Lydéric and Phinaert
Lydéric and Phinaert were semi-legendary figures tied to the foundation of the French city of Lille.[1]
The legend
Around 620 AD, the prince of Duchy of Dijon, Salvaert, makes his way to the lands of what would become the Kingdom of England with his pregnant wife, Ermengaert. While traveling through Flanders, they fall into a trap laid by the local lord, the giant Phinaert. Phinaert has the prince and his men killed, but Ermengaert flees and finds refuge at a hermit's home in the forest where she gives birth to a son. Upon her death, she entrusts the baby to the hermit. He feeds the boy deer milk and baptizes him with his own name, Lydéric.
Lydéric soon learns the truth about his origins, and as a youth he sets out to search for Phinaert. He finds him at the court of Dagobert I at Soissons. Lydéric kills Phinaert in a duel and so avenges his parents' deaths. Phinaert's lands are given to Lydéric, where the young man founds the city of Lille in the year 640 AD.
References
- Les chroniques et annales de Flandres. Pierre d'OUDEGHERST, 1571
