In this chapter, we once again see Tristram’s former French tutor and current servant Gouvernail, who apparently has been around despite not being mentioned since Chapter 32 of Book IX, which you may (but probably don’t) remember as ‘just before … Continue reading →
For no clear reason, Tristram bugs out in the middle of the tournament. Launcelot had been watching him, but boom, loses track. Sir Dinadan and Gouvernail go too, but no one cares. Dame Bragwaine had been chilling with Guenever, telling … Continue reading →
Tristram, having ditched Kay and Sagramore and Gawaine, chills at the well. He washes his face, he lies down, he relaxes. Just as he dozes off, along comes Dame Bragwaine! She’s the lovely Isoud’s Irish handmaiden/henchwoman, you remember her. She’s … Continue reading →
Tristram and Lamorak meet back up at the forester and collect Kehdyius, and then the three of them ride back to the ship where they’d gotten wrecked back in the first place, and meet the folks they left there, Gouvernail … Continue reading →
Sir Tristram! The jerk! We last saw him married to Isoud the White and ruling the kingdom of Brittany. As the curtain parts on Book IX proper, he receives a series of letters from the lovely Isoud in Cornwall. “Darling … Continue reading →
Howel, King of Brittany, turns out to have a problem. This one earl, Grip, has been making trouble for him: refusing taxes, assaulting officers, laying siege to Howel’s house, that kind of thing. As you may recall from Book V, … Continue reading →
Malory’s a little all over the place today, folks. After the literal cliffhanger of the previous entry, this chapter of the story drifts into out-and-out surrealism. For starters, you’ve got Gouvernail (Tristram’s French tutor cum manservant) and his two henchmen … Continue reading →
Eventually Tristram finds out that the lovely Isoud was abducted, more or less, by Sir Palamides. Sort of she was abducted, sort of Mark gave her away… Malory phrases it as she “was gone with” him, which is a decent … Continue reading →
Once the partying and charm offensive die down, everyone pretty much assumes that Sir Tristram and the lovely Isoud will be wed. Certainly it’s what Queen Isoud and King Anguish expect. But Tristram keeps failing to ask for her hand, … Continue reading →
Cut to: Tristram looking down on two likely knights, is how Malory phrases it. He’s caught up to the troublemakers, Sir Lusty and Sir Thug. He gears up to give them what-for! Gouvernail, Tristram’s valet/Latin tutor/squire, frets. “Sir, sir, … Continue reading →
