Abstract
A twelfth-century Flemish document relating to events dating from 1118 and preserved in the Ghent archives contains the name Vualauuaynus, or Walewein. How can we explain the occurrence of this Arthurian name in Flanders at such a remarkably early date? The article draws on the Middle Welsh prose narrative ‘Mal y kavas Kulhwch Olwen’, on William of Malmesbury's ‘Gesta Regum Anglorum’ and on the Welsh dynastic chronicle ‘Brut y Tywysogyon’ to establish connections between the Flemish aristocracy of the time, Anglo-Norman dynastic claims following the Conquest, and the heroes of Arthurian literature. It ends by suggesting the likelihood of Arthurian literature in Dutch before the year 1100.
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