Agravain

Agravain
Matter of Britain character
Agravain's attributed arms
First appearancePerceval, the Story of the Grail by Chrétien de Troyes
In-universe information
TitlePrince, Sir
OccupationKnight of the Round Table
FamilyLot, Morgause (parents)
Gawain, Gaheris, Gareth, Mordred (brothers)
SpouseFlorée or Laurel
RelativesKing Arthur's family
HomeOrkney, Camelot

Agravain[a] (/ˈæ.ɡrə.vn/) is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend, whose first known appearance is in the works of Chrétien de Troyes. He is the second eldest son of King Lot of Orkney with one of King Arthur's sisters known as Anna or Morgause, thus nephew of King Arthur, and brother to Sir Gawain, Gaheris, and Gareth, as well as half-brother to Mordred.[b] Agravain secretly makes attempts on the life of his hated brother Gaheris starting in the Vulgate Cycle, participates in the slayings of Lamorak and Palamedes in the Post-Vulgate Cycle, and murders Dinadan in the Prose Tristan. In the French prose cycle tradition included in Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, together with Mordred, he then plays a leading role by exposing his aunt Guinevere's affair with Lancelot, which leads to his death at Lancelot's hand.

In the traditional, albeit contested, division of the massive medieval prose Lancelot portion of the Vulgate Cycle into three or four parts,[c] the last section is named after Agravain.[d] Despite giving his name to the section, Agravain plays only a minor part in most of its stories.


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  1. ^ Verses 8139–8142 in the Dufournet edition; verses 8056–8060 in the Méla edition.
  2. ^ Norris J. Lacy, ed., Lancelot-Grail: Lancelot Parts III and IV, Volume 4 of Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 2010, pp. 392–4. ISBN 9781843842354.
  3. ^ Marie Luce-Chênerie, Lancelot du Lac: II, Livre de Poche: 1993, p. 6. ISBN 9782253063025.
  4. ^ Ferdinand Lot, Etude sur le Lancelot en prose (1918), p.11.