Palamides claims Isolde and Tristram rescues her is an episode in which a promised boon turns a rescue into a contested claim over Queen Isolde. Sir Palamides fulfills his promise to bring Bragwaine back, then asks to take Isolde away; her husband, King Mark, rules that she must honor her freely granted pledge. With Sir Tristram absent, others attempt to protect her, until Tristram returns and the rivalry is settled not by victory but at Isolde’s request. Her final command sends Palamides away, while her message to Queen Guenever places the episode within the book’s wider pattern of courtly love.

The Promise and Its Terms

Isolde’s promise begins in relief and gratitude. Two ladies, acting from hatred and envy, had arranged for Bragwaine to be bound to a tree in the forest, where she remained for three days. Sir Palamides found and freed her, taking her to a nearby nunnery to recover. When Isolde went alone into the forest to ease her troubled thoughts, she came to a well and lamented Bragwaine’s loss. Palamides appeared, having heard her complaint, and offered to return Bragwaine safely if Isolde granted him whatever boon he asked.

Overjoyed at the prospect of seeing her companion again, Isolde promised before considering what the request might be. Palamides quickly brought Bragwaine back from the nunnery. Bragwaine had not wished to return, since her love for Isolde had put her life at risk, but she came with Palamides despite her reluctance. Once Isolde had welcomed her, Palamides reminded the queen of her pledge. He did not immediately disclose his desire; instead, he said he would make it known before her husband.

At court, Palamides asked King Mark to judge the matter. Isolde confirmed that she had promised to grant Palamides’ request, explaining that she had done so in her joy at Bragwaine’s return. Mark ruled that she must keep her word. Palamides then named his boon: he would take the queen away and govern her where he pleased. The exchange makes the scene turn on the weight of a promise: Isolde’s spontaneous gratitude becomes an obligation, and Mark’s judgment gives that obligation public and political force.

The Interrupted Departure

Mark expected that Tristram might rescue Isolde, but Tristram was away hunting in the forest, as was his custom when he was not occupied with arms. Mark lamented that, by his own decision, his queen was now exposed to danger. Sir Lambegus, a knight of Tristram’s, offered to pursue Palamides in his lord’s place. Mark thanked him and promised to reward his service if he lived.

Lambegus caught up with Palamides, who left Isolde and challenged the approaching knight. When Lambegus identified himself as Tristram’s servant, Palamides said he would rather have faced Tristram. They fought, and Palamides wounded Lambegus so severely that he fell as if dead. Palamides looked for Isolde, but she had disappeared. She had run into the forest and reached a well, where she considered drowning herself rather than remain in the situation created by the claim.

Sir Adtherp, whose castle stood nearby, found Isolde and brought her to safety. Once he learned who she was, he armed himself and rode out to confront Palamides. Palamides wounded him too, then compelled him to explain why he had challenged him and where the queen had gone. Adtherp told him that Isolde was in his castle. Palamides rode there, but Isolde saw him from a window and ordered the gates shut. Unable to enter, he removed his bridle and saddle, turned his horse out to pasture, and sat at the gate in a state of distraction.

Tristram’s Intervention

When Tristram returned and learned that Palamides had taken Isolde away, he was furious and ashamed. He hurried to arm himself, convinced that Lambegus could not withstand Palamides. On the way, he found Lambegus gravely wounded and entrusted him to a forester’s care. He then met the wounded Adtherp, who explained that he had rescued Isolde when she was about to drown herself and had brought her to his castle. Tristram thanked him and continued there.

Tristram found Palamides sitting asleep, or so deeply absorbed that he did not respond when Gouvernail first called to him. At Tristram’s command, Gouvernail returned and told Palamides that his mortal enemy was there. Palamides rose without speaking, prepared his horse and arms, and met Tristram in combat. Tristram unhorsed him at the first encounter, but Palamides recovered and drew his sword. The two fought fiercely for Isolde’s love, while she watched from the castle wall. Their battle continued for more than two hours, and both were badly hurt, Palamides more seriously.

Isolde asked Tristram to stop. She loved Tristram, she said, but felt pity for Palamides and did not want him to die unbaptized, as a Saracen. Tristram asked whether she meant for him to accept shame, but acknowledged that he would be ruled by her. Isolde answered that she did not wish to dishonor him; she wanted him to spare Palamides. Tristram yielded and ended the fighting for her sake. The contest’s resolution therefore comes through Isolde’s intervention, not through the defeat of one lover by the other.

Exile, Return, and Wider Significance

Isolde then ordered Palamides to leave the country for as long as she remained there. He accepted the command reluctantly. She directed him to go to King Arthur’s court and give Queen Guenever a message: there were only four lovers in the land, Sir Launcelot and Queen Guenever, and Sir Tristram and Queen Isolde. The message places the two couples side by side, linking the private contest over Isolde to a broader pattern of love that crosses the ordinary boundaries of court and marriage.

Palamides departed sorrowfully, and Tristram brought Isolde back to King Mark. Her return was welcomed with great joy, and Tristram was cherished. Lambegus, whom Tristram had left with a forester, eventually recovered, though it took a long time. The rescue restores Isolde to Mark’s court and repairs the immediate danger, but it does not settle the deeper conflict. The subsequent account says that Sir Andred watched for a chance to catch Tristram and Isolde together and slander them. After he reported seeing them talking at a window, Mark confronted Tristram; Tristram disarmed him, then left for the forest. The return, then, closes Palamides’ claim but leaves the lovers’ attachment exposed to renewed suspicion and hostility.

The episode brings together several competing forms of obligation: a promise made in gratitude, a king’s judgment that the promise must be kept, the duty of Tristram’s knight to intervene, and Isolde’s authority to stop the duel. Palamides’ rescue of Bragwaine earns him a boon, but does not make Isolde’s removal uncontested; Lambegus, Adtherp, and finally Tristram each stand between his claim and its fulfillment. At the decisive moment, Isolde’s compassion for Palamides and concern for his unbaptized state redirect a contest driven by rivalry toward restraint. The reprieve is temporary: Palamides must leave, the queen returns to Mark, and suspicion soon resumes.