| abstract | - Hoel (also Howel, Hywel) was a legendary king of Brittany and one of the oldest historical figures associated with King Arthur. Howel is associated with Arthur in medieval Welsh texts like The Dream of Rhonabwy, Geraint and Enid, and Peredur son of Efrawg, (collected in the Mabinogian) and appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae. Geoffrey confuses Hoel's relationship to Arthur over the course of his narrative; at first, it is said he is the son of Budic of Brittany and Aurelius Ambrosius and Uther Pendragon's sister, and therefore Arthur's first cousin. Later, however, Geoffrey claims Arthur's sister Anna married Budic, Howel's father, making Hoel Arthur's nephew. He proves himself to be a capable general and a respected ruler. His niece is raped and killed by the Giant of Mont Saint-Michel, and Arthur sets off himself to slay the giant with the aid of his knights Kay and Bedivere. When Arthur returns to Britain to fight his traitorous nephew Mordred, he leaves Howel in charge of Gaul. Howel was later attached to the Tristan and Iseult legend by poets including Béroul and Thomas of Britain. In these stories, Hoel is duke of Brittany and the father of Tristan's unloved wife, Iseult of the White Hands. He takes Tristan in when the young knight has been banished from King Mark's kingdom. In early versions of the story, Tristan remains in Hoel's land until he dies of poison.
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