Palamedes (Arthurian legend)

Palamedes /pæləˈmiːdiːz/ (also called Palomides /pæləˈmaɪdiːz/, or some other variant such as the French Palamède; known as li Sarradins that is "the Saracen") is a Knight of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend.

He is a Middle Eastern pagan who converts to Christianity later in his life, and his unrequited love for Iseult brings him into frequent conflict with Tristan.

Palamedes also appears in the Post-Vulgate Cycle, Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur (where his relationship with Tristan and Isolde has been interpreted by some modern scholarship as an erotic triangle[2]), and even gave his name to his own prose romance, the early 13th-century Palamedes that now exists only in fragments, detailing the adventures of two generations of Arthurian heroes.

In the Post-Vulgate, however, Palamedes' conversion to Christianity during the Grail Quest allows him release from his worldly entanglements, and Percival and Galahad help him trap the beast in a lake, where he finally slays it.

Malory has Palamedes and his brother Safir joining Lancelot after the great knight's affair with Queen Guinevere is exposed.