NIGHTBRINGER | The Arthurian Encyclopedia

Flordibel


Heroine of Der Pleier’s Tandareis and Flordibel. The daughter of the King of India, she was sent to Arthur’s court as a child to serve Guenevere.

Sure that she would never love a man willingly, she asked Arthur for his promise to slay any man who succeeded in winning her love. Over the next ten years, however, she fell deeply in love with one of her servants: a page named Tandareis. Fearing Arthur’s vow, the two lovers fled court for Tandareis’s home Castle of Tandernas, which Arthur subsequently besieged. Peace was reached, but on the condition that Tandareis leave for foreign lands until he could prove his honor.

Despondent, Flordibel returned to Arthur’s court and waited. After he had won fame through a series of adventures, Arthur invited Tandareis back to court, and he and Flordibel were wed. She became Queen of Malmontan and Mermin, two kingdoms that Tandareis had conquered.


Source
Tandareis and Flordibel | Der Pleier, 1240-1270