Sir Bedivere the Cupbearer

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Camelot Chat! I’m your hostess, Shannon Watson; and this month, we’ll be talking about Sir Bedivere, the… Werewolf?

More specifically, this episode is called Sir Bedivere the Cupbearer. So, let’s dig in.

Sir Bedivere was King Arthur’s cupbearer. Evidence of cupbearers serving at medieval courts survives from ancient times. They are there in the Old Testament, when Solomon met Sheba. They are there in the Iliad, pouring ambrosia into golden goblets for the gods on Mount Olympus. They were there in ancient Egypt, standing beside the Pharoah in a gold-glimmering throne room.

There is even a report, roughly contemporary with Arthur, of a “Count of the Cupbearers,” serving in Visigothic Spain. This meant there was literally a corps of cupbearers with a nobleman at their head, who served as Chief Cupbearer. The other cupbearers would have waited on the king's royal guests.

It is likely that this arrangement, with Bedivere as Chief Cupbearer, is what would have obtained in King Arthur’s court.

What is a cupbearer, you ask?

In early medieval times, a cupbearer was responsible for pouring the king’s drink at table. He waited at the king’s elbow, ready to refill his cup at a moment’s notice.

But, before we go off on the wrong direction, thinking a cupbearer was nothing more than a glorified waiter, let's examine his other duties.

A cupbearer was often also a taster. This means that he might taste the King's wine before he served it, to ensure it had not been poisoned. In other words, he must be willing to give his own life for the king’s. This function rendered the cupbearer a sort of culinary bodyguard to the king. And placed him in a most trusted position.

Because he was always at the King's elbow at table, the cupbearer also had the King's ear. This meant that he had an unusual amount of access to, and likely also, influence over, the king. Only the most trusted of lieutenants would be granted such a role. He must be aristocratic, honorable, trustworthy, steadfast, un-bribable, and of unimpeachably good character.

This position, therefore, tells us much about Sir Bedivere.

He must have been born into a noble, if not royal, family.

He must have been a high-ranking warrior at Arthur’s Court, who had proven his mettle on the battlefield.

And Arthur must have trusted him with his life.

But why?

The father of Bedwyr, another name for Bedivere, is sometimes called Bedrawd; but in the German romance, Diu Crône, the character, Bedivere, was called Godegrains. Godegrains was a fierce knight, Queen Guinevere's brother, and the son of King Garlin of Galore. So, we have two fathers, at least one of them a king, and a royal sister, for Bedivere.

In his youth, Bedivere accompanied Arthur and Culhwch on their quest to win the lady Olwen from her fearsome giant father. He wielded a magic spear. The Welsh Triads called him “Battle-Diademed.”

The tenth-century Welsh poem, Pa Gur, speaks of the prowess of the ancient warrior, Bedwyr:

They fell by the hundred

Before Bedwyr of the Perfect-Sinew.
On the shores of Tryfrwyd

Fighting with [GAR-UL-WYD] Garwlwyd.

Furious was his nature

With sword and shield.

So, Bedivere was a royal prince, the son of a king and brother of a queen. He was proven in battle. And he was King Arthur’s brother-in-law: family. He meets every qualification for the position of cupbearer. If anything, he is the obvious choice.

They say that Bedivere was there at–and after–the final Battle of Camlan. In an earlier episode of Camelot Chat, I pointed out that, before Modred could have reached the king to mortally wound him, Arthur’s entire bodyguard must already have fallen. They would have fought to the last man to defend their king, and it is clear that they did.

But somehow, Bedivere survived: not only the battle, but also the king. Why?

Here’s what I think:

In the earliest Welsh sources, Bedivere is described as one-handed. Perhaps, he lost a limb while fighting so valiantly on the River Tryfrwyd? Or in one of his many skirmishes in the early days of Arthur’s military career?

Bedivere is sometimes called Bedivere of the Perfect Sinews: a backhanded compliment to a one-handed man. This may have been an honorary or teasing reference to Bedivere’s skill and sacrifice in combat. Sir Kei is known to have teased his friend about his malady more than once. It also may give us a clue as to why Bedivere might have sat out–and survived–Arthur’s final battle.

As a wounded veteran, Bedivere may have earned the right not to fight. He also may have no longer been able to fight. Sending him into combat might have been a death sentence. A waste of an experienced military mind. Perhaps, Bedivere was more valuable as a general.

After the disastrous Battle of Camlan, the fatally wounded King Arthur ordered his last and most trusted lieutenant, Bedivere, to return his legendary sword, Excalibur, to the holy women who had first gifted him with the ancient relic. He instructed Bedivere to “throw” Excalibur into the “lake.”

Twice over, Bedivere doubted the wisdom of relinquishing such an important weapon. He even went so far as to lie to the king when Arthur questioned him, saying he had disposed of the sword in the lake as requested.

This odd ceremony may be a cultural memory, by the way, of the manner in which ancient peoples once disposed of important ceremonial items, like swords. Many such have been found beneath the waters of rivers, streams, lakes, and bogs. Often, they were bent beforehand to render them useless in future and to demonstrate that they were truly intended as a ceremonial offering to some watery god or goddess.

Arthur immediately knew that his lieutenant was lying and insisted that he discard the sword. Sure enough, when Bedivere tossed Excalibur into the lake, a slender white hand rose from beneath the water, caught the blade, and pulled it steadily beneath the waves. That is the legend.

There are other stories of Excalibur having survived into the day of Robert the Bruce, when it was carried into Crusades and lost to Saladin. Who knows where it is now?

Bedivere returned to the chapel, where his king lay, mortally wounded. He was just in time to see Arthur's sisters bear the dying king away to Avalon. Or did the loyal cupbearer himself effect this exchange?

This encounter with the mythical Lady of the Lake and/or Morgan le Fey and/or Nimue seems to recall an ancient summoning of the holy, healing women of Avalon, some of whom were Arthur's sisters and half-sisters. Between them, they bore away the wounded and dying king to the holy Isle of Avalon, never to be seen again. To this day, no one knows where Arthur’s grave lies.

The king’s loyal cupbearer, Bedivere, then retired to a hermitage, there to live out his days in loneliness and sorrow… Or did he?

In next week’s episode, we will examine in more detail the career of the legendary warrior Bedivere, or Bedwyr, where he might actually have ended his days, and one of his other names, Bedrydant, and the strange meaning it may disclose to us.

If you can’t wait for more Arthurian lore till the next episode, you will find my historical fiction novel, The Wanderer and the Wolves, told from Queen Guinevere’s perspective, on Amazon.com. The link is included below. And be sure to check out my author page at ShanavereStudios.com.

Until next week: People who read live in many worlds. Books are the surest portals to those worlds. So, keep living, keep reading, and keep dreaming... till we meet again.