King Mark of Cornwall

Marc, March, Marco, Marcus, Markaes, Marke, Markes, Markis, Marko, Markos, Mars, Mórodd


In Malory, the husband of La Beale Isoud and the uncle of Sir Tristram is generally painted as a scoundrel, Malory calling him 'bad King Mark', capabel of almost any ruse or treachery, both by violence - when he had the strenght and advantage - and by craft, even to forging letters purportedly from the Pope, ostensibly commanding Mark himself to go on crusade, this being a ploy to put down the rebellion in his own neighborhood and get Tristram away to the Holy Land. Mark's behavior toward his newphew Tristram, the son of his sister Elizabeth, is notorious - he alternately begged Tristram's help against enemies and tried to get Tristram killed or out of the country.

In Welsh his name (March) means a horse and Beroul informs us he had horse's ears - a characteristic he shares with other legendary personages. The Dream of Rhonabwy tells us that he was Arthur's cousin while, in the Triads we learn that Tristan was his swineherd. Not much is said of Mark during the life of his wife and her lover, the emphasis being placed firmly on that famous affair. It is generally stated that he remaind ignorant of the events occuring around him for some time. One version says that on the death of the lovers Mark had them buried in a single grave, though in Malory Mark is said to have actually killed Tristan in a blind rage when he caught him playing the harp to Iseult.

The story of Tristan and Iseult appears in the romances of many countries, and so, by association, does the character of Mark. His family tree, however, differs greatly. That most commonly reffered to is the pedigree given by Sir Thomas Malory. The Italian romance Tristano Riccardiano gives a version that has great similarity to the details given by Sir Thomas Malory.

Mark was "a fair speaker, and false thereunder." Lancelot called him "King Fox", and it was a long time before he was compelled to swear fealty to Arthur. The knights Mark killed, both Arthur's men and his own (in rage, etc) and presumably knights-errant and knights of other courts as well, may equal or outnumber the victims of Breuse Sans Pitie. Among Mark's victim's was his own brother, Prince Boudwin, whose popularity and success in battle Mark envied. By the murder of Boudwin, he gained the enmity of his nephew, Alisander le Orphelin; Mark eventually managed to get Alisander killed, but Alisander's son Bellangerus le Beuse finally avenged Boudwin and Alisander (and, incidentally, Mark's most famous victim, Tristram), presumably by dealing Mark his well deserved death.

Like Arthur, Mark on occasion sallied forth dressed as an ordinary knight, keeping his true identity secret - especially if he heard his companions-for-the-nonce talking against Mark of Cornwall. Faced with combat, Mark often turned poltroon - though at least once he defended himself competently in trial by combat, winning even though he was in the wrong. Malory comments that Mark won by chance, but at least Mark had sufficient honor to show up at the battleground, having given his word to do so. For all his villainy, Mark fails to become a commanding figure, frequently seeming more of a butt and buffoon.

Very curiously, it was Mark who, finding Sir Lanceor and Lady Colombe dead, stopped to bury them and erect a rich tomb above them, aparently for no other motivation than kindliness and pity. In other versions of Tristram, earlier as well as later, Mark is shown as a more sympathetic, or at least less malicious, character. Perhaps Malory put so much emphasis on Tristram and integrated his saga so throughly with Arthur's in order to play up the parallel between the two great love triangels: Arthur-Guenevere-Lancelot and Mark-Isoud-Tristram. Having done so, Malory might have been constrained to make Mark as bad as possible in order to present a contrast with the comparatively good Arthur.

Various tales tell what befell him after Tristan's death. According to an Italian romance (La vendetta che fe messer Lanzelloto de la morte de miser Tristan), Lancelot invaded Cornwall and killed Mark. Elsewhere it is said that Tristan the Younger overcame him; or that he was placed in a cage and from there had to view the graves of Tristan and Iseult; or that, when Lancelot died, he invaded Logres and subsequently destroyed most of Camelot and the Round Table, but himself fell at the hand of Pamlart, a descendant of Ban; or that Bellangere, son of Alisander the Orphan killed him.

The question arises as to whether Mark was identical with a historical Cornish ruler called Cunomorus, who reigned also on the far side of the Channel in Brittany. The ancient inscription on a stone at Castle Dor in Cornwall may read (though this is uncertain) Drustans hic iacit cunomori filius (Here lies Tristan, son of Cunomorus). If the reading is accurate, it may mean that, in the original version, Tristan was more closely related to Mark than subsequent story tellers were prepared to allow. The writer Wrmonoc says Cunomorus was also called Mark and he may have thought him identical with March, son of Meirchiaun (Meirchyawn), King of Glamorgan.

A story tells that this Cunomorus had been warned that one of his sons would kill him, so he murdered his wives when they became pregnant. One wife, Trephina, daughter of Warok, chief of the Venetii, actually gave birth before Cunomorus had her decapitated. However, he performed this task after the birth and her son (Judval or Tremeur) was left to die. Gildas restored Trephina to life. They went back to the castle (Trephina carrying her head) and the battlements fell on Cunomorus, killing him.

At a more prosaic historical level, we are told that Cunomorus supported Chramm, son of the Frankish King Clothair, in a rebellion in which both he and Chramm fell (AD 560). However, M. Dillon and N.K. Chadwick state that Cunomorus fell while fighting people who had rebelled against him.

King Mark lives on in Breton tradition. He is thought to ride a winged horse (mormarc'h) when the sea off Penmarc'h (Mark's Head, a headland in Brittany) is stormy.

Spence identifies King Mark with "March, son of Mairchion" ["Horse, son of Horses"], as a figure from British mythology, wherein horses held a high place, as evidence, for instance, by the white horses on the hills of Uffington and Bratton.

In Wagner's opera he is a noble older man, in the tales around Arthur he is sly and unchivalry.

See also
Amant | The Legend of King Arthur

King Mark's Family and Retainers