The Sword and the Circle

The Sword and the Circle
First edition cover
Publication	1981
Length	Novel
Audience	Children
Illustrations	Shirley Felts

The Sword and the Circle: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is a novel for children published in 1981 by the Bodley Head, with decorations by Shirley Felts. It is the first part of a trilogy retelling the legends of King Arthur, followed by The Light Beyond the Forest (1979) and The Road to Camlann (1981). The three are often published together in an omnibus volume.

Plot

Vortigern, the usurper High King of Britain after the departure of Rome, retreats from the Saxon invaders into the Welsh mountains where he raises a strong tower which collapses each night. His druids advise him to sacrifice a boy whose father was not human, but the chosen victim Merlin tells him to dig under the foundation, where they find a red and a white dragon embodying the struggle of Britons and Saxons, and Merlin prophesies the defeat of Vortigern by the rightful princes Ambrosius and Utha and then vanishes. When Utha becomes king after the death of his brother and falls desperately in love with Igraine, the married Duchess of Cornwall, Merlin offers to bring him to her in the guise of her husband so that Utha's destined son may be conceived, but demands that the child be handed over to him at birth for safety's sake. Igraine's husband is killed in battle at the same hour that Utha visits her, and a few months later she remarries Utha. Igraine admits to him that she now knows her husband could not have fathered her unborn child, and Utha confesses that it was he. When the boy is born, Merlin takes him to be fostered far from the court by Sir Ector (1).

When Arthur is fifteen, Merlin and the Archbishop Dubricius summon the lords and knights of Britain to London to see a miracle: a sword in a stone in the churchyard which can only be pulled out by God's chosen High King. Looking for a sword for his foster-brother Sir Kay, Arthur absent-mindedly draws it. Merlin announces his parentage and after many demonstrations, the nobles accept him as their king (2). Arthur wins back the Kingdom of Logres from the Saxons and the rebel British kings. Arthur glimpses Guenever and is seduced by his half-sister Queen Margawse of Orkney, who bears him a son, Mordred, before revealing her kinship to Arthur. Arthur rides out to fight King Pellinore, a great knight who is killing challengers in single combat, and loses his sword before Merlin intervenes. Merlin takes him to the Lake of the Lordly Ones, where the Lady of the Lake gives him Excalibur, a sword in a magic scabbard (3).

Arthur puts down another rebellion, during which King Pellinore, hot on the trail of his questing beast, kills King Lot of Orkney. Arthur marries Guenever, whose dowry is the Round Table, and their wedding feast is interrupted by a white hart, a brachet, a pack of hounds, a maiden, and a knight who drags her off. Sir Gawain sees the white hart pulled down by the hounds and duels the hart's owner, accidentally killing his lady instead, whose corpse he is forced to carry back to Camelot. Sir Lamorack reclaims the white brachet from the knight who stole her and executes him for killing another knight. King Pellinore rescues the fairy maiden Nimue from the knight, but while in pursuit ignores another wounded knight and his lady who then die. Merlin leaves Arthur's court with Nimue, his beloved (4).

They visit Nimue's foster-son Lancelot of Benwick and send him to join Arthur, before Nimue puts Merlin into a magic sleep. Arthur's witch half-sister Morgan La Fay lures him into a dungeon which he can only escape by agreeing to fight a duel against her unsuspecting champion, while she tries to murder her husband. Her ruse is discovered and she is only able to throw away Arthur's protective scabbard and send him an exploding cloak before escaping never to return (5).

Lancelot comes to Camelot to receive his knighthood, and he and Queen Guenever fall in love at the first brush of their fingers. Questing for adventure, Lancelot's kinsmen are captured by Sir Tarquine while Lancelot receives a proposition from four queens, escaping with the help of a handmaiden for whose father he wins a tournament, then rescues the knights imprisoned by Sir Tarquine. He comes to the aid of Arthur's unvaliant brother Sir Kay and switches their armour, defeating four of their Round Table comrades in disguise. He ventures into the Chapel Perilous guarded by thirty dead knights to retrieve relics to heal a fellow knight, and rejects the offer of a sorceress to kill him and love him forever (6).

On New Year's Eve, a Green Knight on a green horse bursts into Arthur's hall and challenges any of his knights to strike him a blow and receive the same in return in a year and a day. He directs Sir Gawain to cut off his head, then walks out of the hall with it. Gawain spends the last three days of the next year in the castle of a Welsh knight with whom he makes a friendly bargain to exchange their day's findings; Gawain gives the knight the kisses his lady gave Gawain, but on the third day keeps back the magic girdle she gave him to protect him in his coming ordeal. In the Green Chapel on New Year's Day, the Green Knight purposely misses Gawain's neck twice before lightly grazing it. He reveals himself as Gawain's host and says that Gawain has passed his test of knighthood by not playing falsely with his wife, even if he did keep the girdle and receive his scratch for it (7).

An anonymous young man comes to court and Sir Kay the Seneschal gives him a humble place as a kitchen hand and the mocking name of Beaumains. Lady Linnet comes to beg for a champion to rescue her sister Lionese and is displeased to receive Beaumains as her volunteer. Beaumains unhorses Kay and is knighted by Lancelot, revealing himself as Gareth of Orkney, brother of Gawain. He defeats a series of colour-coded knights, forcing Linnet to treat him with grudging respect, and frees Lionese from the Red Knight's persecution. Gareth reveals himself at Arthur's court and marries Lionese, while Linnet marries his brother Gaheris (8).

Lancelot adventures into the Waste Land of Corbenic, home of the Holy Grail, and rescues the Maimed King's daughter Elaine from a magic bathtub. Elaine falls in love with him according to prophecy and sleeps with him in the guise of Guenever to conceive Galahad, the best knight in the world. Lancelot goes mad and runs into the wilderness for two years. After recovering he rejects Elaine again and explains himself to Guenever, and they finally become lovers. Elaine dies of grief and has her body sent to Camelot (9).

Sir Tristan comes to Camelot and tells the court how he defeated the champion of Ireland on behalf of his uncle King Marc of Cornwall, then sought the woman to whom a strand of red hair belonged for Marc to marry. In Ireland he killed a dragon and was awarded the hand of Princess Iseult, the lady of the stray hair, and despite falling in love was honour-bound to present her to Marc. When they could no longer keep apart and were caught together, Tristan saved himself and Iseult from execution and escaped into the wilderness for some years, until Marc discovered them and banished Tristan. A few years after becoming a knight of the Round Table, Tristan marries another Princess Iseult of Brittany, but is mortally wounded in battle. He summons Iseult of Cornwall, but his jealous wife tells him she is not coming and he dies of despair. Iseult of Cornwall dies of grief and King Marc buries them together (10).

A newcomer named Geraint escorts Guenever to the hunting and is insulted by a passing knight. He follows him to a tournament and is given shelter and equipment by the penniless deposed Duke Ynwl and his daughter Enid. He wins the tournament, sends the rude knight to apologise to the queen, reconciles the duke with his nephew, marries Enid, and returns to his home in Cornwall. His people and Enid grow concerned that he has gone soft by spending too much time with her, and Geraint, misunderstanding her words, also believes she loves another. In a rage, he drags her off on a quest, insisting she ride ahead and not speak to him. She disobeys to warn him of two, then three, then four hedge-knights lying in wait for them, but still he does not believe she loves him. They stay with an Earl who proposes to kill Geraint and abduct Enid, who pretends to cooperate and then reveals the plot to Geraint. Geraint fights apparently to the death and Enid vows to starve herself. Geraint revives in time to hear the Earl hit Enid for her loyalty, kills him, and effects their escape. Geraint becomes a knight of the Round Table (11).

A maiden comes to Arthur's Christmas court at Carlisle to beg succour for a captive held by the Knight of Tarn Wathelan. Arthur rides out to face him and finds himself in the grip of an unnatural, paralyzing fear, and is forced to ransom himself by discovering the answer to the riddle, What is it that all women most desire? On his return to Tarn Wathelan he encounters the knight's sister Ragnell, the hideous Loathely Lady, who offers him the correct answer, "her own way," in return for a favour: marriage to one of his knights. Gawain volunteers, even after seeing Ragnell, and in the privacy of their wedding chamber she is transformed into her true, beautiful form. But the spell is only half-broken by their marriage – she must remain hideous either by day or night, and gives Gawain the choice. He leaves the choice to Ragnell and thereby breaks the rest of the spell on her and her brother, and they live happily for seven years (12).

After King Pellinore and his son Lamorack die in a blood feud with the sons of King Lot, his Queen raises their son Percival in the wilderness, never seeing another human face, but one day he meets Sir Lancelot and resolves to become one of Arthur's knights. A churlish knight in golden armour steals the Round Table's drinking cup and Percival is given the quest of retrieving it. After killing the robber and receiving training from an old knight, Percival returns with the cup – reminding him strangely of another cup he can't quite remember – to join the Round Table. There he comes face to face with Gawain, Gaheris, Agravane, and Gareth, the sons of Lot, and extends his friendship to them instead of the blood feud. That evening, Arthur tells Lancelot that Merlin prophesied Percival's coming would herald the quest of the Holy Grail, the crowning glory of the Round Table and the Kingdom of Logres, after which they will decline into the Dark, and yet be remembered on the other side of it (13).

Chronology

• Circa 410 CE: Roman legions leave Britain, the Dark Ages begin (Author's Note)
• Reign of Constantine (1)
• Reign of Vortigern: invasion of Hengest and Horsa
• Three days after Vortigern meets Merlin, Ambrosius and Utha land in Britain
• Long period of fighting Saxons; Utha succeeds Ambrosius; more fighting
• Easter: Utha meets Igraine and Gorloise in London, follows her back to Cornwall
• Utha lays siege to Tintagel for 7 days; Gorloise dies and Utha begets Arthur
• Next day: Igraine learns of Gorloise's death
• Six months later: Igraine marries Utha
• Christmas time: Arthur is born and taken to Ector for fostering
• Two years later: Saxon wars recommence, Utha dies by poisoning (2)
• Christmas time, 15 years after Arthur's birth: the sword in the stone appears in London
• Candlemas Day: Archbishop Dubricius's tournament; Arthur pulls the sword from the stone
• Easter: Arthur pulls out the sword again
• Pentecost: Arthur pulls out the sword again, Merlin reveals his parentage, Arthur is crowned
• Three years later: Arthur has settled the Saxons and rebel kings, meets Guenever and Margawse (3)
• Soon after, summer time: Arthur and Sir Gryflet fight King Pellinore
• 3 days later: Arthur receives Excalibur from Nimue
• Nine months later: Mordred is born and Margawse reveals their kinship
• Next spring: King Rience and King Lot rebel again (4)
• Summer: King Pellinore kills King Lot in battle
• Summer, Arthur is 20: marriage arranged with Guenever
• Pentecost: Arthur and Guenever marry, establish the Round Table; Gawain and Lamorack are knighted; Quest of the White Hart, the Brachet, and the Maiden
• Next day: Gawain and Pellinore botch the rescue missions, Lamorack retrieves the brachet; Merlin departs
• Lancelot is 17: Merlin and Nimue send him to Camelot (5)
• Merlin goes to sleep under the tree; Arthur goes hunting with Morgan La Fay
• After three days: Morgan enchants Arthur, Accalon, and Uriens
• Next day: Arthur and Accalon fight
• Three days later: Accalon dies of his wounds; Morgan tries to kill Uriens
• Day after next: Morgan steals Excalibur's sheath and escapes
• Easter, Lancelot is 18: Lancelot and Lional arrive in Camelot and are knighted (6)
• Three days later: they set out on adventures
• Late summer: Lional and Ector meet Sir Tarquine, Lancelot abducted by the four queens
• Two days later: Lancelot escapes with King Bagdemagus's daughter
• Six days later: Lancelot wins the tournament for King Bagdemagus
• Days later, autumn: Lancelot defeats Tarquine and frees Gaheris, Lional, Ector, et al.
• Christmas time: Lancelot rescues Kay
• Next day: Lancelot unhorses Gawain, Ector, Uwaine, and Segramour (6)
• New Year's Eve: Gawain beheads the Green Knight (7)
• Late winter: Lancelot visits the Chapel Perilous (8)
• Easter, Lancelot is 19: he returns to Camelot
• Michaelmas: Gawain sets out to find the Green Chapel (8)
• Christmas Eve: he comes to Sir Birtilack's castle
• Four days later: Birtilak and Gawain agree to exchange whatever they gain each day
• New Year's Eve: Gawain keeps the magic girdle
• New Year's Day: Gawain meets the Green Knight
• Pentecost, 8 years or more since Gawain & Bros. left Orkney: Gareth is 17, arrives at Camelot (8)
• Next Pentecost: Linnet asks for help, Gareth is knighted, defeats the Black and Green Knights
• Next day: Gareth defeats the Blue Knight, reveals his identity
• Next day: Gareth defeats the Red Knight, meets Lionese, collapses
• Days later: Gareth, Lionese and Linnet return to Camelot
• Three days later: Gareth and Lionese marry
• Autumn: Linnet marries Gaheris; Lancelot meets Elaine the Lily and see sthe Grail (9)
• Several days later: Galahad is conceived; Lancelot goes mad
• Next autumn: Bors comes looking for Lancelot, meets Elaine and baby Galahad
• Another year goes by
• Next Candlemas: Lancelot returns to Corbenic Castle and recovers; his hair turns grey
• Two weeks later: Lancelot returns to Camelot
• Three days later: Lancelot and Guenever confess their love
• Late summer after next: Elaine dies
• Years go by; Gaheris and Agravane kill Pellinore and Lamorack (10)
• Hallowe'en: Tristan visits Camelot in the guise of a harper, joins the Round Table
• A few years later: Tristan and Iseult die in Brittany
• Years go by (11)
• Easter: Geraint comes to Caerleon
• Next day: Geraint and Guenever meet Sir Edern and Enid
• Next day: Geraint defeats Edern
• Next day: Edern, Geraint and Enid return to Caerleon
• Next day: Geraint and Enid marry
• Four days later: they return to Cornwall
• Summer: Geraint quarrels with Enid, sets out on the quest, kills nine hedge-knights
• Next day: they stay with the Earl
• Next day: they fight the Earl, return to court, and join the Round Table
• One Christmas: Arthur holds court at Carlisle, meets the Knight of Tarn Wathelan (12)
• New Year's Day: Arthur returns to Tarn Wathelan, meets the Loathely Lady
• Next day: Arthur returns to Carlisle, Gawain offer to marry Ragnell
• Next day: Gawain and Ragnell meet and marry; Gawain breaks the spell
• Seven years later: Ragnell vanishes
• Spring, 10 + years since Pellinore's death: Percival is 17; he meets Lancelot et al. (13)
• Five days later, Easter time: Percival comes to Caerleon, defeats the cup-stealing knight
• Summer: Percival trains with Sir Gonemanus
• Autumn: Percival returns to Arthur's court, makes peace with the Orkney brothers
• Less than a year later: the Quest for the Holy Grail begins (4)
• 250 years after the Saxon invasions: final defeat of the Britons (Author's note)

Characters

• Vortigern (1), usurper king of Britain, red-haired

• Constantine (1), murdered High King of Britain
• Hengest and Horsa (1), Saxon warchief brothers
• A princess of Demetia (1), Merlin's mother, descended from the Little Dark People
• Merlin (1), her son by a fallen angel, dark-haired and yellow-eyed
• A Druid (1), Merlin's tutor
• Ambrosius (1), Constantine's elder son
• Utha Pendragon (1), Constantine's younger son
• Gorloise (1), Duke of Cornwall
• Igraine (1), Duchess of Cornwall, Utha's Queen, descended from the Little Dark People
• Sir Brastius (1), one of Gorloise's household
• Arthur (1), son of Utha and Igraine, tall and fair-haired
• Sir Ector (1), Arthur's foster-father
• Margawse (2), Igraine and Gorloise's eldest daughter, strong-willed
• King Lot of Orkney (2), Margawse's husband, rebels against Arthur
• Elaine (2), Igraine and Gorloise's second daughter
• King Nantres of Garlot (2), Elaine's husband, rebels against Arthur
• Morgan La Fay (2), Igraine and Gorloise's third daughter, a magician
• King Uriens of Gore (2), Morgan's husband, rebels against Arthur
• Sir Kay (2), Arthur's foster-brother, touchy and bossy
• Dubricius (2), the Archbishop of London, a wise man
• King Ban of Benwick (3), ally of the Pendragons, Lancelot's father
• King Bors of Benwick (3), ally of the Pendragons
• King Anguish of Ireland (3), one of 11 rebel kings
• King Idris of Far Cornwall (3), one of 11 rebel kings
• King Leodegraunce of Camelaird (3), Arthur's vassal
• King Rience of North Wales (3), at war with Leodegraunce
• Guenever (3), Leodegraunce's daughter, black-haired and grey-eyed
• Cabal (3), Arthur's favourite hound
• Sir Gawain (3), Margawse and Lot's eldest son, red-haired, mercurial
• Mordred (3), Margawse's fifth son, with Arthur
• King Pellinore (3) of Wales, one of the world's best fighters
• Sir Gryflet (3) le Fise de Dieu, a young knight who challenges Pellinore
• Nimue (3), the Lady of the Lake, guardian of Excalibur, to whom Merlin entrusts Arthur's protection, Lancelot's erstwhile foster-mother
• Sir Ulpius (4), an older knight of the Round Table
• Sir Bleoberis (4), the standard-bearer, an older knight of the Round Table
• Sir Bedivere (4), a young knight of the Round Table
• Sir Lucan (4), a young knight of the Round Table
• Sir Lamorack (4), King Pellinore's bastard eldest son, of the Round Table
• Sir Gaheris (4), Gawain's younger brother and squire
• Sir Lancelot of the Lake (4), son of King Ban of Benwick, black-haired and grey-eyed and ugly
• Sir Percival (4), unborn younger son of King Pellinore
• Sir Abelleus (4), a knight of the side-board and a brachet-snatcher
• Sir Felot of Landluck (4), fought by Lamorack
• Sir Petipace of Winchelsea (4), fought by Lamorack
• Sir Meliot of Logure (4), Nimue's kinsman, a knight of the Round Table
• King Claudas (5), King Ban's old enemy
• Queen Elaine of Benwick (5), Lancelot's mother
• Starstrike (5), Lancelot's goshawk
• King Marc of Cornwall (5), Duke Gorloise's successor
• Sir Accalon of Gaul (5), Morgan's champion and Arthur's vassal
• Sir Damas (5), a dungeon-keeper
• Sir Ontzlake (5), Damas's brother
• Sir Uwaine (5), Morgan and Uriens's son
• Sir Lional (6), Lancelot's cousin, russet-haired
• Sir Carrados (6), a knight slain by Lancelot
• Sir Ector of the Marsh (6), Lancelot's half-brother
• Sir Tarquine (6), Carrados's brother, imprisoning all comers
• King Bagdemagus (6), father of a handmaiden of Morgan
• King of Northgalis (6), his opponent in a tournament
• Sir Segramour le Desirous (6), unhorsed by Lancelot
• Sir Gilbert the Bastard (6), slain by Sir Meliot
• Allewes (6), a sorceress seeking to entrap Lancelot
• Sir Agravane (7), younger brother of Gawain and Gaheris
• Sir Birtilack, the Green Knight (7), or the Knight of the Green Chapel
• Sir Bors (7), Sir Lional's brother
• Gringolet (7), Gawain's horse, roan
• Sir Gareth a.k.a. Beaumains (8), fourth son of Margawse and Lot, very tall, blond, blue-eyed
• Lady Linnet (8), a petitioner, blond, shrewish
• Lady Lionese (8), Linnet's elder sister, a damosel in distress
• the Red Knight of the Red Lands (8), distressing her, a catspaw of Morgan La Fay
• the Black Knight of the Black Lands (8), Beaumains's first test
• the Green Knight (8), the Black Knight's brother
• Sir Persant of Inde (8), the Blue Knight
• Elaine the Lily (9), King Pelles's daughter, a victim of Morgan La Fay, blond
• the Queen of Northgalis (9), another of Elaine's persecutors
• King Pelles of Corbenic (9), the Maimed King and the Grail Keeper
• Joseph of Arimathea (9), Pelles's ancestor, who brought the Holy Grail to Britain
• Dame Brissen (9), Elaine's nurse
• Galahad (9), Lancelot and Elaine's future son, the best knight in the world
• Sir Owain the Bastard (9), a friends of Bors
• Sir Tristan (10), prince of Lothian, a knight and harper, tall and dark
• Iseult (10), Tristan's love, Princess of Ireland and a healer, red-haired
• King Rivalin of Lothian (10), Tristan's widowed father
• the Queen of Lothian (10), Tristan's late mother, sister to Marc of Cornwall
• Sir Gorvenal (10), Tristan's tutor
• the Morholt (10), the Queen of Ireland's brother
• Brangian (10), Iseult's right hand maiden, black-haired
• Andret (10), nephew of King Marc
• King Hoel (10), of Less Britain
• Duke Jovelin (10), besieging Hoel
• Karherdin (10), King Hoel's son
• Iseult of the White Hands (10), Hoel's daughter
• Geraint (11), son of Erbin, red-haired and hasty-tempered
• Angharad (11), one of Guenever's maidens
• Edern (11), son of Nudd, the would-be Knight of the Sparrowhawk
• Duke Ynwl (11), deposed by his nephew the young Duke
• Enid (11), Ynwl and his Duchess's daughter
• Morgan Tudd (11), Arthur's physician
• the Knight of Tarn Wathelan (12), Ragnell's brother, more than mortal, a victim of Morgan La Fay
• Ragnell (12), the Loathely Lady, with a little magic power, a victim of Morgan La Fay
• Percival (13), younger son of King Pellinore and his Queen, the herald of the Grail quest. Blond.
• the Golden Knight (13), rude
• Sir Gonemanus (13), old knight who trains Percival
• Unnamed ladies, knights, squires, dwarfs, hermits, lepers, foresters, etc.

Places

Britain

• Wales (1)
  • Eriri (1), the Place of the Eagles, Vortigern's fastness in Gwynedd
  • Caermerddyn (1), Merlin's home town
  • Snowdon (3), where Arthur defeats Rience
  • Camelaird (3), Leodegraunce's seat
  • the Forest of Wirrel (7), home of the Green Knight, beside the Dee opposite Holy Head
  • the Green Chapel
• Scotland (1), full of Picts and Scots
  • Orkney, kingdom of Lot and Margawse
  • Lothian (10), kingdom of Rivalin, Tristan, and Gorvenal
• Cornwall (1)
  • Tintagel Castle (1), stronghold of Gorloise and Igraine
  • Tamar River (10), west of the moors
  • Upper Cornwall (11), home of Geraint
• the Wild Forest (2), bordering Wales, where Sir Ector lives
• The Kingdom of Logres (2), the heart of Britain
  • London (1)
  • Camelot (3), Arthur's capital
  • Castle of Bedegraine (3), one of Arthur's fortresses in the midlands
  • the Lake of the Lordly Ones (3), where Arthur receives Excalibur
  • Ynys Witrin (3), the Glass Island, Avalon of the Apple Trees, the threshold of life and death
  • Camlann (3), the place of the last battles
  • Caerleon (3), one of Arthur's castles in Wales
    • the bridge of Usk (11)
  • Joyeux Gard (9), castle in North Wales Lancelot holds from the king
  • Carlisle (11)
  • the Forest of Dean (11), Geraint's recent abode
  • the Forest of Inglewood (12), near Carlisle
  • Tarn Wathelan (12), a lake with an islet and a castle upon it
• Gore (2), kingdom of Uriens and Morgan La Fay
  • Castle Chariot (6), Morgan La Fay's castle
• the Chapel Perilous (6)
• Corbenic (9), the Waste Land
• Castle Case (9), where Galahad is conceived

Overseas

• Denmark and Germany (1), homeland of the Saxons
• Less Britain (1), Brittany
  • Benwick (3), kingdom of King Ban
• Ireland (10), at war with Cornwall

Background

The Author's Note explains the sources of various episodes of the story:

"In The Sword and the Circle I have followed Malory in the main, but I have not followed him slavishly––no minstrel ever follows exactly the songs that have come down to him from the time before. Always he adds and leaves out and embroiders and puts something of himself into each retelling. And some of the stories in this retelling of mine are not to be found in Malory at all.

"So––I have based the first story, of Vortigern and Merlin, Utha and Igraine and the dragon-light in the sky, upon Geoffrey of Monmouth's British History.

"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight comes from a Middle English poem.

"For Tristan and Iseult, I have turned back to a much earlier version, which Malory doesn't seem to have known, by Godfrey of Strasburg. But this story is in outline the same as the still older Irish tragedies of Deirdre and the Sons of Usna and Diarmid and Grania.

"Geraint and Enid is from the ancient Welsh book, The Mabinogion.

"Sir Gawain and the Loathely Lady is based on a Middle English ballad.

"The early part of Sir Percival's adventures are loosely based on another Early English poem with a few incidents from the Conte de Graal, but the end is largely my own invention––and why not, when the story of Beaumains, the Kitchen Knight, seems to have come entirely out of Malory's own head?"

Sutcliff had previously published versions of two episodes found in The Sword and the Circle: a retelling of "Sir Gawain and the Loathely Lady" appeared in The Queen Elizabeth Story (1950), while the events of Tristan and Iseult (1971) intersect with the chapter of the same name.

She had included a version of "Sir Gawain and the Loathely Lady" in the unpublished manuscript of British legends, written in the mid-1940s, which brought her to the attention of her first publisher, the Oxford University Press. She was also a script consultant on the 1973 film Gawain and the Green Knight and would later be credited for additional dialogue on its 1984 remake, Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Publication history

In English:

1. London : Bodley Head, 1981. Illus. Shirley Felts.
2. New York : Dutton, 1981.
3. London : Hodder and Stoughton, 1983. Illus. Shirley Felts.
4. London : Red Fox, 1992. Illus. Shirley Felts.
5. New York : Puffin Books, 1994.
6. New York : Penguin, 1994. Braille edition.
7. London : Red Fox Classics, 2013.
8. London : RHCP Digital, 2013.
9. London : Puffin, 2015.

In translation:

1. Sværdet og cirkelen. Bind 1: kong Arthur og ridderne af Det runde Bord. Danish by Torben Nilsson. [Kbh.] : Sommer & Sørensen : [Eksp. DBK], 1982.
2. Arthur-kuninkaan tarinoita. [King Arthur Trilogy.] Finnish by Ritva-Liisa Pilhjerta. Porvoo, Helsinki : Juva WSOY, 1985.
   • Porvoo ; Helsinki ; Juva : WSOY, 1990.
3. Die Abenteuer der Ritter von der Tafelrunde. Bd. 1. Merlin und Artus: wie der Ritter von der Tafelrunde sich zusammenfinden. German by Thomas Meyer. Stuttgart : Verl. Freies Geistesleben, 1986.
   • Stuttgart : Verl. Freies Geistesleben, 1991.
   • Stuttgart : Verl. Freies Geistesleben, 1994.
4. Kong Arthur og ridderne av det runde bord: Sverdet og sirkelen. Norwegian by Jo Tenfjord. Bergen : Eide, 1990.
5. Āsāō to entaku no kishi. Japanese by Shiro Yamamoto. Tōkyō : Harashobō, 2001.
6. "Das Schwert und der Kreis" in Konig Arthus und die Abenteuer der Ritter von der Tafelrunde. [King Arthur Trilogy]. German by Thomas Meyer. Stuttgart : Verl. Freies Geistesleben, 2003.