Here, Arthur appears as the great romantic hero of the Celtic tradition. He has a magical sword, shield painted with the likeness of the Blessed Mary, Mother of God, spear “thirsty for slaughter,” and helmet whose crest is “carved in the shape of a dragon.” His court is described as magnificent as that of the Emperor Charlemagne, and its atmosphere is pervaded with twelfth-century chivalric ideals: “For none was thought worthy of a lady’s love, unless he had been three times approved in the bearing of arms. And so the ladies were made chaste and the knights the better by their loves.”
