Le Morte Darthur / by Syr Thomas Malory ; the original edition of William Caxton now reprinted and edited with an introduction and glossary by H. Oskar Sommer ; with an essay on Malory's prose style by Andrew Lang

Capitulum x

SOo vpon a daye on the morne kynge Arthur and al his knyghtes departed / for theire kynge had taryed thre dayes to abyde his noble knyghtes / And soo whanne the kynge was ryden / sir launcelot and sire Lauayne made hem redy to ryde / and eyther of hem had whyte sheldes / and the reed sleue sir Launcelot lete cary with hym / and soo they tooke their leue at syr Bernard the old baron / and att his doughter the faire mayden of Astolat / And thenne they rode soo long til that they came to Camelot that tyme called wynchestre / and there was grete prees of kynges / dukes / Erles / and barons/ and many noble knyghtes / But there sir launcelot was lodged pryuely by the meanes of sir lauayne with a ryche burgeis that no man in that toune was ware what they were / & soo they reposed them there til oure lady day assumpcyon as the grete feest sholde be / Soo thenne trumpets blewe vnto the felde / and kynge Arthur was sette on hyghe vpon a skafhold to beholde who dyd best / But as the Frensshe book saith / the kynge wold not suffer syre Gawayn to goo from hym / for neuer had sir Gawayn the better and sire launcelot were in the felde / & many tymes was sir Gawayn rebuked whan laūcelot cam in to ony Iustes desguysed / Thenne som of the kynges as kynge Anguysshe of Irland and the kynge of Scottes were that tyme torned vpon the syde of kynge Arthur /

¶ And

[leaf 371v] thenne on the other party was the kynge of Northgalys / and the kynge with the honderd knyghtes / and the kynge of Northumberland / and syre Galahad the haut prynce / But these thre kynges and this duke were passyng weyke to holde ageynst kynge Arthurs party / for with hym were the noblest knyghtes of the world / Soo thenne they withdrewe hem eyther party from other / and euery man made hym redy in his best maner to doo what he myghte /

¶ Thenne syre Launcelot made hym redy / and putte the reed sleue vpon his hede / and fastned it fast / and soo syre launcelot and syre Lauayne departed out of wynchestre pryuely / and rode vntyl a lytel leuyd wood / behynde the party that held ageynst kyng Arthurs party / and there they helde them stylle tyl the partyes smote to gyders / & thenne cam in the kynge of Scottes and the kyng of Irland on Arthurs party / and ageynst them came the kynge of Northumberland / and the kynge with the honderd knyghtes smote doun the kynge of Northumberland / and the kynge with the honderd knyghtes smote doune kynge Anguysshe of Irland / Thenne syre Palomydes that was on Arthurs party encountred with syre Galahad / and eyther of hem smote doune other / and eyther party halpe their lordes on horsbak ageyne / Soo there began a stronge assaile vpon bothe partyes / And thenne came in syr Brandyles / syre Sagramor le desyrus / sire Dodynas le saueage / sir kay le seneschal / sir Gryflet le fyse de dieu / sir Mordred / sir Melyot de logrys / syr Ozanna le cure hardy / sir Safyr / sir Epynogrys / syr Galleron of Galway / Alle these xv knyghtes were knyghtes of the table round / Soo these with moo other came in to gyders / and bete on bak the kynge of Northumberland and the kynge of Northwalys / whan sir launcelot sawe this as he houed in a lytil leued woode / thenne he sayd vnto syre lauayn / see yonder is a company of good knyghtes / and they hold them to gyders as bores that were chauffed with dogges / that is trouthe said syre Lauayne