Chivalry Reborn: The Truth Behind the Legend of the Green Knight

The Green Knight legend, immortalised in the fourteenth century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, is one of the most captivating tales in Arthurian lore. Written by an anonymous author known as the ‘Pearl Poet’ or ‘Gawain Poet,’ this masterpiece of Middle English literature survives in a single manuscript alongside other works attributed to the same writer. Composed during the reign of Richard II, the poem reflects the chivalric ideals and courtly culture of late medieval England, weaving a complex story that has fascinated readers for centuries.

Yet the true story of the Green Knight is shrouded in myth and mystery. Who wrote it, and why? This time-trip back to the Middle Ages will attempt to shed some light on the astonishing tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

From the famous tales of the quest for the Holy Grail and the story of Excalibur, the Lady in the Lake and the Sword in the Stone, to the tragic love story between Queen Guinivere and Sir Lancelot, the tales of Arthurian legend are famous the world over and have been told and retold for centuries. While the story of the Green Knight may not be as well-known, it’s no less remarkable, and deserves its place in the canon of English literature.

In the tale of the Green Knight, real history becomes intertwined with myth, legend and folklore. The Green Knight character has roots in both Celtic mythology and the broader Arthurian tradition known as the Matter of Britain. While the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the most famous iteration, other versions of the Green Knight appear in later medieval works such as The Greene Knight and the ballad King Arthur and King Cornwall. Each version adds to the story of this enigmatic figure, blending elements of the supernatural with the ideals of knightly virtue and courtly behaviour.

The story itself appears to begin in the late fourteenth century, some time around 1375, and focuses on the trials and tribulations of Sir Gawain, one of the legendary Knights of the Round Table.

Sir Gawain was a prominent character in Arthurian legend, often depicted as King Arthur’s nephew and one of the most esteemed Knights of the Round Table. Celebrated as courteous, chivalrous, and loyal, as well as for being a formidable warrior, his lineage varies across different accounts, but he’s commonly described as the son of King Lot of Lothian and one of Arthur’s sisters.

Like the long-standing debate over who really wrote Shakespeare’s plays, the identity of the author behind Sir Gawain and the Green Knight remains a centuries-old literary mystery that continues to puzzle, perplex, baffle and befuddle historians and scholars.

The poem is preserved in a single manuscript known as the Cotton Nero A.x., housed in the British Library. This manuscript, often referred to as the Pearl Manuscript, also contains three other Middle English poems – Pearl, Cleanness, and Patience – all attributed to the same anonymous author, commonly called the ‘Pearl Poet’ or ‘Gawain Poet’.

Despite years of research, the author of the poem remains unknown, though several theories have been proposed. One prominent candidate is John Massey of Cotton, Cheshire, due to his connection to the dialect region of the poem and stylistic similarities with another work, St. Erkenwald. However, this attribution is a topic of much debate. Another theory suggests it may have been written by Sir John Stanley, a Knight of the Garter, due to his familiarity with the subjects of hunting and armoury described in the text.

It’s likely he or she was a contemporary of medieval writers including Geoffrey Chaucer, John Gower and William Langland, and the dialect is fairly well localised to the areas of northwest Staffordshire, northeast Shropshire and southeast Cheshire.

Ultimately, most scholars agree that the writer’s identity is likely to remain uncertain, but their work reveals a person deeply knowledgeable about theology, French romance literature, and life in medieval England’s West Midlands.

CS Lewis, the author of The Chronicles of Narnia said that the Green Knight character was ‘as vivid and concrete as any image in literature’, and JRR Tolkein said of the author in 1925, ‘He was a man of serious and devout mind, though not without humour…his home was in the West Midlands of England, so much his language shows, and his metre, and his scenery.’

The true story of the Green Knight is not only a tale that has endured over centuries, it’s also renowned for the technical brilliance of the writing itself.

Written in alliterative verse, the poem consists of 2,530 lines arranged in 101 stanzas, each ending with a unique rhyming section called the ‘bob and wheel’ that lends a musical quality to the poem. These poetic devices combine with incredibly detailed descriptions, a staggering depth of vocabulary (including words of Scandinavian origin from the northwest of England), and rich symbolism to create a tapestry of sound and imagery that immerses readers in Gawain’s emotional and physical trials. The meticulous craftsmanship of the verse has long intrigued scholars and lovers of literature, cementing the work’s status as a crowning achievement of medieval poetry.

At its core, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight tells the story of a mysterious green-skinned knight who interrupts King Arthur’s New Year’s feast at Camelot with a peculiar challenge. He offers to allow any knight to strike him with an axe, provided he can return the blow a year later. Sir Gawain, Arthur’s nephew, accepts the challenge, beheading the Green Knight, who promptly picks up his head and reminds Gawain of their agreement. What follows is a tale of honour, temptation, and moral examination as Gawain embarks on a perilous journey defined by tests of character, temptation, and bravery.

A year later, Gawain journeys to find the Green Chapel, encountering various challenges along the way, which are alluded to, but not explicitly described. He stays at a castle where the lord – named Bertilak de Hautdesert – proposes a game. The lord goes hunting every day and promises to give Gawain whatever he catches, on the proviso that Gawain does the same. While the lord hunts, his wife attempts to seduce Gawain. He resists her advances but accepts a green and gold sash from her which was said to protect the wearer from harm. Gawain fails to exchange this gift, breaking his agreement with the lord.

The following day, Gawain meets the Green Knight and bravely bares his neck for the return blow. The Knight feints twice before delivering a small nick on the third swing. It’s then revealed that the Green Knight is actually the lord of the castle, magically transformed. The nick was punishment for Gawain’s dishonesty about the sash.

Ashamed of his moral failing, Gawain confesses and offers to return the sash. The Green Knight, however, absolves him, praising Gawain as the most honorable of Arthur’s knights. Gawain returns to Camelot, wearing the sash and the scar on his neck as symbols of his imperfection.

Despite emerging from the distant Middle Ages, the Green Knight’s story has become one of the most fascinating Arthurian tales because it grapples with timeless concepts, including the fragility of honour, the complexities of personal virtue, and the fact that actions have consequences. The evolving figure of the Green Knight – mysterious, challenging, and deeply symbolic – continues to invite fresh interpretations, inspiring new adaptations in film, literature, and art.