Geraint

Also known as: Prince / Prince Geraint / Sir Prince / my lord Geraint · Family: Arthur's court · Role: knight and tributary prince of Devon · First appears: The Marriage of Geraint 1

Geraint is a knight of Arthur’s court and a tributary prince of Devon. Arthur permits him to leave and defend his borders, so Geraint and Enid ride with fifty knights across the Severn into their own land. After the dwarf strikes his cheek with a whip, Geraint vows to avenge the insult to Guinevere and her maiden, tracking the sparrow-hawk to his hold. At Yniol’s once-rich but open-doored house, he meets Enid and declares, “Here by God’s rood is the one maid for me.” Yniol gives him lodging and old arms for the tournament, where Geraint fights for Enid, defeats Edyrn, and orders him to seek pardon from Arthur and restore the earldom or die.

Enid rides with Geraint to Arthur’s court, where Guinevere welcomes her and Dubric marries them with ceremony. Later, while travelling with Enid, Geraint kills three bandits and makes her drive their captured horses and armour onward. He defeats Limours, but a hidden wound worsens and brings him down; Enid binds it with her veil. At Earl Doorm’s hall, Geraint feigns death to test her grief, then rises and kills Earl Doorm with a single stroke.

After confessing that he wronged Enid, Geraint resolves to trust her, saying, “I do believe yourself against yourself, And will henceforward rather die than doubt.” When whole again, he administers justice so effectively that public hostility toward him disappears, and his victories in the chase, tilt, and tournament earn him the name of the great Prince and man of men. He finally falls in battle against the heathen of the Northern Sea, fighting for the blameless King.