Corbin
Corbin is a city in the Arthurian world attested in Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, associated primarily with Sir Launcelot's madness and recovery.
Corbin is a city in the Arthurian world attested in Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, associated primarily with Sir Launcelot's madness and recovery. The text records that Launcelot "came to the city of Corbin, where Dame Elaine was, that bare Galahad, Sir Launcelot's son" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XII, Chapter III). A later passage describes how Launcelot "came into this country like a mad man, with dogs and boys chasing him through the city of Corbin, and by the holy vessel of the Sangreal he was brought into his wit again" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XII, Chapter VII).
Corbin serves a dual function in Malory's narrative. It is the seat of Dame Elaine and thus the birthplace of Galahad, linking it to the Grail lineage. But it is also the place where Launcelot's madness is both most visible -- chased through the streets by dogs and boys -- and ultimately cured through the Sangreal. The juxtaposition of his degradation and his healing within the same city gives Corbin a narrative coherence: it is the place where Launcelot's highest legacy (his son Galahad) and his lowest point (his public madness) converge.
Appears in: Places, Entities in Le Morte d'Arthur, British Tradition