Sir Dinadan (Dinadam, Dinadano, Dinadeira, Divdan, Dynadan) is a

Knight of the Round Table The Knights of the Round Table ( cy, Marchogion y Ford Gron, kw, Marghekyon an Moos Krenn, br, Marc'hegien an Daol Grenn) are the knights of the fellowship of King Arthur in the literary cycle of the Matter of Britain. First appearing in lit ...

in the

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 ...

chivalric romance As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalri ...

tradition, appearing in the Prose ''Tristan'' and its adaptations, including a part of '' Le Morte d'Arthur''. Best known for his humor and pragmatism, Dinadan is a close friend of the protagonist

Tristan Tristan (Latin/ Brythonic: ''Drustanus''; cy, Trystan), also known as Tristram or Tristain and similar names, is the hero of the legend of Tristan and Iseult. In the legend, he is tasked with escorting the Irish princess Iseult to we ...

Medieval literature

Like Palamedes and

Lamorak Sir Lamorak (or Lamerak, Lamorac(k), Lamorat, Lamerocke, and other spellings) is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend. Introduced in the Prose ''Tristan'', Lamorak reappears in later works including the ''Post-Vulgate Cycle'' and T ...

, Dinadan was an invention of the Prose ''Tristan'' (a variant of the legend of

Tristan and Iseult Tristan and Iseult, also known as Tristan and Isolde and other names, is a medieval chivalric romance told in numerous variations since the 12th century. Based on a Celtic legend and possibly other sources, the tale is a tragedy about the illic ...

), and appeared in later retellings including the

Post-Vulgate Cycle The ''Post-Vulgate Cycle'', also known as the Post-Vulgate Arthuriad, the Post-Vulgate ''Roman du Graal'' (''Romance of the Grail'') or the Pseudo-Robert de Boron Cycle, is one of the major Old French prose cycles of Arthurian literature from th ...

and

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'Ar ...

's '' Le Morte d'Arthur''. He is the son of Brunor senior (the Good Knight Without Fear), a brother of his fellow Round Table knights Breunor le Noir and Daniel. Unlike most other knights in Arthurian romance, the practically-minded Dinadan prefers to avoid fights and considers courtly love a waste of time, though he is a brave fighter when he needs to be. Dinadan also appears in some other romances, such as in ''Escanor'', where his strong distrust of women is a theme of comedy, and in some variants of ''Les Prophéties de Merlin''.

''Le Morte d'Arthur''

Malory's Dinadan is well known for his cynical humor and joking nature, and for his mockery of chivalry. He is visiting the court of

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

seeking his friend, the young hero

(''Tristram''), and has supper with the young Queen Iseult (''La Beale Isoud'') where he reveals that he has, by his own desire, no lady-love or paramour in whose name to do great deeds. Dinadan is also often portrayed as the wittiest of all of Arthur's knights, and a source and target of practical jokes. In ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', he is one of the few knights to be able to recognise his armored fellows from more than just their shields; in one instance Tristan does not recognise his own king until Dinadan tells him. In one notable exploit, he writes an insulting

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

about King Mark and sends a

troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairi ...

to play it at Mark's court. In another episode, he loses a

joust Jousting is a martial game or hastilude between two horse riders wielding lances with blunted tips, often as part of a tournament. The primary aim was to replicate a clash of heavy cavalry, with each participant trying to strike the opponen ...

when Lancelot catches him off guard by wearing a dress over his armour, and Lancelot then puts the dress on his unconscious opponent. As summarized by to Joyce Coleman, "

Margaret Schlauch Margaret Schlauch (September 25, 1898 – July 19, 1986) was a scholar of medieval studies at New York University and later, after she left the United States for political reasons in 1951, at the University of Warsaw, where she headed the depa ...

hails the 'courtly realism' of Sir Thomas Malory's ''Le Morte d'Arthur'' and, in particular, 'the comically realistic Sir Dinadan', whose jokes about his fear of jousting have his listeners laughing so hard they can barely keep their seats. 'Sir Dinadan, the realist' lizabeth Edwards the 'rational moralist' ruled by a 'pragmatic creed' onald Hoffman remains a standard figure of Malorian analysis." However, some like Eugène Vinaver and Harold Livermore regard the humor of Malory's Dinadan as inferior to that in his French original sources, in which Dinadan's jokes are more offensive and subversive (targeting even religion). In ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', following the Prose ''Tristan'' narrative, Dinadan dies when he returns from Cornwall, hoping to persuade King Arthur to reverse his ruling which had again set Mark on the throne. However Dinadan, still wounded from his fight against Brehu the Merciless, is treacherously ambushed and murdered by two other Knights of the Round Table, the brothers Mordred and

Agravain Sir Agravain () is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend, whose first known appearance is in the works of Chrétien de Troyes. He is the second eldest son of King Lot of Orkney with one of King Arthur's sisters known as Anna or Mor ...

, who hated him due to his closeness to their enemy Lamorak from the rival clan of

King Pellinore King Pellinore (alternatively ''Pellinor'', ''Pellynore'' and other variants) is the king of Listenoise (possibly the Lake District) or of "the Isles" (possibly Anglesey, or perhaps the medieval kingdom of the same name) in Arthurian legend. In ...

Hector de Maris The Knights of the Round Table ( cy, Marchogion y Ford Gron, kw, Marghekyon an Moos Krenn, br, Marc'hegien an Daol Grenn) are the knights of the fellowship of King Arthur in the literary cycle of the Matter of Britain. First appearing in lit ...

finds Dinadan mortally wounded and takes him to

Camelot Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as th ...

, where he dies in Lancelot's arms.

''La Tavola Ritonda''

In ''

La Tavola Ritonda ''La Tavola Ritonda'' (''The Round Table'') is a 15th-century Italian Arthurian romance written in the medieval Tuscan language. It is preserved in a 1446 manuscript at the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Florence (''Codex Palatinus 556''). It wa ...

'', a late medieval Italian rewrite of the Prose ''Tristan'', Dinadan (''Dinadano'') himself attempts to murder the captured Mark (''Marco'') in revenge for the death of his dear friend Tristan (''Tristano''), and Brehu the Merciless (''Breus sanz Pietà'') is actually his cousin. This version of Dinadan is characterized differently, as he is a violent misogynist who hates even Tristan's beloved Iseult (''Isotta'') and openly insults her as a "whore". The only time Dinadan does fall in love with a woman is his brief affair with the evil Losanna of the Ancient Tower (''Losanna della Torre Antica''), which even causes him to turn against Tristan who fights to save Losanna's rival Tessina (whom Dinadan calls a "whore" too). Dinadan's usually obsessively hostile attitude towards women earns him much friendly mockery from Tristan. This includes a comical episode where, after Dinadan refuses to marry a daughter of Espinogres (here portrayed as a king, but in Malory's version a knight who is a companion of Tristan and Dinadan), Tristan enters Dinadan's room at night pretending to be her madly in love with him.

Modern fiction

Dinadan's modern appearances included the stage version and film adaptation of the musical ''

'', portrayed by

John Cullum John Cullum (born circa 1930) is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in many stage musicals and dramas, including '' Shenandoah'' (1975) and '' On the Twentieth Century'' (1978), winning the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Mu ...

, Christopher Sieber, and (in

the film The Film is a 2005 Indian thriller film directed by Junaid Memon also produced along with Amitabh Bhattacharya. The film stars Mahima Chaudhry, Khalid Siddiqui, Ananya Khare, Chahat Khanna, Ravi Gossain, Vaibhav Jhalani and Vivek Madan in lea ...

) Anthony Rogers. He is protagonist of Gerald Morris' 2003 novel ''The Ballad of Sir Dinadan'' as well as subject of the chapter "Sir Dinadan the Humorist" in Mark Twain's 1890 ''

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court ''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'' is an 1889 novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled ''A Yankee in King Arthur's Court''. Some early editions are titled ''A Yankee at the Court of King Arth ...

''.

References

External links