In Arthurian legend, Gringolet is Sir Gawain's powerful war horse.
Israel Gollancz in the early 20th century suggested that Gringolet was derived from the giant Wade's magic boat, Guingelot or *Wingolet – one form of magical transport (horse) being substituted for an earlier one (boat).[1] More generally accepted is the suggestion by the prominent Arthurian scholar Roger Sherman Loomis that the French name Gringalet derived from either the Welsh guin-calet ("white and hardy"), or keincaled ("handsome and hardy")[2] – linked to a wider Celtic tradition of heroic white horses with red ears.[3]
His earliest appearance is in Chrétien de Troyes' Erec and Enide; in that poem he is borrowed by Sir Kay to joust against Erec. Even Gringolet cannot prevent Kay from losing to the protagonist. In the Lancelot-Grail Cycle, Gawain wins Gringolet from the Saxon king Clarion;[4] a different story of the acquisition is given in Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, where the horse bears the mark of, and comes from the stable of, the Grail castle – part of the gradual displacement of Gawain by Percival and the story of the grail.[5]
In the Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain sets out atop Gringolet in search of the Green Chapel.[6] Lines 600–604 of the poem describe Gringolet's ornate appearance in being readied for the journey:
Gawain is always shown as attached to Gringolet, caring for his horse, and talking to it as to a beloved pet or companion.[7] When (in The Awntyrs off Arthure) Gringolet (here called "Grissell") is killed beneath him in combat, Gawain is seized with battle fury, and runs mad, his strength amplified, until nightfall.[8]