Lionel's Name and Title 125 



Those who take the trouble to follow the career of Mahault 

 of Hainaut to the end will see that it was only a barren title 

 that she had to bestow, and that, such as it was, it could not 

 have passed by direct and valid descent to Lionel of Antwerp. 

 How far it was connoted, as a mere reminiscence, in the naming 

 of the young prince, is another matter. 



But even granting the reminiscence, we have still to inquire 

 how a town in Greece came to have such a manifestly occidental 

 name as Clarentza (for the derivation suggested by Leake evi- 

 dently does not account for more than the first syllable, and is 

 problematical enough for that). Here we are assisted by a 

 piece of collateral evidence. The citadel of Clarentza, built in 

 the first quarter of the 13th century,*® a work which it required 

 three 3^ears to construct,*'^ was named Clairmont, a word which, 

 by a transposition of its syllables, becomes Montclair, which at 

 once reminds us of the castle of Monteclair where the mother 

 of the mythical Lionel had taken refuge with her two sons when 

 their country was ravaged by Claudas.*® It need not surprise 

 us, then, if the name of Clarentza recalls a personage of the 

 Roman de Lancelot. Such a personage there was in the Duke 

 of Clarence to whom we are introduced in the Lancelot, where, 

 after the banquet on the occasion of Lionel's initiation into 

 knighthood, four renowned knights of the Table Round take 

 their way to the forest of Varannes, not far from the Thames, 

 these four being Gawain, Ywain, Lancelot, and Galeschin,*^ 

 Duke of Clarence, the son of Tradelinan, King of North Wales, 

 brother of DodineP" le Sauvage, nephew of King Arthur, and 



""Rodd I. 132-3, 137; Miller, pp. 87-88. 



^^ Miller, p. 87. See the descriptions in Rodd i. 135-7, 174-5 (with, 

 plan). 



^Romans 3. 35, 27', cf. p. 114, above. 



*^ Alalory spells the name in a variety of ways, none closely resembling 

 this : Chalannce, Chalenge, Challyns, Chaleyns ; cf. Lc Morte Darthiir, 

 pp. 484-5, 491, 766, 790. 



^"Madden describes the Duke of Clarence {Sir Gawayne, p. 313) as 

 'son of Neutres, King of Garlot, by a sister of Arthur, and cousin of 

 Dodinel. The duchy was given to him by Arthur, after his marriage with 

 Guenever. The author of Merlin says of him, "Cest enfant fut le meil- 

 leur chevalier de deux centz cinquante chevaliers qui furent de la Table 

 Ronde." ' 



