Woe be the Day Where it All Ends

                                                      The King In Disney's Tangled

Every great reign has got to come to an end, and it seems that the end of the King Arthur class will be included in this great ending. I will miss this class and everything it was able to teach me about the man and the legend. It explored the depths of the beloved king who I grew up with in writing and through the screen of the television. He was the king that I thought all kings were supposed to be like, and as a small girl of eight watching Quest for Camelot, I thought that our country should also have a king like Arthur. Even when my mom explained that not all kings were good I did not believe her. Even as a kid, I still swore loyalty to King Arthur and even though he was not tangible, his beliefs and charisma had captured the heart of that little girl and continues to hold it to this day. So I was overjoyed to find and take this class on my beloved Medieval King, read about something that was consistently present through my life, and analyze texts for their relevance and believability.  

               

               

                        Tristan (top) and Galahad (bottom) in the King Arthur movie 2004

When I first began this class I thought that I really would not learn much more about a topic that I was well versed in. I believed that King Arthur was just one man with many knights, an evil son, a weird sister, a magical wizard, a loose wife, and a great kingdom. However, there are many faces and portrayals to the King Arthur legend and the king himself. Overall,  I enjoyed learning about his fellow knights the most. This is why the reading of Le Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory was my favorite reading of the class this semester. This is depicted above with Galahad and Tristan (or Tristram) as they fight their way to victory. I enjoyed hearing about the men who protect the king and are usually left in the shadow of Arthur or the other two well known knights: Lancelot and Gawain. In Malory's book he explores two knights that I had barely heard of before and it refreshing because with the new knights that I was learning about, there was a new adventure and story. There was a grail of greatness and a religious aspect to King Arthur that had nothing to do with war and defending God through combat. Also, Galahad was Lancelot's son, which frankly, I never read about the knights of the Round Table having children. There is a story of a boy of relatively noble birth fighting for greatness and honor without revealing his name because he had killed the son of the liege who he stayed with to heal. So Sir Tristram and his secretive name Tramtrist was a humourous and exciting twist on the King Arthur legend. It delves into the mind of a man and his journey to become a knight, much like the story of the Grail and how Galahad had refrained from fighting and sin to achieve holy goodness. They were exciting stories because they were new, and different, and although they were dry at times, I liked their message and story!

             

                                           Arthur's death  in the TV show Merlin

Although this class has explored the many faces of Arthur, including the child, teenager, adult, and old man who explored different gateways and personality traits like being righteous, honorable, lazy, ambitious, dependent, and wise I have realized that in the end, Arthur always dies. That he is human and not a machine that keeps going into time and space as an immortal shell of a man. He dies from flesh wounds just as his men do, and that makes him real, a leader that risks his life, and can die by the hand of a sword. Just like he is depicted in the Merlin series above; Arthur dies and his good friend Merlin watches him drift off as preparations for his Viking funeral. However, besides getting to read about Arthur's knights and their stories on becoming a chivalrous representation of the Round Table (and sometimes not) I was really happy to see this vulnerable side to Arthur. Although he may have Excalibur, steel armour, and a barrier of knights defending him he still fell because he was still a man who bled. The difference between Arthur and other kings also became apparent through this class. Arthur wanted a kingdom full of people; not an empty kingdom full of wives and children waiting for fathers, brothers, and sons to come back from a battlefield.   

Chasing Ghosts: Leaving Behind White Harts, Hounds, and Hunting

Imagine hearing tales of a rare white creature coursing through the forest.  Might the ghostly animal seem magical or like some rare omen?  We've been given a glimpse of this in our readings this semester

So far, the stories up through Malory contain tales of knights on horseback hunting deer, fox, and boar with their hounds. The move past Malory and into the picturesque poetry of Tennyson appears to be a long ride away from the visceral images of battle 
fields and hunting. The first half of the Arthurian semester was blood splattered and littered with body parts.  There was one hunting term I needed to look up.  One of them was "hart." In this part of the country we tend to call male deer (OED) bucks. Harts tend to be over five years old so they are larger and have bigger racks or antlers.



It is the white hart of Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur that captured my attention.  Do white deer exist?  I have seen white-tailed deer, I like to call them Maryland’s “suburban lawn rats,” but never an albino deer.  

White hart- a buck

On rare occasions, I have seen a piebald deer.  Piebald deer are white tailed deer that have  brown and white patches of hair.  They are not part albino but have a genetic anomaly  that may present with other physical defects.  Albino deer, white deer herds, and piebald deer are unusual for good reason.

Piebald deer

Piebald fox--genetically domesticated.  You can get one for about $8000!

Unless living in an area covered in snow most of the year, a white deer and piebald deer would be at an extreme disadvantage.  White coloration, or absence of color, makes animals easier to see—good for the predators, human or otherwise. Some animals become piebald when they become genetically domesticated. When foxes become domesticated, in as little as 20 generations, they become piebald.  

The knights in Arthurian legend, and in history, did indeed hunt on horseback and with hounds or “stag” hounds.  In the United Kingdom, hunting means hunting on horseback accompanied by dogs. Americans often think of this as simply fox hunting.  Hunting became illegal in  most of the UK around  2005.  It is still practiced in Northern Ireland.  People are still allowed to “stalk” game on foot and shoot game—there are regulations, restrictions, and seasons.  In the United States each state has their own hunting and licensing regulations.

 In my neighborhood, people still foxhunt. 

What Knights Carry: Symbols, Talisman, and Tattoos

Gawain's Shield- front 

Somewhere in a students’ academic career, like Dr. Reichard’s Phil 200 ”Courage and Violence,” he or she might encounter Tim O’Brien’s book The Things They Carried.  I have frequently been reminded of essays of O’Brien’s essays and stories as I read about tales of valor and of violence in Arthurian legend.  Soldiers, ancient or modern, bear particular truths greater than their actual stories. Humans often carry “good-luck” artifacts like: religious symbols and articles or relics, the cliché rabbit’s foot, a treasured love letter, a beloved’s trinket or item of clothing.  Sir Gawain gives us several symbols.  

The shield Gawain carries into battle has a pentangle on the outward facing side and the image of the Virgin Mary on the interior facing side.  While fighting, Gawain could draw strength and courage from the Blessed Virgin’s image.  The pentangle is a symbol with pagan and Christian meanings.  It is often associated with the five joys of Mary, the five knightly virtues, and the five wounds of Christ.  For protection, Gawain wears the sash into battle with the Green Knight.  Later the fellow “Knights of the Round Table” adopt the green sash too.  Looking at the box of Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies in my cupboard, I am reminded of a gang of young girls that proudly wear a green sash. According to one of my classmates girls “can be knights too.”

"Thin Mint"--yumm!

Sir Galahad

Malory’s Galahad carries a shield with significant symbolism too.  Malory tells us that Galahad’s shield is white with a red cross. The shield descends from his ancestor Joseph of Arimathea. Legend tells us that Joseph of Arimathea was the soldier that removed Jesus from the cross. It is blood pouring from Joseph’s nose that forms the red cross of Galahad’s shield (Le Morte d'Arthur).

What do people wear as they face modern challenges? What symbols do they weave into the quests and campaigns of their lives? Are we so different or more sophisticated than our forbearers?  Our lives are filled with symbols and images. Look at the ubiquitous tattoos!  Gawain’s religious symbolism pales by today’s religious tattoos.   Arthur wore an aegis of the Virgin Mary across his shoulders. What might Gawain’s or Arthur’s Mary look like today?  Many tattoo artists have inked the Virgin Mary.  

Tattoos and body scarification have been around for thousands of years.  Several times, on assorted tattoo websites, I have read that knights during the Crusades would have the Jerusalem cross/Crusader’s cross tattooed on a hand or forearm to identify them for Christian burial. I’m not sure if it is factual but branding and tattoos have been used for ages for identification purposes--think animal identification, American slavery, and Nazi concentration camps. Mrs. Malcome, my fourth grade elementary school teacher, had a concentration camp tattoo.  Full of quiet strength and courage, Mrs. Malcome was my childhood hero.  

"Pastrix" Rev. Nadia Boltz-Weber
Pastor of ELCA mission church
House of All Sinners and Saints

From gang members to Protestant ministers, tattoos are everywhere.  Rev. Nadia Boltz-Weber is one of those tattooed pastors.  What symbols or tattoos do you carry?