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{{Short description|King Arthur and order of chivalry in Arthurian romance}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2019}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2019}}
{{multiple image
| width = 350
| image1 = Holy Grail Tapestry -The Arming and Departure of the Kniights.jpg
| image2 = Knights of the Round Table (La Quête du Saint Graal BNF Français 343).png
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| caption1 = ''The Arming and Departure of the Knights'', one of the Holy Grail-themed 19th-century tapestries by [[Edward Burne-Jones]], [[William Morris]], and [[John Henry Dearle]]
| caption2 = King Arthur and his knights in a 14th-century Italian manuscript of the [[Vulgate Cycle]]'s ''Quest for the Holy Grail''
}}
The '''Knights of the Round Table''' ({{langx|cy|Marchogion y Ford Gron}}, {{langx|kw|Marghekyon an Moos Krenn}}, {{langx|br|Marc'hegien an Daol Grenn}}) are the legendary [[knight]]s of the fellowship of [[King Arthur]] that first appeared in the [[Matter of Britain]] literature in the mid-12th century. The Knights are an order dedicated to ensuring the peace of Arthur's kingdom following an early warring period, entrusted in later years to undergo a mystical quest for the [[Holy Grail]]. The [[Round Table]] at which they meet is a symbol of the equality of its members, who range from sovereign royals to minor nobles.
The various Round Table stories present an assortment of knights from all over [[Great Britain]] and abroad, some of whom are even from outside of Europe. Their ranks often include [[King Arthur's family|Arthur's close and distant relatives]], such as [[Agravain]], [[Gaheris]] and [[Yvain]], as well as his reconciled former enemies, like [[Galehaut]], [[Pellinore]] and [[King Lot|Lot]]. Several of the most notable Knights of the Round Table, among them [[Bedivere]], [[Gawain]] and [[Sir Kay|Kay]], are based on older characters from a host of great warriors associated with Arthur in the early Welsh tales. Some, such as [[Lancelot]], [[Perceval]] and [[Tristan]], feature in the roles of a protagonist or eponymous hero in various works of [[chivalric romance]]. Other well-known members of the Round Table include the holy knight [[Galahad]], replacing Perceval as the main Grail Knight in the later stories, and Arthur's traitorous son and nemesis [[Mordred]].
By the end of Arthurian prose cycles (including the seminal ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''), the Round Table splits up into groups of warring factions following the revelation of Lancelot's adultery with King Arthur's wife, [[Queen Guinevere]]. In the same tradition, Guinevere is featured with her own personal order of young knights, known as the '''Queen's Knights'''. Some of these romances retell the story of the '''Knights of the Old Table''', led by Arthur's father, [[Uther Pendragon]], whilst other tales focus on the members of the 'Grail Table'; these were the followers of ancient Christian [[Joseph of Arimathea]], with his Grail Table later serving as the inspiration for Uther and Arthur's subsequent Round Tables.
== Numbers of members ==
[[File:William Dyce - Piety- The Knights of the Round Table about to Depart in Quest of the Holy Grail - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|left|''Piety: The Knights of the Round Table about to Depart in Quest of the Holy Grail'' by [[William Dyce]] (1849)]]
The number of the Knights of the Round Table (including [[King Arthur]]) and their names vary greatly between the versions published by different writers. The figure may range from a dozen to as many as potentially (the number of seats at the table) 1,600, the latter claimed by [[Layamon]] in his ''[[Layamon's Brut|Brut]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=67XWQD7rZcoC&pg=PA120|title=Chivalry and Violence in Medieval Europe|first=Richard|last=Kaeuper|date=30 September 1999|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-154275-6 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Most commonly,<ref>Daniel Mersey, ''Myths & Legends: The Knights of the Round Table'', page 4.</ref> however, there are between about 100 and 300 seats at the table, often with [[Siege Perilous|one seat usually permanently empty]]. The number of three hundred was also chosen by King [[Edward III of England]] when he decided to create his own real-life Order of the Round Table at [[Windsor Castle]] in 1344.<ref>Jennifer Westwood, ''Albion: A Guide to Legendary Britain'', page 314.</ref>
In many chivalric romances there are over 100 members of Arthur's Round Table, as with either 140 or 150 according to [[Thomas Malory]]'s popular ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'',<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Withrington, John|title = "He Telleth the Number of the Stars; He Calleth Them All by Their Names": The Lesser Knights of Sir Thomas Malory's "Morte Darthur"|year=1993|journal=Quondam et Futurus|volume=3|issue=4|pages=17–27|jstor = 27870251}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OAk7EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA54|title=A New Companion to Malory|first1=Megan G.|last1=Leitch|first2=Cory|last2=Rushton|date=17 August 2019|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|isbn=9781843845232 |via=Google Books}}</ref> and about 140 according to ''[[Erec (poem)|Erec]]'' by [[Hartmann von Aue]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dtsDg48PgtMC&pg=PA31|title=The Court Reconvenes: Courtly Literature Across the Disciplines : Selected Papers from the Ninth Triennial Congress of the International Courtly Literature Society, University of British Columbia, 25-31 July, 1998|first=International Courtly Literature Society|last=Congress|date=17 August 2003|publisher=DS Brewer|isbn=9780859917971 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Some sources offer much smaller numbers, such as 13 in the Didot ''Perceval'' and 60 in the count by [[Jean d'Outremeuse]] in his ''Ly Myreur des Histors''.<ref>Theresa Bane, ''Encyclopedia of Mythological Objects'', page 132.</ref><ref name=cb>Christopher W. Bruce, ''The Arthurian Name Dictionary'', page 140.</ref> Others yet give higher numbers, as with 250 in the [[Vulgate Cycle|Prose ''Merlin'']],<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UTNrEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA352|title=Prose Merlin|first=John|last=Conlee|date=1 September 1998|publisher=Medieval Institute Publications|isbn=9781580444163 |via=Google Books}}</ref> and 366 in both ''Li Chevaliers as Deus Espees''<ref name=cb/> and ''[[Perlesvaus]]'' (where this is their peak number that nevertheless had dwindled to only about 25 at the time when the story begins<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3xEsCWEYFfkC&pg=PA189|title=Sources of the Grail: An Anthology|first=John|last=Matthews|date=17 August 1997|publisher=SteinerBooks|isbn=9780940262867 |via=Google Books}}</ref>).
[[Chrétien de Troyes]] suggested around 500 knights in his early romance ''[[Erec and Enide]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zACqIw3ozxcC&pg=PA49|title=Chivalry in Twelfth-century Germany: The Works of Hartmann Von Aue|first=W. H.|last=Jackson|date=17 August 1994|publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd|isbn=9780859914314 |via=Google Books}}</ref> In the same work, Chrétien catalogued many of Arthur's top knights in a series of long hierarchical lists of names. These rankings are different in each of the surviving manuscripts, none of which is believed to be the author's original version.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QDGcAlG0vtsC&pg=PA117|title=Essays in Honor of Norris J. Lacy|first1=Keith|last1=Busby|first2=Catherine M.|last2=Jones|date=17 August 2000|publisher=Rodopi|isbn=9789042006201 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
While not mentioning the Round Table as such, one of the late [[Welsh Triads]] lists 24 extraordinary knights permanently living in Arthur's court,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/ctexts/triads4.html|title=The Twenty-Four Knights of King Arthur's Court|website=www.ancienttexts.org}}</ref> mixing romance characters with several Arthur's warriors from a largely lost Welsh tradition considered to originate in old Celtic folklore. Companions of Arthur numbering 24 also appear in the Welsh tale of ''[[Peredur son of Efrawg]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KSnFEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT83|title=This is Not a Grail Romance: Understanding Peredur Vab Efrawc|first=Natalia|last=Petrovskaia|date=15 July 2023|publisher=University of Wales Press|isbn=9781837720385 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
== Partial lists ==
Some of the more notable knights include the following: {{clear}}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
|+Overview of common members of the Knights of the Round Table
|-
!scope="col" style="background: #e3e3e3;" |Name
!scope="col" style="background: #e3e3e3;" |Other names
!scope="col" style="background: #e3e3e3;" |Introduction
!scope="col" style="background: #e3e3e3;" |Other medieval works
!scope="col" style="background: #e3e3e3;" |Notes
|-
|scope="row"|[[Accolon]]
|Sir Accolon of Gaul
| ''[[Post-Vulgate Cycle]]'', c. 13th century
|''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''
|Loved by [[Morgan le Fay]], accidentally killed in a duel with King Arthur.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Aglovale]]
| Agloval, Sir Aglovale de Galis
|
| ''The Life of Sir Aglovale de Galis''
| King Pellinore's eldest son.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Agravain]]
| Agravaine
|
| [[Lancelot-Grail]], ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''
| Second son of [[King Lot]] (of either [[Lothian]] or [[Orkney]]) and Arthur's sister [[Morgause]].
|-
|scope="row"| [[King Arthur|Arthur]]
| Arthur Pendragon, Arturus, King Arthur
| ''[[Y Gododdin]]'', c. 6th century
| Many
| [[List of legendary kings of Britain|High King of Britain]], ruler of [[Logres]] and lord of [[Camelot]].
|-
|scope="row"| [[Bagdemagus]]
|
|
|''[[Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart]]'', 1170s
| Meleagant's father and ruler of Gorre.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Bedivere]]
| (Welsh: ''Bedwyr'', French: ''Bédoier'') Bedevere
| ''Pa Gur yv y Porthaur'', c. 10th century
| ''[[Cadoc|Vita Cadoc]]'', ''[[Culhwch and Olwen]]'', ''[[Englynion y Beddau|Stanzas of the Graves]]'', ''[[Welsh Triads]]'', ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]'', ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'', numerous others
| Returns [[Excalibur]] to the [[Lady of the Lake]]; brother to Lucan.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Bors the Younger]]
|
|
|
| Son of Bors the Elder, father of Elyan the White; Arthur's successor in some versions.
|-
|scope="row"|[[Brunor]]
| Breunor le Noir, ''La Cote Mal Taillée'' ("The Badly-shaped Coat")
|
|
|Knight who wears his murdered father's coat; brother of Dinadan and Daniel.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Cador]]
| (Latin: ''Cadorius'')
|
| ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]'', ''[[The Dream of Rhonabwy]]''
| Raised [[Guinevere]] as her ward, father to [[Constantine (Briton)|Constantine]]; described in some works as Arthur's cousin.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Calogrenant]]
| Colgrevance
| ''[[Yvain, the Knight of the Lion]]'', 1170s
| ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''
| Cousin to Sir Yvain.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Caradoc]]
| (Latin: ''Caractacus'') (Welsh: ''Caradog Freichfras'', meaning Caradoc Strong Arm) (French: ''Carados Briefbras'') (English: Carados of Scotland)
|
| ''[[Perceval, the Story of the Grail]]'', the ''[[Mabinogion]]''
| Rebelled against Arthur when he first became king, but later supported him. Sometimes two characters: Caradoc the Elder (a king) and Caradoc the Younger (a knight).
|-
| [[#Claudin|Claudin]]
|
|
| [[Lancelot-Grail]], ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''
| Virtuous son of the villain king [[Claudas]].
|-
|scope="row"| [[Constantine (Briton)|Constantine]]
|
|''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]'', c. 1136
| ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''
| Arthur's cousin and successor to his throne; Cador's son.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Dagonet]]
|
|
|
| Arthur's [[court jester]].
|-
|scope="row"| Daniel von Blumenthal
|
| ''[[Daniel von Blumenthal]]'', 1220
|
| Knight found in an early German offshoot of Arthurian legend.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Dinadan]]
|
| [[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']], 1230s
| ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''
| Son of Sir Brunor the Senior.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Sir Ector|Ector]]
| Hector, Antor, Ectorius
|[[Lancelot-Grail]], early 13th century
| ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''
| Raises Arthur according to [[Merlin]]'s command; father to Kay.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Elyan the White]]
| (French: ''Helyan le Blanc'')
|
|
| Son of Bors
|-
|scope="row"| [[Erec]]
|
|Unclear; first literary appearance as Erec in ''[[Erec and Enide]]'', c. 1170
|See ''[[Geraint and Enid]]''
| Son of King Lac.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Esclabor]]
|
|
|
| Exiled Saracen king; father of Palamedes, Safir, and Segwarides.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Feirefiz]]
|
|[[Wolfram von Eschenbach]]'s ''[[Parzival]]'', early 13th century
|
| Half-brother to Percival; Arthur's nephew.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Gaheris]]
|
|
| ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''
| Son of [[King Lot]] and [[Morgause]], brother to Gawain, Agravaine, and Gareth, and half-brother to Mordred.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Galahad]]
|
| [[Lancelot-Grail]], early 13th century
| [[Post-Vulgate Cycle]], ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''
| Bastard son of Sir Lancelot and [[Elaine of Corbenic]]; the main achiever of the Holy Grail.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Galehault]]
|Galehalt, Galehaut
|[[Lancelot-Grail]], early 13th century
|
|A half-giant foreign king, a former enemy of Arthur who becomes close to Lancelot.
|-
|scope="row"|[[Galeschin]]
|Galeshin
|The [[Vulgate Cycle]]
|
|Son of [[Elaine (legend)|Elaine of Garlot]] and [[King Nentres]]; nephew of Arthur.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Gareth]]
| [[Beaumains]]
|
|''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'', ''[[Idylls of the King]]''
| Also a son of [[King Lot]] and [[Morgause]]; in love with [[Lynette and Lyonesse|Lyonesse]].
|-
|scope="row"| [[Gawain]]
| (Latin: ''Walwanus'', Welsh: ''Gwalchmai'', Irish: ''Balbhuaidh'')
| ''[[Culhwch and Olwen]]'', c. 11th century
|''[[Perceval, the Story of the Grail|Conte du Graal]]'', [[Lancelot-Grail]] cycle, [[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']],''[[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]'', ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'' and many short Middle English romances
| Another son of [[King Lot]] and [[Morgause]]; father of Gingalain.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Geraint]]
|
|
|''[[Geraint and Enid]]''
| Enid's lover.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Gingalain]]
| Guinglain, Gingalin, Gliglois, Wigalois, etc., also ''Le Bel Inconnu'', or The Fair Unknown
|
| ''Le Bel Inconnu''
| Gawain's son.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Gornemant]]
| Gurnemanz
| ''[[Perceval, the Story of the Grail]]''
| ''[[Parzival]]''
| Mentor of Perceval.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Griflet]]
| Girflet, Jaufre
|
| ''[[Jaufré]]''
| A cousin to Lucan and Bedivere.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Hector de Maris]]
|Ector de Maris
|
| ''Quest du Saint Graal'' ([[Vulgate Cycle]])
| Half-brother of Lancelot, son of [[King Ban]]; Bors and Lionel are his cousins.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Hoel]]
| (Welsh: ''Howel'', ''Hywel'')
|
| ''[[The Dream of Rhonabwy]]'', ''[[Geraint and Enid]]''
| Son of King [[Budic II of Brittany|Budic of Brittany]]; father to [[St. Tudwal]].
|-
|scope="row"| [[Sir Kay|Kay]]
| (Welsh: ''Cai'', Latin: ''Caius'')
| ''Pa Gur yv y porthaur?'' 10th century
| Many
| Ector's son, foster brother to Arthur.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Lamorak]]
|
| [[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']], c. 1235
| [[Lancelot-Grail]] Cycle
| Son of King Pellinore, brother to Tor, Aglovale, Percival, and Dindrane; lover of [[Morgause]].
|-
|scope="row"| [[Lancelot]]
|''Lancelot du Lac'', Lancelot of the Lake, Launcelot
|''[[Erec and Enide]]'', c. 1170
|''[[Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart]]'', [[Lancelot-Grail]], many others
| Son of [[King Ban]] from France, most famous for his affair with [[Queen Guinevere]], father of Galahad, most prominent Knight of the Round Table in later romances
|-
|scope="row"| [[Lanval]]
|Landevale, Launfal, Lambewell
| [[Marie de France]]'s ''[[Lanval]]'', late 12th century
| ''Sir Landevale'', ''[[Sir Launfal]]'', ''Sir Lambewell''
| Enemy of [[Guinevere]].
|-
|scope="row"| [[Leodegrance]]
| Leondegrance
|
|
| Guinevere's father, King of [[Cameliard]], and the holder of the Round Table during the period between the death of Uther and the reign of Arthur.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Sir Lionel|Lionel]]
|
|
|[[Lancelot-Grail]], early 13th century
| Son of [[King Bors]] of Gaunnes (or [[Gaul]]) and brother of Bors the Younger.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Sir Lucan|Lucan]]
| Sir Lucan the Butler
|
|''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''
|Servant to King Arthur; Bedivere's brother, Griflet's cousin.
|-
|scope="row"|[[Maleagant]]
|Malagant, Meleagant, perhaps Melwas
|Unclear, a similar character named "Melwas" appears in the 12th century ''[[Gildas|Life of Gildas]]''
|[[Lancelot-Grail]], [[Post-Vulgate Cycle]], ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''
|Abductor of [[Guinevere]].
|-
|scope="row"| [[Mordred]]
|Modred (Welsh: ''Medrawd'', Latin: ''Medraut'')
| ''[[Annales Cambriae]]'', c. 970
|Many
|In the Round Table stories, Arthur's illegitimate son through [[Morgause]].
|-
|scope="row"| [[Morholt]]
|Marhalt, Morold, Marhaus
| Tristan poems of [[Béroul]] and [[Thomas of Britain]], 12th century
| Tristan poems of [[Eilhart von Oberge]], [[Gottfried von Strassburg]], [[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']], [[Post-Vulgate Cycle]], ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''
| Irish knight, rival of Tristan and uncle of [[Iseult]].
|-
|scope="row"| [[Morien]]
| Moriaen
|Dutch romance ''[[Morien]]'', 13th century
|
|Half-[[Moors|Moorish]] son of Aglovale.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Palamedes (Arthurian legend)|Palamedes]]
|
|[[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']], 13th century
|
|Saracen, Son of King Esclabor, brother of Safir and Segwarides.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Pelleas]]
| Pellias
| [[Post-Vulgate Cycle]], 1230s
|''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''
|In love with Ettarre, later lover of [[Lady of the Lake|Nimue]].
|-
|scope="row"| [[Pellinore]]
|
|
|[[Lancelot-Grail]], [[Post-Vulgate Cycle]]
|King of Listenoise and friend to Arthur.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Percival]]
| (Welsh: ''Peredur'') Perceval, Parzifal
| As Percival, ''[[Erec and Enide]]'', c. 1170
| ''[[Perceval, the Story of the Grail]]'', [[Lancelot-Grail]], many
|Achiever of the [[Holy Grail]]; King Pellinore's son in some tales.
|-
|scope="row"| [[#Safir|Safir]]
|
|
|[[Thomas Malory]]'s ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'', [[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']]
|Son to King Esclabor; brother of Segwarides and Palamedes.
|-
|scope="row"|[[Sagramore]]
|Sagramor
|
|[[Lancelot-Grail]], [[Post-Vulgate Cycle]], [[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']], ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''
|Ubiquitous Knight of the Round Table; various stories and origins are given for him.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Segwarides]]
|
|
|''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'', [[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']]
|Son of Esclabor; brother of Safir and Palamedes.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Sir Tor|Tor]]
|
|
|''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''
|Son of King Ars, adopted by Pellinore.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Tristan]]
|(Latin/Brythonic: ''Drustanus''; Welsh: ''Drystan''; Portuguese: ''Tristão''; Spanish: ''Tristán'') Tristran, Tristram, etc.
|[[Beroul]]'s ''Roman de Tristan''
|The two ''Folies Tristans'', [[Marie de France]]'s ''Chevrefeuil'', [[Eilhart von Oberge]], [[Gottfried von Strassburg]], [[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']], [[Post-Vulgate Cycle]], ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''
|[[King Mark]]'s son or relative, [[Iseult]]'s lover.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Urien]]
|Uriens
| Historical figure
|[[Welsh Triads]]
|King of [[Rheged]] (or Gorre), father of Yvain ([[Owain mab Urien]]) and husband of [[Morgan le Fay]].
|-
|scope="row"| [[Yvain]]
| (Welsh: ''[[Owain mab Urien|Owain]]'') Ywain, Ewain or Uwain
| Based on the historical figure [[Owain mab Urien]]
|''[[Historia Brittonum]]'', ''[[Yvain, the Knight of the Lion]]''
|King Urien's son.
|-
|scope="row"| [[Yvain the Bastard]]
|Ywain the Adventurous, ''Uwain le Avoutres''
|
|
|Urien's illegitimate son.
|}
In addition, there are many less prominent knights. For instance, the "Healing of Sir Urry" episode in the [[Winchester Manuscript]] of ''Le Morte d'Arthur'' lists, in addition to many of the above, the following:<ref>[[Thomas Malory]]'s ''[[Le Morte D'Arthur]]'', the Winchester Manuscript. Edited and abridged by Helen Cooper, this book was published by [[Oxford University Press]] in 1998.</ref>
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*
*[[#Galeschin|Duke Chalance of Clarence]]
*Earl Aristance
*Earl of Lambaile (known as the Count of Lambale in French romances; also Lambayle, Lambelle, etc.)
*Earl Ulbawes
*[[Anguish of Ireland|King Anguish of Ireland]]
*King Claryaunce of Northumberland (Clarion)
*[[#Nentres|King Nentres of Garlot]]
*Sir Arrok
*Sir Ascamore
*Sir Barrant le Apres (also known as the [[#King with the Hundred Knights|King With the Hundred Knights]])
*Sir Bellenger le Beau (Bellinger le Beuse, Bellangre the Bewse; son of Alisuander le Orphelin / Alexander the Orphan, slayer of King Mark and supporter of Lancelot)
*Sir Belliance le Orgulous
*Sir Blamor de Ganis (Blamour, brother of Bleoberis)
*[[#Bleoberis|Sir Bleoberis de Ganis]]
*[[#Lohot|Sir Bohart le Cure Hardy]]
*[[#Brandelis|Sir Brandiles]]
*Sir Bryan de Les Iles (Brian de Listinoise)
*Sir Cardok
*Sir Claryus of Cleremont (Clarius)
*[[#Cligès|Sir Clegis]]
*Sir Clodrus
*Sir Crosselm
*Sir Damas (reformed co-conspirator of Morgan in the Accolon-Excalibur plot)
*Sir Degrave sans Villainy (fought with the giant of the Black Lowe)
*Sir Degrevant
*Sir Dinas
*Sir Dinas le Seneschal de Cornwall
*[[#Dodinel|Sir Dodinas le Savage]]
*[[#Drian|Sir Dornar]]
*[[#Drian|Sir Driaunt]]
*Sir Edward of Orkney (of Caernarfon)
*Sir Epinogris (son of King Clariance)
*Sir Fergus
*Sir Florence (son of Gawain by Sir Brandiles' sister)
*Sir Gahalantyne
*[[#Galehodin|Sir Galahodin]]
*Sir Galleron of Galway (a Scottish knight from the English Arthurian tradition, also spelled Galaron or Geleron)
*Sir Gautere (Gauter, Gaunter)
*Sir Gillimere (or Gillimer, not to be confused with similarly named three different Kings of Ireland in early Arthurian chronicles)
*Sir Grommer Grummorson (Gromer)
*Sir Gumret le Petit (Gwyarte le Petite)
*[[#Erec|Sir Harry le Fils Lake]]
*Sir Hebes (not Hebes le Renowne)
*Sir Hebes le Renowne
*Sir Hectymere
*Sir Herminde
*Sir Hervyse de la Forest Savage
*[[Red Knight|Sir Ironside]] (Knight of the Red Launds)
*Sir Kay l'Estrange (different than [[Sir Kay|Kay le Seneschal]])
*Sir Lambegus
*Sir Lamiel
*Sir Lavain (son of Barnard of [[Ascolat]])
*Sir Lovell (another son of Gawain by Sir Brandiles' sister)
*[[#Mador de la Porte|Sir Mador de la Porte]] (brother of [[#Gaheris of Karahau|Gaheris of Karahau]])
*Sir Marrok (whose wife turned him into a werewolf, see also [[Melion]])
*[[#Meliant|Sir Melias de Lile]]
*Sir Melion of the Mountain
*Sir Meliot de Logris
*Sir Menaduke
*[[#Yvain the Bastard|Sir Morganore]]
*Sir Neroveous
*[[#Osenain|Sir Ozanna le Cure Hardy]]
*[[Red Knight|Sir Perimones]] (brother to Persant and Pertolepe; called the Red Knight)
*Sir Pertolepe
*Sir Petipace of Winchelsea
*Sir Plaine de Fors (Playne)
*Sir Plenorius
*[[#Priamus|Sir Priamus]]
*Sir Pursuant of Inde (or Persant; also known as the Blue Knight)
*Sir Reynold
*Sir Sadok
*Sir Selises of the Dolorous Tower
*Sir Sentrail
*Sir Severause le Breuse (or Severauce, known for rejecting battles with men in favour of giants, dragons, and wild beasts)
*Sir Suppinabiles (Cornish knight Supinabel from the French Tristan legend)
*Sir Urry of Hungary (this story's original character and plot device, cursed by a spell of Spanish duchess for killing her son)
*Sir Villiars the Valiant{{div col end}}
Conversely, the [[Winchester Round Table]] features only the knights Sirs Alynore (Alymere), Bedwere (Bedivere), Blubtlrys (Bleoberis), Bors De Ganys (Bors de Ganis), Brumear (Brunor le Noir), Dagonet, Degore, Ectorde Marys (Ector de Maris), Galahallt (Galahault or Galahad), Garethe (Gareth), Gauen (Gawain), Kay, Lamorak, Launcelot Deulake (Lancelot du Lac), Lacotemale Tayle (La Cote Male Taile), Lucane (Lucan), Lybyus Dysconyus (Le Bel Desconneu), Lyonell (Lionel), Mordrede (Mordred), Plomyde (Palomedes), Pelleus (Pelleas), Percyvale (Percival), Safer (Safir), and Trystram Delyens (Tristram de Lyones) for the total of merely 24 (not counting Arthur).<ref>Martin Biddle, Sally Badham, A.C. Barefoot, ''Round Table: An Archaeological Investigation'', pages 255-260.</ref>
== Selected members ==
{{See also|Accolon|Agravain|King Arthur|Bagdemagus|Bedivere|Bors|Brunor|Cador|Caradoc|Dagonet|Dinadan|Feirefiz|Gaheris|Galahad|Galehaut|Gareth|Gawain|Geraint|Gingalain|Hoel|Sir Kay|Lamorak|Lancelot|Sir Lionel|Maleagant|Mordred|Palamedes (Arthurian legend)|Pelleas|Pellinore|Percival|Sagramore|Tristan|Urien|Yvain}}
=== Aglovale ===
[[File:Blason imaginaire d'Agloval de Galles.svg|thumb|upright|left|The [[attributed arms]] of Agloval de Galles]]
'''Aglovale de Galis''' (''Agglovale'', ''Aglaval[e]'', ''Agloval'', ''Aglován'', ''Aglovaus'', etc.; -''de Galles'', -''le Gallois'') is the eldest legitimate son of [[King Pellinore]] of Galis ([[Wales in the Middle Ages|Wales]]), introduced in the [[Vulgate Cycle|Vulgate ''Lancelot'']]. Like his father and his brothers (who may include [[#Drian|Drian]], [[Lamorak]], the original Grail hero [[Perceval]], and [[Sir Tor|Tor]]), he is a Knight of the [[Round Table]]. According to the [[Post-Vulgate Cycle|Post Vulgate Cycle]], and [[Thomas Malory]]'s ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'', Aglovale is the one who brings his long lost brother Percival to [[Camelot]] to be knighted after meeting him by chance in Perceval's woods. In an alternate account in the ''Livre d'Artus'' version of the [[Vulgate Cycle|Vulgate ''Merlin'']], the young Agloval has all of his fourteen brothers killed during the Saxon wars by the forces of King [[Rions]]' relative King Agrippa in their attack on his mother's domain.
[[File:Queen Guenever's Peril.png|thumb|upright|"Queen Guenever's Peril." Alfred Kappes's illustration for ''[[The Boy's King Arthur]]'' (1880)]]
In the ''Livre d'Artus'', Agloval then accompanies [[Gawain]] and [[Sagramore]] in leading an army that defeats the invaders, personally slaying Agrippa but suffering severe wounds. In the Third (Manessier's) Continuation of ''[[Perceval, the Story of the Grail|Perceval]]'', Agloval dies seven years after Percival became the Grail King, causing Percival's retirement to a hermitage to grieve for his final ten years.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z0PoCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA555|title = The Complete Story of the Grail: Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval and Its Continuations|isbn = 9781843844006|last1 = de Troyes|first1 = Chrétien|year = 2015| publisher=Boydell & Brewer }}</ref> In the [[Vulgate Cycle]], Aglovale dies accidentally at Gawain's hand during the Quest for the [[Holy Grail]]. However, the rewrite in the Post-Vulgate ''Queste'' turns it into a deliberate murder, a part of the Orkney clan's long vendetta for the death of [[King Lot]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=klsMZ41xAREC&pg=PA67|title=Lancelot-Grail|year=2010|isbn=9781843842385|last1=Lacy|first1=Norris J.|publisher=Boydell & Brewer }}</ref> In Malory, he is among the knights charged by [[King Arthur]] with defending the execution of [[Guinevere]], and is killed by unknown hand during the bloody melee when [[Lancelot]] and his men rescue the queen.
Aglovale appears prominently in the Dutch romance ''[[Moriaen]]'', in which '''Acglavael''' visits [[Moors|Moorish]] lands in Africa and meets a Christian princess whom he conceives a child with. He returns home and, thirteen years later, his son Morien comes to find him after which they both return to Morien's lands. In modern works, Aglovale is the eponymous protagonist of [[Clemence Housman]]'s 1905 novel ''The Life of Sir Aglovale de Galis''. {{Clear left}}
=== Arthur the Less ===
[[File:Armes imaginaires de Arthur Le Petit - variante 4.1.svg|thumb|upright|left|The arms of Arthur le Petit]]
'''Arthur the Less''' or '''Arthur the Little''' (''Arthur le Petit'') is an illegitimate son of King Arthur ("Arthur the Great") found only in the [[Post-Vulgate Cycle]]. After Arthur forces himself on a daughter of a knight named Tanas, he orders the child to be named either Guenevere or Arthur the Less.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9ufgmo5uY14C&pg=PA221 |title = Lancelot-Grail: The post-Vulgate Quest for the Holy Grail & the post-Vulgate Death of Arthur|isbn = 9781843842330|last1 = Lacy|first1 = Norris J.|last2 = Asher|first2 = Martha|year = 2010| publisher=Boydell & Brewer }}</ref> Having been abandoned and raised by a foster mother, the boy appears at Arthur's court on the eve of the [[Grail Quest]] when his arrival is miraculously prophesied at the [[Round Table]]. He is knighted by [[Tristan]] and soon proves to be superior to even [[Gawain]] and [[Percival]], defeating both of them. However, he is publicly known only as the '''Unknown Knight''', keeping his lineage secret as to not shame his father with the story of his mother's rape. Loyal to King Arthur (who is eventually informed about his son's identity by [[Morgan le Fay|Morgan]]), he fights in the late wars against domestic and foreign enemies, and is one of [[Galahad]]'s companions during the Grail Quest. After his father's death [[Battle of Camlann|at Salisbury]], Arthur the Less is a candidate for the heir of throne of [[Logres]], however, he obsessively hates [[Lancelot]]'s renegade faction, blaming them for the disaster. When soon defeated by [[Bleoberis]] in a duel to the death, he curses the entire kingdom in his dying breath. His curse manifests itself through [[King Mark]]'s devastating invasion which destroys almost all remnants of King Arthur's rule.<ref>{{cite journal
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200908131942/http://www.reading.ac.uk/web/files/GCMS/RMS-2012-02_A._Putter,_Arthur's_Children_in_Le_Petit_Bruit_and_the_Post-Vulgate_Cycle.pdf
| archive-date = 8 September 2020
| url = http://www.reading.ac.uk/web/files/GCMS/RMS-2012-02_A._Putter,_Arthur's_Children_in_Le_Petit_Bruit_and_the_Post-Vulgate_Cycle.pdf
| title= Arthur's Children in Le Petit Bruit and the Post-Vulgate Cycle
| url-status= unfit
| journal= Reading Medieval Studies
| volume= 38 | year = 2012
| last = Putter | first = Ad
| publisher= University of Reading Press
| pages= 25–42
}}</ref>{{Clear left}}
=== Bleoberis ===
[[File:Blason imaginaire de Blanor et de Blioberis.svg|thumb|upright|left|The attributed arms of Blioberis, shared with his brother Blamor]]
'''Bleoberis de Ganis''' is a Knight of the [[Round Table]] from the land of Ganis (variants ''Ganes'', ''Gannes'', ''Gaunes'', ''Gaunnes''; meaning probably [[Gaul]] or perhaps [[Vannes]]), who was first mentioned by [[Chrétien de Troyes]] in his ''[[Erec and Enide]]'', named therein as '''Bliobleheris''' ([[Wendelin Foerster]]'s choice; manuscript variants ''Bleob[l]eris'', ''Bleosblieris'', ''Blioberis'', ''Bliobeheri'', ''Blios Blieris''<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NWBbDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA41 | title=Bliocadran: A Prologue to the Perceval of Chrétien de Troyes; Edition and Critical Study | isbn=978-3-11-132825-6 | last1=Wolfgang | first1=Lenora D. | date=8 October 2014 | publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG }}</ref>). He has since appeared by a large number of variations of his name and character in many subsequent works, including as split between '''Barant le Apres''' (''Berrant'') and '''Bleoberys''' (''Bleoberis'', ''Bleoboris'', ''Bleoheris'') in [[Thomas Malory]]'s ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''; as '''Bleobleheris''' (''Bliobliheri'') and '''Bleheris''' in respectively the First and the Second Continuation of ''[[Perceval, the Story of the Grail|Perceval]]''; as two different characters named Bleheris and '''Blidoblidas''' in ''{{ill|Mériadeuc|fr|Le Chevalier aux deux épées}}''; as split between '''Bleherris''' and '''Bleoberiis''' in ''[[Of Arthour and of Merlin]]''; as '''Bleoris''' in [[Henry Lovelich]]'s ''Merlin''; as '''Bleos von Bliriers''' in ''[[Diu Crône]]''; as '''Bleriz''' in ''{{ill|Povest' o Tryshchane|be|Аповесць пра Трышчана}}''; as '''Bliobleherin''' in the German ''[[Erec (poem)|Erec]]''; as '''Bliobleeris''' in ''[[La Vengeance Raguidel]]''; as '''Bliobleris de Gannes''' (''Biblioberis'', ''Bla[h]aris'', ''Bleob[l]eris'', ''Bleobleheris'', ''Bleosblieris'', ''Bliaires'', ''Blihoble[h]eris'', ''Bliobeheri'', ''Blioberis'', ''Blyob[l]eris''; -''de Ga[u]n[n]es'') in the 13th-century French prose cycles; as '''Blioblieris''' in both ''[[Le Bel Inconnu]]'' and ''[[Wigalois]]''; as '''Bréri''' in ''Tristan'' by [[Thomas of Britain]]; as '''Briobris''' in ''[[La Tavola Ritonda]]''; as '''Pleherin''' in ''[[Tristrant]]''; and as '''Plihopliherî''' (''Plihophiheri'', ''Plihopliheri'') in ''[[Parzival]]''.
Bleoberis features as a major character in the later romances from the French prose cycles and their adaptations, in which he is portrayed as one of the cousins of the hero [[Lancelot]]. There he is son of Nestor de Gaunes and godson of Lancelot's father [[King Bors]], as well as brother of his fellow Round Table companion Blamo[u]r[e] (''Blanor[e]''). In the [[Vulgate Cycle|Vulgate]] ''Merlin'', the ''[[Lancelot-Grail|Livre d'Arthur]]'', and ''Arthour and Merlin'', Bleoberis fights alongside his brother Blamoure in the wars against the rebel kings at [[Bedegraine]], against the Saxons at [[Cameliard]], and against King [[Claudas]] in the [[Wasteland (mythology)|Wasteland]]; the latter earns him his nickname "of the Wasteland" (de la Deserte). In both the Vulgate and [[Post-Vulgate]] versions of the ''Queste'', as well as in the [[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']], he participates in the [[Grail Quest]]. In Malory, he is the lord of the Castle of Gannis in Britain. In the Vulgate and the works based on it, Lancelot eventually makes him the Duke of [[Poitiers]] for his part in saving [[Guinevere]], after which Bleoberis becomes an important leader in Lancelot's war against Arthur and Gawain. In the Post-Vulgate ''Mort'', he returns to Britain and arrives at [[Salisbury]] after [[Battle of Camlann|the battle]] to destroy the corpse of [[Mordred]] and build the Tower of the Dead. While searching for Lancelot, he meets Arthur's vengeful son [[King Arthur's family|Arthur the Less]] (himself a member of the Round Table as the Unknown Knight), whom he kills in self-defence. Finding Lancelot at a hermitage with the former [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], he joins them; after Lancelot's death, Bleoberis buries his body at [[Joyous Gard]]. In Malory, Bleoberis and his brother first live as monks together with Lancelot and the rest of his kinsmen at [[Glastonbury Tor]], then leave on a crusade and together die in battle in [[Jerusalem]].
He also appears in some tales as an opponent whom the story's hero must overcome during the course of a quest or an adventure. In the Prose ''Tristan'', Bleoberis abducts [[Segwarides]]' wife from [[King Mark]]'s court, and fights for her against first Segwarides and later the protagonist [[Tristan]]. In ''Wigalois'', one of the challenges faced by the protagonist Wigalois (Gawain's son, [[Gingalain]]) is to defeat Bleoberis, the fierce guardian of the Perilous Ford. He is similarly the first adversary conquered by Gawain's son Guinglan in ''Le Bel Inconnu''. In ''Parzival'', [[Orgeluse]]'s suitor boasts of having him either slain or defeated but spared (depending on interpretation of the text). In ''Tristrant'', he is one of King Mark's vassals and an enemy of Tristan, who brutally kills him during his escape from Mark's court.
His name may have been derived from the 12th-century Welsh storyteller known in French as Bledhericus, Bleheris or Blihis (Blihos) Bliheris (possibly [[Bledri ap Cydifor]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_p3vVQ7ZxIYC&pg=PA20|title=Tristan|isbn=9780521408523|last1=Chinca|first1=Mark|date=10 April 1997|publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref>),<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f9cQAAAAIAAJ | title=Speculum | last1=Rand | first1=Edward Kennard | date=1926 }}</ref> who is mentioned in several texts, including being credited by both Thomas of Britain and [[Wauchier de Denain]] as the original source of their early Arthurian poems. References to the narrative authority of one Master Blihis (''Maistre Blihis'') repeat throughout the ''[[Elucidation]]'', wherein the character named '''Blihos Bliheris''' also appears appears as knight.
=== Brandelis ===
[[File:Armes imaginaires de Brandelis - variante 1.svg|thumb|upright|left|Brandelis' attributed arms]]
'''Brandelis''' (''Brandalus'', ''Brandel'', ''Brandeles'', ''Brandellis'', ''Brendalis'', etc.) is the name of a number of Arthurian romance characters, including multiple Knights of the [[Round Table]] from the French prose tradition. As in the case of several other Arthurian characters, such as [[King Ban]], they might have been derived from the Welsh mythology's figure of [[Brân]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mjsWsH6tKwUC&pg=PA199 | title=Paganism in Arthurian Romance | isbn=978-0-85991-426-0 | last1=Darrah | first1=John | date=1997 | publisher=Boydell & Brewer }}</ref>
The best known of these was originally known as '''Bran de Lis''' (''Brans'', ''Bras'', -''de Lys''), a character related to one of the mothers of the illegitimate sons of [[Gawain]]. Bran first appears in the First Continuation of Chrétien's ''[[Perceval]]'' as one of the brothers of Guilorete (''Gloriete'') of the Castle Lis, the mother of Gawain's son Lionel (''Lioniaus''). After Gawain had slain Bran's father Norroiz (''Norrois'', also ''Yder de Lis'') and two of his brothers (Meliant and Guilorete) in the previous duels in the long feud against him for seducing Guilorete, Bran is about to fight him as well, but they are stopped by Arthur and later become friends. This story is retold in ''The Jeaste of Sir Gawain'', where he appears as '''Brandles''' (the name also used for one of Arthur's knights in ''[[Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle]]''), and in the Scottish ''[[Golagros and Gawane]]'', where he is called '''Spinagros'''. In ''[[Perlesvaus]]'', '''Brandalus''' (''Brun[s] Brandelis'') de Gales (of Wales) is one of Perceval's uncles along with King Alain, whose name (and title) is shared with the father of Floree, mother of Gawain's son [[Guinglain]] in the [[Vulgate Cycle]]. In Malory's ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'', '''Brandiles''' (''Brandyles'') is brother of the mother of Gawain's sons (and later his companions at the Round Table) Gingalin, Lovel and Florence.
Sir '''Brandeliz''' (''Brandalis'', ''Brandelis'', ''Braudaliz'') appears in multiple episodes through the Vulgate Cycle (some of which are included in ''Le Morte d'Arthur''), participating in the quests (including the quest for the Grail) and in the wars against [[Claudas]] and [[Galahaut]]. In the prose cycles, he dies while fighting either against [[Lancelot]] during the latter's rescue of the condemned [[Guinevere]] or against [[Mordred]] in the final battle. In the standalone romance ''Claris et Laris'', '''Brandaliz''' is one of the eleven protagonists other than the eponymous duo; here he is a friend of Claris who, with the help of [[Merlin]], rescues Laris from the prison of the Danish king Tallas among his other acts. In both narratives, he is also repeatedly freed from enemy captivity by the other heroes, including Gawain, Lancelot, and Claris. The Vulgate ''Lancelot'' story of [[Gaheriet]]'s rescue of Brandeliz and his lady might have been rewritten by Malory as an early episode of his "Tale of Sir Gareth", the fourth book of ''Le Morte d'Arthur''. In the [[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']], Brandeliz is a Knight of the Round Table from Cornwall, not Wales.
The Vulgate Cycle also features a different Knight of the Round Table other than Sir Brandeliz, a minor character of '''Duke Brandelis de Taningues''' (''Brandeban, Brandeharz'', ''Brandelz'', ''-de Tranurgor''). Yet another Knight of the Round Table named Brandelis ('''Brandelis le fils Lac''', that is "son of [[#Lac|Lac]]") appears as brother of [[#Erec|Erec]] in ''[[Palamedes (romance)|Palamedes]]'' and the late Italian romance ''I Due Tristani''. The late French romance ''Ysaïe le Triste'' features Brandalis' own son, Brandor de Gaunes (of Wales). In the Didot ''Perceval'', [[Peredur]]'s uncle is one Brendalis of Wales who also has a brother named Brwns Brandalis.
A few other Brandalis characters are clearly unrelated to the Round Table, such as that of the Vulgate's Saxon king Brandalis (''Braundalis'', ''Maundalis''). However, some scholars have connected Bran de Lis with the villains Brian des Isles (Brian of the Isles) from ''Perlesvaus'' and Brandin (''Branduz'') des Isles from the Vulgate ''Lancelot'',<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0yeBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT465 | title=The Mammoth Book of King Arthur | isbn=978-1-78033-355-7 | last1=Ashley | first1=Mike | date=September 2011 | publisher=Little, Brown Book }}</ref> as well as to King Brandelidelin from an early German Arthurian romance ''[[Parzival]]'',<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PzcyAQAAMAAJ | title=Wolframs Stil und der Stoff des Parzival | last1=Singer | first1=Samuel | date=1916 }}</ref> as possibly identical in origin. {{Clear left}}
=== Calogrenant ===
[[File:Blason Calogrenant.svg|thumb|left|upright|The attributed arms of Calogrenant]]
'''Calogrenant''', sometimes known in English as '''Colgrevance''' and in German (''[[Diu Crône]]'') as '''Kalogrenant''', among many other variants (including ''Calogrenan[s/z]'', ''Calogrevant'', ''Calogrinant'', ''Colgrevaunce'', ''Galogrinans'', ''Kalebrant'', ''Kalocreant'', ''Qualogrenans''), is a Knight of the [[Round Table]] and cousin to [[Yvain]]. His character has been derived from the [[Welsh mythology|Welsh mythological]] hero [[Cynon ap Clydno]], usually the lover of [[Owain mab Urien]]'s sister [[Morvydd]]; although in ''[[Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain]]'', Cynon is stated to be the son of Clydno, possibly connected to [[Clyddno Eiddin]]. [[Roger Sherman Loomis]] and some other scholars speculated that Calogrenant was used specifically as a foil for [[Sir Kay|Kay]] in some lost early version of Yvain's story. The 12th-century author [[Chrétien de Troyes]] characterized him as everything Kay is not: polite, respectful, eloquent, and well-mannered. By this theory, his name can be deconstructed to "Cai lo grenant", or "Cai the grumbler", which would represent another opposite characteristic of Kay, who was famous for his acid tongue.<ref name="rl">{{cite book |last=Loomis |first=Roger |title=Arthurian Tradition and Chretien De Troyes |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=1949}}</ref>
Calogrenant first appears in Chrétien's ''[[Yvain, the Knight of the Lion]]'', telling a story to a group of knights and [[Queen Guinevere]]. He describes an adventure he had in the forest of [[Brocéliande]], in which there was a magic spring that could summon a large storm. Calogrenant reached the spring and summoned the storm, after which a knight named [[Esclados]] attacked and defeated him. Yvain is upset that Calogrenant never told him of this defeat, and sets out to avenge him, embarking on the adventure that sets up the remainder of events in the romance.
Calogrenant appears later in the ''[[Lancelot-Grail]]'' cycle, though his kinship to Yvain is not as clear as in Chrétien. He dies during the [[Grail Quest]] while trying to keep [[Sir Lionel|Lionel]] from killing his own brother, [[Bors]]. Bors had faced a dilemma over whom to rescue between Lionel, who was getting beaten with thorns by two rogue knights, and a maiden who had just been abducted, and chose the maiden over his brother. Lionel was not pleased by this, and attacked Bors the next time he saw him. A hermit tried to intervene, but was killed accidentally in the process, and Calogrenant stepped in. Bors refuses fight his brother, who slays Calogrenant before attacking Bors; however, God intervenes and renders him immobile. [[Thomas Malory]] calls him Colgrevance and recounts his death at Lionel's hands in ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'', but also includes another one later in the narrative. Despite having died on the Grail quest, Colgrevance reappears as one of the twelve knights who help [[Agravaine]] and [[Mordred]] trap [[Lancelot]] and Guinevere together in the queen's chambers. Lancelot has neither armour nor weapons, but manages to pull Colgrevance into the room and kills him; he then uses Colgrevance's sword to defeat the rest of Mordred's companions.
<gallery>
File:BN-MS-fr1433-folio65-Yvain-Calogrenant-fontaine.png|Calogrenant at the fountain in the BN MS fr.1433 manuscript of ''Yvain'' (c. 1325)
File:Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Sir Launcelot in the Queen's Chamber - Google Art Project.jpg|Malory-inspired ''Sir Launcelot in the Queen's Chamber'' by [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]] (1857)
</gallery>
=== Claudin ===
'''Prince Claudin''' (''Claudine'', ''Claudyne'', ''Claudino'') is the son of the [[Franks|Frankish]] King [[Claudas]] of the Wasteland (''de la Deserte'') who appears in the ''[[Lancelot-Grail]]'' prose cycle, the [[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']], the [[Post-Vulgate Cycle]], and ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''. His father, who he fights for, is a major villain during [[King Arthur]]'s early reign. However, when Claudas eventually loses the war and flees to Rome, Claudin surrenders and defects to Arthur, who makes him a member of the [[Round Table]]. During the [[Grail Quest]], Claudin is one of the companions of [[Bors the Younger]], [[Galahad]] and [[Perceval]] in [[Corbenic]].
=== Cligès ===
'''Cligès''' is the title hero of [[Chrétien de Troyes]]' French poem ''[[Cligès]]'' (and its foreign versions). There, he is an offspring of Arthur's niece Soredamors and Alexander, a son of the Greek ([[Byzantine]]) Emperor. Following his adventures, Cliges eventually marries Fenice, a daughter of the German Emperor, and becomes the Greek Emperor himself.
As Cligés (''Clicés'', ''Clies'', ''Clygés''), he also appears in some other French Arthurian romances, including in the First Continuation of Chrétien's ''[[Perceval, the Story of the Grail|Perceval]]'' (where his father is named [[#Lac|King Lac]]) and in ''Claris et Laris''. In the ''[[Romanz du reis Yder]]'', he serves Queen Guenloie ([[Guinevere]]) until he is expelled from her court after he criticizes her love for [[Yder]] (who later promises to reconcile them).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uNu7GWgXm-EC&pg=PA16|title=The Romance of Yder|last=Adams|first=Alison|date=1983|publisher=DS Brewer|language=en|isbn=9780859911337}}</ref> In ''{{ill|The Marvels of Rigomer|fr|Les Merveilles de Rigomer}}'', he hails from Greece and participates in the quest to conquer Rigomer Castle as one of [[Gawain]]'s many companions; he also defeats the undead knight in his own episode.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lk0aBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA29|title=Vendetta: Essays on Honor and Revenge|last=Summerfield|first=Giovanna|date=2010|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|language=en|isbn=9781443821018}}</ref> As '''Clias the Greek''' (''der Grieche Clîas''), he has a role in the German ''[[Parzival]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EILfrXHZ25UC&pg=PA52|title=A Companion to Wolfram's Parzival|first=Will|last=Hasty|date=17 September 1999|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|isbn=9781571131522|via=Google Books}}</ref> [[Thomas Malory]]'s Urry list calls him Sir '''Clegis''' (despite a similar name, Clegis is not in any way connected with the English ''[[Sir Cleges]]'', the hero of a completely different story set in the times of Arthur's father [[Uther Pendragon]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=idZRDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA16|title=The Three Days ́ Tournament|first=Jessie L.|last=Weston|date=5 April 2018|publisher=BoD – Books on Demand|isbn=9783732651238|via=Google Books}}</ref>).
=== Dodinel ===
[[File:Hb-dodinet.jpg|thumb|upright|left|The attributed arms of "Dodinet le Sauvaige"]]
'''Dodinel''' (''Dodinas'', ''Dodine[i]s'', ''Dôdînes'', ''Dodinia[u]s'', ''Dodin[s]'', ''Dodynas'', ''Dodynel'', ''Didones'', ''Dydonel[l]'', ''Lionel'', etc.) '''le Sauvage''' (''le Savage'', ''le Salvage'', ''li Sauvages'', ''li Salvages'', ''el Salvaje'', ''der Wilde'', etc.), variously translated to English as '''the Wild''', '''the Wildman''', or '''the Savage''' (sometimes also as the descriptive "impetuous" or "fierce"), is a Knight of the Round Table found in a great many works of Arthurian romance, typically featured as a well-known knight yet merely a [[figurant]] type of a character,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ahTv6XIh_ooC&pg=PA166 | title=Medieval Studies }}</ref> and without a common role. He is nevertheless important in several of such works, including the Third Continuation of ''Perceval'', the Vulgate ''Lancelot'', the Post-Vulgate ''Merlin'', the ''Livre d'Artus'', the Prose ''Tristan'', and ''Claris et Laris''.
Dodinel is introduced in Chrétien de Troyes' ''Erec et Enide'', being named there as the ninth best of [[King Arthur]]'s knights, albeit noted as a rude one. Dodinel is also listed among the top knights of Arthur in Chrétien's ''Yvain'' as well as in ''Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight'', while ''The Knight of the Two Swords'' describes him as a "truly exceptional ... man of many virtues." He might have been originally identical with [[Percival]], which would explain his characteristic epiteth as meaning a man from the woods (wilderness).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k5xZAAAAMAAJ | title=Medieval Studies in Memory of Gertrude Schoepperle Loomis | last1=Loomis | first1=Roger Sherman | date=2 June 1974 }}</ref> However, the only possible trace of such motif can be found in the German ''Lanzelet'', in which Dodines lives a double life: as an enchanter owning a magic horse and dwelling near the dangerous Shrieking Marsh (''Schreiende Moos'') in the summer, and as a knight in Arthur's lands in the winter.
As with his other characteristics, Dodinel's family relations are variably told. In the Vulgate ''Merlin'' Continuation, he is portrayed as an illegitimate son of either King Brandegorre or King Bélinant (''Balinant'', ''Belinans'', ''Belynans''; possibly based on the Celtic god [[Belinus]]) de Sorgales ("of [[South Wales]]"; Norgales / North Wales in the Vulgate ''Lancelot'') and Eglatine (''Eglantine'', ''Eglante'', ''Eglente''), and cousin of [[Galeschin]]. In the ''Lancelot en prose'', he is son of King Nantres and Queen Blasine (Arthur's sister), and brother of Galescin. In the Huth-''Merlin'', he is son of [[Sir Balin|Balin]]'s brother Balan (''Balaan le Sauvage''). In the Didot-''Perceval'', he is son of the Lady of Malehaut (''Dame de Malohaut''). In ''Parzival'', he has a brother called Taurian the Wild (''der Wilde'').
In the Third Continuation of Chrétien's ''Perceval'', one of the six episodes of [[Gawain]]'s adventures relate his rescue of the "handsome and valiant" Dodinel (''Dodinal'') from a prison and his lover from a pyre, the latter then also again saved by Perceval. Dodinel is prominent in ''Claris et Laris'', portrayed there as a comical side story character, a [[Dinadan]]-like humorously anti-chivalric knight, one who avoids dangerous combat in his wanderings and once escapes from a captivity by posing as a minstrel. He and Dinadan are themselves friends in the ''Meliadus'' Compilation; in the ''Marvels of Rigomer'', Dodinel is one of Gawain's quest companions. Thomas Malory in his ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', following some of the Dodinel material from the Vulgate ''Lancelot'' as well as his portrayal in the Prose ''Tristan'', has him (named as '''Dodinas le Savage''' in the [[Winchester Manuscript]]) as a recurring companion of [[Sagramore]] and, early in his career, as one of the [[Guinevere]]'s own ten knights.
His 'biography' can be found in the French prose cycles. In the Vulgate ''Merlin'' and the ''Livre d'Artus'', the young teenage Dodinel defects to Arthur early in the king's reign, opposing his own family. In the ''Livre'', he kills the Saxon king Mathmas at the Battle of Clarence ([[Battle of Badon|Badon]]). Having been knighted by Arthur, he joins the Queen's Knights and eventually the Round Table. The Vulgate ''Lancelot'', besides telling the stories of [[Lancelot]]'s rescues of the captive Dodinel on multiple occasions, has him as one of the only five knights who cross the perilous bridge into Sorelois alive (besides Gawain, [[#Meliant|Meliant]], [[Yder]] and Arthur). In the Vulgate ''Queste'', he is one of the Grail knights in [[Galahad]]'s company. In the Post-Vulgate, [[Lamorak]] is slain by Gawain and his brothers when he is injured following an earlier fight with Dodinel. In the end, Dodinel dies fighting against [[Mordred]]'s forces at the Battle of Salisbury Plain ([[Camlann]]).
In Italy, he is called '''Dondinello''' and its variants, usually with no epithet (except in the case of ''Oddinello le Salvaggio'' in the ''Tristano Riccardiano''). In his unusual characterization in ''Chantari di Lancelotto'', Dodinel (''Dudinello'') is a villain who joins up with Mordred to conspire against Lancelot. ''Cantari di Carduino'', a [[Fair Unknown]] type epic poem possibly based on a lost Dodinel romance, tells the story of his eponymous son Carduino's vengeance against the clan of Gawain for having his father fatally poisoned by the jealous lords including Mordred and Augerisse (probably [[Gaheris]]), as well as of Carduino's other adventures.
=== Drian ===
'''Drian''' (''Doryan'', ''Driant'', ''Durnor'') is one of [[King Pellinore]]'s sons out of wedlock. He is most prominent in the [[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']] which describes him as one of the very best of the Knights, alongside [[Galahad]], [[Lancelot]], [[Palamedes (Arthurian legend)|Palamedes]], and his own brother [[Lamorak]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9R8HDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA176|title=Gawain: A Casebook|first1=Keith|last1=Busby|first2=Raymond H.|last2=Thompson|date=8 November 2005|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136783524|via=Google Books}}</ref> There, Drian and Lamorak are hated by [[Gawain]] for being sons of Pellinore and for being superior knights to Gawain. Drian dies when he fights three of [[King Lot]]'s sons, unhorsing [[Agravain]] and [[Mordred]] before being mortally wounded and left for dead by Gawain; Lamorak dies soon afterwards while trying to avenge him.
Drian is called '''Dornar''' (''Durnor[e]'') by [[Thomas Malory]] in ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'', where he is also killed by Gawain. He appears alongside two knights named '''Darnarde''' and '''Dryaun''' (''Dryaunt'',  ''Tryan''), both of them also derived from the French Drian.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=92lXAAAAYAAJ|title=The Journal of English and Germanic Philology|first=Gustaf E.|last=Karsten|date=17 September 1956|publisher=University of Illinois|via=Google Books}}</ref> Malory splits Drian's adventures from the Prose ''Tristan'' between the latter two: Dryaun guards a bridge with his brother Alain (one of Drian's other brothers), jousting the passing knights; Darnarde visits [[King Mark]]'s court with Lamorak, where they defeat Mark and all of his knights but [[Tristan]]. Darnarde is eventually killed alongside his brothers, [[Aglovale]] and [[Sir Tor|Tor]], when Lancelot rescues [[Queen Guinevere]] from the stake.
=== Elyan ===
[[File:Blason Helain le Blanc.svg|thumb|upright|left|The arms of Helain le Blanc]]
'''Elyan the White''' or '''Helyan le Blanc''' (also ''Elain'', ''Elayn'', ''Helain'', ''Hellaine'', ''Helin''; -''le Blank'', -''the Pale'') is son of [[Bors the Younger]] in the prose romance tradition of ''[[Lancelot-Grail]]'' (Vulgate Cycle). His mother, Claire, has tricked Bors into sleeping with her using a magic ring (the only time Bors broke his vow of chastity). Claire is daughter of British king Brandegore (''Brandegorre'', ''Brandegoris'') and also half-sister of [[Sagramore]], and their shared mother is daughter of the [[List of Byzantine Emperors|Eastern Roman Emperor]]. At the age of 15, Elyan is brought to Arthur's court by Bors. He then becomes known as an excellent knight and is accepted as a member to the [[Round Table]]. True to his lineage, Elyan eventually becomes Emperor of [[Constantinople]] himself.
Elyan's adventures are different the [[Post-Vulgate]] ''Queste'', as well as the expanded version of the [[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']], where he takes a vacant Round Table seat that had belonged to Dragan (''Dagarius'') after the latter knight's death by [[Tristan]]. He later helps his cousin [[Lancelot]] rescue [[Guinevere]] after their affair is exposed, and then joins him in exile during their war with Arthur.
Elyan should not be confused with Elians (''Eliant'', ''Elianz''), a Knight of the Round Table from Ireland who occupied Lancelot's vacant seat in both the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate versions of the ''Mort Artu''. A modern character inspired by Elyan the White was portrayed by Nigerian actor [[Adetomiwa Edun]] as Guinevere's brother in the 2008 television series ''[[Merlin (2008 TV series)|Merlin]]''. {{Clear left}}
=== Erec ===
[[File:Hb-herec.jpg|thumb|upright|left|The attributed arms of "Herec le fils Lac"]]
'''Erec''' (French ''Erech'', ''Eric'', ''Herec'', ''Heret''; German ''Eres''; Italian ''Arecco''; Norse ''Erex''), the son of [[#Lac|King Lac]], is most famous as the protagonist in [[Chrétien de Troyes]]' first romance, ''[[Erec and Enide]]'', later retold in ''[[Erec (poem)|Erec]]'' and other versions. Because of ''Erec and Enide''‘s connection to the Welsh ''[[Geraint and Enid]]'', Erec and [[Geraint]] are often conflated or confused. Erec's name itself may be derived from ''Guerec'', the Breton version of Gweir,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IRrrAAAAMAAJ | title=Arthurian Tradition & Chrétien de Troyes | last1=Loomis | first1=Roger Sherman | date=1961 }}</ref> the name of several of Arthur's warriors and relatives in the different early Welsh tales (possibly the prototype of [[Gaheris]] and consequently also [[Gareth]]).
In Chrétien's story, Erec meets his future wife [[Enide]] while on a quest to defeat a knight who had mistreated one of Queen [[Guinevere]]'s servants. The two fall in love and marry, but rumours spread that Erec no longer cares for knighthood or anything else besides his domestic life. Enide cries about these rumours, causing Erec to prove his abilities, both to himself and to his wife, through a test of Enide's love for him. Erec has her accompany him on a long, tortuous trip where she is forbidden to speak to him, after which they reconcile. When Erec's father Lac dies, Erec inherits his kingdom. The Norse ''Erex Saga'' gives him two sons, named Llac and Odus, who later both become kings. The story of Erec and Enide is also retold within the [[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']].
Enide is entirely absent from the Prose ''Erec'' part of the [[Post-Vulgate Cycle|Post-Vulgate]] ''Merlin Continuation'', in which Erec's mother's enchantment makes him immune to magic. His acts include saving [[Sir Bors|Bors]] from the enchanter [[Mabon ap Modron|Mabon]]; he also has a cousin named Driadam, whose death begins Erec's feud with the young [[Mordred]]. In the Post-Vulgate ''Quest of the Holy Grail'', Erec is slain by [[Gawain]] in revenge for the death of [[#Yvain of the White Hands|Yvain of the White Hands]], and does not regain his father's kingdom; his seat at the Round Table is taken by his friend Meraugis, who had buried him. In the [[Alliterative Morte Arthure|Alliterative ''Morte Arthure'']], Erec dies during the final battle between the forces of Arthur and Mordred.
In ''[[Lanzelet]]'', Erec and Gawain agree to be delivered as prisoners to the great wizard Malduc (whose father was killed by Erec), so that Guinevere can be rescued from King Valerin's castle; they are then tortured and almost starved to death in Malduc's dungeon, until they are eventually themselves rescued. In ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'', '''Harry le Fyse Lake''' (or ''Garry le Fitz Lake'', Malory's corruption of the French ''Herec le Fils Lac'') participates in Lancelot's rescue of Guinevere from the stake.{{Clear left}}
=== Esclabor ===
[[File:Hb-exclabor.jpg|thumb|upright|left|The attributed arms of "Exclabor ly Viescovtiens"]]
King '''Esclabor the Unknown''' (''Astlabor'', ''Esclabort'', ''Scalabrone''; -''le Mescogneu'', -''li Mesconneü'', -''li Mesconneuz'') is a wandering [[Saracen]] lord from a vaguely Middle Eastern land, usually either [[Babylon]] (in today's Iraq) or [[Galilee]] (in today's Israel). He is the father of [[Palamedes (Arthurian legend)|Palamedes]], [[Safir (Arthurian legend)|Safir]], and [[Segwarides]], among others. During his long stay in Britain, Esclabor initially hides his faith, trying to pass as a Christian, but soon becomes widely known as a valiant pagan knight.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tEgFDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT181 | title=Outsiders: The Humanity and Inhumanity of Giants in Medieval French Prose Romance | isbn=9780268081836 | last1=Huot | first1=Sylvia | date=15 July 2016 | publisher=University of Notre Dame Press }}</ref>
While visiting [[Rome]], he saves the life of the [[Roman emperor|Roman Emperor]]; he later travels to Arthur's [[Logres]] at the time of Arthur's coronation, where he rescues [[King Pellinore]] as well. Esclabor eventually settles at [[Camelot]], later adventuring with Palamedes and [[Galahad]] during the [[Holy Grail|Grail Quest]]. In the Post-Vulgate ''Queste'', eleven of his sons are killed during their encounter with the [[Questing Beast]]. Shortly after finally agreeing to convert to Christianity, an act necessary for the full admission into the brotherhood of [[Round Table]],<ref>{{Cite journal|title=The (Non-) Christian Knight in Malory: A Contradiction in Terms?|author=Armstrong, Dorsey|year=2006|journal=Arthuriana|volume=16|issue=2|pages=30–34|doi = 10.1353/art.2006.0083|jstor = 27870753|s2cid = 162386579}}</ref> and which also allows his participation in the Grail Quest, Esclabor commits suicide from grief upon learning of his favorite son Palamedes' death at the hands of [[Gawain]]. {{Clear left}}
=== Gaheris of Karaheu ===
'''Gaheris de Karaheu''' (''Gaharis'', ''Gaheran'', ''Gahetis'', ''Gaherys'', ''Gaheus'', ''Gains'', ''Gareis'', ''Ghaheris''; -''d'Escareu'', -''de Carahan''/''Car[a/e]heu'', -''de Gaheran''/''Gahereu'', -''de Karahau''/''Karehan''), also known as '''the White''' (''li Blans''), is one of the minor Knights of the Round Table and brother of [[#Mador de la Porte|Mador de la Porte]] in the [[Vulgate Cycle]] and the derived works. He should not be confused with [[Gaheris|Gaheris of Orkney]], one of [[King Arthur]]'s nephews and another Knight of the Round Table. His most prominent role, including the manner of his death, might have been inspired by the purportedly historical account of the fatal poisoning of Walwen (that is,   [[Gawain]]) from the chronicle ''[[Gesta Regum Anglorum]]''.
In the Vulgate ''Lancelot'', Gaheris of Karaheu appears in minor roles, mostly as a prisoner, prior to his accidental death. Gawain saves him from [[Galehaut]], while the mysterious White Knight ([[Lancelot]] incognito) rescues him from the Dolorous Prison near [[Joyous Gard|Dolorous Gard]] and then again from the [[Val sans retour|Vale of No Return]]. Later, in the Vulgate ''Mort Artu'', he dies from eating a poisoned apple, which was made by the knight Avarlan and was meant to kill Gawain. The apple is offered to Gaheris unknowingly by [[Guinevere]]; the queen is accused of his murder, until she is cleared of the charge in the [[trial by combat]] between Mador and Lancelot.<ref>Jean Frappier, ed., ''La Mort le roi Artu'', Paris: Droz, 1996, pp 75–6, 291. {{ISBN|2600001832}}.</ref> This story is retold in the [[Stanzaic Morte Arthur|Stanzaic ''Morte Arthur'']] and in Thomas Malory's ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'', where the victim is, respectively, either an unnamed visiting Scottish knight or '''Sir Patrise of Ireland''' (the poisoner is also renamed by Malory as Sir Pionel). The Italian ''Tristano Panciaticchiano'', in which he remains Mador's brother, calls him '''Giafredi'''.
=== Galehodin ===
'''Galehodin le Gallois''' (''Galeh[a/o]udin'', also ''Gal[l]ides'', ''Gallind[r]es'', etc.) is [[Galehaut]]'s nephew and godson, and his designated successor as the King of Sorelois. Galehodin is introduced in the Prose ''Lancelot'' as the young grandson of the King of Norgales ([[North Wales]]). There he is the lord of the town and castle of Pennin (''Peningue''), and desires to follow the great hero [[Lancelot]] so he can learn from him. He is described as one of the tallest knights in the world, using a plain white shield with no identification symbols. Together with [[Mordred]] and [[Knights of the Round Table#Mador de la Porte|Mador]], he easily triumphs over the men of Gorre in a tournament against King [[Bagdemagus]]. In the Italian ''Tavola Ritonda'', Galehaut's heir is his son named '''Abastunagio''', a character corresponding with that of Galehodin as he appears in the Prose ''Tristan''. Both appear in their respective texts in the role of the host of the great tournament in Sorelois. The Hebrew ''King Artus'' includes one '''Galaodin de Gaulis''' (of [[Gaul]]) among Lancelot's followers.
Galehaut's cousin and fellow Knight of the Round Table named '''Galahodin''' (''Galihodin'', ''Galyhodin'', sometimes with 'yn' at the end) appears as one of closest companions of Lancelot in Thomas Malory's telling, in which Galahodin is given some of Galehaut's traits from the French tradition. Galahodin, described as a sub-king in Sorelois, serves Lancelot as one of his chief knights during the war against Arthur, later joining him in the hermitage at the end of his life. Before that, one of the episodes borrowed from the Prose ''Tristan'' tell of Galahodin's attempted kidnapping of [[Isolde]], foiled by [[Palamedes (Arthurian legend)|Palamedes]]. Malory's Galahodin should not be confused with two of his original characters from ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', Lancelot's own relatives '''Galyhod''' (''Galihud'', ''Galyhud'') and '''Gahalantyne''' (''Gahalantin''), who are also close companions of Lancelot. After taking over the lands in France, Malory's Lancelot appoints Galahodin as the duke of [[County of Saintonge|Saintonge]], Galyhod as the earl of [[Périgord]], and Gahalantyne as the duke of [[Auvergne]]. They eventually stay together with Lancelot and Galahodin as their fellow monks at the end.
=== Galeschin ===
[[File:Blason imaginaire du Duc de Clerence.svg|thumb|upright|left|The attributed arms of the Duc de Clerence]]
'''Galeschin''' (''Galaas'', ''Galachin'', ''Galathin'', ''Galescalain'', ''Galeschalains'', ''Galescin[s]'', ''Galeshin'',  ''Galessin'', etc.) is the son of [[King Arthur]]'s half-sister [[Elaine (legend)#Elaine of Garlot|Queen Elaine]] and [[#Nentres|King Nentres]] of Garlot. He first appears in the story of the Dolorous Tower in the [[Lancelot-Grail|Vulgate Cycle]], in which he and his cousin [[Yvain]] attempt to rescue their other cousin [[Gawain]] from the wicked lord Carados; both are taken captive as well, but the trio are eventually rescued by [[Lancelot]]. (Galeschin is later additionally rescued by Lancelot from the [[Vale of No Return]].) Though mentioned in a few other stories, his role is ultimately minor. He loosely inspired the character of Duke '''Chalance''' (''Chalaunce'') of Clarence, a Knight of the Round Table appearing in different episodes of ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''.
[[File:Ambito di wiligelmo, porta della pescheria, 02 ciclo di artù 04,2.jpg|thumb|Italian [[Modena Archivolt]]'s scene of Galvagin (presumed [[Gawain]]) being followed by the mysterious Galvariun]]
[[Roger Sherman Loomis]] derives the name Galeschin from the name ''Galvariun'', found on an Arthurian relief on the Italian [[Modena Archivolt]], considered the first known Arthurian illustration (c. 1120-1240). He theorizes that the name was altered to make it sound more like ''Galesche'', the Old French word for [[Gaul]], and derives the name Galvariun from the epithet ''Gwallt Euryn'', found in ''[[Culhwch and Olwen]]'', which he translates as "Golden Hair".<ref name=cm/> However, other scholars usually identify the figure of Galvariun as a prototype of Gawain's brother [[Gaheris]]. Oddly, Galeschin is also called the ''Duc de Clarence'' in the French literature prior to the 14th century; this could not possibly refer to the position of [[Duke of Clarence]] (which did not exist yet at the time and does not refer to a place name), leading Loomis to translate it as the "Lord of Light".<ref>Loomis (1997), p. 63.</ref>  {{Clear left}}
=== Gornemant ===
'''Gornemant de Gohort''' (''Gorneman[s/z]''; -''de Goort'', ''de Gorhaut'') is the knight best known as [[Percival]]'s old mentor. He is mentioned in a few early romances and is prominent in [[Chrétien de Troyes]]'s ''[[Perceval, the Story of the Grail]]'', in which he instructs the young hero in the ways of knighthood. There, Gornemant is also the uncle of [[Blanchefleur]], whom Percival later marries after successfully defending her city against attackers. Medieval German author [[Wolfram von Eschenbach]] gives '''Gurnemans''' three sons named Gurzgi, Lascoyt and Schentefleurs, as well as a daughter named Liaze who falls in love with Percival but he declines to marry her. In the later Italian [[Tristan]] romances, he appears under the name '''Governale''', entrusted by [[Merlin]]o to care for and edecate the young Cornish prince Tristano. In [[Richard Wagner]]'s opera ''[[Parsifal]]'', '''Gurnemanz''' is depicted as a Grail Knight.
=== Griflet ===
[[File:Blason Girflet.svg|thumb|upright|left|Griflet's attributed arms]]
'''Griflet''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɡ|r|ɪ|f|l|ᵻ|t}}) '''the son of Do''' is a ubiquitous character in Arthurian legend, where he was one of the first Knights of the Round Table.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nd9R6GQBB_0C&pg=PA230|title=The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore|last1=Monaghan|first1=Patricia|date=2014|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=9781438110370|page=230|language=en|access-date=2 November 2017}}</ref> He is first found in Chrétien de Troyes' ''[[Erec et Enide]]'', named there as '''Girflez li filz Do'''. Like many other Arthurian romance characters, his origins lie in [[Welsh mythology]]; in this instance, it is the minor deity [[Gilfaethwy]] fab [[Dôn]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mjsWsH6tKwUC&pg=PA141|title=Paganism in Arthurian Romance|first=John|last=Darrah|date=17 November 1997|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|isbn=9780859914260 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K0Cmn4ps-X4C&pg=PA20|title=Origins of Arthurian Romances: Early Sources for the Legends of Tristan, the Grail and the Abduction of the Queen|first=Flint F.|last=Johnson|date=18 September 2012|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786492343 |via=Google Books}}</ref> He is notably the eponymous hero of his own, early chivalric romance, ''[[Jaufre]]''.
He also appears as '''Gerflet''' in Beroul's ''Tristan'' and in the Norse ''Parcevals Saga''; '''Gerflet li fius Do''' in ''Mériadeuc''; '''Gifflet''' in ''Escanor''; '''Gifflet''' (''Girfles'') '''li fieus Do''' in the ''Livre d'Artus''; '''Giflés''' (''Gifles'') '''li fius Do''' in ''[[Perceval ou le Conte du Graal]]'', ''Li Biaus Descouneüs'', and ''[[Libeaus Desconus]]''; '''Giflet le fils de Do''' in ''[[Le Bel Inconnu]]''; '''Giflet fis Do''' in ''Sir Gawain and the Lady of Lys''; '''Girflet''' (''Giflet'', ''Giflez'', ''Giftet'', ''Girfles'', ''Gyfles'', ''Gyflet'', ''Gyrflet'') '''le''' (''li'') '''fils''' (''filz'') '''Do''' (''Doon'', ''Dos'') in the [[Vulgate]] and [[Post-Vulgate]] prose cycles; '''Girfles''' (''Girlflet'', ''Girflez'') '''li filz Do''' in the [[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']]; '''Girflez le fils Do''' in ''[[Lancelot, le Chevalier de la Charrette]]''; '''Girflez''' in ''La Mule sans Frein''; '''Griflet''' (''Gifles'', ''Gifflès'', ''Gifflet'', ''Gryflet'', ''Gryfflet'') '''li fieus Do''' (''Dou'') in ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''; '''Grifles''' in Henry Lovelich's ''Merlin''; '''Grimfles''' in the English [[Merlin (Robert de Boron poem)|Prose ''Merlin'']]; '''Gyffroun''' in ''[[Ywain and Gawain]]''; and '''Iofreit''' (''Jofreit'') '''fils Idol''' in ''[[Parzival]]''.<ref name="bruce">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3gaBAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA220|title=The Arthurian Name Dictionary|last1=Bruce|first1=Christopher W.|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136755385|pages=220–221|language=en|access-date=2 November 2017}}</ref> Further texts featuring him include ''Hunbaut'', ''[[La Vengeance Raguidel]]'', and the First and Fourth Continuations of ''Perceval''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Yu0AAAAQBAJ&pg=PT409|title=The New Arthurian Encyclopedia: New edition|first1=Norris J.|last1=Lacy|first2=Geoffrey|last2=Ashe|first3=Sandra Ness|last3=Ihle|first4=Marianne E.|last4=Kalinke|first5=Raymond H.|last5=Thompson|date=5 September 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136606328|via=Google Books}}</ref>
[[File:Griflet throwing Excalibur into the lake.png|thumb|upright=1.15|"Groflet" throwing [[Excalibur]] into the lake (here a river) in a 1470 illustration for the 13th-century romance ''[[Vulgate Cycle|La Mort du roi Arthur]]'']]
In French chivalric romance prose cycles, he is a cousin to [[Sir Lucan|Lucan]] and [[Bedivere]] who first appears as a loyal and valiant young [[squire]] at the beginning of [[King Arthur]]'s rule.<ref name="bruce" /> About the same age as Arthur, he distinguishes himself in the [[Battle of Bedegraine]] against the rebels and joins the Round Table after personally slaying one of the Saxon kings when he helps [[Kay]] and [[Gawain]] rescue [[Guinevere]] in the Prose ''Merlin''. Later, however, his role becomes largely limited to him notoriously often falling into captivity for the other knights to rescue in the course of their own adventures, even leading Gawain to comment in the Prose ''Lancelot'' that "there never was a man so frequently taken prisoner as Girflet has been."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cTY44q6n0MgC&pg=PA405 |title=Lancelot-Grail: Lancelot, pt. I - Norris J. Lacy - Google Books |isbn=9781843842262 |access-date=2022-09-14|last1=Lacy |first1=Norris J. |year=2010 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer }}</ref> According to the French ''Mort Artu'', he was one of the few survivors of [[Battle of Camlann|Arthur's final battle]] and was asked by the dying king to return his sword [[Excalibur]] to the [[Lady of the Lake]]. In ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', however, Sir Griflet is one of the knights killed by [[Lancelot]]'s rescue party at the execution of Guinevere, making Griflet's cousin Bedivere the knight who casts away Excalibur, the role that has been given to Bedivere also in the earlier English adaptations of the ''Mort Artu''. {{Clear left}}
=== Hector de Maris ===
[[File:Blason Hector des mares.svg|thumb|upright|left|The attributed arms of Hector des Mares]]
'''Hector de Maris''' (''Ector de Maris'', ''Estor de Mareis'', ''Hector de Marais'', ''Hestor des Mares'', etc.) is the younger half-brother of [[Lancelot]]; [[Sir Bors|Bors]] and [[Sir Lionel|Lionel]] are his cousins. His name means '''Hector of the Fens''' (the form used in [[Norris J. Lacy]]'s translation of the Vulgate Cycle); he should not be mistaken with [[Sir Ector]] (''Hector''), the father of [[Sir Kay|Kay]] and foster father of [[King Arthur|Arthur]]. Hector's adventures are many and wide-ranging, especially within the Vulgate and the Post-Vulgate prose cycles. As '''Astore''', he is also the eponymous protagonist of the Italian ''Cantare di Astore e Morgana'' in which he becomes [[Morgan le Fay|Morgan]]'s seemingly invincible demon-knight minion known as Estorre after being first cured by her of his wounds and then falling under her evil spell, until he is defeated and saved by [[Galahad]].
[[File:William Dyce - Generosity.jpg|thumb|upright|Lancelot stops his half-brother Hector from killing Arthur defeated in battle, as depicted by [[William Dyce]] in ''King Arthur Unhorsed, Spared by Sir Launcelot'' (1852)]]
As told in the Vulgate ''Merlin'', Hector is an illegitimate son of [[King Ban]] of Benoic (in today's France), who, magically helped by [[Merlin]], fathered him with the Lady de Maris. He is raised by his maternal grandfather Agravadain the Black, lord of the Castle of the Fens. In the Vulgate ''Lancelot'', Hector fights against the Saxons and saves his relative [[Elaine (legend)|Elaine the Peerless]]. He is successful at tournaments, prevailing against such esteemed knights as [[Palamedes (Arthurian legend)|Palomedes]] and [[Perceval]]. Hector is, however, one of the knights defeated and imprisoned by Turquine before being rescued by his brother Lancelot; he later returns the favour by finding the lost Knight of the Lake after Lancelot's period of insanity and returning him to the court. During the time when Lancelot is missing, Hector is one of the best knights of Arthur, second only to [[Sir Bors|Bors]], as ranked by King [[Bagdemagus]] asked by Arthur.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mvx5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA19 | title=People and Texts: Relationships in Medieval Literature: Studies Presented to Erik Kooper | date=January 2007 | publisher=BRILL | isbn=9789401203920 }}</ref> Hector has a long relationship with Lady Perse of the Narrow Borderland after saving her from a forced marriage; he also has an affair with a cousin of the Lady of Roestoc prior to reuniting with Perse. In the Post-Vulgate ''Queste'', his friendship with [[Gawain]] turns into the hatred following Gawain's killing of Erec. Hector participates in the great [[Grail Quest]], during which his companions besides Gawain include Arthur the Less and Meraugis. Like most others, Hector is proven unworthy of achieving the sacred relic. Nevertheless, he helps the Grail hero [[Galahad]] to destroy the Castle of Treachery, and the appearance of the Grail revives him and Perceval after the two mortally wounded each other. In the ''Mort Artu'' (and ''Le Morte d'Arthur''), when Lancelot is caught in his affair with [[Guinevere]], Hector stands by his half-brother and leaves court with him. He becomes one of the top leaders of Lancelot's faction, participating in the battle to rescue the queen at her would-be execution and the subsequent defence of Lancelot's castle [[Joyous Guard]]. Hector accompanies Lancelot in France when they are expelled from Arthur's kingdom, before later returning to Britain to help defeat the Saxon army aided by [[Mordred]]'s sons after the [[Battle of Camlann]] (Salisbury). He then joins his brother at the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]'s hermitage, and later dies on a crusade in the [[Holy Land]]. {{Clear left}}
=== King with the Hundred Knights ===
The '''King with the Hundred Knights''' (Old French: ''Roi des Cent Chevaliers'', sometimes translated as the "King ''of'' the Hundred Knights") is a moniker commonly used in for a character that has appeared under different given names in various works of Arthurian romance, including as '''Malaguin''' (''Aguignier'', ''Aguigens'', ''Aguigniez'', ''Aguysans'', ''Alguigines'', ''Angvigenes'', ''Malaguis'', ''Malauguin[s]'', etc.) in the [[Prose Lancelot|Prose ''Lancelot'']]; the legendary figure of Malaguin seems to be loosely based on that of the historical [[Maelgwn Gwynedd|Maelgwn]], an early 6th-century king of [[Gwynedd]] known for propagating [[Celtic Christianity|Christianity in Britain]]. He appears as '''Heraut'''  (''Berant'', ''Horel'', ''Horiaus'', ''Hovaux'', etc.) '''li Aspres''' in the [[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']], while [[Thomas Malory]] refers to him as '''Sir Barant''' (''Berrant'') '''le Apres'''. Conversely, some texts such as ''[[Palamedes (romance)|Palamedes]]'' do not give him a proper name.
His first known appearance is possibly in ''[[Lanzelet]]'' as '''Ritschart''', a count opposing [[King Lot]] who is mentioned as having a hundred knights and is later aided by [[Lancelot]], followed by that of '''Margon''' in the Third Continuation of ''[[Perceval, the Story of the Grail]]''. His first major role as the "King with the Hundred Knights" is found in the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate versions of ''[[Merlin (Robert de Boron poem)|Merlin]]'' continuations, in which he is introduced as one of the chief rebels against [[King Arthur]] in the [[Battle of Bedegraine]]; however, after experiencing a prophetic dream, he decides to join Arthur to fight the invading Saxon pagans in God's name. He remains on Arthur's side during Lot's second rebellion, but then fights against Arthur in the service of [[Galehaut]] in the Vulgate ''Lancelot''; afterwards, he again submits to Arthur's rule and joins the [[Round Table]], later taking part in the war against Rome. (The chronology of that is different in Malory's compilation.) ''Lancelot of the Laik'', a Scots version of the Vulgate ''Lancelot'', splits his character into these of the King with a Hundred Knights and '''Maleginis''', two different minor kings serving Galehaut.
He is described as the ruler of the land variably known as Estrangore in the ''Livre d'Artus'' alternative continuation of ''Merlin'', Malahaut (''Malehaut'', etc.) in the ''Estoire de Merlin'' and the Prose ''Lancelot'', Guzilagne in ''[[La Tavola Ritonda]]'', Piacenza in ''I Due Tristani'', and Tumane in ''Lanzelet''. The Vulgate ''Lancelot'' gives him a sister known only as the Lady of Malahaut, a son named Maranz (''Marant'', ''Marauz'', ''Martans'', ''Martant''), and a daughter named Landoine (''Landoigne''). The Prose ''Tristan'' and ''Le Morte d'Arthur'' mention him as a lover of one of [[Morgan le Fay]]'s companions, the enchantress known as the Queen of North Wales. In ''I Due Tristani'', he marries Riccarda, the half-giant sister of Galehaut. In the Third Continuation of ''Perceval'', his son, named Cargril (''Cargrilo''), falls in one-sided love with [[Perceval]]'s cousin Sore Pucelle; Margon and Cargril besiege her castle but [[Gawain]] lifts the siege and Sore Pucelle avenges the death of her lover (whom they had hanged) by launching Cargril from a catapult. In ''La Tavola Ritonda'', the King with the Hundred Knights dies fighting alongside King Amoroldo of Ireland (an Italian version of [[Morholt]]) at the Battle of Lerline, in a factional conflict in which Lancelot and [[Tristan]] find themselves on the opposing sides.
=== Lac ===
'''King Lac''' (French: ''Roi Lac'', literally "King Lake") is the father of the [[Round Table]] member [[#Erec|Erec]], was introduced in [[Chrétien de Troyes]]' ''[[Erec and Enide]]'' and its variants. His counterpart in the Welsh ''[[Geraint and Enid]]'' is named '''Erbin'''. King Lac is himself a Knight of the Round Table in the Guiron le Courteous part of ''[[Palamedes (romance)|Palamedes]]'', and [[Thomas Malory]] retained him in this role in his ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'' as the '''King of the Lake'''.
According to ''Erec et Enide'', King Lac dies of old age and his son Erec is made ruler of Lac's kingdom by [[King Arthur]]. That kingdom is variably known as Estre-Gales (probably "Outer Wales", possibly [[Strathclyde]] or [[Striguil]]) with the capital Carrant or Carnant (possibly a Brittonic form of [[Nantes]]),<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HSmto0TQZBgC&pg=PA59 | title=The Romances of Chretien de Troyes | isbn=978-0-300-13370-7 | last1=Duggan | first1=Joseph J. | date=October 2008 | publisher=Yale University Press }}</ref> Destrigales in [[Hartmann von Aue]]'s version, Greater [[Orkney]] (''Orcanie la Grant'') in the [[Vulgate Cycle]], and Black Isles in ''Palamedes''. In his redefinition in the [[Post-Vulgate Cycle]], King Lac is son of Canan, a commoner-born Greek king. The Post-Vulgate ''Quest of the Holy Grail'' tells of Lac's poisoning by the sons of his brother, King Dirac, and the young Erec's exile from their kingdom of Saloliqui to Britain following Lac's murder. Here, King Lac's wife (Erec's mother) was the sorceress Crisea (''Ocise''), the sister of Pelles the [[Fisher King]].
Besides Erec, King Lac's children include a daughter, who appears unnamed in Chrétien's ''[[Perceval, the Story of the Grail|Perceval]]'' but is called Jeschute in ''[[Parzival]]''. Lac's other sons include [[#Beandelis|Brandelis]] in ''Palamedes'' and in ''I Due Tristani'', and [[Cligés]] in the First Continuation of ''Perceval'', who both become Knights of the Round Table in their respective stories. He is however entirely unrelated to neither [[Lancelot]] du Lac (of the Lake) nor to [[King Lot]] whose name is written as "Lac" in some Portuguese texts.
=== Lohot ===
'''Lohot''' or '''Loholt''' (''Hoot'', ''Loholz'', ''Lohoot'', ''Lohoth'', ''Lohoz'') is a character loosely based on the mysterious figure of [[King Arthur's family#Offspring|Llacheu]], one of the sons of King Arthur in the original Welsh tradition. He appears as the king's legitimate son by [[Queen Guinevere]] in some early continental romances. In ''[[Perlesvaus]]'', the sleeping Loholt is treacherously murdered by [[Sir Kay|Kay]] so that the latter can take credit for the slaying of Logrin the giant, and his murder causes Guinevere to die of sorrow.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Akyjim-4jA8C&pg=PA113 | title=Cei and the Arthurian Legend | isbn=978-0-85991-261-7 | last1=Gowans | first1=Linda | date=10 May 1988 | publisher=Boydell & Brewer }}</ref> In ''[[Lanzelet]]'', '''Loüt''' is said to be the most renowned young knight who eventually accompanied Arthur "into a country whence the Bretons [[King Arthur's messianic return|still expect both of them evermore]]" (i.e. [[Avalon]]).<ref name=lt>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aLx7w5IzCDMC&pg=PA21 | title=King Arthur's Children: A Study in Fiction and Tradition | isbn=978-1-61599-066-5 | last1=Tichelaar | first1=Tyler R. | date=31 January 2010 | publisher=Loving Healing Press }}</ref> As son of Arthur named '''Elinot''', he is also referenced as Guinevere's deceased son in ''Garel'' by [[Der Pleier]], where he has been killed in the service of his beloved Florie who then herself died of grief.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JqqbDwAAQBAJ | title=The Pleier's Arthurian Romances: Garel of the Blooming Valley, Tandareis and Floribel, Meleranz | isbn=978-0-429-51508-8 | last1=Pleier | first1=Der | date=4 June 2019 | publisher=Routledge }}</ref>
In the [[Vulgate Cycle]]'s ''Livre d'Artus'', on the other hand, Lohot is Arthur's bastard son by Lady Lisanor, daughter of Earl Sevain, from the tryst magically arranged by [[Merlin]].<ref>''Arthurian Romances'' trans. W. Kibler and C. W. Carroll (Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1991); ''The High Book of the Grail: A translation of the thirteenth century romance of Perlesvaus'' trans. N. Bryant (Brewer, 1996); ''Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation'' trans. N. J. Lacy (New York: Garland, 1992-6), 5 volumes.</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3WXzagvAprIC&pg=PA254|title=The Fall of Kings and Princes: Structure and Destruction in Arthurian Tragedy|last=Guerin|first=M. Victoria|date=1995|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=9780804722902|language=en}}</ref> In the Prose ''Lancelot'', Lohot dies young from illness shortly after having been rescued from his captivity in the Dolorous Prison by [[Lancelot]].<ref name=":1" /> The ''Livre de Lancelot del Lac'' suggests that he is the son of the sorceress Camille who abducted and seduced Arthur.<ref name=lt/> The late romance ''Sagramor'' conflates Lisanor's son with the protagonist [[Sagramor]] and even has him ascend Arthur's throne.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tznkwnb6VaMC&pg=PA106 | title=The Character of King Arthur in Medieval Literature | isbn=978-0-85991-088-0 | last1=Morris | first1=Rosemary | date=1982 | publisher=Boydell & Brewer }}</ref> ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'' renamed him as a very minor character called '''Borre''' (''Boarte'', ''Bohart'', ''Bohort'') '''le Cure Hardy''' ("the Strong Heart") and his mother as Lionors or Lyzianor, daughter of Earl Sanam.
=== Lucan ===
[[File:Hb-lvcam-le-bovteillier.jpg|thumb|upright|left|The attributed arms of "Lucam le Bouteillier"]]
'''Lucan the Butler''' (''Lucanere de Buttelere'', ''Lucan[s] li Bouteillier'', ''Lucant le Boutellier'', ''Lucas the Botiller'', ''Lucanus'', etc.) is a servant of [[King Arthur]], the son of Duke Corneus, a brother of [[Bedivere]], and a cousin of [[Griflet]]. His earliest mention is in ''[[Erec and Enide]]'' and he is also known in English translations as '''Lucan the Wine Steward'''. He and his relatives are among King Arthur's earliest allies in the war against the rebel kings and then remain loyal to Arthur throughout his life. Lucan takes on the post of royal butler, a significant position in charge of the royal household. As such he is in charge of the royal court, along with Bedivere the [[Marshal]] and [[Sir Kay|Kay]] the [[Seneschal]].
Lucan fights for Arthur's right to the throne at the [[Battle of Bedegraine]] and against subsequent rebellions. He is also known to always attend the royal tournaments. In most accounts of Arthur's death in the romance literature, from the ''[[Lancelot-Grail]]'' cycle to ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'', Lucan is one of the last knights at the king's side at the [[Battle of Camlann]] and is usually the last of them to die. Lucan remains loyal to King Arthur throughout the schism with [[Lancelot]], and on occasion acts as a negotiator between them. Similarly, he stays by the monarch's side during [[Mordred]]'s rebellion and tries to dissuade Arthur from his final attack on his son/nephew, but is unsuccessful and the king becomes fatally wounded. Worried about looters roaming the battlefield, Lucan and either Griflet or Bedivere attempt to move the dying Arthur into a nearby chapel for safety, but the strain is too much for Lucan and his old wound bursts open, spilling out his bowels and killing him just before the king returns [[Excalibur]] to the [[Lady of the Lake]].
Though the knight whom Arthur asks to cast the sword into the lake is usually Griflet ([[Vulgate Cycle|Vulgate ''Mort Artu'']]) or Bedivere (''Le Morte d'Arthur'', the [[Alliterative Morte Arthure|Alliterative ''Morte Arthure'']], the [[Stanzaic Morte Arthur|Stanzaic ''Morte Arthur'']]), the 16th-century English ballad ''King Arthur's Death'' ascribes this duty to Lucan.<ref>"King Arthur's Death" is a continuation of the ballad "The Legend of King Arthur". See Noble, James (1991). "King Arthur's Death". In [[Lacy, Norris J.]] (Ed.), ''The New Arthurian Encyclopedia'', pp. 262–263. New York: Garland. {{ISBN|0-8240-4377-4}}.</ref> A character named Lucan appears in the 2004 film ''[[King Arthur (2004 film)|King Arthur]]'' where, played by Johnny Brennan, he is a young boy found and cared for by Arthur's warrior [[Dagonet]]. {{Clear left}}
=== Mador de la Porte ===
[[File:Blason imaginaire de Maldor de la Porte.svg|thumb|upright|left|Mador's attributed arms]]
'''Mador de la Porte''' (French: ''Mador'', ''Amador''; English: ''Mador'', ''Madore'', ''Madors''; Italian: ''Amador della porta'', ''Amadore''; Irish: ''Mado'') is a minor Knight of the Round Table in the late Arthurian prose romances. His epithet "of the Gate" (de la Porte) suggests he might have been Arthur's porter; if so, Mador might be equated with [[Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr]] ("Mightygrasp") who is Arthur's porter in medieval Welsh tales.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nBWeBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT133 | title=A Brief History of King Arthur | isbn=978-1-4721-0765-7 | last1=Ashley | first1=Mike | date=7 February 2013 | publisher=Little, Brown Book }}</ref>
[[File:Sir Lancelot save Guinevere by Lancelot Speed.jpg|thumb|upright|"At last [[Lancelot|the strange knight]] smote him to the earth, and gave him such a buffet on the helm as well-nigh killed him." [[Lancelot Speed]]'s illustration for ''The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights'', abridged from Malory's ''Le Morte d'Arthur'' by [[James Thomas Knowles (1831–1908)|James Knowles]] (1912)]]
Mador's best known role is in an episode of the Vulgate ''Mort Artu (''and consequently in the Stanzaic ''Morte Arthur'' and Malory's ''Le Morte d'Arthur'') that tells the story of his trial by combat against the incognito [[Lancelot]], Queen [[Guinevere]]'s champion for her innocence following the poisoning of Mador's brother [[#Gaheris of Karaheu|Gaheris de Karahau]]. Mador loses the duel to Lancelot (without losing his life in the process), saving Guinevere from the accusation that almost led her being burnt at the stake.
Besides the Vulgate ''Mort Artu'' and the English works based on it, Mador also appears or is referenced in several other works, including in the Prose ''Lancelot'', in the "Tournament of Sorelois" episode found in some versions of the Prose ''Tristan'' and the ''Prophecies de Mérlin'' (as well as in ''Le Morte d'Arthur''), in the Post-Vulgate Cycle, in the ''Guiron le Courtois'' part of ''Palemedes'', in ''Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight'', in the Sicilian romance ''Floriant et Florette'', and in the ''Compilation'' of Rustichello da Pisa. The Vulgate ''Mort Artu'' notes him as exceptionally tall and says there was hardly a knight in Arthur's court who was stronger. This is repeated in the Version I of the Prose ''Tristan'', in which [[Tristan]] considers him second only to the half-giant [[Galehault]] in size and strength. In ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', he is also a companion of the young [[Mordred]].
The ''Livre d'Artus'' version of the Vulgate ''Merlin Continuation'' mentions '''Madoc li Noirs de la Porte''' (Madoc the Black of the Gate) among the knights who come to the aid of [[Aglovale]] to fight against the forces of Agrippe. He may be further identical with the knight Mado, who is twice briefly mentioned in the ''First Continuation'' of Chrétien's ''Perceval''. Mado also appears as antagonist in the 16th-century Irish Arthurian tale ''Eachtra Mhelóra agus Orlando'' (''The Adventures of Melora and Orlando''), wherein he is the villainous son of the King of the Hesperides in love with Arthur's daughter Melora, who disguises herself as a man and fights incognito as a knight to defeat Mado and his ally [[Merlin]].{{Clear left}}
=== Meliant ===
[[File:Hb-meliandris.jpg|thumb|upright|left|The attributed arms of "Mellienderis"]]
'''Meliant''' (''Melians,'' ''Melyans'') is a Knight of the Round Table featured in several chivalric romances. In the writings by [[Chrétien de Troyes]] and [[Wolfram von Eschenbach]], '''Meliant de Lis''' is the King of Lis. Along with [[Bagdemagus]] and [[Meleagant]], he declares war on his foster-father, Tiebaut (''Lyppaut''), after being rejected by the latter's daughter Obie. [[Gawain]], fighting for Obie's sister Obilot, captures Meliant, who then reconciles with Obie in her captivity. A different version of this story, as told by [[Heinrich von dem Türlin]], names him '''Fiers von Arramis''', whom Gawain also forces to surrender to a young lady who is a sister of his beloved Flursenesephin. In the ''[[Lancelot-Grail|Livre de Artus]]'', Meliant de Lis wins over and marries Gawain's own lover, Floree.
In the [[Vulgate Cycle]]'s ''Queste'', '''Melians de Danemarche''' (Denmark, ''Dianarca'') is a squire of [[Galahad]], who knights him during the [[Grail Quest]]. Later, Sir Melians joins [[Bors]] and [[Percival]] at Castle [[Corbenic]] at the end of the quest.<ref>Loomis (1997). p. 157.</ref> King Arthur appoints him to the Round Table, but he later sides with [[Lancelot]] in the civil war in the Vulgate ''Mort''. In reward for his support, including his role in the rescue of [[Guinevere]], Lancelot makes him an earl ruling one of Lancelot's domains on the continent. Malory calls him '''Melias de Lile''' (''de Lisle'') in ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''. He should not be confused with [[Tristan]]'s father [[Meliadus]], who is sometimes known as Melias.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.historicaltimes.org/post/drustan-and-esyllt-the-lost-romance? | title=Drustan and Esyllt – the Lost Romance? | date=11 February 2022 }}</ref>
There are also multiple other Arthurian characters by this name. For instance, one Meliant (named Brano in the Italian compilation ''[[La Tavola Ritonda]]'') is a relative of King Faramon's daughter Belide when she falsely accuses Tristan of rape in the [[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']]. In ''[[Perlesvaus]]'', an explicitly villainous Meliant is an enemy lord of Arthur, allied with the traitorous [[Sir Kay|Kay]]; he is eventually killed by Lancelot who had previously also slain his evil father. In the Vulgate ''Lancelot'', Carados of the Dolorous Tower takes one Melyans le Gai's wife as his mistress.<ref>Loomis (1997). p. 11.</ref> Another Meliant from the same cycle is an ancestor of Gawain (and himself is descended from Peter, an early Christian follower of [[Joseph of Arimathea]]) in the Vulgate ''Estoire del Saint Graal''. {{Clear left}}
=== Morholt ===
[[File:Blason imaginaire du Morholt d'Irlande.svg|thumb|upright|left|The attributed arms of Morholt d'Irlande]]
'''Morholt of Ireland''' (''Marha[u]lt'', ''Marhaus'', ''Morold'', ''Amoroldo'') is an Irish warrior who demands tribute from [[Mark of Cornwall|King Mark]] of [[Cornwall]] until he is slain by Mark's nephew [[Tristan]]. In many versions, Morholt's name is prefaced with a [[Article (grammar)|definite article]] (i.e. ''The'' Morholt) as if it were a rank or a title, but scholars have found no reason for this.<ref name="Curtis1">Curtis, Renée L. (translator) (1994). ''The Romance of Tristan'', Oxford. {{ISBN|0-19-282792-8}}.</ref>
[[File:Dante Gabriel Rossetti The Fight between Tristram and Sir Marhaus stained glass.png|thumb|''The Fight between Tristram and Sir Marhaus'', a stained glass panel by [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]] (c. 1863)]]
He appears in almost all versions of the legend of [[Tristan and Iseult]], beginning with the verse works of [[Thomas of Britain]] and [[Béroul]]. In the early material, Morholt is the brother of the Queen of Ireland and the uncle of Tristan's future love (both mother and daughter are named [[Iseult]]). He comes to Cornwall to collect tribute owed to his country; instead, however, Tristan challenges him to battle on the remote [[Samson of Dol|Saint Samson's]] Isle in order to release his people from the debt. Tristan mortally wounds Morholt, leaving a piece of his sword in the Irishman's skull, but Morholt stabs him with a poisoned spear and escapes to Ireland to die. The injured Tristan eventually travels to Ireland incognito to receive healing from Iseult the Younger, but is found out when the queen discovers the piece of metal found in her brother's head fits perfectly into a chink in Tristan's blade.
The authors of later romances expanded Morholt's role. In works like the [[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']], the [[Post-Vulgate Cycle]], and [[Thomas Malory]]'s ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'', he is a Knight of the [[Round Table]] before his fateful encounter with Tristan. The prose romances add many further details to Morholt's career; the Post-Vulgate and Malory record his adventures with the young [[Gawain]], [[Gaheris]] and [[Yvain]] early in [[King Arthur]]'s reign. In the later versions, Tristan takes Morholt's place at the Round Table when he joins the company himself. Furthermore, Morholt's father named Norhot appears in ''[[Perceforest]]''. {{Clear left}}
===Nentres===
In Arthurian romance, '''Nentres of Garlot''' (French: ''Nentres de Garlot'') is a British king of the land of Garlot (''Garloth'', ''Garlott''), who had served [[King Arthur|Arthur]]'s father [[Uther Pendragon]]. At first, he rebels against the young King Arthur, but soon he becomes Arthur's ally after his defeat and reconciliation, even marrying one of Arthur's sisters. In the Old French Vulgate ''Merlin'', he is also named '''Uentres''' and '''Ventre[s/ƺ]''', as well as '''Nantes''', '''Neutre[s]''' and '''Nextres de Garloc''' in the ''Estoire d'Merlin'' and Neutre in the version ''Livre d'Artus''. In the Caxton print edition of Malory's ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', he appears as Nentres, '''Nayntres''' and '''Nauntres''', while the original Winchester manuscript calls him Nentres, Nauntres and '''Newtrys'''. His other medieval English names include '''Nantres''' or '''Nanter[s]''' in ''Arthour and Merlin'', and '''Newtres''', '''Newtris''', Newtrys and '''Newtre[s]''' in Lovelich's ''Merlin''. His first appearance could have been as Arthur's brother-in-law '''Viautre de Galerot''' (''Guarlerot'') in the Didot-''Perceval'' continuation of the Verse ''Merlin''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XZFbczeMtYcC&pg=PA376|title=The Arthurian Name Dictionary|first=Christopher W.|last=Bruce|date=17 November 1999|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9780815328650 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
Malory makes Nentres the husband of Arthur's sister [[Elaine (legend)|Elaine]] (''Elayne''), originally named Blasine in the Prose ''Merlin'', by whom he has the son [[#Galeschin|Galeschin]] and a daughter also named Elaine. In other texts, his wife is one of Arthur's different sisters: either [[Morgause]] (''Belisent'') or [[Morgan le Fay]] (''Morgain la feé''). In the ''Merlin'' continuation texts, Nentres of Garlot is one of the kings who refuse to recognise the newly proclaimed King Arthur's claim to be the true heir of Uther, and he joins the others to fight against Arthur (and his own son Galescalain) at the [[Battle of Bedegraine]] (where he is defeated by [[Sir Kay|Kay]] in Malory). After the rebel kings agree to join Arthur to repel the foreign (Saxon or Saracen) invasion, Nentres commands the defense of Windesan. During this time, his wife is kidnapped by the enemy but is rescued by Arthur's loyalist [[Gawain]], making Nentres firmly join Arthur's side and help him to decisively crush the foreigners at the [[Battle of Badon|Battle of Clarence]]. He then becomes one of the original members of Arthur's Round Table and participates in Arthur's continental campaigns, slaying the Spanish Saracen king Alifatima during the war against Rome.
According to [[Roger Sherman Loomis]], the name and character of King Nentres could have been derived from that of the historical British king [[Urien]] who is most often cast as the husband of Morgan.<ref>Loomis, Roger Sherman. "Some Names in Arthurian Romance" in ''Proceedings of the Modern Language Association'', Volume 45, Number 2, pp. 416-443. Cambridge University Press, June 1930.</ref> The Huth ''Merlin'' mentions Neutre only once as the king of Sorhaut married to Morgan, while presenting Garlot as the kingdom of Urien and Morgain (''Morgue''), which further suggests the identity of Nentres with Urien.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3xEsCWEYFfkC&pg=PA84 | title=Sources of the Grail: An Anthology | isbn=9780940262867 | last1=Matthews | first1=John | year=1997 | publisher=SteinerBooks }}</ref> The name of his realm of Garlot may also come from that of ''Caer Lot'', an Old Welsh phrase meaning the Fortress of [[King Lot|Lot]], another British former-rebel king often depicted in the legend as married to Arthur's sister.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5W1nAAAAMAAJ|title=Arthur, roi des Bretons d'Armorique|first=Gwenc'hlan Le|last=Scouëzec|date=17 November 1998|publisher=Le Manoir du tertre|isbn=9782913478008 |via=Google Books}}</ref> The lands belonging to Nentres, Urien and Lot (in Lot's case meaning the kingdom of [[Lothian]], not the northern Orkney) are also all commonly placed in today's southern (lowland) Scotland. Nevertheless, the three rebel-turned-ally kings, each later married to Arthur's sisters, regularly appear as separate characters within the same prose romances, including in Malory.
===Osenain===
[[File:Hb-osevain.jpg|thumb|upright|left|The attributed arms of Osevain Cœur Hardi]]
'''Osenain''' (one of many spelling variants), often appearing with the moniker translating either (depending on the French spelling) as 'Braveheart', 'the Hardhearted', 'the Bold' or 'Hard Body', is a character often appearing as one of the knights of the [[Round Table]] in the works of Arthurian romance. In English, he is best known from [[Thomas Malory]]'s ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'' as '''Ozanna le Cure Hardy''' (''Ozanna le Coeur Hardi'' in the Winchester Manuscript; rendered as '''Ozana of the hardy heart''' in [[William Morris]]' "The Chapel in Lyonesse"). Different Middle English versions of the ''[[Merlin (Robert de Boron poem)|Merlin]] Continuation'' call him '''Gosenain Hardy Body''', '''Gosnayn de Strangot''', '''Osenayn Cors Hardy''' and '''Osoman Hardi of Hert'''. In many works he is associated with the often similarly named nephew of King Arthur, [[Gawain]] of Orkney, while being cast as Gawain's either companion or opponent.
Within the chivalric romance tradition, he is first found as '''Garravain[s] d'Estrangot''' among Arthur's knights in some manuscripts of [[Chretien de Troyes]]' French poem ''[[Erec et Enide]]'' ('''Gasosin von Strangot''' in its German version ''[[Erec (poem)|Erec]]''). He is also listed by the name '''Gasouains''' in the First Continuation of Chrétien's ''[[Perceval ou le Conte du Graal]]''. In a later, non-Chrétien verse romance ''Les Merveilles de Rigomer'', one '''Garradains''' is named as the knight of Arthur traveling with Gawain on a quest to conquer the enchanted castle of the Irish queen Dionise.
In the German poem ''[[Diu Crône]]'', the fairy knight '''Gasozein de Dragoz''' arrives at King Arthur's court, where he single-handedly defeats three Knights of the Round Table while not wearing any armor and falsely<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/43485991|title=An Unlikely Hero: The Rapist-Knight Gasozein in "Diu Crône"|author=SAMPLES, SUSANN THERESE|year=2012|journal=Arthuriana|volume=22|issue=4|pages=101–119|doi=10.1353/art.2012.a494786 |jstor=43485991 |s2cid=160239206 |via=JSTOR}}</ref> claims to be the first lover and rightful husband of Queen [[Guinevere]], unsuccessfully demanding her to be "returned" to him. Gasozein later rescues the queen from her brother Gotegrin, who wants to kill Guinevere for her infidelity, but then he kidnaps her in turn and nearly rapes her, however Gawain arrives in time, defeats Gasozein in a duel, sends him back to Arthur to revoke his claim and join the Round Table, and even arranges Gasozein's marriage with his own sister-in-law, Sgoidamur. Gosezein's character re-appears as '''Gosangos de Tarmadoise''', Guinevere's early romantic lover and Gawain's valiant enemy in the French prose romance ''Livre d'Artus''.
He recurringly features in the French prose cycles and other works, appearing as '''Osenain[s] Cuer Hardi''' (''Gosenain'', ''Osanain'', ''Osevain'', ''Osoain'', ''Osuain'', ''Oswain'', etc.; -''Cors Hardi[z]'', ''Corsa Hardy'', ''Corps Hardi'', ''au Cœur-Hardi'', ''Chore Ardito'') in the [[Prose Lancelot|Prose ''Lancelot'']], and as '''Ossenain Cuer Hardi''' (''Oselain'', ''Osenaín'', ''Ossenain'', ''Ossenam'', ''Ossenet d'Estrangot'') in the [[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']]. In the [[Vulgate Cycle|Vulgate]] ''Estoire de Merlin'' (and the English ''[[Of Arthour and of Merlin]]''), the young '''Gasoain d'Estrango[r]t''' (''Gaswain'', ''Gosenain''; -''of / d'Estrangor[r]e'') fights alongside Gawain in the battles against the invading Saxons, his great feats earning him an early seat at the Round Table. When Gawain wrongly accuses him of treason, he gives Gawain a severe face wound in a trial by combat in front of King Arthur. In the Vulgate ''Lancelot'', he is noted as "very valorous and a good speaker", and is involved in the adventures of [[Sir Kay|Kay]] and others. He is with Gawain when they are both captured and imprisoned in the Dolorous Prison until their rescue by [[Lancelot]], who also later frees him from Turquine's captivity on another occasion. He assists [[Maleagant]] of Gore in the abduction of Queen Guinevere and is imprisoned by King Arthur after Lancelot's rescue of her (in Malory's version, he is instead one the loyal Queen's Knights captured by Maleagant along with her). He is later forgiven and fights for Arthur against King [[Rience]] and becomes a [[knight errant]], eventually participating in the [[Grail Quest]]. The Guiron le Courtois section of ''[[Palamedes (romance)|Palamedes]]'' describes him as son of King Quinados.
Like Gawain's, his character is considered to be derived from the prototype of the warrior by the name Gwrvan and its variants,<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c8Xddhjk76IC | title=Publications of the Modern Language Association of America | date=1930 | publisher=Modern Language Association of America }}</ref> found in the early Welsh Arthurian tales ''[[Culhwch ac Olwen]]'', ''[[Peredur fab Efrawg]]'', ''[[Preiddeu Annwn]]'', and ''[[Welsh Triads|Trioedd Ynys Prydein]]''. According to Arthurian scholar [[Ferdinand Lot]], Gwrvan's name comes with synonymous Welsh adjectives ''cadr'' and ''cadrauc'', "meaning 'mighty, powerful', corresponding therefore in meaning to 'au Cors Hardi'."<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lM9lJ9gTr0EC | title=Medium Aevum | date=1956 | publisher=Society for the Study of Mediæval Languages and Literature }}</ref> The plot of the French poem ''[[Meraugis de Portlesguez]]'' revolves around the protagonist Meraugis competing for the love of Queen Lidoine with his friend '''Gorvain Cadrut''' (''Gornain[s]'', ''Gornenis''; -''Cadrus'', ''Cadruz'', ''Kadrus''). Here, Gorvain loses Lidoine to his rival, but ends up happily married to one of her maidens, Avice.  However, Lot proposed that this Gorvain is just the story's Gawain himself (who earlier appears as ''Golvain'') by just a slightly different name.<ref name="cm">{{Cite book |last=Loomis |first=Roger Sherman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MyWvBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT75 |title=Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance |date=2005-08-30 |publisher=Chicago Review Press |isbn=978-1-61373-210-6 |language=en}}</ref> In another chivalric romance, ''Hunbaut'', Gorvain Cadrus of Castle Pantelion takes Gawain's unnamed sister hostage, seeking vengeance against him for the death of one of his relatives. He is taken captive by Gawain, then sent as a prisoner to Arthur's court at [[Caerleon]] where he eventually becomes a Knight of the Round Table.
In the Italian ''[[Tavola Ritonda]]'', '''Suziano of the Valiant Heart''' (''Cuore Ardito'') is a young son of Lady Largina and uncertainly either King [[#Esclabor|Esclabor]] the Unknown or King Amorotto (that is, [[Lamorak]]) of Listenois, as his promiscuous and power-hungry mother was a lover of both of them at the same time. He comes into service of the evil Lady Losanna of the Ancient Tower (''dela Torre Antica'') after falling in love with her, and is slain by [[Tristan]] protecting Losanna's enemy Tessina from his attempt on her life. He also appears under the name '''Guengasoain[s]''' (''Gasouains'', ''Guengasouain'', ''Guingasoain'') as the antagonist of the French poem ''[[La Vengeance Raguidel]]'', in which Gawain and [[Yder]] attempt to avenge his murder of the knight Raguidel. Here, he is a nephew of King Aguissant ([[King Lot]]'s brother Angusel from the ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]'') and serves as the knight of the fay enchantress Lingrenote, the lady of the Nameless Castle (''Castiel sans Non''), who has armed him with powerful enchanted weapons that made him near invincible. He is nevertheless defeated and killed by Gawain helped by Yder, the latter of whom then marries Guengasoain's daughter Trevilonete.
=== Priamus ===
'''Priamus''' (''Pryamus'') is a Roman ally of [[Emperor Lucius]] in Malory's ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', following  the Alliterative ''Morte Arthure''. He claims to be descended from [[Domitius Alexander|Alexander of Africa]] and [[Judas Maccabeus]]. Upon meeting [[Gawain]] in "The Tale of King Arthur and Emperor Lucius", he defects from Lucius to join forces with [[King Arthur]].<ref>{{Citation|title=Le Morte Arthur|work=Le Morte d'Arthur|year=1975|pages=13–129|publisher=De Gruyter|doi=10.1515/9783111392165-002|isbn=978-3-11-139216-5}}</ref> In return, Arthur appoints him as the Duke of [[Lorraine]]. He later dies at the fight for [[Guinevere]]. In Malory's version, two of Priamus' brothers also become Knights of the Round Table: Edward of [[Caernarfon|Carnarvon]] and Hectymere.
=== Safir ===
[[File:Blason Saphar.svg|thumb|upright|left|Saphar's attributed arms]]
'''Safir''' (''Safire'', ''Safere'', ''Saphar'') is the youngest son of the [[Saracen]] king [[Esclabor]] in the [[Arthurian legend]]. He appeared in several works of Arthurian literature, including the [[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']] and ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''; his name was also included on the [[Winchester Round Table]]. Two of his brothers, [[Segwarides]] and [[Palamedes (Arthurian legend)|Palamedes]], also belong to the Round Table.
Safir usually appears alongside his brother Palamedes. In one story, Safir disguises himself as [[Ector de Maris]], fights with Helior le Preuse, defeats him, and wins Espinogres' lady. Vowing to defend the lady's honor, Palamedes arrives and locks swords with Safir, not realizing it is his brother. After fighting for an hour to a standstill, both are impressed with each other's prowess and skill, and decide to ask the other's identity. Safir is devastated to find that he was fighting with his own brother and asks Palamedes for forgiveness; together, they return the lady to Espinogres. Later, after the affair between [[Lancelot]] and [[Guinevere]] is exposed, Safir and Palamedes join Lancelot's side in the ensuing civil war between Lancelot and [[King Arthur]]. When they are banished to Lancelot's homeland in [[Gaul]], Safir is made Duke of [[Languedoc|Landok]] while Palamedes becomes Duke of [[Provence]]. {{Clear left}}
=== Segwarides ===
[[File:Hb-securades.jpg|thumb|upright|left|The attributed arms of "Securades"]]
'''Segwarides''' (''Seguarades'', ''Seguradés'', ''Seguradez'', etc.) is a son of the [[Saracen]] king [[Esclabor]] who becomes a [[Vassal|liegeman]] of [[King Mark]]. His other brothers include the fellow [[Round Table]] knights [[Palamedes (Arthurian legend)|Palamedes]] and [[Safir (Arthurian legend)|Safir]]. It is possible there have been originally two characters of this name, but the stories in which they appear fail to differentiate between them.
[[File:Sir Segwarides rides ater Sir Tristram.png|thumb|"Sir Segwarides rides after Sir Tristram." [[F. A. Fraser]]'s illustration for [[Henry Frith]]'s ''King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table'' (1912)]]
He is cuckolded by [[Tristan]] in the [[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']] and Thomas Malory's ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]''. Tristan has a brief affair with Segwarides' wife, and wounds the knight after being found out. Tristan encounters Segwarides again on the Isle of Servage; Segwarides forgives him, saying he "will never hate a noble knight for a light lady," and the two team up to avoid the dangers of the isle. Soon afterwards, Tristan makes Segwarides the Lord of Servage. In Malory, Segwarides is eventually killed trying to repel [[Lancelot]]'s rescue of [[Guinevere]] from the stake. {{Clear left}}
=== Tor ===
[[File:Blason Tor.svg|thumb|upright|left|The attributed arms of Tor]]
'''Tor''' appears frequently in Arthurian literature, albeit always in minor roles. In earlier mentions Tor's father is King Ars (''Aries''),<ref>For example, [[Chrétien de Troyes]]' list of knights in ''[[Erec and Enide]]''. From Owen, ''Arthurian Romances''.</ref> but in [[Post-Vulgate Cycle]] and [[Thomas Malory]]'s ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'', Aries is his adoptive father while his natural father is [[King Pellinore]].<ref>Lacy, ''Lancelot-Grail'', volume 4.</ref><ref>Malory, ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', Book III, ch. IV, p. 83.</ref> His symbolic namesake, Le Tor of Scotland, is also featured in the story of [[Sebile|Sebille]] within the Arthurian prequel romance ''[[Perceforest]]''.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vls8EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT87 | title=Rewriting Medieval French Literature: Studies in Honour of Jane H. M. Taylor | isbn=978-3-11-063862-2 | last1=Tether | first1=Leah | last2=Busby | first2=Keith | date=5 July 2021 | publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG }}</ref>
In the Post-Vulgate and Malory, Tor's many siblings include [[Aglovale]], [[#Drian|Drian]], [[Lamorak]], [[Percival]], and [[Dindrane]]. He is born when Pellinore sleeps with his mother "half by force", and she marries Aries shortly afterward; here Aries is not a king, but a shepherd. The young Tor is also raised as a shepherd but dreams of becoming a knight. His parents take him to the teenage [[King Arthur]], who makes the boy one of his first knights in recognition of his qualities. Later [[Merlin]] reveals Tor's true parentage, and Pellinore embraces his son; neither Aries nor his wife seem offended. Tor distinguishes himself at the wedding feast of Arthur and [[Guinevere]] when he takes up a quest to retrieve a mysterious white [[Scent hound|brachet]] hound that had come into the court. According to Malory, Tor and his brother Aglovale are present among the knights charged by Arthur with guarding the execution of Guinevere and they both die when [[Lancelot]] and his followers rescue the queen.<ref>Malory, ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', Book XX, ch. VII, p. 880.</ref> {{Clear left}}
=== Yvain the Bastard ===
[[File:Hb-yvain-avoultres.jpg|thumb|upright|left|The attributed arms of Yvain the Bastard]]
'''Yvain the Bastard''' (''Yvain[s] / Yvonet / Uwains li/le[s] Avou[l]tres'', -''l'Avo[u]ltre'', -''li Batarz'') is a son of [[Urien|King Urien]] of Gore, often confused with his half-brother [[Yvain]], after whom he was named. While the older Yvain is Urien's legitimate child from his fairy wife [[Morgan le Fay|Morgan]], Yvain the Bastard was sired by Urien on the wife of his [[seneschal]]. He is encountered frequently in Arthurian romance as a hearty and usually sensible knight, fighting in Arthur's wars and questing for the [[Holy Grail]] with [[Galahad]] and [[Gareth]]. In the [[Post-Vulgate Cycle]], he is killed by his cousin [[Gawain]] late during the Grail Quest when the two, disguised by their armour, randomly meet and decide to joust. It is not until Gawain takes him to a hermitage for his last rites that he realizes he has fought, and killed, his own cousin.
Thomas Malory in ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'' split him into two characters: Uwaine les Avoutres, the son of Urien, and '''Uwaine les Adventurous''', an unrelated knight.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fnSJthHQwCUC&pg=PA842|title=Le Morte Darthur|first=Sir Thomas|last=Malory|date=19 August 1996|publisher=Wordsworth Editions|isbn=9781853264634|via=Google Books}}</ref> Malory further splits '''Morganor''', the name of Urien's "good knight" bastard son in ''[[Of Arthour and of Merlin]]'', into a separate character he calls Sir Morganor[e] (first appearing as a senschal of the [[#King with the Hundred Knights|King of the Hundred Knights]], then as a king himself). Yvain the Bastard and Yvain les Avoutres are also separate characters in the Scottish ''Lancelot of the Laik''. In ''[[Perlesvaus]]'', Yvain the Bastard's own son named Cahus dies while serving as Arthur's own squire on a strange adventure, killed by a giant in a deadly dream. {{Clear left}}
=== Yvain of the White Hands ===
[[File:Hb-yvain-blanches-mains.jpg|thumb|upright|left|His attributed arms]]
'''Yvain of the White Hands''' (''Yvain/Yvonet aux Blanches Mains'') is another different Knight of the Round Table named Yvain in the Old French romances. There, and in the English ''Arthour and Merlin'', he is unrelated to [[Iseult]] of the White Hands and to the "main" [[Yvain]] (son of [[Urien]]), although Thomas Malory later merged him with the latter. He serves Arthur in the Saxon wars, later participating in the quests to learn the fate of [[Merlin]] and to find the missing [[Lancelot]]. In ''Palamedes'', he is son of a knight named Darie. In the Prose ''Tristan'', he is injured by [[King Mark]] and healed in a Cornish abbey. In the Post-Vulgate ''Queste'', he is mistakenly slain by [[#Erec|Erec]], for which in turn Erec is killed by [[Gawain]], and his seat at the Round Table is then taken by the Unknown Knight ([[#Arthur the Less|Arthur the Less]]). {{Clear}}
==Other Arthurian fellowships==
=== Queen's Knights ===
[[File:John Collier Queen Guinevre's Maying - Ausschnitt.jpg|thumb|''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'' scene of Guinevere with some of her unarmed knights before they are ambushed by [[Maleagant]], as depicted in ''Queen Guinevere's Maying'' by [[John Collier (painter)|John Collier]]]]
The Queen's Knights (''Chevaliers de la Reine'') are the knights who serve [[King Arthur]]'s wife [[Queen Guinevere]] in the Old French prose cycles. They are also known in French texts as the "Knights of Queen Guinevere" (''Chevaliers de la Roine Guenievre,'' the form used in the ''[[Vulgate Cycle|Livre d'Artus]]''<ref>Heinrich Oskar Sommer, ''The Structure of Le Livre d'Artus, and Its Function in the Evolution of the Arthurian Prose-Romances'', page 22.</ref>) and the more elaborate "Valiant Knights of Queen Guinevere" (''Chevalier vaillant de la Roine Gueneure''<ref>Ulrike Bethlehem, ''Guinevere, a Medieval Puzzle: Images of Arthur's Queen in the Medieval Literature of England and France'', page 392.</ref>). Members of this group carry only plain white shields, often accompanying the queen and engaging in rivalry against the more experienced Knights of the Round Table.<ref>[[Phyllis Ann Karr]], ''The Arthurian Companion'', page 539.</ref><ref>Beverly Kennedy, ''Knighthood in the Morte d'Arthur'', page 119.</ref> Heroes [[Gawain]] and  [[Lancelot]] are among those who first serve as the Queen's Knights in their youth after being knighted by Arthur, before winning enough honour to be promoted to fill the Round Table when a vacancy occurs. Others include the young [[Sagramore]] when he mortally wounds the Knight of the Round Table named Agravadain (unrelated to [[Agravain]]), grandfather of [[Hector de Maris]], in defense of his comrades.
In the Middle English compilation ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'', the simple "Queen's Knights" form is used by the author [[Thomas Malory]] who also describes them as "''a grete felyshyp of men of arms''".<ref>''Arthurian Interpretations, Volume 3'', page 87.</ref> In Malory's version, Lancelot later rescues a new generation of them when they are captured together with Guinevere by the villain [[Maleagant]] (himself sometimes depicted as a rogue member of the Round Table), after the Queen ordered her knightly companions to surrender as to not forfeit their lives.
=== Arthur's minor tables ===
The [[Post-Vulgate Cycle]] has two other table-based orders within Arthur's court. The first of these is the Table of Errant Companions (''Tables des Compaignons Errans''), reserved for the [[knights errant]] who are actively seeking adventures while awaiting promotion to the Round Table.
The second one is rather ingloriously called the Table of Less-Valued Knights (''Tables des Chevaliers Moins Prisiés''), the members of which (who originally included [[Perceval]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jg-8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA68|title=The Romance of the Grail: A Study of the Structure and Genesis of a Thirteenth-century Arthurian Prose Romance|first=Fanni|last=Bogdanow|date=19 August 1966|publisher=Manchester University Press|via=Google Books}}</ref>) are, as its name indicates, lower in their rank and status.<ref>Norris J. Lacy, Samuel N. Rosenberg, Daniel Golembeski
, ''Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, Volume 10'', pages 67-91.</ref> This group seems to be derived from the knights of the Watch (also translated as the Guard), featured in the Vulgate Cycle's Prose ''Lancelot'' and first mentioned by Chrétien in ''Perceval''.
=== Round Table predecessors ===
[[Robert de Boron]]'s {{ill|Joseph d'Arimathie (poem)|fr|Joseph d'Arimathie (roman)|lt=''Joseph d'Arimathie''}} introduced the Grail Table as a direct precursor to the Round Table, once used by the followers of [[Joseph of Arimathea]], one of the earliest Christians and a relative of Jesus. They were the original guardians of the [[Holy Grail|Grail]], who have traveled from the Holy Land to Britain centuries prior to the times of Arthur.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lancelot-project.pitt.edu/LG-web/TheStory-Summary.htm|title=Highlights in the Story|website=www.lancelot-project.pitt.edu}}</ref> In the cyclical prose continuations of Robert's poem, their descendants include [[Lancelot]] and the [[Fisher King]]. The Grail Table is again used, briefly, by the holy knight [[Galahad]] (offspring of the union between Lancelot and [[Elaine of Corbenic|the Fisher King's daughter]]) when he and his companions ([[Percival]] and [[Bors]]) are served mass after successfully completing the Grail Quest.
Some French and Italian prose romances and poetry feature the original 50<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3WmOvBl6kP0C&q=50|title=Edward III and the Triumph of England: The Battle of Crécy and the Company of the Garter|first=Richard|last=Barber|date=29 August 2013|publisher=Penguin UK|isbn=9781846147630 |via=Google Books}}</ref> knights of the Round Table from the times of [[Uther Pendragon]], the father of King Arthur. It is known in Italian retellings of the [[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']] as the Old Table (''Tavola Vecchia''),<ref>''Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 15'', page 206.</ref> contrasting with those of Arthur's Round Table known as the New Table (''Tavola Nuova''). Their stories include that of [[Brunor|Branor]] the Dragon Knight, "the flower of the Old Table",<ref>''The Arthur of the Italians: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval Italian Literature and Culture'', page 78.</ref> still unsurpassed in his skills at the age of over 100. Following the death of Uther, the Round Table is kept in possession of King [[Leondegrance]] until he gives it to the young Arthur as the dowry of his daughter Guinevere.
An even earlier forerunner of the Round Table appears in ''[[Perceforest]]'', where Arthur's distant ancestor, the eponymous King Perceforest, establishes the elite Order of the Franc Palais (''Ordre du Franc Palais'') to fight against the forces of darkness; the Order ends up destroyed by the evil [[Julius Caesar]] during [[Julius Caesar's invasions of Britain|his invasion of Britain]]. This happens even before the birth of Christ, but nevertheless is presented in the author's contemporary [[High Middle Ages]] style setting just like the other Arthurian romances; as willed by the Sovereign God (''Dieu Souverain'', here apparently the coming Christian god to whom the Roman and other pagan deities willingly submit and work for<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TUqQbemlo80C&pg=PA212|title = The Medieval French Alexander|isbn = 9780791488324|last1 = Maddox|first1 = Donald|last2 = Sturm-Maddox|first2 = Sara|date = February 2012| publisher=State University of New York Press }}</ref>), the Franc Palais numbers the selected 300 British knights chosen for their valor and seated in the specially constructed building by the same name. {{Clear}}
==See also==
*[[List of Arthurian characters]]
*[[Paladin]]
*[[Pentecostal Oath]]
*[[Siege Perilous]]
==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
==Sources==
*Chrétien de Troyes; Owen, D. D. R. (translator) (1988). ''Arthurian Romances''. New York: Everyman's Library. {{ISBN|0-460-87389-X}}.
*Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (1 April 1995). ''Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation'', Volume 4 of 5. New York: Garland. {{ISBN|0-8153-0748-9}}.
*Loomis, Roger Sherman (1997). ''Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance''. Academy Chicago Publishers. {{ISBN|0-89733-436-1}}.
*Malory, Thomas; Bryan, Elizabeth J. (introduction) (1994). ''Le Morte d'Arthur''. New York: Modern Library. {{ISBN|0-679-60099-X}}. (Pollard text.)
*Wilson, Robert H. ''The "Fair Unknown" in Malory''. Publications of the Modern-Language Association of America (1943).
==External links==
{{Commons category|Knights of the Round Table}}
*[http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/arthur/knights.html EBK: The Knights of the Round Table]
*[http://www.timelessmyths.com/arthurian/roundtable.html Timeless Myths: Round Table]
{{Arthurian Legend}}
[[Category:Knights of the Round Table| ]]
[[Category:Arthurian legend]]
[[Category:Fictional knights]]
[[Category:Lists of knights and dames|Round Table]]