- Hector de Maris
Sir Hector de Maris is a Knight of the Round Table in
Arthurian legend . He is the half-brother ofLancelot and the natural son ofKing Ban of Benwick and the Lady de Maris.Sir Bors andSir Lionel are his cousins.Hector participates in the
Grail Quest , but he is one of the many knights who prove unworthy of achieving the object. In the "Quest du Saint Graal" of theVulgate Cycle , Hector de Maris andGawain are travelling together when they come to a ruined chapel where they pass the night. Each has a marvelous dream. The next morning, as they are telling each other their respective visions, they see, "a Hand, showing unto the elbow, and was covered with red samite, and upon that hung a bridle, not rich, and held within the fist a great candle that burnt right clear, and so passed afore them, and entered into the Chapel, and then vanished away, and they wist not where."Jessie Weston found this an "unintelligent" variation on the theme of the perilous Black Hand in other romances in the Grail Cycle.When Lancelot is caught in his affair with
Guinevere , Hector stands by his brother and leaves court with him. He becomes one of Lancelot's top generals, participating in the battle to rescue the queen at her execution, and the defense ofJoyous Guard . Like all his family, he joins Lancelot inFrance when they are expelled from Arthur's kingdom, and he helps defeat the army led byMordred 's sons after theBattle of Camlann .There is another Hector in Arthurian legend,
Sir Ector , the father ofSir Kay and foster father ofKing Arthur .References
*Weston, Jessie L. "From Ritual to Romance" 1920 [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/frr/frr16.htm#fn_263 Chapter XIII The Perilous Chapel]
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