Beneoiz

Beneïz

The name given to the magical drinking horn which revealed a woman's chastity, or lack thereof, in the First Continuation of Chrétien's Perceval.

Banded with gold and embellished with jewels, the horn spilled its wine all over a cuckold, but allowed a man with a faithful wife to drink freely. Arthur's entire court attempted to drink from the horn, but only one, including Arthur, succeeded: Caradoc, whose wife was called Guignier.

The same episode appears in Biket's Lai du Cor and in numerous subsequent tales, but the horn itself is not named. Beneoiz is probably a form of the French 'blessed' (benoit) and may have a connection with the blessed horn of King Bran.