Galeschin is a Knight

Knight

A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....

 of the Round Table

Round Table

The Round Table is King Arthur's famed table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his Knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status. The table was first described in 1155 by Wace, who relied on previous depictions of...

 in Arthurian legend. He is a nephew of King Arthur

King Arthur

King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...

, son of the king's half-sister Elaine and King Nentres of Garlot.

He appears as one of Gawain

Gawain

Gawain is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table who appears very early in the Arthurian legend's development. He is one of a select number of Round Table members to be referred to as the greatest knight, most notably in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight...

's rescuers in the story of the Dolorous Tower in the Vulgate Cycle

Lancelot-Grail

The Lancelot–Grail, also known as the Prose Lancelot, the Vulgate Cycle, or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is a major source of Arthurian legend written in French. It is a series of five prose volumes that tell the story of the quest for the Holy Grail and the romance of Lancelot and Guinevere...

. He and his cousin Ywain

Ywain

Sir Ywain is a Knight of the Round Table and the son of King Urien in Arthurian legend...

 attempt to rescue Gawain from the wicked Sir Carados but are taken captive as well. The trio are eventually rescued by Lancelot

Lancelot

Sir Lancelot du Lac is one of the Knights of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend. He is the most trusted of King Arthur's knights and plays a part in many of Arthur's victories...

. Galeschin is referred to as the Duke of Clarence

Duke of Clarence

Duke of Clarence is a title which has been traditionally awarded to junior members of the English and British Royal families. The first three creations were in the Peerage of England, the fourth in the Peerage of Great Britain, and the fifth in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.The title was first...

. This is an anachronism

Anachronism

An anachronism—from the Greek ανά and χρόνος — is an inconsistency in some chronological arrangement, especially a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other...

 as the duchy of Clarence was not created until 1362. Though mentioned in a few other Arthurian stories, Galeschin's role is ultimately minor.

Name

Celtist Roger Sherman Loomis derives the name Galeschin from the name Galvariun, found on the Modena Archivolt. He theorizes that the name was altered to make it sound more like Galesche, the old French word for "Welsh". He derives the name Galvariun from the epithet Gwallt Euryn, found in Culhwch and Olwen

Culhwch and Olwen

Culhwch and Olwen is a Welsh tale about a hero connected with Arthur and his warriors that survives in only two manuscripts: a complete version in the Red Book of Hergest, ca. 1400, and a fragmented version in the White Book of Rhydderch, ca. 1325. It is the longest of the surviving Welsh prose...

, which he translates as "golden hair".