Berceliande, Bercheliande, Borceliande, Breceliande, Brecheliande, Briziljan, Brocéliande, Brocheland, Brocheliande, Brochelonde, Brockland, Proceliande
A forest which is the setting for a number of Arthurian adventures, after Wace described its marvels (including an enchanted fountain) in his Roman de Rou. It was famous throughout the Middle Ages for its enchantments. Situated in Brittany, it is now called the Forest of Paimpont in the Morbihan, next to Cornuailles (Cornouailles).
It was the location of the fountain where Yvain defeated Esclados the Red in Chrétien’s Yvain and its adaptations. The forest contained the strongholds of New Castle and Lindesores. It was the site of important meetings and troop movements during the early rebellions against Arthur, and during the Saxon wars.
Here is found the consecrated Fountain of Balanton, and here Merlin ‘dress his weird’. The fountain of Balanton appears to be where Merlin met his lady Viviane, and around which he made to spring up an enchanted Garden of Joy to please her. In the Vulgate Merlin and Tennyson’s Idylls, it served as the place of Merlin’s imprisonment by the Lady of the Lake. French romance seems to be largely unaware, however, that a channel separates Broceliande from the rest of Britain. German romance, which calls it Briziljan, places it in the country of Löver near Dinazarun (Dinasdaron).
One of the most potent stories concerning this forest is told by the French poet Huon de Mery in his work Le Tornoiment de l’Antichrist. In ths he explains how he travelled to an enchanted spring in the forest, and Bras-de-Fer, the chamberlain of the Antichrist, rode up. In his company, Huon de Mery said, he rode to the scene of a battle where the forces of Heaven, including Arthur and his knights, were doing battle with the forces of Hell. The enchanted spring mention by Huon de Mery seems to bear close resemblance to the wondrous fountain within the forest that was said to have been guarded by Esclados.
The spring of Berenton is central to Chrétien de Troyes Yvain and is mentioned by Giraldus Cambrensis. Wace recounts in a famous passage of his Roman de Rou how he traveled personally to Brocéliande to seek the marvels about which the Bretons spoke but was unable to find any:
I saw the forest and I saw the land; I looked for marvels, but I did not find them.”
The forest is also mentined in Claris et Laris, and in Brun de la Montaigne as well as in the German romance of Garel von dem blühenden Tal, by Der Pleier.