But then one day a lady who was cousin to Morgan warned him privately that Morgan intended to keep him there as her lover, at which he was horrified. “I would liefer cut away my hangers than I would do her such pleasure,” he cried, but because of his promise he could not leave the castle. Then one day the castle was attacked and burned down, so he was able, with the lady’s help, to escape into the grounds, where he camped out, setting himself to defend the land (and presumably his virtue) from all comers for the required year and a day. His fame as a fighter soon spread through the kingdoms. It appears that Morgan did not pursue him.

There was a duke called Ansirus, who travelled every third year to Jerusalem, so that he was known as Ansirus the Pilgrim. He had a very beautiful daughter called Alice, whom men called Alice la Beale Pilgrim. She heard of Alisander’s prowess, and gave it out that she would marry any knight who could make himself master of the piece of land which Alisander was holding. Since she was so lovely, and sole heiress of the duke’s estates, many knights tried to dislodge Alisander, but failed to do so.

At last she decided to see him for herself, and reached the place in time to watch him defeat a notable knight, whereupon she ran to his horse’s head and asked him to take off his helmet and let her see his face. He did so. “O sweet Jesu,” said Alice. “Thee must I love, and never other.”

“Then show me your visage,” said Alisander. Then she unwimpled her visage, and when he saw her he said: “Here have I found my love and my lady.”

So they were married, and lived in great joy. But it so happened that Alisander had never grace nor fortune to come to King Arthur’s court, and he never did avenge his father’s murder.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

My story has two primary sources. One is a remark made to me by a friend: “Everybody has their own Grail.” The other is a brief incident in my book The Wicked Day, where Mordred, alone in the forest, encounters a wandering priest and a young girl. I had Malory’s “Alice la Beale Pilgrim” in mind – she had long fascinated me – but somehow she could not fit into that story. Here she is at last.

It will be seen from the “legend” summarised here that Malory’s tale of Alisander le Orphelin and Alice la Beale Pilgrim was not easy to transpose into the “real Arthurian” or Dark Age setting. It is a mediaeval tale of action where kings, queens and knights move as conventionally as chess pieces, and, like chessmen, make the same moves over and over again. The main concern of the knights seems to be their jousting scores – the mediaeval equivalent of the batting average.

Malory’s brief reference to Duke Ansirus the Pilgrim, combined with the idea of some kind of “grail quest”, gave me the Jerusalem and Tours settings. Again, a reference from The Wicked Day remembered the murder of the young Merovingian princes, so I linked the pilgrims with the adventure of Chlodovald’s rescue.