Elaine

Also known as: Elaine the fair / Elaine the loveable / fair Elaine / lily maid / lily maid of Astolat / maid of Astolat / the lily maid Elaine / the lily maid of Astolat / the maid of Astolat · Family: Astolat · Role: daughter of the Lord of Astolat · First appears: Lancelot and Elaine 1

At Astolat, Elaine was the daughter of Lord of Astolat and the sister of Torre and Lavaine. When Lancelot arrived incognito to seek an unmarked shield for the diamond jousts, she kept his own shield while he rode to compete, and she fell in love with him. She gave him a red, pearl-embroidered sleeve as a favour, which he wore at the tournament; as it was later told at court, “The maid of Astolat loves Sir Lancelot, Sir Lancelot loves the maid of Astolat.”

After Gawain gave Elaine the diamond and revealed her love for Lancelot, she received permission to leave Astolat and seek him. She traveled with Torre, while Lavaine led her to the caves, and her care helped save Lancelot’s life during his illness. He called her friend and sister, but refused both her request to become his wife and her wish to remain with him and serve him.

Elaine then asked Lavaine to write a letter for Lancelot, Guinevere, and the world, though she said she must bear it herself. On the eleventh, after her father placed the letter in her hand, she died; her body was carried by barge toward the royal court, where she declared, “I loved you, and my love had no return, And therefore my true love has been my death.” Arthur ordered an honorable burial, and Elaine was laid to rest with grand obsequies before the assembled knights; Percivale and Galahad bore her into the hall, Guinevere pitied her, and her tomb was to bear her image, Lancelot’s shield, and the lily in her hand.