King Mark

Also known as: King Mark of Cornwall / Mark / Sir King / the King / your husband · Family: Cornwall · Role: king · First appears: Book II, Chapter VII

In Book II, Chapter VII, King Mark buried Lanceor and Colombe together and raised a tomb bearing both their names; in the following chapter, Merlin foretold that the place would see a great battle between two knights. By Book VIII, King Mark had withheld Cornwall’s tribute to King Anguish for seven years and refused to pay, while Cornwall sought a champion against Sir Marhaus. He made his nephew Sir Tristram a knight for that battle, learned that Tristram was the son of King Meliodas and his sister Elizabeth, arranged the combat with Sir Marhaus, and later received the wounded Tristram into Tintagil before sending him to Ireland for a cure. He then sent Tristram to fetch La Beale Isoud, whom he married: “And anon they were richly wedded with great noblesse.”

After Tristram returned Isoud to Cornwall, jealousy arose between the two men because they loved the same lady. King Mark forced a dwarf to reveal Tristram’s message, ambushed him and wounded him, and was struck down in return; afterward, “though there was fair speech, love was there none.” He later tried to condemn Isoud after the test of Sir Lamorak’s horn, confined her when she attempted to kill herself over Tristram’s reported death, sought Tristram’s execution, and accepted only a ten-year banishment when Sir Dinas and Sir Fergus opposed the sentence. At the Perilous Lake, after being defeated by Sir Gaheris, he swore not to oppose errant knights and to be Tristram’s friend, but in Book X he again pursued Tristram, disguised himself to plot his death, and secretly wished to kill him despite their apparent alliance.

In Book X, King Mark killed Sir Bersules and Sir Amant after they refused to serve his plot against Tristram, was defeated and spared by Sir Lamorak, rescued from Sir Berluse by Sir Dinadan, and mocked by Sir Dinadan’s lay. He surrendered to King Arthur and promised service, homage, fealty, and amends; a temporary reconciliation followed, and he publicly swore friendship with Tristram. After returning to Cornwall, however, he imprisoned Tristram, forged letters to deceive him, declared him his mortal enemy, and asked Morgan le Fay and the Queen of Northgalis to help pursue Alisander. He treacherously killed his brother Prince Boudwin and sought Alisander and Anglides, while Sir Sadok saved Alisander, killed the men sent against him, and helped expose King Mark’s treason.