The Rise of Gawain, Nephew of Arthur

by Mildred Leake Day (editor)

Published in 1984: The Rise of Gawain, Nephew of Arthur is an exciting adventure story of the training, testing, and recognition of knighthood in King Arthur's court. The setting is the historical world of the fifth century: Rome, Jerusalem, Britannia. Atleast one copy of the story circulated in England, apparently influencing Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the Faerie Queene, Book 1.

Genres: Arthurian

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1250

Reviews

[Corpruga · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t like this one as much as The Story of Meriadoc, King of Cambria: (Historia Meriadoci, Regis Cambrie), but then, they can’t all be bangers!

Much like Historia Meriadoci, it’s unclear who wrote this text and when, but most scholarly arguments attribute both texts to the same author—after all, De Ortu Waluuanii only exists in one manuscript copy and Historia Meriadoci is also in that manuscript, both texts feature long weird technical descriptions of stuff that seems irrelevant to the plot, and both use Latin to tell kind of atypical Arthurian stories, in which the characters don’t quite resemble their general romance selves. Unlike Historia Meriadoci, which is pulling a Chrétien de Troyes-like move of inventing a knight to focus on, this text seems to be expanding on a throwaway line from Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae/De Gestis Britonum about Gawain, Arthur’s nephew, serving the pope in Rome as a boy.

It’s a pretty typical Fair Unknown story, but not a super typical Gawain story. It has Gawain as the product of an extramarital affair between Loth (Lot) and Arthur’s sister Anna (another sign of an early date? Geoffrey names Arthur’s sister Anna, but later texts tend to give Arthur’s sister different names, your Morganas and Morgauses and Belisents and such). Anna sends baby Gawain away to be raised by merchants, but then he’s captured by the weirdest character in the whole enchilada, a…fisherman? Scavenger? Thief? Exiled nobleman? Well, let’s just call him Viamundus, who hides Gawain in his house for a while and then takes him to Rome, where with all the stolen money he got from the merchants he convinces the emperor that he’s a nobleman and lives his life in style while Gawain gets trained in the ways of chivalry, like you do.

Young Gawain gets involved in a fight between the king of Persia and Jerusalem (controlled by Christians at this point), kills a giant boar, rescues a kidnapped princess, and fights a naval battle, all under the name “The Knight of the Surcoat.” It always strains credulity to me that these Fair Unknowns can go through life for so long without a name, but whatever. Also, we get a long and wier description of Greek Fire, and the Knight of the Surcoat wins in a duel against the Persians’ champion Gormundus (classic pagan enemy name! It’s the name of an African king who conquers Ireland in Geoffrey of Monmouth and the name of a Norse king who conquered Ireland in Gerald of Wales’s Topographia Hibernica from 1187—more evidence of a 12th-century date?). Finally, Gawain shows up at Arthur’s court, where Arthur makes an ass of himself and his queen, called Gwendoloena, can see the future. (Actually, she’s awesome in this, quite possibly my favorite part of the whole text.)

If you’re the audience for this text, you’ve probably already read it, but if you’re a medieval Arthurian romance buff and haven’t read it, it’s worth checking out, even if it’s not as delightfully weird as Historia Meriadoci. There really aren’t a lot of other editions or English translations out there, unless you want to dig into doctoral dissertations, but fortunately, I think Mildred Leake Day’s are pretty good ones, with an informative introduction and a very readable translation. I think the explanatory apparatus and bibliography might be more extensive in the Latin Arthurian Literature (Arthurian Archives, 11) volume—the font there is definitely less typewriter-like—but the single-text volume is pretty slim and portable, so if you’re not interested in carrying around Arthur and Gorlagon and Draco Normannicus around with your Gawain adventures, this edition will definitely get the job done.

[Nicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This text is a Latin one, chronicling Gawain's birth, childhood, and how he comes to the court of King Arthur. It's a Fair Unknown narrative, actually, because Gawain's name isn't discovered until the very end of the text. The most amusing thing in it is the long description of how to make Greek fire, I think, featuring all sorts of fantastical ideas. Oh, and one of the most interesting things is that Guinevere is a witch, able to see the future.

I think this is possibly the only medieval text I've read which actually covers Gawain's arrival at the court, and how he becomes a knight. Most of the time, he seems to be an established knight already. I suppose in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight he says he's the least of the company...

Anyway, this particular edition -- the only translation I've seen -- has the original text alongside the translation, which can be interesting, even if you can't read Latin. It also has a pretty good introduction, and some helpful footnotes.

[Reading Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good translation! Very fun story, overall. Short and quick. It's always fun to see how the characters changed over time! I love Gwen in this.

[Avis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary sue.
Pretty basic but Gawain is in it so 5 stars. I'm not usually interested in all the Rome stuff that happens in Arthurian but I do think it's funny.