Elaine of Astolat appears in medieval Arthurian narratives as a lady of the castle called Astolat (variants Ascolat/Escalot/Scalot). In early 13th-century French prose romance Mort Artu, the 14th-century Stanzaic Morte Arthur, Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur (15th century), and the 13th-century Italian short story La Damigella di Scalot, she falls in love with Sir Lancelot, nurses him after he is wounded, gives him a token, and—when her love is not returned—dies of heartbreak. Her household sets her corpse in a small boat with a lily and her final letter and sends it to Camelot for discovery by the court. The medieval mortuary tableau is the source material later reworked by Alfred, Lord Tennyson in his Victorian poems titled 'The Lady of Shalott' and by many painters and illustrators.
Medieval sources provide a limited physical description focused on the funerary image: Elaine is presented at discovery as a young maiden lying dead in a small boat, clutching a lily in one hand and her final letter in the other, and is called "a little lily maiden." Primary medieval accounts do not give detailed bodily features (height, hair color, dress specifics); later Victorian poetry and visual art elaborated this motif pictorially.
Elaine is a mortal human and has no supernatural powers in the cited sources. Her narrative agency consists of social and emotional actions: she nurses the wounded Lancelot, gives him a token (her sleeve) to bear in the lists, composes a final letter explaining her unrequited love, and instructs that her body be sent to Camelot. These actions drive the plot and elicit responses from Lancelot and the court but are not magical.
Weaknesses
- conditionmortal heartbreak / unrequited love (dies of unrequited love)
Wards
- othernone recorded (Elaine is not treated as a supernatural threat; sources do not record wards or magical protections related to her)
Abdiel
Abdiel (Hebrew עֲבְדִּיאֵל) is primarily a theophoric Hebrew personal name meaning "servant of El/servant of God," attested once in the Hebrew Bible (1 Chronicles 5:15). In later literature—most notably John Milton's Paradise Lost—Abdiel is reimagined as a faithful seraph who opposes Satan's revolt. The provided sources do not treat Abdiel as an autonomous folkloric spirit type or record rituals or wards associated with the name.
Abiel
Abiel is attested in the supplied sources only as a male given name — borne by several historical American individuals and listed as two minor biblical figures. The provided materials contain no evidence presenting Abiel as a supernatural, mythological, or folkloric entity.
Abigail
Abigail is a female figure in the Hebrew Bible portrayed in 1 Samuel 25 as the intelligent and beautiful wife of Nabal who intervenes to prevent David from committing violence; later tradition regards her as one of the Tanakh's seven female prophets and as a model of beauty and wisdom.
Accolon
Accolon is a mortal knight of the Arthurian court, presented in the Post-Vulgate Merlin tradition and Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur as Morgan le Fay's paramour and instrument in a plot to supplant King Arthur; his tale centers on enchanted weapons (Excalibur and its scabbard), love-manipulation, and a tragic duel with Arthur.
Acionna
Acionna is a local Gallo-Roman water goddess attested by a single votive inscription found at a spring in the Orléanais region. The inscription, discovered by Jollois in 1822 and datable by style to the 2nd century CE, dedicates a portico and ornaments "AUG(ustae) ACIONNAE" and was recovered from the Fontaine de l'Étuvée in Orléans; archaeological work in 2007 uncovered remains of a Gallo-Roman temple and a section of an aqueduct at the site.
Admeto (Admetus)
Admeto is the legendary King of Thessaly from classical myth as transmitted into European opera (notably Handel's Admeto, HWV 22). Portrayed as a mortal tragic protagonist, his fate in the narrative is determined by divine oracular decree and by the actions of other mythic figures (Alceste, Apollo, Hercules) rather than by any innate supernatural power.
Adsullata
Adsullata is attested as a Continental Celtic river goddess associated with the River Savus (modern Sava) in the Roman province of Noricum. Later traditions record her presence in Brittany as a goddess of hot springs and present her as an antecedent or origin-form of the Anglo‑Celtic sun goddess Sul.
Afaon fab Taliesin
Afaon fab Taliesin is a medieval Welsh warrior-counsellor, named as a son of the bard Taliesin and recorded among Arthur’s retinue in Welsh tradition. He appears in the Welsh Triads and in the tale Breuddwyd Rhonabwy (The Dream of Rhonabwy) as a notable martial figure and proverb-speaker rather than as a supernatural being.
Aggi and Ebbi (lexical occurrences)
Aggi and Ebbi are not attested as folkloric beings in the supplied sources; they appear only as isolated word-forms in an Italian poetic excerpt and as capitalized letter-strings in a puzzle/solution transcript. No mythic identity, powers, or rituals are documented for these tokens in the provided materials.
Aglovale
Aglovale (also Agloval, Aglovan, Aglovaus, Acglavael) is a human knight of Arthurian romance, presented as the eldest legitimate son of King Pellinore and a Knight of the Round Table in the Vulgate/Post‑Vulgate cycles, Malory, and later adaptations. He brings his long‑lost brother Perceval to Camelot, takes part in military actions (including slaying Agrippa in one account), and his death is related in varying ways across traditions (accidental at Gawain's hand, deliberate murder by Orkney kin, or killed during Lancelot's rescue of Guinevere).
Agolant
Agolant is a literary Saracen king who appears as a recurring antagonist in medieval and Renaissance epic cycles (Matter of France). He functions as a human royal opponent to Charlemagne and his peers, supplying martial episodes, genealogical connections, and the transfer of legendary arms and horses in chansons de geste and later Italian romances.
Agravain
Agravain is a literary knight of Arthurian romance cycles: one of the sons of King Lot of Orkney, a member of the Round Table, and a recurring figure in French and English medieval prose and verse. He is portrayed as a skilled but morally problematic courtly knight whose jealousy, malice, and intra-familial violence drive key narrative conflicts (notably the slaying of Lamorak and the exposure of Guinevere).
Community Record
- [1]Elaine of Astolat - Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 'Elaine of Astolat'. Summary of medieval and later versions including Malory, Stanzaic Morte, Mort Artu, La Damigella di Scalot, and Tennyson.wiki
- [2]Wikidata: Elaine of Astolat. Wikidata entry for Elaine of Astolat, identifiers and linked data about the figure.other
- [3]The Lady of Shalott (Tennyson collection). Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 'The Lady of Shalott' (Victorian poetic reworking inspired by medieval variants); archive edition.literary
- [4]The road to Camelot (collection referencing visual/artistic reception). Collection noting later artistic and literary reception of Arthurian motifs including Elaine of Astolat.other