Perilous


    1. Perilous Bed
      Adventurous Bed, Bed of Marvels, Lit Marveile

      A bed in the castle of Carbonek where Galahad slept and was wounded by a fiery lance. Some dubious sources say that it was Galahad's father, Lancelot, who slept in this bed having previously lain with Elaine, a coupling that led to the birth of Galahad.


    2. Perilous Bed
      Lit Merveile

      A wondrous bed which no knight of Arthur's could rest in this bed without rising in shame.

      When Gawaine went to rescue certain captives at a castle, at the frontier of the Terre Foraine (Foreign Land) of Gore, he were to know that no one could sleep in this bed without being maimed or killed. On entering, he saw the bed scudding around on its own. Gawain jumped onto it and it shot from wall to wall, smashing itself against them. When it ceased its gallivanting, 500 pebbles were unleashed at Gawain from slingstaves (sling-shots). Crossbow bolts were then aimed at him but happily his armour was sufficient to protect him.

      Lancelot later stopped here for a night during his pursuit of Guenevere and her captor Meliagrant. Lancelot took the risk and slept in the bed. At midnight the house trembled, a whirlwind swept through it, and a fiery lance came in the window and advanced toward the bed with such force that it entered half a foot into the ground. Lancelot got up, cut the lance in half with his sword, and went back to bed.

      I suspect that this bed should be identified with the one that Malory tells us Merlin made.

      See also
      Castle Meliot | The Legend of King Arthur
      Castle of Marvels | The Legend of King Arthur
      Deadly Bed | The Legend of King Arthur
      Klingsor | The Legend of King Arthur
      Wondrous Bed | The Legend of King Arthur
      Merlin's Bed | The Legend of King Arthur


    3. Perilous Bridge

      Another name for the Sword Bridge leading to the land of Gorre. Lancelot crossed it in his quest to rescue Guinevere.


    4. Perilous Bridge
      Pont Perileus

      A half-finished bridge on the way to the Castle Orguelleus. Perceval had to cross it. When he reached the end, it detached itself from one side of the chasm, turned 180 degrees, and allowed Perceval to keep riding to the other side. This was only to happen when the best of knights rode upon it.


    5. Perilous Castle

      A manor where Sir Meliot of Logres lay sick until he was cured by Lancelot.


    6. Perilous Castle

      A castle Arthur had to conquer in order to free the Kingdom of Damsels from the grip of a tyrant.


    7. Perilous Castle
      Chastel Paorous

      A castle ruled by Lord Menelais. It was said that no one passed the castle without seeing or hearing something that would terrify him.


    8. Perilous Castle

      A castle whose enchantments were destroyed by Arthur’s knights Claris and Laris. Its ruler was Orgueillox the Proud.


    9. Perilous Castle

      Tristram, Gouvernail, Sir Kehydius, and Dame Bragwaine were on their way by boat from Brittany to Cornwall when an extremely "contrarious wind" blew them off course to North Wales, where they came ashore near the Castle Perilous. Tristram went into the forest because "in this forest are many strange adventures, as I heard say".

      This would seem to put it near the Forest Perilous (see below) of Annowre the sorceress in North Wales. I would incline to put this Castle Perilous at Dyffryn or Llanbedr, above Barmouth on the coast of Merioneth County. Having blown so far, though, it would not be impossible for Tristram and party to have come ashore even farther along the coast, at, say, Llandudno or Rhyl.

      Although I cannot be entirely sure, I do not think this is the same castle as Dame Lyonors' Castle Perilous, otherwise called Castle Dangerous - and not simply because I have already located that Castle Perilous in Wiltshire!


    10. Perilous Cemetery

      A haunted graveyard in Perlesvaus.

      Its chapel, the Perilous Chapel (see below), held the shroud that covered Christ, which Perceval needed to defeat the Lord of the Fens. Perceval’s sister, Dandrane, braved the horrors of the cemetery to retrieve a piece of the shroud. Lancelot had to perform similarly on a quest to heal Meliot of Logres. A variation of Dandrane’s adventure is given to Lore of Cardigan at the Waste Chapel in Meriadeuc.


    11. Perilous Cemetery
      Atre Périlleux, Atre Perilleux

      A cemetery visited by Gawain during his quest to rescue Arthur’s female cupbearer from Sir Escanor. Gawain spent the night there and learned of a maiden trapped in a tomb by a fiend. He beheaded the devil and freed the damsel.


    12. Perilous Chapel

      The chapel in the Perilous Cemetery (see above), found in Perlesvaus and Malory’s Le Morte Darthur. In the former, Perceval had to brave the horrors of the haunted cemetery and chapel to retrieve the shroud which had covered Jesus Christ. Perceval’s sister, Dandrane, also had to journey to the Perilous Chapel to retrieve a piece of the shroud. Finally, Lancelot was required to face the Perilous Chapel to obtain a sword and cloth in order to heal Meliot of Logres.

      Either this was not a Christian Chapel, or it had been adapted to her own purposes by the sorceress Hellawes the Sorceress, Lady of the Castle Nigramous, who "ordained" the chapel to entrap Lancelot or Gawaine.

      Riding in a deep forest, Lancelot followed a black brachet which was tracking a feute of blood. The brachet led him over an old, feeble bridge into an old manor, where he found the body of Sir Gylbert the Bastard, with his wife grieving for him. Leaving the manor, Lancelot met a damsel he knew, who told him that her brother, Sir Meliot de Logres, had fought and killed Sir Gylbert that day, but had been wounded himself. (In Le Morte Darthur, Gylbert's lover, a witch, cast a spell on Sir Meliot so that his wounds would never be healed unless some knight braved the Perilous Chapel and retrieved a bloody sword within.) The bleeding could not be staunched, and Meliot could only be saved if his wounds were searched with the sword and a piece of the bloody cloth wrapping the dead knight in the Chapel Perilous.

      Lancelot proceeded to Chapel Perilous, on the front of which he saw many fair, rich shields hanging upside-down. Thirty armed knights, twice the size of any man, barred his way, grinning and gnashing their teeth at him; when he resolutely stepped forward, holding his shield before him, and pushed through the ranks of knights, they stood aside and let him pass. In the chapel, by the light of a single dim lamp, he found the body of Sir Gylbert the Bastard lying covered by a cloth of silk. When Lancelot cut off a little of the cloth, the earth seemed to quake. When he came back outside, the thirty knights, in unison, threatened his death if he did not lay down Sir Gilbert's sword, which he had picked up in the chapel along with the cloth. Again Lancelot passed resolutely and safely through their midst. It turned out that the entire Chapel was an elaborate charade created by Hellawes the Sorceress, and Lancelot was the first person to call her bluff.

      Next he met Hellawes herself, who first threatened his death if he did not lay down the sword, then tried to get him to kiss her once. When he refused, she confessed that either to lay down the sword or to kiss her would have cost him his life. She had been in love with him for seven years and, despairing of his love, had hoped to have his dead body to kiss and fondle. She had had Sir Gilbert and cut off his left hand. (Had Hellawes been less lethal with Gawaine than with Lancelot because she did not despair of winning Gawaine's carnal love?) Proceeding from the chapel, Lancelot healed Meliot. Hellawes died within a fortnight from sorrow. I do not know whether Sir Gilbert was Hellawes' unwilling accomplice or unwitting tool.

      The Chapel Perilous would appear to have been in one of the Perilous Forests.


    13. Perilous Chapel

      A chapel visited by Gawain and Hector during the Grail Quest. Both knights saw visions portending the completion of the quest by Galahad, Perceval, and Bors. The visions signified the unworthiness of both Gawain and Hector.


    14. Perilous Chest

      A chest in the castle Dolorous Guard containing the demons that enchanted the castle. Lancelot, upon conquering the stronghold, found the key to open the chest and release the demons, thus ending the enchantments.


    15. Perilous Ford
      Gué Perellos

      A treacherous ford in the land of Galloway that no knight dared to cross. Gawain reached it during his travels and tried to jump his horse across it, but his horse jumped badly and dumped him into the river.


    16. Perilous Ford

      This seems to lie between Queen Igraine's Canguin and Guiromelant's Orquenseles, with an additional stretch of land on Igraine's side.

      The Haughty Maid of Logres maliciously dares Gawaine to jump his horse across the Perilous Ford, saying that her dear friend the Haughty Knight of the Rock (whom Gawaine has just defeated) has been in the habit of crossing it every day for her sake. When, thanks to Gringolet, Gawaine makes it ot the other side, Guiromelant informs him that he is the first knight ever to keep his life while crossing this ford.

      This might be identical with the Perilous Ford mentioned above.


    17. Perilous Ford

      A ford defended by the knight Bleoberis. Gawain’s son Guinglain defeated Bleoberis at the Perilous Ford and sent him to King Arthur.


    18. Perilous Ford

      A ford where Perceval defeated a knight named Urbain. Urbain, to honor his fairy lover, jousted with all knights who passed the ford.


    19. Perilous Forest
      Forest Perdue, Forest Perilleuse

      A name given to several woods in Arthurian romance; it is impossible to differentiate one from the other. [More]


    20. Perilous Lake

      A lake in the Forest of Morrois in Cornwall.

      King Mark of Cornwall sent Sir Kay on an "adventure" to the Perilous Lake. Mark intended to ambush and kill him. Kay, unbeknownst to Mark, joined with Sir Gaheris on the way. Mark and his nephew Andred defeated Kay, but Gaheris defeated them both. Rather than kill King Mark, Gaheris forced him to revoke Tristan’s exile from Cornwall.

      Despite the name, there's no suggestion that this is magically dangerous. He puts it in the forest of Morris. Dozmary Pool, on a hilltop in Bodmir Moor, was long supposed to be bottomless, which would make it perilous. The Perilous Lake is rather minor. Malory has nothing much happening here, except that Kay and Gaheris abide at it a while waiting for King Mark.


    21. Perilous Mount

      A treacherous mountain that Arthur’s Sir Kahedins vowed to climb until he reached the top.


    22. Perilous Palace

      In the Post-Vulgate, a castle in the Forest of Darnantes where Simeon, a sinful follower of Joseph of Arimathea, was forced to burn until Galahad came and freed him of his torment. Elsewhere, the Perilous Palace is named as the Castle of Pellehan, the Grail King, which is usually called the Palace of Adventures.


    23. Perilous Pass
      Passage Perilleux

      A location with a castle guarded by Lord Febus and a band of twenty knights. Galehaut the Brown established the adventure.

      Guiron the Courteous defeated Febus and all the knights, completing the adventure. Guiron made Seguarades lord of the castle of the Perilous Pass.


    24. Perilous Passage

      In Lybeaus Desconus, William of Salebrant is the guardian of the Perilous Passage. He is defeated by Guinglain, who sends him to Arthur's court.


    25. Perilous Rock, Port of
      Perilous Port, la Roche del Port, la Roche del Port Peri, Port de Peril

      A rock in the middle of the sea, once used as a harbor for a band of pirates.

      Malory mentions this mysterious spot only once, in the Grail Adventures - and that in a flashback. Nascien, entering a ship at the isle of Turnance, was blown to "another ship where King Mordrains was, which had been tempted full evil with a fiend in the Port of Perilous Rock", all this happening forty years after Christ's Passion.

      After King Mordrain converted to Christianity, God transported him to the Rock of the Perilous Port to test his faith. Although tempted by a fiend and threatened by storms (which broke the Rock in two), Mordrain resisted his desire to leave the Rock, and thus passed the test.

      The geography given by the Estoire del Saint Graal suggests an identification with the Rock of Gibraltar, although the latter is not in the middle of the ocean. If Turnance is identified with Lundy, then Morte Point, in Devonshire, west of Ilfracome, might be a good spot for the Port of Perilous Rock, "Morte" suggesting death and therefore peril. I do not know whether the rocks are perilous there today, but even if they are not, they may have been fifteen or twenty centuries ago.


    26. Perilous Seat
      Seat of Danger, Siege Perilous

      The forbidden seat at the Grail Table and Round Table. [More.


    27. Perilous Vale

      The residence of Morgan le Fay in Chrétien de Troyes’s Erec.


    28. Perilous Valley
      Val Perilleus

      A land ruled by the Red Knight, an enemy of Arthur. Situated on the Sea of Norway, it was ringed by high mountains and could only be entered via a narrow passage.

      The Red Knight imprisoned many of Arthur’s knights in the Perilous Valley until they were freed by Gawain and Meriadeuc.


    29. Perilous Valley

      A dangerous vale from which no knight ever returned alive. Lancelot and Tristan entered the valley during the Grail Quest and slew two savage giants at the castle of Sidravalle. I think this is the Perilous Valley where one of Merlin's Stones were placed.