King Arthur

"And then Sir Gawain wept, and King Arthur wept; and then they swooned both." - the legend of King Arthur, as related by Malory.

Sixth century Britain was a difficult time to be alive. Syncope, or "swooning," as it was known in King Arthur's time, was not the delicate, manly activity we know and love today. Consider: the fainting couch would not be popularized until 1832 with the invention of Victorian modesty. A brief lapse of consciousness was usually followed by a hard fall on the ground or upon a fellow knight. One in five knights suffered mortal hurt by accidentally swooning upon a sword (the result leading to more bouts of swooning from any knights in the vicinity).