{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart100.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart100.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart100.htm","text":"CHAPTER XII\nHow Sir Gawaine returned to King Arthur with his prisoners,\nand how the King won a city, and how he was crowned Emperor.\nNOW thanked be God, said the noble King Arthur. But what manner\nman is he that standeth by himself, him seemeth no prisoner.\nSir, said Gawaine, this is a good man of arms, he hath matched\nme, but he is yielden unto <172>God, and to me, for to become\nChristian; had not he have been we should never have returned,\nwherefore I pray you that he may be baptised, for there liveth\nnot a nobler man nor better knight of his hands. Then the king\nlet him anon be christened, and did do call him his first name\nPriamus, and made him a duke and knight of the Table Round. And\nthen anon the king let do cry assault to the city, and there was\nrearing of ladders, breaking of walls, and the ditch filled, that\nmen with little pain might enter into the city. Then came out a\nduchess, and Clarisin the countess, with many ladies and\ndamosels, and kneeling before King Arthur, required him for the\nlove of God to receive the city, and not to take it by assault,\nfor then should many guiltless be slain. Then the king avaled\nhis visor with a meek and noble countenance, and said, Madam,\nthere shall none of my subjects misdo you nor your maidens, nor\nto none that to you belong, but the duke shall abide my judgment.\nThen anon the king commanded to leave the assault, and anon the\nduke's oldest son brought out the keys, and kneeling delivered\nthem to the king, and besought him of grace; and the king seized\nthe town by assent of his lords, and took the duke and sent him\nto Dover, there for to abide prisoner term of his life, and\nassigned certain rents for the dower of the duchess and for her\nchildren.\nThen he made lords to rule those lands, and laws as a lord ought\nto do in his own country; and after he took his journey toward\nRome, and sent Sir Floris and Sir Floridas to-fore, with five\nhundred men of arms, and they came to the city of Urbino and laid\nthere a bushment, thereas them seemed most best for them, and\nrode to-fore the town, where anon issued out much people and\nskirmished with the fore-riders. Then brake out the bushment and\nwon the bridge, and after the town, and set upon the walls the\nking's banner. Then came the king upon an hill, and saw the city\nand his banner on the walls, by which he knew that the city was\nwon. And anon he sent and commanded that none of his liege men\nshould defoul nor lie by no lady, wife nor maid; and when he came\n<173>into the city, he passed to the castle, and comforted them\nthat were in sorrow, and ordained there a captain, a knight of\nhis own country.\nAnd when they of Milan heard that thilk city was won, they sent\nto King Arthur great sums of money, and besought him as their\nlord to have pity on them, promising to be his subjects for ever,\nand yield to him homage and fealty for the lands of Pleasance and\nPavia, Petersaint, and the Port of Tremble, and to give him\nyearly a million of gold all his lifetime. Then he rideth into\nTuscany, and winneth towns and castles, and wasted all in his way\nthat to him will not obey, and so to Spolute and Viterbe, and\nfrom thence he rode into the Vale of Vicecount among the vines.\nAnd from thence he sent to the senators, to wit whether they\nwould know him for their lord. But soon after on a Saturday came\nunto King Arthur all the senators that were left alive, and the\nnoblest cardinals that then dwelt in Rome, and prayed him of\npeace, and proferred him full large, and besought him as governor\nto give licence for six weeks for to assemble all the Romans, and\nthen to crown him emperor with chrism as it belongeth to so high\nestate. I assent, said the king, like as ye have devised, and at\nChristmas there to be crowned, and to hold my Round Table with my\nknights as me liketh. And then the senators made ready for his\nenthronization. And at the day appointed, as the romance\ntelleth, he came into Rome, and was crowned emperor by the pope's\nhand, with all the royalty that could be made, and sojourned\nthere a time, and established all his lands from Rome into\nFrance, and gave lands and realms unto his servants and knights,\nto everych after his desert, in such wise that none complained,\nrich nor poor. And he gave to Sir Priamus the duchy of Lorraine;\nand he thanked him, and said he would serve him the days of his\nlife; and after made dukes and earls, and made every man rich.\nThen after this all his knights and lords assembled them afore\nhim, and said: Blessed be God, your war is finished and your\nconquest achieved, in so much that we <174>know none so great nor\nmighty that dare make war against you: wherefore we beseech you\nto return homeward, and give us licence to go home to our wives,\nfrom whom we have been long, and to rest us, for your journey is\nfinished with honour and worship. Then said the king, Ye say\ntruth, and for to tempt God it is no wisdom, and therefore make\nyou ready and return we into England. Then there was trussing of\nharness and baggage and great carriage. And after licence given,\nhe returned and commanded that no man in pain of death should not\nrob nor take victual, nor other thing by the way but that he\nshould pay therefore. And thus he came over the sea and landed\nat Sandwich, against whom Queen Guenever his wife came and met\nhim, and he was nobly received of all his commons in every city\nand burgh, and great gifts presented to him at his home-coming to\nwelcome him with.\nThus endeth the fifth book of the conquest that King Arthur\nhad against Lucius the Emperor of Rome, and here\nfolloweth the sixth book, which is of Sir Launcelot\ndu Lake.","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK V CHAPTER XII","type":"page"}