Galahad
From Free net encyclopedia
Sir Galahad is one of the knights of King Arthur's Round Table in Arthurian legend. He is the bastard son of Sir Lancelot and Elaine of Corbenic, and he is renowned for his gallantry and purity.
Galahad is one of only three knights able to find the Holy Grail (the others being Percival and Bors). After finding the Grail, Galahad is taken to heaven in divine standing.
Galahad's early life
Sir Galahad's conception comes about when Elaine, daughter of the Grail King Pelles, uses magic to trick Lancelot into thinking she is Guinevere. They sleep together, but on discovering what has transpired, Lancelot abandons Elaine and returns to Arthur's court.Galahad is placed in the care of his great aunt, the abbess at a nunnery, and is raised there. "Galahad" was Lancelot's original name, but it had been changed when he was a child. The son was prophecied to surpass his father in valor and achieve the Holy Grail.
Upon reaching adulthood, Galahad is reunited with his father, who knights him. He is then brought to King Arthur's court at Camelot during the feast of Pentecost. Without realising the danger he was putting himself in, Sir Galahad walks over to the Round Table amidst the revelry and takes his seat at the Siege Perilous. This place had been kept vacant for the sole person who would accomplish the quest of the Holy Grail; for anyone else sitting there, it would prove to be immediately fatal. Needless to say, Sir Galahad survives the event, which is witnessed by King Arthur and his knights. The king then asks the young knight to perform a test which involves pulling a sword from a stone. This he accomplishes with ease, and King Arthur swiftly proclaims Sir Galahad to be the greatest knight in the world. He is promptly invited to join the Order of the Round Table, and after a visit from the Holy Grail, the quest to find the famous object is set.
Uses of the name Galahad
- Two British Royal Fleet Auxiliary landing craft: RFA Sir Galahad (1966) and RFA Sir Galahad (1987) were named after the knight. The former is notable as a vessel attacked in the Falklands War with the loss of 48 men.
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote his poem "Sir Galahad", on of his Idylls of the King, about the legendary knight. The character has appeared in other modern works like T.H. White's The Once and Future King, Charles Williams' Taliessin through Logres, and the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail (and the Broadway musical based on it, Spamalot)
- Galahad also appears in K. A. Applegate's book series Everworld.
- United Kingdom Neo-progressive rock band Galahad released its first album in 1991
- In 1992 Electronic Arts published a video game featuring the knight, called The Legend of Galahad.
External links
- Biography of Sir Galahad
- The full text of the poem Sir Galahad
- Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory textda:Galahad
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