N I G H T B R I N G E R . S E
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DOLOROUS
- Dolorous Field
The field where Erec was slain by Gawaine, and where Hector and Meraugis found Erec's body.
- Dolorous Garde, La
Dolereuse Garde, Dolorous Guard
Castle conquered by Lancelot in the Prose Lancelot and its adaptations. It was originally known as Joyous Garde and later reverted to that name. It was on the river Humber. Lancelot names its original ruler as Brandin of the Isles (Brandus des Illes), while La Tavola Ritonda calls him Federiel.
The castle was magically enchanted so that any knight who wished to enter had to fight two sets of ten knights - one set at each of two gates - one by one until he defeated them all. He then would have to kill the ruler or stay in the castle for forty days before the enchantments could be lifted and the people freed. The names of the knights that had tried the adventure were written on gravestones within the inner wall of the castle, and their "heads" were next to the stones, but in actuality, the knights were imprisoned in the Dolorous Prison. Many knights lost their freedoms in this manner. Lancelot defeated the twenty knights through the help of some magical shields from the Lady of the Lake, but Brandin fled before Lancelot could fight him. The people of the castle became restless when Lancelot kept leaving, because he was interrupting the forty-day cycle and preventing their freedom.
Finally, he went into the depths of the castle, braved a difficult adventure, and returned with the key to the enchantments, which freed the residents. Lancelot them renamed the castle Joyous Guard. He held on to the castle, lived there from time to time, hosted his companions there, and interred his friend Galehaut in its cemetery. When Lancelot rescued Guinevere from the stake, he brought her to the castle. When he was forced out of Britain by Arthur, he changed the castle’s name back to Dolorous Guard. In some versions, Lancelot is brought to Dolorous Guard after his death and is buried with Galehaut. In the Post-Vulgate Mort Artu, we are told that King Mark of Cornwall exhumed their bodies and destroyed them.
It has been identified with Bamburgh castle in Northumberland.
- Dolorous Mount
Mount Dolereus
An enchanted hilltop, possibly in Scotland. At the top was a pillar, adorned with 15 crosses, to which only the best knights could tie their horses. Any other knight would be driven insane.
Merlin had constructed the test at the behest of Uther Pendragon in order to find worthy knights for Arthur’s table. Kahedins vowed to travel there in Chrétien’s Perceval, but it is Perceval who tests himself at the pillar and succeeds in the Second Continuation. Merlin’s daughter inhabited the mountain and explained the adventure to Perceval.
- Dolorous Prison
Dolereuse Chartre
A dungeon owned by Brandin of the Isles, lord of Dolorous Guard, but in a separate castle from Dolorous Guard. Every knight who attempted the adventure at Dolorous Guard and failed was thrown into the Dolorous Prison; their names, however, appeared on tombstones at Dolorous Guard, as if they were dead. These knights included Yder, Guivret, Yvain of Leonel, Cadoain, Kehedin (Kahedins), Kay of Estraus, Girflet, Dodinel, Taulas, Mador, Galegantin, and Arthur’s son Loholt.
Gawaine was tricked into the prison by Brandin after Lancelot liberated Dolorous Guard, but the lot of knights were eventually freed by Lancelot. Loholt and Galegantin developed serious illnesses while in the prison; Loholt later died, but Galegantin was healed by the Hermit of the Thicket.
- Dolorous Stroke
Dolereus Coup
The stroke which caused the Waste Land to be rendered barren, making the Grail Quest necessary. [More]
- Dolorous Tower
La Bele Garde, La Bele Prise
The castle inhabited by the evil giant Caradoc. In one of the earliest stories of Guinevere’s abduction (found on the Modena Archivolt), it was ruled by Mardoc, who had Caradoc kidnap Guinevere. The castle could be entered only by two bridges, which were guarded by the warriors Burmalt and Caradoc. Gawain managed to penetrate the fortress and rescue the Queen.
In later stories, the Dolorous Tower belongs wholly to Caradoc, Guinevere’s abduction is removed, Caradoc kidnaps many good knights and imprisons them in his squalid, rodent-infested jail. Lancelot becomes Caradoc’s killer. After Lancelot killed Carados, this castle was renamed La Bele Garde or La Bele Prise, and apparently Sir Melians li Gai (Melian the Gay) and his bride (who had been imprisoned there) became its lord and lady. Malory mentions it as the home of Sir Selyses.
I do not think this Sir Carados is to be identified with King Carados of Scotland, nor the Dolorous Tower with Dolorous Garde. Sir Carados and Sir Turquine were brothers, so their holdings reasonably might have been close together. Phyllis Ann Karr have some scanty evidence that Turquine's Hill may have been in the southwest, in the region of the South Marches. Carados might have been a spiritual ancestor of the outlaw Doones of Devonshire. A possible identification for the Dolorous Tower is Trematon Castle.
[A] place wherein the former Earles and the outer chiefe gouernors of Cornwall made their abodes ... howsoeuer ... if falleth daylie to ruyne and decaye: The inner buyldinges are fallen downe, only some ragged walls remayne; and in the base courte some Lodginges doe stande, and the Prison.
Tremanton is near Saltash, where the Tamar flows into the sea on the south coast, near the present-day border between Cornwall and Devon.
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