Griflet
(a.k.a. Girflet, Giflet, ou Gifflet fils de Do)
Selon P.A. Karr...
At the beginning of Arthur's reign,
on All Hallowmass at the great feast, sat in the hall the three kings [Arthur, Ban, and Bors], and Sir Kay seneschal served in the hall, and Sir Lucas the butler... and Sir Griflet, that was the son of Cardol, these three knights had the rule of all the service that served the kings..
Shortly after this feast, Sir Griflet proved a good man in the battle of Bedegraine. [Malory I, 14-17] A few chapters farther on, however, we find Griflet still a squire.
Then on a day there came in the court a squire on horseback, leading a knight before him wounded to the death, and told ... how there was a knight in the forest had reared up a pavilion by a well, and hath slain my master, a good knight, his name was Miles; wherefore I beseech you that my master may be buried, and that some knight may revenge my master's death. ... Then came Griflet that was but a squire, and he was but young, of the age of the king Arthur, so he besought the king for all his service that he had done him to give the order of knighthood.
Thou art full young and tender of age, said Arthur, for to take so high an order on thee. ... Sir, said Merlin, it were great pity to lose Griflet, for he will be a passing good man when he is of age, abiding with you the term of his life. And if he adventure his body with yonder knight at the fountain, it is in great peril if ever he come again.
Nevertheless, Arthur dubs Griflet, who goes out to joust with the knight at the fountain. The knight at the fountain is King Pellinore, who leaves Griflet badly wounded; Arthur then has a go at Pellinore, and Merlin finally stops the fighting by casting Pellinore into sleep. (See Magical Acts in the Appendix.) [Malory I, 21-24]
During the battle with the five invading kings on the bank of the Humber, when things looked bad for Arthur's side, Griflet joined Arthur, Kay, and Gawaine in trying to get Guenevere to safety; the invading kings catching up with them, Griflet did his part and slew one of the enemy monarchs. It was after this battle that Griflet—along with King Uriens, Sir Hervise de Revel, a couple of older knights called the King of the Lake and Sir Galagars (whom Malory mentions only this once), Gawaine, Kay, and Tor was made a companion of the Round Table. [Malory IV, 4-5]
Griflet's epithet "le Fise de Dieu" ("the son of God") seems to suggest religious leanings. It is therefore surprising that we do not hear more of him during the Grail Adventures.
According to Malory, Griflet was one of those slain by Lancelot's party during Lancelot's rescue of Guenevere from the stake [Malory XX, 8]. In the Vulgate, however, Griflet, not Bedivere, is the last knight left alive with Arthur and the one who must throw Excalibur into the lake [Vulgate VI]. I cannot make up my mind whether Griflet is one of the more minor of the "major" knights or one of the more major of the "minor" ones.
Surely he is to be identified with Chretien's Girflet, making him one of the earliest knights of Arthurian romance. In the list beginning at line 1691 of Erec & Enide, Chrétien identifies Girflet as the son of Do, q.v.
In Perceval, Chrétien gives Giflet two further cameo appearances: about line 2882 Giflet simply rises to obey Arthur's commands when Clamadeu comes to court; about lines 4721-23, in the sudden questing-fever roused by the Loathly Damsel, Giflet the son of Do vows to go and find the Castle Orgulous that she has just described.
