King Mark is the main villain
in the tale of Tristan and Iseult, which is set in Arthur’s time. He is most
often described as a ruler in Cornwall, with Tintagel as one of his residences.
He is considered to have been a violent, treacherous villain; his many attempts
to get at his nephew Tristan could be described as obsessive. A contemporary of
Mark was the equally notorious and villainous Conomor of Cornouaille, Brittany.
Their identicalness is explicitly supported by a statement in The
Life of St Paul Aurelian, which mentions Mark the ruler of Cornwall. In
this ninth-century record (which makes it substantially earlier than any of the
tales of Tristan, or, indeed, most sources for this period), he is said to have
also had the name ‘Quonomorus’, which is clearly Conomor.
The existence of a gravestone
marking the burial place of a son of Conomor in Cornwall, as opposed to
Brittany, also supports this argument. The fact that the gravestone is so
substantial, being 2.6m in height, does indicate that this individual held some
degree of power in the area. In turn, his father Conomor would have most likely
been a very prominent individual. Mark, a ruler in Cornwall, and Conomor, a
ruler in Brittany, being the same person makes sense of this inscription.
This conclusion continues to be supported by Breton tradition, which makes Mark the ruler of Cornouaille, Brittany, as well as Cornwall. Conomor was the prince of Poher, which is in Cornouallie.
Additional evidence can be found from the legends of Tristan. Gottfried von Strassberg, writing at the very beginning of the 13th century, names Tristan’s father ‘Riwalin’ and makes him the ruler of ‘Parmenie’. In the earlier version by Thomas of Britain (from whom Gottfried got the greater part of his material), this is spelt ‘Armenie’. The capital of the region, Canoel, is said to be situated on the English Channel. As such, it is evident that ‘Armenie’ is a variant or corruption of ‘Armorica’. Later versions make Tristan’s father the ruler of Lyonesse, and though this has often been taken to have come from ‘Lothian’, a kingdom in the north of Britain, the earlier evidence just mentioned strongly supports the theory that it is used in these records to refer to Leon, in Armorica (whether or not the word itself actually derived from ‘Lothian’). Thus, Tristan’s father Riwalin, a ruler of Armorica in Arthur’s time, is very probably Riwal, a ruler of Armorica in the first half of the sixth century.
This conclusion continues to be supported by Breton tradition, which makes Mark the ruler of Cornouaille, Brittany, as well as Cornwall. Conomor was the prince of Poher, which is in Cornouallie.
Additional evidence can be found from the legends of Tristan. Gottfried von Strassberg, writing at the very beginning of the 13th century, names Tristan’s father ‘Riwalin’ and makes him the ruler of ‘Parmenie’. In the earlier version by Thomas of Britain (from whom Gottfried got the greater part of his material), this is spelt ‘Armenie’. The capital of the region, Canoel, is said to be situated on the English Channel. As such, it is evident that ‘Armenie’ is a variant or corruption of ‘Armorica’. Later versions make Tristan’s father the ruler of Lyonesse, and though this has often been taken to have come from ‘Lothian’, a kingdom in the north of Britain, the earlier evidence just mentioned strongly supports the theory that it is used in these records to refer to Leon, in Armorica (whether or not the word itself actually derived from ‘Lothian’). Thus, Tristan’s father Riwalin, a ruler of Armorica in Arthur’s time, is very probably Riwal, a ruler of Armorica in the first half of the sixth century.
However, in the Prose Tristan, written towards the
middle of the 13th century, Tristan’s father is named Meliadus. This
Meliadus is said to have had a son, by a different wife to Tristan’s mother,
called Meliadus the Younger. Though it is unclear why the identity of his
father was changed, if we assume that Armorica is still the pertinent region,
then this Meliadus is very probably Meliavus, (more commonly spelt ‘Meliau’ in
modern sources) a ruler of Armorica in the first half of the sixth century.
This Meliavus had a son named Melor – spelt ‘Melaire’ in a 13th
century Life, written by Albert Le
Grand – who would probably be the Meliadus the Younger of the Tristan tale.
Interestingly, Meliavus was the older brother of the aforementioned Riwal. The
latter is said to have killed the former when Melor was seven years old. Though
it is very far from certain, perhaps Tristan, our hypothetical half-brother of
Melor, was regarded as the son of Riwal (Riwalin) in some records but the son
of Meliavus (Meliadus) in others due to Riwal becoming his guardian after
killing his father. This ties into the fact that Meliadus, in the Tristan
legend, is said to have been killed soon after an event which is set when
Tristan was eight years old. If this really was the case, then the legend
requires Tristan to have had a subsequent guardian. Perhaps this was his uncle
Riwal, who then become known as his ‘father’ Riwalin in the legend.
In a slightly later version of
the account of Meliadus’s death, the knights who slay him are said to have been
of his kindred. Perhaps this derived from the fact that it was Meliavus’s
brother who killed him.
The record that tells of Riwal’s
murder of Meliavus goes on to reveal that a sister of theirs was married to
Conomor. Therefore, Conomor was the uncle of any children of Riwal or Meliavus –
such as, most likely, Tristan. This heavily supports Conomor being King Mark,
the uncle of Tristan in the legend. The only difference is that Tristan’s father
was said to have married Mark’s sister, which means that it is not the same
relationship as that claimed by the record concerning Conomor and the sister of
Riwal and Meliavus. This could easily be attributed to a slight mistake on the
part of those documenting the Tristan legend after hundreds of years of
transmission.
We can see from this consideration of the sources that the evidence as a whole supports
Conomor’s identification as King Mark, and we can therefore be reasonably
confident that he held land in Cornwall as well as Brittany.