Adventurous

1. Adventurous Bed
   

   An alternative name for the Perilous Bed found in the Grail legends.

   
   

2. Adventurous, Castle
   

   Another name for the Grail Castle, Carbonek.

   
   

3. Adventurous Ford
   Gué Aventuros

   A ford in Cornwall. After Tristan and Isolde had lived in the forest of Morrois for a time, Mark agreed to take Isolde back. The exchange took place at the ford.

   Later, the Adventurous Ford was the location where Isolde proclaimed her innocence before a large assembly.

   
   

4. Adventurous Seats
   

   According to La Tavola Ritonda, the Round Table seats occupied by the knights errant - in contrast to the Royal Seat (occupied by Arthur) and the Perilous Seat (filled by no one until Galahad).

   
   

5. Adventurous Shield
   

   Josephe, son of Joseph of Arimathea, converted King Evelake, giving him the baptismal name Mordrains, and helped him win a war against King Tolleme. The war was won partly with the help of this shield, which had a sweet aroma and of which it was said that it would render its bearer victorious and be the cause of many miracles. At the time of Mordrains' war against Tolleme, the shield bore the figure of Christ on the Cross, and touching this image healed at least one man's battle wound. Thereafter the image disappeared, leaving the shield white as snow.

   When Josephe lay on his death bed, he marked the shield anew with a cross drawn with the crimsom of his nosebleed. He left the shield, so marked, as a token for Mordrains, who was to leave it in his turn in the same abbey where lay Nascien the Hermit, there to await Galahad.

   Only Galahad could take the Adventurous Shield. Anyone else who tried to bear it away would be killed or maimed within three days. A White Knight, apparently an angel waiting to avenge the shield, struck down and wounded King Bagdemagus two miles from the hermitage when he tried taking it.

   
   

6. Adventurous Shield, Abbey of the
   White Abbey

   At this abbey Galahad found his Adventurous Shield (see above). [More]

   
   

7. Adventurous Sword
   Espee Aventureuse

   The sword that had belonged to Balin the Savage. It appears in several texts, but is not named in all of them. Balin had received it from a servant of the Lady of the Island of Avalon, and he used it to behead the Lady of the Lake. The Lady of Avalon’s messenger told Balin that the sword would bring him sorrow. Later, he used it to kill his brother Balan, receiving a mortal wound himself in the process. This episode occurred on Merlin’s Island. Merlin took the sword and thrust it into a block of marble.

   Gawain saw the sword on the island and was told by a hermit that the weapon, in the hand of his best friend, would cause his death, through the fault of Mordred. Evidently, the hermit was referring to Gawain’s battle with Lancelot, but if Lancelot ever received the sword, we are not told. Instead, the block of marble floated up to Camelot at the beginning of the Grail Quest. Gawain tried to draw it from the stone, failed, and was informed that he would suffer for having tried.

   Galahad drew the sword, girded it upon himself, and apparently kept it until he received the Sword of the Strange Hangings. (Possibly, he gave the Adventurous Sword to Lancelot, his father, after receiving the latter.) Fulfilling the second prophecy against Gawain, Galahad struck Gawain down with the sword during the Grail Quest, putting Gawain out of commission for the rest of the adventure.