Arthurian Name Dictionary
Qrainglaie
A beautiful Irish queen in Les Merveilles de Rigomer. Sir Sagremor came to her pavilion in a forest. When she refused to return his greetings, he raped and impregnated her. The text notes that Qrainglaie’s son, when he came of age, slew his father. [Merveil]
Quadoqueneis
An Arthurian knight. [Heinrich]
Quahomas
A Saxon king who, under King Hargadabran, opposed Arthur at the battle of Clarence. [Livre]
Quarcos
An Arthurian knight. [Heinrich]
Quebeleplus
In Diu Crône, the young daughter of Lord Leigamar of Sorgarda. When Leigamar scheduled a tournament, Quebeleplus quarreled with her sister, Flursenesphin, over the prowess of the latter’s beau, Fiers of Arramis. To get back at her sister, Quebeleplus begged Gawain to defeat Fiers in combat. Gawain complied and delighted the little girl. The same character appears in Wolfram’s Parzival as Obilot. [Heinrich]
Queen of Great Sorrows
The alias used by Elaine, Lancelot’s mother, when she retired to a nunnery after Claudas’s invasion of her land, her husband’s death, and her son’s abduction by the Lady of the Lake. [LancLac, VulgLanc]
Queen of the Black Thorn [*Reine de la Noire Espine]
The mother of Urbain, a knight defeated in combat by Perceval. [Didot]
Queen of the Maidens
The lady of the Castle of the Galleys. Her castle was besieged by the King of the Castle Mortal, but was saved by Perceval. She fell in love with her champion, but Perceval never returned to her. [Perlesvaus]
Queen of the Pavilions [*Roine des Tentes]
Sister-in-law of Cahot the Red, who was killed by Perceval. She fancied Perceval despite this act, and she unsuccessfully tried to persuade her nephew, Clamadoz of the Shadows, to abandon his quarrel with Perceval. [Perlesvaus]
Queen’s Ford
A ford on the Humber River named for Queen Guinevere, who was the first to discover it. This was during Arthur’s battle at the Humber against five kings or the Saxons. Later, Albyon, the son of the vavasour of Queen’s Ford, took it upon himself to guard it, and fought at one point with Lancelot. [LancLac, VulgLanc, Livre, PostMer]
Queen’s Knights
A body of knights lesser in status than the Knights of the Round Table (though arguably, at their inception, greater in skill). The Queen’s Knights were, for the most part, skilled but unseasoned warriors who had only recently been knighted and wished to win honor. They had an unfriendly rivalry with the Round Table. Queen’s Knights carried only plain white shields to signify their position. When a vacancy opened on the Round Table, it was customary to look first to the Queen’s Knights to fill it. Lancelot, Gawain, and many other knights served first as Queen’s Knights before they were promoted to the Round Table. [VulgMer, PostMer, Malory]
Quenedic [Ganedic]
King Quenedic is named as the father of an unnamed Knight of the Round Table. [ChretienE]
Quenus of Caerec [Quenut]
An Arthurian knight who joined one of Gawain’s quests to find Lancelot. [LancLac, VulgLanc]
Querquons Dariel
A knight in Arthur’s service. [Heinrich]
Questing Beast [Barking Beast, Beast Glotisant, Beast Gratisanti, *Beste Glatissant, Bestia Grattisante, Bizarre Beast, Glatissant Beast, Howling Beast]
A demonic monster
with the head of a serpent, the body of a leopard, the buttocks and legs
of a lion, and the feet of a hart. It emitted the sound of twenty or
thirty hounds questing from its belly, and was often pursued by scores
of actual hounds. (A similar unnamed beast appears in Perlesvaus,
but it is a Christ allegory rather than a demon.)
The Questing
Beast was born of a union between a devil and the daughter of King
Hipomenes. Upon its birth, most of the attending midwives perished, and
the Beast escaped into the forest. The quest to destroy the monster was
related somehow to the Grail Quest. It was pursued first by Pellinore,
and later by Palamedes, who was known as the Knight of the Questing
Beast. During the Grail Quest, it was chased at times by Galahad, Bors,
Yvain the Bastard, Perceval, Gawain, Lancelot, and Hector—all of whom
fought with Palamedes over the right to pursue it. Despite Pellinore’s
claim that only his kin could catch it, and despite Merlin’s prophecy
that Perceval wound kill it, the Questing Beast was finally slain by
Palamedes at a lake later known as the Lake of the Beast. As its body
sank into the waves, the water boiled.
Palamedes’
slaying of the Questing Beast appears in the Post-Vulgate Queste del
Saint Graal. Some authors, unfamiliar with this text, claim that no
one ever caught or killed the monster. [ProsTris, PostMer,
PostQuest, Malory]
Quilini
One of Arthur’s castles. Arthur gave it to Brun of Branlant after Brun agreed to become Arthur’s liege. [Contin1]
Quimper-Corentin [Aquinparcorentin, Campacorentin, Percorentin]
One of Arthur’s several courts. It is the modern-day Quimper in Finistère. It was the home of Lady Lisanor (the mother by Arthur of Sir Loholt) and Sir Aces. Its chief city in the romances is Beaumont. [Contin1, LancLac, VulgLanc, VulgMer]
Quingragan [Quikagrant]
The castle belonging to Goondesert, Perceval’s uncle. It was besieged by Partinal, who slew Goondesert treacherously even after he had repelled the siege. [Contin3]
Quinotfiers of Bahanz
A knight in Arthur’s service. [Heinrich]
Quincequarains
One of Arthur’s knights in Les Merveilles de Rigomer is called the Varlet of Quincequarains. It may be related to the forest Quinqueroi in Chrétien’s Perceval. [Merveil]
Quinqueroi (“Five Kings”)
A forest that was the home of the Red Knight, who was killed by Perceval. [ChretienP]
Quintareus [Quine]
A Knight of the Round Table. [ChretienE, Heinrich]
Quintefuelle [Quintefoille]
A rich city distant from Britain. Its lord perished, and his daughter was supposed to inherit the land. Her cousin, however, raised a counterclaim and stole the city from her. The lady traveled to Arthur’s court to find a champion. Arthur decided to go himself. The king and his company came to Quintefuelle after passing through several strange and dangerous lands. The king fought the duel himself, killed the lady’s cousin, and restored her to her throne. [Merveil]
Quintus Carucius [Carrius, Carous]
One of the Roman senators who became a war leader in Lucius’s campaign against Arthur. Quintus, with three others, was assigned by Lucius to liberate the Roman prisoners being taken by Arthur’s warriors to a prison in Paris. The Britons won the battle thanks to the timely arrival of Duke Guitard. Quintus later led a force of soldiers at the battle of Soissons. [GeoffHR, Wace, Allit]
Quintus Milvius
One of the Roman senators who became a war leader in Lucius’s campaign against Arthur. He led a force of soldiers at the battle of Soissons and was killed there. [GeoffHR]
Quiolas
A Saxon king who, under King Hargadabran, fought Arthur’s forces at the battle of Clarence and was killed by Adragain. [Livre]
Quioques Gomeret
An Arthurian knight in Heinrich von dem Türlin’s Diu Crône. He occupies the place given to King Ban of Gomeret in Chrétien’s Erec. [ChretienE]
Quirion of Orcel
A king present at the wedding of Erec and Enide. The youngest of Quirion’s knights was one hundred years old. [ChretienE]
Quoikos of Montischsdol
A Breton knight who fought alongside Gawain in a tournament at Sorgarda Castle. Though Gawain won the tournament, he awarded the right to marry Flursensephin, the lady of Sorgarda, to Quoikos. Quoikos had a brother named Sempitebruns. [Heinrich]
Copyright Christopher Bruce. All Rights Reserved. Provided here by his kind permission. Layout of book modified to fit the Celtic Twilight format.
