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Chaosium Digest Volume 09 Number 01
Chaosium Digest Volume 9, Number 1
Date: Sunday, December 11, 1994
Number: 2 of 4
Contents:
Tristram: A Chronology, Part One (Peter Corless) PENDRAGON
--------------------
From: Peter Corless <pcorless@cisco.com>
Subject: Tristram: A Chronology, Part One
System: Pendragon
This is another in a series of character profiles for Pendragon. It
is intended for use in a compendium of the knights and characters of
the Pendragon milieu; all feedback is appreciated (pcorless@cisco.com).
Just as an FYI:
The majority of what follows is a concatenation of the history of
Tristram and Isoud, taken primarily from Sir Thomas Malory's "Le Morte
de Arthur," supplemented greatly by the timelines in Chaosium's "Boy
King" and literally dozens of other sources.
There are a number of other great romances in the Tristram cycle that
vary greatly from Malory. So much so, I had to leave some key stories
(key, at least, to these other cycles), out of this interpretive text.
In particular, the manner of Tristram's advent in Ireland (in some
stories, Palomides does not exist; instead, there is a tale of dragon-
slaying), as well as his death (in these other versions, Tristram dies
in Brittany when Isoud le Blanche Mains tells him the ship sent to
fetch La Beale Isoud does not have a white sail but a black, meaning
she was not going to come; the lie breaks Tristram's heart). For
those interested in such "alternate reality" versions, I cannot
recommend highly enough Gottfried von Straussburg's "Tristan" and also
Beroul's "Tristan".
Sincerely,
-Peter Corless
pcorless@cisco.com
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Sir Tristram of Lyonesse
Knight of the Round Table
Copyright 1994, Peter Corless
Known Relatives:
Father - King Meliodas of Lyonesse
Mother - Queen Elizabeth of Lyonesse
Step-Mother - ??? (daughter of King Hoel of Brittany)
Uncle - King Mark of Cornwall (mother's sister)
Step-Grandfather (Stepmother's Father) - King Hoel of Brittany *and*
Father-in-Law (Father of Isoud la Blanche Mains) - King Hoel of Brittany
Lover - La Beale Isoud
Wife - Isoud le Blanche Mains
Stepbrother - ??? (poisoned in chidhood)
Other step-siblings
Chronology:
512 - born, mother dies at birth
519 - father remarried
523 - attempted poisoning by stepmother
523-530 - tutalage in France under Gouvernail
530 - returns to Lyonesse; recieves a brachet and love letters from King
Faramon of France's daughter; she dies of unrequited love
530 - fought against Sir Marhaus; travels to Ireland in disguise as "Sir
Tramtrist" to find cure for wound; healed by La Beale Isoud
531 - Lady of the Launds Tournament in Ireland; "Tramtrist" wins honors
over Palomides
532 - Has affair with Sir Segwarides' wife; first arouses jealosy of
King Mark
533 - Defends King Anguish from Sir Blamore; offered hand of Le Beale
Isoud in return; offers to marry her to King Mark instead
534 - Returns with La Beale Isoud to marry King Mark; they fall in love
by drinking love elixir by accident; Tristram kills Breunor of
Castle Pleure, ending the evil custom there
534 - Wedding of King Mark and La Beale Isoud; fight between Palomides
and Tristram; accused of adultery by Andred
535 - Morgan Le Fay creates the drinking Horn of Chastity to divulge the
Lancelot/Guenever affair; fails when Lamorak sends the horn to
King Mark's court instead.
535 - Caught in adultery with La Beale Isoud; Tristram flees to King
Hoel's court in Brittany
536 - Champions King Hoel against his enemy, Earl Grip; offered marriage
to his daughter, Isoud le Blanche Mains
537 - Tristram marries Isoud le Blanche Mains; shortly thereafter
returns to Logres
538 - Tristram and Lamorak adventure to Isle of Servage
540 - Tristram and Lamorak become friends; Tristram saves King Arthur
from the Lady Annowre
541 - Goes mad from jealousy towards Sir Kehydius
542 - Cured but banished from Cornwall by King Mark; wins the Castle of
Maidens tourney but is wounded by Lancelot; imprisoned and freed
by Sir Darras
542 - Imprisoned and freed by Morgan le Fay; carries the Shield of
Rebuke to the Castle of Hard Rock tourney
543 - Tristram foils Morgan Le Fay's attempt to kill Lancelot by
ambushment of thirty knights
543 - Lancelot and Tristram fight at Merlin's Rock; Tristram joins Round
Table and gets Marhaus' siege (seat) at the Table
544 - Arthur sets accord between Mark and Tristram; returns to Cornwall
after the Friendship Tournament
547 - Aids King Mark and defeats Sr Elias and his Saxons (Sessiones).
550 - Imprisoned in Cornwall by Mark
551 - Freed by Sir Percivale; flees with Isoud
553 - Lonazep Tournament, wins the second day's prize; retires with La
Beale Isoud to Joyous Gard
554 - Returns to Cornwall once more; fights with Palomides just before
his baptism
559 - Tristram slain with a glaive by King Mark; Isoud dies of grief
560 - Lyonesse sinks into the sea
Character Entry:
Sir Tristram of Lyonesse, along with Lancelot and Lamorak, was one of
the three great Knights of the Round Table (surpassed markedly only by
the perfect knight Sir Galahad during the years of the Grail quest).
Of these three, it was noted Tristram was stronger even than Lancelot,
though Lancelot had better stamina. Yet Lamorak proved to both he was
best with the lance. But these were minimal differences in their
abilities; most of the encounters between these knights were virtual
draws.
Tristram's distinguishing characteristics stand out in a comparison of
the two courts of Tinagel and Camelot. Whereas Lancelot and Lamorak
have good reason to honor and respect King Arthur, Mark is often
portrayed as cowardly and scheming -- an easy subject for lampooning
and ridicule. Similarly, Lancelot and Lamorak are the champions of
their respective clans, full of honorable and powerful knights. And
the de Ganis and de Gales clans are but two great families of many
that support the noble King Arthur. In contrast, Tristram often
stands alone to prevent shame for all of Cornwall. Tristram is loyal
to his uncle not because of his uncle's worthiness, but in display of
Tristram's personal virtues. Tristram shines as the brave loner and
bringer of hope to causes that looks otherwise hopeless, and as the
befriender to those who would otherwise be friendless.
As well, Tristram is set apart from his fellow knights by his courtly
skills: in the best Celtic tradition, he was a great harper and
hunter. In the best French tradition, he was remarkably well-read and
educated. In the best tradition of universal chivalry, he was loyal
to his lord, trustworthy to his friends, and a true lover to his lady.
Yet for all of his virtues, Tristram's life was tragic since his
untimely birth, when his pregnant mother Elizabeth took it upon
herself to find her imprisoned husband, King Meliodas of Lyonesse.
(He had been abducted by an amorous lady.) After having wandered deep
within a forest, Tristram's birth came upon her unexpectedly, and she
died from her labour pangs. With her dying breath she named him
Tristram, which meant "Sorrowful Birth."
Tristram's father was eventually freed by Merlin. After a few years
of mourning, Meliodas remarried King Hoel of Brittany's daughter, but
this too brought sorrow. Tristram's stepmother, jealous for her own
children, tried to poison the young prince, but her oldest son drank
it instead. When her second attempt was almost consumed by Meliodas,
she uncovered her own plot to keep from killing her husband. (Yet
some said she did so only because Tristram would have instantly been
inheritor of the kingdom!)
Meliodas and his barons sentenced her to burn for treason. Moments
before her execution, an eleven year old Tristram stood before his
father and begged her life be spared. Because of Tristram's eloquent
and moving words, Meliodas granted his wish. In time, Tristram was
even able to restore his stepmother to his father's good graces.
Tristram's grateful stepmother loved Tristram as her own son
thereafter. But though Melodias consented to be reconciled with his
wife, he was so deeply consternated by the whole affair that he sent
Tristram away to France for schooling.
Tristram spent the next seven years in France under the tutelage of
Gouvernail. Under this extremely bright man's tutelage, Tristram
became better schooled than any knight the world had seen. He showed
mastery surpassing all others before or since in subjects as diverse
as speaking and reading the French language, harping, hawking, hunting
and all manner of arms. He even wrote the definitive treatise
regarding the subject of hunting, recording all the traditions and
defining new terms where none existed before.
In 530 AD at the age of eighteen, Tristram was ready to return to
Lyonesse. Unable to part with his tutor, he offered to take
Gouvernail on as his squire. Gouvernail agreed to it quite
matter-of-factly, and stayed at Tristram's side for the remainder of
his days. Upon his return to Lyonesse, Tristram's father and mother
greeted him with great affection and were amazed at how large and fine
a man Tristram had grown into.
The celebrations ended when word reached Lyonesse that Tristram's
uncle King Mark (his natural mother Elizabeth's brother) was being
forced to pay tribute to the Irish King Anguish. At the same time,
Tristram's presence at the French court was greatly missed. Indeed,
no less than the King of France's daughter sent him a white brachet
and many letters professing her love for the prince of Lyonesse. But
Tristram was true to his heart foremost; although a union with France
would have been politically beneficial to his family, he did not love
the maiden. He was later to learn King Faramon's daughter died of
heartbreak for her unrequited love.
Instead, Tristram's mind was bent on knighthood. He went directly to
Castle Tintagel to fight the Irish champion -- Sir Marhaus -- who had
come to collect the tribute. Tristram was made knight by Mark, who
was glad for Tristram's advent. Marhaus was considered at the time to
be the best Knight of the Round Table and, brother-in-law of the Irish
king. That Cornwall was fielding a challenger at all was remarkable,
for it was often said that Cornish knights were seldom brave and never
very good. Frankly, there had been no other volunteers but Tristram!
In the ensuing battle on a nearby island, Tristram mortally wounded
the Irish champion. Marhaus was put in a ship to return to Ireland
directly after the battle, but soon died of the sword blow Tristram
had given his skull. Thereafter, people would learn to think twice
about denigrating the knights of Cornwall. However, Tristram did not
escape unscathed. Marhaus' sword had been covered with a poison such
that no wound delivered by it could heal without the proper cure.
After a month in bedridden agony, and with no cure in sight, a wise
woman came and told Tristram about the nature of his wounds, and told
him to seek his cure in Ireland.
Tristram and Gouvernail sailed swiftly, and arrived safely beside the
castle of King Anguish. Though he was deathly ill and unable to rise
from bed, Tristram hid his pain and played a merry tune upon his harp
as a way of getting an audience with the king. The plan worked, and
Anguish called for the wounded harper to appear before his court.
Calling himself "Tramtrist", his harping impressed the Irish king, his
queen, and most of all the King's beautiful daughter, La Beale Isoud.
Anguish directed his daughter, reknown as a surgeon, to care for their
new guest. Isoud deftly found the poison at the heart of the wound
and cured him of it. In return for restoring his health, "Tramtrist"
taught her to harp. It was obvious to everyone they fancied each
other's company. But unlike the instant love-at-first-sight Lancelot
and Guenever had for each other, Tristram and Isoud at first tried to
find suitable lovers for each other (the Lady of the Launds for
Tristram, and Mark for Isoud). Perhaps they were the last to realize
what others could easily see.
During Tristram's recovery at the hands of Isoud, everyone in Ireland
knew she was being courted by the famous Saracen, Sir Palomides.
Indeed, the proudly stubborn Palomides even declared he'd be
christened for her sake! It was not a decided engagement by any
means, but Tristram's advent changed the situation completely, and
began the almost life-long feud between Tristram and Palomides.
Tristram was barely healed of his wounds when Isoud suggested he try
to win the hand of the Lady of the Launds at the tournament her father
was hosting. Perhaps Isoud's motive was to pit her suitors against
each other. But since the prize of the tourney was the hand of the
Lady of the Launds, she could also have hoped to see Tramtrist beat
Palomides, so Isoud could have Palomides for herself. And of course,
it could not hurt to have this powerful stranger marry into her
father's family.
Tristram thought it a good idea as well, but had his own take on the
matter. He again disguised himself, this time as the unimaginative
but often effective "Black Knight". He amazed everyone by not only
defeating Palomides, but also all of the Irish knights and even ten of
Arthur's knights, including Gawaine and his brothers. Yet what
baffled everyone was when both Palomides and the Black Knight
disappeared at the end of the day, leaving the Lady of the Launds
without a suitable husband.
The reason they did so was to continue their jealous feuding.
Tristram pursued and defeated Palomides a second time in private, and
made him foreswear his courting of Isoud. Moreso, he forbade
Palomides from wearing armor or riding a horse for the next year.
Broken and shamed, Palomides took his leave. Tristam returned to
court and revealed himself as the Black Knight. After this, Isoud was
much more interested in Tramtrist than she had been before. (No more
mention was made of the Lady of the Launds -- we are left to wonder
and hope that another knight was granted the honour of her hand!)
During the tourney, Tristram met the one man who could have revealed
his identity: a squire named Hebes who had been the messenger for the
recently deceased daughter of King Faramon. Hebes immediately
recognized Tristram, and told him of the death of the princess.
Tristram befriended and knighted Hebes, and in return, Hebes promised
to keep Tristram's identity secret. Thereafter, Tristram became known
as a great benefactor to young knights.
Yet the truth desires to be set free, and soon the queen herself
discovered "Tramtrist's" true identity: the notch in Tristram's sword
matched exactly to the piece that had been found lodged in Marhaus'
skull. Not being able to break the rules of hospitality, Anguish
confronted his guest with the accusations against him. Tristram
confessed to him who he truly was, and how he had defeated Marhaus.
Yet though Anguish was impressed with Tristram, and personally bore
him no ill will, he not able to promise his guest safety in his court
from Marhaus' angry relatives -- including the Queen -- and politely
asked Tristram to leave.
Isoud and Tristram exchanged rings before he departed, but these were
not to signify their intention to marry each other. Instead, they
swore vows: Tristram would be her knight and defender, and she
promised not to marry anyone except if he gave his assent. With that,
they departed as friends. At this point, many people would say that
these two truly were in love with each other, and yet with his actions
Tristram proved otherwise.
Upon his return to court, Tristram began an affair with Sir
Segwarides' wife. Mark learned of this and became quite jealous of
his nephew. He even rode with two armed knights and attacked Tristram
while he was en route to an assignation with the lady. Tristram
defeated his attackers and kept his rendezvous, but not without being
wounded. Tristram's blood stains were later found on the lady's
bedsheets by her husband.
Segwarides chased after Tristram and fought with him, but was wounded
greviously. Tristram, still hurting from Mark's wounding, returned to
court and likewise took to his sickbed. Months passed, with an uneasy
quiet between Segwarides, Tristram and Mark pervading the court. Sir
Bleoberis's arrival eventually brought it to a head by this Knight of
the Round Table's asking for a boon. King Mark granted it, and
Bleoberis asked for nothing less than Segwarides' wife! She consented,
and the two rode off together.
Segwarides found out about this second betrayal and rode off after
her. But the ladies of the court, well aware of Tristram's professed
love, chided him for not going after her himself. Tristram explained
that it was her husband's duty to attempt to win her back first, but
vowed to go after her himself if Segwarides was defeated. Not long
after, a squire informed the court that Segwarides had been bested by
Bleoberis, and Tristram set off towards Arthur's court in pursuit.
En route, he defeated Sir Sagramore and Dodinas in return for their
mockery of Cornish knights. Shortly thereafter, he caught up with
Bleoberis on the road, and fought with him for over two hours.
Bleoberis stopped the fight, made peace with Tristram, and agreed to
let the lady chose between them. She chose Bleoberis. She explained
to a stunned Tristram that she thought Tristram loved her, but when he
let Bleoberis take her from court without stirring a finger, she knew
it wasn't true love. She asked Bleoberis to take her to the abbey
where Segwarides was recovering. Segwarides was amazed and pleased to
have his wife back, and was glad for Tristram's efforts in her
recovery.
Yet Mark was twisted with jealousy. He devised a strange plan to
destroy his nephew. He asked Tristram to return to Ireland and fetch
Isoud so that he could wed her. After all, Tristram had extolled her
virtues repeatedly since his return. His request was facetious; he
thought Tristram would be killed immediately at the hands of Marhaus'
still-enraged relatives. Tristram, dutiful to his lord and
unsuspecting towards his uncle's devious nature, took a band of
knights and set sail for Ireland once more.
But Tristram was swept wildly off-course by a sea storm and landed
instead near Camelot. There Tristram met and defeated Sirs Ector de
Maris and Morganor. As well, Tristram once again came across Sir
Bleoberis, and as it happens, King Agwisance as well. Bleoberis had
instisted that Agwisance had committed treason by killing a cousin of
Bleoberis' (Note: many crimes having to do with the betrayal of
lord/vassal, host/guest, or husband/wife relationships were simply
called "treason."). Arthur had summoned his vassal to Camelot to
stand and face his charges.
Tristram had just defeated (but unwittingly let escape) Breunis Saunce
Pite when he learned of Agwisance's peril. The Irish king was greatly
pleased to see his former guest, and gladly accepted Tristram's offer
for assistance. Tristram deftly championed Agwisance. Yet rather
than slay Sir Bleoberis and further the blood feud, he ensured
Agwisance and the de Ganis knight were formally accorded. For his
service, Agwisance took Tristram back with him to Ireland. With the
joy shown upon the King's return, Mark's plan was completely defeated.
No mention was made of Marhaus again, for how could someone speak
poorly about the man who personally rescued the King of Ireland?
Isoud's attitude was different now too. She was in love with
Tristram. But he was strangely unresponsive. Months passed before
Agwisance pressed Tristam to name any boon he desired in return for
his good service. He was shocked by Tristram's request for Isoud's
hand not for himself, but on behalf of his uncle Mark! Though
Agwisance asked Tristram to change his mind and take her as his own
wife, Tristram was honor-bound to his promise.
Tristram's ship was prepared for the return voyage. It was at this
time that the lovers were finally brought together, and only by magic
and ill-luck. Queen Isoud (La Beale Isoud's mother) gave a love
elixir to Bragwine, her daughter's handmaiden, to share between her
daughter and Mark. While returning across the Irish Sea, Tristram and
Isoud share the love elixir instead, thinking it nothing more than a
bottle of fine wine Bragwine and Gouvernail had been hiding from them.
It was only with this supernatural spur that love finally bloomed
between these two.
Before returning to Cornwall the ship landed in Wales. There Tristram
slew Sir Bruenor of Castle Pleure, who had the horrid custom of
challenging to the death every passing knight who was accompanied by a
lady. Prior to this, many knights were slain, and many ladies had
lost their heads to this fearsome knight. Bruenor's son, Sir Galahaut
the Haut Prince, came to avenge his parents' death with the help of
Malahaut, King with the Hundred Knights. But the quarrel soon ended,
with Tristram yielding honorably to the noble prince. Galahaut knew
of the shameful custom and forgave Tristram. After this, Tristram
again put to sea, and soon came to Cornwall.
Mark was surprised to see his nephew home again and successful, but
the sight of La Beale Isoud pleased him greatly. The wedding day came
and went quickly. Though Mark gave a grand banquet and tournament
(which Tristram won), there was little love in the air -- at least,
between the bride and groom. Shortly thereafter Palomides shocked the
court when he asked for a boon for his rescue of Dame Bragwine. Of
all the choices he had, he demanded Isoud come with him.
[Continued in V9.2]
