{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart499.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart499.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart499.htm","text":"CHAPTER X\nHow Sir Launcelot came to the hermitage where the Archbishop\nof Canterbury was, and how he took the habit on\nhim\nBUT sithen I find you thus disposed, I ensure you faithfully,\nI will ever take me to penance, and pray while my life\nlasteth, if I may find any hermit, either gray or white, that\nwill receive me. Wherefore, madam, I pray you kiss me\nand never no more. Nay, said the queen, that shall I\nnever do, but abstain you from such works: and they\ndeparted. But there was never so hard an hearted man\nbut he would have wept to see the dolour that they made;\nfor there was lamentation as they had been stung with\nspears; and many times they swooned, and the ladies bare\nthe queen to her chamber.\nAnd Sir Launcelot awoke, and went and took his horse,\nand rode all that day and all night in a forest, weeping.\nAnd at the last he was ware of an hermitage and a chapel\nstood betwixt two cliffs; and then he heard a little bell\nring to mass, and thither he rode and alighted, and tied his\nhorse to the gate, and heard mass. And he that sang\nmass was the Bishop of Canterbury. Both the Bishop and\nSir Bedivere knew Sir Launcelot, and they spake together\nafter mass. But when Sir Bedivere had told his tale all\nwhole, Sir Launcelot's heart almost brast for sorrow, and\nSir Launcelot threw his arms abroad, and said: Alas, who\nmay trust this world. And then he kneeled down on his\nknee, and prayed the Bishop to shrive him and assoil him.\nAnd then he besought the Bishop that he might be his\nbrother. Then the Bishop said: I will gladly; and there\nhe put an habit upon Sir Launcelot, and there he served God\nday and night with prayers and fastings.\nThus the great host abode at Dover. And then Sir\nLionel took fifteen lords with him, and rode to London to\nseek Sir Launcelot; and there Sir Lionel was slain and\nmany of his lords. Then Sir Bors de Ganis made the\ngreat host for to go home again; and Sir Bors, Sir Ector\nde Maris, Sir Blamore, Sir Bleoberis, with more other of\nSir Launcelot's kin, took on them to ride all England\noverthwart and endlong, to seek Sir Launcelot. So Sir\nBors by fortune rode so long till he came to the same\nchapel where Sir Launcelot was; and so Sir Bors heard a\nlittle bell knell, that rang to mass; and there he alighted\nand heard mass. And when mass was done, the Bishop\nSir Launcelot, and Sir Bedivere, came to Sir Bors. And\nwhen Sir Bors saw Sir Launcelot in that manner clothing,\nthen he prayed the Bishop that he might be in the same\nsuit. And so there was an habit put upon him, and there\nhe lived in prayers and fasting. And within half a year,\nthere was come Sir Galihud, Sir Galihodin, Sir Blamore, Sir\nBleoberis, Sir Villiars, Sir Clarras, and Sir Gahalantine. So\nall these seven noble knights there abode still. And when\nthey saw Sir Launcelot had taken him to such perfection,\nthey had no lust to depart, but took such an habit as he\nhad.\nThus they endured in great penance six year; and then\nSir Launcelot took the habit of priesthood of the Bishop,\nand a twelvemonth he sang mass. And there was none\nof these other knights but they read in books, and holp\nfor to sing mass, and rang bells, and did bodily all manner\nof service. And so their horses went where they would,\nfor they took no regard of no worldly riches. For when\nthey saw Sir Launcelot endure such penance, in prayers, and\nfastings, they took no force what pain they endured, for to\nsee the noblest knight of the world take such abstinence\nthat he waxed full lean. And thus upon a night, there\ncame a vision to Sir Launcelot, and charged him, in remission\nof his sins, to haste him unto Almesbury: And by\nthen thou come there, thou shalt find Queen Guenever\ndead. And therefore take thy fellows with thee, and\npurvey them of an horse bier, and fetch thou the corpse of\nher, and bury her by her husband, the noble King Arthur.\nSo this avision came to Sir Launcelot thrice in one\nnight.","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK XXI CHAPTER X","type":"page"}