Isolde of the White Hands

Wife of the hero Tristan. She was generally known as the Breton Isolde or Isolde of the White Hands, to distinguish her from her Irish counterpart and rival – Isolde the Fair.

Isolde of the White Hands was a daughter of the Duke of Brittany. Depending on the authors, different names were assigned to her father, the Breton duke. According to Thomas, her father was called Roald de Foytenant; while Beroul, the Prose Tristan and Malory all called her father King Hoel (Howel) of Brittany). Tristan married the Breton Isolde when he went into exile from Cornwall.

Isolde became Tristan's wife only because her father and her brother Kaherdin mistook the hero singing a song about her, when the song was actually about Isolde the Blonde (Isolde the Fair or Irish Isolde). Her marriage was an unhappy one, since Tristan was still love with the Irish Isolde. The hero never consummated his marriage with his Breton wife.

Due to the Breton Isolde's jealously of Isolde of Ireland, Isolde brought about her husband and his lover's death. After Tristan was mortally wounded, only Isolde de Blonde could heal him. Isolde de Blonde was coming to Brittany in a ship with a white sail. However, the Breton Isolde, who knew of the signal arranged between Tristan and the Irish Isolde, told her husband that the ship had a black sail, indicating that Isolde of Ireland was not coming to heal his wounds. Tristan in despair just gave up wanting to live. The Isolde de Blonde died in grief when she arrived too late to save her lover.

Nothing more was known about Isolde of the White Hands.

Her role and appearance in the Prose Tristan was even smaller than the earlier tradition.