Elaine of Astolat

Many of us know the tragic story of the maiden
who died of the love for Sir Lancelot.
But how many of us know who she really was,
below you will find information about who really
was The Lady of Shalott.


She was often identified simply as the
demoiselle d' escalot, Fair maid of Astolat,
or the woman who falls in love with Lancelot
and dies of grief when he doesn't reciprocate.
It was Sir Thomas Malory who named her Elaine
and gave her home as Astolat. Tennyson follows
Malory and in the "Idylls of the King", refers to her
as "the lily maid of Astolat" but also adopts her
name to create "The Lady of Shalott," who dies
when "she look'd down to Camelot." But later
we meet Elaine of Astolat, whose story roughly
parallels the traditional account of her love for
Lancelot, her death as a result of unrequited love,
and the boat bearing her body to court. Many
medieval writers told different versions of the
same story. In Mort Artu, it is said that she tries
to trick Sir Lancelot into wearing her sleeve in
the tournament, and boldly declares her love.
This version of the story is wholly favorable
to Lancelot - she is wilful, stubborn and he
could not have helped her. In Morte Arthur it
claims that Lancelot perceives that the maid has
fallen in love with him and follows her to her
chamber to comfort her, where he agrees to wear
the sleeve to the tournament as sort of a consolation
prize. In Malory's it claims that Lancelot is blind
to Elaine's passion and only agrees to wear the
sleeve only because he thinks it will enable him
to fool his brothers and cousins more effectively
in the tournament. Malory's Elaine is a real,
flesh and blood woman, who makes a marvelous,
passionate declaration of love on her deathbed to
a priest ("Why should I leave such thoughts?
Am I not an earthly woman?") and her farewell
letter only asks Lancelot to pray for her, becoming
the acknowledgment of an equal rather than
the complaint of a victim.

Reserched by: Totoro
Sources: Idylls of the King by: Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Chronicles of King Arthur by: Andrea Hopkins
The New Arthurian Encyclopedia Edited by: Norris J. Lacy


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