Goffar the Pict

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Goffar in a c. 1475 tapestry now in the Cathedral of the Savior of Zaragoza

Goffar (

Latin: Goffarius Pictus) known as Goffar the Pict, was a pseudo-historical king of Aquitaine around the year 1000 BCE in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (c. 1136). In the story, he was defeated by Brutus of Troy and Corineus
on their way to Britain. Later histories of Britain and France included Goffar from Historia Regum Britanniae, and sometimes expanded the story with some additional details.

Historia Regum Britanniae

Complete tapestry of "Brutus' expedition to Aquitaine", with Goffar on the right

In the myths surrounding

general
, over royal property and all of the messengers were brutally killed.

After a battle at the mouth of the

Turones. There a battle was fought against troops given to Goffar by the eleven other kings of Gaul, and won, founding the city of Tours
named in honor of Brutus' nephew Turnus, who died fighting.

This idea probably comes from

Turones
, called Turnis [Tours]". Nennius is correct that the city is named after the tribe, not the similarly named person.

Rowland Wymer points out the brutality in this account of Brutus' killing of Goffar's people.[1]

The first battle, including Goffar, is vividly portrayed in a c. 1475 tapestry now held in the Cathedral of the Savior of Zaragoza's museum.[2][3]

British tradition

king of Burgundy Gunther.[4]

Otho manuscript version) as the king of Poitou, and gives the name of his messenger as Goffar's steward Numbert the alderman ("Numberd the man" in Otho). It follows the story of Historia Regum Britanniae and Roman de Brut, but has Corineus deny the righteousness of the king's frith (both "peace" and law) which emerges as a form of subjegation instead of protection, and also recasts the killing of Numbert in terms of personal honour and retribution.[5]

Peter Langtoft's Chronicle (written before his death around 1305) has Goffar as "Gofforre" (or Goffre, Goffor, or Goffore), king of "Payters" (Poitiers). It says that Brutus arrived in Aquitaine, which they called "Paytewe" (Poitou) at the time. It gives the name of Subardus as "Suard" (or "Sward"), and Imbertus as Ymbert, who is Goffar's men's "chieftain by common agreement".[6]

John Hardyng's Chronicle (1437) has Goffar as "Goffore" as king of "Aquitayne that Guyen now is" (Guyenne), who fights with Brutus and Corineus hand to hand before retreating to "Gaule ... that now is Fraunce".[7]

Polychronicon that Tours had already been built by this time, and lists the events as having happened in 1136 BCE.[8]

John Rastell's The Pastyme of People (1529) mentions Goffar (under the name "Copharius") as a prince of "Gallia now callyd Guian" (Guyenne), as part of a very condensed version of the Brutus story.[9]

Locrine (1595), a play attributed to Shakespeare, mentions "Goffarius, the arm strong King of Gauls, / And all the borders of great Aquitaine". It gives Goffarius a brother, Gathelus, who had been fought by Corineus.[10]

Picts of Scotland), and harmonises the distance between Aquitaine and the mouth of the river Loire (which he has as being in "Celtic Gaul"), by saying that Brutus travelled to Aquitaine after anchoring there.[11]

French tradition

poictevin" king of Aquitaine, with Brutus arriving where Saint-Nazaire is now and follows the Historia's story closely.[12]

Saint Denis.[13][14]

La Décoration du Pays et Duché de Touraine (1541) by Thibault Lespleigney also includes Goffar as "Grofarius Pictus". It cites Bouchet's Annales.[15]

Name

In Horn et Rimenhild, a twelfth century French version of the story of King Horn, one of the King of Dublin's two sons is called Guffer. William Henry Schofield gives Goffarius Pictus as a potential source of this name.[16]

In the fourteenth century play

Persia is named "Goffore". Frederick James Furnivall's 1865 edition of the play also mistakenly gives "Goffare" as the name of the Sultan's niece.[17]

References

  1. JSTOR 41556874
    .
  2. ^ Hunter, George Leland (1925). The Practical Book of Tapestries. p. 87.
  3. ^ "Brutus' expedition to Aquitaine, c. 1475". Getty Research Institute.
  4. ^ Wace (1836). Le Roux de Lincy, Antoine (ed.). Le Roman de Brut. Vol. 1. Rouen. pp. 39–40.
  5. S2CID 160558869
    .
  6. ^ Langtoft, Peter (1866). Wright, Thomas (ed.). The Chronicle of Pierre de Langtoft. pp. 14–21.
  7. ^ Peverley, Sarah; Simpson, James, eds. (2015). John Hardyng, Chronicle: Edited from British Library MS Lansdowne 204: Volume 1. pp. 56–57.
  8. ^ Fabyan, Robert (1811). Ellis, Henry (ed.). The New Chronicles of England and France. p. 10.
  9. ^ Rastell, John (1811). Dibdin, Thomas Frognall (ed.). The Pastime of People. p. 87.
  10. ^
  11. ^ White, Richard (1597). Comitis Palatini Historiarum Libri. pp. 134, 151–152.
  12. JSTOR 40958447
    .
  13. ^ Bouchet, Jean (1557). Les Annales d'Aquitaine. p. 5.
  14. ISBN 978-0-19-866125-2
    .
  15. ^ Lepleigney, Thibault (1861). Galitzin, Augustin (ed.). La Décoration du Pays et Duché de Touraine. pp. 7–8.
  16. JSTOR 456475
    .
  17. ^ Bliss, Jane (2008). Naming and Namelessness in Medieval Romance. p. 60.
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