Hellawes the sorceress is a character in

Thomas Malory Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author of '' Le Morte d'Arthur'', the classic English-language chronicle of the Arthurian legend, compiled and in most cases translated from French sources. The most popular version of '' Le Morte d' ...

's 15th-century

Arthurian legend The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Wester ...

compilation ''

Le Morte d'Arthur ' (originally written as '; inaccurate Middle French for "The Death of Arthur") is a 15th-century Middle English prose reworking by Sir Thomas Malory of tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the Rou ...

''. She is lady of the Castle Nygurmous ("of

necromancy Necromancy () is the practice of magic or black magic involving communication with the dead by summoning their spirits as apparitions or visions, or by resurrection for the purpose of divination; imparting the means to foretell future events; ...

"), associated with the chapel perilous episode in one of the quests of

Lancelot Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), also written as Launcelot and other variants (such as early German ''Lanzelet'', early French ''Lanselos'', early Welsh ''Lanslod Lak'', Italian ''Lancillotto'', Spanish ''Lanzarote del Lago' ...

In ''Le Morte d'Arthur''

Hellawes is a treacherous enchantress whom Sir

encounters in his pursuit of a holy sword and special cloth to heal his wounded

liegeman A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain. W ...

, Sir Meliot of

Logres Logres (among various other forms and spellings) is King Arthur's realm in the Matter of Britain. It derives from the medieval Welsh word ''Lloegyr'', a name of uncertain origin referring to South and Eastern England (''Lloegr'' in modern Welsh ...

. Hellawes is the widow of Sir Gilbert the Bastard, recently slain by Meliot, and she had magically cursed Meliot so his wounds from the fight would not heal. In the story, she manages to lure the questing knight into her fearsome chapel perilous but Lancelot—who has been the object of her obsessive and

unrequited love Unrequited love or one-sided love is love that is not openly reciprocated or understood as such by the beloved. The beloved may not be aware of the admirer's deep and pure affection, or may consciously reject it. The Merriam Webster Online Dic ...

for seven years—successfully escapes with the items he needed to heal Meliot: A similarly named but different character, also appearing in Malory's ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', is Lady

Annowre Annowre (Anouwre) is an evil enchantress who desires King Arthur in Thomas Malory's ''Le Morte d'Arthur, Le Morte d' Arthur''. Malory based her on a nameless character from the earlier Prose Tristan, Prose ''Tristan'', who was named as Elergia in t ...

of Perilous Forest. Annowre is an evil sorceress who plotted to kill Arthur out of her love of him after being scorned.

Malory's sources

The motif for her enchanted chapel (complete with the name, ''Chapelle Perilleus''e) originates in ''

Perlesvaus ''Perlesvaus'', also called ''Li Hauz Livres du Graal'' (''The High Book of the Grail''), is an Old French Arthurian romance dating to the first decade of the 13th century. It purports to be a continuation of Chrétien de Troyes' unfinished ''Perc ...

.'' The character of Hellawes appears to be connected to that of Lady Helaes of Perilous Forest (''Helaes de la Forest Perilleuse''), also known as Helaes the Beautiful,

Gawain Gawain (), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and a Knight of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned under the name Gwalchmei in the earliest ...

's one-night lover from the

Lancelot-Grail The ''Lancelot-Grail'', also known as the Vulgate Cycle or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is an early 13th-century French Arthurian literary cycle consisting of interconnected prose episodes of chivalric romance in Old French. The cycle of unknown authors ...

(Vulgate Cycle), whose name seems to be also an echo of

Héloïse Héloïse (; c. 1100–01? – 16 May 1163–64?), variously Héloïse d' ArgenteuilCharrier, Charlotte. Heloise Dans L'histoire Et Dans la Legende. Librairie Ancienne Honore Champion Quai Malaquais, VI, Paris, 1933 or Héloïse du Paraclet, w ...

In popular culture

* Hellawes and her chapel appear in the adventure video game ''

'' in a recreation of the scene from ''Le Morte d'Arthur''. * A location named after Hellawes and her chapel appear in the role-playing video game ''

Tales of Berseria is an action role-playing video game developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and Microsoft Windows. It is the sixteenth main entry in the ''Tales'' series and a prequel of ''Tales of Zestiria''. ...

''. * She is mentioned as Annowre of the Perilous Forest in '' The Idylls of the Queen: A Tale of Queen Guenevere'' by

Phyllis Ann Karr Phyllis Ann Karr (born July 25, 1944) is an American author of fantasy, Romance novel, romances, Mystery (fiction), mysteries, and non-fiction. She is best known for her "Frostflower and Thorn" series and Arthurian works. Life and family Karr w ...

. * She appears in the card video game ''Age of Ishtaria''. * The story of Hellawes is invoked in the Dutch novel ''Jonkvrouw'' (published in Australia as "A sword in her hand" and in US/Canada as "With a Sword in my Hand") by Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem and Pat van Beirs.

References

{{Arthurian Legend Fictional characters introduced in the 15th century Arthurian characters Female literary villains Fictional witches Fiction about necrophilia