The Nonexistent Knight

The Nonexistent Knight (Il cavaliere inesistente) is a 1959 novel by Italo Calvino. The novel is a reimaging of traditional chivalric romances, telling a story set in the court of King Charlemagne. The Nonexistent Knight deconstructs the received knowledge of the chivalric romances for a modern era.

This guide uses the 1962 Mariner House edition, translated into English by Archibald Colquhoun.

Plot Summary

The Nonexistent Knight is set in medieval France during the late stages of the rule of Charlemagne. Beneath the walls of Paris, Charlemagne inspects his paladins. These knights and leaders call out their names and their achievements. Eventually, Charlemagne arrives at a knight named Agilulf, who is hesitant to remove his visor and show his face. He cannot do so, he says, because he does not exist. Agilulf is an empty suit of armor, inhabited by the spirit of chivalry and the belief in Charlemagne’s holy cause. After the inspection, Agilulf meets a young knight named Raimbaut, whose father was killed by the Moors and who now seeks revenge. Agilulf tells Raimbaut that he should fight for honor rather than revenge.

Raimbaut is sent to the Superintendency for Duels, Feuds, and Besmirched Honor, a group of bureaucrats who arrange for minor squabbles and matters of vengeance to be settled. Raimbaut refuses to accept their bureaucratic suggestions and reiterates his desire for revenge. Raimbaut and the rest of the army are then called to battle. During their journey, they stop frequently in towns along the way. Charlemagne is amused by the appearance of a man named Gurduloo, who can convince himself that he is a duck, a frog, or whatever he happens to be closest to at any given moment. Charlemagne jokes that he should become squire to the nonexistent knight. Agilulf, unable to understand the joke, sincerely accepts Charlemagne’s wishes and makes Gurduloo his squire.

The narrator, previously unknown, reveals herself to be Sister Theodora, who is writing the book from inside a convent. She describes the battle between Charlemagne’s army and the Moors, even though she points out that nuns should have no experience of battle. Raimbaut seeks out Isohar, the man who killed his father. After a number of false starts, he comes across the man who carries Isohar’s spectacles. He kills this man, resulting in Isohar himself dying by another’s hand because of his lack of spectacles. He wonders whether this counts as revenge. As he continues to battle, he is ambushed. A mysterious knight appears and saves Raimbaut. As Raimbaut follows the knight, he learns that the knight is actually a woman. He immediately falls in love with her. He learns that the female knight is Bradamante, and he tries to tell Agilulf about his feelings, but the nonexistent knight is not interested. He instructs Raimbaut and Gurduloo to help him to bury the dead. Later, Raimbaut approaches Bradamante, but she laughs at him. At the same time, she falls in love with Agilulf.

At a banquet, Agilulf corrects the paladins’ wildly exaggerated stories, which annoys them. A young knight named Torrismund stands up and accuses Agilulf of dishonor. Agilulf was made a knight when he saved Sophronia, the virgin daughter of the King of Scotland, from being raped. Torrismund claims that Sophronia was no virgin at the time, as she was his mother. Agilulf sets off on a quest to find Sophronia and discover the truth; Bradamante, Raimbaut, and Gurduloo follow. In the meantime, Torrismund claims that his father is actually a knight of the Order of the Knights of the Holy Grail, so Charlemagne sends him to seek out these knights. Torrismund finds the knights but discovers that they have become lazy and ineffectual, living only by taking food from the local starving peasants. Torrismund defends the peasants.

Agilulf seeks out Sophronia. Her convent has been destroyed and she has been kidnapped and taken as a Queen by the Sultan of Morocco. Agilulf rescues her from the Sultan and hides her in a cave in Brittany. While he fetches Charlemagne, Torrismund comes across Sophronia in the cave. Not knowing her identity, he immediately falls in love. Charlemagne’s court arrives to find that Torrismund and Sophronia have had sex. Their identities are revealed, and Agilulf flees in disgrace at the suggestions of incest. Torrismund is able to clarify matters, however, as he and Sophronia discover that they are not actually related. They are able to marry and retire to the same town where the peasants have now chased away the Knights of the Holy Grail. Torrismund is invited to live among them as an equal.

Raimbaut seeks out Agilulf but only finds an empty suit of armor—Agilulf has ceased to exist following the immorality he believed he witnessed. Raimbaut wears this armor into battle and Bradamante, spotting the armor, has sex with him. She is horrified to find Raimbaut inside and she flees. Sister Theodora reveals that she is actually Bradamante; she has since realized that she loves Raimbaut. When she hears him approach the convent, she abandons her book to chase after him.