SAINT

1. Saint Aaron
   
   A church founded by Arthur in the city of Caerleon.
   
   
   
2. Saint Albans
   Albans, Albon
   
   The location of King Uther Pendragon’s last great battle. It is situated north of London and was once called Verulam. In Geoffrey, Uther fights Octa’s and Eosa’s Saxons here, but Malory makes his enemies a collection of lesser kings seeking to usurp Uther’s throne. Uther went out into the field even though he was so sick had to be carried in a horse litter, and was victorious (in Geoffrey, Octa and Eosa were killed). Following the battle, King Uther became more ill and died. Saint Albans was named after the British martyr who died trying to preserve Christianity in Britain when it was being destroyed by the Emperor Diocletian and the warrior Maximianus.
   
   
   
3. Saint Amphiball
   
   A church in Winchester where Constans, Arthur’s uncle, was cloistered until Vortigern foisted him to the throne. Generations later, King Constantine, Arthur’s successor, killed Melou, the traitorous son of Mordred, at the church.
   
   
   
4. Saint Bernard's Mount
   
   According to the Prose Brut, Arthur fought and killed the giant Dinabuc at Saint Bernard’s Mount just prior to the Roman War. Why the author chose to name the hill after Saint Bernard, rather than use the familiar Mont St. Michel, is unclear.
   
   
   
5. Saint Carannog
   A saint with a floating altar. [More]
   
   
   
6. Saint Cirre
   
   A castle in Claudas’s kingdom. Its lord was one of Claudas’s vassals. It is the name of an actual French town near Versailles.
   
   
   
7. Saint David's
   
   A coastal city in Wales, formerly called Menevia, or Mynyw in Welsh. The Irish-Saxon alliance, led by Gilloman and Pascentius, fought their first battle against Uther here in an attempt to take Britain from Uther’s brother Ambrosius. Uther won the battle and killed both Gilloman and Pascentius, but before the battle was finished, Pascentius sent a Saxon assassin to Winchester to poison King Ambrosius. Uther had only moments to relish his victory before he heard that his brother was dead. A Welsh Triad lists Saint David’s as Arthur’s capital in Wales, in which Dewi was the chief bishop and Maelgwn was the chief elder. It was one of the three archbishoprics of the island.
   
   
   
8. Saint John
   
   In the Post-Vulgate Merlin continuation, the church in Camelot where Lot and his compatriots were buried following their deaths at the battle of Tarabel. Malory transfers this to Saint Stephen’s.
   
   
   
9. Saint John
   
   A British valley that features in Sir Walter Scott’s The Bridal of Triermain. Merlin imprisoned Gyneth, Arthur’s daughter, in a castle in the Valley of St. John, placing her in a deep slumber. Sir Roland de Vaux found her and woke her with a kiss.
   
   
   
10. Saint Michael's Mount
    
    Situated a short way off the south Cornwall coast in Mount's Bay and connected to the mainland by a causeway that is usable only at low tide, this rocky island is the legendary home of the early Cornish giant Cormoran. The island was called Dinsul in the pre-Christian era and was thought to form a part of the lost kingdom of Lyonesse.
    
    
    
11. Saint Michael's Mount, Giant of
    
    One of the worst of the giants, and apparently one of the largest, he set around naked by his fire forcing three young damsels to turn twelve babies, broached like birds on a spit, above the fire. He killed Duke Howell's wife by raping her, slitting her to the navel, which may be an indication of his size.
    
    Arthur, Kay, and Bedivere stopped to kill him and avenge the lady on their way to fight Emperor Lucius.
    
    According to the Vulgate, this giant wore a swordproof serpent's skin.
    
    
    
12. Saint Michel, Mont
    
    A mount situated off the north coast of Brittany, France. This hill on the tidal flats was once the haunt of a particularly repulsive giant. After slaying him, Arthur commanded Howell to build the famous church of Saint Michael's Mount. This was early in Arthur's reign, as he was setting out to conquer the Emperor of Rome. Do not confuse with Saint Michael's Mount, Cornwall, a similar spot east of Penzance on the south Cornish coast.
    
    
    
13. Saint Michelsstein
    
    A city in Cornwall. Each year, the city held a fair in honor of Saint Michael. Isolde’s page, Piloise, traveled to the fair while bearing a message from Tristan to Isolde.
    
    
    
14. Saint Paul's Cathedral
    
    A familiar landmark on the London skyline, Saint Paul's Cathedral was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, construction starting in 1675. It is the site that is of particular interest, for here, it is alleged, Bladud fell from the sky on his wings and met his death, and, later, the Romans established a temple to Apollo and Diana here. Before that, the site was said to have been Trojan temple, established by Brutus himself and subsequently used by Lud, whose name is remembered in Ludgate Hill, the hill that is today crowned by the magnificence of Saint Paul's Cathedral.
    
    
    
15. Saint Peter's
    
    A nunnery in Carmarthen where Merlin's mother resided. Its provost was named Eli.
    
    
    
16. Saint Samson Church
    
    Beroul, a twelfth-century French poet, said that King Mark of Cornwall had a residence in Lantyan, (Castle Dore is in the medieval area of Lantyan), which lends itself towards supporting the theory that King Mark made his base at Castle Dore. Although dating to the fifteenth-century it is mentioned by Beroul in the twelfth. Beroul wrote about the wedding of King Mark to Yseult [Isolde] in his The Romance of Tristan, at the Church of St. Samson. The question this raises is did a church or monastery named after St. Samson stand there in the sixth-century?
    
    
    
17. Saint Samson's Isle
    
    The Cornish island where, according to Chrétien de Troyes the Prose Tristan and the prose Tristan, Tristan fought and killed Morholt (Marhaus) in his first duel (Tristan was championing King Mark against Morholt, who had demanded a tribute from Cornwall). It was apparently visible from the mainland. In La Tavola Ritonda, the battle takes place on an island called Sanza Avventura. Béroul names Saint Samson as a monastery in King Mark’s Cornwall, and, according to Geoffrey Ashe, an actual church named Saint Samson still exists in Cornwall, on a hillside in Golant. Presumably it lies between Britain and Ireland; there is an island called Saint Samson in the Scilly group.
    
    
    
18. Saint Soffie
    
    An abbey in Constantinople to which Floriant’s mother retired and in which Floriant was crowned emperor of Constantinople.
    
    
    
19. Saint Stephen's Church
    
    The chief church in Camelot. It was established by Josephus, the son of Joseph of Arimathea, after God slew Agrestes, Camelot’s pagan king. Arthur and Guinevere were married at St. Stephen’s. Out of respect for their skill and nobility, Arthur buried Kings Nero and Lot at Saint Stephen’s following their deaths at the Battle of Tarabel (though see also Saint John’s). Other Arthurian knights also rested there, including Erec, Gareth, and Agravain.