Lancelot: King Ban's Son of Benoic

Sir Lancelot of the Lake appears out of nowhere in “Le Morte d’Arthur” yet Mallory must have been aware of the story of his early life. The “Prose Lancelot,” written two centuries earlier, dealt with where Lancelot came from, who his mother and father were, how the Lady of the Lake abducted the baby Lancelot and how he become a knight in King Arthur’s court. But aside from Sir Lancelot’s battles and his relationship with Queen Guinevere there is not much in either of those prime sources that examines who he really was as a man. Was Lancelot really as good (or as bad) as they say? Why was Dolorous Garde so important? Was King Arthur a great king of sterling moral character or was he duplicitous and conniving? Should Lancelot and Guinevere be blamed for the fall of “Camelot” or were there destructive forces beyond their control? How could Lancelot have been so great and avowed such lofty principles and still be the cause of Camelot’s downfall? And how about all of the other inconsistencies and calumnies within and between the Arthurian stories? All of those questions and more are answered in this book, which covers the period from before Lancelot’s birth to his retirement to a monastery. It presents a coherent story of Lancelot and shows him as the true and unblemished hero he was meant to be.