King Bors

Also known as: Bors · Family: Gaul · Role: king · First appears: Book I, Chapter X

King Bors of Gaul is the brother of King Ban and an enemy of King Claudas, who wars against them for a castle. In Book I, Chapter X, Merlin advises King Arthur to seek their aid, naming them “marvellous good men of their hands.” Ulfius and Brastias carry King Arthur’s letters, and Bors, with King Ban, agrees to answer the request; they welcome the messengers and offer them gifts and hospitality.

By All Hallowmass, King Bors and King Ban cross the sea with three hundred knights to join King Arthur, and the meeting brings great joy. In the later battle, Merlin’s plan places Bors and Ban with ten thousand men in ambush, after which Bors fights alongside King Arthur and King Ban. He is counted as a friend of Lionses and Phariance, while he rivals King Carados, whom he strikes down before King with the Hundred Knights rescues him; Sir Bleoberis, his godson, bears his standard.

Much later, Sir Launcelot names King Bors as his uncle, remembering “mine uncle King Bors.”