Avaricum

The Roman name for Bourges, a city in Gaul that serves as the setting for Luigi Alamanni’s Avarchide. The text follows the plot of Homer’s Iliad, but the characters have Arthurian names; hence, Avaricum is the counterpart of Troy.

Arthur appears in the role of Agamemnon, Lancelot takes the place of Achilles, and Gawain assumes the character of Menelaus. A number of other Arthurian characters take part: Claudas as Priam, Meleagant (Meleagaunce) as Ulysses, the Lady of the Lake as Thetis, Galehaut as Patrocles, Tristan and Bors as Ajax and Diomede, Claudin as Paris, Lac as Nestor, and Segurant as Hector.

Arthur’s forces did, eventually, conquer the city.