Sir Gawain's Challenge
The king Arthur stories are my passion, have been for 30 years. I think it started with my mother reading them to me when I was very young.Then later I read the prince Valiant comics and that is when I became hooked on Gawain. For me he is the ultimate hero. He went against the wishes of his parents to serve his uncle were he could 
have been king of Lothian in his own right. As Arthur's nephew he held a high position in court and was known to be chivelrous. It is his end that had me in tears every time. When Lancelot was finally found out with Guinevere, Arthur had to sentence his wife to death. He asked Gawain to escort her to her death, but he could not do it and asked his brothers Gareth and Gaheris to do it. Lancelot rode in to save his love and in the confusion he killed the Orkney brothers. Filled with guilt and hatred Gawain urged Arthur to sail for France and to confront Lancelot. Arthur did so and every day Gawain called Lancelot out to fight him. The equally guilt ridden Lancelot refused. Bur finally they fought and Lancelot wounded Gawain. Then word came that his youngest brother [halfbrother] had betrayed Arthur and grabbed the crown. Gawain realised he had been played by his halfbrother who had used Gawain's grief to get Arthur to leave. They hurried back to England were the already wounded Gawain was killed when they landed at Dover.
With his dying breath he forgave Lancelot.
Gawain had long been the chief knight in the Arthurian legends, the old Welsh ones. But when christianity became the chief religion, the figure of Lancelot was invented and surpassed Gawain. He had been the ultimate pagan knight and as the priests did not like this a campaign was started blacken his names. In more and more romances he was the reckless womanizing bonne vivant. And it was not until much later that he began to take his rightful place in literature again. T.H. White was on
e of the first to picture him favorable in the Once and future king. Later a wonderful trilogy by Gillian Bradshaw followed and I now I have been able to lay my hands on Gawain's challenge by Meredith Lahmann. She pictures Gawain as a christian knight, but I can live with that because she gets everything else rights. From the page jumps a man of flesh in blood with his flaws and his greatness and I just cannot put it down. I was very glad to find that she has written another book as well, which I have ordered now and I hope she will continue the story.
It makes me want to reread my own story about Gawain. I started to write it when I was about 18 and I wrote it in Dutch. It should be completely rewritten but I still like my own basic idea, and who knows maybe one day I will do that.
have been king of Lothian in his own right. As Arthur's nephew he held a high position in court and was known to be chivelrous. It is his end that had me in tears every time. When Lancelot was finally found out with Guinevere, Arthur had to sentence his wife to death. He asked Gawain to escort her to her death, but he could not do it and asked his brothers Gareth and Gaheris to do it. Lancelot rode in to save his love and in the confusion he killed the Orkney brothers. Filled with guilt and hatred Gawain urged Arthur to sail for France and to confront Lancelot. Arthur did so and every day Gawain called Lancelot out to fight him. The equally guilt ridden Lancelot refused. Bur finally they fought and Lancelot wounded Gawain. Then word came that his youngest brother [halfbrother] had betrayed Arthur and grabbed the crown. Gawain realised he had been played by his halfbrother who had used Gawain's grief to get Arthur to leave. They hurried back to England were the already wounded Gawain was killed when they landed at Dover.
With his dying breath he forgave Lancelot.Gawain had long been the chief knight in the Arthurian legends, the old Welsh ones. But when christianity became the chief religion, the figure of Lancelot was invented and surpassed Gawain. He had been the ultimate pagan knight and as the priests did not like this a campaign was started blacken his names. In more and more romances he was the reckless womanizing bonne vivant. And it was not until much later that he began to take his rightful place in literature again. T.H. White was on
e of the first to picture him favorable in the Once and future king. Later a wonderful trilogy by Gillian Bradshaw followed and I now I have been able to lay my hands on Gawain's challenge by Meredith Lahmann. She pictures Gawain as a christian knight, but I can live with that because she gets everything else rights. From the page jumps a man of flesh in blood with his flaws and his greatness and I just cannot put it down. I was very glad to find that she has written another book as well, which I have ordered now and I hope she will continue the story.It makes me want to reread my own story about Gawain. I started to write it when I was about 18 and I wrote it in Dutch. It should be completely rewritten but I still like my own basic idea, and who knows maybe one day I will do that.
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