page_title: Knights of the Round Table
section_title: Erec
hierarchical_section_title: Knights of the Round Table / Selected members / Erec
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Hérec Brezhoneg: Hereg
context_page_description: The Knights of the Round Table are the knightly members of the legendary fellowship of King Arthur in the literary cycle of the Matter of Britain, first appearing in literature in the mid 12th century. In this French-derived branch of Arthurian legend, the Knights are an order in the service of King Arthur, tasked with ensuring the peace of the kingdom and later leading the quest for the legendary Holy Grail. The Round Table, the place at which these characters of legend meet is a symbol of equality, and all members of the round table are thus, equal.
  Different stories presented varying numbers of the knights, ranging from only a dozen to as many as one hundred or more. Bedivere, Gawain and Kay are the oldest characters associated with Arthur. Gawain was also one of those persistently most popular, alongside Lancelot, Percival and Tristan, each of them featured as protagonist or eponymous hero in multiple works of the chivalric romance genre. Other well-known members include Galahad, the most perfect knight in the later tradition wherein he replaced Percival as main achiever of the Grail, and the traitor Mordred.
context_section_description: Erec, the son of King Lac features in numerous Arthurian tales (notably the Post-Vulgate Cycle), but he is most famous as the protagonist in Chrétien de Troyes' first romance, Erec and Enide. Because of Erec and Enide‘s relationship to the Welsh Geraint and Enid, Erec and Geraint are often conflated or confused.
  In Chrétien's story, Erec meets his future wife Enide while on a quest to defeat a knight who had mistreated one of Guinevere's servants. The two fall in love and marry, but rumours spread that Erec no longer cares for knighthood or anything else besides his domestic life. Enide cries about these rumours, causing Erec to prove his abilities, both to himself and to his wife, through a test of Enide's love for him. He has her go on a long, tortuous trip with him where she is forbidden to speak to him. She breaks his conditions several times to warn him of danger, and after a number of adventures that prove both his love and his abilities, husband and wife are reconciled. When Erec's father Lac dies, Erec inherits his kingdom.
  In the Post-Vulgate Cycle and the Guiron le Courteous version of Palamedes, King Lac is himself a Knight of the Round Table. The Post-Vulgate Quest of the Holy Grail tells of Lac's murder by the sons of his brother, King Dirac. Erec is then slain by Gawain before he can attempt to regain his father's kingdom from their rule.
caption: The attributed arms of "Herec le fils Lac"
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