Leodegrance

Two knights fighting in front of Cameliard Castle.
by Howard Pyle (1903)

King Leodegrance ˈliːoʊdɨɡræns of Cameliard (also: Leondegrance , Leodegranz or Lleudd-Ogrfan ) is a figure from the Arthurian legend . He is the father of Gwenhwyfach and her sister Queen Guinevere (Gwenhwyfar), the wife of King Arthur .

background

Leodegrance was in possession of the round table commissioned by Uther Pendragon , which later represented the heart of the round table . After Uther's death, Leodegrance was tasked with watching over him. According to the original tradition, the table had 150 seats, only later was a number of 25 accepted. Leodegrance gave this to Arthur for the wedding, which he then had set up in Camelot . The table was seen as an image of the world.

The Kingdom of Carmelide (or Cameliard) is sometimes identified as a place in the south-west of England, but it could also have been located in Cornouaille, Brittany, near the town of Carhaix , which in the “Histoire de Merlin” (13th century) “Carhaise " is called.

In the later romance, Leodegrance is one of the few kings who recognize Arthur as their supreme king. Therefore his country is invaded by King Rience, but King Arthur comes to his aid and drives out the enemy. It is on this trip that Arthur meets Guinevere for the first time and they fall in love.

According to the information in the Lancelot-Grail cycle, Leodegrance fathered a second daughter, whom he also named Guinevere. This "fake Guinevere" later insidiously convinced the court of King Arthur that she was his real wife and her sister a deceiver. She thereby forced the real queen and her lover Lancelot to go into hiding.

In Welsh mythology, the father of Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere) is the giant Ogyruan / Ogyrvan or Gogyrfan who is mentioned in a number of texts.

literature

Helmut Birkhan : Post-ancient Celtic reception. Praesens Verlag, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-7069-0541-1 .

Individual evidence

↑ RS Loomis, LH Loomis: Arthurian Legends in Medieval Art. New York 1938, new edition Kraus Reprint Corporation, 1975, ISBN 978-0-527-58300-2 , p. 40 f, fig. 18. The order of the table knights clockwise according to the inscription of the "Round Table of legendary King Arthur" kept in Winchester Castle : arthur , galahallt , launcelot deu lac , gauen , percivale , lyonell , trystram de lyens , garethe , bedwere , bloberrys, la cote maletayle, lucane , plomydes , lamorak, born de ganys, safer, pelleus , kay , ector de marys , dagonet , degore, brumear, lybyus dysconyus, alynore, murder speech .

↑ Thomas Malory : Le Morte Darthur , Book III, 1.

↑ Helmut Birkhan: Nachantike Keltenrezeption. P. 180 f. (for the entire paragraph)

^ Robert de Boron: L'histior de Merlin.

↑ Bromwich, Rachel (ed.): Trioedd Ynys Prydein. Cardiff, 1991, revised version.

[1] RS Loomis, LH Loomis: Arthurian Legends in Medieval Art. New York 1938, new edition Kraus Reprint Corporation, 1975, ISBN 978-0-527-58300-2 , p. 40 f, fig. 18. The order of the table knights clockwise according to the inscription of the "Round Table of legendary King Arthur" kept in Winchester Castle : arthur , galahallt , launcelot deu lac , gauen , percivale , lyonell , trystram de lyens , garethe , bedwere , bloberrys, la cote maletayle, lucane , plomydes , lamorak, born de ganys, safer, pelleus , kay , ector de marys , dagonet , degore, brumear, lybyus dysconyus, alynore, murder speech .

[2] Thomas Malory : Le Morte Darthur , Book III, 1.

[3] Helmut Birkhan: Nachantike Keltenrezeption. P. 180 f. (for the entire paragraph)

[4] Robert de Boron: L'histior de Merlin.

[5] Bromwich, Rachel (ed.): Trioedd Ynys Prydein. Cardiff, 1991, revised version.