It's A Rare Day That I'll Go To Bat For Uther, But...

Obscure Arthurian text which everyone should read #2: The Awntyrs off Arthure at the Terne Wathelyne

The name is a bit misleading, since Gawain and Guinevere (here referred to as Dame Gaynour) feature more in the story. The first part concerns their lakeside encounter with the terrifying ghost of Guinevere’s mother, who bemoans her fate, gives Guinevere advice, and doles out prophecies of doom, predicting the death of Gawain and the fall of Camelot to Mordred. The second part is about a fight between Gawain and Galeron, which is more mundane in subject but suggests some of the factors which will make the ghost’s prophecies come to pass.

i don’t need gps or directions, i start walking and end up in the story pivotal location like a maiden from arthurian legends

for the ask game, 💚💛😤🗡️ !!!

I started writing this and realized that my quest/story arc answer could also work for the sibling dynamic one and vice versa, so the first two are both for both.

I’m very fond of The Story of the Crop-Eared Dog—which is to Arthurian lit what Lilly Onakuramara is to the Barden Bellas, only less important—and its weird anticlimax in which the sidekick shows up and reveals that he’s achieved their key goals by killing a vast number of people, including all of the naked monks on the Island of Naked Monks, then defeating but sparing the main antagonist. (The antagonist—the Knight of the Lantern, henceforth known as Lanny—is Alastrann’s—the sidekick’s—younger half-brother. Alastrann’s earlier speeches concerning Lanny can be briefly summarized as, “My baby brother is sooo talented and amazing, but he destroys everything he touches, so I’m going to kill all his friends and steal his stuff and hope that solves the issue.” Somehow, this works). There’s a lot more to unpack there, but it’s a complicated mess. A charming complicated mess.

Arthur’s sudden ascent to greatness, and the barriers that likely creates between the (formerly unwitting) foster brothers, has its own sort of pathos, but their dynamic in Cullwch and Olwen is heartbreaking and seems to get overlooked. (They aren’t referred to as brothers or foster brothers there, but I’ll count it anyway). They have a falling out over an extemporaneous song with which Arthur ridicules Cai’s tactics on a specific killing errand. It might be meant as a joke, but it angers Cai so much that he leaves, never to return or aid Arthur again. The twist is this: it’s already been said that when Cai is killed, Arthur avenges him by killing not only his killer but also his killer’s brothers. Arthur’s vengeance is brutal and unfair and a mark of extreme grief; clearly, he never stopped caring about his friend/brother, even though he was never able to make up with him in life. 

Your Most Specific Nitpick About Your Fave (anything from "Gareth would not have a beard" to "this is basically a different guy"):

One of my faves is Dinadan, and an adaptational/fandom nitpick of mine is when he gets shipped with random people. I personally headcanon him as aroace. There are some texts where I can understand reading him as being gay and having feelings for Tristan, but writing about, say, him and Mordred makes no sense to me and I find it aggravating. Aroaces (and aspec people in general) have such little representation as it is.

Who Are You Betting On In This Month's Tournament?

Assuming that Lanny is out of town, I’ll place a small bet on Dinadan. He doesn’t win often, so I could get great odds for him, and when he does win, it’s very funny. I also really like Dinadan.

The Poet's Corner Window at Westminster Abbey, designed by Graham Jones, with diamonds for Alexander Pope, Oscar Wilde, Christopher Marlowe, Elizabeth Gaskell, Robert Herrick, A.E. Housman, and Frances Burney (descending, left then right)

Brangain’s family in Arthuriana

As we all know, Brangain is Isolde’s handmaid, who helps her mistress with the whole affair shenanigans with Tristan. It was of interest for me to find out all there was to know about this minor character. This led me to research three different Arthuriana, two from the 13th century and the other from the 16th century.

The earliest of these Arthuriana is the French one, “Tristan en Prose” (which is also known as the Prose Tristan), written by Luce de Gat & Helie de Boron in the 13th century. According to Löseth (1890) and Curtis (1994), Brangain is a young lady of noble birth under the service of then Princess Isolde of Ireland (later Queen Isolde of Cornwall). She serves as one of her ladies-in-waiting. Interestingly, she’s not the only member of her family that comes to Cornwall as part of Isolde’s royal retinue.

In the part of Prose Tristan in which Tristan is hiding his identity in Ireland, there’s a tournament going down in which he disguises himself as a white knight. Brangaine helps him by providing him with armor and assigns her younger brothers, Mathael and Perrin (also called Perynin/Perinis), as his squires. After he’s discovered, he leaves for Cornwall in the company of Brangain’s brothers who laments their departing (Löseth, 1890; Curtis, 1994).

Much later in the narrative, Tristan is wounded by an arrow. King Mark sends one of his wife’s ladies-in-waiting, who is very much loved by the queen and is also a relative of Brangain (most likely a cousin) as his messenger. This cousin is very fond of Tristan and Tristan is fond of her as well. And she comes in the company of her younger brother, who is a squire (Löseth, 1890; Curtis, 1994).

Fast forward once more, another scene features Brangain’s niece, accompanied by her younger brother, a squire, whom she raised since he was an infant. Isolde sent her to Logres with a message for Tristan in order to meet to have some, ahem, alone time (Löseth, 1890).

By the end of Prose Tristan, though, out of all the relatives mentioned, only Perrin makes a reappearance. He sends a letter to his sister and her husband Governal telling them where Tristan and Isolde’s graves are located. Brangain and her husband come to the graveyard to mourn for Tristan and Isolde. Afterwards, Perrin and Tristan’s dog Husdent leave with Brangaine and her husband to the kingdom of Lyonesse (which Tristan gave to Governal) where he serves as his sister’s seneschal (Spector, 1973).

On the other hand, in the German Arthuriana “Tristan” by Gottfried von Strassburg (which was also written in the 13th century), Brangain is called Brangwen in the narrative. She’s most probably a niece of Queen Iseult the Wise (Iseult’s mother) from the maternal side of the family and a first cousin of Isolde (Iseult the Fair in the narrative) as well. She’s also called the Full Moon to Iseult the Wise’s sun and Iseult (Isolde) the Fair’s dawn. Moreover, she advises her aunt not to kill Tristan, accompanies Iseult to Cornwall and we all know the rest of the story (Von Strassburg, 2020).

In contrast, in the 16th century Spanish Arthuriana “Tristan de Leonis y el rey don Tristan el joven, su hijo” by an unknown author, Brangain is called Brangel. Brangel is Iseo la Brunda’s (Isolde in the narrative) handmaid and she has two younger brothers, who are assigned by Iseo to be Tristan’s squires in the tournament (which coincides with Prose Tristan) (Cuesta Torre, 1997).

Long story short, on the voyage to Cornwall Tristan and Iseo drink the love potion and consummate the passion they feel for one another. Iseo falls pregnant and they land in this island called “Ploto.”  Brangel and another of the ladies help Iseo give birth to her first child with Tristan, whom they also called Tristan. They also have a daughter named Iseo like her mother (because Tristan and Isolde can’t keep their hands off each other) (Cuesta Torre, 1997).

We all know the rest of the story. Anyways, Gorvalán (as in Governal in the narrative) and Brangel get married, but they don’t rule over Lyonesse. Instead, according to the will Tristan left, Governal is to be his son’s regent until he comes of age. Fast forward a few years, young Tristan becomes king and he and his sister Iseo become the godparents of Gorvalán and Brangel’s son Leonelo (in English Lionel) named after the city he was born in (Cuesta Torre, 1997).

If these sources are consolidated, the following can be thus concluded:

Brangaine is of noble birth and a first cousin of Isolde from the maternal side of the family. She’s the eldest of her two younger brothers, Perrin and Mathael. Moreover, she has a niece and a nephew from an older sibling. In addition, she also has cousins, one of them a lady-in-waiting and the other a squire.

Brangaine later marries Governal with whom she has a son named Lionel. She and her husband are King and Queen of Lyonesse after Tristan gave it to his tutor before he died. Her brother Perrin is their seneschal.

References

Cuesta Torre, M. L. (1997). Tristán de Leonís y el rey don Tristán el joven, su hijo: (Sevilla, 1534). Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

Curtis, R. L. (1994). The Romance of Tristan: The Thirteenth-century Old French “prose Tristan.” Oxford University Press.

Löseth, E. (1890). Le roman en prose de Tristan, le roman de Palamède et la compilation de Rusticien de Pise: Analyse critique d’après les manuscrits de Paris (E. Bouillon, Ed.). Macon, Protat Frères, Imprimeurs.

Spector, N. B. (1973). The romance of Tristan and Isolt. Northwestern University Press.

Von Strassburg, G. (2020). Tristan (A. S. Kline, Trans.). Poetry in Translation. https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/German/Tristanhome.php

Griflet-centric Reincarnation AU following Mort Artu canon

Griflet remembers bits and pieces of his past life, mostly from Camlann, so he starts doing surface-level research on Arthuriana. Since he's the one to throw the sword in the lake in Mort Artu but Bedivere is best known for it, he becomes convinced that he's the reincarnation of Sir Bedivere.

There are two outcomes which immediately come to mind. One is that he runs into other Arthurian reincarnations. In this case, he might vastly confuse everyone, particularly if Bedivere shows up too. They might even think he's an imposter. However, they might remember who he actually was and have a laugh about the whole thing.

The other is that he never tells anyone, or only tells the people he's closest to, because he doesn't think anyone will believe him. He goes about the rest of his life secretly thinking he's Bedivere. It impacts nothing substantial, though from time to time he makes references which confuse the people around him and he's always kind of worried something will happen to his hand.

Looking back on this, I’m baffled that I managed to leave out Bedivere. I’m in this very weird writing rut where I keep starting stories using the canon where Griflet is the one who throws the sword in the lake and those stories end up devolving into vaguely metaphysical Bedivere-death-centric angst. Even when Bedivere is theoretically a minor character, it happens. It happened in a reincarnation fic where the Green Knight makes them all sing karaoke and the Palug Cat is Guinevere’s Maine Coon, for goodness’ sake. I think the problem is that there are about fifteen knights who I would offhandedly say are in my top five. Anyway, apologies to Bedivere.

To anyone who loves Arthurian legends, who’s your fav knight? Mine has been Sir Palomides and Sir Gareth lately.

Dindrane: claimed I could remember my unborn sibling from Heaven, then gave a description of said sibling which turned out to be accurate 

Taliesin: went outside during a lightning storm and tried to fly away by using a Mary Poppins umbrella to catch the wind while making dramatic poetic declarations (I got about two feet in the air)

Sebile: tried to practice necromancy to talk to a dead Monarch butterfly

.

This isn’t something I did, but an evangelical organization once showed up at my family’s house to see whether one of us was the Messiah, and that seems pretty Galahad-esque.

arthurian legend characters as weird things i did as a kid

Arthur: created clubs for the sole purpose of making myself in charge of them

Guinevere: played barbies, but the plot of the game was that they were fighting in world war iii

Lancelot: pretended to be an exterminator by spraying actual hornets with a hose, and somehow not getting stung, against all odds

Gawain: held stair-jumping competitions, and regularly jumped down around 10 stairs at a time

Merlin: designated a particular tree branch for reading and refused to let anyone climb this branch

Gaheris: held ‘screaming contests’ in my backyard to which invited my friends (this is exactly what it sounds like and it was banned by my mother immediately)

Dinadan: eaten spaghetti while riding a bike

Galahad: made a graveyard for bugs

Morgana: recruited a friend’s little brother to spy on said friend because she wasn’t talking to me

Mordred: accidentally made a gallon of poison

This is slander. "Ymddiddan Gwyddno Garanhir a Gwyn ap Nudd" is interesting (and a little confusing, as a lot of the best poems are). Here is the best breakdown of it which I've found online.

Reading Jenny Rowland's Early Welsh Saga Poetry (largely due to my interest in the stories around Urien Rheged) and had a moment of "oh! @wildbasil come pick up your boy"

...followed very quickly by the author, uh, roasting Gwyn for his pedestrian poetry???

Give the man a break lmao

La Tavola Ritonda PDF is now available to read! Enjoy!

ID: When Isotta had returned to the pavilion, the tables were set out and food was prepared, and when water had been brought for their hands they sat down to eat. As they ate, Gariette looked out and saw Palamidesso going by looking for them, and pointed him out to Sir Tristano. Tristano got up and went to meet him, taking him by the hand and leading him into the pavilion, where he disarmed and sat at the table. They all passed that night in great joy.

Medieval Literature scans | Arthurian Retellings scans | Ko-fi ⤥Italian Name Guide Below Cut

Prose Tristan Gang

King Meliadus of Liones (Meliodas of Lyonesse)

Queen Eliabella (Elizabeth)

Tristano (Tristan)

King Marco of Cornovaglia/Tintoile (Mark of Cornwall/Tintagel)

King Amoroldo of Irlanda (Morholt of Ireland)

King Languis of Irlanda (Anguish of Ireland)

Queen Isotta the Blonde (Isolde 1)

Gouvernale (Governal)

Brandina (Brangaine)

Dinadano (Dinadan)

Daniello (Daniel)

Brunoro the Black/Ill-Cut Coat (Brunor le Noir/La Cote Male Taile)

Dinasso the Seneschal (Dinas)

King Scalabrino (Esclabor)

Palamidesso the Pagan (Palomides/Palamedes)

Isotta White Hands (Isolde 2)

Gheddino (Kahedrin)

Logres

King Artù of Camellotto/Longres (Arthur of Camelot/Logres)

Queen Ginevara (Guinevere)

Chieso the Seneschal (Kay)

Lucano (Lucan)

Fata Morgana (Morgan le Fay)

Pulzella Gais (Morgan's daughter)

Merlino the Prophet (Merlin)

Orcadians

King Lotto (Lot)

Queen Albagia of Organia (Morgause of Orkney)

Calvano the Lover (Gawain)

Agravano (Agravaine)

Gariens (Gaheris)

Gariette (Gareth)

Mordarette (Mordred)

Welsh

King Pellinoro of Gaules (Pellinore of Wales)

Prezzivale lo Galese (Percival of Wales)

Amorotto di Gaules (Lamorak of Wales)

Adriano (Drian)

Agravale (Aglovale)

French

King Bando of Benoich (Ban of Benwick)

Dama del Lago (Lady of the Lake)

Lancilotto of Gioisa Guardia (Lancelot of Joyous Guard)

Astore di Mare (Hector de Maris)

Lionello (Lionel)

Bordo (Bors)

Briobris (Biloberis)

Galasso (Galahad)

Others

Brunoro the Brown (Brunor father of Galehaut)

Bagotta (Fair Giantess)

Galeotto (Galehaut)

Sagramore (Sagramore lol)

Meliagans (Meleagant/Melwas)

King Brando of Magus (Bademagus)

Beast Glatisanti (Questing Beast/Glatisants)