The Mammoth Book of King Arthur

by Mike Ashley

  Pelles. The son of Pellehan and father of Elaine. With the help of Brisen, Elaine’s handmaiden, Pelles administers to Lancelot a potion that makes him believe Elaine is Guenevere, and as a result she conceives Galahad. See Fisher King.

  Pellinore. Variously cited as the brother or cousin of Pelles and at times (as in the Livre D’Artus) confused with both him and Pellehan as the Fisher King. His wound arose because he doubted the wonders of the Grail and was punished by God. He becomes involved in the pointless pursuit of the Questing Beast. Pellinore is the father of Tor and of Elaine, who may be confused with Pelles’s daughter. However, Pellinore fails to rescue Elaine while he is on a quest to find Nimuë, and as a result she dies. In the rebellion of the kings Pellinore kills Lot and is eventually killed by Gawain.

  Perceval or Percivale. The original Grail knight. See Chapter 16 for full discussion.

  Pertolepe, see Bertilak.

  Ragnell, Dame. The name given to the Loathly Damsel, an ugly woman who is really a beauty in disguise who tests knights’ loyalty and honesty. Gawain is usually on the receiving end. See Chapter 14.

  Rhufon/Rhun the Radiant, see Agravain.

  Rhydderch or Ridderch Hael. The king of Strathclyde whom some tales place at the battle of Arderydd. See Chapter 8 in particular.

  Rience, Rion or Ryon. A king of Norgales (North Wales) and various other locales, who has fought and defeated eleven kings, each time adding their beards to his cloak. He intends to make Arthur’s his twelfth. In the original Celtic legend Arthur fights and kills Rience (here called Rhitta or Ritho) in Snowdonia (one legend) or the Berwyn Mountains. Their struggle took place at Rhiw y Barfau (“Slope of Beards”). In Geoffrey’s History he is a giant, which usually denotes a Saxon or Dane. In Malory it is Balin and Balan who capture Rience and deliver him to Arthur. There may be more to this story than first thought. The list of those at Arthur’s court in Culhwch and Olwen includes Gormant ap Rhica who is Arthur’s maternal half-brother. This might well have been a family squabble over inheritance. The town of Rhica, Tref Rita, was apparently in Gwent, north of Caerwent, near Llandegfedd.

  Riothamus. A military leader and possibly king amongst the Bretons who may be the original Arthur. See Chapter 6.2 for discussion.

  Safere or Saphire. Brother of Palamedes (see entry).

  Sagremor or Sacremors. A knight related to the royal family of Constantinople although also called the son of the King of Hungary, or “Hongrie”, which may be a pun on his insatiable hunger. Sagremor must have had an active metabolism as he is always leaping into action, seldom to great effect, and will throw himself into the heat of battle, and eat ravenously afterwards. Failure to eat makes him ill, so Kay nicknames him “le Mort jeune” (“the young dead”). It may also be reflected in his name, “sacred death”. Chrétien, who first introduces Sagremor, may have based him on the character of Tall Atrwm in Culhwch and Olwen who apparently could never stop eating or drinking. Sagremor is killed in the final battle with Mordred. Curiously, in the Post-Vulgate Merlin Sagremor’s father, Nabur the Unruly, rears the infant Mordred.

  Sanddef. One of Arthur’s twenty-four knights and one of the few survivors of Camlann, according to Culhwch and Olwen. He was known as “Angel Form” and no one dared attack him because he was so beautiful. He may be the equivalent of Chrétien’s “Handsome Coward”.

  Taliesin. The name of a sixth-century bard to whom are credited many poems that refer to Arthur or his contemporaries. He even takes part in some of the adventures. His work is discussed in Chapter 8 and his main adventure in Chapter 12.

  Terrican or Turquin. The brother of Karados who also captures knights, though he does not seem to be in league with Morgan. He is killed by Lancelot.

  Tor. The illegitimate son of Pellinor, he is only young when he is brought by a cowherd to Arthur’s court, but Arthur sees his potential and Tor soon proves himself. He is knighted and before long admitted to the Round Table, which annoys King Bagdemagus who thinks it is his turn. We only learn of a few of his adventures, the most notable of which involves his search for a hound and which includes him despatching the villainous Abelleus. Tor is killed during Lancelot’s rescue of Guenevere. Chrétien almost certainly took his name from the Welsh sources, probably Twrch ap Perif, who appears in Culhwch and Olwen and as one of Arthur’s counsellors in Dream of Rhonabwy. Twrch, of course, means boar or hog, as in the Twrch Trwyth, and evidently reflects Tor’s lowly upbringing.

  Tristan or Tristram. The lover of Iseult. See Chapter 13 for full discussion.

  Turquin, see Terrican.

  Ugly Brave, The, see Morfran.

  Urien. A historical king of Rheged, and father of Owain. He lived at least two generations after Badon. Urien was famed for his battles against the Saxons, discussed in Chapter 8, and it’s very likely that some of his battles were later grafted on to Arthur’s battle list. Urien was murdered at the instigation of another chieftain called Morcant, a name that may have encouraged connections with both Mordred and Morgan. In the romances he is made king of Gorre.

  Uther Pendragon. The father of Arthur whose life is told by Geoffrey of Monmouth. See Chapter 9 for discussion.

  Uwaine, see Yvaine.

  Vivian or Viviene, see Lady of the Lake.

  Vortigern. The ruler of Britain who is accused of inviting the Saxons to Britain and of consorting with the enemy. His life is a preamble to the Arthurian story and, in Geoffrey’s History, introduces Merlin. See Chapters 5, 6 and 9.

  Vortimer. The son of Vortigern. See Chapters 5, 6 and 9.

  Vortipor. A king of Dyfed known as the Protector, and a contemporary of Arthur of Badon. He is one of the kings castigated by Gildas. His life and Arthurian associations are discussed in Chapters 5 and 10.

  Yder. The hero of his own verse romance (see Chapter 18). He seems to be a prototype of Lancelot, because Guenevere confesses her love for him. He remained a popular character, as he appears in several later romances. He dies during Arthur’s Roman campaign. A Cornish legend about Yder (maybe another of that name) tells how he hurries ahead of Arthur to kill three giants on Brent Knoll in Somerset. He succeeds but dies of the effort. There is also a King Yder in the later romances, apparently a ruler of Cornouaille, who is one of the rebels who refuses to accept Arthur at the outset but who later fights valiantly on Arthur’s behalf. It is easy to confuse the two.

  Ygraine, Ygerne or Igraine. The wife of Gorlois, who is seduced by Uther and becomes the mother of Arthur. See Chapter 9.

  Yseult, see Iseult.

  Yvain. There are at least six knights by this name and possibly more, as not all identifications are obvious. The most famous of them was the legitimate son of Urien, who is covered under Owain. His half-brother, the illegitimate son of Urien and his seneschal’s wife, is called Yvain li Avoutres (“the Bastard”). He appears in many of the key battles and quests but is killed by Gawain (who does not recognise him) during the Grail Quest. The other four all seem to be cousins and are Yvain de Lionel, Yvain li Dains (or l’Esclain), Yvain le Blanche Mains and Yvain du Cinel (or de Rivel).

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  LOST WORLDS – AN ARTHURIAN GAZETTEER

  This is a quick guide to all sites in Britain with an Arthurian association, with a cross reference, where appropriate, to where that site may be discussed in more detail elsewhere in this book. It does not include sites outside Britain. Sites known only by their Arthurian names, such as Camelot, are listed separately at the start, with cross-references to suggested locales. All other sites are organized by county. I have only included those sites which have a direct link to the Arthurian legend so that many sites which have adopted such names as Arthur’s Stone or Arthur’s Table for a local landmark but with no known Arthurian link have been excluded. All of the possible battle sites are listed, but for a detailed discussion see Chapter 7.

  Anyone wishing for a more detailed guide should refer to A Guidebook to Arthurian Britain by Geoffrey Ashe (Longman, 1980), reprinted and revised as The Traveller’s Guide to
Arthurian Britain (Gothic Image, 1997), and A Traveller’s Guide to the Kingdoms of Arthur by Neil Fairbairn & Michael Cyprien (Evans, 1983), which also includes entries for Brittany.

  LEGENDARY OR ARCHAIC NAMES

  Agned. The site of Arthur’s eleventh battle, according to Nennius. See Edinburgh and Melrose.

  Astolat. Better known by its Tennysonian name Shalott, this place is variously called Ascalot or Escalot and was the home of Elaine, the Lady of Shalott. Malory placed it at Guildford, but only because he needed a site between Winchester and London. The oldest form of the name is Escalot which, if we remove the French prefix Es, becomes Calot. In Welsh this would have been Gwlodd or Caer Gwlodd, a name which appears in the poem Preideu Annwvyn as one of the epithets of the fortress of Annwn, the fairy fortress Caer Sidhi. Caer Gulodd, as it usually appears, means the Hidden Fortress, a suitable description for the Grail Castle. This suggests that the origins for both Astolat and Corbenic derive from the same source location even though they became two separate places. See Avalon.

  Avalon. The Isle of Avalon was where, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, Arthur’s sword Caliburn was forged and where Arthur was taken to be healed. Geoffrey also tells us that Avalon was known as the Fortunate Isle or the Isle of Plenty. It is also known, according to William of Malmesbury, as the Isle of Apples, a translation of Ynys Afallach or Avallach. It came to represent the Otherworld, perhaps the visible portion of Annwn which was the Underworld. The name corrupted in the Grail legend to that of the King, Evelach or Evelake, whilst in the pedigrees Aballac was the son or grandson of Beli and ancestor of Coel and Cunedda. All of these names suggest an association with a halfway house to the Otherworld, a kind of portal to Heaven, and thus similar to, and possibly the source of, the Grail Castle. The location of Avalon (if not the source of the name) is almost certainly the same as Annwn. The poem Preideu Annwvyn, or “The Spoils of Annwn”, gives eight names for the fortress to which Arthur sails to rescue Gwair and steal the magic cauldron. It is called Caer Sidhe (“fairy fortress”), Caer Pedryfan (“the four-cornered fortress”), Caer Feddyd (“Fort of the Gods”), Caer Rigor (“royal fortress”), Caer Wydr (“glass fort”), Caer Goludd (“hidden fortress”), Caer Fandwy (“High Fort”), Caer Ochren (“Fort of the Sides”). All describe not only a castle of some significance in size and form, but a castle of the gods. Annwn was the realm of the Celtic Gods which became Christianized as Avalon. It was evidently a place held as holy by the British.

  Many places have been associated with Avalon, including Avallon in France, which may have helped cement the name, or the old Roman fort of Aballava (see Burgh by Sands). Of course neither of these is an island, although Robert de Boron in Joseph d’Aramathie refers to the “Vales of Avalon”, suggesting Somerset, which by his day had become associated with Glastonbury (see entry). Other islands suggested are Anglesey, Arran, Bardsey, Lundy, Isle of Man and Iona, plus two islands off the Breton coast, Sein and Ile Aval. See also the entry for Lydney (Gloucestershire).

  Badon. The site of Arthur’s twelfth and most decisive battle. Many locations have been suggested but none with great certainty. These are discussed in detail in Chapter 7.

  Bassas. Arthur’s sixth battle, according to Nennius. See Baschurch (Shropshire), Falkirk (Scotland).

  Bedegraine and Brandigan. In Malory’s Morte Darthur, Arthur’s first major battle against the rebellious kings is at Bedegraine, which was a castle friendly to Arthur but besieged by the rebels. Malory says that it is in Sherwood Forest but, as usual, he is probably confusing names. The centre of Sherwood Forest in Malory’s day was not Nottingham but Ravenshead, the highest point, where the Forest Court sat. Nearby was Newstead Abbey on a promontory in the lake, just as Bedegraine Castle is described. Ravens are closely associated with Arthurian legend and the British word for Raven was bran. In Chrétien’s Erec et Enide, the castle of Brandigan, built by King Evrain, is described as almost impregnable, on an island fifteen leagues wide and self sufficient in every way. Brandigan is clearly a corruption of Branogenium, the name of the Roman fort at Leintwardine. The name means literally “born of the raven”, which may be a euphemism for “born of the king”, Bran being the name of the early Celtic ruler. The name still exists in the areas as Brandon Camp, south of Leintwardine, which is surrounded by river tributaries and thus may be regarded as an island. It would be easy for Malory to believe that Ravenshead might also once have been called Brandigan, now further disguised as Bedegraine.

  Benwick or Benoic. The kingdom of Lancelot’s father, Ban, in France. There is a Benwick in Britain, near March in Cambridgeshire, but that name was originally Beymwich, which probably meant the “farm by the tree trunk”, and it is an unlikely site for Lancelot’s home. Another suggested site is Bannock near Stirling, site of the battle of Bannockburn. This derives from the Celtic Bannog, for the peaked hill from which the burn flows. This may indeed have attracted the eye of the French, but the answer may be more prosaic than that. Littleton and Malcor make the point that Benwick or Banwick simply means the “wick” or farm/land of Ban, which is self-descriptive. Loomis believed that Ban de Benoic is a French version of Bran le Benoit, meaning Bran the Blessed. Either way Benwick is simply a descriptive placename and not a territory at all. There was an ancient castle at Banvou in Normandy that may have helped prompt the connection. See also Gannes.

  Bregwyn. The site of Arthur’s eleventh battle, possibly an alternative name for Agned. See High Rochester and Leintwardine.

  Brocéliande. The ancient forest of central Brittany, famous for being where Merlin spent his final days with Nimuë and where he now lies entombed. Lancelot also spent his youth here at the lake at Comper. Wace, when writing his history, thought he ought to check out the forest but saw nothing. “A fool I returned; a fool I went,” he wrote. All that now remains of the great old forest is the Forêt de Paimpont, between Rennes and Ploërmel. The Tomb of Merlin is on the north side near Comper. See also Forest of Dean (Gloucester).

  Cameliard. The home of Guenevere and her father Leodegrance. Although this is usually placed in Cornwall (with links to the river Camel), Guenevere’s home was traditionally in Wales at Knucklas (see entry). Just west of Knucklas is a mountainous region called Maelienydd and it has been suggested that the fortress at Knucklas may also have been known as Caer Maelienydd, which became Cameliard.

  Camelot. The name of Arthur’s principle castle and perhaps the most famous name in all Arthuriana. It first appeared in Chrétien de Troyes’s story about Lancelot, Le Chevalier de la Charrete, written around 1177. He stated that Arthur “had left Caerleon and held a most magnificent court at Camelot”, but otherwise gave no location. Not all of the French or German romancers mention Camelot, preferring Carduel. Most British sources list Caerleon, Gelliwig or Carlisle as Arthur’s main courts. It was Malory who popularised Camelot and he is specific that it was Winchester (Book xii, Chapter x, Caxton edition), but he was only following the mood of the day when Edward IV promoted Winchester’s Arthurian connections. Curiously Caxton, in his introduction to Malory’s text, said that Camelot was in Wales and that “divers now living hath seen” its great stones and marvellous works. Since Chrétien had distinguished between Camelot and Caerleon, Caxton was probably referring to Caerwent, where the old Roman town was still visible. Barber and Pykitt suggest that the town of Llanmelin, which is almost part of Caerwent, may originally have been called Caermelin, which could have corrupted into Camelot.

  Sixty years after Caxton’s printing, John Leland identified Camelot with Cadbury Castle in Somerset, with its neighbouring villages of Queen Camel and West Camel. That has remained a popular site ever since, with circumstantial support coming from Alcock’s archaeological survey in the late 1960s.

  The name Camelot may have been derived from the Roman Camulodunum, modern-day Colchester. There is no evidence to suggest an Arthurian presence in Essex, least of all in any area close to the Germanic settlements, though it does appear that a British enclave subsisted i
nto the fifth century around London and Essex. Nevertheless sub-Roman Colchester was never as resplendent as Caerwent or Wroxeter, the Roman Viriconium in Shropshire, which was the largest and most significant Roman town to see continued occupation throughout the fifth century. Both these towns, but especially Wroxeter, could have been sufficiently splendid during these violent times to be remembered as something special.

  Camelford in Cornwall and Camelon near Falkirk have both been suggested solely on the similarity of the name. Camelford has no known building to support the claim. At Camelon, the Roman town was called Caermawr. No northern town was sufficiently beyond the battle zone to have been allowed to develop into a place of any appreciable luxury. If Camelot were meant to represent a specific place (and not just Chrétien’s invention), it would need to be in the south and west, and not too far from Caerleon. Caerwent and Wroxeter would be the best possibilities, with Cadbury a close third.

  Camlann. Arthur’s final battle. Several sites have been suggested, all of which are discussed in Chapter 7. See separate entries on River Cam (Somerset) and Camlan (Gwynedd).

  Carduel. At the start of Yvain, Chrétien refers to Arthur’s court at “Carduel en Gales”. This is usually translated as Carlisle, or Caer Luel, with Wales interpreted as covering all of the old British territories in western Britain. Marie de France also uses the name Carduel in her lai, Lanval, and it came to feature regularly in the French romances. The name may be related to Kerduel in Brittany, just north of Lannion, where there is an ancient château. It has been suggested that the Breton name derives from the holy man Tudual, but this seems unlikely. Tudual’s monastery was at Tréguier, which is not too far from Kerduel, and there was no need for Tudual to have a separate hermitage.