Tintagil
Tintagil is a castle attested in *Le Morte d'Arthur* as a stronghold central to the early Arthurian narrative.
Tintagil is a castle attested in Le Morte d'Arthur as a stronghold central to the early Arthurian narrative. The Duke of Cornwall is identified as "the Duke of Tintagil" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book I, Chapter I), and when warned of Uther Pendragon's hostility, he "furnished and garnished two strong castles of his, of the which the one hight Tintagil, and the other castle hight Terrabil" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book I, Chapter I). Tintagil is described as being "but ten miles hence" from Terrabil (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book I, Chapter II), and it is there that Uther, transformed by Merlin's magic, gains access to Igraine.
The castle reappears in later books of the work. Sir Tristram "rode unto Tintagil and took his lodging secretly, for he would not be known that he was hurt" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VIII, Chapter XIV). In Book X, an invading force under the captain Elias enters "nigh the Castle of Tintagil" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X, Chapter XXVIII).
The attestations establish Tintagil in two distinct narrative functions. In Book I it serves as the setting for the conception of Arthur, the pivotal event of the entire cycle: the Duke leaves his wife in Tintagil while he proceeds to Terrabil, and "through his own issue, the duke himself was slain or ever the king came at the castle of Tintagil" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book I, Chapter II). In the later books, Tintagil becomes associated with King Mark and the Tristram cycle, functioning as a place of concealment and siege rather than dynastic origin.
Appears in: Places, Entities in Le Morte d'Arthur, British Tradition