Beheading game

The Green Knight has survived beheading by Gawain in this 14th-century manuscript.

A beheading game is a trope or motif of medieval romance in which the players exchange blows that could decapitate their opponent. The most famous example is in the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, where the two title characters engage in the beheading game, while the earliest known example is in the 8th century Irish story of Fled Bricrenn (Bricriu's Feast).^[1]^[2]

References[]

^ Strite, Sheri Ann (1991), "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: To Behead or Not to Behead — That is a Question" (PDF), Philological Quarterly, University of Iowa, 70: 1–12
^ Tracy, Larissa (2012), "The Real Price of the Beheading Game in SGGK and Malory", Heads Will Roll: Decapitation in the Medieval and Early Modern Imagination, BRILL, pp. 207–232, ISBN 9789004211551

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[Strite-1] Strite, Sheri Ann (1991), "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: To Behead or Not to Behead — That is a Question" (PDF), Philological Quarterly, University of Iowa, 70: 1–12

[Tracy-2] Tracy, Larissa (2012), "The Real Price of the Beheading Game in SGGK and Malory", Heads Will Roll: Decapitation in the Medieval and Early Modern Imagination, BRILL, pp. 207–232, ISBN 9789004211551

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