Candlemas Tournament at Westminster

The Candlemas Tournament at Westminster is a public contest that becomes a revealing trial of allegiance among King Arthur’s knights. Though wounded and unable to sit easily in the saddle, Sir Launcelot rides in disguise with Sir Lavaine and defeats scores of opponents; Sir Gareth, concealing his identity behind a green shield, joins him rather than fight against his former benefactor. Their victories expose the personal loyalties beneath the divisions of the tournament, and King Arthur ends the day by honoring Gareth’s decision as an act of knightly fellowship.

The Tournament and Its Stakes

Sir Launcelot had been struck in the thigh by an arrow while a gentlewoman hunted in the Forest of Windsor. A hermit removed the arrowhead, but the wound left him unable to sit in a saddle. He nevertheless insisted on attending the Candlemas jousts, whatever the consequences. He and Sir Lavaine disguised themselves as Saracens and came to the field while an unusually large company of distinguished knights assembled to compete.

The gathering set opposing groups of knights against one another in a sustained contest. Among those present were King Arthur and two hundred knights, as well as kings and princes leading companies of a hundred knights apiece. Older knights sat in the scaffolds with Queen Guenever to judge the competitors. The tournament therefore placed the king and leading members of his court in full view of one another, making the question of who fought beside whom as consequential as the individual falls.

Launcelot Revealed by His Deeds

The jousting began with a series of victories by visiting kings and princes over members of Arthur’s party. Arthur himself rode against the King with the Hundred Knights, unhorsed him, and then unhorsed three more knights with the same spear. Sir Gawaine, Sir Gaheris, Sir Agravaine, and Sir Mordred also entered the fighting. But the contest shifted when Sir Launcelot’s kin and other Round Table knights began pressing the opposing kings and the Duke of Galahalt.

Launcelot then entered the field with Sir Lavaine, riding with such force that Sir Bors and the knights of Launcelot’s blood recognized him. Bors warned the others to beware of the knight marked by the gold sleeve. Launcelot unhorsed Sir Gawaine, Sir Agravaine, Sir Gaheris, and Sir Mordred, and continued to knock down knights as he found fresh spears. He also defeated Sir Palamides. By the end of the day, heralds credited him with unhorsing fifty knights, most of them of the Round Table.

The numbers do not stand alone as a measure of prowess: Launcelot is wounded, masked by his disguise, and nevertheless becomes unmistakable through his skill. His body’s limitation and his reputation pull in opposite directions. At first, his injury seems likely to keep him from the field; in the tournament, his conduct makes concealment futile.

Gareth’s Disguise and Choice

Sir Gareth recognized Launcelot as the knight who had made him a knight. When Arthur’s party prepared to set upon Launcelot and Lavaine, Gareth decided to assist his former benefactor, whatever the risk to his standing with his own kin and king. At Bors’s advice, he disguised himself rather than appear openly against Arthur. He borrowed the shield of a wounded Welsh knight, whose green surface bore the image of a maiden, and rode to warn Launcelot that Arthur and nine knights were approaching.

Gareth arranged the encounter with Launcelot: Launcelot was to meet Gawaine, Gareth to meet Palamides, and Lavaine to meet Arthur. In the ensuing clash, Launcelot unhorsed Gawaine, Agravaine, Gaheris, and Mordred; Gareth brought down Palamides, Kay, Safere, and Griflet; and Lavaine unhorsed Arthur, then Lucan the Butler and Bedivere. Gareth’s green shield concealed his identity, but not his effectiveness: he knocked down more than thirty knights, and the narrator notes that Launcelot himself wondered who the unknown fighter might be.

Gareth’s decision grows from an earlier relationship rather than a calculation of advantage. He explains that Launcelot had made him a knight and that it seemed honorable to help when Launcelot was so heavily opposed. His disguise delays recognition, but it cannot obscure the principle governing his action: loyalty to a knight who has shown him favor takes precedence over fighting on the side expected of him.

The King’s Recognition and Aftermath

The fighting lasted until near nightfall, as Arthur’s knights repeatedly returned to the field without prevailing against Launcelot, Gareth, and Lavaine. Gawaine identified the disguised knight with the green shield as his brother Gareth and recognized Launcelot and Lavaine as well. He advised Arthur that continuing to attack the three would mean overwhelming one knight with many, a course that would bring shame rather than honor. Arthur accepted the counsel, and the contest ended with the opposing parties summoned to supper.

Once the knights had removed their armor, Arthur recognized Launcelot, Lavaine, and Gareth. Launcelot received the prize; heralds announced that he had unhorsed fifty knights, Gareth thirty-five, and Lavaine twenty-four. The heralds’ tally gives Gareth a higher total than the earlier account of more than thirty, while preserving the scale of his performance. Launcelot then explained that the wound had come from the huntress’s arrow in the Forest of Windsor and described its depth and length. Arthur reproached Gareth for leaving his fellowship, but Gareth answered that helping Launcelot in danger was the honorable course.

Arthur accepted that explanation and declared that Gareth had acted honorably, earning both personal honor and the king’s increased love and trust. He praised the principle behind the choice: a worthy knight should not stand by while another worthy knight faces danger, and should treat another as he would wish to be treated himself. The evening ended with feasting and celebration, where courtesy, truth, and faithfulness to a friend were honored. The tournament’s outcome thus extends beyond the prize: a disguised intervention becomes public proof of Gareth’s allegiance, and Arthur’s judgment turns that allegiance into a model of knightly conduct.