Isoud
La Beale Isoud is one of the central figures in the Tristram cycle as told in Le Morte d'Arthur, attested with 55 citations across 31 chapters spanning Books VIII through XX.
La Beale Isoud is one of the central figures in the Tristram cycle as told in Le Morte d'Arthur, attested with 55 citations across 31 chapters spanning Books VIII through XX. She is introduced as the daughter of the King of Ireland who heals the wounded Tristram (travelling under the alias Tramtrist), finding poison in the bottom of his wound and curing him -- after which "Tramtrist cast great love to La Beale Isoud, for she was at that time the fairest maid and lady of the world" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VIII, Chapter IX). The mutual attraction deepens when Isoud suspects Tramtrist is "some man of worship proved, and therewith she comforted herself, and cast more love unto him than she had done to-fore" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VIII, Chapter X).
The 55 citations trace three interlocking threads: the love triangle between Isoud, Tristram, and King Mark; Isoud's own agency and emotional depth; and the unrequited devotion of Palomides.
The love between Isoud and Tristram is established before the marriage to Mark and never dissolves. When the queen discovers that Tramtrist is the slayer of her brother Marhaus, Isoud is "passing sore abashed, for passing well she loved Tramtrist" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VIII, Chapter XI). On Tristram's departure from Ireland, Isoud declares "full woe am I of thy departing, for I saw never man that I owed so good will to" and extracts his promise that she will not be married for seven years without his consent (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VIII, Chapter XII). A public judgment confirms "that La Beale Isoud was the fairer lady and the better made" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VIII, Chapter XXV). After the forced marriage, the narrative repeatedly returns to moments of crisis: Isoud walking into the forest "to put away her thoughts" and making "great moan" by a well (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VIII, Chapter XXIX), swooning "for very pure joy" at Tristram's return (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book IX, Chapter XVI), and attempting suicide by planting a sword in a plum tree "up to the hilt" when she believes him dead (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book IX, Chapter XIX).
Isoud is not passive in these exchanges. She counsels Tristram on strategic matters, urging him to ride armed (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X, Chapter LIII), and she argues him into attending the Pentecost feast despite his reluctance, warning that absence would bring shame: "ye that are called one of the noblest knights of the world, and ye a knight of the Round Table, how may ye be missed at that feast?" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XII, Chapter XI). She also intervenes directly in combat, stopping the fight between Tristram and Palomides: "I would that ye would for my sake spare this unhappy Saracen Palomides" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VIII, Chapter XXXI). When Palamides demands a boon and carries her off, the narrative follows her abduction and escape (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VIII, Chapter XXX). She endures the horn test alongside a hundred ladies, though only four "drank clean" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VIII, Chapter XXXIV).
The Palomides thread runs throughout. He "always made his complaint of La Beale Isoud" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X, Chapter XIV), openly declaring his love as "paramours" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X, Chapter LIII). His unrequited devotion is the source of his greatest deeds: "by her, and because of her, I have won the worship that I have" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X, Chapter LXXXVI). At the tournament, Isoud is led to "stand and behold all the jousts in a bay window" while wimpled so "no man might see her visage" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X, Chapter LXVIII), and when Arthur comes to see her, a knight declares her "makeless" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X, Chapter LXXIII). She challenges Dinadan directly, asking "are ye a knight and be no lover?" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X, Chapter LVI). Isoud's beauty is confirmed by outside witnesses -- Sir Bleoberis and Sir Ector report to Queen Guenever that "she is peerless of all ladies" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X, Chapter LXXXI). Even in Book XX, Isoud's presence echoes: Tristram "kept not he with him La Beale Isoud near three year in Joyous Gard" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XX, Chapter VI).
Appears in: Beings, Entities in Le Morte d'Arthur, British Tradition