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Bors of Gaul

Behort, Boort, Bohors, Bohort, Bohoort, Bohourt, Boors, Bordo, Borz

The King of Gannes, Gaul, or Gascony, son of King Lancelot de la Blance Terre, and uncle of Lancelot of the Lake. He had two sons, Bors de Ganis and Lionel, by his wife, Evaine.

He first appears in the Vulgate Cycle, and he is generally described as a good king, though the Livre d’Artus calls him a tyrant.

Bors and his brother, King Ban of Benoic, swore fealty to Uther Pendragon in order to defeat their enemy, King Claudas. This allegiance extended to Arthur and King Bors was one of Arthur’s major allies during Arthur’s wars of accession.

The brother kings therefore journeyed to Britain at his summons to help him subdue a rebellion of British nobles. Ban and Bors were instrumental in helping Arthur win the battle of Bedegraine. After defeating the rebels at Bedegraine, Bors and Ban accompanied Arthur to Carmelide (Cameliard), where they fought against King Rions (Ryons) and the Saxons. Bors slew Amant of Lambale, one of Arthur’s enemies.

Returning to France, the three kings repelled Claudas’s invasion. Bors later joined Arthur’s campaign against Rome. During Claudas’s second invasion, Bors perished of an illness (or of grief) following his brother’s death. Claudas conquered his land, but his son Bors later reclaimed it.

King Bors married Evaine, the sister of his brother’s wife Helayne (Elaine of Benwick). His wife retired to a nunnery; his sons, Lionel and Bors de Ganis, raised by the Lady of the Lake, both became Knights of the Round Table.

The origin of his name is uncertain, though a ‘bohort’ (one of the first forms of Bors) is a type of lance.