Logres

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Logres (also Logris or Loegria) is the name of King Arthur's realm in the Matter of Britain. It derives from Lloegyr (Modern Welsh: Lloegr, meaning "England", purportedly meaning "the lost country"), the Welsh name for the area of Great Britain roughly covering the land of present-day England.

According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, the realm was named after the legendary king Locrinus, the oldest son of Brutus of Troy. In his History of the Kings of Britain, Geoffrey uses the word "Loegria" to describe a province containing most of England excluding Cornwall, as in this example from section iv.20 (from the Penguin Classics translation by Lewis Thorpe):

Parishes were apportioned off, Deira being placed under the Metropolitan of York, along with Albany, for the great River Humber divides these two from Loegria. Loegria itself was placed under the Metropolitan of London, along with Cornwall. The Severn divides these last two provinces from Kambria or Wales, which last was placed under the City of Legions.

The name "Logres" is used in many works of modern fantasy set in Britain, for example C. S. Lewis's That Hideous Strength.

[edit] See also

• Albion
• Prydain

[edit] External links

• Hear the word Logres as it is pronounced in a recording of the Middle English text of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Follow along in the text here.