There are many stories associated with the castles of the Northumbrian coastline, some historical, others apocryphal, but it is often buried within the myths and legends that some fragment of truth may be found. Few tales will pique the interest as much as when dragons or the name of King Arthur are mentioned. Stuart has told the story of the Laidly Wyrm of Bamburgh, in which a princess becomes a dragon, and were that the only tale the castle had to tell, it would be enough. But the castle has not always been known by its present name. It was once at the heart of the ancient realm of Bryneich, or Bernicia, and the castle was known as Din Guarie, a name that comes down to us through the Arthurian legends as Dolorous Guard….
The Dream of Lancelot~ Study by Edward Burne-Jones
The Castle of Dolorous Guard was the home of Sir Brian of the Isles, who some call King Bran Hen… Bran the Old… a cruel and evil knight and the sworn enemy of King Arthur. Sir Brian had learned enchantments from the Lady of the Lake and turned them to sate his own vicious pleasures. He took great delight, so the story goes, in imprisoning and torturing both men and women alike.
Many of Arthur’s knights were lost to Sir Brian’s enchantments, for whenever a knight approached the castle, they were faced by a band of ten warriors at each of the two gates and were forced to fight. Many made the attempt, but none succeeded. Even Gawain, one of the greatest knights, was captured and cast into the dungeons with the rest. As each knight was imprisoned and their helmets hung upon the wall as trophies, a mysterious gravestone sprang up outside the castle, bearing their name and they were lost to the world.
Sir Lancelot du Lac, had been raised by the Lady of the Lake and had her favour. He asked Arthur for some quest with which he could prove himself and was sent north to Bamburgh in search of the lost knights, armed with a magical shield.
Lancelot conquered the guardian warriors expelled Sir Brian, who fled south to Pendragon Castle, but the enchantment could not be broken until he had spent forty nights under its roof. Exploring his conquest, Lancelot came upon a large metal slab encrusted with jewels, which bore the inscription:
Only he who conquers La Doloreuse Garde
will be able to lift this slab,
and he will find his name beneath it.
Summoning all his strength, Lancelot raised the slab and found beneath it another inscription:
Here will repose Lancelot of the Lake, the son of King Ban.
Abandoned as a babe by the Lake and left to be found and raised by its Lady, it was only now that Lancelot learned of his royal lineage, and he knew that this would be his final place of rest.
In the castle’s chapel, Lancelot found a door which led deep underground and into a cave. The earth shook, and a deafening noise filled the cave. As he entered, two copper knights armed with huge swords attacked. Lancelot did not falter, defeating the metallic monsters and moving deeper into the cavern. There he found a wailing well, guarded by an axe-wielding monster. Lancelot fought with all his might, breaking his shield upon the creature’s hide. At the end, he throttled it with his bare hands and cast it down into the well.
Catching his breath, he raised his head and saw a beautiful maiden clad in copper and in her hand she held two keys which she offered to the victorious knight. Taking them, he realised that they were the keys to end the enchantment. One unlocked a copper pillar containing thirty copper pipes that screamed. The other unlocked a casket from which a whirlwind escaped. Then, at last, the castle was free of the evil spell. The mysterious gravestones and the trophy helmets disappeared, the lost knights were found and released from their prison and Lancelot took the castle for his own.
Lancelot renamed the castle Joyous Guard, filling it with colour and light. Delicate bridges linked the towers upon which were carved fabulous beasts, the dark chambers were ablaze with candles and the rich glow of tapestries and the walls were plastered and gilded so that, catching the rays of the rising sun across the sea, the light of the castle could be seen far across the land.
It is told that many knights and their ladies were his guests, including Arthur and Guinevere, his queen, with whom Lancelot fell in love. His love was returned and the two, loving their king, were broken hearted.
Perhaps it was for this reason that Lancelot allowed the ill-fated Tristan to stay at Joyous Guard with Isolde after the two had fled from her husband, King Mark.
Accompanying Arthur to Camelot, Lancelot’s love for the queen was exposed and Guinevere was condemned to death. Lancelot rescued her from the pyre and carried her to Joyous Guard, but the tragedy unfolded, Arthur laid siege to the castle, inflicting heavy damage, and Lancelot was forced to return to the land of his birth. The castle sank back into gloom, becoming once again the castle of Dolorous Guard.
Yet, the story tells that Lancelot returned. His body was brought back to his castle and laid in a vault. It lays there still, buried by the sands of time and veiled by the mist that rolls in from the sea.
I absolutely adore the tales of King Arthur and the Knights. This is fabulous!!
There are some interesting things buried in these old tales….though they are often buried so deep in later versions they can be hard to decipher.
It’s a shame things get buried at all. That’s why this is so fascinating. There is much here I never knew. It’s very cool 😃
The older tales are much riche than the watered-down ‘Hollywood’ versions most of us know today.
Oh to live in those times. I know there were hardships but still…
I’d like to visit 😉
😀
I find it very interesting that everything Lancelot encountered was made of copper, a conductor. Hidden tales within tales? I always thought Guinevere was weak and much preferred Morrigan and Vivian and this was before I read Mists of Avalon. xxx
Magically, copper is the metal of Venus… also a conductor of energy… so maybe it is not all that strange 😉
The Guinevere we have come to know through the Arthurian Romances is a late creation… I doubt she was as weak as that era painted her, and is probably descended from a much older figure xxx
I hope so, Sue. Fascinating about the copper. xxx
Indeed, Adele 😉 xxx
I really love these Arthurian tales.
So do I, Willow, though there is more to them than meets the eye. x
Yes I wrote a series on them a couple of years back and enjoyed the research 💜💜
They are incredibly rich tales, aren’t they? x
I was amazed at how much I learned so very special 💜💜
It is a tale with think we know… until we start reading the old stories… x
That is exactly how I feel 💜
🙂 <3
It is interesting that the word “dolor” means pain, so this story certainly carries a lot of pain with it in the castle. It also seems to show the issues that all humans must ultimately face as they live in a world of duality not only outside themselves, but on the inside as well. This issue has come up again and again in stories. Certainly it is an important part of Gilgamesh as well. Thank you so much for recounting this for us.
These old stories, even when we only have fragments, often offer clues to the human journey.
Absolutely, Sue. And that is one of the blessings we have that you and Stuart and Steve have given us that is priceless!
🙂
Reblogged this on Stuart France.
I love these legends and stories of the past and they enrich our buildings and culture… thanks Sue.. xxxx
I agree, Sally. There is something about their association with these places that speaks of the importance of both in the collective psyche. xxx
Oh, I love this story!!
I was glad to be able to share this one, Jennie, as it is a lesser known episode of the Arthurian cycle.
And a great one!
🙂
Thank you, Sally xxx
I love the rich and vibrant Arthurian legends as they were originally told. Thank you for sharing.
There is a lot more depth to the older stories.
As I just reread this too, it was like reading it all over again – for the first time, for I too saw so many things I did not see on the first trip through. It really pays to reread these posts for they are a wealth of symbolism and telling of things that are to come or are in progress. It is interesting that Lancelot is undergoing all these “battles” as it were, just as we must rid ourselves of all the layers we have built up in the super ego, and all of them clad in the copper, which as our companion pointed out, is a conductor, and in the end, he kills the worst of the monsters with his bare hands. This to me signifies that we can use a lot of things as we work through our course and the posts to uncover our essence of being, but in the end result, we must use that which is within us, our own selves, to really find that being we search for. And then as the story goes on, it is easy to see that once we have conquered these powers that surround us, we still must be on guard for the remainder of our lives, for it is so easy to fall within the power of those layers once again. The eternal need to be loved, cherished, and acknowledged by one outside ourselves is an everneed of all of us, and I put those two words together intentionally. So in the end result, to avoid the pain (dolorous guard) for the remainder of our lives, we must continue to practice what skills and lessons we have learned. We cannot sit back and forget and feel that now we have graduated and are “all done.” This is a lifetime quest, and one we must work on with our entire beings. Thank you once again Sue, Stuart and Steve!
Many of these old tales have a depth of meaning now lost to us, as we have only fragments of many of them, and many of those are preserved only in much later versions where the true meaning has been lost or so chaged it is impossible to discern.
The journey we take is indeed a lifetime’s quest… perhaps many lifetimes… and resting on our laurels is never an option.
I disagree, though, that we should always feel a need to be loved and cherished by anything outside of ourselves. ‘Need’ speaks of dependancy and a lack of self worth… when what we already have within us, and of which we are a part, is Love.