NIGHTBRINGER | The Arthurian Encyclopedia

Lore of Carduel

Lore de Cardueil, Lore de Carduel, Lore de Kardoil, Lore la Fille Doon, Lorete

Carduel is surely Cardoile, or Carlisle. Dame Lore of Carduel served as the King’s cupbearer.

At a lovers’ rendevous between the two couples Lancelot and Guenevere, and Duke Galeholt and the Lady of Malohaut, Lore of Carduel and Duke Galeholt’s seneschal were also present.

In Vulgate VII Lore is a sister or – more likely – a cousin of Guenevere, and either the sister or the lover of Sir Giflez (Griflet?). In some extremely tricky – at least to Phyllis Ann Karr – passages, Lore and the Queen appear to help Giflez cross a lake.

Four knights seem to have captured GarethKay, after killing one of them, gives his destrier to Lorete (Lore), who then proceeds with the Queen to rescue, mount, and arm Gareth. Once he is armed, the women apparently stand back and watch; however, there is at least a hint that Lorete might do a bit of fighting.

When I read about Lore de Carduel in The Vulgate Version (edited from Manuscripts in the British Museums by H. Oskar Sommer) I find some interesting comments.

... a lady-in-waiting to Guenever, and is in attendance when the Queen's first meeting with Lancelot takes place. The Lore mentioned on page 272 is, according to all the MSS, a daughter of a sister of Artus, and of the King Norwei, Norwage, or Norauge. So far there is nothing to find fault with in these statements. But this 'Lore' is surnamed 'de Carduel', and her father, according to some MSS, is said to have been 'maistre bouteillier de la Terre de Logres', an office which she herself fills after her arrival at court.

In one MSS her father is simply styled 'haut botiller lo roi de fe'. The MS. No. 337, in part II, there is mentioned a Lore or Lorete who is the daughter of Doon de Carduel, and the sister of Ginet.

In the part of the MS. No. 337 which corresponds to two thirds of the Vulgate Merlin, there occurs a passage which states that ‘Do’ is said to have been Uther Pendragon’s ‘foreister’ or ‘maister forester’. It is remarkable that Lucan’s father bears the same name as the founder of Cornwall.