Alyssander and Alice the Fair Pilgrim’s Tournament turns a challenge over a ruined castle site into both a public test of knightly prowess and the occasion for a new partnership. Alice promises herself and her lands to whoever can overcome the knight defending the ground; when Alyssander succeeds in drawing her attention, their meeting unfolds alongside the continuing daily contests that establish his reputation. The episode ends not with a single victory but with a year’s worth of challenges behind him and Alyssander and Alice leaving together for Benoye.

The challenge at La Beale Regard

Alyssander’s trial at the site follows his escape from the castle of La Beale Regard. Its former keeper, the earl of Pase, arrives with four hundred knights and destroys the castle, leaving no stone standing. The earl then declares that he will defend the patch of ground on which it stood for a year and a day against any knight who comes to challenge him. The burnt-out site thus becomes a test of arms: the ruin is gone, but the contested ground remains.

The challenge draws Alice to Arthur’s court. She is the daughter of Duke Ansirus, a pilgrim who goes to Jerusalem every third year, and is known as Alice the Fair Pilgrim. Hearing the proclamation, she publicly promises herself and all her lands to whichever knight can defeat the defender. She has a pavilion set beside the ground, while Alyssander, for his part, keeps the place and calls challengers to come against him. Their separate declarations make the site the meeting point of a contest for land and a contest for Alice’s hand.

Recognition and the first combats

Sir Sagramor the Desirous is among the first challengers. He breaks his spear against Alyssander, who strikes him from his saddle. Watching from her pavilion, Alice is impressed by Alyssander’s riding and asks him to show his face. He removes his helmet; she declares that she must love him and no other. He then asks to see her face, and, when she unveils it, recognizes her as his own beloved. Their mutual recognition changes the meaning of the tournament: Alice had made her promise as a public wager, but the meeting between the two knights and lady becomes a personal bond as well.

Alyssander names himself, and Alice gives her name in return. They defer telling each other their lineage until they are more at ease, but their attachment is already clear. As they speak, Harsouse le Berbuse asks for a share of Alyssander’s spears. Alyssander knocks him from his horse, then does the same to Sir Hewgon. When Hewgon continues the challenge on foot, Alyssander defeats him in three strokes; Hewgon yields, and Alyssander requires both men to swear that they will wear no armour for a year and a day.

Lineage, aid, and interruption

The damsel who helped Alyssander escape from La Beale Regard tells Alice how he had been held prisoner and how she secured his release. Alice recognizes the debt he owes his rescuer. Alyssander acknowledges that he is indebted to the damsel, and Alice reveals that she is of the blood of King Ban, the father of Sir Launcelot. Alyssander says his mother told him that his father was a king’s brother and that he is near cousin to Sir Tristram. Their exchange supplies the lineages they had postponed discussing, while the damsel’s earlier aid remains present in the relationship taking shape between Alyssander and Alice.

Three more challengers—Vains, Harvis de les Marches, and Perin de la Montaine—come against Alyssander. With a single spear he knocks all three down, and they have no desire to continue the fight on foot. He makes them swear not to wear arms for a year. The episode stresses the frequency and range of the challenge: Alyssander does not simply win one decisive encounter but must repeatedly defend the ground from knights who arrive to test him.

Sir Mordred then notices that Alyssander is absorbed in Alice and leads his horse by the bridle, intending to take him away and shame him. The damsel intervenes: she arms herself, mounts Alyssander’s horse, and strikes him with a bare sword. The blow alerts Alyssander to what is happening; he draws his sword, but Mordred escapes into the forest, as does the damsel, who retreats to the pavilion. Alyssander regrets that Mordred has got away. The interruption shows how his attention to Alice makes him vulnerable, while the damsel’s quick intervention protects him from the attempted humiliation.

A year of contests and departure

Afterward Alyssander continues to joust day by day and to fight on foot, facing knights from Arthur’s court as well as strangers. The account does not enumerate every combat; it emphasizes their recurrence, saying that for each day within the year he has an encounter, sometimes with three or four knights in a single day, and that no knight defeats him. The year-long defence turns the challenge into sustained proof of prowess rather than a victory measured by one opponent.

When the year ends, Alyssander departs with Alice for their country of Benoye. The damsel refuses to leave him, and the three travel together, living there in great joy. The resolution gathers the episode’s strands: Alyssander keeps the contested ground through repeated combat, Alice becomes his chosen partner, and the woman whose earlier assistance made his escape possible remains with them. The tournament’s outcome is therefore at once a record of public success and a movement from solitary challenge toward shared life.