Caen

Caiam, Came

The name that King Arthur bestowed upon the former city of Chinon to honor Kay, who had died in the Roman war and was buried there. The city is real, and lies in northwest France.

Caen Capital, a capital in the church of St. Pierre, Caen, illustrating two scenes from Arthurian romances - Lancelot crossing the Sword Bridge and Gawaine on the Perilous Bed - together with non-Arthurian material (the 'Capture of the Unicorn', 'Aristotle Ridden' by Phyllis, 'Samson and the Lion', and the 'Pelican in Her Piety'). In the context of these well-known symbols of Christian sacrifice (the pelican, the unicorn), strength and protection (Samson), and the power of Women (Phyllis, the Virgin), the adventures of Arthur's knights, who fight temptations and evil powers in the service of their ladies, take on moral implications that make them acceptable for inclusions as church decoration.

The selection and depiction of the Arthurian scenes seem to have been inspired by early fourteenth-century Parisian ivory caskets, thus the capital can be dated at mid-fourteenth century.