The poem presents the history of King Arthur after he conquered England and various other lands and can be easily split into X parts.
In the first part, King Arthur meets with a senator sent from Rome. The senator was sent by the Roman Emperor and was in England to ask for tribute. The reason why the Emperor sent the senator was because King Arthur conquered some of the lands under his command and made them his own. King Arthur put in charge his own men as kings and banished the former Kings which were all related to the Emperor.
Initially, Arthur wants to agree to pay tribute but then he is convinced by his advisors not to do it. Arthur remembers that he has the same right as the Roman Emperor to rule over the lands and thus he decided to send back the senator with a message for the Emperor, informing him that England will not bow down to the Roman Empire and will fight instead for the right to rule.
The reason why Arthur first thought about giving up his lands and agreeing with the terms set by the Roman Emperor is because the Roman Empire had an immense wealth, incomparable with the one England had. Almost half of Europe and a number of other countries were under the control of the Roman Empire. What made him change his mind was the fact that Arthur was made to remember that he had a right to rule over the Roman Empire as well. Arthur mentioned various Kings that in the past conquered the Roman lands and thus this made him believe that he had a right to rule over them as well.
Another thing that made Arthur change his mind was the knowledge that the Roman Empire treated the people they were ruling with cruelty and unjustly. This made Arthur think that it was his destiny to liberate the oppressed people from under the Emperor’s tyrannical regime.
In the second part, Arthur tells the senator what he and his court have decided and sends him back to Rome. He promises he will have safe passage to Rome so the senator returns home. Once in Rome, the Emperor is eager to find what King Arthur decided. The senator does not give him the answer he had hoped for and tells him instead that Arthur refused to pay tribute and surrender his lands and challenged the Emperor to come and fight with him to determine who has the right to rule and who is better fitted for the job. The Emperor agrees to fight with Arthur and so he sends letter to assemble his army.
In the third part, the two kings prepare their troops for the battle and there is a clear difference between the two. Arthur is careful with the people he chooses and decided to take with him only noble people and knights he trusts. He refuses to ask for help from other nations an instead relies only on those he trusts. Arthur also does everything he can to take care of his wife and queen so he goes and talks with her about his departure. King Arthur also leaves a person he trusts in charge, a man named Mordred.
In Italy, the Emperor assembles his army as well but in comparison with Arthur who decided to gather only those who he deemed worthy, the Emperor sends letters to almost every country in Europe and Africa and gathers a large army of mercenaries. Both kings thus start their journey towards France, the place where the battle will take place at the beginning of February, a month after Arthur and the senator from Rome talked.
In the fourth part, King Arthur has his first prophetic dream in the poem. Arthur is on a ship, traveling from England to Europe when he falls asleep. During this time, he dreams of a mighty dragon, covered with gold that flies over the sky. At one point, he sees a bear, coming out of nowhere and stopping on the ground, causing damage without having a clear purpose in mind. The dragon and the bear fight and while the dragon is wounded, it succeeds in defeating the bear and killing it.
After Arthur wakes up, he calls to him his philosophers who interpret the dream for him. They tell Arthur that he is the dragon but they can’t say for sure who the bear is.
In various medieval and ancient stories, dragons are portrayed as being negative creatures, killing everyone and greedy. In this context however, the dragon is seen as a savior rather than a creature that one must fear. While the dragon is indeed dangerous, he does not want to do harm and uses his position to take care of the rest of the people, surveying the land and assessing the dangers.
The bear on the other hand is the negative creature. He stomps the earth and does damage for no other reason that it can. When the dragon sees the bear, he attacks it because he wants to protect the other people and save the land. In this context, the bear is the Roman Empire that conquered almost every country in Europe during its most productive years. While the Roman Empire did not needed the lands to survive, the conquered them just because they could and because they wanted to be feared by everyone.
The battle between the dragon and the bear is described almost in Biblical terms and can be compared to the battle between the creatures described in the book of Daniel. This comparison is important because it transmits the idea that the battle is an important one and has great implications for the people living in the lands where the battle takes place.
In the fifth part, Arthur arrives in France and he is welcomed by the people. There, he finds that a giant kidnaped the queen of the land, took her in the mountains where he raped her and kept her captive. Arthur decides to go after the giant who was at Mount Saint Michel. There, Arthur defeats the giant and saves the people taken captives by the giant.
The giant in this story can be compared with the underground monster Beowulf battles. In the story about Beowulf, the people come to him for help, asking to defeat a monster that eats people. The giant defeated by Arthur also eats people and is a threat to the Christian world. So in a way, Arthur is a savior in this context, helping the good Christian people.
In the sixth part, Arthur returns from the mountain and goes to battle against the Roman Emperor. Arthur defeats the Emperor and then he starts his journey towards Rome, bent on conquering it. Hearing about Arthur, the Pope surrenders and Arthur becomes the ruler in Rome.
While Arthur is not injured during the fight, some of his knights die and the most important one is Sir Gawin. His death is so important that he is mourned even by the Roman Emperor. His death shows that one cannot be successful without making sacrifices and in this case the life of the knights was the sacrifice paid by King Arthur.
In the seventh part Arthur has another prophetic dream. In this dream, he sees Lady Fortune who tells him that he will not be the one to conquer and rule the Roman Empire but rather one of his successors. The dream can be compared to the one David had in which he was told he will not be the one to build God’s house but rather his son will be the one to carry on God’s work. Lady Fortune also tells Arthur that he will be betrayed and when he wakes up he is informed that the man he left behind to rule in his place will betray him. When Arthur wakes up, he is told that Mordred took over the throne and made Arthur’s wife his own concubine. Hearing this, Arthur decides to return home.
In the last part of the poem, Arthur and Mordred battle for England. Both Arthur and Mordred die and Arthur names a new successor.
The reason why Arthur had to die is the same reason why David in the Bible was not permitted to build God’s house. David was involved in many wars and thus his hands were dirty with blood. Because of this, God chose someone else to carry on his work. In a similar way, Arthur had to be punished for his greed and for the lives he took and thus he had to pay with his own life. The ending of the poem shows that no matter what good intentions a person may have, they have to be punished for their deeds and must always pay a price for their greed.
