Brunor, Breunor, Branor or Brunoro are various forms of a name given to several different characters in the works of the Tristan tradition of Arthurian legend. They include Knight of the Round Table known as Brunor/Breunor le Noir (the Black), as well as his father and others, among them another former knight of Uther's old Round Table and the father of Galehaut.
Sir Brunor le Noir (/ˈbruːnor lə nojr/ or /ˈbʁœ̃nɔʁ lə nwaʁ/) (also spelled Breunor) is a young knight nicknamed La Cot[t]e Mal[e] Tail[l]e[e] (Modern French: La Cote Mal Taillée = "the badly cut coat") by Sir Kay after his arrival in his murdered father's mangled armour and surcoat at King Arthur's court. He should not be confused with his father, also named Brunor the Black but better known as The Good Knight Without Fear.
Brunor's adventures first appear embedded in the Prose Tristan. They were then expanded Thomas Malory's compilation Le Morte d'Arthur and in the Italian romance La Tavola Ritonda . Brunor lacks skill in jousting, but is near-invincible on foot. His elder brother is always Sir Dinadan. Another brother appearing in only some versions is Sir Daniel, who in the Tavola Ritonda is slain by Sir Lancelot, making Lancelot Brunor's sworn enemy until the two make an uneasy truce after fighting to a draw. He eventually marries his lady who, like Gareth's Lynette, starts by mocking him as he goes on a long chivalric quest with her and their on-and-off companions. Brunor's story contained in the episode "Chevalier a la cotte mal taille" of the 14th-century Italian so-called Prose Yvain tells of some of his further adventures as he single-handedly rescues Gaheriet and then participates in the rescue of Sir Yvain. [1]
His tale is related thematically to the "Fair Unknown" story popular in the Middle Ages, other versions of which can be found in the Arthurian stories of Gareth, Gingalain, and Percival. [2] It most closely resembles the tale of Gareth, who is also given an insulting name by Kay upon arriving at Camelot and also has to prove his worth to a damsel who constantly insults and belittles him.
The story begins as Brunor (Breunor) travels to Camelot wearing his dead father's bloodied coat, which he has vowed not to take off as long as his father is not avenged. He is met with mockery, his outfit earning him the nickname La Cote Male Taile, and he is initially rejected from Arthur's service until Sir Gawain speaks out on his behalf. After Brunor returns to the court, he endures Kay's continued attempts at humiliating him, but soon proves his worth by rescuing Queen Guinevere from an escaped lion and is knighted by Arthur.
A damsel arrives at court bearing a great black shield emblazoned with a white hand holding a sword, and tells how the knight who previously carried the shield died while on a quest. She is now searching for a knight of similar courage to continue the quest. Brunor agrees to go with her, but she taunts him regarding his clothing and appearance, earning her the nickname Maledisant ("Evil-speaking") or Mesdisant ("Ill-speaking"). After the pair leave the castle, Brunor encounters Dagonet, Arthur's court jester, who has been sent by Kay to joust with the new knight. Brunor quickly defeats Dagonet, but Maledisant's taunts only increase because the court sent a fool to challenge Brunor rather than a true knight. Brunor later encounters two other knights of the Round Table, Sir Bleoberis and Sir Palomides, is challenged by them, and is unhorsed by both. They each refuse to fight him on foot and walk away, drawing more sharp criticism from Maledisant.
Brunor later travels with the young Mordred to Castle Orgulous (Orguellous or Orgulous, "Proud"). The knights must fight their way into the castle. After Mordred is injured, Brunor continues alone. Inside the castle, he meets a hundred knights in a lady's chamber. Attacked by the knights, Brunor manges to get out with the aid of the black shield, mounts his horse, and escapes. Maledisant questions his story of what happened and sends a witness who returns to prove Maledisant wrong. Brunor continues to hold his peace and does not rebuke her.
They continue to journey after Mordred leaves and Lancelot joins them, but he too leaves after Maledisant redirects her words at him. They come upon the Pendragon (Pandragon) castle, which belongs to King Arthur's enemy Sir Brian of the Isles (de les Isles), where one of six knights challenges Brunor to a joust. Brunor wins, but then the other five attack him in an unknightly manner, and take him and Maledisant into the castle as prisoners. Lancelot comes to the rescue, fights Brian until he yields, and releases them, as well as dozens of other knights and ladies. He then agrees to ride with them only on condition that Maledisant stops directing evil words at Brunor and himself. Maledisant then confesses that the only reason for her taunting is that she wants to test the knights' strength.
Later they come upon a castle near the border of the country of Sorelais (Sursule). Brunor enters the castle alone and defeats two brothers who challenge him. Eventually, he arrives at yet another castle, where he comes face to face with Sir Plenorius. Brunor cannot fight anymore because of his wounds, so out of pity Plenorius carries him into the tower as a prisoner. When Lancelot hears of this, he challenges Plenorius to a battle that lasts many hours until Plenorius yields. Brunor remains at the castle in order to recover from his wounds, and afterwards returns with Lancelot and Maledisant to King Arthur's court.
Brunor is made a Knight of the Round Table the following Pentecost. He marries the Ill-Speaking Maiden, now known as Beauvivante ("Well-living") or Bienpensant ("Well-thinking") because of her changed attitude, and Lancelot gives them Castle Pendragon that was won from Brian. It is said that Brunor would succeed in avenging his father.
Sir Branor the Brown (French: Branor le Brun, Italian: Branor li Brun) is a knight of Uther's original Order of the Round Table, featured in the 13th-century French romance Palamedes and in the prologue of Rustichello da Pisa's Roman de Roi Artus. [3] 13th-century Italian writer Rustichello da Pisa also invented some original episodes starring Brunor le Brun for his Arthurian Compilation. [4]
In his story from Palamedes, Branor le Brun, also known as the Knight of the Dragon or the Dragon Knight (Le Chevaulier au Dragon), visits King Arthur's court aged 120 and proceeds to defeat Arthur and many of his knights of the new Round Table, including Gawain, Lancelot, Palamedes, and Tristan, in jousts. [5] [6] [7] The episode is also the subject of the Greek verse romance Ho Presbys Hippotes (The Old Knight), [8] where he goes unnamed, and is mentioned in the Prose Yvain.
His renowned family from Castle Vallebrun in the Brown Valley (Val Brun) [9] also includes his nephew Seguran (Segurant, Seguarant, Sigurant) the Brown (le Brun, Malory's "Severause le Breuse"), the greatest warrior of Arthur's father Uther Pendragon. Seguran's father is Branor's brother named either Brunor or Ector (Hector) the Brown (le Brun).
Sir Brunor the Black (Brunor le Noir), also known as Brunor the King (Brunor le Roi), is the true but seldom-used name of the Good Knight Without Fear (Bon Chevalier sans Peur) [10] in Palamedes and in the Prose Tristan, as well as the 13th-century Italian prose collection Novellino. The son of Esclanor the Black, and the father of the younger Brunor the Black and of Dinadan, he was a great knight during the reign of Uther, who made him the King of Estrangore (Estrangorre).
Palamedes tells of Brunor's journey to rescue his old friend Ludinas, the Good Knight of Norgales (Bon Chevalier de Norgales), from the cruel giant Nabon the Black, the lord of the Val of Servage. Brunor defeats and slays Nabon's son Nathan in a duel (Nathan is killed by Tristan in the Prose Tristan), but he is then imprisoned in the dungeon of Nabon's castle for several years. He goes mad until either he is let go, or both he and Ludinas are freed by Tristan, and is eventually restored to his senses by Uther and Arthur's physician Baucillas. Two years later, when he is both old and unarmed, Brunor is attacked and mortally wounded by Briadan and Ferrant, the two villainous knights who hated him. [11] [12] [13] An additional story told in the Novellino relates the Good Knight Without Fear's unlikely rescue by his usual mortal enemy, Tristan's father King Meliadus. [14]
Sir Brunor or Breunor (Italian: Brunoro [15] ) is an Irish knight who is the father of the great knight Galehaut in several Tristan romances, including the Prose Tristan, La Tavola Ritonda, and the Book V of Le Morte d'Arthur. He is called Branor the Brown (Branoro lo Bruno) in the Tristano Panciatichia that confuses him with Branor the Brown, the Old Knight. [16]
Brunor seizes the Castle Pluere, the Castle of Tears or Weeping Castle (Castello del Proro / Chastel des Pleurs) on the Island of Giants, [17] [18] and marries the giantess who is the widow of the previous owner of the castle. She gives birth to Brunor's son Galehaut and his daughter, named Delice in the Prose Tristan but called Riccarda in the Italian romance I Due Tristani [19] ). Brunor then upholds the pagan customs of the castle (in Le Morte d'Arthur he appears to be their source), which involves beheading visiting knights and their ladies if they prove to be less powerful (in the case of the knights) or less beautiful (in the case of the ladies) than the castle's lord and lady, respectively. Eventually, Tristan defeats and beheads Brunor by following the customs, and becomes the new lord of the castle. [20] [21] [22]
Sir Brunoro is a relative of Lancelot who brazenly seduces the Hebrew Damsel of Thornbush Ford in La Tavola Ritonda. His role is played by Bleoberis in a corresponding episode in the Tristano Riccardiano. [23]
Guinevere, also often written in Modern English as Guenevere or Guenever, was, according to Arthurian legend, an early-medieval queen of Great Britain and the wife of King Arthur. First mentioned in popular literature in the early 12th century, nearly 700 years after the purported times of Arthur, Guinevere has since been portrayed as everything from a fatally flawed, villainous and opportunistic traitor to a noble and virtuous lady. Many records of the legend also feature the variably recounted story of her abduction and rescue as a major part of the tale.
Gawain, also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and one of the premier Knights of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned under the name Gwalchmei in the earliest Welsh sources. He has subsequently appeared in many Arthurian tales in Welsh, Latin, French, English, Scottish, Dutch, German, Spanish, and Italian, notably as the protagonist of the Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Other works featuring Gawain as their central character include De Ortu Waluuanii, Diu Crône, Ywain and Gawain, Golagros and Gawane, Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle, L'âtre périlleux, La Mule sans frein, La Vengeance Raguidel, Le Chevalier à l'épée, Le Livre d'Artus, The Awntyrs off Arthure, The Greene Knight, and The Weddynge of Syr Gawen and Dame Ragnell.
Lancelot du Lac, also written as Launcelot and other variants, is a character in some versions of Arthurian legend where he is typically depicted as King Arthur's close companion and one of the greatest Knights of the Round Table. In the French-inspired Arthurian chivalric romance tradition, Lancelot is an orphaned son of King Ban of the lost kingdom of Benoic, raised in a fairy realm by the Lady of the Lake. A hero of many battles, quests and tournaments, and famed as a nearly unrivalled swordsman and jouster, Lancelot becomes the lord of the castle Joyous Gard and personal champion of Arthur's wife, Queen Guinevere, despite suffering from frequent and sometimes prolonged fits of madness. But when his adulterous affair with Guinevere is discovered, it causes a civil war that, once exploited by Mordred, brings an end to Arthur's kingdom.
Tristan, also known as Tristram, Tristyn or Tristain and similar names, is the hero of the legend of Tristan and Iseult. In the legend, he is tasked with escorting the Irish princess Iseult to wed Tristan's uncle, King Mark of Cornwall. Tristan and Iseult accidentally drink a love potion during the journey and fall in love, beginning an adulterous relationship that eventually leads to Tristan's banishment and death. The character's first recorded appearance is in retellings of British mythology from the 12th century by Thomas of Britain and Gottfried von Strassburg, and later in the Prose Tristan. He is featured in Arthurian legends, including the seminal text Le Morte d'Arthur, as a skilled knight and a friend of Lancelot.
The Knights of the Round Table are the legendary knights 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.
Morgan le Fay, alternatively known as Morgan[n]a, Morgain[a/e], Morg[a]ne, Morgant[e], Morge[i]n, and Morgue[in] among other names and spellings, is a powerful and ambiguous enchantress from the legend of King Arthur, in which most often she and he are siblings. Early appearances of Morgan in Arthurian literature do not elaborate her character beyond her role as a goddess, a fay, a witch, or a sorceress, generally benevolent and connected to Arthur as his magical saviour and protector. Her prominence increased as the legend of Arthur developed over time, as did her moral ambivalence, and in some texts there is an evolutionary transformation of her to an antagonist, particularly as portrayed in cyclical prose such as the Lancelot-Grail and the Post-Vulgate Cycle. A significant aspect in many of Morgan's medieval and later iterations is the unpredictable duality of her nature, with potential for both good and evil.
Le Morte d'Arthur is a 15th-century Middle English prose reworking by Sir Thomas Malory of tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table, along with their respective folklore. In order to tell a "complete" story of Arthur from his conception to his death, Malory compiled, rearranged, interpreted and modified material from various French and English sources. Today, this is one of the best-known works of Arthurian literature. Many authors since the 19th-century revival of the legend have used Malory as their principal source.
Morgause, Queen of Orkney, is a character in Arthurian legend in which she is the mother of Gawain and Mordred, both key players in the story of King Arthur and his downfall.
Percival's sister is a role of two similar but distinct characters in the Holy Grail stories within the Arthurian legend featuring the Grail hero Percival (Perceval). The first of them is named Dindrane, the second is usually unnamed and is known today as the Grail heroine.
The Black Knight appears in various forms in Arthurian legend.
Agravain is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend, whose first known appearance is in the works of Chrétien de Troyes. He is the second eldest son of King Lot of Orkney with one of King Arthur's sisters known as Anna or Morgause, thus nephew of King Arthur, and brother to Sir Gawain, Gaheris, and Gareth, as well as half-brother to Mordred. Agravain secretly makes attempts on the life of his hated brother Gaheris starting in the Vulgate Cycle, participates in the slayings of Lamorak and Palamedes in the Post-Vulgate Cycle, and murders Dinadan in the Prose Tristan. In the French prose cycle tradition included in Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, together with Mordred, he then plays a leading role by exposing his aunt Guinevere's affair with Lancelot, which leads to his death at Lancelot's hand.
Lamorak is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend. Introduced in the Prose Tristan, Lamorak reappears in later works including the Post-Vulgate Cycle and Thomas Malory's compilation Le Morte d'Arthur. Malory refers to him as Arthur's third best knight, only inferior to Lancelot and Tristan, and the Prose Tristan names his as one of the top five, but Lamorak was not exceptionally popular in the romance tradition, confined to the cyclical material and subordinate to more prominent characters.
This is a bibliography of works about King Arthur, his family, his friends or his enemies. This bibliography includes works that are notable or are by notable authors.
Palamedes is a Knight of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend. He is a Middle Eastern pagan who converts to Christianity later in his life, and his unrequited love for Iseult brings him into frequent conflict with Tristan. Palamedes' father King Esclabor and brothers Safir and Segwarides also join the Round Table. The romance Palamedes was named after him.
Ywain, also known as Yvain and Owain among other spellings, is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend, wherein he is often the son of King Urien of Gorre and either the enchantress Modron or the sorceress Morgan le Fay. The historical Owain mab Urien, on whom the literary character is based, was the king of Rheged in Great Britain during the late 6th century.
Meliodas is a figure in Arthurian legend in the 12th-century Prose Tristan and subsequent accounts. In Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, he is the second king of Lyonesse, son of Felec of Cornwall and vassal of King Mark. Meliodas' first wife, Elizabeth, who bore the hero Tristan, was Mark's sister, and his second wife was a daughter or sister of Hoel of Brittany. He is the eponymous protagonist of the romance Meliadus. The Italian variant Tristano Riccardiano calls him Felix (Felissi).
Dinadan is a Cornish knight of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend's chivalric romance tradition of the Prose Tristan and its adaptations, including a part of Le Morte d'Arthur. Best known for his humor and pragmatism, he is a close friend of the protagonist Tristan. Dinadan is the subject of several often comedic episodes until his murder by Mordred and Agravain.
Galehaut is a half-giant knight and sovereign prince in Arthurian legend. He is most prominent within the Lancelot-Grail prose cycle where he is a noble enemy turned an ally of King Arthur as well as an inseparable friend of Arthur's champion Lancelot. The figure of Galehaut should not be mistaken with Lancelot's son, Galahad, and some other similarly named characters.
Palamedes is a 13th-century Old French Arthurian prose chivalric romance. Named for King Arthur's knight Palamedes, it is set in the time before the rise of Arthur, and relates the exploits of the parents of various Arthurian heroes. The work was very popular, but now exists largely in fragmentary form.
Annowre (Anouwre) is an evil enchantress who desires King Arthur in Thomas Malory's Le Morte d' Arthur. Malory based her on a nameless character from the earlier Prose Tristan, who was named as Elergia in the Italian La Tavola Ritonda.
