King Idres

King Idres is a ruler of Cornwall who joins the northern coalition against King Arthur. His brief appearances place him among the eleven kings who challenge Arthur’s rule and show the practical dependence of their alliance on mutual rescue in battle.

Identity and Allegiance

King Idres swears to join the other rulers in their campaign against Arthur and promises five thousand men-at-arms on horseback. The coalition’s full force is described as fifty thousand mounted men and ten thousand on foot; its members vow not to abandon one another until they have destroyed Arthur. Idres’s contribution makes him one of the alliance’s major participants, though the account gives no separate explanation for his personal grievance.

The Battle at the Passage

During the fighting, Idres and his company engage the forces of King Bors. His side gains the advantage against Lionses and Phariance, putting the two knights in serious danger and forcing them to retreat. King Bors then enters the encounter with his own fellowship, changing the balance of the fighting.

Rescue and the Coalition’s Mutual Aid

Idres is unhorsed in the fighting. The King with the Hundred Knights sees him on foot, attacks Gwimiart de Bloi, knocks him down, and gives Idres the captured horse so that he can mount again. The episode is one example of the coalition’s reciprocal battlefield aid: elsewhere in the same engagement, King Lot restores a mount to King Nentres, while other kings likewise help their allies recover their horses. Idres’s moment in the battle thus presents the alliance not merely as a muster of promised troops, but as a group whose members actively restore one another’s ability to fight.