What were the oaths of knighthood of King Arthur?

Answer 1

This depends on which story you are reading.

Both the Vulgate Merlin and the Post-Vulgate Merlin describe oaths made by knights after Arthur marries Guenevere.

The Vulgate Merlin account can be read in the original medieval French with marginal notes in English in Oskar Sommer's edition at http://www.archive.org/details/arthurian02sommuoft . The best way to read this is to download the text in the DjVu version. Then use DjVu to read it (see http://djvu.org/). Go to page 320.

An archaic English translation is found on the web at http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=cme;cc=cme;rgn=div1;view=text;idno=Merlin;node=Merlin%3A26, page 481.

The Post-Vulgate Merlin is found in the original medieval French at http://books.Google.com/books?id=adcWAAAAYAAJ . There, in his first quest, at Queen Guenevere's marriage feast, Sir Gawain accidently kills a woman, and refuses to grant a knight mercy in battle. Upon his return to court, a penance is placed on him to henceforth always serve maidens and to always grant mercy. King Pellinor also enters on a quest, and in his eagerness, he ignores a cry for aid from a damsel who is with a badly wounded knight. As a result the wounded knight and damsel are both devoured by wild animals. Merlin later tells King Arthur, after asking him to keep it secret, that the damsel was King Pellinor's daughter.

A modern English translation of a Spanish version of this is available at http://members.terracom.net/~dorothea/baladro/index.html, chapters 30-34.

Sir Thomas Malory uses this account in his Le Morte d'Arthur. But, perhaps more impressed by Gawain's and Pellinor's misdeeds, including Pellinor's rape of a maiden on whom his illegitimate son Tor is begotten, and perhaps recalling somewhat of the supposed rules of Arthur's court in other romances, adds a passage in which Arthur imposes oaths on his knights. See http://etext.Virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=Mal1Mor.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=61&division=div2 .

"Thus, when the quest was done of the white hart, the which followed Sir Gawaine; and the quest of the brachet, followed of Sir Tor, Pellinore's son; and the quest of the lady that the knight took away, the which King Pellinore at that time followed; then the king stablished all his knights, and them that were of lands not rich he gave them lands, and charged them never to do outrageousity nor murder, and always to flee treason; also, by no means to be cruel, but to give mercy unto him that asketh mercy, upon pain of forfeiture of their worship and lordship of King Arthur for evermore; and always to do ladies, damosels, and gentlewomen succour, upon pain of death. Also, that no man take no battles in a wrongful quarrel for no law, nor for no world's goods. Unto this were all the knights sworn of the Table Round, both old and young. And every year were they sworn at the high feast of Pentecost."