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Week 12 Reading: A Lady Knight




Hi! This week I chose to read the “Fairie Queen: Britomart Unit” upon the suggestion of Laura, our professor, and I was not disappointed! This unit is about the female knight Britomart. In the story she has set out to find another knight that she saw in a mirror that Merlin gave her father. On the way, she runs into Prince Arthur and Sir Guyon. I just so happen to be writing my storybook about Merlin from the King Arthur legends, hence the reading suggestion from Laura. I loved the story over all and can’t wait to read the next half of the unit. Until then, here are some of the notes I took over the first half:

How Sir Guyon Met a Champion Mightier than Himself
  • Arthur and Guyon ridding around “to relieve the weak and oppressed, and to recover right for those who had suffered wrong”
  • Out in a field some knight comes riding towards them
    • Shield golden with lion on it
  •  Guyon wanted to have the honor to joist the approaching knight
    •  This is apparently not out of malice, but just what knights do to test their strength and “manliness”
  •  He gets unseated, and is ashamed, but would have been more ashamed if he knew that the knight was actually Princes Britomart, a “maiden”
    • Britomart has left the court of her father to seek out the knight she saw in a mirror that merlin had given to her father. She is attended by a squire that is actually her old nurse, Glauce
  • He wants to go again but Arthur and Guyon’s attendant, Black Palmer, advise him otherwise because Britomart’s spear is enchanted so he can never win
  • In the end, they all become friends and Britomart travels with them
  • They are traveling through a forest of big scary things when they see something flash out of a bush
How Britomart Fought with Six Knights

  • A white pony is what came rushing out of the bush
  • Whoever Florimell is, was riding the white pony, both of them looking beautiful and well dressed
  • She was scared of something and rode past them very quick
  • Then as the men gawked at her ridding away, a scary “woodman” with a “sharp boar-spear” bursts out of the same bush after her.
  • The men chased after the pair trying to rescue Florimell
  • Britomart, did not care a bit about the chase, waited a while to see if they came back and when they didn’t, she continued on instead
  • She finds a castle, in front of which there is a six-on-one-knight-fight happening, but this is not the friendly kind
  • The one was injured and weary but fought like a champ
  • I guess Britomart cares more about this dude than Florimell, or maybe she figured Arthur and Guyon could handle that one on their own, but either way she decides to rescue this poor knight from the six others attacking him
  • She tells the six to stop, they don’t, so she breaks up the fight and starts to speak to them diplomatically about what is going on (you go girl!)
  • Apparently the six knights attacked the one because their “lady” who lives in the castle has made it a law that any knight riding past must enter her service if they do not have a lady or if they do, giver her up or fight these six jerks to prove that his own lady is fairer than theirs. So that is why the one is fighting. He has a lady and doesn’t want to give her up.
  • Britomart asks what happens if someone refuses and then defeats the six. Hilariously, one would win great honor… and “the hand of our lady.” The same one that the one is refusing in the first place…
  • Britomart says nope to all of that and says that she will revenge the wrong that has been done to the one knight that had to fight them all
  • They don’t fight though, because the six see they can’t win, so Britomart is told to enter the castle and claim her prize, the Lady. The six have also pledged themselves to Britomart as liegemen
  • How it Fared with Britomart in Castle Joyous
  • The castle where the lady lives is “Castle Joyous” and her name is “the Lady of Delight”
  • The castle is decorated with such lavishness that is disgusting to Britomart and the knight
  • The Lady of Delight is beautiful but “neither gentle nor modest and never hesitated to gratify her own desires at any cost”
  • The Lady likes Britomart and wants him/her to be in her service so they have a fancy dinner and the Lady tries to play nice
  • After dinner The Lady wants Britomart to take off the armor and play some games but that will reveal that Britomart isn’t a man, so she refuses
  • After dinner they all dance and have fun, while the Lady of Delight (Malecasta is her real name) plots to detain Britomart by any means
  • Malecasta goes into Britomart’s room while she is sleeping (without armor) and shouts for the six knights, the six come as well as the one and they all have a big fight, Britomart and the one against the six
  • Britomart and the one win and leave the castle
Bibliography 


Photo Credits 
Eugène Delacroix [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons
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