The Mammoth Book of King Arthur (91 page)

Gwyn Hyfar,
see
Guenevere.

Handsome Coward, The,
see
Sanddef.

Hector,
see
Ector.

Helena,
see
Elaine.

Hoel, Howel
or
Hywel.
In Geoffrey’s
History
he is treated as Arthur’s nephew, the son of his sister and of Budic, King of Armorica. He assists
Arthur in his battle against the Saxons and subsequently against the French at Poitou, when he also takes Gascony and Aquitaine, and later rallies the British at the Battle of Saussy. In all his
battles he distinguishes himself and becomes known as Hoel the great. His niece Elen is killed by the giant of Mont-St-Michel. There is considerable confusion over who he was and I suspect that his
name, which, as Hywel, is common in Welsh, was confused with the early Breton ruler Riwal, who established control of both the Breton province of Domnonée and the British province of
Dumnonia some time in the early 500s. Later pedigrees tried to tie Riwal in with the ruling family of British Dumnonia but got everything out of synch. It is possible, in fact probable, that Riwal
was related to that family and may have been descended from Cynan Meriadoc. Hoel is also associated with Hywel ab Emyr Llydaw, on the basis that Llydaw means Armorica and Emyr is a title for Budic.
However,
see
Emyr Llydaw for further discussion.

Huail
or
Hywel.
The brother of Gildas, who was executed by Arthur following an ongoing disagreement over the death of
Gwydre (Huail’s
nephew, who is also referred to as Arthur’s son in some texts). Tradition has it that it was a long while before Gildas forgave Arthur, which is why Arthur is not mentioned in
De
Excidio.
A stone commemorating Huail’s death is in the market square in Ruthin.

Igraine,
see
Ygraine.

Iseult, Iseut, Isolde, Isoud, Esyllt
or
Yseult.
Also called La Beale Isoud. She was the wife of King Mark and the lover of Tristan. Her story is told in Chapter
13, along with that of her namesake, Tristan’s wife Iseult of the White Hands.

Ivain,
see
Owain.

Kai,
see
Kay.

Karados.
Another of Morgan’s allies, and a cousin of Guiomar. He commands the Dolorous Tower at the end of the Valley of No Return, which is controlled by Morgan
le Fay. Anyone trying to get to the Tower has to pass along the Valley and it will only let pass those who have been faithful. Karados captures Gawain and after considerable difficulty Lancelot
rescues Gawain and slays Karados. The name is a variant of Caradoc and is used in some texts for Caradog Vreichfras, but they are different characters.
See also
Carados.

Kay, Cai
or
Cei.
In the romances he is Arthur’s foster brother and the son of Antor/Ector. In Geoffrey’s
History
he is Arthur’s
Seneschal, who performs valiantly in the campaign against Rome but is killed while rescuing Bedivere and is buried at Chinon. In the earlier Celtic tales, as Cai, he is amongst Arthur’s most
courageous heroes and features in all of the adventures. Most notably in
Pa Gur,
we learn about his exploits in Anglesey where he kills Palug’s Cat. He has many characteristics. He can
go for nine days and nights without sleep and can hold his breath under water for the same period. He generates such heat that even when it rains what is near him stays dry. His father says that he
is headstrong and will not betray his feelings. He is known as Cai
the Tall. The later romances change his character. He becomes bitter, surly, boastful and mocking. He seldom
praises people but will always find fault. He remains courageous but seems poor in comparison to his fellow knights. Frequently it is Kay who volunteers for a quest only to fail so that another can
achieve it. Kay remains loyal to Arthur and yet, in a strange change of character, we find that in
Yder
he tries to poison the eponymous knight, whilst in
Perlesvaus
he kills
Arthur’s son Loholt. Kay clearly has a bad temper because in one of the episodes in
Culhwch and Olwen,
Arthur jests at Cai suggesting he only killed a certain giant because he was
asleep. Kay flies into a temper and thereafter will not stir himself to help Arthur. Yet he is regarded as the finest horseman at Arthur’s court and even his horse Gwineu is counted amongst
the “Three Lively Steeds” of Britain. In
Culhwch and Olwen
Cai is slain by Gwyddog, about whom we know nothing, and Gwyddog is promptly killed by Arthur.

The Celtic tales tell us that Cai is the son of Cynyr the Bearded, Lord of Penllyn. There is a peak called Caer Gai near Lake Bala. There had been a Roman fort nearby, at Llanuwchllyn, but that
had long been abandoned, so that although Cai’s name would appear to be Roman, a contraction of Caius, there is no reason to believe that he was raised in a Roman military camp as some have
suggested. We are never told in the Welsh tales about Cai’s wife, though in the Welsh version of
Tristram
we learn he is in love with Esyllt’s handmaid Golwg. Yet he has two
children, Garanwyn and Celemon, the latter of whom becomes one of the ladies at Arthur’s court. In the later romances his wife is Andrivete, daughter of Cador of Northumberland.

Although the original Cai was almost certainly based on a historical character, we do not know who that was and no one of that name appears in the genealogies. Curiously, though, the Vulgate
creates another Kay, called d’Estraus, who is made a nephew of Caradog Vreichfras, and it is just possible the writers had access to now-lost records that showed a relationship. The later Kay
may have a prototype. Geoffrey, writing in the 1130s, has Kay created Duke of Anjou. The Count of Anjou at that time was Geoffrey Plantaganet, husband of the Empress Matilda. His father, Fulk V,
was still alive and had become King of Jerusalem in 1131. But
his
father, Fulk IV, was known as Rechin, meaning
“surly, ill-tempered”. This Fulk was grumpy
when he only inherited half the county of Anjou but soon drove out his brother, Geoffrey the Bearded. The epithets fit those of Kay and his father perfectly and the reputation of Fulk, who had died
in 1109, would have been remembered by most of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s generation.

Lady of Shalott,
see
Elaine.

Lady of the Lake.
There seem to be two, possibly three, aspects of the Lady of the Lake as the stories progress, which reflect her changing role. She first appears as
the foster mother and protector of Lancelot. Early on this character was switched with that of Morgan le Fay as the enchantress lover of Merlin. However, as Morgan developed in her own right
(
see separate entry
), the Lady of the Lake took on the role of adviser and protector of Arthur and the adversary of Morgan. When named at all she is usually known as Niniane, with variants
Nivienne or Viviane. The aspect who became Merlin’s lover is also sometimes called Nimuë. Malory confuses the matter by creating a third Lady of the Lake, called Lile, who comes to
Arthur’s court to demand Balin’s head because he has killed her brother. Balin promptly decapitates her. Lile is called the Lady of Avalon, but she is probably meant to be the Lady de
l’lsle aux Phees who, in the story of Guyron, comes to Arthur to seek retribution for the death of her brother Pellinore.

The Vulgate tells us that the Lady of the Lake was the daughter of Dyonas and the niece of the Duke of Burgundy. Dyonas is treated as the son of Diana, the Roman goddess of the forest, but in
fact he was developed from a Celtic deity, Dylan. He was a god of the sea, often pictured as a merman, and was the son of Gwydion and Arianrhod. Gwydion is discussed in Chapter 8 as the
shape-changer prototype of Merlin. Niniane, therefore, developed as Merlin’s granddaughter, a far more sensible relationship than being his lover, which explains why she came to supplant him
and arranged for him to return to slumber in the forest. It also explains why she becomes the protector of Arthur.

In the Vulgate version Niniane’s father Dyonas owns the Forest of Briosque in Brittany. Part of it had come through
his marriage to the Duke’s niece, and the
remainder from Ban and Bors because of Dyonas’s help during their war with Claudas. This relationship with Ban meant that with the king’s death Niniane became the foster mother of
Lancelot. As the “successor” to Merlin, Niniane saw her role in raising the perfect knight to achieve the Grail Quest, a plan that was thwarted by Morgan.
See
Chapter 17.

Lailoken,
see
Merlin.

Lambor,
see
Fisher King.

Lamorak.
The son of King Pellinore (and therefore brother to Aglovale, Perceval and Elaine), regarded as one of the noblest of knights, and generally rated as third only
to Lancelot and Tristram. His relationship with Tristram sours after Tristram spares him in a fight, which leads to an incident over the cuckhold’s horn that nearly costs Iseult her life, but
the two become reunited in the common fight against Nabon le Noir. Lamorak’s fate is long sealed, though, because his father had slain King Lot and he incurred the further wrath of Gawaine
and his brothers by becoming the lover of their mother Morgause. He is eventually killed by Gawaine.

Lancelot
or
Launcelot,
see
Chapter 17.

Lanval
or
Launfal.
The hero of Marie de France’s
lai, Lanval
(
see
Chapter 18).

Leodegrance
or
Leodegan.
The father of Guenevere (
see entry
) in the romances, though her father was Ogrfan in Welsh tradition.

Leudonus,
see
Lot.

Lionel.
The eldest son of King Bors and thus brother of Bors and cousin of Lancelot and Ector, he is raised with Lancelot by the Lady of the Lake. Lionel, who has a
birthmark shaped like a lion on his chest, later fights and kills a lion soon after he is knighted.
Initially Lionel serves as Lancelot’s squire, and rescues Lancelot
when the knight does battle with Gawain. Impulsive and quick-tempered, Lionel has a vicious streak and seldom listens to reason. During the Grail Quest he nearly kills Bors because Bors follows his
conscience and chooses to rescue a damsel rather than Lionel. In the fracas Calogrenant is killed. Lionel is amongst those captured by Tericam/Turquin until rescued by Lancelot. After the defeat of
Claudas Lionel succeeds to his father’s kingdom. He is killed by one of Mordred’s sons in the battles that follow Camlann.

Lisanor, Lyzianor
or
Lionors.
The mother of Arthur’s son Loholt (
see
Llacheu).

Llacheu
or
Loholt.
Possibly the only legitimate son of Arthur and Guenevere, although by the time of the Vulgate Cycle he had become an earlier, and illegitimate,
son by Lisanor, daughter of Count Sevain. The Vulgate Cycle has Loholt die in the Dolorous Tower as a prisoner of Karados, but the
Perlesvaus
has him a victim of Kay’s jealousy. Loholt
has the odd habit of sleeping on the corpse of whomever he kills. Kay finds him on the body of the giant Logrin, beheads Loholt and claims the giant’s death as his own. Malory calls him
Borre, a name so similar to Bors, who is also called Bohort, as to suggest some confusion or even a connection. Since Loomis believes that Bohort evolved from Gohors > Gwri, the original
super-hero who inspires Gawain, Agravaine and much else besides, it may be that Lohort is yet another manifestation of the original solar deity, though clearly a sleepy one.

Llacheu, however, does not seem to be a direct derivation of the same name. He was clearly highly regarded, Welsh texts treating him as one of the “Three Well Endowed Men” of Britain
and noting that he was “renowned for his arts”. He was also slain, but we do not know by whom. A much later reference states he met his death at Llechysgar, believed to be in Powys. It
has also been suggested that Llacheu was killed at Llongborth and was the “young Briton of noble birth” recorded in the
ASC.
In neither case is there an associated grave
name.

Llwch Lleminawc.
Suggested as a Celtic prototype for Lancelot, though the name probably lent itself to Lucan.
See
Chapter 17 for
discussion.

Llywarch Hen.
The cousin of Urien of Rheged who ended up a refugee from his homeland as a guest at the Arthur’s court. He later developed a reputation as a poet
but this may be a confusion with Taliesin. He is remembered in Triad 65 (
see
Chapter 8).

Lohengrin.
The son of Parzifal, according to Wolfram von Eschenbach.

Loholt,
see
Llacheu.

Lot
or
Loth.
In Geoffrey’s
History
he is the ruler of Lodonesia who marries Arthur’s sister Anna, and is the father of Gawain and Mordred. He
assists Uther in his battle against the Saxons. He loses his lands but following Arthur’s victories they are restored. Subsequently Loth, as the nephew of Sichelm, king of Norway, becomes
king of Norway with Arthur’s aid. In the later romances his wife is Morgawse, and he has additional sons – Agravain, Gaheris and Gareth – plus two daughters, Soredamors and
Clarissant. Lot is seen as antagonistic towards Arthur at the outset and subsequently joins the rebellion of the kings under Rience. He is killed in battle by Pellinore.

In Welsh tradition Lot is Lleuddun Luyddog, “Loth of the Hosts”, and he is primarily remembered as the grandfather of St. Kentigern through his wayward daughter Taneu. Lleuddun is
regarded as the eponymous founder of Lothian, and the later romances also treat Lot as the king of Lothian and Orcanie, usually translated as the Orkneys. Since Lleuddun’s capital is
remembered as Dinas Eidyn (modern Edinburgh), it would make sense to equate him with Lothian. However, the old British name for Leeds was Loidis or Lat, and the inhabitants were the Ladenses.
Lot’s sister Elfryddl married Eliffer of the Great Host, an epithet similar to Lot’s, and it’s possible that Loth may have succeeded to part of Eliffer’s territory. Some
pedigrees also list Loth as the brother of Urien, so he may have had some territory in northern Britain. This raises the question of his connection
with the Orkneys. Some have
suggested that there was a territory called Orcanie, either in Brittany or in northern Britain, though August Hunt has suggested it may be Archenfield, the old name for the area around the Forest
of Dean. It may simply be that Lot’s name was connected with Ljot, the Norse earl of Orkney, who ruled from 981–94.