Faramond, Faramons, Faramonz, Ferramonte, Peremont, Pharahon, Pharamon, Pharamond, Pharaon
King of France or Gaul who held his land from Uther Pendragon. He may be the same character as Aramont of Gaul. He is based on a semi-legendary fifth-century Frankish king.
According to the French Palamedes, he was born a serf but was freed by his master. He later usurped the French throne, which actually belonged to the lineage of Guiron the Courteous, and became Arthur’s enemy. He travelled in disguise to Arthur’s court, but being discovered and expelled again.
Tristan, as a youth, took service in his court. (Faramon had been an ally of Tristan’s father, Meliodas of Liones). Faramon’s daughter, Belide, fell in love with Tristan and accused him of rape when he rejected her. Faramon prepared to execute Tristan, but eventually learned the truth. He offered his daughter and half his kingdom to Tristan, but Tristan left his court for Cornwall, and Belide died of a broken heart. This, however, did not prevent Pharamond from giving refuge to Tristan and Gouvernail after the death of Meliodas.
According to the Serbo-Russian Povest’ o Tryshchane, he later threw a tournament at which Lancelot and Tristan championed a poor woman. They won, and their lady married Faramon’s son.
Malory mentions this monarch only in VIII, 5, where the dauther of King Faramon of France, being in love with Tristram, sends him letters and “a little brachet that was passing fair.” Receiving no regard from the knight, the princess dies of love for him. Tristram keeps the brachet.
Faramon may have been a kind of high king of France in Uther Pendragon’s time, for in Vulgate V, when Frolle of Alemaigne tries to seize Gaul, Arthur maintains that his own claim is stronger than Frolle’s, since his father Uther was suzerain of Faramon in King Ban’s day.
The Italian romancer Ariosto says that Pharamond had a son, Clodion, who was defeated in combat by Tristan. Pharamond also appears in non-Arthurian romance, in particular one from the seventeenth century says that he fell in love with the daughter of the King of Cimbri, Rosamonde.
Sources
Vulgate Lancelot | 1215-1230
Palamedes | c. 1240
Prose Tristan | 1230-1240
Le Morte Darthur | Sir Thomas Malory, 1469-1470
Le Morte Darthur | Sir Thomas Malory, 1469-1470
Povest’ o Tryshchane | c. 1580