La Beale Regard is Morgan le Fay’s castle, where Alisander is held under a year-and-a-day vow after recovering from his wounds. The castle becomes both a prison and a contested inheritance: a damsel helps Alisander escape, the Earl of Pase burns the stronghold to the ground, and the ruined site is claimed as the prize in a challenge involving Alice La Beale Pilgrim and the knights of the Round Table.

Morgan le Fay’s Castle and Alisander’s Confinement

After Alisander is brought to the castle, Morgan le Fay bargains with him: if he promises not to leave its bounds for a year and a day, she says he will soon be well. He agrees, and his recovery follows. Once healed, however, he regrets the oath because it prevents him from taking revenge on King Mark. The castle’s enclosure thus converts a promise made in exchange for health into a barrier to Alisander’s intended action.

The confinement is more threatening than Alisander first understands. A damsel related to Morgan le Fay tells him that her cousin is keeping him there so she can have her way with him. Alisander rejects that prospect, saying he would rather die than submit. The castle’s privacy and its keeper’s power make the vow an instrument of coercion, not simply a test of patience.

The Inheritance and the Escape

The damsel who aids Alisander claims that La Beale Regard rightfully belongs to her by inheritance. She proposes that her uncle, the Earl of Pase, destroy the castle because of the evil customs practiced there. In return for her help, Alisander agrees to love her; she also shows him how to leave without breaking his oath. He is to remain within the castle’s bounds for the full year and a day, then escape through a concealed postern into a garden, where his horse and armor will be waiting.

The Earl of Pase arrives with four hundred knights and sets fire to every part of the castle. Alisander stays in the garden while the blaze consumes the stronghold; when the fire is over, not one stone remains standing. The escape depends on a careful distinction between leaving the castle and leaving the ground it occupied: Alisander avoids breaking his promise even as the building that held him is destroyed.

The Ruin as a New Contest

After the burning, the Earl announces that he will keep the piece of earth where the castle stood for a year and a day, challenging any knight who comes to claim it. The site’s function changes from Morgan le Fay’s private stronghold to a publicly contested space. The same term of a year and a day that had governed Alisander’s confinement now marks the Earl’s hold over the ruins.

The challenge reaches Arthur’s court through Alice La Beale Pilgrim, daughter of Duke Ansirus the pilgrim, who is kin to Sir Launcelot. She declares before many knights that whoever overcomes the knight guarding the ground will win her and all her lands. Her announcement draws the knights of the Round Table because she is described as exceptionally beautiful and wealthy in lands. La Beale Regard’s destruction therefore does not end its narrative importance: the ruined castle’s site becomes the focus of a new trial of arms and a prize claim.