Damas and Ontzlake

Damas and Ontzlake are brothers divided by an inheritance dispute and by opposing codes of conduct: Ontzlake is presented as a capable, well-regarded knight, while Damas uses treachery and imprisonment to preserve his advantage. Their conflict reaches Arthur when he himself becomes Damas’s champion; after winning, Arthur settles the brothers’ dispute, frees the prisoners, and turns Ontzlake’s service toward the royal court.

The Brothers and the Disputed Manor

Damas, the elder brother, withholds from Ontzlake a share of their livelihood. Ontzlake holds a rich manor through his prowess and lives there honorably, well loved by the people. The arrangement leaves him in possession but does not resolve the underlying claim: Ontzlake repeatedly offers to fight Damas for the manor, or to meet a champion Damas might provide. Damas agrees to the prospect of combat but cannot find a knight willing to fight for him.

The contrast is not simply between two contenders with competing claims. The account describes Ontzlake as a good knight, full of prowess, true and gentle in his deeds, while Damas is called cowardly, merciless, treacherous, and ill-regarded. Damas’s inability to recruit a champion reflects that reputation, and he responds not by submitting to the contest he had accepted, but by using force against other knights.

Damas’s Prisoners and Arthur’s Bargain

Damas lies in wait with armed followers for knights traveling on their adventures and takes them to his prison. The twenty knights who speak to Arthur have been captured separately while on the road; some have been confined for seven years or longer. Eighteen other good knights, they report, have already died there from hunger. Damas will release a prisoner who agrees to fight Ontzlake, but the captives refuse to risk their lives for a lord they consider false and treacherous.

A damsel offers Arthur a way out: fight for Damas and gain release, or remain imprisoned with no hope of escape. Arthur accepts on the condition that all the prisoners be freed as well as himself. Damas swears to the bargain and agrees that Arthur will fight Ontzlake; the twenty knights are brought from the dark prison into the hall to witness the contest. The arrangement makes the brothers’ private quarrel a test of whether Damas will honor an agreement and whether Arthur can turn a forced encounter toward the captives’ release.

Arthur’s Judgment and Settlement

After the fight, the people kneel and ask Arthur for mercy. He grants it, noting that errant knights may find themselves fighting one another to the injury of both. Though wounded, he proceeds to judge the brothers’ dispute. He orders Damas to give Ontzlake the whole manor and its appurtenances, with Ontzlake holding it from him and providing him each year with a palfrey. The settlement transfers the estate to the brother whose conduct and prowess have earned the better judgment, while retaining a defined provision for Damas.

Arthur also forbids Damas, on pain of death, from distressing knights who travel on their adventures. He requires him to restore the twenty prisoners with all the equipment they consider due to them, and warns that a complaint brought to Arthur’s court would cost Damas his life. The decision therefore reaches beyond the estate: it addresses Damas’s practice of seizing travelers and makes release and restoration part of the settlement.

Ontzlake’s Entry into Arthur’s Service

Arthur invites Ontzlake to come promptly to court and become one of his knights, promising to advance him if his later deeds prove worthy. Ontzlake accepts and places himself at Arthur’s command. He explains that he has only recently been injured by an adventurous knight and could not otherwise have fought Arthur himself; Arthur replies that, had Ontzlake been able to take the contest, Arthur would not have been hurt as he was.

Arthur then discloses that his own injury arose from treachery: the sword used against him was his own, stolen from him, and the fight had been arranged beforehand in an attempt to kill him through false enchantment. Ontzlake condemns the plot as an outrage against a man of Arthur’s nobility and prowess. The brothers’ land dispute thus concludes within a larger episode of betrayal against the king, but their outcomes diverge: Damas is bound by enforceable restrictions, while Ontzlake is offered a place in the royal household and a path to advancement.