Logres


    1. Logres
      Logereis, Logris, Logroys, Londres, Longres, Lugereis, Nogres

      Arthur’s kingdom in a large number of texts. Roughly corresponding to the geographic area that we now call England, the name derives from Lloegr, the early Welsh name for England, perhaps derived from Anglo-Saxon legor, an element found in the place name of Leicester. The derivation of this legor is puzzling. The name Logres was used throughout the Arthurian legends to refer not just to England, but to the entire British realm of King Arthur. (The name 'England', or 'Angle-Land', was a product of the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain, after the Arthurian period.) Geoffrey of Monmouth, using his typical creative eponomy, says that the kingdom was named after Locrine, son of King Brutus.

      'King Arthur of Logres' is a fairly common designation in French and German legends, though the texts are often ambiguous as to whether Logres is a territory or a city. In the Vulgate romances, it is both, with the latter named as Arthur’s capital and identified with London. The site of several Saxon battles at the beginning of Arthur’s reign, Logres was invested with its own bishop. According to the Post-Vulgate Mort Artu, King Mark of Cornwall invaded and destroyed it after Arthur’s death.

      In German romance, Logres is often noted as Gawain’s kingdom, since Wolfram von Eschenbach tells us that Gawain married Duchess Orgeluse of Logres (Orguelleuse) (who, in turn, had inherited it from her late husband, Duke Cidegast). Though Malory refers to Arthur’s realm as 'England', he gives the surname 'de Logres' to several knights.

      The setting of Chrétien de Troyes's Chevalier de la charrete and Perceval, as well as of much of the Vulgate Cycle. Logres is probably to be identified as England, but it is primarily a poetric creation, the sometimes vague locus of adventure and romance.

      According to Lewis Spence, Logres was the eastern part of ancient Britain. Other sources, Chrétien de Troyes for one, seem to apply the name generally to Arthur's kingdom. In Perceval, line 6169-6170, Chrétien explaines the name as signifying "the land of ogres", which it allegedly was in pre-Arthurian times.


    2. Logres

      Brutus built this city in England and named it la Nueue Troie. It was later named Logres after Brutus the successor of Logryn. Today it is known as London.