Hoel


    1. Hoel

      The king of Gohenet who was an ally or vassal of Arthur. He participated in a tournament at the Castle of Maidens.


    2. Hoel

      The other name of King Aramont of Brittany, possibly identical to the first Hoel.


    3. Hoel

      The duke of Cornwall in the Vulgate Merlin and Arthour and Merlin. In the former, he takes the role usually assigned to Gorlois, while in the latter he precedes Tintagel as Igerne's husband. Arthour names him as Igerne's second husband, after Harinan. Their daughters were Blasine, Belisent, and Brimesent (Hermesent).

      This Hoel is also mentioned in the Vulgate Merlin Continuation, where he is given the title Duke of Tintagel. He is also named as being among the Twenty-Four Knights of King Arthur's court.


    4. Hoel
      Hoël

      Several kings or lords of Britain or Brittany (usually clearly identified as the latter), or of Breton cities, are given this name in a number of Arthurian texts: Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (as Hoelus), Wace's Brut, Marie de France's Guigemar (as Hoïlas), The Vulgate Suite du Merlin, and Renaut de Beaujeu's Le Bel Inconnu.

      According to the Tristan tradition, King Hoël of Brittany is the father of Iseult White-Hands and Kahedin; this is probably true as well in the lost parts of Thomas's Tristan, and in the Prose Tristan and those romances influenced by it. In the chronicles, Hoël is usually a cousin of Arthur.

      A ruler named Hoel governed Brittany in the time of William the Conqueror and was one of William’s allies. Geoffrey of Monmouth may have used adopted Hoel’s name in order to flatter his Norman patrons.


    5. Hoel of Nauntes
      Hoell, Horel, Howel, Howell, Ohel

      King of Brittany or Nauntes (Nantes). He was an ally of Arthur, who was either his uncle or cousin. In Welsh legend, his father is named Emhyr, but Geoffrey of Monmouth calls him the son of Budec (Budicius). In some of the Tristan romances, he is Tristan’s father-in-law.

      Welsh legend names him as one of Arthur’s three Royal Knights, and says that he was handsome, wise, and skilled at arms.

      In Arthur’s early days as king, Hoel assisted his kinsman against the Saxon invaders led by Colgrim. Hoel became sick during the campaign, and Arthur was forced to leave him in the city of Dumbarton. While Arthur was defeating the Saxons in Bath, Picts and Scots attacked Dumbarton, and Hoel had to weakly hold them off. Eventually, Arthur returned and rescued Hoel from defeat. Hoel, in turn, helped Arthur win the war against the Scots at Lake Lomond.

      During the campaign against Gaul, Hoel accompanied Arthur and, with a division of soldiers, conquered much of the region, including Aquitaine and Gascony. Hoel also pledged himself and a force of soldiers to Arthur at the beginning of the campaign against Rome. Before they embarked, however, they received word that Hoel’s niece Helen (Helena) (or, in Malory, his wife - the Duchess of Brittany) had been carried off by the Giant of Mont St. Michel. Arthur and his knights attacked and killed the giant, but were too late to save the woman’s life. (In the Vulgate Merlin, the Helen’s uncle is Lionel of Nanteuil; and in the Norse Tristrams Saga, the character is called Orsl.)

      Despite the loss, Hoel went with Arthur to Rome and proved one of the best warriors Arthur had, leading a battalion of soldiers at Soissons. In Geoffrey’s account, Arthur sends Hoel on to conquer Rome while Arthur returns to Britain to deal with Mordred’s insurrection.

      In the Prose Tristan, Hoel becomes the father of Isolde of the White Hands, Kahedins, and Ruvalen (replacing Havelin or Jovelin from earlier texts). Another (unnamed) daughter married King Meliadus of Lyonesse and became Tristan’s step-mother. Tristan came to Hoel’s court and ended up saving Hoel from a tyrannical neighbor named Agrippe. In return, Hoel married Tristan to Isolde of the White Hands.

      See also
      Howel | The Legend of King Arthur