Kahedins


    1. Kahedins
      Caerdin, Chaedino, Chedino, Ganhardin, Gheddino, Ghedin, Kaedin, Kahedin, Kahedrin, Kaherdin, Kardín, Kehedins, Kehenis, Kehydyns

      Brother of Isolde of the White Hands (Iseult) and son of Havelin, Jovelin, or Hoel.

      He became a loyal friend and companion, and then brother-in-law, to Tristan (Tristram), but became enraged when he learned that Tristan had not consummated his marriage with Isolde of the White Hands. Tristan took Kahedins to see the other Isolde (or her statue), and Kahedins understood his predicament. He fell in love with Isolde’s maidservant, Brangain or Gymele.

      In Thomas’s version, his affair with Brangain was ended when she heard (untruthfully) that he had fled from combat with a cowardly knight named Mariadoc. He later killed Mariadoc in a joust. In the Prose Tristan, he falls in love with Isolde herself, causing his friendship with Tristan to end angrily (and causing Tristan to go insane); the tale says he died of grief after he confessed his love to Isolde and she cruelly rebuked him.

      In Eilhart von Oberge’s version, he loves Ganoje, the wife of Lord Nampetenis, and he breaks into Nampetenis’s castle to sleep with her. When Nampetenis found out, he chased after Kahedins, killed him, and mortally wounded Tristan. In other versions, Kahedins survives to captain the ship that is supposed to bring Isolde to a mortally wounded Tristan’s bedside, or he joins Palante, Tristan’s cousin, in an invasion of Cornwall after Tristan’s death.

      A Welsh character called Cae Hir (Cae the Tall) may be identical.

      See also
      Kahedin | The Legend of King Arthur


    2. Kahedins
      Akehededin, Hedin, Hedins le Bials, Kaadins, Kaedin li Beax, Kaedins, Kahadin, Kahedin, Kahodins, Kaodins, Kehedin le Bel the Litill, - le Petit, - li Biaus, - li Petis, - lo Bens; Kehedins, Kehendis

      One of Arthur’s knights, variously called 'the Small' and 'the Fair'.

      He is said to be a cousin of Gawain and Yvain. He had a sister named Ydain. His uncle was Sir Kay of Estral. Sommer states he is a cousin of the forester Minoras' wife who is the sister of Meraugis and cousin of Aiglin des Vaux.

      As a squire, he participated in the struggle against the Saxons and was knighted by Arthur for his service. He fought in the Roman War, in the first campaign against Claudas, and in the battle against Caradoc of the Dolorous Tower. In other adventures, Kahedins was imprisoned in the Dolorous Prison and the Valley of No Return, and was freed from both by Lancelot.

Notes
The following text is copied from H. Oskar Sommer's "The Vulgate Version of the Arthurian romances" (1914).

      "The name Kehedin has given me a great deal of trouble as there is, through the error of some scribe of one of the earlier MSS. a great deal of confusion caused with regard to it. In my text of Lestoire de Merlin (vol. 11) in the English translation, and in Part I of the MS. No. 337, except on one occasion, only one Kehedin is mentioned and is spoken of as Kehedin, Kehedin li Petiz or Kehedin li Biaus.

      On page 148 Kehedin li Biaus (Kaodins li Biaux; Kehedin de Belly), is one of the knights who accompany Artus and his allies to Carmelide. Unless this bearer of the name Kehedin is the father or an uncle of the Kehedin figuring later in the narrative - a point on which we are not enlightened - he must have been erroneously included in this list. On page 173 Kehedin (Kaodin; Kehedin), is a youth and is said to be the ' petit neveu ' of another youth Keux d'Estraus.

      The latter speaks of Kehedin on page 174 as ' mes nies.' Both Keux d'Estraus and Kehedin (Kahadin; Kehedin), are said to have been dubbed at Logres by Artus together with Gawain, his brothers and their companions. On page 320 in my text, and in the passages corresponding to it in the two other texts, Kahedina li Biaus (Kehedins li Biaus; Kehedin li Bens) and Kahedin li Petis (Kehedin li Petiz; Kehedin li Petit) are spoken of as two different persons. On page 34 the one, on page 453 the other is mentioned.

      In Part II of the MS. No. 337 (my volume vn), except on one occasion, there are always two bearers of the name Kehedin mentioned side by side: one is called li Biaus, the other li Petiz, but the relationship existing between them is nowhere disclosed. A dagger marks above the figures referring to pages where two Kehedins are mentioned."