NIGHTBRINGER | The Arthurian Encyclopedia

Surluse

Sorlois

At its border is a fair village with a strong bridge guarded by knights who must be defeated if a person would gain admittance.

Vulgate III amplifies this description. Surluse was bordered on one side by the sea and on the other, toward Arthur’s realm, by the Assurne River. It was a delightful and fertile country with many rivers and splendid woods.

In earlier days it had had many passages, but King Gloier, Duke Galeholt’s predecessor, had limited the passages to two bridges, they were the Pont Norgalois (North Wales Causeway) and the Pont Irois (Irish Bridge). Galeholt, who conquered Gloier and won Surluse, seemingly maintained these two passages.

Phyllis Ann Karr: “I cannot find any Assurne River; perhaps it is too small for my maps. The name of the Pont Norgalois suggests Norgales (Northgalis). In Volume V, the Vulgate says that Sorestan (Eastland) borders Norgales “par devers” Surluse. There is a longish, squarish peninsula in Cheshire, between the inlets of the rivers Dee and Mersey, which is far and away my personal favorite for Surluse.”