Idres
King of Cornwall among the eleven kings who opposed Arthur in Le Morte d'Arthur.
Idres is a king of Cornwall attested in the British Arthurian tradition through Le Morte d'Arthur. He appears among the eleven kings who gathered against King Arthur, swearing that "he would bring five thousand men of arms on horseback" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book I, Chapter XII). During the ensuing battle, Idres is unhorsed and subsequently re-mounted through the aid of the King of the Hundred Knights, who "smote him down, horse and man, and gave King Idres the horse, and horsed him again" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book I, Chapter XIV). Later, when Arthur, Ban, and Bors organize their forces, Idres is placed strategically "in the City of Nauntes in Britain, with four thousand men of arms, to watch both the water and the land" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book I, Chapter XVIII).
Le Morte d'Arthur presents Idres consistently as a military figure tied to Cornwall and the coalition opposing Arthur. The three attestations trace an arc from oath-taking to battlefield crisis to garrison command. The detail of his unhorsing and rescue places him within the web of mutual obligation among the rebel kings, while his assignment to Nauntes with four thousand men signals his continued importance as a territorial commander even after the coalition's initial engagement.
Appears in: Beings, Entities in Le Morte d'Arthur, British Tradition