Sons of Mordred

The sons of Mordred appear in several works of Arthurian literature. The stories always number them as two, though they are usually not named. They generally figure as the heirs to their father's traitorous aims and enemies of King Arthur's successors. Their first appearance is in Geoffrey of Monmouth's fanciful Historia Regum Britanniae, the earliest work to describe Mordred as a usurper.

In Geoffrey's version, after Arthur and Mordred had died at the Battle of Camlann, Constantine III is appointed Arthur's successor. However, Mordred's two sons and their Saxon allies rise against him.^[1] He defeats them, and one of them flees to sanctuary in the Church of Amphibalus in Winchester while the other hides in a London friary.^[2] Constantine tracks them down, and executes them before the altars in their respective hiding places.^[2] This act invokes the vengeance of God, and three years later Constantine is killed by his nephew Aurelius Conanus.^[2] Early in the Historia Geoffrey states that Mordred has married Arthur's wife Guanhumara,^[3] but does not indicate whether Mordred's sons were the product of this union. Geoffrey's account of the episode is based on Constantine's murder of two "royal youths" as mentioned by the 6th-century writer Gildas.^[4]

The elder of Mordred's sons is named Melehan or some derivation in the Lancelot-Grail and Post-Vulgate Cycles. In these texts, Lancelot and his men return to Britain to dispatch Melehan and his brother after receiving a letter from the dying Gawain. In the ensuing battle Melehan slays Lionel, son of King Bors the Elder and brother to Sir Bors the Younger. Bors kills him to avenge his brother's death, while Lancelot slays the unnamed younger brother.

References

1. ^ Historia Regum Britanniae, Book 11, ch. 3.
2. ^ ^{a b c} Historia Regum Britanniae, Book 11, ch. 4.
3. ^ Historia Regum Britanniae, Book 10, ch. 13.
4. ^ De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae, ch. 28–29.