Arthur Conquers Rome and Is Crowned Emperor

Arthur Conquers Rome and Is Crowned Emperor is the culmination of Arthur’s continental campaign against the Roman Empire: having refused Emperor Lucius’s demand for tribute, Arthur defeats the Roman forces, advances through Europe, and is crowned emperor by the Pope. The episode makes conquest more than a sequence of victories. Arthur’s authority is tested in how he answers an imperial claim, treats envoys and conquered communities, distributes lands, and finally decides that the campaign is complete and his company may return home.

Causes and Claims to Sovereignty

The conflict begins when twelve aged Roman ambassadors arrive at Arthur’s court during a royal feast, each bearing an olive branch as a token of embassy. They speak for Lucius, who demands Britain’s tribute on the grounds that Julius Caesar conquered the island and that Arthur’s predecessors paid what was due. The message threatens war if Arthur refuses. Some young knights would attack the ambassadors for the affront, but Arthur forbids anyone to harm or insult them, orders that they be lodged and provided for, and reserves his answer until he has taken counsel. The restraint toward the messengers contrasts with the force of the claim they deliver: Arthur protects the forms of diplomacy even as he prepares to reject Rome’s authority.

Arthur’s refusal is not merely a denial of an unpaid obligation. He maintains that he owes no tribute to Lucius or any earthly prince, Christian or heathen, and asserts a right to the empire through his predecessors, the former kings of Britain. He tells the ambassadors that he intends to march on Rome, take possession of the empire, and subject those who resist him. Before sending them back, he provides generous gifts and pays their expenses, assigning Sir Cador to escort them from the country. The response joins a declaration of sovereignty to visible courtesy: the envoys leave with Arthur’s answer and the means to convey it safely.

The announcement turns a disputed claim into a collective undertaking. Arthur’s allies pledge military aid, including King Anguish of Scotland and the king of Little Britain, and the lords and knights promise forces according to their means. Arthur thanks them and repeats his challenge before the assembled court, directing the ambassadors to tell Lucius that he will not acknowledge Roman overlordship and will come with an army to claim the empire. The conflict is therefore framed both as resistance to tribute and as an expansive assertion of Arthur’s own imperial title.

The Campaign and Its Conduct

After the great battle against the Romans, Arthur and his knights continue through Lorraine, Brabant, Flanders, Germany, and over the mountains into Lombardy and Tuscany. The campaign is narrated through victories and acts of occupation as well as through the settlement of local affairs. At a Tuscan city that refuses obedience, Arthur lays siege and orders assaults; when the duchess, Countess Clarisin, and other women appeal to him to spare the town from an assault in which innocent inhabitants might be killed, he orders the attack stopped. The duke must submit to Arthur’s judgment and is sent as a prisoner to Dover for the rest of his life, while rents are assigned to provide for the duchess and her children. Arthur then appoints lords to govern the conquered territory and establish its laws.

At Urbino, Arthur’s advance party captures the town and raises his banner on its walls. When he enters, he orders that none of his men mistreat any lady, wife, or maiden, and goes to the castle to comfort those in distress before appointing a captain from his own country. The account places this command within the practical business of conquest: taking a city is followed by establishing control, protecting its inhabitants from his troops, and installing a governor. The neighboring people of Milan respond to the news by offering large sums, homage, and fealty for lands including Pleasance, Pavia, Petersaint, and the port of Tremble, as well as an annual payment of a million in gold for the duration of Arthur’s life.

Arthur continues through Tuscany, taking towns and castles; those that refuse to obey are laid waste. The campaign thus balances stated protections and negotiated submission with destructive force against resistance. The narrative does not present conquest as uniformly merciful: the halted assault and safeguards for women stand alongside the long siege, life imprisonment of the duke, and devastation of communities that will not yield.

From Military Victory to Imperial Coronation

After these advances, Arthur sends word to the Roman senators asking whether they will recognize him as their lord. The surviving senators and the leading cardinals come to him and ask for peace. They propose that he allow six weeks for the Romans to assemble and then crown him emperor with the customary sacred anointing. Arthur assents to their arrangement, setting the coronation for Christmas and stipulating that he may hold his Round Table there with his knights as he chooses. The transition from war to coronation is negotiated by Roman representatives, but it follows a military campaign that has already brought cities and territories under Arthur’s power.

On the appointed day Arthur enters Rome and is crowned emperor by the Pope, with the ceremony conducted with all the grandeur available to the account. He remains there for a time and establishes his lands from Rome to France. He distributes lands and realms to his servants and knights according to their deserts, with the stated result that neither rich nor poor complains. Priamus, whom Gawaine had brought to Arthur during the campaign after he yielded and agreed to become Christian, receives the duchy of Lorraine. His change of allegiance and new title connect a battlefield encounter to the political settlement of the conquered lands.

The Return and the Meaning of the Conquest

Once the campaign is complete, Arthur’s lords and knights tell him that his conquest is achieved and no power remains that they know to be strong enough to make war against him. They ask leave to go home to their wives after their long absence. Arthur accepts their judgment, remarking that it is no wisdom to tempt God, and orders preparations for the return to England. The decision gives the episode a limit: even at the height of his success, the king does not treat further campaigning as an end in itself.

On the journey home, Arthur commands that no one, on pain of death, rob or take provisions or other goods without paying for them. The rule carries his ordering of conquered territory into the army’s return march, making the conduct of his own men part of the authority he claims to exercise. He crosses the sea and lands at Sandwich, where Queen Guenever meets him. The commons receive him in every city and borough, and gifts are presented in welcome. The narrative closes not at the moment of coronation but with Arthur’s return to his wife and people: imperial power is made visible both in his new title and in the reception awaiting him at home.