Lionel

Lionel, Sir Bors’s brother and a knight of great courage, is defined by two episodes in which kinship and knightly action pull in opposite directions. When Bors chooses to rescue a woman rather than intervene while Lionel is being carried off and beaten, Lionel sees the choice as a betrayal and tries to kill his brother. Later, at a tournament, he joins a group that attacks a disguised Launcelot; recognition finally restrains Launcelot from killing Lionel and the others in return.

Identity and Family

Lionel is the son of King Bors de Ganis and the younger brother of Sir Bors. The text emphasizes the claims of their shared family: when Lionel confronts Bors, he invokes their father’s worthy house and insists that a brother should not have left another in danger. Bors, in turn, appeals to the love and respect due between brothers, kneeling and asking Lionel to forgive him rather than meet him in combat.

Lionel is also a knight of the Round Table and belongs to the wider kinship circle around Launcelot. At the tournament where Launcelot fights in disguise, Lionel rides with Sir Bors, Sir Ector de Maris, and other knights of Launcelot’s blood. Their family allegiance shapes the encounter, though they do not know the knight they are attacking is Launcelot.

The Grail Quest and the Breach with Bors

After restoring a young lady to her lands, Bors sets out again. In a forest, he comes upon two knights leading Lionel away on horseback and beating him. At the same time, another knight is taking a gentlewoman into the woods, where she fears she will be dishonoured and calls for help. Bors turns to rescue her. His choice answers the immediate appeal for aid, but it leaves Lionel in the hands of his captors.

The brothers meet again at an hermitage, where Lionel is waiting before a tournament. Bors greets him with joy, but Lionel answers with anger: he accuses Bors of leaving him in peril and declares that he has earned death. Bors kneels and asks mercy, reminding Lionel of their brotherly bond. Lionel refuses, arms himself, and presses Bors to fight. Bors will not attack his elder brother; he remains on his knees, acknowledging Lionel’s seniority and asking him not to kill him.

Lionel’s anger overwhelms the appeal. He rushes at Bors, who is unable to defend himself. The dispute makes the earlier rescue choice newly dangerous: Bors’s attempt to protect a threatened woman has become, in Lionel’s judgment, a wrong against his own brother.

The Hermit and Colgrevance

A hermit intervenes, warning Lionel that killing Bors would be a grave sin and calling Bors one of the world’s worthiest knights. Lionel threatens the hermit as well. When the hermit refuses to leave Bors, Lionel kills him, then turns back to his brother.

At that moment, Colgrevance, another knight of the Round Table, arrives. He sees the hermit dead and Lionel about to kill Bors, whom he loves and regards as exceptionally worthy. Colgrevance places himself between the brothers and challenges Lionel. Lionel attacks him, and the two fight while Bors, too weak to stand, watches in distress. Bors is caught between two possible losses: Lionel’s death would mean the death of his brother, while Colgrevance’s defeat would leave him responsible for the shame of the conflict. The episode shows how Lionel’s refusal to accept Bors’s decision turns a family grievance into further violence, drawing in a knight who tries to prevent the killing.

The Tournament and Launcelot

Later, at a tournament, Launcelot fights wearing a red sleeve as a lady’s token. King Arthur recognizes him but withholds his identity while the action continues. Lionel and other knights related to Launcelot join the combat against the disguised knight, intending to challenge the man they do not recognize. They strike Launcelot together, and Sir Bors’s spear wounds him and breaks.

Launcelot continues fighting despite the injury and unhorses Lionel, Sir Bors, and Sir Ector de Maris. He could kill them, but when he sees their faces he cannot bring himself to do so. The recognition reverses the earlier family violence: Lionel had rejected Bors’s appeal to brotherhood, whereas Launcelot’s recognition of familiar faces stops his retaliation. Lionel’s role in this scene is therefore both martial and relational: he joins the attack, but his identity as Launcelot’s kinsman helps bring the encounter to a nonfatal end.