Esclabor

The Knights of the Round Table ( cy, Marchogion y Ford Gron, kw, Marghekyon an Moos Krenn, br, Marc'hegien an Daol Grenn) are the knights of the fellowship of King Arthur in the literary cycle of the Matter of Britain. First appearing in 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 stories in the cycle 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 Arthur's close and distant relatives, such as Agravain and Gaheris, as well as his reconciled enemies and those he defeated in battle, including Galehaut and Lot. Several of the most notable knights, including Bedivere, Gawain, Kay and Yvain, are based on older characters associated with Arthur in the Welsh version of the myth. Many knights appear recurrently, such as Gawain, Lancelot, Percival and Tristan, with each of them featuring as a protagonist or eponymous hero in various works of chivalric romance. Other well-known members include the holy knight Galahad, replacing Percival as the achiever of the Grail, and Arthur's traitorous son Mordred.

By the end of Arthurian prose cycles (including the seminal '' Le Morte d'Arthur''), the knights split 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 warriors and 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

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 1,600, the latter claimed by Layamon. Most commonly, there are between 100 and 300 seats at the table, often with one seat usually permanently empty (300 was also chosen by Edward III of England when he decided to create his own Order of the Round Table at Windsor Castle in 1344). In many versions there are over 100 members, as with 140 according to Thomas Malory (150 in Caxton's version) and Hartmann von Aue. Some sources state much smaller numbers, such as 13 in the Didot ''Perceval'', 50 in the Prose ''Merlin'' (the prose expansion Vulgate ''Merlin'' has 250), and 60 in the count by Jean d'Outremeuse. Others state higher numbers, as with 366 in both ''Perlesvaus'' and the ''Chevaliers as deus espees''.

Partial lists

Some of the more notable knights include the following:

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:

* King Anguish of Ireland
*Earl Aristance
*Sir Azreal
*Sir Arrok
*Sir Ascamore
*Sir Barrant le Apres (also known as the 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)
* Sir Bleoberis de Ganis
* Sir Bohart le Cure Hardy
* Sir Brandiles
*Sir Bryan de Les Iles (Brian de Listinoise)
*Sir Cardok
* Duke Chalance of Clarence
*King Claryaunce of Northumberland (Clarion)
*Sir Claryus of Cleremont (Clarius)
* 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
* Sir Dodinas le Savage
*Sir Dornar
* 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
* 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)
* 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
* Sir Ironside (Knight of the Red Launds)
*Sir Kay l'Estrange (different than Kay le Seneschal)
*Earl of Lambaile (known as the Count of Lambale in French romances; also Lambayle, Lambelle, etc.)
*Sir Lambegus
*Sir Lamiel
*Sir Lavain (son of Barnard of Ascolat)
*Sir Lovell (another son of Gawain by Sir Brandiles' sister)
* Sir Mador de la Porte (brother of Gaheris of Karahau)
*Sir Marrok (whose wife turned him into a werewolf)
* Sir Melias de Lile
*Sir Melion of the Mountain
*Sir Meliot de Logris
*Sir Menaduke
* Sir Morganore
* King Nentres of Garlot
*Sir Neroveous
* Sir Ozanna le Cure Hardy
* Sir Perimones (brother to Persant and Pertolepe; called the Red Knight)
*Sir Pursuant of Inde (or Persant; also known as the Blue Knight)
*Sir Pertolepe
*Sir Petipace of Winchelsea
*Sir Plaine de Fors (Playne)
*Sir Plenorius
* Sir Priamus
*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)
*Earl Ulbawes
*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

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).

Selected members

Aglovale

Aglovale de Galis (''Agglovale'', ''Aglaval ', ''Agloval'', ''Aglován'', ''Aglovaus'', etc.; -''de Galles'', -''le Gallois'') is the eldest legitimate son of King Pellinore of Galis (Wales), introduced in the Vulgate ''Lancelot''. Like his father and his brothers (who may include Drian, Lamorak, the original Grail hero Perceval, and Tor) he is a Knight of the Round Table. According to the 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 ''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.

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'', Agloval dies seven years after Percival became the Grail King, causing Percival's retirement to a hermitage to grieve for his final ten years. 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. 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 he visits 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.''

Arthur the Less

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. 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 miraclously prophetised at 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), he fights in the late wars against domeetic and foreign foreign enemies, and is one of Galahad's companions during the Grail Quest. After his father's death at Salisbury, Arthur the Less is a candidate for the heir of throne of Logres, however he obsessively hates the Lancelot faction, blaming them for the disaster. When he is defeated by Bleoberis in a duel to the death, he curses the entire kingdom in his dying breath. The curse manifests itself through King Mark's devastating invasion, which destroys almost all remnants of King Arthur's rule.

Bleoberis

Bleoberis de Ganis is a Knight of the Round Table from the land of Ganis (''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. He has since appeared by variants of this name in many subsequent works, including as 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