Editing Gawain (section)

===Histories and romances===
[[File:Ambito di wiligelmo, porta della pescheria, 02 ciclo di artù 04,1.jpg|thumb|left|Galvagin (Gawain) depicted fighting Carrado (Carados)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://corvinus.nl/2022/01/08/modena-the-duomo/ | title=Modena: The Duomo | date=8 January 2022 }}</ref> on the Italian [[Modena Cathedral|Modena Archivolt]] (c. 1120–1240)]]

The first known references to Gawain outside Wales began to appear in the first half of the 12th century. [[William of Malmesbury]] writes, in his ''[[Gesta Regum Anglorum]]'' of around 1125, that "Walwen's" grave had been uncovered in [[Pembrokeshire]] hundreds of years after his death, following the 11th-century [[Norman conquest of England]]. William recounts how Arthur's nephew, a renowned [[Sub-Roman Britain|Post-Roman]] Briton soldier celebrated for his bravery, tirelessly fought against the [[Saxons]] led by [[Hengest]]'s brother: "He deservedly shared in his uncle's praising, because he prevented the fall of his collapsing country for many years." William also noted uncertainty regarding the manner of his death: "There, as certain people claim, he [Walwen] was wounded by his enemies, and cast forth from a shipwreck; by others, it is said that he was killed by his fellow citizens at a public feast. Therefore, knowledge of the truth falls in doubt, although neither of these stories would fail in defense of his fame."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rb5kAAAAMAAJ|title=Arthur, King of Britain: History, Romance, Chronicle & Criticism, with Texts in Modern English, from Gildas to Malory|first=Richard L.|last=Brengle|date=2 August 1964|publisher=Appleton-Century-Crofts|isbn=9780130492708|via=Google Books}}</ref> He also describes Walwen as a former ruler of [[Galloway]], which he says was still called Walweitha centuries later in his times.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.arthuriana.co.uk/n&q/figures.htm | title=Pre-Galfridian Arthurian Characters }}</ref>

However, it was Geoffrey of Monmouth's version of Gawain in the ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]'', written around 1136, that brought the character to a wider audience.<ref name="Busby">Busby, pp. 178–79.</ref> As in the Welsh tradition, Geoffrey's Gawain (Gualguanus) is the son of Arthur's sister, here named Anna, and her husband is [[King Lot|Lot]] (Loth), the prince of [[Lothian]] and one of Arthur's key supporters. Geoffrey mentions that Gawain was twelve years old at the time when King Lot and Arthur began a war with Norway, and that he had previously served Pope Sulpicius in Rome. Gawain later plays a major role as one of the leaders in Arthur's victorious war against the Romans, having personally started this great conflict by killing the Roman envoy Caius (Gaius Quintilianus) who had insulted him and Arthur. Geoffrey's Gawain is depicted as a supreme warrior (even calling him and [[Hoel]] the two "warriors than whom no better had ever been born"<ref>{{cite web |last=Echard |first=Siân |title=Sir Gawain |url=https://faculty.arts.ubc.ca/sechard/gawain.htm |website=University of British Columbia |access-date=26 January 2022}}</ref>) and potential heir to the throne until he is tragically struck down by the forces of his traitorous brother [[Mordred]] (Modredus) at [[Richborough Castle|Richborough]], during an attempted sea landing that turned into a disaster.<ref>Geoffrey of Monmouth, [[s:History of the Kings of Britain|''Historia Regum Britanniae'']] Books 9–11.</ref>

Geoffrey's work was immensely popular and was adapted into many languages. The [[Norman language|Norman]] version by [[Wace]], the ''[[Roman de Brut]]'', ascribes to Gawain the [[Chivalry|chivalric]] aspect he would take in later literature, wherein he favours courtliness and love over martial valor.<ref name="Busby" /> Several later works expand on Geoffrey's mention of Gawain's boyhood spent in Rome, the most important of which is the anonymous [[Medieval Latin]] ''[[De Ortu Waluuanii|De Ortu Waluuanii Nepotis Arturi]]'' (''The Rise of Gawain, Nephew of Arthur''), which describes his birth, boyhood, and early adventures leading up to his knighting by his uncle.<ref name="Day 1994 365–366">{{Citation|last=Day|first=Mildred Leake|title=The Romance of Arthur|pages=365–66|year=1994|editor-last=Wilhelm|editor-first=James J.|contribution=The Rise of Gawain, Nephew of Arthur|place=New York|publisher=Garland}}</ref>

[[Image:Ywain-Gawain.JPG|thumb|Gawain unwittingly fights [[Yvain]] in the Garrett MS. No. 125 manuscript of Chrétien's ''[[Yvain, or the Knight of the Lion|Knight of the Lion]]'' (c. 1295)|alt=|left]]

Beginning with the five works of [[Chrétien de Troyes]] in the second half of the 12th century, Gawain became a very popular figure in [[Old French]] [[chivalric romance]]s. Chrétien features Gawain as a major character and establishes some characteristics that pervade later depictions, including his unparalleled courteousness and his way with women. His romances set the pattern often followed in later works in which Gawain serves as an ally to the protagonist and a model of knighthood to whom others are compared. However, in Chrétien's later romances, especially ''[[Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart|Lancelot, le Chevalier de la Charrette]]'' (''Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart'') and ''[[Perceval, the Story of the Grail|Perceval ou le Conte du Graal]]'' (''Perceval, the Story of the Grail''), the eponymous heroes [[Lancelot]] and [[Percival]] prove morally superior to Gawain, who follows the rules of courtliness to the letter rather than the spirit.<ref name=Busby/> Chrétien's story of Gawain's cousin [[Yvain]], ''[[Yvain, the Knight of the Lion|Yvain ou le Chevalier au Lion]]'' (''Yvain, the Knight of the Lion''), was translated into [[Middle English]] as ''[[Ywain and Gawain]]''. Gawain is also prominent in the continuations of ''Perceval'', in particular the First Continuation and ''[[Perlesvaus]]''.

An influx of romances written in French appeared in Chrétien's wake. While Gawain stands out as the most popular character of all Arthurian knights in the entire genre,<ref>{{cite web |last=Cybulskie |first=Danièle |title=Five Ways Gawain Kicks Lancelot's Ass |url=https://www.medievalists.net/2015/07/five-ways-gawain-kicks-lancelots-ass/ |date=July 2015 |website=Medievalists.net |access-date=26 January 2022}}</ref> their authors characterise him variously.<ref>{{cite web |title=English 65B/165B: Arthurian Literature – Gawain |url=https://web.stanford.edu/class/engl165b/71gawin.html |website=Stanford University |access-date=26 January 2022}}</ref> In some of these "Gawain romances", such as ''[[La Vengeance Raguidel]]'' (or ''Messire Gauvain'') and ''[[La Mule sans frein]]'' (perhaps also written by Chrétien himself), he is the hero. In others, such as ''[[Meraugis de Portlesguez]]'' and ''{{ill|Hunbaut|fr|Hunbaut}}'', he aids the hero. Sometimes he is also the subject of [[burlesque]] humor, as in the parody ''[[Le Chevalier à l'épée]]'' (''The Knight with the Sword'').<ref name="Busby" /> In the variants of the ''Bel Inconnu'' ([[Fair Unknown]]) story, he is the father of the hero.<ref>Lacy,  p. 161.</ref> ''{{ill|Mériadeuc|fr|Le Chevalier aux deux épées}}'', also known as ''Le Chevalier aux deux épées'' (''The Knight of Two Swords''), contrasts the adventures of Gawain with these of the eponymous Mériadeuc, his former [[squire]]. Another notable squire of Gawain is the also eponymous protagonist of ''{{ill|Gliglois|fr|Gliglois}}''.

[[File:Walewein.jpg|thumb|upright|"Walewein" follows a flying checkboard in a 14th-century Dutch manuscript ''Roman van Walewein (en het schaakspel)'' [[Leiden University Libraries]]]]

For the English and the Scottish, Gawain remained a respectable and heroic figure, becoming the subject of several romances (a dozen in English,<ref>{{cite web |title=Call for papers: 'The character of Gawain in Medieval European Literature' |url=http://www.internationalarthuriansociety.com/dutch-branch/news/cfp-the-character-of-gawain-in-medieval-european-literature1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210918074616/http://www.internationalarthuriansociety.com/dutch-branch/news/cfp-the-character-of-gawain-in-medieval-european-literature1 |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 September 2021 |date=2020 |website=International Arthurian Society – Netherlands Branch |access-date=26 January 2022 }}</ref> besides the likes of the Anglo-Norman ''[[Romanz du reis Yder]]'') and lyrics in the dialects of their nations, such as the [[Middle Scots]] poem ''[[Golagros and Gawane]]''. Important Gawain romances in English include ''[[The Awntyrs off Arthure]]'' (''The Adventures of Arthur''), ''Syre Gawene and the Carle of Carlyle'' (''[[Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle]]''), and ''The Avowyng of Arthur'' (''[[The Avowing of Arthur]]''). The [[Middle Dutch]] romances by Penninc and Pieter Vostaert, the ''{{ill|Roman van Walewein|nl|Roman van Walewein en het schaakspel}}'' (''Story of Gawain''), held at [[Leiden University Libraries]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:1595077  |title=Digital version of Penninc en Pieter Vostaert, Roman van Walewein - LTK 195 |publisher=[[Leiden University Libraries]] |hdl=1887.1/item:1595077 |access-date=2024-04-10}}</ref> and ''Walewein ende Keye'' (''Gawain and Kay''), are both dedicated primarily to Gawain. The [[Middle High German]] romance ''[[Diu Crône]]'' (''The Crown'') by Heinrich von dem Türlin, in which Gawain is the protagonist who achieves the [[Holy Grail|Grail]] and heals the [[Fisher King]], also features a minor character of "the other Gawain": his lookalike, Aamanz. 

[[File:Sir Gawain seized his lance and bade them farewell.png|thumb|upright|left|"Sir Gawain seized his lance and bade them farewell", Frank T. Merrill's illustration for ''A Knight of Arthur's Court or the Tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' (1910)|alt=]]

Gawain is notably the hero of one of the greatest works of Middle English literature, the alliterative poem ''[[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]'', where he is portrayed as an excellent, but human, knight. Here, Gawain strongly resembles the [[Irish mythology|Irish mythological]] hero [[Cuchulainn]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Je5AAAAIAAJ|title=From Cuchulainn to Gawain: Sources and Analogues of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight|first=Elisabeth|last=Brewer|date=2 August 1974|publisher=Rowman and Littlefield|isbn=9780874714432|via=Google Books}}</ref> In the poem, he must go to the titular [[Green Knight]] to, presumably, be killed by the Knight. Gawain does this as it pertains to a deal made between the two without knowing that it is all a test by the Knight.<ref>"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." ''From the Norton Anthology of English Literature'', edited by Julie Reidhead, lines 2331–2365.</ref> He is cited in [[Robert Laneham]]'s letter describing the entertainments at Kenilworth in 1575,<ref>Performance artist Captain Cox is described as "hardy as Gawin" and knows the Arthurian romances including "Syr Gawain".</ref> and the recopying of earlier works such as ''[[The Greene Knight]]'' suggests that a popular English tradition of Gawain continued. Different variants of the Green Knight story include ''The Turke and Sir Gawain''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Turke and Sir Gawain |url=https://www.middleenglishromance.org.uk/mer/78 |date=2012 |website=Database of Middle English Romance, The University of York |access-date=26 January 2022}}</ref> In possibly [[Thomas Malory]]'s ''[[The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle|The Weddynge of Syr Gawen and Dame Ragnell]]'' (''The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle''), his wits, virtue, and respect for women frees his wife, a [[loathly lady]], from her curse of ugliness. The [[Child Ballads]] include a preserved legend in a positive light: ''[[The Marriage of Sir Gawain]]'', a fragmentary version of the story of ''The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle''.

The ''[[Lancelot-Grail]]'' (Vulgate Cycle) depicts Gawain as a proud and worldly knight and the leader of his siblings, who demonstrates through his failures the danger of neglecting the spiritual in favor of the material world. On the grand Grail Quest, his intentions are always the purest, but he is unable to use God's grace to see the error of his ways. Later, when his brothers  Mordred and [[Agravain]] plot to destroy Lancelot and Queen [[Guinevere]] by exposing their love affair, Gawain tries to stop them. When Guinevere is sentenced to burn at the stake and Arthur deploys his best knights to guard the execution, Gawain nobly refuses to take part in the deed, even though his brothers will be there. But when Lancelot returns to rescue Guinevere, a battle between Lancelot's and Arthur's knights ensues, and Gawain's brothers [[Gareth]] and [[Gaheris]] are killed (Agravain, too, is killed by Lancelot, either on this occasion or in a previous encounter). This turns his friendship with Lancelot into hatred, and his desire for vengeance causes him to draw Arthur into a war with Lancelot in France. In the king's absence, Mordred usurps the throne, and the Britons must return to save Britain. Meanwhile, Gawain is mortally wounded by Lancelot himself after a long duel. King Arthur, his uncle in this version of the tale, becomes very distraught as he mourns his death. The Vulgate ''Mort Artu'' has Gawain's dead body carried to [[Camelot]], where he is placed in the tomb of his dear brother Gaheriet (Gaheris).

Gawain's death in a battle against Mordred is described in detail in the English [[Alliterative Morte Arthure|Alliterative ''Morte Arthure'']]. Upon reaching land after returning to Britain from the continent, Gawain wreaks great slaughter on his enemies, killing the king of [[Götaland|Gothland]] among others, before being surrounded on a hill. Breaking out, he pushes forward on a horse towards Mordred himself, and the two strike one another down from their horses with their lances. Gawain then attempts to cut Mordred's throat, but Mordred stabs him through the helmet. (As Mordred is portrayed there more sympathetically than in most other works, he later gives a sorrowful eulogy to his dead brother, calling him the best and most glorious of knights.) In the French verse ''Mort Artu'' attachment to ''{{ill|Didot-Perceval|fr|Perceval de Didot}}'', Gawain attempts to disembark during the sea landing at [[Dover]] when one of Mordred's Saxon allies fatally strikes him in the head through an unlaced helmet; a similar account is told in the English [[Stanzaic Morte Arthur|Stanzaic ''Morte Arthur'']]. In the Italian romance ''[[La Tavola Ritonda]]'', having been defeated in his duel with Lancelot, Gawain takes part in resisting an attack by Lancelot's friend and ally, Sir Turinoro of [[Cartagena, Spain|Cartagina]], when he is struck on his head in the same place where Lancelot had wounded him and falls dead during a single combat with a knight named Turinoro, who also dies.

Thomas Malory's English compilation work ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'' is based mainly, but not exclusively, on French works from the Vulgate and [[Post-Vulgate Cycle|Post-Vulgate]] Cycles. Here Gawain partly retains the negative characteristics attributed to him by the later French authors, and partly retains his earlier positive representations, creating a character seen by some as inconsistent, and by others as a believably flawed hero. Gawain is the first to declare that he "shall laboure in the Queste of the Sankgreall" but really embarks on the Grail quest in order to gain more magical meals and drinks (''metys and drynkes'') from it rather than from a religious zeal or to save the [[Fisher King]]'s kingdom. One of Malory's other French sources was ''[[L'âtre périlleux]]'' (''The Perilous Cemetery''), a poem about Gawain's rescue of a woman from a demon.

[[File:The Passing of Sir Gawaine.png|thumb|upright|"The Passing of Sir Gawaine", [[Howard Pyle]]'s illustration from ''[[The Story of the Grail and the Passing of King Arthur]]'' (1910)|alt=]]

Malory's version of Gawain's demise follows the Vulgate. Gawain's two sons and his brothers, except for Mordred, end up slain by Lancelot and his followers. Their death unleashes the vindictive hostility of Gawain towards his former friend, drawing Arthur himself into a war with Lancelot, first in Britain and then in France. Gawain's rage is so great that he refuses to cease fighting even after the Pope steps in and issues a [[Papal bull|bull]] to end the violence between Arthur's and Lancelot's factions. Following Mordred's betrayal, Gawain wages two wars against both Mordred and Lancelot. He twice challenges Lancelot to a duel, but each time loses and asks Lancelot to kill him. Lancelot refuses and grants him mercy before leaving. The mortally injured Gawain later writes to Lancelot, repenting of his bitterness, asking for his help against Mordred, and for forgiveness for splitting the Round Table. Following his death, Gawain also appears in Arthur's dream vision to tell him to wait thirty days for the reconciled Lancelot to return to Britain before fighting Mordred. Consequently, Arthur sends [[Sir Lucan|Lucan]] and [[Bedivere]] to make a temporary peace treaty, but the bloody final conflict ensues anyway. Upon his eventual arrival, Lancelot weeps at Gawain's tomb for two nights. In his editorial preface to Malory's ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', [[William Caxton]] wrote that those visiting [[Dover Castle]] can still "see the skull of [Sir Gawaine], and the same wound is seen that Sir Launcelot gave him in battle."<ref name="C. Norris 2008 200">{{Cite book| first = Ralph | last = C. Norris| title = Malory's Library: The Sources of the Morte Darthur| publisher = [[D.S. Brewer]]| page= 200|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9bQxHyxm3pIC |year = 2008|isbn=978-1843841548 }}</ref>

Finally, there are versions in which Gawain does not die. In [[Jean des Preis]]'s Belgian ''Ly Myreur des Histors'', Arthur, defeated and wounded in his last battle with Mordrech (Mordred), goes with Gawain in a boat to the magic isle of [[Avalon]] for them to be healed there by the king's sister Morgaine (Morgan). The surviving Gawain also features in the earlier French epic poem ''{{ill|La Bataille Loquifer|fr|La Bataille Loquifer}}'', appearing together with Arthur and Morgan in Avalon, where they are all still alive hundreds of years later.