Pedivere

Pedivere is a knight remembered for killing his wife and undertaking penance for the crime. When Sir Launcelot intervenes to protect the woman, Pedivere tricks him and kills her; Launcelot then makes him carry her remains to Queen Guenever, whose sentence sends him onward to the Pope. The episode ends with Pedivere’s reform into a holy hermit.

Encounter with Launcelot

Launcelot encounters Pedivere as he pursues his wife with a sword. The woman asks Launcelot to save her, and Pedivere explains that she has betrayed him. She denies wrongdoing, saying that his jealousy arises from her affection for her cousin. Launcelot places himself between them, and Pedivere initially agrees to be governed by the knight’s judgment.

The apparent settlement is a deception. Pedivere distracts Launcelot by pointing out armed men approaching behind them; when Launcelot turns to look, Pedivere kills his wife. Launcelot condemns him as a traitor and reaches for his sword, but Pedivere falls to the ground and begs for mercy rather than fight. Launcelot refuses to grant it at once and challenges him to rise, even offering to fight without armor. Pedivere will not accept that challenge, making the encounter turn not on a fair contest between knights but on the act Launcelot has just witnessed.

Sentence and Penance

Instead of killing Pedivere, Launcelot imposes a visible and continuing punishment: Pedivere must take the dead woman and her head, carry them on horseback, and not rest until he reaches Queen Guenever. Pedivere gives his word to obey. His journey makes the consequence of his crime public and takes its judgment from the roadside encounter to the royal court.

At Winchester, Pedivere tells the king and queen what happened. Queen Guenever calls the deed horrible and shameful, and says it is a great rebuke to Launcelot, whose reputation is not known in every country. She orders Pedivere to carry the woman to the Pope of Rome and receive his penance there. He is not to spend two consecutive nights in the same place, and if he sleeps in a bed, the dead woman’s body must lie with him. The narrative reports that he makes this oath and departs.

Repentance and Narrative Role

According to the account attributed to the French book, the Pope orders Pedivere to return to Queen Guenever, and the woman is buried at Rome by the Pope’s command. Afterward, Pedivere turns to great goodness and becomes a holy man and hermit. The narrative thus carries him from betrayal and murder through public punishment and religious judgment to a life of penitence.

Pedivere’s episode also tests the limits of knightly protection. Launcelot intervenes at the woman’s appeal and tries to prevent her killing, but his trust in Pedivere’s temporary submission leaves him open to the deception. The subsequent sentence does not undo the death; instead, it binds Pedivere to its memory through a long journey and further penance. His ending gives the story’s account of justice a penitential conclusion: after punishment and the Pope’s intervention, Pedivere changes his life.