Mordant: The Unfortunate Knight in The Faerie Queene

Mordant is a tragic character that appears in book 2 of The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser. He is never seen alive, but lies dead next to his wife Amavia as she tells their tragic story.

We learn that Mordant had been unfaithful to his wife due to some bewitching charms from Acrasia, and upon leaving Acrasia, he was cursed with a strange poison that might represent sexually transmitted diseases (something not well understood in Edmund Spenser’s time).

This poison eventually kills him, and infects his wife as well. Their tragic end is what inspires Sir Guyon to take up the quest against Acrasia.

Both he and his wife are survived by their son, Ruddymane.

See our complete list of Arthurian characters for more entries like this one.

Arthurian Bibliography

• Norris Lacy, Geoffrey Ashe, Debra Mancoff – The Arthurian Handbook (Second Edition)
• Alan Lupack – The Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend
• Ronan Coghlan – The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Arthurian Legends
• Anonymous – Lancelot-Grail, the French Vulgate
• Sir Thomas Malory – Le Morte d’Arthur