Bedivere - Geoffrey of Monmouth and Later Tradition

Geoffrey of Monmouth and Later Tradition

He is one of Arthur's loyal allies in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, and maintains this position in much later Arthurian literature. He helps Arthur and Kay fight the Giant of Mont Saint-Michel, and joins Arthur in his war against Emperor Lucius of Rome.

In several English versions of Arthur's death, including Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, the Alliterative Morte Arthure and the Stanzaic Morte Arthur, Bedivere and Arthur are among the few survivors of the Battle of Camlann.

After the battle, at the request of the mortally wounded king, Bedivere throws Excalibur back to the Lady of the Lake. However, he does this only after twice thinking the sword too valuable to Britain to throw into the water. When he reports that nothing in particular happened, King Arthur admonishes him, for Arthur knows that the mystical sword would create some supernatural event. Finally, Sir Bedivere casts the sword into the water, at which a hand arises and catches the sword mid-air, then sinks into the waters. Arthur is thus assured that the sword has been returned.

Upon the death of Arthur, Bedivere enters a hermitage, where he spends the remainder of his life (the same hermitage, led by the Mordred-ousted Bishop of Canterbury, that Lancelot and some of his kindred knights will resort to in their own penitence). It is implied that both King Arthur and Queen Guinevere lie beside each other in or near this hermitage.