King Arthur and the Black Knight: A Challenge No King Could Ignore

The Story of King Arthur and His Knights — Episode 5

A Court in the Forest

Spring had come to Britain, and King Arthur was traveling through the Forest of Usk with his company of knights.

The young king was no longer the unknown squire who had drawn the sword from the anvil. He was now surrounded by men whose names would become famous throughout the stories of chivalry: Sir Gawaine, Sir Kay, Sir Pellias, Sir Bedevere, and others who had gathered around Arthur’s court.

Yet the business of a king was not always conducted in a castle or beneath a royal canopy.

Sometimes it came riding unexpectedly out of the forest.

On this pleasant day, while Arthur rested beneath the trees and his knights conversed together, a sudden disturbance arose among the attendants.

A knight was approaching on horseback, so gravely wounded that he could scarcely remain in his saddle. His clothing, once white and blue, was stained with blood. A young, golden-haired page supported him as they came forward.

Arthur immediately rose from his rest.

“Alas! What doleful spectacle is that which I behold?” he cried. He ordered his knights to bring assistance to the stranger and directed that the young page be brought before him.

The wounded knight was carried to the royal pavilion, where the king’s physician attended him. But his injuries were mortal, and there was little hope that he would survive.

Arthur turned to the page.

“Who is thy master, and how came he in such a sad and pitiable condition?”

The youth explained that his master was Sir Myles of the White Fountain, a knight of considerable estate who had gone forth in search of adventure.

Sir Myles had already overcome six knights during his travels. Then, that very morning, he had encountered three beautiful damsels near a castle in a secluded valley. They directed him toward a stone bridge beyond which stood a lonely fortress.

There he had discovered a strange sight.

An apple tree stood near the castle, its branches laden with the shields of defeated knights. Upon the bridge hung a shield entirely black, beside which was a brass hammer. Beneath the shield appeared a warning:

Whoso Smiteth This Shield

Doeth So At His Peril.

Sir Myles, being a knight who had come in search of adventure, took up the hammer and struck the shield.

The sound rang out across the bridge.

Immediately the gates of the castle opened, and a knight clad from head to foot in black armor rode forth.

The Black Knight declared that Sir Myles had challenged him and that he would take his shield and hang it upon the tree with the others.

Sir Myles refused to surrender without a fight.

The two knights charged. Sir Myles’s spear shattered, but the Black Knight’s weapon held firm and pierced him through his shield and into his side. Sir Myles fell with his horse, grievously wounded.

The Black Knight took his shield and hung it among the others. Then he rode back into his castle, leaving his defeated opponent upon the ground.

It was this cruelty that most disturbed King Arthur.

“By the glory of Paradise!” he exclaimed. He declared it a disgrace that a knight should leave a fallen opponent without even inquiring into his injuries, and a greater disgrace still to take the shield of a man who had fought honorably.

The knights of Arthur’s court agreed with their king.

But one young man was not content merely to agree.

The Young Knight’s Request

An esquire named Griflet came forward and knelt before Arthur.

“I crave a boon of thee, my lord King!”

Arthur, who loved the young man, promised to hear his request.

Griflet asked to be made a knight immediately, so that he might ride forth and punish the Black Knight for his conduct.

Arthur hesitated.

Griflet had not yet been tested in battle. The Black Knight, by contrast, had defeated so many experienced warriors that the shields of his victims filled the branches of an entire tree.

The king warned the young man that he was undertaking an exceedingly dangerous adventure. He urged him to ask for something else.

But Griflet persisted.

He had asked for his boon, and Arthur had promised it.

At last the king consented. That night Griflet kept watch over his armor in a chapel in the forest. In the morning, Arthur himself made him a knight, fastening the golden spurs to his heels.

It was a great honor, and Griflet rode away rejoicing.

The young man had courage. What he lacked was experience.

By afternoon, he had found the Black Knight’s castle and challenged its master. The Black Knight even warned him that he was too young and inexperienced to undertake such a contest.

Griflet refused to withdraw.

The battle was brief. His spear broke, and the Black Knight’s weapon pierced his side. Yet, unlike his treatment of Sir Myles, the victor lifted Griflet back upon his horse and directed him toward the road.

When Griflet returned to Arthur’s company, he was badly wounded, his new armor broken and stained with blood.

The king was stricken with sorrow.

He had made Griflet a knight, and now the young man lay suffering because of the very adventure he had undertaken at Arthur’s permission.

The Black Knight had defeated another opponent. His tree had gained another shield.

But Arthur’s response would be different.

The King Takes Up the Challenge

Arthur was deeply troubled, and his concern for Griflet soon became a determination to act.

He would go himself.

His knights attempted to dissuade him. The Black Knight was no ordinary opponent, and the king could not lightly risk his life. But Arthur had made up his mind.

He would meet the champion and endeavor to recover the shields of the men he had defeated.

The king spent the evening in restless anticipation. He questioned Griflet closely about the road through the forest and the place where the castle stood.

At last morning came.

As the birds began to sing and the eastern sky brightened, Arthur summoned his attendants. They helped him put on his armor, and he mounted a milk-white warhorse.

Then he rode out alone upon the adventure.

The spring morning was beautiful. Dew glittered upon the grass, flowers scented the air, and the birds filled the forest with their songs. Arthur rode through this peaceful landscape with a joyful heart, singing as he went.

But the pleasant road led toward a dangerous encounter.

By midday he reached a lovely valley where a stream ran bright as silver among countless flowers. In the midst of the valley stood a handsome castle, and upon its green lawn three beautiful damsels played with a golden ball.

They invited the handsome stranger to remain with them for a few days, to feast and enjoy their company.

Arthur thanked them courteously but declined.

He was seeking the Black Knight.

The damsels warned him that two knights had already suffered grievously in the attempt to overcome this champion. Nevertheless, they provided him with food and drink before showing him the path that led onward into the forest.

Arthur continued his journey.

Before long, he encountered three men threatening an elderly traveler. The king charged to the stranger’s defense and drove the attackers away.

Only afterward did he discover that the man he had rescued was Merlin himself.

The great enchanter told Arthur that a far greater danger lay ahead of him. He offered to accompany the king on his quest.

Arthur accepted.

Together, the king and the enchanter rode deeper into the forest.

The Tree of Shields

At last they reached a dark and rocky glen. A violent stream rushed beneath a stone bridge, and beyond it stood a forbidding castle built against the rocks.

There was the black shield.

There was the brass hammer.

And beyond the bridge stood the apple tree, bearing the shields of the knights whom the Black Knight had defeated.

Arthur looked upon them with admiration for the prowess of the unknown champion.

Merlin warned him that his own shield might soon hang among them.

Arthur answered that the outcome must rest with Heaven. He had come not merely to win personal glory, but to redeem the shields of the knights who had fallen before him.

He rode onto the bridge and seized the hammer.

With one mighty blow, he struck the black shield.

The sound echoed from the castle walls and rolled through the forest.

The portcullis descended. The gates opened. A huge knight in black armor emerged upon his darkly caparisoned horse and rode toward the bridge.

He had never yet been defeated.

Arthur sat firm in his saddle and prepared to meet him.

The Black Knight challenged him to surrender his shield.

Arthur refused.

The two champions withdrew to opposite ends of the level meadow. Their horses pawed the earth. Their spears were lowered.

Then they charged.

And so the young king faced the greatest test of his courage yet.

“To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield” - Alfred Lord Tennyson (Ulysses)

To be continued next Friday: Arthur and the Black Knight — a battle that will leave the king fighting for his life and set him upon the path to the sword Excalibur.

A note on the story: Howard Pyle’s The Story of King Arthur and His Knights is our principal guide for this episode. Pyle gives the young king a particularly revealing first test: Arthur must decide whether kingship means protecting his own safety or accepting danger on behalf of others. The next episode will carry us into the battle itself.