Hoel
Encyclopedia
Hoel or Howel is a legendary king of Brittany
and one of the oldest characters associated with Arthurian legend. He is the son of King Budic (or Boudicius) of Brittany, and serves as one of King Arthur
's vassals and loyal allies. In Welsh literature
, where he appears as Hywel fab Emyr Llydaw, his father is named Emyr Llydaw ("Emyr of Brittany"), and certain legends pertain he was the father of Saint Tudwal
.
, Geraint and Enid, and Peredur son of Efrawg
, and is an important figure in Geoffrey of Monmouth
's work of pseudohistory
, Historia Regum Britanniae
, where his name appears in the Latinised form Hoel. Geoffrey confuses Hoel's relationship to Arthur over the course of his narrative; at first, it appears he is the son of Budic of Brittany and Aurelius Ambrosius and Uther Pendragon
's sister, and therefore Arthur's first cousin. Later, however, Geoffrey claims Arthurs sister Anna
married Budic, making Hoel Arthur's nephew. This confusion is picked up by Geoffrey's followers like Wace
and Layamon
; most later texts are content to call him Arthur's "cousin."
In Geoffrey, Hoel is Arthur's staunch ally, a Breton
kinsman who comes to his aid in Britain
to help quell the revolts that arise after the young king's coronation. He proves himself to be a capable general and a respected ruler. His niece is raped and killed by the Giant of Mont Saint Michel, and Arthur sets off himself to slay the giant with the aid of his knights Kay
and Bedivere
. When Arthur returns to Britain to fight his traitorous nephew Mordred
, he leaves Hoel in charge of Gaul
.
When Hoel joins the Round Table
he leaves his loyal nephew, Joseph, in charge of his kingdom.
legend by poets including Béroul
and Thomas of Britain
. In these stories, Hoel is duke of Brittany and the father of Tristan's unloved wife, Iseult
of the White Hands. He takes Tristan in when the young knight has been banished from King Mark's kingdom, and Tristan later helps him in battle and becomes fast friends with his son Kahedin
and his daughter Iseult. Tristan convinces himself to marry this second Iseult, mostly because she shares the name of his first love, Iseult of Ireland. In early versions of the story, Tristan remains in Hoel's land until he dies of poison (minutes before Iseult of Ireland, a great healer, arrives to cure him). The Prose Tristan
has the hero returning to Britain and to his first love, never to see his wife again. This version was followed by the Post-Vulgate Cycle
and Sir Thomas Malory
's Le Morte d'Arthur
...
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
and one of the oldest characters associated with Arthurian legend. He is the son of King Budic (or Boudicius) of Brittany, and serves as one 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...
's vassals and loyal allies. In Welsh literature
Medieval Welsh literature
Medieval Welsh literature is the literature written in the Welsh language during the Middle Ages. This includes material from the fifth century, when Welsh was in the process of becoming distinct from the British language, to the works of the 16th century....
, where he appears as Hywel fab Emyr Llydaw, his father is named Emyr Llydaw ("Emyr of Brittany"), and certain legends pertain he was the father of Saint Tudwal
Saint Tudwal
Saint Tudwal was a Breton monk. He is considered one of the seven founder saints of Brittany. Tudwal was said to be a son of Hoel Mawr . Tudwal travelled to Ireland to learn the scriptures, then became a hermit on what is now called Saint Tudwal's Island East off North Wales...
.
Hoel and the Arthurian legend
As Hywel fab Emyr Llydaw, Hoel is associated with Arthur's retinue in medieval Welsh texts like The Dream of RhonabwyThe Dream of Rhonabwy
The Dream of Rhonabwy is a Middle Welsh prose tale. Set during the reign of Madog ap Maredudd, prince of Powys , it is dated to the late 12th or 13th century. It survives in only one manuscript, the Red Book of Hergest, and has been associated with the Mabinogion since its publication by Lady...
, Geraint and Enid, and Peredur son of Efrawg
Peredur son of Efrawg
Peredur son of Efrawg is one of the three Welsh Romances associated with the Mabinogion. It tells a story roughly analogous to Chrétien de Troyes' unfinished romance Perceval, the Story of the Grail, but it contains many striking differences from that work, most notably the absence of the French...
, and is an important figure in Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth was a cleric and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur...
's work of pseudohistory
Pseudohistory
Pseudohistory is a pejorative term applied to a type of historical revisionism, often involving sensational claims whose acceptance would require rewriting a significant amount of commonly accepted history, and based on methods that depart from standard historiographical conventions.Cryptohistory...
, Historia Regum Britanniae
Historia Regum Britanniae
The Historia Regum Britanniae is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written c. 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the kings of the Britons in a chronological narrative spanning a time of two thousand years, beginning with the Trojans founding the British nation...
, where his name appears in the Latinised form Hoel. Geoffrey confuses Hoel's relationship to Arthur over the course of his narrative; at first, it appears he is the son of Budic of Brittany and Aurelius Ambrosius and Uther Pendragon
Uther Pendragon
Uther Pendragon is a legendary king of sub-Roman Britain and the father of King Arthur.A few minor references to Uther appear in Old Welsh poems, but his biography was first written down by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae , and Geoffrey's account of the character was used in...
's sister, and therefore Arthur's first cousin. Later, however, Geoffrey claims Arthurs sister Anna
Morgause
Morgause , known in earlier works as Gwyar or Anna, is the sister or half-sister of King Arthur in the Arthurian legend. In her earliest appearance she is Arthur's full sister by Uther Pendragon and Igraine; Gwyar is her name and she is the mother of Gwalchmei...
married Budic, making Hoel Arthur's nephew. This confusion is picked up by Geoffrey's followers like Wace
Wace
Wace was a Norman poet, who was born in Jersey and brought up in mainland Normandy , ending his career as Canon of Bayeux.-Life:...
and Layamon
Layamon
Layamon or Laghamon (ˈlaɣamon; in American English often modernised as ; ), occasionally written Lawman, was a poet of the early 13th century and author of the Brut, a notable English poem of the 12th century that was the first English language work to discuss the legends of Arthur and the...
; most later texts are content to call him Arthur's "cousin."
In Geoffrey, Hoel is Arthur's staunch ally, a Breton
Breton people
The Bretons are an ethnic group located in the region of Brittany in France. They trace much of their heritage to groups of Brythonic speakers who emigrated from southwestern Great Britain in waves from the 3rd to 6th century into the Armorican peninsula, subsequently named Brittany after them.The...
kinsman who comes to his aid in Britain
Sub-Roman Britain
Sub-Roman Britain is a term derived from an archaeological label for the material culture of Britain in Late Antiquity: the term "Sub-Roman" was invented to describe the potsherds in sites of the 5th century and the 6th century, initially with an implication of decay of locally-made wares from a...
to help quell the revolts that arise after the young king's coronation. He proves himself to be a capable general and a respected ruler. His niece is raped and killed by the Giant of Mont Saint Michel, and Arthur sets off himself to slay the giant with the aid of his knights Kay
Sir Kay
In Arthurian legend, Sir Kay is Sir Ector's son and King Arthur's foster brother and later seneschal, as well as one of the first Knights of the Round Table. In later literature he is known for his acid tongue and bullying, boorish behavior, but in earlier accounts he was one of Arthur's premier...
and Bedivere
Bedivere
In Arthurian legend, Sir Bedivere is the Knight of the Round Table who returns Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake. He serves as King Arthur's marshal and is frequently associated with Sir Kay...
. When Arthur returns to Britain to fight his traitorous nephew Mordred
Mordred
Mordred or Modred is a character in the Arthurian legend, known as a notorious traitor who fought King Arthur at the Battle of Camlann, where he was killed and Arthur fatally wounded. Tradition varies on his relationship to Arthur, but he is best known today as Arthur's illegitimate son by his...
, he leaves Hoel in charge of Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
.
When Hoel joins the Round Table
Round Table (Camelot)
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...
he leaves his loyal nephew, Joseph, in charge of his kingdom.
Hoel and Tristan and Iseult
Hoel was later attached to the Tristan and IseultTristan and Iseult
The legend of Tristan and Iseult is an influential romance and tragedy, retold in numerous sources with as many variations. The tragic story is of the adulterous love between the Cornish knight Tristan and the Irish princess Iseult...
legend by poets including Béroul
Béroul
Béroul was a Norman poet of the 12th century. He wrote Tristan, a Norman language version of the legend of Tristan and Iseult of which a certain number of fragments have been preserved; it is the earliest representation of the so-called "vulgar" version of the legend...
and Thomas of Britain
Thomas of Britain
Thomas of Britain was a french poet of the 12th century. He is known for his Old French poem Tristan, a version of the Tristan and Iseult legend that exists only in eight fragments, amounting to around 3,300 lines of verse, mostly from the latter part of the story...
. In these stories, Hoel is duke of Brittany and the father of Tristan's unloved wife, Iseult
Iseult
Iseult is the name of several characters in the Arthurian story of Tristan and Iseult. The most prominent is Iseult of Ireland, wife of Mark of Cornwall and adulterous lover of Sir Tristan. Her mother, the Queen of Ireland, is also named Iseult...
of the White Hands. He takes Tristan in when the young knight has been banished from King Mark's kingdom, and Tristan later helps him in battle and becomes fast friends with his son Kahedin
Kahedin
Sir Kahedin is brother to Iseult of Brittany and the son of King Hoel of Brittany in Arthurian legend...
and his daughter Iseult. Tristan convinces himself to marry this second Iseult, mostly because she shares the name of his first love, Iseult of Ireland. In early versions of the story, Tristan remains in Hoel's land until he dies of poison (minutes before Iseult of Ireland, a great healer, arrives to cure him). The Prose Tristan
Prose Tristan
The Prose Tristan is an adaptation of the Tristan and Iseult story into a long prose romance, and the first to tie the subject entirely into the arc of the Arthurian legend...
has the hero returning to Britain and to his first love, never to see his wife again. This version was followed by the Post-Vulgate Cycle
Post-Vulgate Cycle
The Post-Vulgate Cycle is one of the major Old French prose cycles of Arthurian literature. It is essentially a rehandling of the earlier Vulgate Cycle , with much left out and much added, including characters and scenes from the Prose Tristan.The Post-Vulgate, written probably between 1230 and...
and Sir Thomas Malory
Thomas Malory
Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author or compiler of Le Morte d'Arthur. The antiquary John Leland as well as John Bale believed him to be Welsh, but most modern scholars, beginning with G. L...
's Le Morte d'Arthur
Le Morte d'Arthur
Le Morte d'Arthur is a compilation by Sir Thomas Malory of Romance tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, and the Knights of the Round Table...
...