| Gorboduc, Saint |
Murdered by his cousin Harg; after Harg's conversion to Christianity by the hermit Ulfag, he began construction on a cathedral that would bear his slain cousin's name, located in Los Honchos, Spain [St. Fidgeta & Other Parodies, 33-38].
Gorboduc was a mythical King of England and the subject of an early Elizabethan play by Norton and Sackville entitled The Tragedy of Gorboduc; Or Ferrex and Porrex. Bowen adds that It was the first blank-verse tragedy in English and "one of those things that all English majors (or at least graduate English majors) learn about. My encyclopedia says it was first performed in 1561, which makes it slightly pre-Elizabethan. The mythical king was mentioned in the medieval history of Geoffrey of Monmouth, much of which was based on Welsh (i.e. early British) sources, but I think this is irrelevant; John obviously liked the sound of the name, and perhaps thought of it as an in-joke for English majors."
Bowen guesses that the names Ulfag and Harg are generic 'barbarian' names, not any reference to anything he is aware of (see words). |
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| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorboduc |
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| Harg, the cousin of Gorboduc. |
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