The war with Rome
Rome demands tribute; Arthur conquers most of Europe — and this, not the affair, is where the chronicle tradition puts his fall.
Twelve ambassadors arrive from Rome to demand truage — tribute — which Britain has not paid since Julius Caesar. Arthur takes counsel and sends them back with a counter-claim: by the same logic, Rome owes tribute to Britain, since British kings have held the Empire before.
Then he crosses the sea and takes Europe. He kills a giant on Mont St Michel who has been eating the local children; he destroys a Roman army in a pitched battle; and in Geoffrey and in the alliterative Morte, he is marching on Rome itself, with the city effectively his, when the news comes from home that his nephew has taken the crown and the queen.
This episode is the hinge of the chronicle tradition, and it is worth seeing how differently it works from the romance one. In Geoffrey and the alliterative Morte, Arthur is not brought down by an affair or by a Grail quest — neither exists. He is brought down by success. He goes too far, rises too high, and in the alliterative poem he is given a dream in which Fortune raises him to the top of her wheel and then turns it, and he understands what is about to happen.
Malory keeps the Roman war as his Book V and then does something odd with it: he lets Arthur win, be crowned emperor by the Pope, and come home in triumph. The catastrophe is moved elsewhere entirely — to a bedchamber, sixteen books later.
Two traditions, two theories of what destroys a kingdom: overreach, or love.
In the chronicles the empire is the disaster: the king is furthest from home, with his whole strength abroad, at exactly the moment the crown is taken behind him.
In the sources
- GeoffreyChronicle · c. 1100–1155
the empire, and the news from home
Arthur conquers Gaul, defeats a Roman army and is advancing on Rome when Mordred's usurpation recalls him. The fall is a consequence of the campaign.
“the renowned King Arthur himself was wounded deadly, and was borne thence unto the island of Avalon for the healing of his wounds”
The History of the Kings of Britain, Bk XI, ch. II - MaloryEnglish · c. 1415–1471
a war he wins, and a triumph that leads nowhere
Malory keeps the campaign, crowns Arthur emperor, and brings him home victorious — moving the catastrophe out of politics entirely and into the household.
“charged them never to do outrageousity nor murder, and always to flee treason; also, by no means to be cruel, but to give mercy unto him that asketh mercy”
Le Morte d'Arthur, III.xv · read in place - The MortesEnglish · c. 1350–1400
Fortune's wheel
The alliterative Morte gives the fall its clearest mechanism: a dream of the wheel, raising him to the summit and turning. He falls because he rose.
No validated quotationHeld as a search source only; the Middle English scan is too rough to quote.
- The ChroniclersChronicle · c. 540 – c. 1200
the chronicle's climax
Wace and Layamon carry Geoffrey's Roman war into French and English, and it remains the centre of the story until romance displaces it.
“their chairs should be high alike, their service equal, and none before or after his comrade. Thus no man could boast that he was exalted above his fellow, for all alike were gathered round the board”
Roman de Brut, Wace, Roman de Brut · read in place
For Geoffrey and the alliterative Morte, Camelot falls because Arthur overreached. For Malory and the French, it falls because of a love affair. The chronicle has no affair and the romance nearly forgets the empire.