Sagramore, also known as Sagramor and many other variations of this name (including ''Sacremor'', ''Sacremors'', ''Sagramour'', ''Sagramoure'', ''Sagremoir'', ''Sagremor'', ''Sagremore'', ''Sagremoret'', ''Sagrenoir'', ''Saigremor'', ''Saigremors'', ''Saigremort'', ''Segramor'', ''Segramore'', ''Segramors'', ''Segramort'', ''Segremor'', ''Segremore'', ''Seigramor'', ''Seigramore'', ''Sigamor'', ''Sogremor'', ''Sygramors''), is a knight of the

Round Table The Round Table (; ; ; ) is King Arthur's famed table (furniture), table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status, unlike co ...

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. The 12th-century writer Geoffr ...

. He appears in many standalone and cyclical chivalric romances and other works, including some where he is the titular protagonist. Sagramore's characterisation varies from story to story, but generally he is characterised as a virtuous but hot-tempered knight who fights fiercely and ragefully.

Medieval and Renaissance literature

The earliest appearances of Sagramore, as Sagremor le Desreé (the Impetous), can be found in the 12th century stories by

Chrétien de Troyes Chrétien de Troyes (; ; 1160–1191) was a French poet and trouvère known for his writing on King Arthur, Arthurian subjects such as Gawain, Lancelot, Perceval and the Holy Grail. Chrétien's chivalric romances, including ''Erec and Enide'' ...

, where he is one of

King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...

's greatest knights and a companion of

Erec The Knights of the Round Table (, , ) are the legendary knights of the fellowship of King Arthur that first appeared in the Matter of Britain literature in the mid-12th century. The Knights are a chivalric order dedicated to ensuring the peace ...

. In the later Prose ''Tristan'', Sagramore is portrayed as a close friend to the protagonist

Tristan Tristan (Latin/ Brythonic: ''Drustanus''; ; ), also known as Tristran or Tristram and similar names, is the folk hero of the legend of Tristan and Iseult. While escorting the Irish princess Iseult to wed Tristan's uncle, King Mark of ...

and the one who alerts the rest of the

to his death. In 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 -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at wh ...

, the young Sagramore becomes the foster-brother of the child

Mordred Mordred or Modred ( or ; Welsh: ''Medraut'' or ''Medrawt'') is a major figure in the legend of King Arthur. The earliest known mention of a possibly historical Medraut is in the Welsh chronicle ''Annales Cambriae'', wherein he and Arthur are a ...

whose real identity is unknown at the time; he also appears as a brother of Mordred named Segures in

Renaud de Beaujeu Renaud de Beaujeuor Renaut de Bâgé or de Baugé is the name of a medieval French author of Arthurian romance. He is known for only one major work, '' Le Bel Inconnu'', the Fair Unknown, a poem of 6266 lines in Old French that was composed in the ...

's version of the story of Le Bel Inconnu. In ''

Le Morte d'Arthur ' (originally written as '; Anglo-Norman 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 ...

'', the prowess of Sagramore le Desirous (''Sagramoure le Desyrous'') varies from situation to situation; he usually serves to lose jousts to better knights, but at times he is a valiant fighter. Sagramore is also the subject of a fragmentary German romance, ''Segremors'', the surviving portions of which describe his journey to an island ruled by a fay and his undesired combat with his friend

Gawain Gawain ( ), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Matter of Britain, Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and one of the premier Knights of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned und ...

. In Jorge Ferreira de Vasconcelos' 16th-century Portuguese romance (''Triumphs of Sagramore'') or ''Memorial das Proezas da Segunda Távola Redonda'' (''Memorial of the Deeds of the Second Round Table''), Sagramore and legendary British king Constantine III are fused into a single person, Sagramor Constantino, portrayed as the heir to Arthur who forms a new Round Table to fight the

Saxons The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

and keep the glory of Arthurian Britain. It tells of the eponymous new generation of knights led by King Sagramor, Arthur's immediate successor as the ruler of "England and France". He marries Arthur's daughter, Seleucia.

Vulgate Cycle

According to the ''

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

'' (Vulgate) cycle, the father of Sagremor the Unruly was the

King of Hungary The King of Hungary () was the Monarchy, ruling head of state of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1000 (or 1001) to 1918. The style of title "Apostolic King of Hungary" (''Magyarország apostoli királya'') was endorsed by Pope Clement XIII in 1758 ...

named Vlask (renamed as Nabur the Unruly in the Post-Vulgate ''Suite du Merlin'') and his mother was a daughter of an Eastern Roman ("Greek") Emperor Hadrian. Sagramore was actually an heir to the throne of

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, but his father died while he was still young, and his mother accepted the proposal of King Brandegoris of Estangore in Britain. When he was fifteen, Sagramore traveled to Britain to join them and help Arthur fight the Saxon invaders. Upon arrival in Britain, Sagramore immediately engages the enemy forces in a battle at

Camelot Camelot is a legendary castle and Royal court, court associated with 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 ...

with aid from Arthur's nephew Gawain and his brothers: they are all subsequently knighted by Arthur. After the Saxons are defeated, and having personally slain some of their kings, he later participates in Arthur's other early wars such as these against

Claudas King Claudas is a fictional king who is an opponent to King Arthur, Lancelot, and Bors in Arthurian literature. His kingdom is situated in the Berry and is named "Terre Deserte", or "Land Laid Waste", so called because of the destruction Uther Pe ...

and Galahaut. The ''Lancelot-Grail'' describes him as a good knight, but quick to anger. When fighting, he would go into a frenzy not unlike the Irish hero Cúchulainn's warp-spasm; when he came down, he would feel ill and hungry. He gains a number of nicknames, including "the Hothead" (''li Desreez'') and "the Desired" (''le Désiré''). Kay gave him another nickname, "Dead Youth" (''Morte Jeune''), due to how he would sometimes go into epilepsy-like fits. The cycle recounts a number of his adventures, often centered around rescuing damsels, and mentions that he had a daughter by one of his paramours who was raised at Arthur's court by

Guinevere Guinevere ( ; ; , ), also often written in Modern English as Guenevere or Guenever, was, according to Arthurian legend, an early-medieval queen of Great Britain and the wife of King Arthur. First mentioned in literature in the early 12th cen ...

. In the ''Livre d'Artus'' version he also becomes a champion of the pagan queen Sebile, whom he marries after she converts to Christianity for his sake. His half-sister, Brandegoris' beautiful daughter Claire, falls in love with

Bors Bors (; ) is the name of two knights in Arthurian legend, an elder and a younger. The two first appear in the 13th-century Lancelot-Grail romance prose cycle. Bors the Elder is the King of Gaunnes (Gannes/Gaunes/Ganis) during the early period ...

and sleeps with him; their child is Elyan the White, who too joins the Round Table before returning to take the throne of Constantinople. Eventually, Sagramore dies by Mordred's hand as one of Arthur's last remaining men in their final battle.

Modern fiction

Sagramore appears with some regularity in modern Arthurian literature and other fiction. * In

Alfred, Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of ...

's "Merlin and Vivien", one of the ''

Idylls of the King ''Idylls of the King'', published between 1859 and 1885, is a cycle of twelve narrative poems by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892; Poet Laureate from 1850) which retells the legend of King Arthur, his knights, his love f ...

'', he stumbles into bed with a maiden, thinking he is in his own room; to save their reputation the two strangers wed, but their purity and goodness make their marriage a happy one. *

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...

characterised Sagramore (as "Sir Sagramor le Desirous") as an angry, backwards knight in ''

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court ''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'' is an 1889 historical 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 ...

'' (portrayed by

William Bendix William Bendix (January 14, 1906 – December 14, 1964) was an American film, radio, and television actor, known for his portrayals of rough, blue-collar characters. He gained significant recognition for his role in ''Wake Island'', for wh ...

in the 1949 film version), who challenges the Yankee to a duel to the death and is defeated by the Yankee's modern weaponry; his armour, later displayed in a museum featuring a gunshot hole inflicted by the Yankee, serves as a setpiece to the start of the story. * The knight appears in the musical ''

'' and was played by Peter Bromilow in the film version. * In

Bernard Cornwell Bernard Cornwell (born 23 February 1944) is an English author of historical novels and a history of the Waterloo Campaign. He is best known for his long-running series of novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe. He has also writ ...

's '' The Warlord Chronicles'', "Sagramor" is a fierce

Numidia Numidia was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunisia and Libya. The polity was originally divided between ...

n veteran of the old Roman army who serves as Arthur's trusted chief cavalry officer, having traveled to Britain after the collapse of the

Western Roman Empire In modern historiography, the Western Roman Empire was the western provinces of the Roman Empire, collectively, during any period in which they were administered separately from the eastern provinces by a separate, independent imperial court. ...

. His uniqueness in the setting as a black person makes him particularly feared by Arthur's enemies, the invading Saxons.

Sagremor de Pommiers

Sagremor de Pommiers was a friend of

Petrarch Francis Petrarch (; 20 July 1304 – 19 July 1374; ; modern ), born Francesco di Petracco, was a scholar from Arezzo and poet of the early Italian Renaissance, as well as one of the earliest Renaissance humanism, humanists. Petrarch's redis ...

's; in his letters, Petrarch calls him ''sacer amor'', or "sacred love". He served for a while as a messenger of the

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

, sometimes traveling with the poet; after a while, he became a monk and retired in a monastery. Petrarch dedicated his ''Psalmi Poenitentiales'' to him.

References

Sources

*Norris J. Lacy ''et al.'' ''The New Arthurian Encyclopedia''. New York: Garland, 1991. {{Arthurian Legend Fictional characters introduced in the 12th century Fictional Hungarian people Fictional princes Knights of the Round Table Legendary Romans