Lot or Loth is king of Lothian, Orkney, and sometimes Norway in the Arthurian legend. He is King Arthur's brother-in-law and early enemy. The character (or at least the name) is possibly derived from a historical personage. Hlot or Ljot is a fairly common name in northern sagas, agreeing well with his northern location in the Arthurian landscape (see the note on Ljot Thorfinsson below, also there was a Swedish berserker Ljot slain by Egil Skallagrimsson).
Lot appears in all cyclical Arthurian literature from Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae on, and his story is remarkably consistent. After Uther Pendragon marries Igraine, he weds her younger sister Morgause (also called Anna) to Lot. Their marriage produces a number of sons, namely Gawain, Agravain, Gaheris, Gareth, and in earlier literature, Mordred as well. Early in Arthur's reign Lot and other kings oppose him, though his sons object. After initial battles Arthur defeats the rebels decisively and incorporates their lands.
In the Vulgate Cycle and Geoffrey of Monmouth, Lot and the young king are reconciled after the final battle and Lot enthusiastically joins his brother-in-law's service. Indeed, Lot appears in many romances as Arthur's staunch ally. In the Post-Vulgate and Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur however, Lot is killed during the last battle at Tintagel by King Pellinore, sparking a blood feud between Lot's kin and Pellinore's.
The Welsh know Lot by a variety of names. Sometimes he is called Lot Luwddoc (Lot of the Host), elsewhere he is Llew ap Cynfarch. In Geoffrey Lot is said to be brother of Urien Rheged and Auguselus of Scotland. His name is probably derived from his kingdom (Lothian), like Corin of Cornwall and other characters from Geoffrey of Monmouth. Thorfinn Skull-Splitter, a Norse king of Orkney in the 10th century, had a son named Ljot, which may have led to the connection of a Lothian king to Orkney and Norway. According to the local tradition of Caithness, across the Pentland Firth from the Orkney islands, a standing stone called the Stone Lud was erected to mark the grave of Ljot, son of Thofinn Skull-Splitter, after he died from the wounds of a battle in Caithness.
Lot was said to descend from Catuvellauni chief Caractacus of Iron Age Britain. As some suggest it is possible Lot was a late incarnation of the British god/hero Lludd Llaw Eraint, though there is little remaining similarity between the characters beyond the names.
In Scottish folklore the semi-legendary King Lot (Leudonus) was a ruler of the Gododdin, based at Traprain Law. In the Life of Saint Mungo (Kentigern), the legendary founder of Glasgow, Lot is the father of Mungo's mother Theneva.
See also
References
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Further reading
- Celtic Myths and Legends, Charles Squire (1912) ISBN 0-7525-2676-6
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