{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart047.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart047.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart047.htm","text":"CHAPTER II\nHow the Knights of the Round Table were ordained and\ntheir sieges blessed by the Bishop of Canterbury.\nWHEN King Arthur heard of the coming of Guenever and the hundred\nknights with the Table Round, then King Arthur made great joy for\nher coming, and that rich present, and said openly, This fair\nlady is passing welcome unto me, for I have loved her long, and\ntherefore there is nothing so lief to me. And these knights with\nthe Round Table please me more than right great riches. And in\nall <81>haste the king let ordain for the marriage and the\ncoronation in the most honourable wise that could be devised.\nNow, Merlin, said King Arthur, go thou and espy me in all this\nland fifty knights which be of most prowess and worship. Within\nshort time Merlin had found such knights that should fulfil\ntwenty and eight knights, but no more he could find. Then the\nBishop of Canterbury was fetched, and he blessed the sieges with\ngreat royalty and devotion, and there set the eight and twenty\nknights in their sieges. And when this was done Merlin said,\nFair sirs, ye must all arise and come to King Arthur for to do\nhim homage; he will have the better will to maintain you. And so\nthey arose and did their homage, and when they were gone Merlin\nfound in every sieges letters of gold that told the knights'\nnames that had sitten therein. But two sieges were void. And so\nanon came young Gawaine and asked the king a gift. Ask, said the\nking, and I shall grant it you. Sir, I ask that ye will make me\nknight that same day ye shall wed fair Guenever. I will do it\nwith a good will, said King Arthur, and do unto you all the\nworship that I may, for I must by reason ye are my nephew, my\nsister's son.","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK III CHAPTER II","type":"page"}