D. L. does not mention Yon; 1533 simply introduces him as telling Arthur that the trial cannot take place that evening, while both agree in saying that Gawain (whom S. does not mention at all) warns the king not to proceed to extremities, threatening to give up all his lands if the queen be burnt. Mordred and Agravain doom the queen to death, Arthur alone specifies the nature of that death.[202]
In the account of the fatal fight at the stake, D. L. represents Lancelot as slaying both Gawain's brothers, while 1533 agrees with S. in saying that Bohort kills Guerresches and Lancelot Gaheriet. M., it will be remembered, agrees in this with D. L. It may be noted that all three, 1533, D. L., and M., while making no remark about Guerresches, especially lament Gaheriet: the two first say that Lancelot knows Gawain will never forgive him for this, and M. speaks of him as 'the noble knyghte,' making the identity with Gareth quite clear.
The castle at which the queen and Lancelot stay en route for Joyous Garde, called Scalee by S., Scalle in 1533, and Calet in D. L. does not, I think, belong to Keux the seneschal, as S. supposes; D. L. does not mention him, and 1533 speaks of 'ung Keux,' a friend of Lancelot's, which cannot be Kay. Both here, and in the 'Keux du Parc' of the Turquine adventure, I suspect that we have not a proper name at all, but a misreading of 'Queus'=count. In the latter instance D. L. renders Keux by Grave.
On p. 255, S. must surely have misread his source, as he says that Lancelot sends messengers to King Ban of Benoyc, asking his aid. King Ban was of course dead long before; D. L. and 1533 say to the barons of Benoyc, which must be the right reading
Again, the summary of the battle, S., p. 256, differs very materially from D. L. and 1533. S. says Gawain fights like a madman and kills thirty of Lancelot's men with his own hand, wounding others, Lionel among them. The next day there is another battle, in which occurs the incident of Arthur being unhorsed by Bohort, and remounted by Lancelot. Now in the other two versions Bohort and Gawain wound each other so desperately at the first onslaught that they are carried off the field half dead, and it is Hector who overthrows Arthur.
Later on, after the return of Guinevere, when S. represents Hector as challenging Gawain, the other two versions give Bohort.
After the kinsmen return to Benoyc we find D. L. in apparent contradiction with the other versions. S. says that he makes Bohort king of Benoic and Lionel of Gannes, while he himself keeps the crown of Gaule, because Arthur gave it to him. 1533 seems to agree with this latter phrase, as it says, 'et pour ce que le roy Artus me donna le royaulme de Gaule ie le tiendray.[203] D. L. on the contrary says:
'Ende vanden conincrike, dat secgic u,
Van Gaule sone doe ic niet nu,
Ende ne houder gene tale af,
Om dat mi die coninc Artur gaf;
Want al haddi mi gegeven vor nu
Al die werelt, dat secgic u,
Ic gavese hem al weder te hant,
Bedie ic ne soude en geen lant
Nu ter tijt van hem willen houden.'—ll. 7407-15.
Now in the earlier portion of D. L., after the war with Claudas, we are told that Lancelot has made Bohort king of Gannes, Hector of Benoyc, and Lionel of Gaul, an arrangement which exactly agrees with that which M. takes from the English M. A. In this earlier passage Lancelot gives as reason for not taking the crown that he prefers to remain a simple knight, and 1533 represents Bohort and Hector as following his example and declining the offered kingdoms.
I think the lesson of this discrepancy is that the Lancelot and the M. A. were fundamentally independent of each other, and each contained an account of the crowning of the race of Ban. When brought into close contact this caused a contradiction of statement which D. L. and 1533 evaded each in their own way. S. gives no clue to what happened on the earlier occasion.