InArthurian legend,Kay/ˈkeɪ/ (Welsh:Cai,Middle WelshKei orCei;Latin:Caius; French:Keu;Old French:Kès orKex) isKing Arthur's foster brother and laterseneschal, as well as one of the firstKnights of the Round Table. In later literature he is known for his acid tongue andbullying, boorish behaviour, but in earlier accounts he was one of Arthur's premier warriors. Along withBedivere, with whom he is frequently associated, Kay is one of the earliest characters associated with Arthur.[1] Kay's father is calledEctor in later literature, but the Welsh accounts name him asCynyr Ceinfarfog.
Cai or Cei is one of the earliest characters to be associated with theArthurian mythology, appearing in a number of early Welsh texts, includingCulhwch ac Olwen,Geraint fab Erbin,Iarlles y Ffynnon,Peredur fab Efrawg,Breuddwyd Rhonabwy,Pa Gur, and theWelsh Triads. His father is given as Cynyr Ceinfarfog (Fork-Beard), his son as Garanwyn and his daughter as Kelemon.
Before Cai's birth, Cynyr prophesied that his son's heart would be eternally cold, that he would be exceptionally stubborn, and that no one would be able to brave fire or water like him. Cai is attributed with a number of further superhuman abilities, including the ability to go nine days and nine nights without the need to breathe or to sleep, the ability to grow as "tall as the tallest tree in the forest if he pleased" and the ability to radiate supernatural heat from his hands.[2] Furthermore, it is impossible to cure a wound from Cai's sword.[3] Cai is killed by Gwyddawg fab (son of) Menestyr, who is in turn killed in vengeance byArthur.
Robert Graves commented that the early description of Cei "is close to the account given of the Sun-heroCuchulain in his battle rage. But in the later Arthurian legends Cei has degenerated into a buffoon and Chief of Cooks"[4]—an aspect of the folklore process whereby old heroes must be downgraded (but not forgotten) in order to make room for new.[5]
One of the earliest direct reference to Cai can be found in the 10th-century poemPa Gur, in which Arthur recounts the feats and achievements of his warriors so as to gain entrance to a fortress guarded byGlewlwyd Gafaelfawr, the titular porter. The poem concerns itself largely with Cai's exploits:
Prince of the plunder, / The unrelenting warrior to his enemy; / Heavy was he in his vengeance; / Terrible was his fighting.
When he would drink from a horn, / He would drink as much as four; / When into battle he came / He slew as would a hundred.
Unless God should accomplish it, / Cei's death would be unattainable.
Worthy Cei and Llachau / Used to fight battles, / Before the pain of livid spears [ended the conflict].
On the top of Ystarfingun / Cei slewnine witches. / Worthy Cei went to Ynys Mon / To destroy lions. / Little protection did his shield offer / AgainstPalug's Cat.[6]
Culhwch's father,King Cilydd son of Celyddon, loses his wifeGoleuddydd after a difficult childbirth. When he remarries, the young Culhwch rejects his stepmother's attempt to pair him with his new stepsister. Offended, the new queen puts a curse on him so that he can marry no one besides the beautifulOlwen, daughter of the giantYsbaddaden. Though he has never seen her, Culhwch becomes infatuated with her, but his father warns him that he will never find her without the aid of his famous cousin Arthur. The young man immediately sets off to seek his kinsman. He finds him at his court inCelliwig in Cornwall and asks for support and assistance. Cai is the first knight to volunteer to assist Culhwch in his quest,[7] promising to stand by his side until Olwen is found. A further five knights join them in their mission. They travel onwards until they come across the "fairest of the castles of the world", and meet Ysbaddaden's shepherd brother, Custennin. They learn that the castle belongs to Ysbaddaden, that he stripped Custennin of his lands and murdered the shepherd's twenty-three children out of cruelty. Custennin set up a meeting between Culhwch and Olwen, and the maiden agrees to lead Culhwch and his companions to Ysbadadden's castle. Cai pledges to protect the twenty-fourth son,Goreu with his life.[8] The knights attack the castle by stealth, killing the nine porters and the nine watchdogs, and enter the giant's hall. Upon their arrival, Ysbaddaden attempts to kill Culhwch with a poison dart, but is outwitted and wounded, first byBedwyr, then by the enchanterMenw, and finally by Culhwch himself. Eventually, Ysbaddaden relents, and agrees to give Culhwch his daughter on the condition that he completes a number of impossible tasks (anoethau), including hunting theTwrch Trwyth and recovering the exalted prisonerMabon ap Modron.
Cai is a prominent character throughout the tale and is responsible for completing a number of the tasks; he kills Wrnach the Giant, rescuesMabon ap Modron from his watery prison and retrieves the hairs of Dillus the Bearded.[9] However, when Arthur makes a satiricalenglyn about Cai, he grows angry and hostile towards the king, ultimately abandoning the quest and his companions. The narrative tells us that Cai would "have nothing to do with Arthur from then on, not when the latter was waning in strength or when his men were being killed." As a result, he did not take part in the hunt for Twrch Trwyth.
In theLife of St.Cadoc (c. 1100) Bedwyr is alongside Arthur and Cai in dealing with KingGwynllyw ofGwynllwg's abduction of St.Gwladys from her father's court inBrycheiniog. Cai appears prominently in theearly Welsh version ofTristan and Isolde, in which he assists the two lovers and is himself infatuated with a maiden named Golwg Hafddydd,[10] and in the early dialogue poems relating toMelwas's abduction ofGwenhwyfar. The context suggests that Cai is rescuing the queen from the otherworldly suitor, and may imply a romantic relationship between Cai and Gwenhwyfar.[11]
The Welsh Triads name Cai as one of the "Three Battle-Diademed Men of the Island of Britain" alongsideDrystan mab Tallwch andHueil mab Caw.[12] In theTriads of the Horses, his horse is named as Gwyneu gwddf hir (Gwyneu of the Long Neck).[12] According to tradition, Cai is intimately associated with the old Roman fort of Caer Gai.[13]
In theWelsh Romances (specificallyOwain, or the Lady of the Fountain andPeredur son of Efrawg), Cai assumes the same boorish role he takes in the continental romances.[14] However, manuscripts for these romances date to well afterChrétien de Troyes, meaning that Cai as he appears there may owe more to Chrétien's version of the character than to the indigenous Welsh representation.
Kay and Bedivere both appear inGeoffrey of Monmouth'sHistoria Regum Britanniae, and support Arthur in his defeat of the Giant ofMont Saint-Michel.[15] Geoffrey makes Kay the count ofAnjou and Arthur's steward, an office which he holds in most later literature. InChrétien de Troyes'sErec and Enide, a son Gronosis is mentioned, who is versed in evil. By contrast, the Welsh attribute to him a son and daughter named Garanwyn and Celemon. Romance literature rarely deals with Kay's love life, with one exception beingGirart d'Amiens'sEscanor, which details his love for Andrivete ofNorthumbria, whom he must defend from her uncle's political machinations before they can marry.
In the works of Chrétien, Kay assumes the characteristics with which he is most associated today: hot-headedness and fiery temper (retained from the Welsh literature), supplemented by his role as an incompetent braggart. Chrétien uses him as a scoffer and a troublemaker; a foil for heroic knights includingLancelot,Ywain, orGawain. He mocks the chivalric courtesy of SirCalogrenant inYvain, the Knight of the Lion, and he tricks Arthur into allowing him to try to saveGuinevere fromMaleagant inLancelot, the Knight of the Cart, which ends in his humiliating defeat. InPerceval, the Story of the Grail, Sir Kay grows angry withPerceval's naïveté and slaps a maiden who says he will become a great knight; Perceval later avenges her by breaking Kay's shoulder.Wolfram von Eschenbach, who tells a similar story in hisParzival, asks his audience not to judge Kay too harshly, as his sharp words actually serve to maintain courtly order: "Though few may agree with me—Keie was a brave and loyal man ... The mighty Keie."[16]
Kay is ubiquitous in Arthurian literature but he rarely serves as anything but afoil for other characters. Although he manipulates the king to get his way, his loyalty to Arthur is usually unquestioned. In theVulgate Cycle, thePost-Vulgate andThomas Malory'sLe Morte d'Arthur, Kay's father Ector adopts the infant Arthur afterMerlin takes him away from his birth parents,Uther andIgraine. Ector raises the future king and Kay as brothers, but Arthur's parentage is revealed when he draws theSword in the Stone at a tournament in London. Arthur, serving as squire to the newly knighted Kay, is locked out of the house and cannot get to his brother's sword, so he uses the Sword in the Stone to replace it. Kay shows his characteristic opportunism when he tries to claim it was in fact he that pulled the sword from the stone, not Arthur, making Kay the trueKing of the Britons, but he ultimately relents and admits it was Arthur.[17] He becomes one of the firstKnights of the Round Table, described as "best worthy to be a knight of the Round Table of any",[18] and serves his foster-brother throughout his life.
Scholars have pointed out that Kay's scornful, overly boastful character never makes him a clown, a coward or a traitor, except in theGrail romancePerlesvaus, in which he murders Arthur's sonLoholt and joins up with the king's enemies. This strange work is an anomaly, however, and Kay's portrayal tends to range from merely cruel and malicious, as in theRoman deYder orHartmann von Aue'sIwein to humorously derisive and even endearing, as inDurmart le Gallois andEscanor.
Despite his ubiquity, Kay's death is not a frequent subject in the Arthurian canon. In Welsh literature, it is mentioned he was killed by Gwyddawg and avenged by Arthur. In Geoffrey of Monmouth and theAlliterativeMorte Arthure, he is killed in the war against the Roman EmperorLucius,[19] while the Vulgate Cycle describes his death in France, also in battle against the Romans. According to Malory's Book 5, Kay does not die in the war against Rome, but rather survives and later is part of a party sent to try and retrieveExcalibur's sacred scabbard, prior to theBattle of Camlann.[citation needed] He is also among the few people who survives the battle of Camlann, although it is ambiguous as to how he does so; in later interpretations it is suggested that he never participated in that battle.
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