Green Knight Green Knight The Green Knight is a character of the 14th-century Arthurian poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" and the related medieval work "The Greene Knight". His true name is revealed to be Bertilak de Hautdesert (an alternate spelling in some translations is "Bercilak" or "Bernlak") in "Sir Gawain", while "The Greene Knight" names him "Bredbeddle". The Green Knight later features as one of Arthur's greatest champions in the fragmentary ballad "King Arthur and King Cornwall", again with the name "Bredbeddle". In "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", Bercilak is transformed into the Green Knight by Morgan le Fay,
Green Knight uses a sacred text to subdue it. The Green Knight eventually gains so much control over the sprite through this text that he convinces it to take a sword and strike off its master's head. The name "Bertilak" may derive from "bachlach", a Celtic word meaning "churl" (i.e. rogueish, unmannerly), or from "bresalak", meaning "contentious". The Old French word "bertolais" translates as "Bertilak" in the Arthurian tale "Merlin" from the Lancelot-Grail Cycle of Arthurian legend. Notably, the 'Bert-' prefix means 'bright', and the '-lak' can mean either 'lake' or "play, sport, fun, etc". "Hautdesert" probably comes from a mix of