Ywain

Sir Ywain /ᵻˈweɪn/, also called Owain, Yvain, Ewain or Uwain, is a Knight of the Round Table and the son of King Urien and Morgan le Fay in Arthurian legend. The historical Owain mab Urien, on whom the literary character is based, was the king of Rheged in Great Britain during the late 6th century.

Ywain was one of the earliest characters associated with King Arthur, being mentioned in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, and was also one of the most popular, starring in Chrétien de Troyes' Yvain, the Knight of the Lion and appearing prominently in many later accounts. He remains Urien's son in virtually all literature in which he appears: other characters in Arthurian legend based on historical figures, for instance Sir Kay, lost their original familial connections in romance literature.

Welsh tradition

Ywain, the character of the romances, takes his name from Owain mab Urien, a historical figure of the 6th-century kingdom of Rheged at the time of the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain. His name was recorded in the bardic tradition of Taliesin and became a legendary character in the Welsh Triads, where his father, sister, horse and personal bard are all acclaimed but his wife Penarwan is named one of the "Three Faithless Wives of Britain", along with her sister Esyllt (Iseult, Tristan's love).