Sir Bedivere

Lady of the Lake  Guinevere  Round Table  Thomas Malory  King Arthur  King Claudius  Lancelot of the Lake  Camelot  Grail Guardians

In Arthurian legends, Sir Bedivere (or in Welsh: Bedwyr; and in French: Bédoier, also spelt Bedevere) is the Knight of the Round Table who returns King Arthur's sword Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake.   Sir Bedivere serves as King Arthur's marshal and is frequently associated with Sir Kay. Sir Lucan is his brother, Sir Griflet is his cousin. The Welsh give him a son and daughter named Amren and Eneuawc.   Sir Bedivere, along with Sir Kay and Sir Gawain, is one of the earliest characters associated with King Arthur. His name in Welsh is Bedwyr Bedrydant; meaning, Bedivere of the Perfect Sinews. He is described as one-handed, yet still an excellent warrior.   He and Sir Kay or Cai are two of the six knights chosen to accompany Culhwch on his quest in the Mabinogion romance Culhwch and Olwen and it was said:   "and although he was one-handed no three warriors drew blood in the same field faster than he".   In the Life of St. Cadoc (c.1100), he was alongside King Arthur and Sir Kay or Cai in dealing with King Gwynllyw of Gwynllwg's abduction of St. Gwladys from her father's court in Brycheiniog. Because Bedwyr appears in the oldest Arthurian material, he might have been a real person. Sir Bedivere is one of King Arthur's loyal allies in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, and maintains this position in much later Arthurian literature. He helps King Arthur and Sir Kay fight the Giant of Mont St. Michel, and joins King Arthur in his war against Emperor Lucius of Rome.   In several English versions of King Arthur's death including Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur and the Alliterative Morte Arthure, Sir Bedivere and King Arthur are among the few survivors of the Battle of Camlann.   After the Battle of Camlann, at the request of the mortally wounded King Arthur, Sir Bedivere throws Excalibur back to the Lady of the Lake.   Sir Bedivere is reluctant to do this. King Arthur asks him three times; and on the third occasion he manages to obey his king.   Sir Bedivere then enters a hermitage where he spends the remainder of his life.   Dozmary Pool on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall is one the legendary Arthurian places which is said to be the Lake into which Sir Bedivere threw Excalibur.