Saint


    1. Saint Aaron

      A church founded by Arthur in the city of Caerleon.


    2. Saint Albans
      Albon, Verulam

      The location of King Uther Pendragon’s last great battle.

      It is situated north of London and was once called Verulam. In Geoffrey, Uther fights Octa’s and Eosa’s Saxons here, but Malory makes his enemies a collection of lesser kings seeking to usurp Uther’s throne. Uther went out into the field even though he was so sick had to be carried in a horse litter, and was victorious (in Geoffrey, Octa and Eosa were killed). Following the battle, King Uther became more ill and died.

      Saint Albans was named after the British martyr who died trying to preserve Christianity in Britain when it was being destroyed by the Emperor Diocletian and the warrior Maximianus (Maximus).


    3. Saint Amphiball

      A church in Winchester where Constans, Arthur’s uncle, was cloistered until Vortigern foisted him to the throne.

      Generations later, King Constantine, Arthur’s successor, killed Melou, the traitorous son of Mordred, at the church.


    4. Saint Augustine

      A Roman monk sent to Britain to convert the English to Christianity in AD 596. [More]


    5. Saint Augustine's Chapel

      Arthur visits this chapel in the White Forest and experiences a spiritual rebirth.


    6. Saint Bernard's Mount

      According to the Prose Brut, Arthur fought and killed the giant Dinabuc at Saint Bernard’s Mount just prior to the Roman War.

      Why the author chose to name the hill after Saint Bernard, rather than use the familiar Mont St. Michel, is unclear.


    7. Saint Beund

      A saint in North Wales. [More]


    8. Saint Cadoc

      A Welsh saint. [More]


    9. Saint Carannog

      A saint with a floating altar. [More]


    10. Saint Cirre

      A castle in Claudas’s kingdom. Its lord was one of Claudas’s vassals. It is the name of an actual French town near Versailles.


    11. Saint David

      Arthur's uncle. [More]


    12. Saint David's
      Welsh: Mynyw; Menevia

      A coastal city in Wales, formerly called Menevia, or Mynyw in Welsh. After St. David became the bishop of the see, and was buried, the old name was abandoned and his honorable name was bestowed upon it.

      The Irish-Saxon alliance, led by Gilloman and Pascentius, fought their first battle against Uther here in an attempt to take Britain from Uther’s brother Ambrosius. Uther won the battle and killed both Gilloman and Pascentius, but before the battle was finished, Pascentius sent a Saxon assassin to Winchester to poison King Ambrosius. Uther had only moments to relish his victory before he heard that his brother was dead.

      A Welsh Triad lists Saint David’s as Arthur’s capital in Wales, in which Dewi was the chief bishop and Maelgwn was the chief elder. It was one of the three archbishoprics of the island.

      Notes
      A free translation of the Welsh Tyddewi. Mynyw means 'jutting', 'peninsulated'.


    13. Saint Derferl-Gadarn
      Derfel, Derfel Gadarn

      He was a Welsh hermit and later a monk in the 6th century. He is said to have taken part in the battle of Camlann, one of the seven warriors who survived - he survived "by his strength alone".

      Lewys Glyn Cothi says the following about him:

      When there were at Camlan men and fighting and a host being slain, Derfel with his arms was dividing steel there in two.

      After the battle he choosed the religious life where he lived as a hermit. He then went into monastery in Llantwit. He founded a monastery in Llandderfel, Gwynedd, which is said to be named after him. He served as the abbot of Ynys Enlli on Bardsey Island. He died on April 6 in 660 of natural causes.


    14. Saint Edeyrn

      Edeyrn was a hermit in Brittany, France, in the 6th century. According to the Arthurian tradition he was a Briton and a companion of King Arthur before he became a recluse in Armonica, Brittany.


    15. Saint Eglise

      The older sister of Lady of the Tor.


    16. Saint Germanus of Auxerre

      Bishop of Auxerre. [More]


    17. Saint Gwladys

      Daughter of King Brychan of Brecknock. [More]


    18. Saint Helena
      Saint Helen of Constantinople | c. 250 - c. 330

      Wife of the Roman emperor Constantius Chlorus and mother of emperor Constantine the Great. In 326-328 she undertook a trip to Palestine and the holy places and she discovered the True Cross of Jesus's crucifixion.

      Geoffrey of Monmouth writes in his Historia Regum Britanniae, that Helena was a daughter of the British King Coel (Cole of Camulodunum) who allied with Constantius to avoid more war with Rome. Since she had no brothers to inherit the throne of Britain she was brought up in the manner of a queen.


    19. Saint Illtyd
      Illtud Farchog; Latin: Hildutus | 5th-6th century

      An abbot who founded the school Cor Tewdws in Llanilltud Fawr, Glamorgan, Wales. He founded the monastery and college in the 6th century. Among the pupils can be found Gildas the Historian, Samson of Dol, Saint David of Wales and Saint Patrick of Ireland.

      According to Life of St. Illtud, written about 1140, Illtud was the son of a Breton prince named Bicanus and a cousin of King Arthur whom he served during his early years as a soldier. He was sometimes called St. Illtud the Knight. The knight Illtud has been tried to identify with Sir Galahad.

    20. Saint John

      In the Post-Vulgate Merlin continuation, the church in Camelot where Lot and his compatriots were buried following their deaths at the battle of Tarabel (Terrabil). Malory transfers this to Saint Stephen’s.

      See also
      Saint Stephen's | The Legend of King Arthur


    21. Saint John, Valley of

      A British valley that features in Sir Walter Scott’s The Bridal of Triermain.

      Merlin imprisoned Gyneth, Arthur’s daughter, in a castle in the Valley of St. John, placing her in a deep slumber. Sir Roland de Vaux found her and woke her with a kiss.


    22. Saint John the Baptist

      A biblical priest. [More]


    23. Saint Kea

      A saint who lived in the 5th century. [More]


    24. Saint Michael's Mount

      Situated a short way off the south Cornwall coast in Mount's Bay and connected to the mainland by a causeway that is usable only at low tide, this rocky island is the legendary home of the early Cornish giant Cormoran.

      The island was called Dinsul in the pre-Christian era and was thought to form a part of the lost kingdom of Lyonesse.


    25. Saint Michael's Mount, Giant of

      One of the worst of the giants, and apparently one of the largest, he set around naked by his fire forcing three young damsels to turn twelve babies, broached like birds on a spit, above the fire. He killed Duke Howell's (Hoel) wife by raping her, slitting her to the navel, which may be an indication of his size. According to the Vulgate, this giant wore a swordproof serpent's skin.

      Arthur, Kay, and Bedivere stopped to kill him and avenge the lady on their way to fight Emperor Lucius.

      See also
      Club of Iron | The Legend of King Arthur


    26. Saint Michel's Mont
      St. Michael's Mount

      A mount situated off the north coast of Brittany, France.

      This hill on the tidal flats was once the haunt of a particularly repulsive giant. After slaying him, Arthur commanded Howell to build the famous church of Saint Michael's Mount. This was early in Arthur's reign, as he was setting out to conquer the Emperor of Rome.

      Do not confuse with Saint Michael's Mount, Cornwall, a similar spot east of Penzance on the south Cornish coast.


    27. Saint Michelsstein

      A city in Cornwall.

      Each year, the city held a fair in honor of Saint Michael. Isolde’s page, Piloise, traveled to the fair while bearing a message from Tristan (Tristram) to Isolde.


    28. Saint Nectan's Glen
      Cornish: Glynn Nathan

      In the forest near Tintagel in north Cornwall. The glen's most famous and prominent features is St. Nectan's Kieve, a waterfall. This is a sacred site since the 6th century where Saint Nectan is said to have founded a hermitage above the waterfall.



      Photo: Thorgrim



      According to legend, the saint rang a silver bell in times of stormy weather, this to warn ships of the perilous rocks at the mouth of the Rocky Valley.

      There are myths and legends surrounding King Arthur - it's reputed to be the place where the king baptised the Knights Templar and where King Arthur and his knights is making ghostly appearances.


    29. Saint Paul's Cathedral

      A familiar landmark on the London skyline, Saint Paul's Cathedral was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, construction starting in 1675.

      It is the site that is of particular interest, for here, it is alleged, Bladud fell from the sky on his wings and met his death, and, later, the Romans established a temple to Apollo and Diana here. Before that, the site was said to have been Trojan temple, established by Brutus himself and subsequently used by Lud, whose name is remembered in Ludgate Hill, the hill that is today crowned by the magnificence of Saint Paul's Cathedral.


    30. Saint Peter's

      A nunnery in Carmarthen where Merlin's mother resided. Its provost was named Eli.


    31. Saint Philipe

      He baptises Joseph of Arimathea.


    32. Saint Samson
      Sampson, Sanxo

      Patron saint of Brittany and a missionary bishop. [More]


    33. Saint Samson Church

      Beroul, a twelfth-century French poet, said that King Mark of Cornwall had a residence in Lantyan, (Castle Dore is in the medieval area of Lantyan), which lends itself towards supporting the theory that King Mark made his base at Castle Dore.

      Although dating to the fifteenth-century it is mentioned by Beroul in the twelfth. Beroul wrote about the wedding of King Mark to Yseult (Isoud) in his The Romance of Tristan, at the Church of St. Samson. The question this raises is did a church or monastery named after St. Samson stand there in the sixth-century?


    34. Saint Samson's Isle

      The Cornish island where, according to Chrétien de Troyes the Prose Merlin and the prose Tristan, Tristan fought and killed Morholt (Marhaus) in his first duel (Tristan was championing King Mark against Morholt, who had demanded a tribute from Cornwall). It was apparently visible from the mainland.

      In La Tavola Ritonda, the battle takes place on an island called Sanza Avventura. Béroul names Saint Samson as a monastery in King Mark’s Cornwall, and, according to Geoffrey Ashe, an actual church named Saint Samson still exists in Cornwall, on a hillside in Golant. Presumably it lies between Britain and Ireland; there is an island called Saint Samson in the Scilly group.


    35. Saint Soffie

      An abbey in Constantinople to which Floriant’s mother retired and in which Floriant was crowned emperor of Constantinople.


    36. Saint Stephen's Church

      The chief church in Camelot.

      It was established by Josephus, the son of Joseph of Arimathea, after God slew Agrestes, Camelot’s pagan king.

      Arthur and Guinevere were married at St. Stephen’s. Out of respect for their skill and nobility, Arthur buried Kings Nero and Lot at Saint Stephen’s following their deaths at the Battle of Tarabel. Other Arthurian knights also rested there, including Erec, Gareth, and Agravain.

      See also
      Saint John | The Legend of King Arthur


    37. Saint Teilo
      Latin: Teliarus, Teliavus; Breton: Teliau, Telo; French: Télo, Théleau; Cornish: Eliud; Old Welsh: Eilliau, Eliau

      Born c. 500 at Penalun (Penally), Pembrokshire and died on 9 February c. 560 at Llandeilo Fawr, Wales.

      A British Christian monk, bishop and founder of churches and monasteries. It is said he was a relative, possibly a cousin, and disciple of Saint David, thus making him a member of the royal family of Gwynedd.