person – the saint king Laszlo I who
ruled Hungary from 1077-1095.
The name Lancelot is in fact just a slightly corrupted Romance-language borrowing of “Laszlo”
which is why it has escaped attempts to find its etymology; nobody bothered searching Eastern
Europe.
Even Lancelot’s first starring role in Arthurian literature as Queen Guinevere’s rescuer
was inspired by King Laszlo’s most celebrated act of bravery – his pursuit and single
combat with a Pecheneg nomad to rescue an abducted Hungarian maiden.
But why would Arthurian romancers in the late 1100s even be familiar with Laszlo’s military
campaigns a century earlier on the distant Transylvanian frontier, let alone insert them
into a cycle of tales from Celtic Britain?
To make sense of this, we need to focus on the earliest mention of Lancelot in literature
in the romances of a French poet, Chrétien de Troyes, who wrote five Arthurian romances
which are among the most popular works of medieval literature like Erec and Enide; Cligès;
Yvain; The Knight of the Cart; Perceval (The Story of the Grail).
But there’s a problem: despite being one of the most influential authors of the Middle
Ages, next to nothing is known about Chrétien except that his patroness was Countess Marie
of Champagne – a daughter of King Louis VII of France.
The order in which he finished his five romances is known, but their dating is uncertain, with
scholars thinking they were written in years ranging from 1160-1191.
Though there is much debate about this matter, a French literary historian, Claude Luttrell,
quietly solved the mystery decades ago by pointing out that Chrétien’s earliest romance,
Erec and Enide, contains references to a book we know was published in 1182.
Evidently, Chrétien cranked out all his romances in a short window in the 1180s and Luttrell
suggested approximate dates.
Chrétien, who always used “Lanceloz”, from which it evolved into “Lancelos”
and later “Lancelot” [didn’t pronounce frenchly since all would sound the same!],
first mentioned the hero of our story in Erec and Enide simply as the third greatest knight
of the Round Table.
In the next poem, Cligès, he had a small cameo fighting a joust.
But it was in The Knight of the Cart that Lancelot had his starring role as the rescuer
of the abducted queen.
As such, Lancelot appeared and became the main hero of Arthurian literature in the narrow
timespan of c. 1184-1187.
Those happen to be the exact years of an unprecedented political event that tied Hungary and France
together – a marriage between the recently widowed King Bela III of Hungary and Margaret,
sister of the king of France – also recently widowed.
The protracted negotiations began in 1184 or 1185 with Hungarian representatives arriving
in France – the very time that Lancelot first appeared in Arthurian romance.
These representatives of Bela III maneuvered between the French and Hungarian courts, trying
to persuade their French counterparts.
Marrying off Margaret to the Hungarian king would prevent a conflict between the English
and French monarchs over her territorial inheritance.
In 1186 the marriage finally took place; Margaret set off for Hungary along with a large retinue.
In the 1180s, a huge number of French influences appeared in every facet of Hungarian culture
– especially at Bela III’s court.
But how does this directly connect to Lancelot?
Margaret, the first French royal to ever marry a Hungarian one, was the sister of Countess
Marie of Champagne who was the employer of the court poet, Chretien de Troyes.
In the preface to The Knight of the Cart, Chretien mentioned that Marie had given him
the pre-packaged plot outline for the story and ordered him to write it.
So, the first narrative to star Lancelot was created by royal order at the time of the
Hungarian-French marriage alliance.
But there is another startling connection.
Bela III at the time was promoting the saint cult of his ancestor, Laszlo I, as a way of
legitimizing his shaky rule over Hungary.
Bela III had once been named Alexios and had grown up as heir to the Byzantine throne in
Constantinople, but when Emperor Manuel I had a legitimate son in 1169, he needed to
get rid of his former heir.
Bela, taking a Hungarian royal name, was sent to rule over Hungary and he relied on a Byzantine
army to seize power.
As a result, Bela III was perceived as an illegitimate usurper by many Hungarians – they
even called him “Bela the Greek.”
Hungary’s highest bishop initially refused to crown him.
To combat these threats to his rule, Bela turned to promoting the saint cult of his
ancestor, Laszlo I, who was remembered not only as a saintly and pious lawgiver, but
also as an intrepid warrior who defended Hungary’s eastern Transylvanian frontier from pagan
nomads, first as a duke and later as the king.
By far, his most celebrated deed was at the Battle of Kerlés in 1068 when Laszlo defeated
an invading army of Pechenegs.
The Hungarian chronicles record that during the battle, Laszlo saw a maiden get abducted
and carried off by one of the nomads.
Thinking it was a bishop’s daughter, Laszlo personally gave chase on horseback, managed
to pull the Pecheneg from his saddle, and at last behead him, despite being so severely
wounded that he barely survived.
The cult was promoted in Hungary and abroad, with Hungarian officials petitioning the pope
to grant sainthood to Laszlo.
When Hungarian delegates, many of whom had been educated at the University of Paris,
arrived in France to negotiate a marriage between Bela III and Margaret, they would
have been introduced to Arthurian romance performances.
They must have said, “You think that’s a great story?
You should hear about how Bela’s ancestor, Laszlo, rescued a kidnapped maiden.”
The tale of Laszlo’s feat was certainly chivalric, and it seems that Mary of Champagne
decided to have her court poet insert it into Arthurian stories, probably as a way of honoring
her new Hungarian brother-in-law.
Thus, Chretien wrote The Knight of the Cart in which a pagan knight, Meleagant, abducts
Guinevere and gallops off with her toward his homeland from which no captives return.
None of King Arthur’s famous knights can help, but a mystery unnamed knight gives chase.
After many romantic adventures, he fights single combat with the pagan for the freedom
of Guinevere and other captives.
The two champions fall from their horses and in this climactic moment, as the wounded rescuer
is being bested, a young maiden runs up to Guinevere and asks for the name of this mystery
knight.
Guinevere says what she thinks it is and the maiden shouts, “LANCELOT!
TURN AROUND AND SEE WHO IS WATCHING YOU!”
At this, Lancelot’s morale is revived, and he defeats the abductor, winning freedom for
the captives, including the young maiden who dramatically revealed his name to the audience.
Eventually, Lancelot beheads the evil pagan.
The inspiration for the story is clear.
Moreover, the fact that Lancelot’s name was revealed only during the climactic battle
is an obvious indication that the name held an important meaning for the intended audience
– Hungarian guests at the French royal courts.
Whatever the case, the project seems to have fallen flat.
Chretien became so disgusted with the ensuing Tristan & Isolde-esque illicit love story
that he stopped writing it and another poet had to take over.
There is no record of Bela III having a hearing of the poem, though we know Margaret did arrive
in Hungary with a troubadour.
All the same, world literature was left with a new hero, Lancelot.
It seems this name was just a French pronunciation of Laszlo.
Whenever other figures named Laszlo, such as Laszlo V who ruled from 1440 to 1457, were
mentioned by medieval French authors, their names were consistently written as Lancelot.
When the French heard the Hungarian troops chant their saint king’s name at the Battle
of Nicopolis against the Ottomans in 1396, they heard it as “Lancelot.”
Contemporary Italians too pronounced Laszlo as Lanzilao, and German chronicles record
Laszlo II of Hungary as “Lanzlau”.
He ruled between 1162 and 1163, before Sir Lancelot was first mentioned.
If all of this has been overlooked by past scholars, it is because they simply considered
it impossible that Hungary influenced French Arthurian romance.
But that ignores the context of the period.
Here at last is a simple explanation for Sir Lancelot.
You might still be wondering, “Are the Mongols somehow involved in this matter?”
Of course they are!
But that’s a topic for another video.
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